Indeed, and you find sugar in all sorts of places you might not expect. For example, Sriracha hot sauce: would you have guessed that the second ingredient is sugar?

It's a tricky line. I cook a lot and I don't have a sweet tooth in general (though I have some particular favorite sweets, of course). I've come to realize that I'm actually deficient in knowing when I should use sugar as an ingredient; because I only think of it as a sweetener (and have little desire to sweeten the food I cook), I've become ignorant of when you need to use it (for texture, to offset an undesirable sour or bitter flavor, or for other chemical properties).

> to offset an undesirable sour or bitter flavor

It's better to err on the side you're on, because that justification covers quite a lot of ground. For instance, it's hard to find tomato without sugar in prepared food. Or anything else without sugar, actually.

Seems that food companies are afraid of "tasting bad" and just throw sugar in there willy-nilly, with the consequences now in plain sight, to say the least.

Yes but just about any other hot sauce is safe. It is actually really easy to avoid HFCS. My girlfriend & I were laughing the other day as we have been on keto for about a month and we rarely go into the center isles of the grocery store anymore. Produce -> Meat Dpt -> Dairy -> Sauces/Spices -> Done.

Interesting heuristic...how do you handle canned vegetables, beans for instance? Or do you just soak them?

Unfortunately for this particular diet beans are off limits (rather high in carbs). That does not mean they are unhealthy or anything, just that they do not work with this particular diet.

We primarily only buy fresh vegetables. Lots of cabbage, spinach, lettuce, mushrooms, onions, peppers, asparagus).

If you use it in the suggested amounts I believe it is only a gram or two of extra sugar. Not enough to make much of a difference.

Yes, I would have guessed. Can people not taste how sweet it is?