Sugar: Is it killing us?

[Source: Uwe Hermann]

I came across an interesting blog post this week: Sugar: It's Killing Us and Our Children. The post outlines how we are feeding our children (and ourselves) too much sugar, and cites that each American consumes 152 POUNDS of sugar a year.

One thing that surprised me is how much sugar is in ketchup - 10 g!! I know some of that is naturally occurring, but still that seems like a lot. For comparison, there are 10.5 grams of sugar in a Reese's peanut butter cup.

The article also mentions Gatorade. How after a 1 mile run your child does not need a bottle of Gatorade. So true! I very rarely drink sports drinks even after long runs. Usually I opt for a banana after my long runs. According to Calorie Count, there are 42 grams of sugar in 12 ounces of Gatorade. And don't think that the sugar free version is any better. You're only trading sugar for chemicals!

[Source: Saxarocks]

While I was looking into Gatorade, I took a look at a popular water "supplement" - Vitamin Water. A bottle (20 ounces) of this stuff will run you 32 grams of sugar! That's about 8 teaspoons of sugar just in one drink. They have no real nutrition sustenance and if we are eating properly in the first place we don't need the "vitamins" these sugary drinks offer.

If you are tired of plain water and need "flavor" opt for water with lemon or a flavored, caffeine free brewed tea.


Admittedly, I am a complete sugar addict and I've recently realized how much eating sugar just makes you crave more sugar. I will never "cut sugar out completely," but I can make conscious choices to consume more natural sugar rather than the refined stuff. By limiting it in my coffee and tea, and making choices of moderation. Also, cutting artificial sweeteners when possible (diet coke *cough*cough*) because I feel the "fake" forms of sugar are just as bad - just in a different way.

By adding more vegetables into my diet, I can naturally reduce the amount of sugar I consume in whole grains. I will always eat 2-3 servings of fruit a day because I love bananas, apples, and berries. And I will never cut out whole grains completely. But if I make sure I have something green on my plate at every meal, I can also ensure I am getting 3-5 servings of veggies too. I seriously can't wait until the Farmer's Market at work opens the 1st week of May.

Posts like the one above make me scared for the future of my nieces. "Treats" are given to my 4 year old niece regularly by everyone in her life. It's hard for me to comment on this because I am not a parent. I can't say "what I will do when I have kids" because it is too easy to say what you will or will not do when you aren't already in that situation. But I hope that I can share my love of "healthy" food with my niece every time I share a meal with her.

I know there are a lot of other conversations going on out there about sugar - 60 minutes recently did a piece and the video linked in the post above are two things I'm planning on watching this weekend.

For me, the next step in this journey is being more conscious about what I am fueling my body with and it's topics like these that will help me establish the best guidelines for myself to ensure I am treating my body with the best respect possible.

Vices - #resound11 - Day 2

I'm going to attempt to participate in a project this month hosted by @Jaemie, called #resound11. Each day there will be a prompt to reflect on 2011 and anticipate 2012. Feel free to check out the project here.

Prompt #2: Did you slip back into any old habits that you wish you hadn't? Did you gain any new habits that you wish you would have walked away from? Did you discover the evils of Nutella? 'Fess up ... we won't tell.

Let's face it, I have a food addiction. I love cooking and baking. I enjoy celebrating with food. I eat when I'm bored. I eat when I'm upset or stressed.

Up until recently, I've been able to control this addiction for the last year and a half. It took me awhile to get the hang of it, but I managed my addiction enough to lose over 80 lbs in the last 18 months.

However, there is one food that controls me more than any other food. It's hard to release it's control over me, and when I'm under it's control I am hopeless.

Sugar.

I will eat sweets until I get sick. I never used to get sick. So I would just eat a dozen chocolate chip cookies without thinking. I'd finish off a pint of Ben and Jerry's in less than 30 minutes. Now if I did that, I'm pretty sure I'd be sick.

For the last 8-10 weeks, I've been skating on thin ice with sugar and sweets. Let's use tonight as an example.

After work, I decided I wanted to make something sweet. Something with chocolate. Now, I don't keep sweets in the house for the reason that I would eat the whole package in just a few days so in scouring the cabinets I find a fudge recipe on the back of the baking cocoa package. Perfect!

I remember why I've never made any sort of candy or fudge from scratch.

For the life of me I could not get the mixture to heat to the right temperature. I let it boil for a good 20 minutes, at least, and I gave up right around 210 degrees. I know, I know - I'm impatient. But I was tasting along the way and the mixture started to taste burnt, so I thought maybe just the thermometer was broken.

Now I have a 9 x 9 pan of hot fudge syrup.

Even though it turned out nothing like fudge, I still ate about a pound of the result - a hot fudge syrup of sorts. By the tablespoonful. By dips and licks with my finger. With a spoonful of peanut butter (twice). By freezing it in a cupcake liner with a dollop of peanut butter.

I basically ate hot fudge syrup straight from the jar (pan). This is what a sugar addiction (vice) does to a person.

When I started really loosing a lot of weight I was more conscious about my white refined sugar intake. No, I wasn't perfect. I had an occasional cupcake. But I ate plain greek yogurt instead of the flavored kind. I substituted fruit for baked goods. I didn't bring pie or bread pudding home from Thanksgiving dinner.

Lately though, I've started to slide back into my old habits. The worst part is I don't want to do much about it right now. I have two holiday cookie swaps coming up and I'm planning to fully participate. But at some point, if I want to lose these last few pounds I'm going to have to break my sugar addiction again.

I'll let you know when that happens, because you probably won't want to be around me when I go through detox.