Five Secret Sugar Foods To Avoid

We all know that in order to succeed in the battle of weight loss we need to eat healthy and avoid unhealthy fats and sugars. Unfortunately you may not realize that some of the foods you eat are setting you back with high amounts of added sugars.

These added sugars are helping contribute to today's obesity levels. Childhood obesity is at an all time high as kids are often allowed to eat such things as fast food for the sake of it being a quick meal. Even at this alarming rise in obesity in adults and children  people continue to eat processed food, fast food, and one of the biggest sugar contributors of all, soda.

A major problem that eating foods with high amounts of sugar is that unlike fat, sugar make your hunger levels to surge even higher. This happens because sugar will spike insulin levels which causes you to binge eat leading you to take in more calories than you need.

Today's diets are easily taken in more calories per day than the vast majority, even those who are incredibly active, need to maintain their bodyweight.

Some of the biggest contributors to this problem continue to make their way into the kitchen without you even realizing it. The following foods may not be thought of as high in sugar, until you take a closer look.

When further examining  the ingredients they are made of, you will quickly discover just how much sugar these actually do contain.

I have put together 5 popular foods that you may not know have lots of sugar.

1. Fruit-Flavored Yogurt

Everyday you see commercials on TV of all these fit women eating yogurt. It has to be good right? The larger portion of fruit-flavored varieties out there can easily come in at over 15 grams of sugar per serving.

Just when you think you're getting a nice low-cal snack that is good for you, you're not doing much in the way of eating a healthy snack  or stopping hunger levels.

A replacement snack would be to have some  cottage cheese and mix some fruit in(which also is a far superior source of protein as well), or you can serve up one of the sugar-free varieties of yogurt instead.

The promising side is that more and more brands are coming out with sugar-free variations and these are typically also lower in calories so they're an even better choice for those following a fat-loss diet. You can also mix in some bran buds cereal (or another high-fiber cereal) to further help slow the digestion of the nutrients in the body and  boost the overall nutritional content.

2. Spaghetti Sauce

How can this be when you are choosing  a tomato-based sauce rather than the creamy sauce that you would have preferred? Well,  just half cup of that tomato sauce may contain as many as three teaspoons of sugar.

That means about 50 calories are from pure sugar per serving.  I don't know many people that just use a single half-cup serving so can you imagine haw much you are getting.

If you add this sugar to the high volume of carbohydrates coming from the pasta, you may be doing some damage to the healthy diet you thought you had.

It is best to reach for a spaghetti sauce that is sugar-free.

3. Ketchup

What is the most  commonly-consumed vegetable in North America, it's sad to say that potatoes are at the top of the list. And how are most of these potatoes being eaten?

If you answered this with  "French fries," you'd be correct.  The amount of trans fat found in French fries is extremely high so this is already something you should avoid. When you add in ketchup you are now adding fuel to the fire. Sadly, some people may even view ketchup as healthy since it comes from tomatoes, but most ketchup is anything but.

Ketchup itself  is high in sugar. About 20% of the condiment being comprised of sugar and can add a significant number of calories to your food.

Three or four tablespoons with your meal you could be in for an added 80 to 100 calories that you weren't expecting. Do the math and add this amount of ketchup every day for a month and you've just gained a solid pound of body weight.

People tend to look at sugar as having to scoop it in with a spoon but the reality of sugar is quite startling to some people.  A little bit here and a little bit there translates to a very large amount over time, so it's vital that you take steps to cut out as much as possible.

Sugar-free varieties of ketchup are now available and should be used instead.

4. Low-Fat Salad Dressing

Many are lead to believe that opting for a low-fat salad dressing must be better than the non low-fat. Unfortunately, this rule may not be all that correct.

Many times when companies remove the fat from these variations, they often add in sugar so now you are replacing one harmful diet ingredient with another.

Manufacturers know that if you don't like the taste of a product you are no longer going to purchase it. Salad dressing doesn't taste all that well without the fat and something must get added. Sugar is what they turn to.

A better solution is to use a small amount of the full-fat dressing that is made with olive oil. By doing this you are taking in some healthy fats as there are fat-soluble vitamins found in your salad that will help increase the absorption rate of these nutrients.

5. Bread

If you are doing the low carb diet than you probably are not eating bread. Take a good look at the ingredient listing of the bread that you're serving up and watch out for either sugar or corn syrup as both terms are sometimes used. If this is listed in the ingredient list at the top, it's time to put the bread back on the shelf and go with something else.

Conclusion

I hope I have helped you in making better nutritional choices.  Be very careful with your diet and the intake of sugar you're consuming. Sugar is everywhere these days, and unless you pay real close attention to what you are eating, there is a chance you are getting more than you know.

Exercise and Nutrition Tips

1. Prev:Building Muscle Without Weights
2. Next:How to gain muscle