The sweet trap we keep falling into
Ask anyone managing blood sugar what they avoid, and the answer is usually the same: mithai, cold drinks, chocolate. Fair enough — but according to Dr. Santosh Kumar Agrawal, Director of Internal Medicine at Yatharth Super Speciality Hospital in Faridabad, that mental shortlist leaves out a surprisingly long tail of everyday foods that are doing quiet damage in the background.
The real story of rising blood sugar and climbing HbA1c levels is less about the obvious offenders and more about the things we eat without a second thought — often because they carry a 'healthy' label, or simply because they don't taste sweet.
The usual suspects hiding in plain sight
Consider the packaged fruit juice sitting in most Indian refrigerators. Even when it says '100% fruit juice' on the box, the fibre that normally slows sugar absorption is largely gone, and the natural sugars are concentrated. You're essentially drinking a fast-acting sugar hit with a wellness halo.
Flavoured yogurts are another one worth scrutinising. Plain dahi is genuinely good for you, but the fruit-swirled, store-bought versions often carry added sugar that rivals a dessert. The same goes for energy drinks and sweetened coffee beverages that have become a fixture in urban India's café culture.
And then there's the carbohydrate question — white rice, white bread, potatoes, and most bakery products. None of them taste sweet, but once digested, refined carbohydrates can raise blood sugar just as quickly as sugary foods in many people. For a country where rice and roti anchor nearly every meal, this is worth sitting with.
Why this matters for a food audience in India
Indian diets are rich in exactly the foods that deserve a second look here. Dried fruits — kishmish, khajoor, anjeer, dried apricots — are handed out as healthy snacks, offered at festivals, and recommended during fasts. Dr. Agrawal's point is not that they're bad, but that removing water from fruit concentrates its natural sugars dramatically. A small bowl of raisins contains far more sugar than the equivalent volume of fresh grapes, and it's easy to overdo.
The 'low-fat' and 'diet' labelling on biscuits, namkeen, and snack packs is another area where Indian consumers are regularly misled. When manufacturers strip out fat, they typically compensate with sugar or refined starch — meaning the product may still spike blood sugar even as it markets itself as a lighter choice. Reading the nutrition label rather than the front-of-pack claim makes a real difference.
The good news, as Dr. Agrawal points out, is that cutting carbohydrates entirely is neither necessary nor advisable — carbohydrates remain the body's primary energy source. Swapping fruit juice for whole fruit, choosing plain yogurt over flavoured, moving toward whole-grain options, and simply paying attention to portion sizes — especially for rice, potatoes, and dried fruits — are the kinds of incremental changes that can move HbA1c in the right direction over time. No dramatic elimination required.