8 Surprising Foods With More Sugar Than A Digestive Biscuit

It can be impossible at the moment to navigate what you should and shouldn't eat, especially when it comes to sugar. That's why I always try to make it simple for my clients.

Everyone will react slightly different to sugar, so my number 1 piece of advice is to listen to your body.

If you feel sick or have an energy crash straight after eating sugar, you should listen to your body and keep your sugar intake to a minimum. The same goes if you are someone who loses control once they've had some sugar, and just want more, more, more.

In general, you should try to choose less processed foods and more whole foods in order to stop the sugar from stacking up (and also to gain the most nutrients from your food).

People don't realise that sugar isn't just in cakes, biscuits & fizzy drinks, it can also be hidden in foods that you would never expect. This makes it difficult to keep track of how much sugar we are actually eating.

Here are 8 surprising foods that contain more sugar than a digestive biscuit (2.5g):

1. Pasta sauce - up to 11g per serving

2. Curry paste - up to 6g per serving

3. Fruit juices - up to 25g per glass (!!!)

4. Bread - up to 6g per slice

5. Flavoured yoghurts - up to 17g per serving

6. Granola bars - up to 6g per bar

7. Peanut butter - up to 4g per serving

8. Salad dressing - up to 6g per serving

I also tell my clients to be wary of products that claim to have "no added sugar" since they can be quite misleading as they often still contain large amounts of sugar.

So does this mean you should give up everything on the list above? Absolutely not!

Notice that most of these sugar-packed foods are highly processed. When these foods are being mass-produced, they often add sugar to improve taste, texture, appearance, preservation, and for other reasons too.

This means if we simply just make these foods at home, we can get rid of most of the unnecessary sugars with ease. And where can you find these delicious low-sugar alternative recipes (normally only accessible to our fabulous members)?

Right here of course! Because next week's blog will include a selection of my favourite low-sugar recipes so you don't have to cut out any of your favourite foods.

Don't want the faff of cooking from scratch? There are also some really easy low-sugar swaps you can do to reduce how much sugar you are eating without even noticing:

- Try eating the whole fruit instead of drinking the juice or infuse your water with fruit pieces for a refreshing twist.

- Swap flavoured yoghurt for plain greek yoghurt and add in toppings like nuts, seeds, fruit & cinnamon.

- I understand you probably don't have the time to bake your own bread (who does?) so instead try wholegrain, wholemeal pita or wholegrain sourdough to reduce sugar intake without the hassle.

- Opt for a handful of nuts instead of a granola bar when you need a quick snack.

- Swap the dressing in a bottle for an olive oil & lemon dressing (2 ingredients, I'm sure you can manage that!)

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