How to Reduce Fructose Sugar
These days, everyone's heard about the dangers of fructose. But before you go blaming your daily apple, you should know it's high-fructose corn syrup that is the real danger. A super-concentrated version of fructose, high-fructose corn syrup greatly increases the amount of fructose in foods. Eaten long-term, it can lead to serious health issues, such as high triglycerides and hardening of the arteries. Luckily, following a few simple tips will help reduce your dietary intake of fructose sugar.
Instructions
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Become label conscious. Although fructose is derived from fruit, that's not the average American's main source of this sugar. By far, it's via intake of high-fructose corn syrup. This super-concentrated form of fructose abounds in processed sweet foods.
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Avoid processed, sugary foods. This is were high-fructose corn syrup lives. Common culprits include everything from canned fruit and Popsicles to ketchup and salad dressing.
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Eat whole foods. Fresh vegetables, whole grain pastas and nuts are good examples of foods not high in fructose. Even fresh fruit is fine, and won't lead to overly high fructose levels providing you don't pig out on fructose-heavy processed foods.
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Watch what you drink. Soda is one of the biggest high-fructose offenders, packing the equivalent of a whopping 15 tsp. of sugar in each can. Non-natural fruit juice is another culprit. Drink water and tea to avoid falling into this high-fructose trap.
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Bake your own sweets. Processed cookies and cakes ready-made at the store pack a mean high-fructose corn syrup punch. At home, you can use regular sucrose, or table sugar, and forgo the fructose entirely.
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Tips & Warnings
Make sure to read all labels, not just ones you suspect. High-fructose corn syrup can pop up virtually anywhere.
