Sugar is the new smoking. Have you heard that yet? The American diet is overflowing with sugar. Back in the 80-90’s when the low-fat craze hit, food manufacturers compensated with the lack of fat in processed foods with adding more sugar. It is very hard to find processed food nowadays without added sugar. It takes time and very careful label reading to eat a low sugar diet.
Our body does not know the difference between added sugars and natural sugars such as those found in fruit and milk. But typically along with those natural sugars, you are also ingesting vitamins, mineral, fiber and other beneficial nutritients that are not always found with foods with added sugars. So basically I do not worry about natural sugars too much. The trick is to look at the ingredient list to find out if there are added sugars. Added sugars can be hiding under a multitude of names. Here are some of the most common names: 
It is hard to find clear and concise guidelines about sugar intake. The USDA does not recognize sugar as an essential nutrient so there is not a recommended daily intake. The Dietary Guidelines state :
“For most people, no more than about 5 to 15 percent of calories from solid fats and added sugars can be reasonably accommodated in the USDA Food Patterns, which are designed to meet nutrient needs
within calorie limits. “
This basically means for the average diet (2000 calories) no more than 100-300 calories should come from added sugars and solid fats. This is higher than the WHO recommendations. Earlier this year the World Health Organization dropped it’s sugar recommendation from 10 % to 5 % of daily calorie intake. The Dietary Guidelines will be revised in 2015, it will be interesting to see how they address sugar.
So back to the basic question: how much sugar should we be eating? Well, in my opinion the less the better. The 5% recommendation comes out to about 6 tsp a day or 24 grams of added sugar. If you have ever added up the sugar in common ingested foods, it would be very hard to hit that guideline.
I took a look at our own pantry just to see where the sugars were hiding. Take a look at what I found.
Dried fruit is typically a sugar bomb. I think it is very hard or near impossible to find cranberries without added sugar. Even the ‘natural’ no sugar added varieties typically are sweetened with some sort of fruit juice concentrated.
These are the reduced sugar variety but they still contain 13g per 1/3 cup. That’s about 3 tsp or half the recommendation.
Tomato products seem to be the worse offenders. It is hard to find pizza sauce, ketchup, or pasta sauce without added sugar. This FAT FREE pizza sauce has 3g in just a 1/4 cup.
5 grams in a 1/2 cup! I probably use more than a 1/2 cup on one serving of pasta. So it’s like taking over a teaspoon of sugar and sprinkling it on my pasta. I think we need to start making our own pasta sauce more often!
Why is there sugar in bread crumbs??? Which also raises the question what are all those other ingredients?!? Note: will also be making homemade bread crumbs in the future.
This was a real bummer. This delicious ‘all natural’ almond butter has evaporated cane juice. 
I have found that I feel much better when I am not eating a lot of added sugars. When I do indulge, I have felt lethargic, headachy, and definitely crave more sugar later in the day. It’s proven to be addicting and I believe it.
So bottom line: make sure to read the label to check if there are added sugars in your grocery favorites. Tip: ingredients are listed by weight so if sugar is one of the first ingredients that’s a red flag.
Check your pantry and let me know what hidden sugars you have found.
Have a great day!