This is what happens when you give up sugar

[FitChick]

 

I might get hit by a bus tommorow and my god would I regret not having my sticky toffee pudding the night before!!!

 

I love sticky toffee pudding, whether I make it or buy it. Pour some custard on top and I'm in heaven.

 

For most of this week, I've dropped extra sugar and feel much less tired. I allow myself a treat every other day or so, like today it was an almond croissant, and it's not so sweet as to start a sugar binge. Now if I could only keep up this regimen now that the danger zone (Easter is almost past).

[deathandtaxes]

Be active. Consume in moderation. End of story.

[Anela]

This sort of thing really annoys me. Before about 1600, most human beings went through their whole lives without ever even tasting sugar. You certainly don't need sugar to have a happy, healthy life.

 

Also, no one is advocating never eating fruit. The key word is "added" sugar. Eating an orange is good; chugging orange "juice" full of high fructose corn syrup is not.

 

It's really not that hard, people!!!

 

It is for me. I don't like most things that are sweet, but I love my tea with milk and sugar, cheesecake (occasionally), and a coke here and there. I'm reading all about acidity and the acid/alkaline balance, but I still cringe at having to give those few things up. I hardly eat chocolate now, but I miss it.

[FitChick]

Oddly, as much of a sugar addict that I am, I cannot stand soda or sweet coffee or tea. No sugary cereals either. Yuck!

[EasyHeart]

It is for me. I don't like most things that are sweet, but I love my tea with milk and sugar, cheesecake (occasionally), and a coke here and there. I'm reading all about acidity and the acid/alkaline balance, but I still cringe at having to give those few things up. I hardly eat chocolate now, but I miss it.

It's a matter of conditioning. We're designed to like sweet foods because for the past million years, it was a struggle to get enough calories to stay alive. Nowadays the problem is getting too much.

 

I agree with the author saying that you have to go cold-turkey for 6-8 weeks. For me that's about what it took to get rid of the cravings. But once they're gone, you won't want sweets anymore. The problem is that if I break down and eat a bunch of sugary stuff, then I basically have to start over. I don't think moderation works when it comes to sugar, though obviously eating 75 lbs. of sugar per year is better than eating 300.

 

Your mind is more powerful than your body, Anela!!!

 

PS: You can still eat chocolate, just not the sugary kind. I learned to make my own and don't use any sugar; just cocoa butter and coconut oil.

[Anela]

I'm enjoying her book (Eve Schaub's), but we could go bankrupt replacing sugar in everything with dextrose. I'm not willing to completely give up regular sugar, honey, or maple syrup, but I will try her recipes... and that strawberry ricotta cheesecake she mentioned from Sweet Poison.

 

*edit. Oh, I found some good prices! I'll definitely be getting some to try.

Edited April 19, 2014 by Anela

[lollipopspot]

I don't understand becomeing a monk either or a vegan, if people want to let them, but it'll never catch on universally and neither will this

 

Hey, I'm with you generally except that you're dismissing veganism as an ascetic preference without understanding it, I think. You're a sensitive guy. I think if you watched some video or did some other research about what farm animals go through to be made into food, it's possible you could change your mind. It's about not wanting to cause tangible harm to others, not about trying to deny oneself for the exercise. It's not about the self. For vegans, not causing real harm to a factory farmed pig who has lived a miserable life from birth to death is more important than eating bacon.

Edited April 19, 2014 by lollipopspot

[tbf]

The thread title brings to mind "This is your brain on drugs" commercials.

[Shepp]

Hey, I'm with you generally except that you're dismissing veganism as an ascetic preference without understanding it, I think. You're a sensitive guy. I think if you watched some video or did some other research about what farm animals go through to be made into food, it's possible you could change your mind. It's about not wanting to cause tangible harm to others, not about trying to deny oneself for the exercise. It's not about the self. For vegans, not causing real harm to a factory farmed pig who has lived a miserable life from birth to death is more important than eating bacon.

 

Urm, i didnt mean to offend but, I grew up on farms, it's my way of life...I probably don't understand vegan ism very well but I do understand agriculture.

 

And maybe I'm taking this off topic and this should be a whole other thread, maybe a pretty intresting one, but I do get it - I love animals, and I think when people are removed from the countryside it's easy to forget how many farmers out there love animals! I didn't work on farms as a kid becuase I could get another, easier, less tiring better paying, job - I did it cause I loved the animals.

So believe me, I know how badly some animals are treated but I'm my mind, 1, 2, 2000, people become vegans won't stop that poor treatment of the animals, it'll just be wasted food..however if those same people didn't give up animal produce but instead located the farmers out ther doing a good job, putting loads of care into there animals, enriching the animals lives, letting the live outdoors, all of that and bought from them (and yeah maybe bought smaller quantities because it's more expensive) and supported those farmers financially to be able to continue farming that way (rather than being pushed out of farming or into intensive farming to make a living) then the rule of supply and demand would apply! If that was the produce people purchased and if people would pay a premium for those products then more and more farmers would start farming that way too. And then maybe no animal - at least in the UK or America, would have to be subjected to that kind of horrific treatment.

 

The problem is people's demand for loads of meat cheaply - people need to be educated into yeah you eat meat, but it is expensive so maybe you don't eat it 3 meals a day and maybe you don't waste the leftovers etc!! Not given the choice between excessive meat or no meat at all!

 

From a country boys point of view if everyone was vegan and no one ate pork then, there wouldn't be anymore pigs! And if no one wanted to eat cheese or milk then all the cows would have to be culled because cows would be in excessive pain and die a slow painful death if they weren't milked anymore and you wont find anyone who'll milk therm for free and chuck it out on the ground! So then we'll have no cows, no pigs, no chickens, no sheep or lambs - and those animals werent just all a massive part of my childhood but are a massive part of our ancient history as civilised humans and I think it would be so sad and such a massive shame if we let them all die out!

 

I get that its sad when animals have to die but, in my mind, a short life has to be better than no life at all!

 

 

Great topic though! I'm dead passionate about people supporting good farmers!!

[Taramere]

I know there not! That's what I'm saying!

 

I'm just saying these fad diets come and they go and everytime they come people will swear by them....and in the end of the day there'll be the folk who just rode the wave, listened to there body, ate sensibly not extremely, and had a little luck, that'll still be kicking when there 80!

 

I don't understand becomeing a monk either or a vegan, if people want to let them, but it'll never catch on universally and neither will this

 

Exactly. When people are so zealous about nutrition that they regard anything outside of their strictly prescribed dietary intake as being some sort of poison, i just switch off. I eat a pretty healthy diet, but still a nutrition zealot will find something to criticise.

 

"Berries and oatmeal soaked in almond milk for breakfast? No no. Too many carbs, not enough protein. You had a piece of chocolate cake last week? Well don't blame me if you drop dead at 50 from a heart attack. You had an omelette yesterday? Well, a cautious congratulations provided you used minimal fat of exactly the same brand (and in the same quantity) as I use - but I need to check first that it was a whites of the egg only omelette..."

 

The worst culprits are often people who've had a fairly severe obesity problem in their pasts and are projecting their dissatisfaction with that piece of personal history onto other people who are healthy and moderate (as opposed to obsessive or, as you say, monk-like) in their habits.

[Shepp]

"Berries and oatmeal soaked in almond milk for breakfast? No no. Too many carbs, not enough protein. You had a piece of chocolate cake last week? Well don't blame me if you drop dead at 50 from a heart attack. You had an omelette yesterday? Well, a cautious congratulations provided you used minimal fat of exactly the same brand (and in the same quantity) as I use - but I need to check first that it was a whites of the egg only omelette..."

 

Hahah true!!

[lollipopspot]

however if those same people didn't give up animal produce but instead located the farmers out ther doing a good job, putting loads of care into there animals, enriching the animals lives, letting the live outdoors, all of that and bought from them (and yeah maybe bought smaller quantities because it's more expensive) and supported those farmers financially to be able to continue farming that way (rather than being pushed out of farming or into intensive farming to make a living) then the rule of supply and demand would apply! If that was the produce people purchased and if people would pay a premium for those products then more and more farmers would start farming that way too. And then maybe no animal - at least in the UK or America, would have to be subjected to that kind of horrific treatment.

 

99% of animal products in the US are factory farmed. There is no way to produce the supply that people demand here and not factory farm it. I'm wondering, do you only eat meat and other animal products from small farmers?

 

I don't want to derail the thread further, but you know there isn't really a way to produce cow dairy commercially that isn't exceptionally painful for the animals, as calves are always removed by force from their mothers on the day of or within days of birth.

[EasyHeart]

I love meat!!!

[FitChick]

I grew up across the street from a small dairy and chicken farm. I loved seeing the baby chicks with their mothers. There were not a lot of chickens, just enough to supply the neighbors with fresh eggs. Those animals didn't suffer. They ran around their large, fenced in grassy enclosure eating bugs and chicken feed.

 

I could set my watch by the cows because they headed for the barn everyday at the same time, eager to be milked. I didn't see any suffering. They didn't try to escape from the milking machine. Seemed quite content. I never saw calves, by the way. A cow being milked regularly keeps producing milk.

 

However, I do agree that agri-business and factory farming are bad for the animals, the land and the food supply. I think people are gradually waking up to that fact which is why you see more organic food in stores these days. There are also more laws being passed for more compassionate treatment of animals. It will be a slow process I'm afraid.

Edited April 20, 2014 by FitChick

[Shepp]

99% of animal products in the US are factory farmed. There is no way to produce the supply that people demand here and not factory farm it.

Supply-demand! If that's what people want that's the way it'll shift. Public participation will be needed people will have to eat more veg and less animal produce to make it economic but they say that's what humans need to be doing anyway to be healthy.

And even if it doesn't have enough momentum to cause a national shift, one individual supporting a small farmer does much more good IMHO than the same individual swearing off animal produce completely. Well from my experience I think it does at least.

 

I'm wondering, do you only eat meat and other animal products from small farmers?

Mostly yeah, as much as I can, I want to support good farmers and great animal welfare - granted i'm lucky because of where I live. I know a lot of farmers providing I eat seasonally I can get cheap good produce. And im not strict enough that I don't eat out on holiday or would turn down a slice of birthday cake. But if I was cooking or making the cake I use good produce.

 

I don't want to derail the thread further, but you know there isn't really a way to produce cow dairy commercially that isn't exceptionally painful for the animals, as calves are always removed by force from their mothers on the day of or within days of birth.

Yeah its a point, but Its actually easier for farmers to leave the calf in for a few days to get its colostrum from its own mother and then put the mother back in the herd to milk. Its better practice and much less distressing to take the calf away at birth before the mother even knows whats happening - although its also much more man hours to separate new mothers, take the colostrum so its not going in your milk tank and either take it to new calves or give them a supplement etc etc

 

I actually find the beef cattle / calf separation much harder. They don't get separated till about 9 months and they search for each other which is sad.

 

Theres always a sad aspect but the alternative as I see it is no cattle at all - is that better?

[FitChick]

Shepp, I would think they'd sell the colostrum since you can buy it in health food stores.

 

As for diet, I believe you should eat according to your DNA. My ancestors are all from Britain, Eastern and Northern Europe. I probably shouldn't eat tropical fruits, chocolate, coffee or tea then. But I do!

[lollipopspot]

I never saw calves, by the way. A cow being milked regularly keeps producing milk.

 

The calves are removed by force on the day or within days of birth, on all commercial dairies. This is true - check it out. This is very painful for both mother and baby - cows are mammals who feed and nurture their young - and they may cry and search for each other for weeks or months.

 

The calves are not allowed to nurse on commercial dairy farms. All of the milk goes to humans. It's a financial decision. Milk also wanes, so they are kept in a constant cycle of giving birth, calves removed, and being milked until they are spent.

 

Even on good hen farms, there is always the problem of what to do with the male chicks. Chicks are purchased from breeders and sexed after birth. Generally the males are ground up alive and made into fertilizer. Hens used for eggs are different than chickens used for meat.

[Shepp]

I grew up across the street from a small dairy and chicken farm. I loved seeing the baby chicks with their mothers. There were not a lot of chickens, just enough to supply the neighbors with fresh eggs. Those animals didn't suffer. They ran around their large, fenced in grassy enclosure eating bugs and chicken feed.

 

I could set my watch by the cows because they headed for the barn everyday at the same time, eager to be milked. I didn't see any suffering. They didn't try to escape from the milking machine. Seemed quite content. I never saw calves, by the way. A cow being milked regularly keeps producing milk.

This is it, absolutely! When you farm right it doesn't no one has to suffer!

 

However, I do agree that agri-business and factory farming are bad for the animals, the land and the food supply. I think people are gradually waking up to that fact which is why you see more organic food in stores these days. There are also more laws being passed for more compassionate treatment of animals. It will be a slow process I'm afraid.

Unfortunately yeah! Its going in the right direction now though at the least!

[Elias33]

I keep sugar below the 50 grams a day and I am fine. I do plenty of cardio, and enough workouts for it to be not a problem. Ideally I would like to avoid it all together due to the toxic nature of sugar. But I do not live in an ideal world so I'll try to get as close as possible.

[EasyHeart]

A lot of these nutritional issues are murky. Humans are omnivores and starvation was once multiple times the issue of heart disease, diabetes, etc....but we lived to 50 or so.

 

As a nurse I deal mostly with the over 50 crowd. It's the years 50 to 95 that really highlite previous lifestyle choices for quality of life. The sugar, red meat, salt etc. may have had little effect before 50 but then ....yikes.

Anyways, I'm a vegetarian, limit sugar, exercise, etc. not so much because it is a natural diet but because I want to have an active, vibrant life long beyond what used to be considered the norm.

Yup. Our bodies are designed to live for about 40 years. You can do pretty much anything you want if your goal is to live til 40. If you want to live longer than that, you have to take care of yourself.

 

I think that different people respond well to different diets. Some people will thrive on low fat/high starch diets, some will thrive on high protein/low starch diets and some will do best somewhere in between. I think the idea of a universal best diet for all human beings is a myth.

[RonaldS]

I stopped reading the article when the woman, who obviously has zero scientific background, referred to sugar as a 'toxin'.

 

First of all, what is 'sugar'? Regular granulated table sugar? So, sucrose? Ok, sucrose is bad, but fructose is fine? What about lactose? Galactose?

 

Secondly....hate to say it, but your body runs on sugar. Whenever you eat carbohydrates (which includes all 'sugars', mono-, di- and polysaccharides), those compounds are broken down into glucose and utilized all over the place as an energy source. In our citric acid cycles, the carbon and hydrogen in glucose is used to help make ATP, our primary energy source.

 

Glucose can also be derived from fats (which are really just hydrocarbons like sugars, just much larger and more dense molecules), and also protein (although that is a very slow process). The South Beach diet was based on depriving your body of carbs so that it essentially consumed itself attempting to derive glucose from fats and, ultimately, your own muscles.

 

Anyway, glucose is stored in little bundles in your muscle tissues so that when you are quickly depleting energy for whatever bio-function during high activity/exercise, your body has an energy source stored and ready to go immediately.

 

The difference between glucose and all other sugars is typically the # of atoms in the compound. General molecular structure is pretty similar, and at the end of the day, if EVERYTHING IS BALANCED, whatever 'sugar' you consume will ultimately be stored as glucose.

 

If you're taking in more sugar than you can use and store, your body will store it as fat.

 

I bring this up because if you think sugars, and really carbs, are bad, evil or toxic, you're wrong. Just make sure your consumption of carbs is reasonable and equivalent to what you use, and you'll be fine.

[RonaldS]

Exactly. When people are so zealous about nutrition that they regard anything outside of their strictly prescribed dietary intake as being some sort of poison, i just switch off. I eat a pretty healthy diet, but still a nutrition zealot will find something to criticise.

 

"Berries and oatmeal soaked in almond milk for breakfast? No no. Too many carbs, not enough protein. You had a piece of chocolate cake last week? Well don't blame me if you drop dead at 50 from a heart attack. You had an omelette yesterday? Well, a cautious congratulations provided you used minimal fat of exactly the same brand (and in the same quantity) as I use - but I need to check first that it was a whites of the egg only omelette..."

 

The worst culprits are often people who've had a fairly severe obesity problem in their pasts and are projecting their dissatisfaction with that piece of personal history onto other people who are healthy and moderate (as opposed to obsessive or, as you say, monk-like) in their habits.

 

These are great points.

 

Want to be healthy? Eat a balanced diet, exercise and get rest. No complex math required.

 

Not yet healthy? Start eating a balanced diet, start exercising and start getting enough rest?

 

Weigh too much? Cut a big chunk of your caloric intake out, eat a balanced diet, exercise and get rest.

 

Don't like what other people eat? Worry about yourself.

 

To your point, if I just laid out on a table everything that I eat during any given day, some people would flip out, and they would probably assume I was fat as well. First and foremost, I can't remember the last time I went a day without 2 king sized candy bars. And then there's the snacking I do. I snack while I'm cooking my dinner. And then I snack after dinner. And my diet is about 50% carbohydrates.

 

But, I work out a minimum of 5 days a week, with 4 of those days playing basketball. Even at 40 years old, I'm always at a net 'caloric deficit'. When I eat a candy bar, that sugar probably gets converted down to glucose and stored as glycogen....because I routinely deplete my glycogen stores.

 

I will add that although I eat a fair amount of junk food and snacks, I eat healthy, balanced meals and I never drink anything with sugar added. Well, I put a little sugar in my morning coffee, but other than that....