Sugar and labels

I am 6 days post op and have a question regarding sugar and labels. I do not meet with my surgeon or nutritionist for another week but am able to start my pureed stage on Wednesday. It says I can have cottage cheese, yogurt, sugar free pudding, and pureed bean soups and strained cream soups. I went to the store today and was trying to figure out what soups to get. Some labels say the sugar is 2g or 8g or 5g. What do we need to look for now on the labels??? Thanks for any help!

 Many times the sugar is from fruits or dairy.  I look for 2 things.  First, sugar must not be among any of the first few ingredients.  I look for it to be 4th or 5th or more.  Second, I try to keep the sugar grams low.  For me it is 5 or 6 grams or less.  Some people go as high as 9 or so.  It is personal preference.  Sugar free usually means there is no sugar while no added sugar means that it may have natural sugar in it.

I agree that sugar should not be the first ingredient.  Also labeling can be misleading as manufactures can separate listings of sugar.  The product may have cane sugar, high fructose corn syrup, fructose, honey,  molasses, glucose, sucrose and many other sugars LISTED SEPARATELY - because if you would ADD all sugars they would be the #1 ingredient!!  Tricky and deceptive.

I do dump and I stay away from anything with more than 9 gm sugar per serving.  For processed food (most canned, boxed, frozen) foods I also ask myself "should there be sugar in this?"  For instance why does tomato soup need sugar???  I dont by things with sugar added when it doesn't need to be.

Yogurts with fruit can be really high in sugar.  Plain yogurt has milk sugar and that is OK - but don't get yogurt with added sugars.

Best wishes.

Totally agree with the tomato soup thing, I don't get it?!?    Spent a good 10 minutes in the spaghetti sauce aisle trying to find ONE that didn't contain sugar.    Finally found one variety of bertolli that was OK.    Tomato sauce is another weird one..some types have added oil which tacks on the calories.   


I wish I lived closer to a Whole Foods or something comparable so there was greater variety!!!

 

My doctor gave an actual list of sugars to avoid and a lesson in reading labels. Here is how it works:

Look at the sugar content on the nutrition label. If it is more than 5 gm. of sugar per serving, look at the ingredient list and try to determine what kind of sugar is in the product.

Simple sugars should not be listed as any of the first 5 ingredients on the label. If so, put it down.

The following sugars are simple sugars and should be limited or avoided:
brown sugar
cane juice
corn syrup
high fructose corn syrup
dextrose
glucose
honey
invert sugar
maple sugar
maltose
molasses
raw sugar
sucrose
sugar
sorghum

Sweeteners that may be tolerated include:
fructose ****urs naturally in fruits)
lactose****urs naturally in milk and dairy products)
sugars naturally occurring in vegetabless
aspartame (equal, nutrasweet)
acesulfame K
sucralose (splenda)
isomalt
stevia
saccharin (sweet n low)
sugar alcohols

Let me add a bit about sugar alcohols. These include sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, maltitol, and erithrotol. These can be great additions to no sugar baked goods and other treats. However, many RNYers find that we are sensitive to sugar alcohols. Side effects include painful bloating, gas, and diarrhea, so be very careful with these. A number of protein bars that are otherwise fine for us can be very high in sugar alcohols!!!

Thank you all for helping. That gives me a place to start and helps me not make a bad choice!!!

Thanks for the list, that's great information.  I had RNY 2 weeks ago and find I have problems with foods with sugar alcohols.  Too bad because those sugar-free popsicles were a nice treat but aren't worth the aftermath.