Joan, what an interesting observation about carbs. Makes sense, but I never thought about it.

I have never liked "white flour" stuff too much except for pasta occasionally and pizza crust. I have always eaten whole grain breads, etc. Even as a child when Wonder bread was king, we always had whole grain bread in my house. I do like potatoes, but I had my first baked potato in forever last night. I don't count sweet potatoes in that group as they are so healthy, I think of them more as a veggie than a potato and I still don't have them very often and never sweetened more than they naturally are. I try to get most of my carbs in veggies and a little fruit. So, I don't limit carbs, but find I pretty much stay within and/or around the MFP guidelines.

You got me looking on-line and although I don't find where carbs help mental abilities as much as fish oils, proteins, etc, because they do give us energy (and complex carbs give us the energy more evenly over a longer period of time than simple sugars) the energy helps with our alertness. Let's face it, we can't think if we aren't alert.

This is one of the things I love about MFP and about these forums. First, we seem to become much more aware of what our bodies are telling us and then we have the advantage of learning those things from our friends here. Thanks, Joan, for the insight!

Low-ish carb or High-ish carb and the brain.... as usual... there's controversy. I found this that came down on the side of Low Carb is OK. Since they're referencing "ketones". I presume they're talking about a very low carb diet. Very short in case you're interested.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rosspomeroy/2013/11/12/do-low-carbohydrate-diets-make-you-dumber/

Hi everyone, I am restarting the slow downwards slope once again. I will be 68 at the end of the month and I dont know where all the time has gone. I dont plan on starting seriously until monday January 12, as I had rotator cuff surgery in December and my first doctor appointment post op is this Friday and I am not allowed to take my arm out of the sling yet, or to move my shoulder at all, until he gives the go ahead. Also my son who has been taking care of me, doing all the things I am unable to, is going home this weekend, then I will be on my own without all the temptations around.a

I would like to lose 136 pounds..and I am going to start with a 4 week no sugar challenge..as I wont deny I am totally addicted to sweets. At the beginning of December I started cooking without salt...it is amazing...i hardly pick up the salt shaker any more, finding everything seems way too salty as it is,

-36C here tonight with windchill...too cold to even consider going outside, my balance is not that good since I had dual knee replacements about 8 years ago.

Glad to find a seniors group here, that can relate to health and wellbeing problems

Looking forward to getting to know everyone and to the weight slowly melting away.

Hi IceyKwl! Welcome. This a great group -- very supportive and you'll find lots of inspiration to hang in here. -36C Wow! Keep warm and good luck with your doctor's appointment.

Rose

Cris: Alcohol is a sugar, so I think It makes sense that one is similar to the other. If I really overcarb (and I'm not a low-carb dieter), I feel hungover the next day. EXACTLY as if I were hungover -- headachy, nauseous, lethargic, dizzy. I have known a few recovering alcoholics and they all became huge sweets eaters instead.

Finally, the day has come! My first Tai Chi class tonight! I will be so serene that my 4.5 pound weight gain this week will not even phase me!

Crap.
I had some hot tea with lunch. An hour or two later I was feeling really weird...Looked it up and it turns out that Constant Comment tea has more sugar in one cup (11 g) than 4 graham crackers.

Another "legal" item goes into the trash.

Welcome, IceyKwl - glad you have a plan in place and are here to share adventures in improved health with us.

Just dipped below zero here in Worcester, MA ... -21 with wind chill. Still, the dogs have to go out one more time tonight ... but it will be quick!!

Thanks so much, Joan! I was actually thinking about that two nights ago and meant to google the question. I thought the kidneys. Although, I must admit, the fat fairy was not even on my list of ideas.

Ok, I read the chart wrong when I added the tea...MFP does show "zero" sugar for the tea. My mistake. I was just... DRUNK from the sugar in the @#$(#$$$!!!! tea.

There is also nothing on the box of Constant Comment to indicate that there is "sugar" in it.
But. The ingredients are: ' black tea, rind of oranges and sweet spice. '

Sounds innocuous enough..

But I did some digging, and, it turns out that many companies use other ingredients (including artificial sweeteners) to "sweeten" their teas.

These ingredients, in small amounts, are not enough to worry about if you don't have diabetes. But I let my guard down when I bought this box and...

Ok. Here's the link.

http://www.thesweetbeet.com/herbal-tea/

Mind you.. I am not the kind of person who freaks out over using artificial sweeteners; I use a modest amount of Splenda on oatmeal once a week. (I'm re-thinking that but that's another story.)

I'm not sure if, for me, the "natural" sweeteners (sweet herbs) are actually sweeter than plain old sugar or.. what. Whatever is in this stuff.. it's poison for me.

As a type2 diabetic, it turns out I have a very negative reaction to these "healthy" teas.
My blood sugar skyrockets, I get a massive headache, I feel dizzy, disoriented, sleepy..The reaction I get from this tea is about the same as what happens if I eat something with a lot of high-fructose corn syrup ( pancake syrup, for example) or a cornstarch-thickened sweet and sour sauce at a Chinese restaurant.

If you aren't familiar with this feeling, I'd say being drunk is probably similar (I've never been drunk).

I can eat a candy bar, a cookie or a bowl of ice cream with chocolate topping and have less negative post-sugar reaction than I get from a cup of seemingly innocent tea.

I guess I will have to stick with plain hot water with lemon when I want something hot and decaffeinated. HOW DEPRESSING. *scream*

Ok. I'm sorry for the rant, I guess I should have done this over on the diabetes board but I don't lurk there much.

The point is:
If you are watching your sugar for any reason, but especially if you are a diabetic, you have to be REALLY REALLY CAREFUL to watch out for "hidden" sweeteners. What if I were a brittle, insulin dependent diabetic? What would happen?? How many more foods like this are out there waiting to pounce on us? I thought I was careful.. and this one really caught me by surprise.

********************

In other news, there is some ice on our pond this morning. It was 11 degrees last night.

brr. Time for a cup of...

HOT WATER..

dammit.

Like I had said, i understand that hungover feeling from carbs. Although there are no carbs in artificial sweeteners, some theorize that once the tongue tastes "sweet" it releases insulin just as if it were eating sugar. If you are diabetic or insulin resistant, that will then play havoc with your blood sugar. So sugar or not, sweet is recognized as sweet.

Hello, just checking in. It's day 3 for me, here and things are going fairly well. Not too many cravings, but it's the weekend and that's my danger time. I keep reminding myself of why I'm here. Because of health issues. The end of last Oct. I had to have emergency surgery for peritonitis and ended up with an ostomy. I MUST lose at least 30 lbs in order to have it reversed. The surgeon is afraid that with my excess abdominal fat, the surgery could fail and I would need a permanent ostomy. No way! Once that's done, I need to lose the other 90 lbs., so I'll be sticking around here for quite a while.

My hubby has some health issues, so I make a lot of foods from scratch. Is there any way to find out or estimate the calories in the things I make? I make a couple of types of sausage, using extra lean meats. I have the feeling I'll just have to figure it out for myself. I also make a lot of chicken soup and chill it so I can get rid of the fat, so don't know how I can figure the calories in that, either. With the weather here, in the Chicago area, hot soup is a necessity, especially with it so cold this week.

This looks like a nice board, with people in my age range and with many of the same problems. I look forward to chatting with you.

Jan

Joan, I'm not great at tracking carbs, sugars, fat, etc.; it's very confusing for me. I've found that keeping under my calories and exercising for 30-45 minutes 3 days out of 5 works best for me. Good luck to you.