From the three part series, “The Necessary Evils: Sugar, Salt and Fat”
PART I: SUGAR
BREAK THE CYCLE OF ADDICTION
When I was a child, it was common in my family to eat doughnuts for breakfast, to drink soda like it was water and to add sugar to foods that didn’t necessarily need it. By the age of 12, I was at an unhealthy weight, depressed, anxious, and emotional. My father, quite innocently, indulged my sweet tooth, and did not recognize the unfortunate consequences of a diet high in sugar, nor the very real connection between poor mental, physical and emotional health and blood sugar that was out of control. The type of sugar that I ate most frequently was high in quantity and poor in quality: refined white sugar and corn syrup.
More and more connections have been established between obesity and excess consumption of sugar, specifically corn syrup, which is often an ingredient found in the least expensive and the most processed foods. A good rule of thumb is, if you can buy the item on the shelf at your neighborhood convenience store, it’s better left there than in your stomach.
As obesity and diabetes inch closer to near epidemic status in the United States, there is more public concern and demand for information about these critical issues and what can be done to avoid them. Unfortunately, most people consume more sugar than their body’s need or can ever use.
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT, READ THE LABEL
If you want to start reducing the amount of sugar that you consume and you do not know where to start, start at the beginning and eliminate the unhealthiest forms of sugar first: refined white sugar and corn syrup.
Corn syrup is in many items that you may not be aware of: canned soups, ketchup, peanut butter, jam, jelly, soda, boxed sweets, and many sauces. When a nutritional label indicates that there are 40 grams of sugar in a product, as is the case with a 12-ounce can of Coke, it actually means that you are drinking something with 10 teaspoons of sugar in it. If you were going to add sugar to 6 ounces of plain yogurt, you probably wouldn’t add over 6 teaspoons of sugar, which is the amount of sugar that is in a 6-ounce container of strawberry flavored Yoplait yogurt. Even a 12-ounce glass of 100% orange juice has 8 teaspoons of sugar.
It is crucial to educate yourself about sugar by reading nutritional labels, and remember that 4 grams equals 1 teaspoon of sugar. If sugar is one of the first five ingredients on a label the food is high in sugar. Recognize how much sugar you consume and sleuth out the obvious and the not-so-obvious sources of sugar. I am often surprised by some “health foods” that have a lot of sugar. Some items that come to mind are granola, cereal bars, yogurt, and even peanut butter. These items might be using a better form of sugar: such as cane sugar, maple syrup, honey, or fruit juice but it is still sugar and it has virtually the same impact on your blood sugar level.
REDUCE AND REPLACE
Replace refined sugar with something that is natural such as raw honey, 100% maple syrup or molasses. Use unrefined cane sugar in moderation, such as with special occasion baking.
Select juices, jams, or jellies that use 100% fruit and use them sparingly.
Consume whole fruit. It has less impact on your blood sugar than juice or processed sweets.
Add water to the fruit juice you do consume.
Share dessert instead of having your own.
Although I believe that it’s ok to have the occasional treat, it’s a good idea to define what moderation is. If you take small steps to replace refined sugar and reduce the amount of sugar you consume overall, you will eventually crave sugar less and break the cycle of sugar addiction. Soon, foods that are naturally sweet will satisfy the occasion craving for sugar. As you consume less sugar, you will have more energy and vitality then ever before.
4 grams = 1 teaspoon of sugar. This is such a concrete way to evaluate what I'm putting into my body. When I think about it this way, even 8 grams of sugar seems like a lot to me. I can't believe this isn't more commonly known!
ReplyDeleteWhat's your take on Stevia as a natural sweetener?
The more I think about it and read info like this, the more I am appalled at our country's sugar addiction. Toddlers are drinking Kool Aid and soda in their bottles. Desserts at restaurants are enormous. And even non-dessert foods are full of sugar -- why do you think ketchup is so popular? It blows me away.
For your other readers, I cannot stress enough how much my health, energy and moods changed when I cut high-sugar foods from my diet 3 years ago. Seriously, it's been one of the most important decisions of my life. I still have a long way to go with my diet, but info like this really helps me move along.
Stevia is a natural sweetener and an excellent substitute for refined white sugar or corn syrup. However, Stevia is much sweeter, by 300 or 400 times, so use it sparingly!
ReplyDeleteAlso, Stevia is a good example of a sweetener other cultures have used successfully for hundreds of years without the degenerative diseases associated with white sugar or corn syrup!
Ketchup is an example of a healthful fermented food gone wrong, once commercialized, this condiment lost its value as a food with a purpose: to aid in digestion. Sadly, most commercial brands have a ton of sugar and are largely inferior in taste and quality when compared to what you can easily make at home.
If you are interested in a really easy recipe, that is delicious and also supports digestive health, I highly recommend the ketchup recipe from Sally Fallon's excellent political cookbook, Nourishing Traditions.