Fructose is a simple sugar that occurs naturally in honey and in most fruits and vegetables, in smaller amounts. It’s also a component of table sugar, which is derived from sugar cane. In the form of high-fructose corn syrup, or HFCS, it is often added as a concentrated sweetener to processed foods including soft drinks, fruit drinks, jams and jellies, cookies and desserts, ice creams and heavy-syrup canned fruits. Reading food labels will help you cut down on processed forms of fructose and other sugars, which are a major source of empty calories in the American diet. Eliminate empty calories and you will immediately start losing weight.
Step 1
Emphasize healthy, minimally-processed foods in your daily diet. Choose lean protein, whole-grain breads and pastas and lots of fresh vegetables and fruits. Snack on fresh fruit, vegetables, low-fat cheeses and whole-grain crackers and drink water or other unsweetened beverages instead of consuming sodas, cookies, pastries and candy.
Step 2
Eliminate foods likely to be high in fructose, HFCS and other added sugars. According to the American Heart Association, food categories high in fructose and processed sugars include soft drinks, fruit drinks, candy, cakes, pies, cookies, ice cream, sweetened yogurt, flavored milk and sweetened cereals.
Step 3
Study ingredient lists to identify foods high in fructose and HFCS to determine how much fructose is included. Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight. Fructose takes a variety of forms and may be listed as corn sweetener, corn syrup, fruit juice concentrates, high-fructose corn syrup, honey and syrup.
Step 4
Buy fruits canned in water or natural juice. Avoid canned fruits in syrup, especially heavy syrup. Choose fresh fruit with minimal sweetening -- such as a dusting of powdered sugar -- instead of using flavored syrups on pancakes and waffles,.
Tips and Warnings
- The American Heart Association recommends that women consume no more than 100 calories of added sugar – meaning HFCS as well as table sugar – from all sources per day, or about 6 teaspoons. Men should consume only 150 calories of added sugar per day, or 9 teaspoons. The Nutrition Facts label on processed foods won’t help you identify HFCS, but it will give you total sugars, in grams, per serving – the total reflecting both the food’s natural food content and added sugar. Avoid foods with high sugar content. Sometimes ingredient lists for foods list sugars under different names, the result being that a food that’s mostly sugar may not seem that way at first glance. Names used for sugar include brown sugar, invert sugar, malt sugar, molasses, raw sugar and sugar. Sugar may also be identified by their molecular names – ending in “ose” -- such as dextrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose and sucrose.
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