Although I love sugar in the form of homemade pie, pudding, or cookies, I watch every ounce that goes into my body.
I believe an over consumption of sugar is the root of obesity in United States. Sugar is hidden in everything packaged, prepared, and processed. You can find various kinds of sugar added to unsuspecting foods like meat, salad dressings, and sports drinks (which might just be my biggest irritation in life*), in addition to virtually all processed foods. Often, these sugars are found in a chemical forms like high fructose corn syrup or dextrose.
Here's an example off of a package of deli sliced chicken breast:
INGREDIENTS: Chicken breast, water, salt, modified food starch, natural flavorings, carrageenan, sugar, sodium lactate, sodium phosphate, sodium diacetate, sodium nitrite.
When you think you are eating ckicken you are actually eating a lot more. SO GROSS!
I heard one food vendor declare "come try my product, it's healthy....no fat!" But when I checked the ingredients a 1/2 cup of yogurt had 40 grams of sugar. Just to give you perspective ONE TEASPOON of refined white sugar is approximately 4 grams. That's a ton of sugar in one little container. Now think about how many people stop at a 1/2 cup of anything? There's the problem.
Remember some foods turn into sugar, such as alcohol, pasta, breads, cereal and other refined grain products.
On the flip side, some foods get a bad wrap--like potatoes. Yes, potatoes are very high on the glycemic index. But when consumed in their natural form with the skin on (not a McCrappy French Fry) they are loaded with potassium, vitamins b6 and C, niacin, dietary fiber. Not to mention a decent source of protein.
So here is the bottom line:
- If you want to lose weight, watch your sugar intake
- If you want to improve your health, watch your sugar intake
- Fear pasta, not whole potatoes
- Drink water, not energy drinks
- Eat real sustainably raised meat, not processed deli meats
- and get outside and move your tush
This is common sense, not rocket science.
*If you want to irritate me, drink a so called energy drink in front of me....if you want to see me poke my eyes out, give one to your child.
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8 comments:
I wish we didn't need to be so careful about reading labels, but it's become a sad reality. Nasty things (like sugar) seem to be sneaking in EVERYWHERE.
My latest disappointment was MAJOR. While I was on vacation, we purchased some pre-made hummus to eat with our vegetables and pitas for lunch. Not a usual habit, but we didn't have the equipment to whip up our own.
To my dismay, I read the ingredients on the way home. High fructose corn syrup. Right there on the label. Sugar isn't even a necessary ingredient in hummus!! Argh!
I blame high fructose corn syrup more than ordinary sugar because HFCS is very easy to produce, so large quantities of it can cheaply be added to just about any food to make it sweeter.
I'm a huge label reader. I check ingredients all of the time and I also check calorie counts in regard to portion size. Something can look harmless and have a harmless number of calories, but then you realize the package has three servings.
The people who like to scare us with the whole GI bit and potatoes neglect that people rarely ever eat potatoes by themselves. They are usually part of a meal that includes a protein. Same with bread. Make that bread into a peanut butter sandwich and that GI changes dramatically. I hate the way diet faddists grab onto one concept and run away with it rather than look at the whole picture of what we eat.
And I'm not gonna fear pasta. Nope. Won't do it. I'm Italian and it's gotta be 100% semolina - none of that wholewheat crap. ;-)
Short disorder, You bring up several good points.
HFCS is the serious problem. Although overeating any sugar is not good. Body can only process so much before it stores as fat.
You should not fear any high quality food. Pasta is okay in moderation --we eat it here a couple of times a month--and so long as its topped with high quality, fresh ingrdients.
I was refering to the people who bash potatoes-- they are typically the same people who pump up WH pasta. My point is that potatoes are better for you than pasta, even if that pasta is whole wheat. All pasta is pretty much empty in its nutritional content. And its usually topped with HFCS laden pasta sauce from a jar.
Although we dont eat a lot of pasta here, I would never bash pasta to an Italian--best cooks in the world. Good cooks love great ingredients and I will eat anything prepared well! I will eat your pasta anytime!
thanks for visiting my food blog. I have to agree with you completely on cutting out the sugar. I did just that and it was literally amazing how much weight just came off, not to mention how my moods changed overnight. And yes, there is sugar in just about everything. I've tried to adapt a more whole foods diet, eliminating processed all-together. Nice post.
I can't abide by this pasta bashing!
It really isn't nutritionally empty at all. Check out this article. http://www.culinate.com/search/q,vt=top,q=pasta/36837
A quote if you don't feel like linking and reading: "The second myth surrounding white pasta is that it has almost no nutritional value. Actually, a cup of cooked pasta — which contains only around 200 calories — provides your body with the same amount of dietary fiber as a slice of whole-grain bread, as well as more than 15 different health-promoting vitamins and minerals, including calcium, iron, potassium, thiamin, and niacin. Durum wheat is also one of the most protein-rich of all grains, and a cup of cooked pasta contains more than 8 grams of protein
I'm really appreciating the debate going on here -- as it underscores some important points about health/nutrition.
Often we gloss over important details when we talk about the health properties of food. We take a great deal for granted -- and we presume that other people are coming from the same place that we are. For instance -- it MATTERS what kind of wheat is used in our pasta. And where it was grown. And HOW. It matters what sort of process is used to create the final product. But, that's not generally discussed when we talk about pasta. Rather, we say "it's good" or "it's bad"... and we don't explain why.
Thanks for allowing the facts to come through in the discussion so that people can make educated food choices. That's a very good thing!
This is a great debate! Thanks!
First let me state, I practice and teach Traditional Nutrition. I am holistically trained. I believe that food is the most important aspect of health. The main principle in TN is using whole, unrefined foods. Consuming a variety of whole, sustainably raised/grown foods provide most people with the nutrients that we need to live a full healthy life.
Pasta is refined.
Wheat, along with soy and corn are the most genetically modified products in our food system.
(buying organic will solve this issue--but most people don't)
It is also likely, unless you are growing and milling the flour yourself, that these grains have not been sprouted/fermented. Sprouting grains happened "naturally" in the days prior to the combine tractors. Prior to factory farms, wheat and other grains were picked and set aside (while the rest was being picked). The grains, while sitting were exposed for several days/weeks to weather which would allow the grain to sprout. The sprouted wheat (or grain) was then milled. This is a very different system then we have now. Our grains that are refined into flour are not sprouted.
These two points alone, some believe, have lead us to a rise in gluten sensitive people.
Now to the nutrients. Holistically trained nutritionists, like myself, do not believe that synthetic nutrients (like the ones added to refined pasta) are digestible. Yes they may be present in the food itself but whether or not they get into your system is a different story.
If you love pasta, I would suggest that you make it the way people did prior to factory farming---the way Italians used to. With GMO-free wheat that had been sprouted and milled by hand.
Thanks short (dis)order, you bring up some really great points.
I think cutting out bottled drinks alone would put america in a far better place, healthwise. It is completely obscene how much sugar, calories, caffeine and chemicals are consumed this way. http://doesabodygood.blogspot.com/2008/01/drinking-calories.html
As for sugar in foods like hummus, reading The Omnivore's Dilemma helped me understand how government subsidized corn has created an incentive to make food products with high fructose corn syrup and the like. It's just ridiculous.!
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