Sickly sweet: 10 sneaky names for sugar
If you’re on the Fast Metabolism Diet, you know to avoid sugar. But manufacturers have all sorts of ways to avoid slapping “sugar” on the label. Don’t be fooled!
1. Evaporated cane juice. Take the juice from a sugar cane plant, then spin it around to separate the molasses from the sucrose, and what do you get? Sugar. But some manufacturers are calling it “evaporated cane juice” to avoid labeling their products as containing sugar. Sneaky indeed.
2. Agave nectar. “Nectar” sounds healthy, right? Well, agave nectar is made from a different plant, but it’s still sugar. In fact, it might be even worse than sugar, since it contains a higher percentage of fructose (as in high-fructose corn syrup).
3. Fruit juice concentrate. What are you left with if you remove all of the fiber and water from fruit? You guessed it.
4. High fructose corn syrup. You probably already know about this one.
5. Brown rice syrup. You’re probably catching on by now, remove all the sugar from rice and what do you get? You might also get exposure to arsenic, which has recently been found to have contaminated rice crops.
6. Barley malt syrup. This dark brown sweetener is derived from barley and is about 65% sugar.
7. Dextrose, maltose, glucose, fructose. They sound nothing like “sugar,” but these are all components that make various ingredients taste sweet.
8. Caramel. You’ll see this one in drinks, used to give them soda that dark brown color. What’s caramel? It’s cooked sugar.
9. Molasses. It sounds wholesome and old fashioned, and molasses does have some nutrients, but it’s still sugar.
10. Sucanat. This one is just a brand name for evaporated cane juice.
If you’re doing the Fast Metabolism Diet, you’ll want to avoid all of these sugar imposters. Stevia and birch xylitol are your friends. After the diet in maintenance, there are definitely some sweeteners that are better than others, like coconut sugar, date sugar, and raw honey. You can read more about those in this article: “Cooking and baking without sugar.“
If you’re on the Fast Metabolism Diet, you know to avoid sugar. But manufacturers have all sorts of ways to avoid slapping “sugar” on the label. Don’t be fooled!
1. Evaporated cane juice. Take the juice from a sugar cane plant, then spin it around to separate the molasses from the sucrose, and what do you get? Sugar. But some manufacturers are calling it “evaporated cane juice” to avoid labeling their products as containing sugar. Sneaky indeed.
2. Agave nectar. “Nectar” sounds healthy, right? Well, agave nectar is made from a different plant, but it’s still sugar. In fact, it might be even worse than sugar, since it contains a higher percentage of fructose (as in high-fructose corn syrup).
3. Fruit juice concentrate. What are you left with if you remove all of the fiber and water from fruit? You guessed it.
4. High fructose corn syrup. You probably already know about this one.
5. Brown rice syrup. You’re probably catching on by now, remove all the sugar from rice and what do you get? You might also get exposure to arsenic, which has recently been found to have contaminated rice crops.
6. Barley malt syrup. This dark brown sweetener is derived from barley and is about 65% sugar.
7. Dextrose, maltose, glucose, fructose. They sound nothing like “sugar,” but these are all components that make various ingredients taste sweet.
8. Caramel. You’ll see this one in drinks, used to give them soda that dark brown color. What’s caramel? It’s cooked sugar.
9. Molasses. It sounds wholesome and old fashioned, and molasses does have some nutrients, but it’s still sugar.
10. Sucanat. This one is just a brand name for evaporated cane juice.
If you’re doing the Fast Metabolism Diet, you’ll want to avoid all of these sugar imposters. Stevia and birch xylitol are your friends. After the diet in maintenance, there are definitely some sweeteners that are better than others, like coconut sugar, date sugar, and raw honey. You can read more about those in this article: “Cooking and baking without sugar.“
