User Tag List

Page 1 of 7 1 2 3 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 94
Like Tree372Likes

Thread: could you give up ALL sugar for a year?

  1. #1
    no more door to door! :) walkonby's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Scarlem
    Posts
    42,549
    Likes Received
    74250
    Trading Score
    24 (100%)




    4
    Just another article that I thought I'd share with anyone interested. Many of us struggle with " sweets " and personally I call mine an outright addiction.. There is no sugar coating the ( pardon the pun) facts here, I crave it often and when I give into my craving I find the amount I need next time increases. So one piece or bite or slice always leads to eating more the next time I have anything.

    This family tried eliminating all forms of added sugar ( so if it occurred naturally in a fresh food like fruit that was o.k. ) and noticed some positive health benefits. Food for thought??

    Our Year of No Sugar: One Family’s Grand Adventure

    By Everyday Health Guest Contributor
    Published Apr 1, 2014
    By Eve O. Schaub, Special to Everyday Health
    Once upon a time, I was healthy; at least I thought I was.
    Sure, I lacked enough energy to get me through the day, but with all the commercials on TV touting energy drinks for America’s tired masses, I always assumed I wasn’t the only one suffering. And sure, everyone in my family dreaded the coming cold and flu season, but again, I thought come January everyone develops some degree of germophobia.
    At least, that’s what I thought until I heard some disturbing new information about the effects of sugar. According to several experts, sugar is the thing that is making so many Americans fat and sick. The more I thought about it the more this made sense to me — a lot of sense. One in seven Americans has metabolic syndrome. One in three Americans is obese. The rate of diabetes is skyrocketing and cardiovascular disease is America’s number one killer.
    According to this theory, all of these maladies and more can be traced back to one large toxic presence in our diet… sugar.
    A Bright Idea

    I took all of this newfound knowledge and formulated an idea. I wanted to see how hard it would be to have our family — me, my husband, and our two children (ages 6 and 11) — spend an entire year eating foods that contained no added sugar. We’d cut out anything with an added sweetener, be it table sugar, honey, molasses, maple syrup, agave or fruit juice. We also excluded anything made with fake sugar or sugar alcohols. Unless the sweetness was attached to its original source (e.g., a piece of fruit), we didn’t eat it.
    Once we started looking we found sugar in the most amazing places: tortillas, sausages, chicken broth, salad dressing, cold cuts, crackers, mayonnaise, bacon, bread, and even baby food. Why add all of this sugar? To make these items more palatable, add shelf life, and make packaged food production ever cheaper.
    Call me crazy, but avoiding added sugar for a year struck me as a grand adventure. I was curious as to what would happen. I wanted to know how hard it would be, what interesting things could happen, how my cooking and shopping would change. After continuing my research, I was convinced removing sugar would make us all healthier. What I didn’t expect was how not eating sugar would make me feel better in a very real and tangible way.
    A Sugar-Free Year Later

    It was subtle, but noticeable; the longer I went on eating without added sugar, the better and more energetic I felt. If I doubted the connection, something happened next which would prove it to me: my husband’s birthday.
    During our year of no sugar, one of the rules was that, as a family, we could have one actual sugar-containing dessert per month; if it was your birthday, you got to choose the dessert. By the time September rolled around we noticed our palates starting to change, and slowly, we began enjoying our monthly “treat” less and less.
    But when we ate the decadent multi-layered banana cream pie my husband had requested for his birthday celebration, I knew something new was happening. Not only did I not enjoy my slice of pie, I couldn’t even finish it. It tasted sickly sweet to my now sensitive palate. It actually made my teeth hurt. My head began to pound and my heart began to race; I felt awful.
    It took a good hour lying on the couch holding my head before I began to recover. “Geez,” I thought, “has sugar always made me feel bad, but because it was everywhere, I just never noticed it before?”
    After our year of no sugar ended, I went back and counted the absences my kids had in school and compared them to those of previous years. The difference was dramatic. My older daughter, Greta, went from missing 15 days the year before to missing only two.
    Now that our year of no sugar is over, we’ll occasionally indulge, but the way we eat it is very different. We appreciate sugar in drastically smaller amounts, avoid it in everyday foods (that it shouldn’t be in in the first place), and save dessert for truly special occasions. My body seems to be thanking me for it. I don’t worry about running out of energy. And when flu season comes around I somehow no longer feel the urge to go and hide with my children under the bed. But if we do come down with something, our bodies are better equipped to fight it. We get sick less and get well faster. Much to my surprise, after our no-sugar life, we all feel healthier and stronger. And that is nothing to sneeze at.
    Eve O. Schaub is the author of Year of No Sugar: A Memoir. She holds a BA and a BFA from Cornell University, and a MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Her personal essays have been featured many times on the Albany, New York, NPR station WAMC. You can join Schaub’s family and take your own Day of No Sugar Challenge on April 9, 2014.
    Read more stories of struggle, strength, and survival on Everyday Health’s My Health Story column.
    This thread is currently associated with: Amazon.ca & Amazon.com




    babies teach us acceptance


  2. #2
    Cat Trainer (Trainee??) Andit's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Toronto
    Posts
    16,849
    Likes Received
    23749
    Trading Score
    17 (100%)




    I, for one, could never give up sugar. I like my chocolate way too much. I think the key, as with everything, is moderation.

    I never grew up with the idea that one has to have dessert after every meal. For us, we might have something sweet in the evenings (with a little shot of Kahlua or Tia Maria) or have a pastry with an afternoon coffee (or as breakfast, and not after eating a plate of scrambled eggs). I was also diabetic for a quarter of a century, so had to be careful how much sugar I ate, so there was that to consider as well.


    The one thing about the article that I don't agree with is that sugar is added to make production cheaper. From my time spent working in the food processing industry, it's not sugar that is used, but flour. Far cheaper and easier to hide the taste. I remember putting flour in potato chip seasoning to get the mix to bulk up and better adhere to the chips.

    For a smile, see our vids: http://www.youtube.com/lilyquincy

  3. #3
    CaNewbie
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Posts
    26
    Likes Received
    30
    Trading Score
    0 (0%)



    I’m a sugar addict as well, and what this family did is so inspiring, I can’t live without sugar for a year, but I’ll try to lessen adding it! I didn’t know that eating sugar makes you less energetic.
    Andit, Natalka, Angela273 and 4 others like this.

  4. #4
    Smart Canuck frugal50's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    3,996
    Likes Received
    10225
    Trading Score
    0 (0%)




    no.......... what for?!!!
    You can't change other people. You can only change yourself"
    - H. H. Getter

    when we change our attitude, we change our lives





  5. #5
    Mastermind bargain_hunter_lola's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Posts
    20,761
    Likes Received
    16332
    Trading Score
    726 (100%)




    Interesting article. Seems like I'm seeing more articles like this. Less sugar is the new health issue.

    I'm totally a sugar addict. I hate to say it but I can't seem to cut it out of my diet - not just in the hidden places either but sugary sweets. I'm currently working on that, I've been able to cut it down a lot but I still crave the occasional chocolate bar.

    I find it so inspiring that the family was able to cut out all sugar for a whole year! Like the author said, sugar is in everything!


    Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk
    Andit, Natalka, Angela273 and 4 others like this.


  6. #6
    no more door to door! :) walkonby's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Scarlem
    Posts
    42,549
    Likes Received
    74250
    Trading Score
    24 (100%)




    Quote Originally Posted by Andit View Post
    I, for one, could never give up sugar. I like my chocolate way too much. I think the key, as with everything, is moderation.

    I never grew up with the idea that one has to have dessert after every meal. For us, we might have something sweet in the evenings (with a little shot of Kahlua or Tia Maria) or have a pastry with an afternoon coffee (or as breakfast, and not after eating a plate of scrambled eggs). I was also diabetic for a quarter of a century, so had to be careful how much sugar I ate, so there was that to consider as well.


    The one thing about the article that I don't agree with is that sugar is added to make production cheaper. From my time spent working in the food processing industry, it's not sugar that is used, but flour. Far cheaper and easier to hide the taste. I remember putting flour in potato chip seasoning to get the mix to bulk up and better adhere to the chips.
    Thanks for your comment Andit, I just wish it were that simple as saying moderation is the key. It no longer is because of the way sugar is added into almost everything, it is intentionally hidden in things we never expect would or should have any sweetness to them. Disregard the idea of dessert altogether, that is a whole nuther thing.
    Just eating what most of us consider healthy diets taking in all the products that never used to have higher sugar content in them, but now they are saturated with it.
    Is it possible people go by the old standard of " well I used to eat this growing up so it is fine " But by not reading labels these days and doing some good old fashioned checking on just how much we are ingesting that is the message I want to pass on.

    It infuriates me to no end that when we shop we are being tricked, duped and fed addictive additives like excess sugar when all we are trying to do is make healthy informed selections. It should not be that deceptive, but I feel deceived.

    As many of you do I try to shop the perimeter of the store, doing fresh veg, fruits, and some meat, dairy. The middle aisles with processed foods are blood pressure zones for me! lol. I do go there for the kids stuff like cereal and truth be told some things like Tostito chips which are gf, but ugh! made with GMO corn that is another gripe for another day.

    I know fretting over things like this is unhealthy in itself, so I will try not harping about sugar too much. Just wanted to get some of your opinions or experiences if any of you have ever tried consciously to give sugar up or reduce it?




    babies teach us acceptance

  7. #7
    2y uterine cancer free Mia001's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Posts
    6,731
    Likes Received
    3026
    Trading Score
    26 (100%)




    thank'S Walk fo sharing.......very interesting

    it must have been hard to do, sugar and sugar like are almost in everything

    as salt is also in almost everythig i Wonder what living without salt would be
    Andit, Natalka, Angela273 and 3 others like this.
    Thank's to DH who told me the grumpy Garfield was not at all representative of who i am

  8. #8
    Mastermind Natalka's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    SK
    Posts
    118,045
    Likes Received
    147799
    Trading Score
    29 (100%)




    No, couldn't give up all sugar - but then I'm more a salty person than a sweet one.

    Over the past few years, have been much much more conscious about label reading, and all the hidden sugars. All the 'oses'... It always amazes me when people don't know what things contain so much sugar - like ketchup or tomato sauce, etc.

    And I really hate the high fructose corn syrup crap instead of real sugar! That makes me crazy!

  9. #9
    Cat Trainer (Trainee??) Andit's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Toronto
    Posts
    16,849
    Likes Received
    23749
    Trading Score
    17 (100%)




    Quote Originally Posted by walkonby View Post
    Thanks for your comment Andit, I just wish it were that simple as saying moderation is the key. It no longer is because of the way sugar is added into almost everything, it is intentionally hidden in things we never expect would or should have any sweetness to them. Disregard the idea of dessert altogether, that is a whole nuther thing.
    Sorry, I'm thinking more in terms of the American perspective on things. I'll never forget the time my girlfriend and I went down to DisneyWorld. We were having Happy Meals for lunch (their version of a Happy Meal is what we consider a 1/4lber meal combo, and with apple slices as dessert) and a family asked if they could sit at our table. Mom, Dad, boy about 10, girl about 7. They were each having a Big Mac combo. The kids polished off their meals before we finished ours and were asking their parents for another burger (and Dad obligingly got up to get some).

    I think that was the moment it hit me how different we are from Americans.

    For a smile, see our vids: http://www.youtube.com/lilyquincy

  10. #10
    Mastermind Shwa Girl's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Ontario
    Posts
    24,146
    Likes Received
    40601
    Trading Score
    7 (100%)




    Thanks walkonby.

    The World Health Organization wanted to recommend
    For an adult of normal weight, the five per cent target translates to about 25 grams, or six teaspoons, of sugar per day. A can of Coke, which has about 10 teaspoons of sugar, would exceed that limit.
    Health Canada also wanted to have guidelines for sugar intake. They backed off on this.
    The US wanted sugar intake guidelines too.
    New Your City's Mayor Blumberg wanted the soda/pop sizes decreased and he got slammed.

    The manufacturing industry lobbied the US Congress.

    The World Health Organization says 'sugar is the new tobacco --> addictive'
    http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/who-urg...#ixzz39vrrNnBh
    Andit, Angela273, macw1960 and 3 others like this.

  11. #11
    no more door to door! :) walkonby's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Scarlem
    Posts
    42,549
    Likes Received
    74250
    Trading Score
    24 (100%)




    Quote Originally Posted by Mia001 View Post
    thank'S Walk fo sharing.......very interesting

    it must have been hard to do, sugar and sugar like are almost in everything

    as salt is also in almost everythig i Wonder what living without salt would be
    I can tell you what it is like Mia, most prepared things I buy ( like canned diced tomatoes, or broths ) are all NO SALT ADDED, I also do not add any when I cook. I started experimenting using other herbs and spices to enhance flavour over saltiness.
    What is did for me was reduced my inflammatory conditions I suffer from. What I do now is sprinkle the tiniest bit onto say a fresh tomato or some cucumbers just to get some sodium in for the day.

    Quote Originally Posted by Natalka View Post
    No, couldn't give up all sugar - but then I'm more a salty person than a sweet one.

    Over the past few years, have been much much more conscious about label reading, and all the hidden sugars. All the 'oses'... It always amazes me when people don't know what things contain so much sugar - like ketchup or tomato sauce, etc.

    And I really hate the high fructose corn syrup crap instead of real sugar! That makes me crazy!
    Yep, that High fructose poison is the worst. I avoid that stuff for sure. I have found some satisfaction in using Stevia for baking ( organic pure 100% leaf rebaudiana) but I now want to stop trying to " replace " the sugar and instead retrain my body not to even want it period. That may take some time, lol.

    Quote Originally Posted by Andit View Post
    Sorry, I'm thinking more in terms of the American perspective on things. I'll never forget the time my girlfriend and I went down to DisneyWorld. We were having Happy Meals for lunch (their version of a Happy Meal is what we consider a 1/4lber meal combo, and with apple slices as dessert) and a family asked if they could sit at our table. Mom, Dad, boy about 10, girl about 7. They were each having a Big Mac combo. The kids polished off their meals before we finished ours and were asking their parents for another burger (and Dad obligingly got up to get some).

    I think that was the moment it hit me how different we are from Americans.
    It has been a while since I have been around anyone from the U.S. and witnessed them indulging, but I have watched enough specials on tv to see first hand they look at food very differently than we do ( More is better always it seems)


    Quote Originally Posted by Shwa Girl View Post
    Thanks walkonby.

    The World Health Organization wanted to recommend


    Health Canada also wanted to have guidelines for sugar intake. They backed off on this.
    The US wanted sugar intake guidelines too.
    New Your City's Mayor Blumberg wanted the soda/pop sizes decreased and he got slammed.

    The manufacturing industry lobbied the US Congress.

    The World Health Organization says 'sugar is the new tobacco --> addictive'
    http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/who-urg...#ixzz39vrrNnBh
    I agree 100%. Sugar is the new tobacco and sitting ( being sedentary ) is also right up there for ruining your overall health.
    ( she says as she sits pounding away at the keyboard )
    There are so many ways we can make our lives healthier, and I can see for myself it will be the individual effort that makes the difference. Waiting for new rules and laws to be passed will see most of us dead and buried before any real healthy changes are adopted. I sure wish I had started thinking this way about 20 years ago, I was pretty good with food but not as conscientious as I could have been.
    Last edited by walkonby; Sat, Aug 9th, 2014 at 10:07 PM. Reason: few spelling errors, lol
    Andit, Natalka, Angela273 and 3 others like this.




    babies teach us acceptance

  12. #12
    Sith Lady and Cool Kid Darth Penguin's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    On the verge of indecision
    Posts
    13,970
    Likes Received
    15364
    Trading Score
    20 (100%)




    salt is far more necessary for good health than sugar. salt definciency can cause serious health issues especially wth nerve and muscle function.
    that said sodium chloride is exceeding over added to most processed foods.

    I'm not a big eater of sweet stuff normally. A standard sized chocolate bar lasts me sevral months and i have to have high coaco solid chocolate as i'm not keen on everyday choccie bars. cakes and cokies...not that ken unless I've made them myself for some reason.

    Coke is my one down fall as it can be hard to get water when i'm driving and in a bar or restaurant which doesn't happen too often.

    Chips...Pringles and lays Stacks......yummy...I can eat those by the packet full...
    Andit, Natalka, macw1960 and 4 others like this.


    Short answer : no Long answer : NOOOOOOOOOOO!

    Welcome to the Penguinocracy..One Penguin, One vote..I am The Penguin..I have the One Vote

  13. #13
    no more door to door! :) walkonby's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Scarlem
    Posts
    42,549
    Likes Received
    74250
    Trading Score
    24 (100%)




    Darth, funny how many of my friends have either the sweet or the salty cravings. I own up to both sadly, often in unison.
    What I have come to realize though is that it is not until a person's health worsens or weight creeps up that one starts to closely examine that old saying " you are what you eat ".
    Andit, macw1960, ninna and 2 others like this.




    babies teach us acceptance

  14. #14
    Mastermind
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    32,872
    Likes Received
    21194
    Trading Score
    159 (100%)




    I have no problem going without sugar. We have been working on it for a few years though now. It' takes time but it can be done.
    Andit, TaraF, macw1960 and 3 others like this.

  15. #15
    no more door to door! :) walkonby's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Scarlem
    Posts
    42,549
    Likes Received
    74250
    Trading Score
    24 (100%)




    you know Patty it does take determination and great effort to make everything homemade because that is the only way I know of to guarantee what is in our meals. We do fail often, let me make that clear. We strive to improve, but old habits do die hard.
    Andit, macw1960, ninna and 1 others like this.




    babies teach us acceptance

Page 1 of 7 1 2 3 ... LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •