On the South Beach diet you are allowed to have products that contain up to 3 grams of sugar per serving. So your salad dressings and other condiments can contain this amount as well as your breads and dessert products.

Avoid any product that contains High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) - even if the total sugars in the product are listed at 3 grams or less. This is because HFCS is made from hydrolyzed corn starch which dangerously raises your trigycerides and does the same damage that trans fats do to your body and is not considered healthy.

Mindy,

You make it so clear!

Does high fructose corn syrup ever get listed by a different name? What sugars would we want to avoid from a bread ingredient list? As long as the ingredients don't list HFCS are any other sugars that are within foods, like bread or salad dressing, OK?

Sugar Alcohols are not good for you. Ok sugar sources would be molasses and honey - as long as the total count per serving does not exceed 3 grams. These sources are nutritious in their natural state. Common table sugar, listed just as sugar or evaporated sugar cane juice is ok. Sucrose is a natural form of sugar too. Fruit juice and fruit syrups are a form of sugar too. Sugars derived from beets are ok too.

Sugar is listed in so many ways in our foods as - maltitol, dextrose, maltodextrin. Usually any ingredient ending in "ose" or "trin" is a form of sugar.
Corn syrup is a form of sugar, though there is debate on whether it is as bad for you as High Fructose Corn Syrup -- the data is not clear. I stay away from corn syrup in any form just in case.

It is ok to eat these forms of sugar as long as the total count does not exceed 3 grams but the ones I just listed in the second paragraph are more chemically processed than honey and molasses.

The most nutritious source to get your sugars from is blackstrap or unsulphered molasses. This is not refined in any way and I guess you could consider this the "whole grain" of sugar, LOL!!

Hope this helps! Thanks so much for you input Nancy!!!

Thanks, I'm starting to get it more clear. It's pretty complex to figure out whether breads and salad dressings are OK.

Mindy, I am curious as to where you got the information that HFCS is a "trans-fat", do you have a link? I have been searching and searching and nothing I have found describes it as a "trans-fat". I know its really bad for you but I have always classified it as a sugar and so do all of the websites I find.

Just curious.

I have it in writing in a book somewhere but dag nab it, I can't remember which one I picked up that gem from. I'll get back to you on that. It might not be for a day or two though because I get home too late tonight to start searching!

I was surprised when I read about that too but after reading it, it made sense to me.

Yea, whenever you have time. I've been reading about how its made and it sounds like a sugar all the way. No mention of any kind of fat whatsoever, so that made me very curious!

It may have been in the original SB book. It is a form of sugar but the way it is made has something to do about how it negatively affects your tryglicerides like trans fat, so they consider it in that family.

Until I can find the official SB link or take on it, see if this article helps:

http://channels.netscape.com/homerea...nt&floc=HR-1_T

This one also makes the link about the raised tryglicerides, and since HFCS is hydrolyzed corn starch, this is where I think they get the trans fat link. It actually isn't chemically a fat, but it does the same damage as trans fat. The hydrolyzation process is considered carcinogenic and is the same process used to hydrogenate oils. This I do know because when I worked in the health food company, my company bought another company and we yanked their dried soup product off of the market because it was full of hydrolized powders -- including hydrolized corn starch and we would not put our name on a product that was bad for your body!!!!

Must be a SB thing! The nutritional value for a cup of HFCS says ZERO Fats of any sort! it is all Carbs!