Cutting out sugar? Good luck!

When most think about cutting out sugar they immediately think ice cream, cake, cookies, pies, things along those lines. They ditch them but spend their time craving those sweet things and sooner or later talk themselves into "just one piece of candy"...and then it's all over. 

One of the reasons many continue to crave sugar is they don't realize just how much sugar is in the everyday things they eat. I read one estimate years ago that said roughly 80% of the food in the center aisles and frozen sections contained one or more forms of sugar. A more current study said 74% of our processed foods contain sugar. The decrease could simply be due to the fact that more and more of us are clamoring for healthy products.

Yours truly is a sugar-addict. The only way for me to curb my desire for sugar was to cut it out entirely. That meant I had to learn a lot about sugar. 

I've been sugar-free off and on since I was around 19. My interest in sugar, and being sugar-free, started when I walked into my dentist's office and he had a display of annual sugar consumption per person --- real sugar being used, not just photos. He started with a small baby jar with a tiny bit in it. 

I couldn't tell you the year he started but it seems it was around the time of the founding of America. The amount increased every year until the five pound bags (now I think they only sell 4 pound bags?) were 2 or 3 rows deep, maybe 3 wide and about my height. I don't remember exactly but it caught my attention. He was trying to prevent tooth decay. It was an eye-opener for me!

Back then the Internet and all the easy info at our fingertips didn't exist. I hit the library. I learned about what sugar did to our body, about how it was produced, about the countries that cultivated it and more. I read the book Sugar Blues (still have it). I went sugar-free for the first time.

Over the years I've done some back-sliding. It's hard to resist my mother's caramel cake, ice cream, and my biggest challenge...brownies. OK, OK, anything chocolate can tempt me!

Somewhere along the line I realized that one of the reasons I kept backsliding was that sugar was in almost every product I bought. Crackers, mayonnaise, blue cheese dressing, and pretty much every packaged or processed food. It kept my system tuned into sugar and it kept my cravings alive.

So, I started reading labels closer. I did more research. I learned that there are over 60 names used to hide sugar. Some of the products I bought had 3 or 4 different kinds. I knew they listed the ingredients in order of highest weight content down. Sneaky. They could put sugar as the 4th ingredient, then another type as the 6th, another as the 8th... Altogether the amounts were whoppingly high.

I did look at the amount in the top portion, the Nutrient Content, but if I was looking at something like raisin bran one would expect to see a higher sugar content, right? Why would someone add two or three other kinds of sugar to something so sweet? Yet they do.

Manufacturers weren't required to differentiate between naturally occurring sugars and added sugars in the Nutrient Content until recently (finally). The percentages are based on serving size so be sure to take a good look at the serving size first if you watch what you eat. The serving sizes are often ridiculously small and thus the content per serving of many things is skewed if you're just using that alone. Sometimes I'll look at the number of servings in a package and just roll my eyes.

Also, if amounts are below a certain threshold per serving they are allowed to put zero (0). Want to bet they play around a lot with serving sizes, what they want to promote and what they want to hide?

Now I wander through stores reading labels, looking at the list of ingredients first. I look at the oils, the sugars, and for other key things I avoid. I generally eat like our ancestors on the farm ate or earlier (aside from the fact that I don't eat meat...another blog for another day but it's mostly habit now that they sell meats without all the crap in them). I'm a mix of paleo, keto, plant-based, vegan, vegetarian --- in other words I've come up with a diet specific to my body and health. 

I don't think I really need to go into all the reasons sugar is bad for us, do I?

I did post a story (press release) on why sugar was good for you way, way back. No, not to ingest, but to heal wounds. I note that in one study cited they mixed sugar with iodine. (https://ramblingjan.blogspot.com/2008/10/healing-power-of-sugar.html)

Wondering what kind of names hide sugar in products? Generally, to make it easier, if something ends in "ose" or has syrup attached then it's sugar. However, they do get sneaky with the names as you'll see in this list of some sugars in our foods:

• Agave nectar
  
• Barley malt
• Barbados sugar
• Beet sugar
• Brown sugar
• Buttered syrup
• Cane juice
• Cane sugar
• Caramel
• Carob syrup
  
  
• Corn syrup
• Corn syrup solids
• Confectioner’s sugar
• Carob syrup
• Castor sugar
• Date sugar
• Dehydrated cane juice
• Demerara sugar
• Dextran
• Dextrose
• Diastatic malt
• Diatase
• Ethyl maltol
• Free flowing brown sugars
• Fructose
• Fruit juice
• Fruit juice concentrate
• Galactose
• Glucose
• Glucose solids
• Golden sugar
• Golden syrup
• Granulated sugar
• Grape sugar
• High fructose corn syrup
  
• Honey
• Icing sugar
• Invert sugar
• Lactose
• Malt
• Maltodextrin
• Maltose
• Malt syrup
• Mannitol
• Maple syrup
• Molasses
• Muscovado
• Oat syrup 
• Palm sugar
  
• Panocha
• Powdered sugar
• Rapadura sugar
  
• Raw sugar
• Refiner’s syrup
• Rice syrup
• Rice bran syrup
  
• Sucrose
• Treacle
• Turbinado sugar
• Yellow sugar

If you're concerned about high fructose corn syrup be sure to read this article. They have gotten sneaky about including it! https://livelovefruit.com/new-names-for-high-fructose-corn-syrup/ 

Here are names used by manufacturers to hide fructose:

• 
  Maize syrup
• Glucose syrup
• Glucose-fructose syrup
• Tapioca syrup
• Fruit fructose
• Crystalline fructose
• HFCS 
• Isoglucose
• Corn syrup
• Dahlia syrup

More reading if you'd like to delve deeper:

https://www.sweetleaf.com/how-sugar-hides-in-your-food/

https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-beauty/article/1937818/56-names-sugar-food-industry-uses-hide-how-much-their

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/8-ways-sugar-is-hidden 

https://asweetlife.org/how-food-companies-hide-sugar-in-plain-sight/

https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/different-words-sugar-food-labels-8373.html

http://sugarscience.ucsf.edu/hidden-in-plain-sight/#.X_CFIxZOmUk

https://www.fda.gov/food/new-nutrition-facts-label/added-sugars-new-nutrition-facts-label

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/finding-the-hidden-sugar-in-the-foods-you-eat

Dementia, Parkinson's Disease and our genes...

Two articles. The first I'm posting is much better. Given that I am APOE 3/4 plus have quite a few Parkinson's genes and all kinds of other contributing nasties like short-sleep, etc. I'm primed for a potentially ugly future genetically. However, I am not gonna let those nasties be my future.

One thing I've learned over the past 8 or 9 months of bombarding my brain with all the latest and greatest research, news, podcasts, theories while trying to help my mom is that prevention is possible. The scary thing is that the nasty genes can kick in 20 years or more before you start seeing "symptoms". Often by the time you start experiencing cognitive issues you're in a battle that main-stream science currently says you will lose. There is no cure. Currently. There is great promise for changing that though, just probably not in time to help my mother. Catching it early and/or prevention is critical.

Side note: My uncle has Parkinson's and my mother, grandmother and great-grandmother all have/had some form of dementia. My other aunt has a plethora of health issues, not sure what all of them are as there's not much communication. Not aware of any Parkinson's or dementia on the paternal side of the family, tons of cancer though. And yes, I have all kinds of cancer-related bad genes...

Also, have a ton of SNPs that say I'm primed for Type 2 Diabetes. My mom was diagnosed as pre-diabetic, and told her cholesterol was too high a few years back (not sure exactly when) and they wanted to put her on meds. She changed her diet...lowered her cholesterol...blood tests currently show good on the diabetes front but she is a true sugar-holic & carb-holic (as am I)...however, she went way too far and lost way too much weight, didn't understand eating healthy vs starvation/extremely small portions! Been trying to increase her weight since last June, some success but it's a battle :-).

Anywaze, here are the two articles on Parkinson's, APOE, etc.:

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Gene ID’d as potential therapeutic target for dementia in Parkinson’s
Targeting gene linked to Alzheimer’s may reduce dementia risk in Parkinson’s
Dementia is one of the most debilitating consequences of Parkinson’s disease, a progressive neurological condition characterized by tremors, stiffness, slow movement and impaired balance. Eighty percent of people with Parkinson’s develop dementia within 20 years of the diagnosis, and patients who carry a particular variant of the gene APOE are at especially high risk.

In new research, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found a clue to the link between Parkinson’s, APOE and dementia.
https://medicine.wustl.edu/news/gene-idd-as-potential-therapeutic-target-for-dementia-in-parkinsons/

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Lab: Discovery could help stave off anguish of dementia in people battling Parkinson’s

PARKINSON’S disease can be especially cruel. Its slow but sure onset inflicts tremors, slows down movement and impairs balance. And perhaps the most bitter blow of all is that 80 percent of people newly diagnosed will go on to develop dementia within 20 years.

But there is hope for the future, after experts made a breakthrough that could lead to treatments capable of slowing down or stopping this mental decline.

https://www.metro.news/bbc-science-focus-discovery-could-help-stave-off-anguish-of-dementia-in-people-battling-parkinsons/1899963/
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Info at end of first article with study info I think:
Davis AA, Inman CE, Wargel ZM, Dube U, Freeberg BM, Galluppi A, Haines JN, Dhavale DD, Miller R, Choudhury FA, Sullivan PM, Cruchaga C, Perlmutter JS, Ulrich JD, Benitez BA, Kotzbauer PT, Holtzman DM. APOE Genotype Regulates Pathology and Disease Progression in Synucleinopathy. Science Translational Medicine. Feb. 5, 2020. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aay3069

On the hunt for sugar-free frozen potatoes...(Healthy Eating Post) - updated

I am a lazy cook. I used to do gourmet meals, spend time in the kitchen, but there's just way too much to do in life these days. I'd rather be in the studio!

Given there's only two of us, buying fresh often results in a lot of waste. I toss half of what we buy sometimes simply because we like variety and we can't eat a whole bunch or bag before it goes bad.

I'm not into buying real potatoes, cleaning and cooking them either. Yep, lazy cook. I will at times but when I want hash browns for breakfast or fries for dinner I want them now.

If you've read any of my past posts you know I don't eat any form of added sugar. It works for me...maybe not for you. I have found so many benefits from cutting it completely out of my diet over the years! Plus I've learned it's easier to ditch it all rather than try to eat just a little. I always want more and the craving cycle starts.

I've looked for frozen potatoes without added sugar over the past few years without success. Now that I'm moving to a much higher plant-based diet I wanted, needed, some potatoes. I got serious about finding some.

Who would have thought that finding hash browns, home fries or other frozen potato products without added sugar would be a problem? Did you know that your Ore-Ida, Alexia, etc. have sugar on them? It's getting harder and harder to find things that don't have some form of added sugar.

I know many of you are saying something along the lines of "who cares?". If you're diabetic they tell you not to eat potatoes anyway, sugar or no added sugar. Most of you already think I'm over the top with my 'no sugar' life-style! Give up cookies? cake? candy?

If you're eating sugar and you know it, that's one thing. But if you are eating sugar in your blue cheese salad dressings, mayonnaise, and other items that don't need or call for sugar, it seems kind of sneaky. According to some statistics over 80% of what you buy these days has added sugar. I dare you to go to the store and fill your cart up with things that have no added sugar...and try to go just five days without sugar. Bet you spend those five days craving the stuff, talking yourself out of giving it up. You will go through withdrawals.

I recently watched a fairly short documentary narrated by Katie Couric titled "Fed Up". If you have kids, or you struggle with your weight, I'd highly recommend that you watch it.

Here's the trailer:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCUbvOwwfWM)

I looked at every single bag in the grocery store's regular frozen food section. No luck. Every single bag had added sugar, plus many had things I couldn't pronounce. I went on-line looking at ingredients. No luck until...I finally found ONE company that doesn't add sugar to their potatoes: Cascadian Farms.  (http://www.cascadianfarm.com/products/frozen-potatoes). Guess where I'll be heading later today??? They sell them at Kroger in their healthy section. They probably sell them at Publix and other stores, too. They are organic, too! Big plus.

Here's another documentary, from Canada that's well worth watching.




 And one more (I keep finding them and adding):




I found some interesting sites while on my search:
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=48 - interesting take on the much-maligned potato
http://www.potatopro.com/ - loads of information
http://www.potatoesusa.com/index.php - United States Potato Board

Shopping at Sams Club (Healthy Eating Post)

I was pleasantly surprised to see more organic offerings in the aisles as I wandered. There is very little I will buy at Sams aside from paper products as they only stock the most popular selling items. Sadly that means some of the most unhealthy stuff that exists usually.

They've always had a sampling of organic fresh veggies such as spinach, kale and lettuce. This time I noted they had carrots --- non-GMO labeled, too. I found a number of things that were labeled non-GMO.

I didn't find any organic fresh fruit. Maybe they had some frozen organic but I already have enough so didn't check it out.

The organics things they had on the dry / non-refrigerator/freezer aisles included some soups, some chips and a few other items. All but one of them had sugar of some sort. I don't do sugar. It was nice though to see a better selection.

I found some non-GMO/organic rice with kale and chia seeds that I grabbed to try. Very good, had it for dinner when I got home. It's microwavable stuff, too. I hate to spend the time cooking any more, just too much to do in this world. Dislike cleaning up even more than cooking...

re: Healthy Eating Post - I thought I'd start labeling them with that title just so those who could care less will know to skip them. That is assuming anyone at all is reading along...

The Healing Power of Sugar

RJ Note: I can really sink my teeth into this story. Who would have ever believed it?

(NAPSI)-It turns out that Mary Poppins was right when she said that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down-sugar even has some medicinal qualities of its own.

Sugar is well-known for making good foods taste better, breads rise, cookies crunchy or chewy, and it protects the safety of jams and jellies. But did you know the same preserving power in jams and jellies can also help heal wounds?

Many of the same properties that make sugar an excellent food preservative also bestow it with its healing powers.

Sugar has been used to treat wounds according to records dating back to 1700 B.C. Today, scientists here and abroad are rediscovering sugar's wonderful healing powers and reporting surprising success in the use of sugar to treat serious wounds and especially burns that fail to respond to conventional therapy.

When sugar is applied to an open wound, it absorbs the wound's moisture necessary for the growth of infectious bacteria. Physicians also believe sugar supplies the very nourishment damaged tissues require for healing and regrowth.

According to a study featured in the Microbiology Infectious Diseases Journal, sugar is thought to exert an antibacterial effect by helping to slough off dead tissue and keep a wound clean.

Another article, which appeared in the Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, stated that granulated sugar has been used with success in treatment of eliminating bacterial contamination after cardiac surgery.

This study also suggested that sugar treatment leads to faster healing of infected wounds than conventional packing methods.

A third article, in the Southern Medical Journal, stated that during a 56-month period, 605 patients were treated for wounds, burns and ulcers with granulated sugar and iodine. Rapid healing ensued. The requirements for skin grafting and antibiotics were greatly reduced, as were hospital costs for wound, burn and ulcer care.

Science is showing that sugar helps wounds heal as well as preserve the safety in foods. Many would consider that sweet news indeed.

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