The average American consumes 22 teaspoons of sugar a day, more than twice the standard guideline of 9.5. Registered dietician Kaye-Ann Taylor says many products thought to be healthy or labeled low-fat — are actually packed with high amounts of sugar.
"If the fat goes down, then the sugar goes up," said Taylor.
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She says food labels have changed in recent years. Many no longer list sugar, but instead use words like fructose, cane sugar, honey, and invert sugar.
"Those are all forms of sugar that sneak into our food supply," Taylor explained.
Tomato-based products such as ketchup, pasta sauce and tomato soup tend to be loaded with hidden sugar. A jar of marinara sauce usually contains about 10 grams of sugar per half-cup serving.
"You need to flip and start looking at the ingredient label and the nutrition panel to really see what is in your food supply," Taylor said.
That's just what 40-year-old Mari G. did and lost 30 pounds.
"I try to find things that have less fat, especially less saturated fat and less sugar," Mari G. said.
Food labels list ingredients in order of highest to lowest, so look for foods with protein and fiber as top ingredients. Remember to always choose fresh over processed. Set aside a few minutes at the same time, every day for food prep, like you would any other healthy habit. You may find that you don't need sugar as much as you thought.
Taylor says if a product label lists sugar first, you will want to avoid it, or limit your consumption since the product is mostly sugar. Mari G. says after a few weeks of eating more fresh food, she started to lose her craving for sugar. She is still losing weight and plans on losing 30 more pounds to reach her goal.