Dried Fruit "Added Sugars" Down The Drain!

[PoliTalker]

Hi Bill,

You got me to wondering just how much added sugar there is in these products.

Here is some information off the labels:

Raisins: 24g of natural sugar, 0g added sugar in a 1/4 cup serving size.

Cherries: 16g of natural sugar, 12g of added sugar in a 1/4 cup serving size.

Blueberries: 13g of natural sugar, 13g of added sugar in a 1/4 cup serving size.

Cranberries: 2g of natural sugar, 26g of added sugar in a 1/3 cup serving size.

Let's do the math to compare that to the same serving size.

26 x 3 = 78g added sugar in a cup of cranberries.

78 / 4 = 19.5g added sugar in a 1/4 cup serving size. Wow. What a lot of added sugar!

I hope you like unsweetened cranberries. They are the good news for dried fruit soakers fruit. You can eat more cranberries without getting a lot of sugar if it is removed by soaking.

Cranberries actually have almost no natural sugar, so if soaking them removes the added sugar you end up with a HUGE reduction in sugar.

The others seem to run about 1.5 the natural amount of sugar with the added sugar. That still makes soaking them worth while.

Raisins are the disappointment. Since they have no added sugar, but they still run 24g of natural sugar in a 1/4 cup serving size, that would be a good selection to strongly reduce the amount consumed, if looking to reduce sugar consumption. There doesn't seem to be any eating a lot of raisins without getting a lot of sugar.

Glad I like cranberries. I actually like them more than raisins. I will definitely be eating more cranberries and fewer raisins.

I wonder what the health benefits of raisins are? What would be given up by reducing or eliminating raisins from a diet?

The serving size give you some minimal calcium, iron and potassium (all less than 10%)

Cranberries have none of those.

I like dried fruits for variety in the diet, and I heard that the skins of different color fruits are excellent sources of building blocks for maintaining a strong immune system. Maybe somebody here knows more about that and can give more detail...

 

[Bill]

The IP is a great invention, isn’t it? I make a super oatmeal mix using the pot-in-pot method. Mix everything in a pyrex bowl and place that on the trivet in the main pot. 13 minutes and you have your meal already prepared in a bowl. Nothing to clean up in the main pot.

You set the bowl in, interesting.. What mix?? That seems like a long time in there for oatmeal??

 

[Bill]

Oh noes, you have the gout??

Yep.. For maybe ten years now... I have had an attack, half an attack a few times but this last time lasted longer & even as I got rid of the acid the damage/pain continued much longer than before.......

I have decided "again" to watch what I am eating more.. I froze some of it & have shrimp in the freezer as well.

I knida look @ it & ask myself "you feelin lucky today"???

 

[Bill]

I like cranberries on occasion, nice snack, salads etc..

I think if you enjoy raisins best compare them to dried dates (which are great also) so they don't look so bad.....lol

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

Yep.. For maybe ten years now... I have had an attack, half an attack a few times but this last time lasted longer & even as I got rid of the acid the damage/pain continued much longer than before.......

I have decided "again" to watch what I am eating more.. I froze some of it & have shrimp in the freezer as well.

I knida look @ it & ask myself "you feelin lucky today"???

Gods, there's nothing like it, is there? I've had a couple of attacks. Dark beer and shrimp (I cringed when you said it's in the freezer) seem to be my nemesis. Nemesises?

 

[Bill]

Gods, there's nothing like it, is there? I've had a couple of attacks. Dark beer and shrimp (I cringed when you said it's in the freezer) seem to be my nemesis. Nemesises?

Yes, it is kinda stupid, I prob should give it to my daughters, they love it..

It is extremely painful, can't even put a bed sheet on it, nor a shoe...

I kinda prolonged it by hiking before I was ready~after only work & home I was anxious to do a hike of about 6-7 miles in the foothills,well it turned out to be 12 1/2 miles & my foot recovery was back @ square one..... Kicking a few rocks along the trail didn't help either..

How long have you had it, may I ask? I have prob had an attack 5-6 1/2 times in that time & don't take anything for it..

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

How long have you had it, may I ask? I have prob had an attack 5-6 1/2 times in that time & don't take anything for it..

Just a couple of years. Someone gave us a couple of six packs of dark beer, so I had been having one before supper every evening for a week. That triggered the first attack. Got a script for indomethacin and within hours the pain was gone. The second attack was after having shrimp more than usual (I think anyways). That one lasted longer even with the medication. There are anti-gout prescriptions meds but IMO it's better to try to figure out the culprit(s) and avoid eating/drinking them. Supposedly drinking cherry juice is supposed to help. Didn't work for me.

How long do your attacks last? And how on Earth could you stand to go hiking? You're a better man than I, Gunga Din. lol

 

[Bill]

Just a couple of years. Someone gave us a couple of six packs of dark beer, so I had been having one before supper every evening for a week. That triggered the first attack. Got a script for indomethacin and within hours the pain was gone. The second attack was after having shrimp more than usual (I think anyways). That one lasted longer even with the medication. There are anti-gout prescriptions meds but IMO it's better to try to figure out the culprit(s) and avoid eating/drinking them. Supposedly drinking cherry juice is supposed to help. Didn't work for me.

How long do your attacks last? And how on Earth could you stand to go hiking? You're a better man than I, Gunga Din. lol

Yes, first time indomethacin like a God send, (only had the one time prescription)second time ok, after that was no better than ibuprofen, unfortunately..

The wise tales don't seem to wag well, if @ all.. Cider vinegar, cherry juice etc & prob work against some ppl..

A couple years ago I ran into a neighbor that has it bad-cause he still drinks whatever he wants...

I saw him @ the store buying wine, he was wearing flip flops in winter, w/ highs in 40's it was obvious, especially if you saw his swollen Barney Rubble foot..

I told him it wasn't good to drink wine w/ gout, especially while having an attack, he said it's like cherry juice... I was pretty frank w/ him, that no, wine isn't freaking cherry juice.......... He don't talk to me any more..lol

If you love an activity you find ways to push through & enjoy it, although you will pay a price after..

They seem to be lasting longer & longer each time. The "attack" is really just phase one=the over accumulation of the uric acid in the joint/s causing it to crystallize into sharp shards like broken glass & just as sharp... That is what is in that tender joint..

Drinking lots of water can help but the crystals need time to dissolve & the body only lets a certain amounts of it to reenter the system into the body waste chain..

So after the crystals dissipate you are left w/ that damage it caused in the joint/s.. Each time the nerves get damaged, scared & more sensitive & takes more time to recover.. I have noticed each time that pain seems to linger longer & longer & not just radiating from the toe, but now the arch as well..

Lots of veggies have purines in them also, like dried beans, asparagus etc.. Most of my life I ate sunflower seeds & never had an issue & they are high on the list of stuff not to eat...

 

[Eagle_Eye]

I like dried fruit. Dried fruit is a part of my diet.

I do not like "Added Sugars."

If you look on the contents you will find that a lot of dried fruit has "Added Sugars."

Cranberries, blueberries, raisins, dates, cherries all have added sugars. I suppose the corporate wizards have decided they will sell more product if it has a sweeter taste. Most processed foods have added ingredients from the big three popular added ingredients: Sugar, Fat, and Salt. Corporate reasoning goes like this: Add one or more of these ingredients, in the right combinations, and you will sell more product. And these things are cheap.

I began wondering just how they add sugars to dried fruit. I couldn't imagine using a hypodermic needle to inject sugar into blueberries, no. It has to be a process that's cheap and easily done on a mass scale. I noticed that these dried fruits are a little sticky. It must be a coating that is sprayed on.

I did some searching online. I am not the only one to wonder about this. And there seems to be no consensus. I would like to see an investigative reporting expose on it.

I wondered if I could remove the added sugars.

I did an experiment in my own kitchen. (Hey, some things they just don't tell ya, so ya have to figure them out for yourself.)

I took some dried fruit with added sugars and put it in a bowl. Then I added water and waited ten minutes.

Then I tasted the water.

You guessed it. It tasted strongly like sugar.

I poured it off.

Guess what?

It looked like corn syrup. A brown mixture (yuk.)

Now that makes sense. Corn syrup is darn cheap. And not very good for you. Who buys corn syrup and cooks with it? I never heard a 100-year-old talk of doing that.

I tasted the fruit. You guessed it. Now it tasted more like raw fruit. Not so sickenly sweet any more.

Yaay!

So now I have a new process. I de-process this processed food before I eat it. It's simple.

Added sugars down the drain. I wish they would not even put them in. I can't even find these dried fruits without the added sugars. No demand for it, I guess. Dumb corporations. I can't be the only one. My waistline thanks me. I want the health benefits of fruit and it's not always possible to get a wide variety of fresh fruits. That's why dried fruit is part of my diet. Now, thanks to a bit of ingenuity, added sugars are not.

Bill just buy a dehydrator and make your own. It's easy all kinds of recipes on line. That way you get exactly what you want. We make dried apple chips with cinnamon all the time.