OOps! The sugar is bad police have been at it again! Refined sugars, true, are not as good for you as the sugars you are substitutiing, such as those in Fruits. The problem is, the sugar per se is not what puts the weight on. It is the CARBOHYDRATES, and, believe it or not, there are often more carbs in potatoes or pasta than in simple sugar. Instead of just eliminating all refined sugars, as in sweets and baked goods, it is important to begin reading the labels and checking out the carbohydrate and fat content of your choices. Cutting either carbohydrates or fats will result in weight loss, along with some exercise, of course. ( I once lost 43 pounds in 3 mos by eliminating all possible fats from my diet.) As you read the labels you will discover that as food manufacturers lower sugars or carbs they increase fats, and vice versa.
One of the biggest problems with sugars is with sweetened carbonated beverages and alcoholic beverages as both contain high levels of sugars and those sugars seem to go directly into the bloodstream very quickly. I have also noticed that the sugared drinks tend not to quench one's thirst quite as well so we all drink more of them than we do of those beverages without sugars, i.e. black cofee, unsweetened teas, water and diet drinks. Fruit juice is loaded with sugars. Fructose is still sugar to the body.
That you are learning to harness your craving for sweets is wonderful. What I have said above is meant to augment your great start, not diminish your great resolve and progress. It is possible to learn to like a diet which is high in protein and low in both simple sugars and saturated fats. It can be a low carb, low fat diet too, especially when you make your carbs complex ones which take longer to digest and break down into sugars in the body. Thus they burn more calories, or use more energy in their digestion.
You are changing your eating lifestyle. It can be fun! There are some great low sugar receipes available in modern diabetic cookbooks and a little magazine called Diabetic Cookiing which I dearly love, and No, I don't work for them!
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On Sugars, Carbohydrates and Fats
Date: 2004-06-09 05:02 pm (UTC)One of the biggest problems with sugars is with sweetened carbonated beverages and alcoholic beverages as both contain high levels of sugars and those sugars seem to go directly into the bloodstream very quickly. I have also noticed that the sugared drinks tend not to quench one's thirst quite as well so we all drink more of them than we do of those beverages without sugars, i.e. black cofee, unsweetened teas, water and diet drinks. Fruit juice is loaded with sugars. Fructose is still sugar to the body.
That you are learning to harness your craving for sweets is wonderful. What I have said above is meant to augment your great start, not diminish your great resolve and progress. It is possible to learn to like a diet which is high in protein and low in both simple sugars and saturated fats. It can be a low carb, low fat diet too, especially when you make your carbs complex ones which take longer to digest and break down into sugars in the body. Thus they burn more calories, or use more energy in their digestion.
You are changing your eating lifestyle. It can be fun! There are some great low sugar receipes available in modern diabetic cookbooks and a little magazine called Diabetic Cookiing which I dearly love, and No, I don't work for them!