Our last discussion took place around sugar, and I posted this picture. Taken from an excellent presentation from Huffington Post that depicts visually the amount of sugar most Americans should eat in a day yet the average is 19 teaspoons or more! Big disparity between 19 and 6. In other words, women eat more than triple the amount of sugar they should within a day.
Many of us struggle with trying to eat healthy. Of course we know that cookies, cakes and candy are not good for us and loaded with sugar. We also are beginning to understand the sugar content with the Starbucks fetish of Vanilla lattes and Carmel Macchiatos. And, not to just pick on Starbucks, here is an example from Biggby, a Michigan based coffee shop with their 16 oz. Wild Berry Freeze. The sugar in this 16 oz drink is 78.5 grams. Divide by 4 and you get 20 teaspoons of sugar!
But the frustration increases when we try to eat healthier and we think our choices are better than the Berry Bliss. I include “us” in this whole scenario because I have been there and still battle the confusion. And, it looks like I’m not alone. The average American eats approx. 20 teaspoons a day, and the average child consumes 32 teaspoons, in one day.
So, let’s start sorting these so called healthy foods out and check their nutrition values with the standard serving. We will start with the “healthy” granola bars. Quaker Oatmeal To Go brown Sugar Cinnamon Bar has 19 grams of sugar (almost 5 teaspoons of sugar), plus hydrogenated oil. We’ll talk later about the hydrogenation.
Ingredients
WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED OATS, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, BROWN SUGAR, OAT BRAN CONCENTRATE, RICE FLOUR, OAT FLOUR, SUGAR, MARGARINE (PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL**, SOYBEAN OIL, WATER, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED COTTONSEED OIL**, SALT, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, SOY LECITHIN, CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA [A PRESERVATIVE], ANNATTO COLOR, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, VITAMIN A PALMITATE), MALTODEXTRIN, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, GLYCERIN, CORN SYRUP, DRIED WHOLE EGGS, MALTED BARLEY EXTRACT, CALCIUM CARBONATE, SALT, WATER, SORBITOL, CINNAMON, SODIUM BICARBONATE, MALT (CONTAINS BARLEY, SOY, AND WHEAT COMPONENTS), CORN FLOUR, MALIC ACID, SODIUM ALGINATE, ENZYME MODIFIED SOY PROTEIN, NATURAL MIXED TOCOPHEROLS, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, SODIUM HEXAMETAPHOSPHATE, POTASSIUM SORBATE AND BHT (PRESERVATIVES), ARTIFICIAL COLOR, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS, NIACINAMIDE*, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, REDUCED IRON, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE*, RIBOFLAVIN*, THIAMIN MONONITRATE*, FOLIC ACID*
Please do not eat these!! Try the recipe for Peanut Butter Larabars made by Wendy, here on my site and inspired from lesssugarnaturally.blogspot.com…and yes they have sugar . . .”a whole fruit with loads of benefits.” Read here about dates, and the place they can have in your diet.
Instead of the refined version of the foods we eat, let’s consider whole foods, the creative ways we can use them for our healthy advantage. Find a variety of recipes that help with your sweet tooth.
If you have a special request, please let me know. We can find together a healthier alternative!