HIDDEN SUGARS AND CARBS

Sugar hidden when you go shopping

You could remove carbs by removing sugar from your diet by cutting out the main culprits namely, cakes, cookies, pastries and other sweet treats and you will be removing carbs as well.

Starches are the most commonly consumed type of carb, and an important source of energy for many people. Cereal grains and root vegetables are common sources. Starches are classified as complex carbs, since they consist of many sugar molecules joined together.

In addition there are ‘hidden sugar’. These foods are often difficult to spot as they are marketed as healthy alternatives and initially appear to be low in sugar.

We cannot readily detect the sugar within these products and reading the label is often a tedious, confusing task to read and understand A lot of these sugars are hidden within processed and packaged foods

Sugars sometime have the chemical name and difficult to notice the sugar content of a product. glucose, fructose, and sucrose are different sugars. Sucrose the common table sugar is a sugar which is more complex having equal amounts of fructose and glucose. Fructose behaves differently that glucose that it is does not cause the high blood sugars, as much as glucose, but it is not metabolized in the tissues. However it is deposited in the liver and converted to fat. Too much fructose (also found in sweet fruits) in large amounts can cause a fatty liver and even cirrhosis and liver cancer

Another confusing topic is the difference between sugars and carbs. The labelling may be low in sugar but may be high in starch . Since starches are digested to sugar, it will add the same amount of calories but the absorption may be slower because of the low glycemic index and cause less post meal blood blood sugar elevations

Sometime you may see “Insoluble starch or carb” These will not be absorbed and should not be calculate the total sugar content.

Low-fat foods are often promoted as a healthier alternative to that of their full-fat counterparts. It is easy to believe that low-fat products are healthier than full-fat products as some producers label their products such as “low in calories” or “light”. However, these products usually contain more sugar than that of the full-fat versions. When a manufacturer produces a product lower in fat it usually worsens the taste and is quite bland. So, to counteract that they add more sugar to improve the taste.

Another label which can be confusing is the portion size. We have to review since you have to multiply the carb or sugars in one portion size by the number of portions you intend to eat !

You have only to invest your time once to identify to food you buy or healthy or not since most people have their favorites foods when shopping and avoid the hidden carbs.