What's wrong with Sugar? Convince me it's poison, please?

[Dana Joy]

Get to work!

[April G]

Originally Posted by Mommy

Get to work!

You talking to me? Caught me...

[Myrtle]

Originally Posted by simplegirl

(as i'm sipping on my morning coffee with 1 tsp of sugar that i NOW know will supress my immune system for up to 4 hours).....i've got a few questions...

I know I could pick up a book, and I've written a few of these books down on my book wish list. I'm just wondering, to cut out completely, does this mean one has to not buy anything in a box or jar? We eat lots of cereal and although I look at the labels for the nasty fake ingrediants, they all seem to have some sugar. There's sugar in most sauces that I buy. I KNOW it would be better to make everything from scratch...but the truth is, I'm just not there yet. Buying things already boxed and jarred is just the way it's going to be with us for awhile. Are there ways to shop better? I try to buy things that say "no sugar added". Ugh, this is a lot to process...

And organiquegal...I'm totally with ya! I can convince myself of all the other bad things and cut those out, but I'm just not convinced about the evil of sugar yet....I realize a large amount is yucky...but I try to maintain low levels. I'm just trying to fool myself I guess!

I just bolded the parts that stood out to me. It's amazing how much sugar we actually do consume, apart from the obvious chocolate chip cookies and cheesecakes. Sugar is in everything. And if it isn't, then high fructose corn syrup is. It's in Rice Krispies! They don't even taste sweet, but there it is.

USDA advises people who eat a 2,000-calorie healthful diet to try to limit themselves to about 10 teaspoons of added sugars per day. In fact, the average American does not eat a healthful diet, but consumes 20 teaspoons of added sugars per day.

http://www.cspinet.org/new/sugar.html

*Try* to limit yourself to 10 tsps of *added* sugars a day? Ummm, that's a lot of sugar. Pour 10 tsp of sugar on your counter and see what they're really recommending. And they're talking about people who actually are already eating a healthy diet.

Many individual foods provide large fractions of the USDA's recommended sugar limits. For instance, a typical cup of fruit yogurt provides 70 percent of a day's worth of added sugar; a cup of regular ice cream provides 60 percent, a 12-ounce Pepsi provides 103 percent, a Hostess Lemon Fruit Pie provides 115 percent, a serving of Kellogg's Marshmallow Blasted Froot Loops provides 40 percent, and a quarter-cup of pancake syrup provides 103 percent.

One soda, and I've already exceeded the limit! It was really eye opening when I tried to eliminate sugar from my diet and realized just how much I truly consumed.

Oh, and one other quote:

The UN's World Health Organization has launched an international campaign to cut consumption of refined sugar, which it says is the principal culprit in the current epidemic of obesity and its associated diseases, diabetes and cardiovascular disorders.

Americans, who comprise only 5% of the world's population, account for a whopping 33% of total global sugar consumption - over 10 million tons annually.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0125-01.htm
10 million tons annually. Wow.

[quote][Oh, and one other quote:

Quote
The UN's World Health Organization has launched an international campaign to cut consumption of refined sugar, which it says is the principal culprit in the current epidemic of obesity and its associated diseases, diabetes and cardiovascular disorders.

Americans, who comprise only 5% of the world's population, account for a whopping 33% of total global sugar consumption - over 10 million tons annually. http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0125-01.htm
10 million tons annually. Wow.
/quote]

And that certainly explains why we have to spend way more on health care per person than any other country and yet we have terrible overall health ratings. We keep eating more and more processed and refined foods and spending more and more on health care only to keep getting less healthy.

I would definitely suggest reading the book that LisaM suggested...it will give you a totally different outlook on sugar for sure!!!

[April G]

Update: Sugar free since Feb 26. Had one small intentional "free sugar" moment Saturday night, but went right back to being sugar free the next day... Loving this! Thanks everyone for helping me make this change.

[Maggie]

[Garland]

Good for you!

[crunchymum]

Originally Posted by organiquegal

Update: Sugar free since Feb 26. Had one small intentional "free sugar" moment Saturday night, but went right back to being sugar free the next day... Loving this! Thanks everyone for helping me make this change.

[Rose5000]

But I wanna know what benefits you have seen?!!

[April G]

Sitting here drinking a coke.

I was able to be sugar free for a couple of weeks, and then life sort of caught up with me and I stopped being vigilant about it. It's a lot of work!

The major benefits I saw were that my appetite was nil, my energy levels were more consistent, and I had very few cravings...

[simplegirl]

Originally Posted by organiquegal

The major benefits I saw were that my appetite was nil, my energy levels were more consistent, and I had very few cravings...

Those are great things! Gives me hope! I can't even imagine how hard it must be, don't beat yourself up

[April G]

It's weird... the hardest part of going sugar free is dealing with the stigma of it... you know? People look at me like I have 5 heads when I tell them I don't eat sugar or white stuff... My darling sweet hubby misses our sweet treats together... Socially, this is not an easy thing to do. Oh, and I hate drawing attention to myself, which inevitably happens when I'm sugar free in a social situation.

[Blue-EyedLady]

Originally Posted by organiquegal

It's weird... the hardest part of going sugar free is dealing with the stigma of it... you know? People look at me like I have 5 heads when I tell them I don't eat sugar or white stuff... My darling sweet hubby misses our sweet treats together... Socially, this is not an easy thing to do. Oh, and I hate drawing attention to myself, which inevitably happens when I'm sugar free in a social situation.

This happens any time you move away from the Standard American Diet. We eat according to DS's food allergies, and we get the same reactions.

[momaich]

Great thread. Does anyone read Body Ecology information? I like what they have to say about sweeteners. I do wonder if we candida sufferers have a harder time with sugar. I often think alcoholics are really overcome with candida, but why some people overdose on sugar and others on alcohol, I don't know.
I was sugar free for a while and it was hard that first week-my head was killing me and I was SO Tired. However, I have really cleaned up my diet all around over the past year and I find that when I overindulge in sugar/flour my head hurts so bad immediately, that I really don't want to do it much. Even cow's milk gives me a headache. So, once you work sugar out, it does make it hard to cheat. I wonder what causes the headaches though? Thinking of all my sugar free, or should I say anti sugar sisters.