No More Unhealthy Desserts

Ingekp1

I’ve eliminating unnatural sugar from my diet? I now get my sugar primarily from fruits. Is anyone else out there minimizing their auger intake? What are some pointers if so? Thanks!

cwolfman13

Ingekp1 wrote: »

I’ve eliminating unnatural sugar from my diet? I now get my sugar primarily from fruits. Is anyone else out there minimizing their auger intake? What are some pointers if so? Thanks!

I don't eat much in the way of added sugar because I don't really have a huge sweet tooth...but sugar isn't unnatural, it is extracted from sugar cane or sugar beets, etc.

mullanphylane

If eliminating unnatural sugar, yet still want sweets, natural sugars will have to be substituted. Cane/beet sugar are the most popular in homes, followed by honey. Food processors use other kinds of natural sugars to make their foods taste better - corny syrup is one that is used widely, but there are others.

Not really sure what you consider to be 'unnatural' sugars, but just reducing added sugars helps a lot. Familiarize yourself with the names of sugars, read labels - and not just the nutrition table; see what the product contains - to see what's in there. Sugar is sugar, so substituting one kind for another might not be the best approach.

kshama2001

Ingekp1 wrote: »

I’ve eliminating unnatural sugar from my diet? I now get my sugar primarily from fruits. Is anyone else out there minimizing their auger intake? What are some pointers if so? Thanks!

I remember discussing added sugar with you in another thread - did you mean to say added sugar rather than unnatural sugar?

mmapags

Ingekp1 wrote: »

I’ve eliminating unnatural sugar from my diet? I now get my sugar primarily from fruits. Is anyone else out there minimizing their auger intake? What are some pointers if so? Thanks!

What kind of unnatural sugars are you referring to? Do you mean added sugar, as in not naturally occurring sugar such as in fruit?

Also, I would caution very strongly against viewing any food item as unhealthy or healthy. All food, including added sugar can be healthy depending on the context and the amount. The same applies to unhealthy.

AnnPT77

Added sugar is chemically the same stuff as inherent sugar in fruits, dairy foods, and whatnot. It's all some combination of the simple sugars (monosaccharides) like fructose, glucose, and galactose, with some of those sometimes chemically bonded into disaccharides like sucrose and lactose . . . but they break back down into the simple sugars in your body. It's just that the inherent sugars come packaged with other useful nutrients, in most cases.

You can use concentrated apple juice to sweeten desserts, or pureed dates, or something like that . . . but the biochemical effect is going to be about the same. (The US government counts concentrated fruit juice as an added sugar, I believe). Date sugar is just dates dried and chopped into granular chunks; as such it doesn't melt like table sugars. Honey or maple syrup are considered by some to be more natural than table sugar, but it still comes down to the same chemicals, and they're also considered "added sugars". Another option would be various artificial sweeteners, or the called-natural non-sugar sweet things like stevia or monkfruit that are often sold in a pretty highly-processed form themselves.

So, depending on what your motivation is, you could eat fruit only; or you could decide that date sugar or concentrated fruit juice or honey or maple syrup are natural enough, or . . . .

Personally, I just try to get adequate protein, adequate fats (preferring mostly monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats to saturated fats, and thinking about Omega-3/Omega-6 balance), and boatloads of varied, colorful fruits and veggies, within calorie goal . . . and however much sugar, inherent or added, fits into that in a happy way.

Many people differ, but I think good nutrition and healthy eating is more about getting the right things into my eating than it is about getting certain things out of it. When I get the needed nutrients in, and hit my calorie goal, things pretty much fall into place, for me. YMMV.