Sugar is one of the health scene’s bête noires (even fruit has been scrutinised – TL;DR, keep eating fruit) and with some shop-bought food containing a lot of added sugars it can be easy to hit the daily referenced intake of 90g of total sugars by mid-morning.
To help, the experts over at our sister publication Men's Fitness have highlighted their top four foods to be mindful of. Make sure to check the label before you put anything in your basket. The NHS provides some useful markers to remember:
Look for the Carbohydrates (of which sugars) figure in the nutrition label to see how much sugar the product contains for every 100g:
- More than 22.5g of total sugars per 100g is high
- 5g of total sugars or less per 100g is low
1. Cereals
Many breakfast cereals are packed with sugar, with the worst offenders containing up to 37g of the white stuff per 100g serving. And then there’s the sugar in the milk to consider too. Ditch your breakfast bowl for poached eggs on wholemeal toast.
RECOMMENDED: Did Your Breakfast Just Max Out Your Daily Sugar Allowance?
2. Soups
Shop-bought soup may seem like a healthy lunch or dinner option, but a 400g can of tomato soup contains 19.4g of sugar, more than 20% of your 90g daily allowance. Blend vegetables at home and freeze leftovers for another day.
RECOMMENDED: Broccoli And Stilton Soup Recipe
3. Smoothies
Ready-to-drink smoothies contain some of your five-a-day, but a 250ml serving contains almost 35g of sugar, 30% more than the equivalent amount of cola. Make your own using one of these smoothie recipes.
4. Sauces
Jars of ready-made sauce for pasta dishes are not a healthy option, not even vegetable-based ones. Simple tomato and basil pasta sauces can contain as much as 7g of sugar per 100g. Cook with real tomatoes instead.
RECOMMENDED: The Sugar-Free Diet
