Shocking Foods That Are Loaded With High Fructose Corn Syrup (Sugar) | Plant Based Synergy

These “Healthy” Foods are Loaded With High Fructose Corn Syrup

Do you have any idea how much sugar is in the food you eat? If you don’t you are not alone. The truth is, there are a shocking number of foods with high fructose corn syrup (sugar) in them, and it is making you fat and sick.

 

 

 

One of the main problems with sugar is that most people don’t think they are eating it. I used to be this way too. I was never a big cake and cookie eater for the most part. Of course sweet foods taste delicious to me, but I always hated being fat and would really try to eat them on very rare occasions.

 

I had no idea that all of the so-called healthy food I was eating was loaded up with sugar though. From non-fat yogurt to low-fat salad dressing, I was consuming massive quantities of sugar without even knowing it. And if you have been struggling with your weight, I bet you have been struggling too?

 

 

High fructose corn syrup was invented in the mid 1970’s and made food companies very happy. Why? Because it is very cheap and can easily be added to your food so that it tastes better, so that you eat more of it.

 

The problem is that sugar, specifically high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is not good for your health, and it is not good for your weight. It is known that HFCS promotes tooth decay, type II diabetes and fatty liver just to name a small few health issues with the sweetener. But do you know how much of it is in your food?

 

I think you are already aware that when you eat something like ice cream, cake or a cookie you are eating some amount of sugar. But what is going to shock you is that you are eating it in foods that you would never think of as having added sugar/HFCS. So how much sugar should you be consuming in a given day? The World Health Organization recommends no more than 25 grams of sugar in a given day for a person with a normal BMI (Body Mass Index).

 

25 grams of sugar is just about 6 teaspoons. So now that you know how much sugar you should be having, let’s take a look at how much you may be getting. It is estimated that Americans right now in history are consuming about 150 pounds of sugar per year. That is about 42.5 teaspoons of sugar PER DAY. The image below is what 42.5 teaspoons of sugar looks like. Does this seem healthy to you?

 

There’s one more thing about high fructose corn syrup. It is worse than regular table sugar. In a study, researchers gave a group of rats access to sugar water, and another group access to high fructose corn syrup just like what you will find in so many foods at your grocery store. What they found is shocking. The rats who ate the HFCS gained more weight, and in a very short time they showed signs of metabolic syndrome.

 

 

42.5 Teaspoons of Sugar Daily – The Average American Daily Amount

Foods with added high fructose corn syrup

So let’s take a look at some foods that have added sugars in them. Some of these have a little, and some have a ton. If you want to figure out how many teaspoons of sugar any one of these are, the math is pretty simple. 4 grams of sugar is about equal to 1 teaspoon. So if a food has 12 grams of sugar in a serving, that is 3 teaspoons.

 

Yoplait light has added sugar

1 Yoplait “Light” Yogurt has 12 grams of added sugar!

 

Also keep in mind that many “low fat” or “reduced fat” foods have more added sugars than their full-fat versions. The reason for this is pretty simple. When you remove fat from food it doesn’t taste very good, and you won’t eat it. But sugar….everybody loves sugar, so what better way to make low fat food taste good so you will eat a lot of it.

 

All of the foods below I listed the sugar content in grams. For me though, the way that I really know how much is in there is to think of the sugar in teaspoons…since that is something I can think of and know how much it is easily.

 

To do this yourself, just remember that 4 grams of sugar is about 1 teaspoon. Now when you see that a can of soda has 40 grams you can put a number to it that means a bit more…like 10 TEASPOONS!

 


Surprising Foods That Have Added Sugar

 

 

Whole wheat bread – 1.6 grams

 

Milk (full fat) – 12 grams per 1 cup

 

Skim Milk – 12 grams per 1 cup

 

Prego spaghetti sauce – 10.1 grams per 1/2 cup

 

Honey Nut Cheerios – 9 grams per 3/4 cup

 

Smart Ones Entrees (3 Cheese ziti) – 3 grams per tray

 

V8 Splash Tropical Blend – 16 grams per 8oz

 

V8 100% vegetable juice – 9 grams per can

 

Tortilla chips – 0.3 grams per oz

 

Simply Orange – 22 grams per 8oz

 

Eggo Nutri-Grain – 3 grams per waffle

 

Oscar Meyer low fat smoked turkey – 0.15 grams per slice

 

Ball Park Fat-Free Beef Franks – 1 gram per frank

 

BBQ sauce – 8 grams per oz

 

Hunts Ketchup – 4 grams per tablespoon

 

KFC Potato salad – 5 grams per serving

 

Bush’s baked beans – 12 grams per 1/2 cup

 

Multi-grain tortillas – 2 grams per tortilla

 

Del Monte Carb Clever Sliced Peaches – 6 grams per 1/2 cup

 

Tostito’s Salsa – 1 gram per tablespoon

 

Yoplait Light Yogurt – 14 grams per container

 

Fage Greek yogurt – 6.7 grams per container

 

Nature Valley granola bars – 6 grams per bar

 

Wheat Thins Reduced Fat – 4 grams per 16 crackers

 

English Muffins – 1 gram per muffin

 

Kraft Singles – 1.1 gram per single

 

Kraft singles fat free – 1 gram per slice

 

Daisy sour cream – 1 gram per tablespoon

 

Hot Pockets Ham ‘n Cheese – 7 grams per pocket

 

Lean Pockets Ham ‘n Cheese – 7 grams per pocket

 

Lean Cuisine Cheese Ravioli – 10 grams per container

 

Monster Energy Drink – 27 grams per can

 

Graham crackers – 4.4 grams per 1 large rectangle

 

Clif Bar Apricot – 21 grams per bar
Plain Bagel – 7 grams per bagel

 

French Onion Dip – 1 gram per 2 tablespoons

 

Multi-Grain Tortillas – 2 grams per tortilla

 

Gortons Fish Sticks – 3 grams per 6 fish sticks

 

The Skinny Cow Low Fat Ice Cream – 17 grams per 3oz

 

Totino’s Pizza Rolls – 2 grams per 6 rolls

 

“No Sugar Added” Creamsicle Pops – 2 grams per pop

 

California Style Blend Frozen Vegetables – 2 grams per 2/3 cup

 

Morningstar Farms Garden Veggie Patties – 1.3 grams per burger

 

Canned Turkey Gravy – 0.5 grams per cup

 

Pickle Relish (sweet) – 4.4 grams per tablespoon

 

Hidden Valley Light Ranch Dressing – 2 grams per 2 tablespoons

 

Kashi GoLean Crunch – 13 grams per cup

 

Skippy Reduced Fat Creamy Peanut Butter – 5 grams per 2 tablespoons

 

Mott’s Applesauce – 16 grams per cup

 

Turkey Chili – 4 grams per 8oz serving

 

Del Monte Light Peaches in Syrup – 12 grams per can

 

Progresso Vegetable Classics 99% Fat Free Lentil Soup – 1.1 gram per 1 cup

 

Del Monte Diced Tomatoes – 4 grams per 1/2 cup

 

Cottage Cheese (1% milkfat) – 3.1 grams per 4 oz

 

 

Town House Reduced Fat Crackers – 1 gram per 6 crackers

 

 

I wanted to add a new item to this list, but I think it deserves some special attention. Recently I have been seeing a TV ad for Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice. They seem very excited to sell this stuff by saying that they removed all of the added sugar. The ad even has the guy dumping out a big pile of pure white sugar. So I guess this must be a healthy product then?

 

Not at all. In advertising “no sugar” means no “sugar” but it hardly means “no sugar”…if you get my drift? The fact is, all they have done is substitute grape juice concentrate for sugar. Each 8 oz serving has 28 grams of “not sugar” in it, which is 7 teaspoons.

Ocean spray cranberry juice has a lot of added sugar

“No Sugar Added” = 28 grams of grape juice concentrate!

 

Make no mistake, 7 teaspoons of grape juice concentrate is every bit as unhealthy for you as 7 teaspoons of white sugar. The effect on your body and your health is the same, and the taste is no different.

 

 

The other important thing is to look at the serving sizes. Do you love salsa like I do? If you do, then you probably have a pretty big bowl of it when you are in a salsa mood, right? Go get the salsa in your refrigerator and measure out 1 tablespoon…I’ll wait.

 

It’s not a lot is it? So now imagine eating the amount you are used to and look at how much sugar you would be getting. I know that numbers like this can be abstract. What I mean is, what does “10 grams” mean to you? Probably not much. That’s why I wanted to include that picture above of 42.5 teaspoons of sugar so you can get a visual.

 

Start measuring out teaspoons of sugar and putting them into a bowl every time you eat something with added sugar. Chances are, you would never just take a spoon and put that much sugar in your mouth unless it was hidden in the food.

 

This is what you are likely eating every single day.

 

So the next time you are thinking that sugar is only in the sweet foods you eat, think again. It is everywhere and there is almost no escaping it. The only way to get this crap out of your diet is to eat a whole foods, plant based diet that is sugar-free. When you eat this way and cut out all of this processed sugar and HFCS you will see results that you can not imagine right now.

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Wally
 

Hello, My name is Wally and this is my plant based diet blog. I started a plant based diet 3 years ago and lost 70 pounds, and have kept it off. I want to help you start and thrive on a plant based diet too.