There are things that you might eat that have sugar in them and you might not be aware of that fact when you are eating them.  Hidden sugar, hidden carbs.

The 11 Items That Have Hidden Sugar:

1.  SUGAR:  The natural fructose sugar found in fruits and vegetables and lactose sugar in milk and dairy is part of a healthful diet. The problem lies with processed foods packed with high amounts of sugar (namely sucrose and high fructose corn syrup).  It is not just in candy, soda and cake.  There are a lot of things that use it in the ingredients.  Look at labels before you buy.

2.  GRANOLA BARS:  These contain a lot of added sugar. Instead of a prepackaged granola bar, you could create your own trail mix with a handful of nuts, dry oatmeal or muesli, dried fruit with natural sugar, such as cranberries, and even a few bits of dark chocolate. This will almost guarantee the nutrients and energy you need, while you control the added sugar.  however, that could be higher in carbs and not necessarily good for weight loss.  I prefer Power Crunch bars, Nature Valley Protein Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter bars or some other LOW carb protein bar.

3.  CEREAL:  You need to really look closely at cereals. Some so-called healthy and granola-based cereals have as many as 13 grams of sugar per serving, while other cereals have as few as 6 or even 2 grams.  Most cereal is high in carbs and I wouldn’t even go near it on a diet and to stay skinny–I don’t do cereal.  I have eggs, bacon, sausage, Lindora oatmeal, low-carb protein bars, etc. for breakfast.

4.  BARBEQUE SAUCE:  The ingredients can include one or more of the “natural sugars,” such as honey, molasses, and brown sugar. Bottled brands can have as many as 11 grams of added sugar per serving.. Every time you slather on barbecue sauce, you are adding sugar to your meat, a naturally sugar-free protein. Seasoning meat before cooking with a tasty blend of spices, called a rub, is a better option for a low-sugar diet.

5.  KETCHUP:  The label shows it is made up of tomatoes and sugar.  Other words that are sugar-type ingredients are corn starch, sorghum, glucose, fructose, lactose, sucrose, galactose, maltose, and concentrated juices, like concentrated grape or apple juice.  I usually stick with mustard or just a dash of ketchup.

6.  TOMATO SOUP/SAUCE:  Like ketchup, tomato sauce and tomato soup may also be foods with sugar added. When cooking these from scratch at home, you might use caramelized onions or carrots, or Splenda  for a little sweetness to counter the acidity in tomatoes and forgo the sugar.  Not all tomato products contain a lot of added sugar, so get in the habit of checking out the label.  Tomato paste, canned diced tomatoes, and salsa are better choices.

7.  JUICE:  Juice is a concentrated source of sugar and is not very filling or appetite-satisfying.  Even if the label says it’s 100 percent natural and contains only natural sugars, you still may be looking at a hefty serving of sugar per portion. For example, a 10-ounce bottle of pure apple juice could have as many as 32 grams of sugar. Instead of a glass of juice, choose fresh fruit — while it still contains sugar, it also has fiber as well.  Even juicing at home (which is still better) is way too much sugar.  EAT your fruit.  Juicing is a lot of carbs!  It can ruin your daily carb count.

8.  LEMONADE:  Lemons are a wonderful source of antioxidants and vitamin C.  Instead of lemonade, you can add a squeeze of lemon to water improve taste and it is good for you. But when turned into lemonade, the benefits of lemons may be outweighed by the amount of the added sugar needed to sweeten the beverage, as many as 25 grams per serving. If you really want lemonade, make it fresh at home and control the sugars you use or stick with Splenda to avoid sugar and carbs.

9:  SWEET TEA:  Same as lemonade, you can make it with Splenda instead to save on the sugar.   The reality is that sweet tea often contains just as much sugar and just as little nutrition as soda. Both black and green teas can be good for you because of their antioxidants — just go for the unsweetened variety.

10:  ENERGY DRINKS:  Same as Sweet Tea.  Supposedly good for you, but some of them have 20 or 30 carbs due to the added sugar.  Some are ZERO carbs and sugar.  Read labels!

11.  FLAVORED YOGURT:  Yogurt is so good for your digestive tract that it’s hard to think of it as a food with sugar or that the 6 to 7 teaspoons of added sugar in one serving of flavored yogurt could be an issue. But just try to imagine yourself layering that amount of sugar onto plain yogurt. A better option is to go Greek: Drizzle a little honey onto plain, Thick style Greek or simply rely on the natural sweetness of berries or other fresh fruit that you add yourself to liven it up.  Also some of the Greek Yogurts have less sugar than others.  Dannon Lite and Fit has 8g carbs, Choboni has 20g of carbs.  Both taste the same.  Again, read labels.