8. Avoid Sugar-Filled Breakfast Foods
Breakfast cereals are among the worst when it comes to added sugar.
One report found that some of the most popular ones contained over half of their weight in added sugar.
One cereal in the report contained over 12 teaspoons (50 grams) per serving, which made it 88% sugar by weight.
What’s more, the report found that granola, which is usually marketed as “healthy,” has more sugar than any other type of cereal, on average.
Popular breakfast foods, such as pancakes, waffles, muffins and jams, are also loaded with added sugar.
Switch to these low-sugar breakfast options instead:
- Hot oatmeal: Add some chopped fruit if you like it sweet.
- Greek yogurt: Add fruit and nuts for extra good calories.
- Eggs: Boiled, poached, scrambled or as an omelette.
- Avocado: Packed full of nutrition and healthy fats for energy.
Choosing a low-sugar option with high protein and fibre at breakfast will help you feel full until lunchtime, preventing unnecessary snacking.
Summary: Breakfast cereals are among the worst culprits for added sugar, along with pancakes, waffles and jams. Switch to low-sugar options such as eggs, oatmeal or plain yogurt.
9. Read Labels
Unfortunately, eating less sugar isn’t as easy as just avoiding sweet foods. You’ve already seen that it can hide in unlikely foods, including some breakfast cereals, granola bars and dried fruit.
However, some savoury foods, such as bread, can also contain a lot of added sugar. Two slices can contain 1.5 teaspoons (6 grams) (25).
Unfortunately, it isn’t always easy to identify added sugars on a food label. Current food labels don’t differentiate between natural sugars, such as those in milk or fruits, and added sugars.
To see if a food has sugars added, you will need to check the ingredients list. It is also important to note the order in which sugar appears on the list, since ingredients are listed in order of the highest percentage first.
Food companies also use more than 50 other names for added sugar, which makes it more difficult to spot. Here are some of the most common:
- High-fructose corn syrup
- Cane sugar or juice
- Maltose
- Dextrose
- Invert sugar
- Rice syrup
- Molasses
- Caramel
Thankfully, identifying sugar in packaged food in the US just got much easier.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has changed their rules so that companies have to show the amount of added sugar in their products on the ingredients label in grams, along with a percentage of the daily value (26).
Companies have until 2018 to change their labels to comply.
Summary: Always read food labels to check for sugar by its many names. The closer to the beginning it is on the ingredients list, the greater percentage of sugar the product contains.
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