Diet Question

[Faith in Him]

I have started to really look at the sugar listings on the food labels and I am surprised at how much sugar is in everything. Does anyone know how many grams of sugar per day we should try to limit our diet to?

I have such a sweet tooth..

Thanks,
Tonya

[Bill]

Hi Tonya, yeah, sugar is in so many things, it's hard to avoid. I don't know how many grams per day you should limit yourself to, but avoid anything with high fructose corn syrup in it, and anything ending in "-ose", and slowly, but surely, your body will adjust and your sweet tooth will go away. Just cut out a little at a time. Best wishes, Bill

[chrisy]

Remember also, many many good foods have naturally occurring sugars. What I learned recently is that 1 gram of sugar is 4 teaspoons. Really puts that box of frosted flakes in perspective.

[juanita]

I have been having to look as well at food labels. I found out I was hypoglycemic and now turning toward being diabetic. So I have to watch it to try and prevent more damage. It's hard to do sometimes.

[Becky]

Dear Tonya

I really watch the added sugar and its hard to find processed foods that don't add sugars or corn syrup. Classico's Tomato Basil flavor of spaghetti sauce is the only jarred one I have found that doesn't have sugar (some flavors of Amy's Organic soups don't either like Lentil but some do).

Its ridiculous when you think about simple things like canned soup - all of them have sugar added. Cereals are the worst. At least cheerios has none added but it only has 3g of fiber. Uncle Sam's is great but it has flaxseeds and being ER+, I will only eat it once or twice a week. Plain oatmeal - ughh but doable with lots of fruit (this has natural sugar but that's fine as fruit is low calorie and nutrient rich).

I don't know how much added sugar per day is ok but I think we should all reduce as much as we can.

[hutchibk]

It seems everything has too much added sugar, corn syrup and/or sodium... it's really important to read labels these days. I also avoid anything that adds monosodium glutamate, as it gives me migranes.

[Mary Anne in TX]

I get my "sugar" every morning with a sprinkle of brown sugar on my oatmeal. I've worked it down to just a sprinkle, but it took a while. I've found that stir fry veggies taste sweet and still give me what I'm supposed to have. And the crock pot makes everything better to me. I add a couple of big chunks of bell pepper, onion, bay leaf etc. to sugar free jarred spag. sauce and slow cook it for hours and it tastes good. Just avoiding "boxes" has helped a lot!!! ma

[ElaineM]

Hi,
I don't know how much sugar is safe, but I limit all refined sugar and corn syrup. If possible eating foods in their most natural state is probably healthier. Can you choose between a small piece of fruit or baked goods? I don't add sugar to anything and I look at all the labels on packaged and canned foods when I go shopping. Maybe you can find a glycemic index with a list of foods with their sugar, glucose and frutose amounts on the internet.

[R.B.]

Hi Elaine M,

As hunter gatherers our sugar intake would have come from fruit and honey. Both were scarce and largely seasonal.

Sugar intake has increased from a couple of Kg of honey to lots of kilos a year - 50 kg is a figure I have seen.

Refined sugar has by definition other nutrients removed.

How much - less is more.

Excess sugar also impacts on digestion, as well as the more obvious effects on health.

Digestion is key to health.

With time taste will change and even raw broccoli can taste sweet - yes that surprised me too.

RB

[RhondaH]

I am a HUGE advocate of the "Breast Cancer Diet" which I will bump up. I do it faithfully 6 days a week and have 1 cheat day. I guess the BEST way to limit your sugar intake is to eat whole (unprocessed) foods as much as possible. I cook 3 meals a week (enough for 1 leftover and if I am making soup, I double the recipe and freeze half...Allrecipe is a good source). I use VERY little processed food and cook from scratch as much as possible as well as cook in season. My 7 year old son LOVES my oatmeal. My mom taught me to put out raisins the night before, boil some water in the tea kettle and pour it over them and cover overnight and they are REALLY plump the next morning. I buy as much as I can organic and buy bulk organic oatmeal (cheap) at the store. I first cook the oatmeal (not quick oatmeal), add brown sugar and the raisins and BOY what a hearty meal and I control the sugar. Also, in response to RB's post he is VERY correct and a VERY interesting book in relation to this is "The Omnivores Dilema"... not light reading but very thought provoking. I'm a HUGE advocate of balance and everything in moderation and am also VERY anal retentive. I make a menu every week (using the calendar and if there is a special event that I want a treat at I save it for that), I cook 2 fish meals, 2 vegetarian and 2 beef/pork (my family feels I deprive them with out beef/pork so each week we each get a turn to "pick" the meal for a favorite then everyone gets a turn and we eat out once a month and again we take turns choosing so everything is fair). You'll do fine, just practice. Take care and God bless.

Rhonda

[dlaxague]

Hi,

I just finished reading Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food" and it was fascinating (as was its prequel, "The Omnivore's Dilemma"). He covers many things, but overall he encourages less processed food, and in that discussion he points out that we should be not be reading labels on boxes or jars because, in general, things in boxes and jars are too far away from their natural state and we should not be eating them. We have never eaten a lot of processed food, but I don't see completely eliminating boxes and jars. I do like the way he made the point.

The book also talks about "reductionism" where we break food down into parts that we can measure and study (vitamins, carb/fat/protein) etc. We study the individual components, and he thinks that can be misleading. He proposes that it may be more the whole food's behavior in our body - not one or two of its parts.

It's an interesting and readable book. I like that he doesn't promote any particular "diet" or product - he just raises questions and in most cases, allows the reader to draw their own conclusions, although in this book he does draw some conclusions of his own. The book begins with this advice "eat food, not too much, mostly plants". The whole book basically follows that advice, clarifying and refining. For example "eat food" means essentially whole foods. His point is that processed food does not deserve the title of "food".

I don't have much trouble with two of his pieces of advice. I like to eat real food, and plants are good. It's the "not too much" that is my issue. Sigh.

Debbie Laxague

[ElaineM]

Hi,
I forgot to mention that we can monitor our sugar (glucose) in BMP or CMP (blood chemistry tests) blood tests if our docs do them. We are entitled to copies of all of our tests according to federal law if we live in the U. S. The normal ranges where I go are from 70-100, so I try to keep my sugar between those numbers. I ate a little ice cream one day and my glucose level was 150. The doc almost had a heart attack. I was busted !! I will never do that again ----------at least on the day I get my blood tests. Smile. I east plain or vanilla yoghurt instead of ice cream. Yoghurt can be frozen just like ice cream.
Apparently glucose has something to do with cancer metabolism. They day before a PET scan the patient has to limit all foods that convert to glucose. When a person arrives at the hospital the same test that diabetics take everyday is administered to check the glucose levels.
Then a solution that includes glucose is injected before the test. Wherever the glucose shows up on the scans that is where the cancer may be.