Thursday, March 18, 2010

Calling all fellow sugar addicts

Magnification of grains of sucrose, the most common sugar.


Do you find you are overly addicted to sweets and take every opportunity to eat something with sugar in it?
Do you find yourself sneaking sweet treats when no one is watching? Do you bake for the kids but end up eating more then half of what is in the cookie jar?
Would you rather eat baked goods instead of real food when you are hungry?
If any one of these describes you then you have a sugar addiction.

I am calling all sugar addicts to jump in with me to cut out sugar for 2 weeks. No commitments after that, but you can't cheat for the entire 2 weeks.

I know I have a serious sugar addiction. I always use to think I was addicted to food, but I came to realise that it isn't food, but actually only some sorts of foods, namely foods with sugar. Like baked goods. For one thing, I LOVE baking. It really is an outlet for me and something I really enjoy doing. I just have to do it and learn not to eat it, or at least learn to know when to stop eating it. I know sugar, especially refined white sugar is possibly one of the worst things you can eat and to eat it on a regular basis, lets face it, is the entire reason why I have a weight problem. My logical mind knows the answers to my own questions, but the other half of my selfish mind just wants that sweet fix of sugar(especially when my sweet darling children are driving me nuts)
so, for my own confirmation of why I want to do this, here an article of all the negative things about sugar and its side effects. #1 being weight gain, of course, so beyond that, here goes.

Sugar is the No. 1 ingredient (in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), fructose, or glucose) in foods. But sugar (1) typically delivers a load of calories with little to no nutrition; therefore, (2) it can stoke your appetite rather than satisfy it, and (3) it can even become addictive: By constantly eating sugar, you force your pancreas to work overtime, and as you eat more, it pumps out massive amounts of insulin--eventually, your body may become less sensitive to sugar and build up a resistance to it. The Women's Health magazine website has a ton of tips to avoid sugar shock in an article called "Sugar Overload."

A host of diseases--diabetes, heart disease, stroke, obesity, dehydration--have been linked to excess sugar/glucose intake. Despite this fact, simple sugars (such as HFCS) are being used 42 percent more in our foods than they were in 1970, when they were used only two percent of the time. http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080404054202AAz39KD

So, after reading that you must want to at least give it a 2 week trial, right?





There will be a few rules though(of course) you can not substitute the white poison for artificial sweeteners cause that stuff is even more poisonous and don't try and tell me anything different, even you know it is. You can however substitute sugar with honey, Agave syrup necture(found at any health food store),Maple syrup, molasses, and pure Sucanat(read the link) you can find this stuff at health food stores or even Super Store in the healthy living sections in their stores. But I think for the 2 week trial we should stay away from all sources of sweet stuff, excluding lactose(found in milk products)
Read labels! you should be a crazy label reader after this two weeks is up and after reading a few labels you will be shocked at how much stuff has sugar in it. And I challenge you to cut your children's sugar intake by half, if not completely.
I personally did it with my kids for a 2 week trial and I saw amazing results, especially in my son. I also strongly feel that kids are so loaded with sugar these days and no one even gives it a second thought. I always felt that I was controlling the intake but it wasn't until I really sat down and realised that unless we cut out packaged foods my kids will be eating sugar every time they open their mouths.
Are we perfect? no. Do we let our kids still have sugar, yes. But it is very limited. Lets just say they appreciate every bit they get and will be over the Moon come Easter Morning.
If you feel like giving it a shot, post a comment below. I am hoping a few people will want to do this with me as it is much easier doing things as a group and not alone. Start date is Monday March 22nd(I will give you one more weekend). We can do this!
Here is a list of words that mean "sugar"

Corn sweetener
Corn syrup, or corn syrup solids
Dehydrated Cane Juice
Dextrin
Dextrose
Fructose
Fruit juice concentrate
Glucose
High-fructose corn syrup
Honey
Invert sugar
Maltodextrin
Malt syrup
Maltose
Maple syrup
Molasses
Raw sugar
Rice Syrup
Saccharose
Sorghum or sorghum syrup
Sucrose
Syrup
Treacle
Turbinado Sugar
Xylose

2 comments:

  1. i'm in.


    i'm allowing myself tastings though. highly controlled tastings...

    ReplyDelete
  2. lol Pam
    I need a job where I can make all the evil sweets and just give them away. Then I will get my baking fix without eating all of it.

    ReplyDelete