Sugar is not your friend part 2

Marla64

So, bottom line, if I'm getting the condensed version. HCFS sucks, but is really no worse for you than table sugar?

Did I get it?

You could look at it that way, I think. OR HFCS slurps, but it is not any BETTER for you than table sugar.:ohwell:

Well, actually, I meant to add that both are bad for you-- but the brouhaha that HFCS is worse isn't necessarily true....yes?

cmriverside

So, bottom line, if I'm getting the condensed version. HCFS sucks, but is really no worse for you than table sugar?

Did I get it?

You could look at it that way, I think. OR HFCS slurps, but it is not any BETTER for you than table sugar.:ohwell:

Well, actually, I meant to add that both are bad for you-- but the brouhaha that HFCS is worse isn't necessarily true....yes?

This article was written by a Reg Dietician who read all the research pertaining to how the wo substances related to weight issues. In THAT context she found that HFCS and sugar did not differ greatly:

In addition, satiety studies done on HFCS and sugar (sucrose) have found no difference in appetite regulation, feelings of fullness, or short-term energy intake.

As far as one being "better" for you than the other, that is outside the scope of the article.

Marla64

So, bottom line, if I'm getting the condensed version. HCFS sucks, but is really no worse for you than table sugar?

Did I get it?

You could look at it that way, I think. OR HFCS slurps, but it is not any BETTER for you than table sugar.:ohwell:

Well, actually, I meant to add that both are bad for you-- but the brouhaha that HFCS is worse isn't necessarily true....yes?

This article was written by a Reg Dietician who read all the research pertaining to how the wo substances related to weight issues. In THAT context she found that HFCS and sugar did not differ greatly:

In addition, satiety studies done on HFCS and sugar (sucrose) have found no difference in appetite regulation, feelings of fullness, or short-term energy intake.

As far as one being "better" for you than the other, that is outside the scope of the article.

I love it when you talk all smarticle, Cheryl.

cmriverside

So, bottom line, if I'm getting the condensed version. HCFS sucks, but is really no worse for you than table sugar?

Did I get it?

You could look at it that way, I think. OR HFCS slurps, but it is not any BETTER for you than table sugar.:ohwell:

Well, actually, I meant to add that both are bad for you-- but the brouhaha that HFCS is worse isn't necessarily true....yes?

This article was written by a Reg Dietician who read all the research pertaining to how the wo substances related to weight issues. In THAT context she found that HFCS and sugar did not differ greatly:

In addition, satiety studies done on HFCS and sugar (sucrose) have found no difference in appetite regulation, feelings of fullness, or short-term energy intake.

As far as one being "better" for you than the other, that is outside the scope of the article.

I love it when you talk all smarticle, Cheryl.

smarticle. I it when you make new words! And I really wish Mike would add spell-check. Who has the time to notice the "wo" that was s'posed to be "two" in my last post? grrrr. Really, I don't want to edit every post......maybe I should stop typing faster than my fingers can think.

BrendaLee

Well I BLEW it. I bought nature valley granola bars, because I somehow kidded myself into believing that they weren't really a "sweet", and I could have one a day. I ended up eating 4 of them. Back to square one. I'm really disappointed in myself at the moment. I had 19 days in!

cmriverside

Well I BLEW it. I bought nature valley granola bars, because I somehow kidded myself into believing that they weren't really a "sweet", and I could have one a day. I ended up eating 4 of them. Back to square one. I'm really disappointed in myself at the moment. I had 19 days in!

Branda, take it easy on yourself


That would be me if they were in my house. But I did that many times in the first year of weight loss. I've washed half gallons of ice cream down the drain, poured coffee grounds into peanut butter, bleach onto pita bread, you name it, I've gotten angry about it.

~~~~~~~

I've decided to track my added sugars. Since I allow myself fruit and dairy, there is no way I'm worrying about them. But since bread and some almond milks and creamers have sugar, I am going to track them. The recommendation is 40g daily MAXIMUM added sugar. (4g per tsp).

Yesterday my added sugars were 11g. I'm pleased with that, since I did it in hindsight, so I think that is awesome. I'm not going to be a hard-*kitten* with myself and eliminate all added sugar. I'll stick it in my signature, accumulating days I stay under 40g.

BrendaLee

I'm mad at myself for buying them, because I know it was a mind game I was playing with myself to allow myself to indulge. Of course, I did resist for 19 days, so I'm not being too hard on myself. It's a bit of "You fool!" mixed with "Way to go!".

I've been sick, and I have the resistance of a pot belly pig when I'm ill.
__

11 grams of added sugars is great considering it's in just about everything. You know, it's actually somewhat of an evil conspiracy that they've sweetened everything we eat. What better way to get us addicted than to make everything we eat taste like candy.

lotusfromthemud

Well I BLEW it. I bought nature valley granola bars, because I somehow kidded myself into believing that they weren't really a "sweet", and I could have one a day. I ended up eating 4 of them. Back to square one. I'm really disappointed in myself at the moment. I had 19 days in!

Yep, what Cheryl said. A weight watchers friend of mine gave me this little tidbit: "just don't let a lapse turn into a re-lapse". We all fall off the horse, the trick is to get right back on!

I hear you about the sick/resistance thing, too. . .it's hard to have resistance when you don't feel good. It's been my struggle, too recently.

cmriverside

hmmmm on the sick and resisting thing.

I'm going back to my post about "self-indulgence". Do we eat comfort foods to make ourselves feel better? Absolutely!

As Viviakay said in earlier posts too, "what am I stressed about"? Drug it.

Sugar is not a friend. It is that person who (like kaytbognar said) has to make everyone feel bad about themselves.

Why then do we keep going back? We talked in January about "punishing" ourselves when we had a slip-up food-wise, by secretly going on a food binge. Wow. If we go on the binge, it temporarily makes us feel better. We are getting the tasty food. But it is only for a moment that we feel better.

Why did our families always use food as a celebration? Or give tasty treats as a reward? We began to associate feeling good with food. The family is all together = love = food.



A few years ago I broke up with a man and he kept saying "But I love you" over and over and over and leaving me messages and gifts - for months. But he had also been verbally abusive, and I knew it could escalate to something more serious, that's why I broke up with him. In the months after the breakup I would have moments of weakness when I would want to call him or see him. I literally had to keep saying to myself..."He says he loves me. That was not love." It was very confusing to me to have someone say they love me, but then call me the "c" word and yell and scream - for pretty much no reason. I had to make myself rethink what love is.

Just as gifts don't buy love (in my family of origin, too, that was how we showed love, by buying something for someone) - food does not buy us love.

The way to a man's heart is through his belly? What Buddha came up with that one? Now we are killing ourselves with food - in the name of love!

I hope this makes sense, it is sort of stream-of-consciousness writing........

BrendaLee

hmmmm on the sick and resisting thing.

I'm going back to my post about "self-indulgence". Do we eat comfort foods to make ourselves feel better? Absolutely!

As Viviakay said in earlier posts too, "what am I stressed about"? Drug it.

Sugar is not a friend. It is that person who (like kaytbognar said) has to make everyone feel bad about themselves.

Why then do we keep going back? We talked in January about "punishing" ourselves when we had a slip-up food-wise, by secretly going on a food binge. Wow. If we go on the binge, it temporarily makes us feel better. We are getting the tasty food. But it is only for a moment that we feel better.

Why did our families always use food as a celebration? Or give tasty treats as a reward? We began to associate feeling good with food. The family is all together = love = food.



A few years ago I broke up with a man and he kept saying "But I love you" over and over and over and leaving me messages and gifts - for months. But he had also been verbally abusive, and I knew it could escalate to something more serious, that's why I broke up with him. In the months after the breakup I would have moments of weakness when I would want to call him or see him. I literally had to keep saying to myself..."He says he loves me. That was not love." It was very confusing to me to have someone say they love me, but then call me the "c" word and yell and scream - for pretty much no reason. I had to make myself rethink what love is.

Just as gifts don't buy love (in my family of origin, too, that was how we showed love, by buying something for someone) - food does not buy us love.

The way to a man's heart is through his belly? What Buddha came up with that one? Now we are killing ourselves with food - in the name of love!

I hope this makes sense, it is sort of stream-of-consciousness writing........

It makes perfect sense.

I know we come up with many excuses to indulge- including sickness. I recognized that a while back, and I'm fully aware when I'm doing it. I was aware in the grocery store when I purchased something I knew I shouldn't. When I'm sick, it's not that I say it's ok to overeat during that time, it's that my will to work towards being thinner and healthier is lowered. I start feeling like I just don't care, and any effort feels like too much effort sometimes. I didn't feel any better during or after eating 4 granola bars. I got one taste of them, and they were gone- probably within 2 minutes. It wasn't a comfort thing even...I didn't have enough time to feel comfort. It was the chocolate. As soon as it hit my taste buds, I knew I had to have all available chocolate within a 5 mile radius, and I have to have it instantly. Then it was over, and I was left saying...dang, did I just do that? The decision had to be made in the store, because once they were in my grocery bag, it was all over.

We're very self-destructive creatures. It seems, for the most part, we can't look past that need for instant gratification. We're programmed to avoid suffering at all costs in the short term even at the expense of our long term health and happiness. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that only recently man has started living to an advanced age...long term wasn't really a consideration when you didn't live past 30.

Marla64

My big nemesis is the chocolate-- if I let a little, I'm hooked. We found some M&Ms that I'd hidden from the kids yesterday, and my heart leapt. Fortunately, I resisted...but yowsa. I also have some chocolate bars to melt for fondue "for the kids."

I WILL RESIST. Because, I'm stronger than this nemesis....dammit!

cmriverside

:noway:




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XFitMojoMom

I finally met with the endocrinologist who has diagnosed me with IR. He strongly believes that it is genetic since I'm already eating properly and exercising - by doing this I've avoided full blown type II diabetes.
I still have more tests to run, but he will likely start me on metformin to help me control my insulin. Hopefully I'll start seeing weight loss - which he said I would, but it will be a slow progress. Hey - anything is better than GAINING while exercising and dieting!! :noway:

As for my little sugar indulgence (sweetener in my espresso) - I've cut back to half a packet!

tamarads

What are your thoughts on Splenda (I'm afraid I already know, but am curious)? :ohwell: I can give up the real stuff, but I'm replacing it with Splenda (coffee creamer, in my oatmeal, the little packets I put into my water). Cheryl, you've posted sugar alternatives, honey, agave, and such so is it in my best interest to have a few sugars on my chart per day by using the natural sweetners vs the artificial ones?

I'm okay with the sugar issue, there are just those few things I need (or think I need) sweetened. Thanks for the advice, I do appreciate it!

cmriverside

mojo, glad to see you're getting some answers to your health issues. Good job cutting back on the sweetener!:flowerforyou:

tamara, I use Stevia when I want "sweetener". I have Splenda, but it doesn't really agree with me. I like the Stevia better. You'll have to do research and try the different ones to see which one(s) work for you. I was using honey before, but it's too easy to overdo honey. You can't really eat Stevia from the package.....:noway: I use it once a day on my breakfast fruit and yogurt.

Marla64

Tam-- I stay away from all the chemical stuff.... I don't like the taste, and more just don't like putting the chemicals in.

Cheryl, something you said the other day stuck in my craw about bananas..... just kind of a "Hmmm...she doesn't eat bananas?" And I thought it rather extreme, honestly.

However, yesterday, being very dissatisfied just with the way my belly has poofed since going off my "no sugar" kick last fall, I decided to add the sugar column to track it during the day, and went back over the past week.

I got to the day where I had two bananas for breakfast, one solo and one on my cereal, and about fell over.

So THAT'S why you avoid 'em.... they're delicious, but wow-- truly eye opening.

I'm rather in a pickle right now. (dill, not sweet-- ha) about what to eat to keep sugars out. I was eating a lot of plain yogurt and rice cakes over the late summer/fall last year, and the effect on the belly was wonderful. However, I'd become concerned with the dairy connection and the psoriatic arthritis.

I don't think I'm seeing enough remarkable results sans dairy to continue the boycott, however, so I'm thinking about going back down the plain yogurt path.

I'm carrying these days about 3-5 extra pounds, and it's all in the belly. And even at my lowest these days, it's still in the gut. So, I know it's the sugar connection-- (stress doesn't help, either-- )

Appreciating Cheryl in New Jersey--

lotusfromthemud

I'm rather in a pickle right now. (dill, not sweet-- ha) about what to eat to keep sugars out. I was eating a lot of plain yogurt and rice cakes over the late summer/fall last year, and the effect on the belly was wonderful. However, I'd become concerned with the dairy connection and the psoriatic arthritis.

Marla, I find that plain yogurt is a dairy product that for whatever reason doesn't effect my PA symptoms(maybe it's the probiotic dudes or something...dunno). What gets me the worst is refined carbs (especially wheat) and sugar. I remind myself every time someone wants to give me a super-tasty baked wheat containing treat that although it looks like a cookie, it feels like knee/hand/feet pain. (but, everyone's different, no?) Also, something that I think helps me is CoQ10 supplement. But, anyways, I literally feel your pain.

Oh, and PS...I'm back to zero days. Just plain not thinking, I have no valid excuse...so much for my idea of "I can have a little and it's OK". Blergh. I really want to be able to have just a little. For the next few days, I'm going on a fruit binge to wean myself down/transition back to low sugar, engaging my old friend, the frozen seedless grape as a sort of sugar detox methadone.

Also, I'm now on a quest for coconut milk creamer, as I'm trying to restrict dairy a bit, and what I love above all else is coffee with cream in the a.m. It's pretty much the last vice I have left. For those of you that have found the coco-creamer, is this a refrigerator section item? Or a fruit juice aisle item? Halp.

Also, when I'm feeling particularly decadent, I throw a WHOLE (not half or even a third) banana into my protein shake in the morning. The banana makes the creamy, and if I'm drinking kale, I want the banana.

So, to summarize:

V = zero days, boo.
Banana makes kale drinkable in a smoothie.
Nail polish remains sugar free. I got a blue pedi with lotus flowers on my big toes so now I am fancy in yoga.
I ya'll.

lotusfromthemud

PS...hey, Cheryl...

to track your added sugar, what are you doing? Do you look at your food diary and deduct all the fruit/milk at the end of your day...or do you have another trick. I want to start doing that.

becky23

What's so bad about stevia??

MTGirl

Bumping to finish reading later. I'm cutting out sugar - for the rest of lent at least! I need to permanently, but baby steps. On day 2. Can I hang here? Plus I need accountability for the busy season fast approaching. Sugar is my go to when I stress - need to not do that. It makes me so cranky!

richardsrm

check out the calories and fat on the coconut milk before you switch

cmriverside

Marla, 1.)Sorry I busted yer bubble on the nanners.......2.) Have you thought about soy yogurt (or maybe the regular plain works like V says)
3.) Viviakay -Coconut creamer is a refrigerated item, with the other creamers, kind of hard to find.....I only found it at the food coop store......

BUT - Richard, the stats are good! ( I've used it - spendy, .....:ohwell: ) Look:

Nutrition Facts
So Delicious - Original Coconut Milk CreamerServings: 1 Tbsp 1 container (32 tbsp ea.)
Calories 10 --Sodium 0 mg
Total Fat 0 g --Potassium 0 mg
Saturated 0 g-- Total Carbs 1 g
Polyunsaturated 0 g-- Dietary Fiber 0 g
Monounsaturated 0 g-- Sugars 1 g
Trans 0 g-- Protein 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg
Vitamin A 0% --Calcium 0%
Vitamin C 0% --Iron 0%

4.) I better get a banana if I have to eat Kale....
5.) "Blue on You" Nail polish - to match the new bag????
6.) and, yep I am deducting the fruits and dairy to get the "added sugars".
7.) I didn't log food for two days due to a weird anomaly in my personal life.....good a reason as any? (And I'm on Maintenance.....) soooo no sugar totals for those two days. It wasn't a big binge that I'm hiding or anything - though I did have one teaspoon of white sugar. So shoot me.

Love back at ya.

cmriverside

Oh, and the sugar column is a default column on the "printable version"of the food diary, ya know the page two ............so you don't have to change your tracking nutrients - unless you just like it on page one. I like to get as many nutrients as possible, so I don't track it on page one.

BrendaLee

I just wanted to say, I can't imagine a life without bananas. Ya know, bananas are said to be the perfect food- they contain everything a human needs to stay alive, and purportedly help with a lot of health conditions including depression. I have one a day, every day. Some days I split it up, and have half in the AM, half in the PM, but I doubt I'll ever give them up. I consider them Mother Nature's little yellow gifts to us.

XFitMojoMom

I've been allergic to banana's most of my life - nothing life threatening, just itchy/furry tongue and ermmm... it speeds up my BM's :ohwell: I've found more recently that if I eat them when they are very ripe (not brown, but turning brown) I don't get the symptoms as severely. My dog also has seasonal epilepsy and I give him a banana a week (potassium is said to quell the epileptic fits).

I recently picked up a book called The Insulin Resistance Diet, and was suprised, and happy to see 1/2 banana is allowed and categorized as a HIGH CARB food, but it must be linked to a protein so that it doesn't spike a glycemic response.

Well, EPIC FAIL for me yesterday - darned sour cherry blasters! :noway: I'll blame FLO for that one :blushing:

cmriverside

Oh, and Hi MTGirl!! Welcome to the Kick-Sugar-To-The-Curb Club.


:flowerforyou:

Steph_135

I've been allergic to banana's most of my life

Sounds like my "allergies" which are really just sensitivities. I bet if you went to a Naturopathic doctor/specialist, you would find that you have a sensitivity to bananas (and who knows what else! I would never have known I was sensitive to peas!!).

What's so bad about stevia??

There's nothing wrong with Stevia. It's only the healthiest NATURAL sweetener replacement there is! Miles better than Splenda or anything else! (Though I don't like the after taste...)

cmriverside

What's so bad about stevia??

There's nothing wrong with Stevia. It's only the healthiest sweetener replacement there is! Miles better than Splenda or anything else! (Though I don't like the after taste...)

yeah, Stevia is the best! I don't think anyone implied there was a problem with Stevia (except on page one, post one, of this thread - we think that website that listed all the sugars in labeling, acucell.com, may have been wrong by listing Stevia...maybe a typo on their part...but not sure. I was hoping for more feedback from you guys.)

I use Stevia all the time -no more of the fake stuff. Here's the Stevia stuff posted on the first thread:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/74303-sugar-is-not-your-friend-january-challenge?page=3





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tamarads

Thanks for the input on sweeteners everyone! I'll have to give the Stevia a try!

Marla I'm in the same boat with the muffin top around my middle! :ohwell: I've been pretty good about sugar since January in hopes of getting rid of that, only a handful of slip ups. I am still struggling with the flab. I've given up diet soda and as much sugar as I can take out of my daily diet. Maybe it is now more a matter of working out to get that weight off, in addition to staying away from the sugars. :grumble: I'll do my daily required amount of exercise, but I'm no diehard when it comes to sweating!

What is the sugar content of plain yogurt? Just wondering... without having to run to the grocery store! I miss my yogurt...used to eat it with a nice yummy granola... those were the days :ohwell:

cmriverside

What is the sugar content of plain yogurt? Just wondering... without having to run to the grocery store! I miss my yogurt...used to eat it with a nice yummy granola... those were the days :ohwell:

That is my breakfast every morning with a full serving of strawberries (3/4 cup) and a 1/4 serving of blueberries, some flax, almonds, almond milk. A huge bowl is only 273 kcals. Protein, Carbs and good fats + probiotics. What's not to love?

Nancy's lowfat plain organic yogurt = 16g sugar per cup. (But I have 1/2 cup with mine)