Learning to Read Labels: Sugar
One of the most frustrating skills to acquire for me was learning how to read food labels - both for gluten free navigating, but also for understanding what ingredients harmed or served my body.
I remember, back when I was beginning my very first parasite cleanse, I decided to try out the Whole 30 lifestyle. It cut out some key foods that I needed gone for my cleanse and seemed like a great way to help support my autoimmune disease.
If you’re not aware, the Whole 30 diet cuts out gluten, dairy, sugar, legumes, among other things. It’s absolutely not an attainable lifestyle to live, nor do I encourage it - but one good thing that came from this stepping stone in my life was that it helped me discover how many unnecessary things have refined sugar in them. And not only that, it opened my eyes to just how much refined sugar we had been consuming unknowingly. It was repulsive!
The biggest heartbreak over here was discovering that sugar is in bacon. Friend, I have had sugar free bacon for YEARS now, and I’m here to tell you, you don’t need sugar for it to taste good. Same with ketchup and other condiments. SO many foods that you love can be made free of added sugars and still be delicious.
Did you know sugar has more than one name? This is one of the trickiest things to navigate on labels - it in fact has MANY names that it can be hidden under on a food label.
Common Sugar Names:
Anhydrous dextrose, brown sugar, cane crystals, cane sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, crystal dextrose, evaporated cane juice, fructose sweetener, fruit juice concentrates, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, liquid fructose, malt syrup, maple syrup, molasses, pancake syrup, raw sugar, sugar, syrup and white sugar.
Less apparent sugar names:
Carbitol, concentrated fruit juice, corn sweetener, diglycerides, disaccharides, evaporated cane juice, erythritol, Florida crystals, fructooligosaccharides, galactose, glucitol, glucoamine, hexitol, inversol, isomalt, maltodextrin, malted barley, malts, mannitol, nectars, pentose, raisin syrup, ribose rice syrup, rice malt, rice syrup solids, sorbitol, sorghum, sucanat, sucanet, xylitol and zylose.
Breaking Down Sugar:
Glucose: A simple sugar that is the building block of carbohydrates
Fructose: Like glucose, it is another type of simple sugar found naturally in fruits, root vegetables and honey
Sucrose: Commonly known as table sugar, it includes equal parts of fructose and glucose
Lactose: The sugar that naturally occurs in milk that is made up of equal parts of glucose and galactose
When you eat carbohydrates, the body breaks them down into glucose, which is used for energy.
Fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes and dairy contain natural sugars, with fructose, glucose and lactose being inherently part of these foods.
The main sources of added sugars in the American diet are desserts, soft drinks, juices, sweetened dairy products like flavored milk, yogurt and ice cream, and sweetened refined grain products like sugary cereals.
Why do food producers hide sugar under so many names?
Well that’s simple - companies know that so many of us are nutritionally uneducated and they want to take advantage of that. By consuming ridiculous amounts of sugar in our diet on a regular basis, we are unknowingly putting our bodies under increased stress and decreasing its ability to function properly - hence the rise in diseases and illnesses. Now, sugar isn’t 100% to blame for all of these negative statistics - inflammatory seed oils and processed foods help out as well (among other foods).
I don’t share all of this to shame anyone. If you haven’t made it to this place on your food journey, that is OK! I will never judge you for what you choose to eat - it’s my goal for you to understand what you’re eating and the effects it can cause within your body.
Sugar isn’t the devil.
We don’t need to be afraid of sugar- we need to be mindful of it and consume it in ways that serve our bodies.
Some of my favorite sugars to consume are fresh fruits, maple syrup, and honey.
Deliciousness doesn’t have to come at a cost to your health, friends! And I hope that in this space you learn where you can make substitutions to boost your nutritional intake and quality of life!