People food for thought Part II: Hidden sugar in food
Now and then, when I dine at restaurant, if I thought I had a room for desert, I tend to order chocolate-ish desert such as brownie, chocolate cake etc. I love chocolate. Especially dark chocolate because not too sweet and, I like bitterness in the chocolate.
For me, darker the better and highest cocoa % in chocolate I have had was 97%.THAT was very bitter and a little bit of chocolate with a sip of coffee was the way I enjoyed the bitterness in the dark chocolate. With chocolate alone, I like 70% cocoa range dark chocolate most.
Some of the restaurants serve cakes visually impressive on plate, but often times, frosting is way too sweet for me and I eat around the frosting, and if frosting was not too sweet, sometimes, sponge itself tends to be dense and very sweet. It is hard to find a cake that is not too sweet. Overall, I find many of the food items, not just baked goods here in the states seem to have quite a lot of sugar in it. Some of them are not obvious in food label.
In previous entry titled "People food for thought ", I introduced one news paper article I came across on so called healthy food. Here, I would like to write about hidden sugar in food and how to identify the hidden sugar in the food.
Recently, I came across article on hidden sugar at Chicago tribune website written by Julie Deardorff. According to Julie Deardorff article, American Heart Association now have new guideline for sugar intake. For women, 25 grams of added sugar is boarder line sugar amount, and for men, it is 37.5 grams of added sugar is border line for guideline.
As common sense, I knew that too much sugar can cause many health problems but, I was not certain on how much is too much without examples. Also, I did not know the role of added sugar in the products is not just for making the food products sweeter. Did you know that sugar is added for maintaining the color, texture, and flavor as well?
Julie lists example in her article with Coca-cola. She writes, 12 ounce can of Coca-cola has 39grams of sugar already. That is above the guideline for both men and women, and many would be consuming more than 3 times of what American Heart Association recommends.
When you think about it, sugars are added to many products. The article says, if you read the food label and find "High Fructose Corn syrup" or "Cane juice" in top 3 ingredients, it has lots of added sugar in it and not a healthy choice.
When you like to identify natural sugar (lactose in milk products, Fructose in fruits) and added sugar, she recommends to look for words "-ose". She write "-ose" is chemical name for sugar. So, if you see ingredients "-ose", then, it is sugar.
You can read Julie Deardorff article on "how much sugar should you eat" here .
So, where you find added hidden sugar??
Julie lists following products in her article.
** Bread, Crackers
Since I love baking bread/pizza, I knew bread has sugar in it. When you proof the yeast, you need some kinds of sugar. That makes bread/pizza dough rise better.
** Cereal bars, Glanora
There are cereal boxes that says it is made with Whole grains. Whole grain sounds healthy but I wonder whole grain cereal has more sugar than nutrient from whole grains.
** Tomato based products
When I make pizza sauce or tomato base pasta sauce, I admit I add sugar to balance acidity from tomatoes. Julie writes, tomato has 5 grams of sugar naturally and if the food label indicate more than 5 grams, then it is likely that the products has added sugar.
** Peanut butter
Dextrose is added for taste and stabilizer. ( Remember? To look for "-ose" in the food label?)
** Dairy
Yogurt has natural sugar "Lactose", and plain Yogurt has natural sugar around 12 grams. Flavored yogurt can have 35 grams of sugar in the label.
** Shelf stable meals, canned soup, frozendinners
One day in the past, I have had frozen Chinese food I bought at grocery store. It was very sweet. Almost tasted like I was eating globs of sugar and I could not eat it. At that time, I did not look at the food label but it must have quite lot of added sugar in them.
I see canned vegetable also contains sugar, and I tend to use fresh ingredients as much as possible rather than canned vegetable.
You can read full article on where you find the hidden sugars here .
You can read article on sugar at American Heart Association here .
Here are two of my favorite methods to use fresh ingredients,not canned.
<Corn>
I usually keep a couple of canned corn but if I can get fresh ears of corns, I tend to use fresh corn more. My favorite way to cook the fresh corn is to use the oven.
1. Snip the top of the ears of corns, wash under running water
2. Set the oven at 375F and place the ears of corns directly on oven racks, and roast the ears of corns for 30 minutes or so.
** Husk still on. Do not peel the husk. Husk can work like steamer in a sense and you will get very sweet, tasty roasted corn that way.
<Beans>
Canned beans are staple at my pantry for quick cooking. But when I have time for long cooking, I use the dry beans. I think finish products using the dry beans come out more creamier and tastier. Bellow is how I cook beans.
Beans tend to give people gasses when eaten. However, did you know that by following simple steps, you can lessen the gas?
1. Wash beans under running water in sieve
2. Pour the dry beans to bowl and pour water to about 1" or so depth more than beans
3. Soak the beans with water in the fridge over night in the bowl, but make sure to change the water about every couple of hours
4. Next day, drain the beans and beans should be a bit bigger in size, and bigger volume in the bowl. Put the drained beans onto crockpot, add water to about 1.5" depth from bean and add pinch of kosher salt and set temperature high and cover the lid, cook for 2 hours. You should have creamy tasty beans.
I sometimes add a couple of garlic cloves (not chopped, but crushed a little to release the flavor), and 1 bay leaf in the crockpot other than pinch of kosher salt.
Enjoy!
For me, darker the better and highest cocoa % in chocolate I have had was 97%.THAT was very bitter and a little bit of chocolate with a sip of coffee was the way I enjoyed the bitterness in the dark chocolate. With chocolate alone, I like 70% cocoa range dark chocolate most.
Some of the restaurants serve cakes visually impressive on plate, but often times, frosting is way too sweet for me and I eat around the frosting, and if frosting was not too sweet, sometimes, sponge itself tends to be dense and very sweet. It is hard to find a cake that is not too sweet. Overall, I find many of the food items, not just baked goods here in the states seem to have quite a lot of sugar in it. Some of them are not obvious in food label.
In previous entry titled "People food for thought ", I introduced one news paper article I came across on so called healthy food. Here, I would like to write about hidden sugar in food and how to identify the hidden sugar in the food.
Recently, I came across article on hidden sugar at Chicago tribune website written by Julie Deardorff. According to Julie Deardorff article, American Heart Association now have new guideline for sugar intake. For women, 25 grams of added sugar is boarder line sugar amount, and for men, it is 37.5 grams of added sugar is border line for guideline.
As common sense, I knew that too much sugar can cause many health problems but, I was not certain on how much is too much without examples. Also, I did not know the role of added sugar in the products is not just for making the food products sweeter. Did you know that sugar is added for maintaining the color, texture, and flavor as well?
Julie lists example in her article with Coca-cola. She writes, 12 ounce can of Coca-cola has 39grams of sugar already. That is above the guideline for both men and women, and many would be consuming more than 3 times of what American Heart Association recommends.
When you think about it, sugars are added to many products. The article says, if you read the food label and find "High Fructose Corn syrup" or "Cane juice" in top 3 ingredients, it has lots of added sugar in it and not a healthy choice.
When you like to identify natural sugar (lactose in milk products, Fructose in fruits) and added sugar, she recommends to look for words "-ose". She write "-ose" is chemical name for sugar. So, if you see ingredients "-ose", then, it is sugar.
You can read Julie Deardorff article on "how much sugar should you eat" here .
So, where you find added hidden sugar??
Julie lists following products in her article.
** Bread, Crackers
Since I love baking bread/pizza, I knew bread has sugar in it. When you proof the yeast, you need some kinds of sugar. That makes bread/pizza dough rise better.
** Cereal bars, Glanora
There are cereal boxes that says it is made with Whole grains. Whole grain sounds healthy but I wonder whole grain cereal has more sugar than nutrient from whole grains.
** Tomato based products
When I make pizza sauce or tomato base pasta sauce, I admit I add sugar to balance acidity from tomatoes. Julie writes, tomato has 5 grams of sugar naturally and if the food label indicate more than 5 grams, then it is likely that the products has added sugar.
** Peanut butter
Dextrose is added for taste and stabilizer. ( Remember? To look for "-ose" in the food label?)
** Dairy
Yogurt has natural sugar "Lactose", and plain Yogurt has natural sugar around 12 grams. Flavored yogurt can have 35 grams of sugar in the label.
** Shelf stable meals, canned soup, frozendinners
One day in the past, I have had frozen Chinese food I bought at grocery store. It was very sweet. Almost tasted like I was eating globs of sugar and I could not eat it. At that time, I did not look at the food label but it must have quite lot of added sugar in them.
I see canned vegetable also contains sugar, and I tend to use fresh ingredients as much as possible rather than canned vegetable.
You can read full article on where you find the hidden sugars here .
You can read article on sugar at American Heart Association here .
Here are two of my favorite methods to use fresh ingredients,not canned.
<Corn>
I usually keep a couple of canned corn but if I can get fresh ears of corns, I tend to use fresh corn more. My favorite way to cook the fresh corn is to use the oven.
1. Snip the top of the ears of corns, wash under running water
2. Set the oven at 375F and place the ears of corns directly on oven racks, and roast the ears of corns for 30 minutes or so.
** Husk still on. Do not peel the husk. Husk can work like steamer in a sense and you will get very sweet, tasty roasted corn that way.
<Beans>
Canned beans are staple at my pantry for quick cooking. But when I have time for long cooking, I use the dry beans. I think finish products using the dry beans come out more creamier and tastier. Bellow is how I cook beans.
Beans tend to give people gasses when eaten. However, did you know that by following simple steps, you can lessen the gas?
1. Wash beans under running water in sieve
2. Pour the dry beans to bowl and pour water to about 1" or so depth more than beans
3. Soak the beans with water in the fridge over night in the bowl, but make sure to change the water about every couple of hours
4. Next day, drain the beans and beans should be a bit bigger in size, and bigger volume in the bowl. Put the drained beans onto crockpot, add water to about 1.5" depth from bean and add pinch of kosher salt and set temperature high and cover the lid, cook for 2 hours. You should have creamy tasty beans.
I sometimes add a couple of garlic cloves (not chopped, but crushed a little to release the flavor), and 1 bay leaf in the crockpot other than pinch of kosher salt.
Enjoy!
I enjoyed reading this post. I've known quite a bit about the sugars because I'm diabetic and have had to learn about it. The natural sugars found in things with complex carbs aren't to bad... especially if there is more fiber in the natural food as the fiber tends to offset the sugars. This happens best, though in raw foods as cooking breaks down the fibers and releases the sugars more easily.
I loved hearing about how to roast the corn in the oven. I like roasted corn, but I've only known about it from when BBQing.
When we make beans, we usually cook some ham hocks or smoked neck bones for several hours, then put in the beans and cook (slow cooker) overnight. I will have to try your recipe, too.
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