A healthy salad with French dressing, chicken and vegetables with ketchup, cappuccino with oat milk, and the protein shake after a workout. All of these sound like healthy foods, and you probably don't bother to look at the label. After all, what's not healthy about a salad? Isn't oat milk a healthier option than cow's milk? Well, it's always a matter of comparison.
If you look at the label of some of these foods, you'll notice that many of them contain sugar. Sugar is not always easy to spot. Often they are "undercover," hidden under other names. So let's take a look at some foods that you wouldn't suspect contain oodles of sugar. Especially the store-bought ones.
Salad dressing
The picture below shows a blood sugar spike caused by a supposedly healthy salad. It was full of vegetables (fiber), salmon (fat and protein) and other greens. This is the perfect combination to keep blood sugar stable. Then the dressing is added. And the whole curve changes for the worse. In this case, the dressing was responsible for the sharp rise and rapid fall of the curve.
Did you know that store-bought salad dressings can contain up to 16-20 g of sugar per 100 ml. That's about 4-5 sugar cubes. And the same goes for salads when you eat out.
Our tip: Use olive oil and apple cider vinegar. Or order the dressing extra, so you can decide for yourself how much you want to add.
Sauces
Sauces like BBQ dips or ketchup can contain a lot of sugar - up to 20 g per 100 g; the equivalent of about 5 sugar cubes. Very scary when you take a closer look. So what are your options? Skip the sauces or make them yourself.
Dips & Spreads
Hummus, baba ganoush or veggie dips. They all sound super tasty. All of these dips are made with super healthy ingredients and are fantastic options for your snacks. If you buy them at the grocery store, be extra careful and check the food label for the sugar content. You'll be surprised by the ingredients and hidden sugar.
Coffee drinks
A flavored coffee or frappuccino is a real treat. And we recommend treating these coffee drinks as something special and exceptional, too. Most of these treats have the character of a dessert rather than a "drink or refreshment". One Frappuccino contains almost 400 kcal. This is almost equal to the recommended amount of energy (500 kcal) for a main meal (breakfast/lunch/dinner). A large part of these calories come from the 45 g of sugar. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends consuming less than 25 grams of sugar per day. This also means that with one Frappuccino, you'll use up your sugar budget for two days.
Muesli
36.7% of Germans eat muesli for breakfast at least 5-6 times a week. That's a lot of sugar, because one serving of store-bought muesli can contain up to 40 g of sugar. This could explain why many people suffer from cravings or lack of energy during the day. These symptoms are due to the fact that the choice of breakfast causes blood sugar levels to spike and then crash again shortly afterwards.
Our tip: Be creative and make your own muesli. Great ingredients include goji berries, coconut flakes, flax seeds, cacao nibs, seeds and nuts.
Milk alternatives
Are plant-based alternatives healthier than dairy products? There is no clear answer to this question. Every milk alternative is different. And some of them contain a lot of sugar. While oat milk is very likely to spike blood sugar levels because it contains a lot of carbohydrates, soy milk may be a better choice. It has fewer carbohydrates and contains protein, which helps keep blood sugar levels stable.
Our tip: Even with milk alternatives, always check the food label and make sure you choose a product with no added sugar.
Below you can see the curve of one of our team experiments where we tested the effects of milk and milk alternatives on our blood sugar.
Yogurt
Many fruit yogurts also contain a large amount of sugar. This can be misleading, because we recommend combining fruit with some yogurt. Unfortunately, this is not the same as the store-bought variety. When making a fruit yogurt, the fruit loses its important fiber, and on top of that, sugar is added. So it's a double whammy. A 200 g serving can contain up to 6 lumps of sugar cubes.
Our tip: Buy a natural yogurt and add your own fruits, berries and a few seeds and nuts. The difference for your blood sugar and your palate will be remarkable.
Fruit Juices & Smoothies
Imagine eating 3 oranges or 4 apples in one sitting. You probably wouldn't do that, especially not in such a short time. But that's about the same amount you would eat if you drank a glass of fruit juice. This contains 20 grams of sugar. So it's no surprise that these drinks are your ticket to the glucose roller coaster you end up on. Plus, store-bought juices can contain added sugars.
Our tip: Eat your fruit whole and as a dessert with nuts or yogurt. And replace your orange juice for breakfast with a glass of water with lemon or berries.
Frozen and canned food
Many things you find in the canned or frozen food aisles contain sugar, and not too little of it. Next time you reach for the frozen pizza, fish sticks or canned vegetables, check the food label and see how much sugar you can find.
Bread
Have you ever checked the ingredients of your toast? We suggest you take a closer look next time. Most packaged breads contain a lot of sugar as a preservative to extend shelf life. All that sugar then goes straight into your body.
Our tip: Try it and bake your own bread or get sourdough bread from the baker around the corner.
Protein Bars & Shakes
We live in a world where a healthy lifestyle includes protein shakes and bars. But like many of the products already mentioned, these can also contain a lot of sugar. So check the ingredients list carefully if you want to avoid blood sugar spikes and not feel tired soon after.
Tomato sauce
Pasta, pizza, lasagna. We love them all. And all of them taste good only with a little tomato sauce. For convenience, people buy the sauce already ready. But it is very easy to make your own sauce, and in this way you can avoid the 10 g of added sugar per 100 ml.
How to find hidden sugar in food
It's always wise to check a food's label if you're unsure or just want to learn more. You'll always find something surprising. And with practice, you'll know how to choose the right foods to avoid excessive sugar consumption. Most of these added sugar pitfalls are easy to avoid.
If you too want to find your own sweet spot and see what's happening in your body, you should try our new 14-day Hello Sugar program and measure your blood sugar. Get your Hello Inside subscription now.
