I LOVE ME SOME SUGARRRRRRR. While in GA in February, I went through TWO boxes of peanut butter Puffins cereal in FOUR days - it's not gluten free, organic, or even remotely healthy, it's just DELICIOUS and I couldn't stop. I buy candy at the movie theater. I eat dark chocolate and home-made baked goods on an almost daily basis. Of course, just like everyone else I'd love to cut back on my sugar intake, but that wouldn't be much fun (at all...)
What I'm not into is hidden sugar in the foods I'm eating. If I want to eat sugar, I eat it. But I don't want to be eating it without intentionally doing so.
I became more invested in the ingredients of my food back in May when we began our IVF journey. Controlling the food I ate provided me with some sense of stability throughout the whole fertility journey of which you have little control over. Once I finally got pregnant, I continued with a Gluten Free/Dairy Free and most recently decided to eat Whole30 over the past few months. While on whole 30 you can't have ANY added sugar - no honey, no maple syrup, no coconut sugar, and definitely no cane syrup. While trying to find foods that didn't contain those items, I realized how many actually do.
Salsa, Peanut Butter, Mayonnaise, dressings (big culprit), "healthy chips", relish, jams/jellies(obvious), mustards, dried fruit snacks, health bars... all seem to have added cane sugar. Why??? I just want to eat regular food - why does it need to have added sugar?
Luckily, I found some amazing products/replacements that are equally as good if not better without the sugar. Below are some of my favorite items I've been using lately. I love ranch dressing, and mustard, and bars to snack on...so I found a way to enjoy those items while staying within my 50g a day sugar allotment (self imposed).
Primal Kitchen Avocado Mayonnaise: Gold. Pure Gold. I use this for sandwiches, chicken salad, deviled eggs, ranch dressing...I LOVE IT. Some Kroger's sell it and it can also be ordered on Thrive Market.
St Dalfour Fruit Jam - This Jam contains juice concentrate instead of cane sugar. I wouldn't say the concentrate is necessarily healthy, but I do believe it's the lesser of two evils if your kid insists on a PB+J. Comes in strawberry, raspberry, and blueberry flavors.
RX Bars - This is my go-to snack/treat in the afternoon. The packaging has the ingredient list right on the front which includes "and no B.S." Mostly made of dates, some of my favorite flavors are Chocolate Sea Salt, Peanut Butter, and Coconut Chocolate. AND Trader Joe's now sells them y'all!!
Ranch Dressing - Primal Kitchen has a great sugar-free ranch dressing available. I personally like to make my own using equal parts Primal Kitchen Avocado Mayo + Full Fat Coconut milk, lemon juice, and this garlic galore seasoning blend.
Trader Joe's Fruit bars - I love giving these to Roswelle as they are just fruit. I have to be really careful about reading the labeling of kid-friendly fruit snacks. For instance, if I buy her freeze-dried banana chips, there is a version with cane sugar and a brand without.
Raw Almond Butter - Peanut butter and almond butter are big time offenders of containing added sugar. There are plenty of options out there that just contain peanuts or almonds, again it's all about reading the label.
Trader Joe's Dijon Mustard w/ White Wine: This one has a kick - a small amount gives a big return. I use it on lettuce wraps and dip sweet potato fries in it.