Sugar = Sugar = Sugar
We got the idea for this post in the middle of our SnoRidge CrossFit workshop. We were about an hour into the afternoon, and Dallas was talking about how (and why) sugar and artificial sweeteners make you less healthy. That led to a discussion of all the sneaky ways big business, marketing campaigns and advertisers find to appease the sugar tantrums in all of us. Which prompted one attendee to ask, “Do you have a comprehensive list of sugars somewhere on your site? A way to identify the different forms of sugar we may see in a list of product ingredients?”
Huh. Well, no, we didn’t… but that was an awesome idea, so now we do.
Today’s post is dedicated to calling out all of the sneaky ways SUGAR may try to hide in the foods you eat, and shining a light on the misleading claims that are made in support of one form of sugar or another. They (the high fructose corn syrup people, the agave people, the Stevia people) claim because a sugar is “natural” or “low on the glycemic index” or “non-nutritive” that it’s somehow healthy for us. On top of that, they sneak it in under the guise of a label that sounds vaguely plant-like and harmless, or in plain sight under its scientific name, easy to overlook because you just plain don’t know what it is. The truth? Sugar is sugar is sugar, regardless of the form it may take or the claims it might make. And on no planet does added sugar ever make you healthier.
Below is a list of the most commonly employed sneaky ways “they” find to sweeten the foods we eat. Don’t be fooled. Educate yourself, read your labels and avoid regular consumption of products with added sugar, in any form.
Just Plain Sugar
- ______ Sugar (brown sugar, cane sugar, raw sugar, beet sugar, confectioner’s sugar, etc.)
- ______ Syrup (high fructose corn syrup, malt syrup, refiner’s syrup, rice syrup, etc.)
Science-y Names for Sugar
- Dextrose
- Disaccharide
- Fructose
- Glucose
- Galactose
- Lactose
- Maltodextrin
- Maltose
- Monosaccharide
- Polysaccharide
- Ribose
- Saccharose
- Sucrose
“Natural” Sugars
- Agave Nectar
- Date sugar
- (Evaporated) Cane juice
- Fruit juice*
- Honey
- Maple Syrup
- Molasses
- Rice Malt (extract)
- (Sweet) Sorghum
- Treacle
*Admittedly, it can be hard to know where to stop in your quest to remove added sugar from your diet. Fruit juice is basically just sugar, which is why we’re including it here. Does that mean your apple juice sweetened chicken sausage is out? That’s your call. We’re just here to present the information – what you do with it is up to you.
Artificial (Non-Nutritive) Sweeteners
- Aspartame
- Acesulfame-K/Potassium
- Equal
- Nutra-Sweet
- Saccharin
- Splenda
- Stevia
- Sucralose
- SweetLeaf
- Sweet ‘n Low
- Truvia
Sugar Alcohols
- Arabitol
- Dulcitol
- Erythritol
- Glycol
- Glycerol
- Hydrogenated Starch Hydrosylate (HSH)
- Iditol
- Isomalt
- Lactitol
- Maltitol
- Mannitol
- Polyglycitol
- Ribitol
- Sorbitol
- Threitol
- Xylitol
Subscribe to the 9 Blog
Melissa or Dallas, question for you.
My in-laws find the need to take plain, naturally sweet, fruit salad and cover it with sugar. They find the need to sweeten the sweet fruit further. Is this related to some kind of “over-sugaring” throughout their lives that causes them to not recognize a naturally sweet food?
I think I’m finally beating my sugar demons! I have an imaginary “date” (not yet scheduled) to take one day and eat everything from my past that I used to enjoy and just pig out! LOL. Cheesecake, doritos, coffee with sugar and cream, chocolate pudding, coconut macaroons, apple pie, etc. etc. It is just an imaginary date, however, and I truly believe I am just mentally psyching my sugar demons. More than likely I will not follow through with this diabolical date but it’s still fun to dream … Thank you, Dallas and Melissa for helping me over this ‘hump’.
However, where on the list would fruits be? I have been severely limiting my intake of fruits such as apples and bananas because I read somewhere (maybe here?) that they are basically just candy bars growing on trees! But what about strawberries, blueberries, cantalope? These items have become really really sweet to me now (I used to not be able to eat strawberries unless they had been drenched in sugar!, like Nick’s in-laws) Should I be limiting my consumption of these, too? Between lunch and supper is when the sugar demons seem to howl the loudest (at least I think it’s the sugar demons?!) so I have a bowl of plain blueberries or strawberries for my afternoon “snack.” Am I still giving in to those demons?? If these are the sugar demons howling, should I try something else for my snack – perhaps black olives or an extra glass of water instead?
I’d also like to know where to draw the line with fruit consumption I’ve been eating strawberries and grapes the last couple of weeks maybe a handful of each every second day or so. I think I’m addicted to these they are so nice fresh and um sweet… I’m starting to think they may be slowing my fat loss progress. I’m thinking berries would be the best form of fruits so yeah whats the deal with fruit?
@Nick: That’s EXACTLY what we’re talking about. People become so conditioned to the artificially flavored chemical sweet/savory/salty/sour tastes in processed foods that they can’t appreciate the gorgeous subtleties of the REAL foods they’re eating. Sweet potato, strawberries, even carrots are PLENTY sweet, but until the taste buds are reconditioned, those flavors are lost on some. It’s a crying shame – but the good news is that just 30 days of the Whole30 starts to fix that! Lots of testimonials to that effect, in fact. Thanks for sharing.
@Ronna: Good for you! Glad to hear you’re feeling better and stronger. (And yes, it IS fun to dream… which is why I scope the wine list at every restaurant, without ever ordering a glass.)
Fruits are one of those tricky foods. Fruit isn’t the enemy by any means – it’s loaded with good nutrition, and delicious to eat! But we have referred to them as “nature’s candy” from time to time, so if eating a handful of grapes sends you running for the nearest Krispy Kreme (or leads you to hoovering the ENTIRE bag of grapes) you may want to back off even the “naturally” sweet things until your demons are more under control.
You’re totally onto something in your last question, sister. Do yourself a favor – when your sugar tantrums are acting up, that is NOT the time to reach for fruit. Eat FAT instead – some olives, a handful of macadamia nuts, some celery with Sunbutter. Fat is satiating, tells your brain you are happy and full, and doesn’t stir the sugar cravings like fruit will. (Drinking a glass of water won’t do a darn thing – you’ll still be hungry!) Hope that helps – although it sounds like you’re already WELL on the way to figuring this all out for yourself. We’re proud of you for that – great work here!
@Nathan: You used the word “addicted”. That’s about all I need to hear, my friend! See my advice to Ronna above – do yourself a favor and break those sugar cravings by NOT reaching for fruit at every opportunity. Try “sweeter” vegetables like jicama, sugar snap peas or carrots – juicy, portable, delicious, but not as sugary as those berries. And eat them with some fat for satiety!
Best,
Melissa
Melissa – OMG – I completely forgot I had purchased a jicama two weeks ago at the grocery store. I decided to try it just now after reading your comment – just how on EARTH do you PEEL this darned thing?!? did cavepeople have knives? If I was a cavewoman and found this, I think I’d chuck it! And if it was my caveman husband who brought it home saying “here, try this” I’d chuck it at HIM! LOL.
Anyway, I just peeled about half of it and cut into it – I think it went bad on me since I stuck it in the crisper and forgot all about it. :( I’ll get another one this weekend when I go shopping and give it another try.
Hi Melissa and Dallas! Yet another great post and one that’s hitting home here at Crossfit Ramstein. We’re 2 days out from the end of our Paleo/Healthy Eating Challenge and people seem to be very happy with the results. One of the issues we faced with some of our newbies was getting them off the ‘crack’ that is sugar. Sometimes I felt like a hostage negotiator trying to convince them to give up their ‘one teaspoon of sugar’ in their coffee. Some folks were able to give it up cold turkey, which was awesome. Others were giving up sugar for the first time ever so we took a softer approach with them and allowed them to use honey instead of their usual sugar, and then try to phase that out completely. After about 1 week of using honey instead, it got phased out completely and now the people who ‘had to have’ milk or non dairy creamer (yuck!) and sugar in their coffee are content to enjoy it with just a splash of coconut milk. Maybe it makes me a bad challenge coach for caving to such concessions but in my mind the idea is to get people to make these changes PERMANENTLY and being the iron fisted coach who refuses to budge was not the best way to welcome people to the community of ‘healthy eating’. Plus the feedback I’m getting tells me this is a trend they are willing and able to continue. I guess ‘tough love with understanding’ wasn’t such a bad strategy after all! Thanks as always for all the great information, I plan to email you after it’s all said and done to let you know how things went.
-Lauren
P.S. Totally agree with putting fruit juice on the list, or as I call it ‘liquid candy’.
It’s crazy that you almost have to have a degree in sciencey label names to figure out what all they try to sneak into food. Although, I’ve relieved a lot of that by building 98% of my diet on things that don’t have an ingredient label because they are what they are (fresh produce, meats, eggs, etc.). I just want to throw a quick testimonial out there about fat and sugar cravings. I am not quite Whole 30, but following something very close to it. During the first couple of weeks, my carb/sugar cravings were *nasty*! I remembered what I’d read here and some other places about reaching for fat, so when things got too out of hand and I couldn’t stand it anymore (a hard core carb craver will know what I’m talking about—it’s like you have to grit your teeth and feel all crazy!) I actually fried a couple of slices of bacon, mashed a whole avocado, drizzled bacon grease over it, and ate that with two eggs I scrambled in the rest of the bacon fat. It was this huge plate of fat and I felt weird eating it….but it killed the sugar craving fast. Since then, I find some avocado slices or my new favorite—”green egg salad” (hard boiled eggs chopped up and mixed with mashed avocado, onions, and lime juice) are great cures when I hear the siren song of cake. These are huge changes for me and I’m feeling great!
SWEET JESUS!!! How do you guys feel about the Jerky from Trader Joe’s? I buy the Organic Beef Peppered Jerky but Yes, it does have sugar. I’m going to attempt to make my own Jerky very soon
Lauren,
We’re thrilled to hear about the success of your implementation of a lot of the Whole30 principles that made YOU so successful, and we’re certainly not judging your coaching ability from afar. Like you say, success has to start with buy-in, and if a teaspoon of honey prevents buy-in from your clients, then your program – and they – have missed the point. So, while the Whole30 says NO added sugar, your gentler, “step down” program just might work for some of your people. Thanks for the check-in, and we’re looking forward to hearing about the success of your clients!
Dawn,
Fat and protein are satiating, yes! Just don’t rely on bacon as your go-to fat source ;)
KnArF,
Let us know how your unsweetened jerky turns out! (We think the idea of sweetening dried meat is… dumb.)