002: The Bitter Truth About "Healthy" Foods: Hidden Sugars Revealed

Excess sugar consumption can have negative health effects by causing blood sugar spikes and insulin surges over time. However, sneaky food manufacturers often hide added sugars under alternative names, making it difficult for consumers to monitor their intake. Even foods marketed as "healthy" are frequently loaded with hidden sugars. Therefore, raising awareness about hidden sugars in common foods is important for empowering informed choices.

In this episode, Ann shares an insightful article that uncovers the hidden sugars lurking in many supposedly "healthy" foods. The article explores marketing tricks used by the multi-billion dollar health industry to deceive consumers, the "healthy" foods highest in hidden sugars, how to identify alternative names for sugar on labels, and the importance of reading ingredient lists carefully. 

Connect with Ann on Social Media:  

Website: https://seednutrition.com/Annt/home 

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annthemasterhealer/ 

Email: Tamingdiabetes@yahoo.com 

Episode Highlights: 

01:18 Profit Over Quality of Food

08:13 Food Industry Tricks and Misleading Labels 

14:27 Hidden Sugars in Common Foods

19:28 Healthy Food Choices for Diabetes Management

Resources: 

Ann’s Book

Heaven Scent: Listening to Your Inner Voice

Transcript

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Ann LeMaster: Hello everybody, this is Ann LeMaster of Common Sense Living.

I did receive this article in my email today and decided that I just couldn't wait to post this. It's healthy food bombs you must avoid. It's basically the way our profit over quality of food comes into play. So it's Table of Contents here is the billion dollar health and diet industry, advertisers are allowed to lie. Common tricks advertisers use healthy foods with hidden sugars, alternative sweeteners to watch for and then the conclusion. I may as well say, right now, I haven't even read this so bear with me as I do. Resources are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Agriculture for the United States Department of Agriculture. And then there's a couple of more private ones in here that I don't think it really matters that much because it comes from two legit sources anyway. So with that, I am going to read again.

So here are some pretty startling facts about the state of health of many Americans. According to the CDC website, more than 1/3, 36.5% of the US adults are obese. Obesity related conditions, including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer are some of the leading causes of preventable death in this country. There's more than 75 million American adults, 32% have high blood pressure. That's one in every three adults. About one in three American adults has great hypertension blood pressure numbers that are higher than normal, but not yet in the high blood pressure range. Now, what do all these health conditions have in common? One of the first things many health experts will tell you is if they can be prevented, controlled and even reversed by cleaning up the diet and switching to healthy foods. And this is where the confusion starts. You see? Many people think they're switching to healthier foods, but then their health doesn't seem to improve. In fact, in some cases, it even gets worse. That's because many, and I mean many packaged foods that claim to be healthy or anything. But in fact, you'll be shocked to discover just how much hidden sugar is in many of your favorite healthy snacks and meals. In this report, you will discover why even the best selling health foods are laden with dangerously high levels of sugar. How does the scammy health and diet industry trick a few vitamin water, energy drinks and nutrition bars good for you? Not so fast. Beware of hidden sugars. Why can't you trust advertising or packaging claims? How you can be a smarter consumer and more.

Are you ready to get started? I'll warn you that it's not nice what you're about to read. But the more educated you are, the healthier you and your family will be. I'll see you in the next section. There's a little blurb up here that says high blood pressure, about 75 million American adults, 32%, have high blood pressure. That's one in every three adults. And pre hypertension, about one in three American adults have prehypertension blood pressure numbers that are higher than normal, but not yet in the high blood pressure range.

So here's the title of it the billion dollar health and diet industry. Americans spend billions on health and diet products every year. From DVD to meal plans and supplements, we go to great lengths to get in shape and be healthy. But how many of these products we purchase really offer what they claim? It is quite common for rational adults to be duped by shady marketing, and half truth statements made by many advertisers and food manufacturers. Selling health is very lucrative because every human wants it. And even if a product isn't all that healthy, as long as it is made to seem like it is, a food manufacturer stands to make a fortune. The food industry thrives on confusion. Who among us can keep up with all the conflicting statements from health experts. One day eggs are bad for you. The next day, they're not one day. Coffee is a no no. The next day, it's not. But the next day, it's a no again. It also gets very confusing when food companies that it's anonymous with unhealthy food suddenly launch healthy foods.

For example, Coca Cola has vitamin water, which we will talk about later. It is not as healthy as you might think. The Coca Cola Beverage Institute for Health and Wellness seems to many to be no more than a PR stunt in response to the many and justified criticisms of the role of food and beverage companies in the obesity epidemic. But it doesn't stop with Coca Cola pushing their healthier options on the public. The Gatorade Sports Science Institute has papers explaining why Gatorade is better than water for exercise. While Gator A does offer important electrolytes. A 12 ounce serving of their thirst quencher contains 21 grams of sugar. So no, this isn't the healthier option than water. Gatorade knows it, but the public doesn't. We're far too trusting for the marketing ploys the advertisers are allowed to lie. Most of us are so trusting of manufacturers and advertisers, most likely because we assume they legally aren't allowed to lie. If the packaging says all natural, then surely all the ingredients must be natural. While we may all assume that advertisers embellish things a bit, how many of us embellish our resumes? We also assume that basic facts have to be true. But multiple companies have made the argument in court that not only do their ads not have to be factual, but only an idiot would think they were showing how much many companies think of the consumers who are buying their products.

Now remember, Coca Cola is the vitamin water I mentioned a little while ago that their advertising promised that it would boost your immune system and help fight free radicals. It wasn't long before someone pointed out that vitamin water was effectively nothing more than sugar water akin to a pig in a dress. No matter how pretty the dress, it's still a pig. Coke responded that they were completely shocked that anyone thought their drink was healthy. Or in their exact words, no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking that vitamin water is a healthy beverage. Remember, when Apple was advertising their iPhone 3G as twice as fast half the price, that was their ad word for word. Pretty safe, straightforward and hard to be confused as to the claims they were making. However, when a concerned citizen had the audacity to point out that their entire ad, each word of it, was a blatant lie, Apple took a similar position in port as Coca Cola. Apple's legal team stated, no reasonable person in the plaintiffs position could have reasonably relied on or misunderstood Apple statements as claims of that. If you only take one message from this report, let it be this. Advertising lies are designed to mislead us. So there's some common tricks that advertisers use to reduce sugar.

We all know sugar is unhealthy and so you can bet food manufacturers are going to capitalize on the fact that we're all trying to eat less of it. You've probably seen packaging that says, reduce sugar or blood sugar. If you're trying to cut down on sugar, you're most likely going to choose this product over the product that doesn't claim to have less sugar. If you read the label and you absolutely should, you will find one of two things. Yes, there is less sugar. But the amount taken out is minuscule, and there is still far too much sugar in the product. Or you'll see that they've replaced sugar with an artificial sweetener that comes with its own nasty side effects. Xero prints that. The next time you see a food item that claims to have zero trans fat, turn it around and look at the ingredients. You'll often find that the product has hydrogenated oil listed as an ingredient. You may not be able to tell if it's partially or fully hydrogenated. And that doesn't really matter because the main point is that it is not a natural fat.

Here's what you need to know based on the FDA regulations. If the product has less than .5 grams of any fat per serving, they are allowed to list it as zero grams. If that sounds misleading, it is that this food advertising trick is common in more products than you might imagine. So start reading those labors. Now that you realize the warfare that is being perpetrated on you each time you innocently push your shopping cart down the aisle. Let's take a look at some of the most common tricks advertisers will use to get you to believe that their food is healthy and mentioned. Cool now, we're gonna go on to contain antioxidants. I don't know about you, but just because of the soda we're talking to you, 7UP claims to have antioxidants. It doesn't feel entirely natural or beneficial to me to drink a six pack of it, and hope that I stay younger and healthier. This is a classic trick. Instead of getting rid of an unhealthy item like the astounding 38 grams of sugar in each can, carry 7UP simply sprinkled in a little bit of something good so you'll think their beverage is healthy. If I tossed a life preserver into a tank full of white sharks, would you dive in? Then buying organic foods can be a good thing. Obviously, if you had the option of buying a regular apple which had been exposed to pesticides and herbicides, or an organic apple which has not, you want to buy the organic apple. The problem is many food manufacturers will use the word organic generically as if to insinuate every ingredient has been grown organically. Or they'll spell it out and say raw organic cane sugar to make sugar sound healthy. But it's just sugar and will affect your body and health in exactly the same way as non organic table sugar. Just because something is organic does not mean that it's healthy.

Also with that talking about Apple, Bill Gates has the word appeal. It's a coating on our fruits and vegetables that doesn't come off, but it keeps it fresh. So just so you know you're eating a nasty chemical there too, and give him a nice bankroll. So here we go, heart healthy. What a great gimmick to use because who among us doesn't want a healthy heart? Usually, a company will make this bold claim when they have swapped out sugar for sugar substitute. The logic is, if there is no sugar in the product, you lose weight. And weight loss is great for the heart. Go ahead and read the label and your app to find artificial sweeteners like maltodextrin, which is basically glucose is one of the highest glycemic processed substances out there in the ingredients list. Sure, multi dextran is not regular white sugar, but it's easily digestible. So when you eat it, it's absorbed incredibly quickly into your bloodstream, spiking your blood glucose levels and causing the pancreas to release a surge of insulin. In case you don't know exactly what insulin does is that storage hormone. The more insulin circulating around your blood, the more your body is told to store fat. How is that supposed to help someone lose weight and have a healthy heart? It sounds more like a food product that will give you diabetes. Interesting, isn't it? And there's a lot more I can tell you about that naturally sweetened. Not only does Coca Cola have vitamin water, it also has vitamins. But hey, it's also naturally sweetened. Unfortunately, they use stevia extract, a sweetener product. Many food manufacturers love stevia because it comes from the stevia leaf. No.

Well, unless you're eating the stevia loophole, there is nothing natural about this sweetener. Coca Cola lists out its 42 step process for writing the stevia extract from the stevia leaf. The steps include the uses of methanol, ethanol, isopropanol and many other chemicals. Having to use multiple chemicals to extract your ingredients doesn't sound natural to me. And stevia is 300 times sweeter than sugar. I used to have a stevia bush in my yard. Whole grains. This is pretty much the same trick as the antioxidants only using another beneficial item to trick you into thinking a food product is healthy cereals are a perfect example of this. The front of the box might say something like more whole grain than any other ingredient. Okay, you know what to do. Turn that box around and look at the ingredients. Most likely, you will find that something like whole grains born is indeed listed on the first ingredient. Now keep in mind that ingredients are listed in order of weight from highest to lowest so let's continue reading. What is the second ingredient? Sugar. The third, cornmeal. Fourth, high fructose corn syrup, followed by a string of chemical ingredients you may or may not be able to pronounce. General Mills Trix cereal advertises more whole grains. Do you think that cereal is healthy for you and your kids? I believe it's multicolored, isn't it? So there, you have artificial colors, artificial sweeteners, and unhealthy kids fruit flavored.

Has your child or grandchild ever asked you to buy those frozen fruit pops? You know the ones you push up through the long plastic package and are usually bright orange, purple and yellow. Kids will usually try and sway you into doing what they want by saying something like, but hey, it's got fruit. No, they don't. They simply have fruit flavoring, and are probably artificial. But just because something is orange flavored like vitamin water doesn't mean there's an actual orange in there. Any sweetness you taste is coming from sugar or sugar substitute, and that orange has been created from chemical periods. Now let's take a look at the top healthy foods that are loaded with hidden sugars, granola, cereals and bars. Somewhere at some time, a myth was created that says granola isn't like regular cereal. It's good for you, it's delicious. I'll give you that, and it's really crunchy with granola based cereals that have up to 15 grams of refined sugar in it in less than one cup. That's like eating three teaspoons of sugar.

And don't get me started on granola bars. This is one of the go-to healthy snacks of many people who toss them into their book bag, purse or gym bag. But granola bars can have up to 25 grams of sugar in a small bar, which is equal to the amount of sugar in a Hershey bar. Read that again. A granola bar can have just as much sugar as a candy bar. At least the candy bar is honest about what it is. Then we have barbecue and other sauces. Barbecue sauce, teriyaki and drink sauces are easy ways to add flavor to meats. But in many cases, added sugar can account for a whopping 80% of the calories. Again, read the label on any barbecue sauce and your app to read or to see as much as 12 grams of sugar per serving. That's the same as three teaspoons of sugar. Then you're healthy salad with salad dressings. Most store bought salad dressings have roughly 10 grams of sugar per two tablespoon serving, that's more than four times your recommended allowance of about two grams per two tablespoons serving.

And then yogurt. All yogurt contains sugar in the form of lactose, which is not sugar and what some individuals are sensitive to. The problem with most yogurts is added sugar that often comes in the form of high fructose corn syrup. Many fruit yogurts that have as much as 30 grams, 6 teaspoons of sugar per serving, that's as much as many cans of soda then fruit juice. It's easy to assume fruit juice is just the liquid that has been squeezed from the proof. But often, fruit juices are made from fruit concentrates. Which, yes, contains fruit. But usually added sugar as well. Fruit juices can have anywhere between 20 to 30 grams of added sugar per cup. 20 to 30 grams of added sugar per cup. The best thing to do is read the label first and look for 100% juice unsweetened, which has no added sugar. There is something important to understand. It is not only sweet tasting foods that have hidden sugars. In fact, it is savory foods that have the real hidden sugars because they don't taste sweet. So how would you know to even look for them? While frozen dinner may have meat, potatoes, veggies or rice. Many contain as much as 30 to 40 grams per serving of added sugar. Read those labels carefully no matter if you are buying a sweet or savory item.

Oh then we have canned fruit. This is another common instance where people think they're making a healthier choice, but really aren't. Most canned proof is packed in sugar syrup, which is really calorie laden, high fructose corn syrup. One cup of canned fruit can have as many as 30 grams or more of sugar. That's the equivalent of seven Oreo cookies. It's always better to eat a piece of whole fruit. But if you're going to buy the canned version, only buy those packed in water or natural juice. Okay, we have alternative sweeteners to watch for. Hidden sugars are called hidden for a reason. Many times, added sugars go by different names, and you may very well not recognize them to be sugars. There are also a few healthier sugars to watch for including coconut palm sugar, honey and blackstrap molasses. While they are far less processed, they should only be eaten in moderation as they can still spike blood sugar.

According to the USDA, alternative sugar ingredients are names to watch out for when reading labels including corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup. I just threw this in corn syrup from genetically modified corn. So that means that the food has been manipulated before you even eat it, and your body doesn't know how to handle fake foods. The extra crystal or dextrose, fructose, maltose, lactose, sucrose, glucose, evaporated cane juice or fruit juice, caramel syrup, brown sugar, maltodextrin, rice syrup, molasses, evaporated corn sweetener. Once again, there's your genetically modified corn, confectioner's powdered sugar, agave nectar, and other fruit nectars. For example, pear nectar. So in conclusion, how are you feeling right now? Shocked, angry? You should be. You may also feel concerned and a bit scared, but you don't have to feel this way. You can take control of your own health by becoming a smart consumer. And here's how you begin. Empower yourself by learning a bit about basic nutrition.

The Primal Blog is a great resource for you to find helpful and accurate information as well as mine. It's not a blog, but it's tamingdiabetes@yahoo.com. Read labels. If there was one thing in this report, it was to turn that potentially untruthful packaging around and dig for the truth yourself. Don't trust anything you're told by advertisers. Read the labels yourself. Use common sense. Most of us at this point in time know how to eat healthy. Don't eat processed foods, eat like our ancestors did. Eat whole foods focusing on generous amounts of vegetables and fruits, lean meats, eggs and healthy fats like nuts and nut butters, olive oil and avocados.

I'm sorry, I can't read right from this. I see A when I think about all the people that eat just the egg whites, because they want to be healthier. Now, where is the nucleus for the baby chicken?  In the egg yolk. Doesn't it stand to reason then that the egg yolk would have more nutrients than egg white? And if you eat one part, I mean the A is made to crack the egg and you have white, and you have a yolk. So shouldn't they stay together? I think that's an interesting concept. Certainly does for me. So eat large amounts of vegetables and fruits, lean meats, eggs and healthy fats like nuts and nut butters, olive oil and avocados. And please, please, please have things be organic. Cook more, make your own sauces and salad dressing so you can control the amount of sugar you consume at each meal. Balance your life using moderation. Yes, you can have ice cream and pizza, but only in moderation. Allow yourself one or two cheat days each month to have unhealthy foods. You may find that after eating healthfully for so long that you no longer crave garbage. And that's exactly what processed food is, garbage. Sugar isn't going anywhere. They may come up with a different form and a different name, but it will always be around. Advertisers aren't going to suddenly wake up tomorrow and decide to be 100% honest in their marketing. It's up to all of us to be our own advocates. So be smart. Think critically, and never trust what you hear or read concerning a food item. Do some investigation for yourself to uncover the truth.

And once again, I state Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html. Then there's the United States Department of Agriculture, that's https.colon//www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/nutritive-and-nonnutritivesweetener-resources. Oh, that's a mouthful. Or how about you just email me at tamingdiabetes@yahoo.com, and we can get started on a dialogue about the healthy foods to eat. I'm a nurse. I'm a certified health coach. I'm a speaker educator. I want to help you to take control of your life. I invite you to sign up for my Painting Diabetes Course, actually. It's a three month course, and I have it on sale right now till the end of the year as my Good or Black Friday sale, and for three months. It's only $300. And after the first of January, it's going to go up. I have five more spots available, and class starts on January 10. So contact me at tamingdiabetes@yahoo.com, leave your contact information and we can have a dialogue as to whether or not you qualify for the program.

And I guess that's it for now. Good health to you, and talk to you soon.