Sugar tastes sweet, and it is loved in deserts and many authentic cuisines. But consuming too much sugar could worsen your health. Excess sugar has been linked to diabetes, tooth decay, heart disease, obesity, and even cancer. So, it’s better to avoid foods that are loaded with sugar in your diet to stay healthy.
You can avoid sugar in your everyday teas or coffees, sweet desserts, sugary drinks, and soda. You will be surprised to know that some foods are loaded with excess hidden sugar. Let’s glance at these six surprising foods that are loaded with sugar and must be avoided.
10 Foods with Sugar You Must Avoid
1. Flavored Green Tea
Green tea is considered the healthiest drink. It boosts metabolism and also helps you in shedding excess weight. Nowadays, there are various flavored teas to enhance the taste of green teas. But the flavored green teas contain added sugar that could be harmful to health. Added flavors mean added sugar and calories. Prefer sipping pure green tea to lose weight.
2. Sugar-free Products
It’s surprisingly true that sugar-free products consist of harmful sugar alcohols like sorbitol, mannitol, etc. Taking these products could cause digestive troubles, slow down the metabolism, and lead to weight gain. It’s better not to rely on these sugar-free products. Instead, add honey or jaggery to your dishes if you crave sweetness.
3. Packaged Fruit Juices
The packaged fruit juices consist of added sugar, artificial flavors, and colors. They aren’t good for health, as they are low in fiber, minerals, and vitamins. Being loaded with calories, regular consumption of these packaged fruit juices could lead to weight gain. The added sugar could cause high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, etc. Instead of packaged fruit juices, make juice of fresh fruits at home.
4. Granola Bars
Granola bars are said to be healthy since they are made of oats. But the granola bars usually consist of added free sugar, honey, nuts, and dried fruits. These can increase your intake of sugar and calories. Therefore, it’s better to have granola bars of plain rolled oats.
5. Low Fat Yoghurt
The creamy, delicious yogurt is very good for health. You can consume the natural, homemade yogurt every day. But the low-fat yogurt available in markets isn’t good for health as they contain added sugar and flavor. It’s better to have a full-fat yogurt made at home than the low-fat yogurt at markets.
6. Salad Dressing
The packaged salad dressings may seem convenient to carry to the workplace, and it even tastes good. But it consists of added sugar, taste enhancers, and other additives. Consuming these salad dressings regularly could affect your health. It’s better to prepare a homemade salad dressing with chili flakes, herbs, olive oil, and lime juice.
7. Iced Tea
Iced tea is filled with calories and sugar. It’s just like normal tea but with added sugar or flavored syrup for more sweetness. It can cause an insulin spike, diabetes, which can affect the cardiovascular system too. So, it’s better to avoid too much-iced tea. Instead, prepare tea at home with lemon, honey, and herbs.
8. Sweet Cookies
They are made up of refined flour, butter, added sweeteners, preservatives, and dry fruits, these sweet cookies are loaded with calories and harmful for health. It can cause weight gain, elevated blood glucose levels, and affect cholesterol levels. Baking cookies at home is an excellent choice to avoid unnecessary added sugar and sweeteners.
9. BBQ Sauce
BBQ Sauce is used for marinating veggies and meat. People also enjoy having BBQ sauce as a dip with foods. But these sauces have a high amount of sugar. Within two tablespoons of BBQ sauce, 16 g of added sugar could be present. Although it’s time-consuming, you can try to prepare homemade marinades and dips.
10. Breakfast Cereals
It feels so convenient to have crunchy breakfast cereals on busy mornings. They are the quickest breakfast and easily prepared by just adding milk. However, the flavored cereals could contain too much sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Prefer having plain cornflakes with milk for a nutritious morning breakfast.
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