It seems like it’s in everything like bread, pasta, beverages, cereal, and sauces. What kind of diets avoid most of this?
EDIT: Thank you guys for suggestions! I just want to be clear that I do read nutrition labels, but some more suggestions on specific foods you guys eat would be appreciated:)
If you cook everything from scratch, you won’t need to add “added” sugar and you won’t encounter “added” sugar. Prepare your meats, vegetables, fruits, grains and whatever, without pre-prepared sauces or additives. Squeeze your own fruit juices. According to a bit of research I just did, apparently you can even make bread without sugar.
Completely avoiding added sugar sounds like a lot of work, but I’m sure one could get used to it after a while.
Short answer? It’s difficult unless you’re only eating whole foods (ie nothing processed or prepared). My husband has started baking bread and let me tell you. This is the best tasting most delicious bread I have ever eaten. He doesn’t add any sugar. It’s a simple recipe of yeast, whole wheat flour, and salt. It tastes sooooooo much better than any store bought or bakery bread. And pasta sauce? Without the sugar it’s sooo good. Plain oats with whatever fresh fruit and flax seeds? Delightful, and so much more filling and tasty than boxed cereal.
Shop at foreign markets like Lebanese/Syrian/Indian grocery stores. The bread there is top tier and it’s the purest ingredients.
Edit: In fact you should buy as much food as you can from those types of foreign shops because I’ve found even the meat tastes better and more natural.
There’s certain brands that are better!
Bread- sourdough, Ezekiel, Dave’s killer bread Cookies- simple mills, immaculate Crackers- simple mills, flaxackers, Mary’s gone crackers
I recommend swapping for better options
All about making your own food. I have been able to keep under 10G of added sugars per day.
Veggies, fruits, lentils/legumes, rice.
Instead of bread, I do lentil flatbread (or even crackers).
Cereal is not anything you need to eat.
Make my own enchilada sauce, use mustard for crackers/flatbreads.
Can use salsa on low sugar pasta
Op, if you’re looking to avoid added sugars specifically for blood sugar reasons, please consider cutting out grains, root veggies, and fruits that aren’t berries. All of those will spike your sugar. Basically, eat a clean keto diet. Also, always easy fat and/or protein with any carbs you eat to help avoid spikes. For example, if I eat 1/4c blueberries alone, my sugar spikes. However, if I eat 1/4 c blueberries with my meal, it doesn’t spike. Also, if you’re on fb, check out the group “reversing type 2 diabetes support group” —source: type 2 diabetic who reversed my diabetes by diet alone, by following the way of eating advocated in that group. Btw, that group has a guide on what sugar substitutes are safe for blood sugar and which to avoid, as well. There is also a sister group that’s a recipe group.
By going cold turkey. I’ve been sugar-free for 4 years (no added sugar and minimal foods with natural sugar) best decision of my life. I had to give up bread, pastry, and baked goods. At first, I got crazy cravings but after a few months I got over it, that’s when I realized my sweet tooth was just a sugar addiction, nowadays tomatoes taste sweet and if I eat something with crazy amount of sugar I might actually throw up - Actually I did, spent my Christmas with family and ate some candy/chocolate treats, I got insane jitters and followed by the worst crash in my life. Yea, glad I’m done with that.
Read labels if you must shop the inner isles of the grocery stores. Avoid sugar free as well, sucralose is not good for you either. Otherwise eat Whole Foods and not prepared or processed foods.
As far as diets - I believe Keto and carnivore diets are popular these days.
Well, I live in America. I just read the label, lol. And I eat veggies. According to MyFitnessPal, I don’t usually go over 30something grams of sugar per day on average
I’m not above sugar free versions of things. Barebells instead of candy bars, Coke Zero instead of regular coke, I make my own low sugar ice cream instead of buying it at the store
Don’t just read the nutrition label. Read the ingredient list.
Added sugars and salt are added to make something taste better, often when less than ideal ingredients are used.
Add more whole, minimally processed foods and you’ll push out the stuff with added sugars.
By looking at labels. Sauces and dressings tend to be the offenders people don’t notice. Bread is another, generic store bread white is often the best choice because whole wheat tends to have lots of added sugar. On the good news front added sugar in food is now back down to the level it was in the 70’s, the focus on added sugar has made manufacturer’s remove it from food.
Also you should pay attention to total sugar too. Something can have lots of sugar in it but all of it is naturally occurring so it’s only in total not added. There is no difference between natural sugar and added sugar.
The actual diet you use doesn’t really matter. Diets which are plant forward, eg Mediterranean, tend to be easier as there are fewer opportunities to introduce problem foods but you can do it with any diet.
BTW be careful you don’t tar all carbs with the same brush. Nothing wrong with half your calories coming from carbs as long as they are predominantly complex.
Theres something kinda stupid about this whole line of thinking. If you are watching sugar, don’t consume deserts, soda, etc.Taking painstaking measures to avoid loaves of breads that have 2 grams of added sugar or something isn’t worth worrying about for most people.
Bread- fresh from the bakery usually sourdough, semolina or baguette but not daily. Once or twice a week we eat bread.
Pasta- my wife and I will buy high quality semolina based pasta or we will make our own and neither has added sugar.
Beverages- water! If we drink coffee it’s black with half teaspoon of sugar. I take my espresso no sugar.
Cereals- hot cereal or oatmeal. If I do any type of sweetener, it’s maple syrup that my neighbor makes, it’s 100% pure.
Sauce- I’m Italian, we make sauce from scratch, never do I add sugar! If I have to sweeten sauce for any reason, a carrot cut in two pieces does the trick.
My diet has always been Mediterranean specifically southern Italian. Tons of fish, greens, fresh fruit, veggies, olive oils, nuts, legumes, simple breads and pasta.
I’ve heard it said that if you want to eat healthy to shop on the outer edge of the grocery store, and stay away from the middle. Outer edge is produce, meats and cheeses, and the middle is all of your prepared stuff (most of which is high in either added sugar, fat, salt, or all three).
I don’t live in America, but it’s an important question about a more-or-less international problem.
As a rule, I avoid added sugar by avoiding processed foods, and choosing whole foods, or foods as close as possible to their natural state.
The note added to the edited OP mentions already reading nutrition labels and asks for specific foods. Reading nutrition labels is only necessary for processed foods. Whole foods include any food that hasn’t been modified, any vegetable (spinach, carrots, potatoes, cabbage, etc. etc.), legumes (lentils, beans, chickpeas), nuts, etc.
In practice, this means shopping in a market (or a market-like shop), rather than a so-called “supermarket”.