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Comment by bombcar | Hacker News Reader

It takes a bit of work, but it is possible to start by removing things with sweetener (for example, it is possible to find ketchup that has no added sugar but they often have some other sweetener, you want stuff that is very simple).

Example ketchup: Organic Tomato Concentrate, Organic Balsamic Vinegar (Organic White Wine Vinegar, Organic Grape Must), Organic Distilled Vinegar, Salt, Less Than 2% Of: Organic Onion Powder, Organic Garlic Powder, Organic Spices

Normal ketchup: Tomato Concentrate From Red Ripe Tomatoes, Distilled Vinegar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Salt, Spice, Onion Powder, Natural Flavoring.

Other things like unsweetened ice tea, etc, can help, too.

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> but they often have some other sweetener

I actually fell for this trap while looking for no added sugar or sugar alternatives specifically. The products are advertised as "No added sugar", meanwhile Stevia! Infuriating.

Heinz has a no added sugar product that adds stevia, and a no HFCS product that uses sugar. None that just reduces sweetness as far as I know.

I've also then seen the stevia-sweetened products advertised as "No added sugar and no artificial sweeteners", which is infuriating when searching for unsweetened (or under-sweetened) products.

Yep, because it's technically natural! Hate it.

I only buy ketchup with supernatural sweeteners!

What I really want is food with less sugar. Call it a harm reduction approach.

A gram of sugar isn’t as bad as 20g, but it’s really hard to find just less sweet products. They all use artificial sweeteners to make it as sweet tasting or more.

Why is it so hard to find a ginger ale with only 5g of sugar? Or ketchup with 1/10th the sugar? It’s easy to find low sodium products.

Speaking of low sodium, I also wish more foods would mix potassium salt in with table salt. It’s not as “salty” but still improves the flavor and balances out the lack of potassium in Western diet.

I suspect food labelling laws - the term "diet" probably can't be used if it contains any sugar or whatever.

I'm seeing more "low sugar" options pop up here and there, but even then you have to ride the damn ingredients because sometimes it's "low sugar" on an item that normally has no sweetener at all, or it is being compared to some hard-to-find version that apparently is pure sugar.

Primal Kitchen makes products like this. They have a ketchup with no sweeteners.

https://www.primalkitchen.com/products/organic-unsweetened-k...

The best way to avoid eating ketchup with added sugar is to replace all usages of ketchup with mayonnaise.

There is a brand that has no added sugar that I believe the poster up thread is mentioning based upon the ingredients. It's ok, but honestly tastes a little like just thick tomato sauce, could be a little more fermented/more vinegar, but it's a fine substitute for HFCS based ketchups.

[1] https://www.primalkitchen.com/products/organic-unsweetened-s...

Yep, that's the one. I've not eaten it myself so I can't comment on "how it goes" as I mostly just try to avoid sauces like ketchup in general when possible.

A tablespoon of mayonnaise is 90 calories.

A tablespoon of the most HFCS sweetened ketchup is 20 calories.

It may be a win on taste but I'm not sure it's a win on calorie reduction. I do love some mayonnaise fries, tho.

But if we go one level deeper, fat does fill you up much better than simple carbs like HFCS. In fact, HFCS will create more appetite (more than even plain sugar) down the road which at the end will make you eat more - and probably even of the same kind. Therefore, it's not very clear to me it's a win in calorie reduction either.

the jar of hellman's in my fridge has sugar on the label.

You can make your own mayo in 5 minutes.

Well, if we're making stuff, you can also easily make your own ketchup.

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