Give me some Sugar Man

Food in the US is a whole different ball game. We’ve already talked about the bacon, but now we have to talk about the real heavy hitter: sugar (or more accurately, carbs).

Coming from the Netherlands, I assumed the US would be at the absolute top of the list for Type 2 Diabetes. Surprisingly, the US ranks 37th—not great, but not the worst. However, compared to the Netherlands at 153rd, it’s still a massive jump. As a Type 2 patient myself, I’ve had to become a bit of a carb detective, which is no easy feat in an American grocery store.

My first "culture shock" happened at breakfast. Back home, I usually ate granola, always hunting for the box with the lowest carbs. When I moved here, I did the same thing. I grabbed a box, saw "19g" on the label, and thought I was safe. (Side note: isn't it weird that the labels are in grams (just like drugs 😄), but everything else is in ounces and pounds?)

After a few days, I realized my sugar levels were way higher than they should have been. I went back to the kitchen and looked at the box again. That’s when I found the trap.

In the Netherlands, every cereal label shows you the carb count per 100 grams. It’s consistent and easy to compare. But here? The numbers are shown per portion. My box said 19g of carbs, but the "portion size" was only 30 grams. That means instead of 19% carbs, I was eating something that was 66% sugar in disguise!

To make it even more confusing, every brand chooses their own portion size. One brand might use 30g, another 55g. If you actually want to find the healthiest option, you basically have to bring a calculator and a spreadsheet to the store. And don’t even get me started on the "No Added Sugar" labels—that’s just marketing talk for "still loaded with natural sugar."

If you want the real low-carb stuff, you have to head to the Keto section, where a small bag of granola costs a small fortune. It’s a classic case of "less is more"—as in, you get less sugar, but it costs you a lot more money!

My other options are to import it from back home (which is somehow still cheaper than buying the Keto stuff here) or just make it myself. Making it is officially on my "To-Do" list, but that list is getting very long, so it might be a while before I’m baking my own oats.

Until then, I’m sticking to smaller portions and a lot more walking!