Okay, and back on track to the 3rd top tip:

3. Becoming aware of the Unusual Suspects, which are those foods which are touted or disguised as being healthy, although unfortunately contain some shockingly high amounts of sugar.

Soda

If you eliminate anything from your diet let it be this! As mentioned above, a 12 ounce can of soda contains the equivalent of nearly 10 teaspoons of sugar! Again the World Health Organization recommends maximum 6 teaspoons a day. Therefore this amount of sugar, in liquid form, makes the blood sugar skyrocket and causes an insulin reaction in the body, which can lead to diabetes or insulin resistance.

Ketchup

A serving size of ketch up is 17g, that is one of the little presized packages, which contains 4,25 teaspoons of sugar. The question is do you normally only use one little presized bag of ketchup normally it is minimum 3 with the French fries and another one the hamburger which brings the 4,25 teaspoons of sugar up to 17 teaspoons rather quickly! I admit, I am not such a ketchup fan, although for my family, I have recently discovered a new brand of sugarfree (with no other added sweeteners) called Bio Bandits, which you can find at your local Albert Hein and in different locations all over Europe.

And in March of 2018 one of the main grocery store chains in the Netherlands, Albert Heijn, started with their own sugar-free ketchup and mayonnaise,

Yogurt – in particular flavored yogurts.

An example would be Activia. The flavored Activia yogurt has 17 grams or 4 teaspoons of sugar and 5 grams of protein, whereas Greek Yogurt has 6 grams or 1.4 teaspoons of sugar and 15 grams of protein.

On a personal note, being an American living in the Netherlands, I didn’t realize how spoiled for healthy choices we are until a trip back to the USA a few years back.
My son was 2 years old and had an eye infection with which he had to take antibiotics for, knowing the benefits of probiotics in feeding the good gut bacteria; I went to the Good Food Store to get some yogurt which he loves. Much to my dismay there was absolutely NONE without sugar.. Mostly processed sugars, and the healthier versions still had agave or honey… I was shocked! In the Netherlands the yogurt with no flavorings is just that with no added sugars at all!

Packaged Sauces – such as BBQ and Spaghetti sauce

BBQ Sauce, let’s again break it down to a serving size of 17 grams which contains 1,5 teaspoons of sugar. To get a visual, think of the little 17 gram ketchup packages you get when eating out. Is this how much BBQ sauce you will find on a rack of ribs for instance? Most likely minimum 4 packages equating to your daily maximum of 6 teaspoons of free sugars per day.

The majority of pre-made spaghetti sauce contains 2,5 teaspoons of sugar in ½ cup serving size. Again, something where you think you are eating healthy, tomatoes, vegetables, and possibly didn’t even realize there were free sugars added. One of my favorite homemade spaghetti sauce recipes is from the I Breath I’m Hungry blog. And I try to add real ingredient when possible, as well as substitute the red wine vinegar with lemon juice.

Salad Dressings

Did you realize in opting for the healthy salad option, that there is 4 teaspoons of sugar in just 50 grams of salad dressing! When possible, I always ask for dressing on the side, or even better opt for oil and a squeeze of lemon.

I hope this has provided some insights on where you might find some unsuspecting sugars lurking in your kitchen, along with some suggestions on how to remove the sugar sabotages to empower you on your journey to live your healthiest, happiest life!

Shay was invited to join the Sugar Summit hosted by Sugarwise, an international certification body for sugar claims, which took place at the European parliament in Brussels. She is passionate about creating Sugar Awareness and feels education is what is lacking, as when we know better, we do better.