The Skyliner

Issue date: 4/2/08 Section: Entertainment & Features

Carrie Richmond
Staff Writer


Fact: cookies, brownies and sodas contain sugar. Recent studies have proven that on average, nearly a quarter of daily calorie intake (325 calories) comes from desserts, soda and fruit juices - in other words, sugar.

Most people know to avoid these items when they are limiting their sugar intake, but only avoiding these sugar-packed sweets may not be enough.

Even the disciplined diet watchers could be consuming a sugar-loaded diet. They could be taking in just as much sugar or more through unsuspecting culprits that manage to slip under the sugar radar.

A study published in the "Annual Review of Nutrition" found that in the last thirty years, not only has the daily caloric intake jumped but the percentage of those from protein also has decreased. Obviously, it is not hard to guess where we are getting all those extra calories.

This is scary news. Not only are people eating more, but we are consuming less good food and eating more sugar in its place. "But sugar is not that bad for me," you might say clutching your bag of Oreos. Well, here are two good reasons why sugar isn't just bad: Consuming sugar stokes your appetite instead of satisfying it, and sugar is addictive. So you might think going into sugar overload is super fun, but thinking of it for what it is, an addiction, puts it into a completely different light.

Now here comes the fascinating part, do you think your favorite foods can pass the sugar inspection? You are in for a rude awakening. Clear your pantry out of these unlikely, yet guilty, foods.

Campbell's Microwaveable Bowl of tomato soup: 18 grams of sugar! I was drinking one of these a day and wondering why my diet was not working the way it should. It was extremely hard for me to do, but I kissed it goodbye forever. I might as well have been eating a box of cookies for lunch.

Vanilla Silk Soy Milk sounds healthy because its soy right? Wrong. This stuff contains 11 grams per serving. Another favorite of mine, I thought this great tasting stuff was good for me. It turns out that the added vanilla flavoring was cancelling out all the good.

Wish-Bone red wine vinaigrette salad dressing ruins the point of eating an otherwise healthy salad by topping it with 8 grams of sugar every two tablespoons.

Wheat Thins are a healthy snack, right? Well they would be, if they didn't pack 4 grams of sugar into every serving.
Hunt's ketchup contains 4 grams of sugar per tablespoon. That's about as much as I usually bathe one fry in. Ouch.

The list of guilty foods goes on. Blueberry bagels, most fat free deli meats, spaghetti sauce and even "light" veggie pizza. So if you think your diet is fine, but are wondering why you just have not gotten the results you expected with your "healthy diet" and exercise combo, the problem probably is in all the hidden sugar you are consuming.

Now don't hate me because I'm probably attacking the thing you love the most. Just remember that too much of anything isn't always best and with that said, go give your pantry a makeover.

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