Dried fruits are sweet on their own, but some food manufacturers will add sugar to dried fruits to make them even more palatable. Be cautious about added sugars with dried fruits. The sugars listed on the food label include sugars natural to the food as well as added sugars, so it is difficult to determine if sugar may have been added to a dried fruit just by looking at the grams of sugar on the label. To see if a product has added sugars, look at the ingredients list underneath the food label. Sugar is not always listed in plain sight, sometimes it can be added in different forms to foods such as: honey, high fructose corn syrup, fruit juice concentrate, evaporated cane juice, etc.
Have you heard that dried fruit is too high in sugar to be part of a healthy diet? If so, you heard yet another nutrition myth! Typically, dried fruits contain similar calories and sugar content of their fruit beginnings – 10 raisins are nutritionally similar to 10 grapes. Dried fruits contain fiber and plenty of vitamins and minerals that are great for your health.
Don’t forget to be mindful of your dried fruit portion. Many dried fruits are available in single serve containers that are great to bring along for snacking during the day. A typical portion of dried fruit is about 2 tablespoons, but every fruit varies so check out the portion recommended on the package.
