We’ve written about the negative health effects of sugar in the past, but many people assume that as long as they avoid candy bars and Pixie Stix’s they won’t go over their daily sugar recommendation (between 20g-40g). Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Some of our favorite foods that we believe are healthy are actually crippling our diets because of all the hidden sugars.
Think you know which items are packed with sugars? Below, we compare 10 items to a Krispy Kreme Donut. Do you think the pictured item or a Krispy Kreme donut has more sugar?
1. Grande Starbucks Latte
2. Subway 6’’ Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki Sandwich
3. 8oz Glass of Tropicana 100% Orange Juice
4. Yoplait Original Yogurt
5. A Banana
6. One cup of 1% Milk
7. Odwalla Super Food Smoothie
8. McDonald’s Southwest Salad
9. ¾’s cup Kellogg’s Cracklin’ Oat Bran Cereal
10. 20oz Glaceau Vitamin Water
Dr. Silverman shares the answers
Time and time again we’ve heard about the adverse health effects of excess sugar. It has been linked to obesity and behavioral problems in children, early death in animals, and a heightened risk of developing diabetes.
Although a lot of the above studies chastise the soda industry for introducing unhealthy amounts of sugar into the public’s diet, plenty of foods that appear healthy are actually loaded with sugar. Again, this doesn’t mean you need to avoid some foods, or that they don’t provide other essential nutrients, but you need to be cognizant of what and how much you are putting in your body.
Take #5, a banana, for example. While it provides more nutritional value than a Krispy Kreme donut, many people would be surprised to learn that a banana actually has more grams of sugar than the donut. This doesn’t mean you should reach for a donut in lieu of a banana for breakfast, but you should consider opting for some veggies around lunchtime.
Now for the quiz results. Got your answer sheet ready? This quiz will be really easy to grade since every listed item actually has more grams of sugar than a Krispy Kreme Donut. A standard Krispy Kreme Donut has 10g of sugar. Here are the sugar contents of the above items.
1. Starbucks Latte 17g
2. Subway Sandwich 17g
3. Orange Juice 22g
4. Yogurt 27g
5. Banana 14g
6. Milk 13g
7. Odwalla 50g!
8. McDonald’s Salad 13g
9. Kellogg’s Cereal 15g
10. Vitamin Water 32g.
Related sources: MotherJones.com, RoDale.com, WebMD
