These days there is not much that catches me out when it comes to hidden sugar in drinks and processed food, but yesterday I was nearly caught out by hidden sugar in water of all things.
So there’s no surprises when it comes sugar contained in soft drinks (sodas), everyone knows that your 330ml can of Coca Cola contains 35g of sugar or 7 teaspoons of the diabetes inducing poison. (a bit strong, I don’t think so)
If you didn’t know, we need to hang out a bit more.
Another crowd favourite, Mountain Dew has even more horror packed in :
These superstars manage to cram 40g of sugar into a single 330ml can, or 8 teaspoons of sugar. And they sell millions and millions of cans per day across the world.
It’s no wonder we have a battle on our hands.
So it’s well known that the first thing to go when you need to get type 2 diabetes or weight issues under control is sugary drinks. Coke, Mountain Dew, Fanta, Solo… all in the bin.
How I nearly got caught out
This brings me on to my brush with hidden sugar yesterday.
So I’ve given up drinking alcohol for the foreseeable future. I’ve got a lot on at work, so operating with a clear head lets me get more done with time left over to fight the good fight here.
Plus the additional calories aren’t something I need.
However, occasionally I get the urge for a grown up drink, like a nice red wine or a Gin and Tonic.
Sometimes just a tonic water with ice and lemon is enough to trick my easily influenced brain cell into thinking I’m having a nice G&T
So I’ve never considered tonic water to be sweet, or a traditional red-flag soda, so I went to drop these bad boys into my shopping trolley.
Now don’t ask me why I spun the packaging around, although I do that A LOT nowadays, but something reminded me that my wife had once brought home some “Diet” tonic water and I made fun of her saying how can it be diet tonic, it’s water!!
So when I looked at the nutritional info panel on the back of the packaging, I was stunned.
Beyond stunned,
7.4% Sugar !!!
I could not believe it.
Bloody tonic water.
It’s not sweet and I thought it was as close to water as you can get.
So each 200ml bottle was hiding 15g of sugar – 3 whole teaspoons. And of course you don’t just have the one. I’d easily knock off this four pack in single sitting, so I could have let 60g or 12 teaspoons of sugar through the defences without even realising it.
I’d then have wondered why my accuchek machine was dialing an ambulance.
So the moral of the story is always be on your guard.
Always check the label.
Don’t let them win.
On a brighter note, there are some quite acceptable zero alcohol grown up drinks on the market now, including some nice red wines that appear to have zero carbs and sugar too.
So when my brain cell starts demanding booze, I have something in the former beer fridge that will easily trick it into submission.
I’m still searching for a good zero carb zero alcohol beer. If you find one, let me know on twitter.
Thanks for reading.
Until next time.
P.S. I send out emails most days during the week with interesting stuff I’m finding out about low carb and the food chain, recipes, what I’m up to or just stuff I find interesting. You can get those updates for free, the sign up should be up on the top right somewhere.
P.P.S I’ve got nothing to sell. I’m doing what I can to get my story and message out there.
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