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So what did you actually eat? It seems like sugar is everywhere these days.
by kmonsen 10y ago
So what did you actually eat? It seems like sugar is everywhere these days.
- hx87 10y agoAmen to that--what is 8g of sugar doing in a serving of /pasta sauce/?
- hammock 10y agoSugar is a pretty common ingredient in red pasta sauce recipes. It cuts the acidity of the tomato
- tromp 10y agoAnd makes up about 25% of ketchup...
- jerf 10y agoVinegar + sweetener is the or a fundamental flavor in a number of things, including barbecue sauce, ketchup, coleslaw dressing, several salad dressings, some pasta sauce and chili-type sauces, cocktail sauce, some pickles, and so on. By that I do not mean "those evil bastards are sticking sugar everywhere", I mean that this is a standard culinary technique. It may be overused and we may consume too much of it, but it is an old technique. It is also one of the answers to the question "how can so much sugar be everywhere but not everything tastes sweet?" Vinegar is one of the bigger answers to that question. (Even ignoring the fact that we can end up very adjusted to the sugar flavor, it is still amazing to me that some things can literally be half sugar by mass and not taste sweet.) I also mention it because if you want to cut sugar out of your life, this is definitely one of the easiest places to miss a significant quantity. It's pretty easy to make yourself a great salad and accidentally slather it in vinegared sugar.
- tiglionabbit 10y agoDon't forget sushi! It's named after the sour taste of sugar-seasoned vinegar. Sodas use other types of acid in vinegar's place.
- Thlom 10y agoYes, but the "traditional" sweetener in Italian pasta sauce is usually carrot, not processed white sugar. At least that's how I've always made pasta sauce.
- sliverstorm 10y agoIf you look around, there's sauce on shelves now without lots of added sugar. It's been gradual over many years, but I'm starting to find more choices of various foods that have a shorter ingredients list, less salt, less sugar, etc.
- dredmorbius 10y agoNot OP, but: * Avoid processed anything. Most especially soft/fizzy drinks, baked goods, candy, fruit drinks, jams, jellies, syrups, most processed cereals. * Eat fresh vegetables, some fruit, legumes. Whole grains for breakfast (rolled or steel-cut oats). Meat, eggs, and dairy if they're in your diet. * Check breads and other products for added sugar, in all forms: sugar, molasses (often added to "rye" breads as colouring), caramel colour or flavour, honey, rice syrup, agave nectar (nearly pure fructose), corn syrup, HFCS, concentrated apple juice, etc., etc. Generally, Michael Pollan's guidance in The Omnivor's Dilemma is good: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants. Many strength training books have good guidance on nutrition (contrast with cardiovascular fitness, though there are exceptions). I'll recommend The New Rules of Lifting for Women (Schuler, Cosgrove, & Forsythe) specifically as it includes a large section on nutrition and meal planning. The fitness advice is also generally applicable to men, though there is a companion title on that topic specifically -- its nutritional advice is similar though briefer. http://www.worldcat.org/title/new-rules-of-lifting-for-women-lift-like-a-man-look-like-a-goddess/oclc/156891965&referer=space_alien_cat http://www.worldcat.org/title/new-rules-of-lifting-for-women... Good advice (similar to Pollan) here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12481699 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12481699
- jimmaswell 10y agoWhat does it precisely mean for a food to be "processed"? "Processed" in general just means "went through some kind of process", which covers pretty much anything (if a local farmer collects their apples in a bin and moves them across the field that's a process) but in relation to food it has a negative connotation, so it must be specific processes the food was involved in that are unwanted? What about these processes inherently make the food more sugary or otherwise unhealthy?
- greeneggs 10y agoI'm not sure it is a science problem, i.e., processing food makes it unhealthy. I think it is more an economics problem; food processors don't have the incentives to care about the long-term health of the food consumers. Food processors have incentives to improve their logistics (e.g., increase shelf life) and to make the food taste better (or even, hopefully, addictive). Some brands try to make their products appear to be healthy, but consumers generally have little information about what is going into processed food, so appearance might not mean much. Of course, even unprocessed food like fruits and vegetables has been heavily engineered by breeding, especially in the last century---and again, not to make it healthier.
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- wishinghand 10y agoI'm not the OP but I'd guess it's mostly vegetables, nuts/non meat proteins, and/or meat. Maybe some of the less processed grains like flax or quinoa.
- grecy 10y agoThe easiest way to eat healthy is to only buy things in the supermarket that have one ingredient. Pretty soon you'll notice you're only buying fruit, vegetables, pasta, rice, beans & non-processed meat. Disclaimer: of course you could buy pure sugar or pure lard - so don't do that :)