Most of us know that junk food may not have the most (if any, really) nutritional value. Cookies, cake, ice cream, soda, candy bars, and baked goods are all incredibly delicious and great for special occasions, but many of us try to limit them the best that we can.
I have a one-ingredient rule when it comes to making decisions about what to eat. If it has only one ingredient in it… chicken, turkey, fish, broccoli, cauliflower, apples, nuts, etc., then I’ll eat it. These foods are generally extremely nutrient dense and lower in calories than processed counterparts. The one exception to my rule is SUGAR! Sugar is incredibly addictive and not your friend at all if you are wanting to reduce belly fat. We all know that it is a main ingredient in the junk foods listed above. But what about all of the products that are marketed as “healthy”? Granola bars, fruit juice, fruit flavored yogurt, kids fruit/veggie pouches, and smoothies, only to name a few, are all items that have been marketed as ‘health food’, yet when you read the labels will have 10g or much more of sugar, which equates to 2.5 sugar cubes all the way up to 8 or more! Never mind the fact that they go against my one-ingredient rule, but sometimes you just need something to grab and go, right?
If you would have known that drinking that little bottle of apple juice was basically the same thing as eating 7.5 sugar cubes… would you still consume it? What about low-fat salad dressings? When you take away the fat, flavor also changes and diminishes, so it needs to be replaced with something in order for you to still choose it for its taste. Low-fat ranch has 3g in 2 tablespoons compared to regular ranch that has 1g. So why is sugar better than just eating the fat? Well, that will have to be topic for the next blog!
For now, back to sugar. It all depends on your personal health and wellness goals, but I would venture to guess that most of us choose to watch the levels which we decide to ingest. So before you just choose something to just grab and go, or a new snack to try because you saw the commercial, diligently ready the label and if it has many more than 5g per serving, you might want to think twice about choosing it.