Food has always been associated with the pleasure of taste and the desire to share with others a moment of human connection, but it also plays an active role in human health as it provides energy alongside various nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and fibers in three main food groups: fats, sugars, and proteins.
If we take sugars as an example, the sugar content, if it exceeds its limit, is converted into triglycerides stored by the body, and the sugar circulating in the blood threatens the arteries with blockage and hardening. Therefore, an increase in blood sugar harms the healthy person, threatens the diabetic, causes obesity, and stands as an obstacle to attempts to reduce or maintain weight.
Sugar may be hidden in certain types of food, so a person may not detect it despite all serious attempts to avoid it and follow a low-sugar diet.
Dear reader, I present to you some of those foods that may deceive you with their simple composition and taste that does not reveal the amount of sugar in them, even though they are continuously present without drawing attention to their importance:
Dried fruits such as apricots, prunes, figs, peaches, and bananas. Despite containing a high amount of vitamins, salts, and fibers, most of them have a naturally pleasant acidity level, but sugar is added to them during their preparation. Therefore, you must verify that they are dried without sugar.
Ketchup sauce, which is found in every ready meal and indispensable for both children and adults. It contains one of the most important antioxidants: lycopene or the red pigments of tomatoes, besides being low in energy and cholesterol-free, but the amount of sugar in it represents 30 percent of its weight.
All salad and pasta sauces with varying flavors sold ready-made in stores always contain a high amount of sugar along with oils in most of them.
All sweetened beverages like milk, energy drinks, and iced tea have large amounts of sugar added even if their taste does not indicate that.
The body needs sugar but in limited quantities, so consumption should be limited, and attention should be paid to its hidden presence in many food products. Reducing sugar intake is a duty for adults and children, the sick and the healthy, so look for it in its hidden forms.