Lately I’ve been doing some research into how foods affect our bodies. Last year I read quite a bit on soaking grains and beans and how beneficial nixtamalization is for us. So far this year my focus has been sugar. Did you know you’re only supposed to have 2 tablespoons of a sugar source in one day? That includes sweetening beverages, treats, cereals, desserts, and so on.
I’ve been really surprised at the lack of information (and misinformation) that I’ve had concerning sugars. I can’t imagine what the average American who doesn’t educate themselves about food understands about sugar. Isn’t it amazing that obesity is on the rise while we’re eating “low-fat” and “diet” foods? These foods are removing healthy fats, adding things like margarine in their place, then adding extra sugar and salt for flavoring. No wonder Americans have such high rates of heart disease and diabetes. We’re eating 17 times the amount of sugar than we did 200 years ago, and we’re pretty much keeping ourselves on a sugar high! This causes our endocrine systems to do a poor job of keeping our bodies running smoothly so we get depressed, develop allergies, gain weight, have high triglycerides and so on.
That’s probably old news for most of you here. But did you realize that our raw sugars, including Turbinado and Sucanat are refined beyond milling? I was under the impression that our lovely raw sugars were washed canes that were ground in mills and sold … not evaporated, heated, or filtered. In some cases extra molasses is even added to these products to make the color and flavor more consistent.
So what’s recommended for us sugar addicts as we’re weaning ourselves off our favorite addiction? Well, our bodies think sugar is sugar – so the Corn Sugar people say. It’s not what’s NOT in the sugar, it’s what is in there that we’re concerned about. Sorghum, for example has lots of B vitamins and minerals, molasses from sugar cane has lots of minerals too. Raw honey can help with local allergies, plus it may not upset glucose levels quite so badly for some. Rapadura’s great for baking while stevia is a low-calorie alternative for beverages. And if you avoid Corn and beet sugar (including their molasses by-product) you’re also avoiding GMOs.
The key is to get used not eating so much sweet food. Stop dining out and eating processed foods, don’t eat low- or reduced-fat foods especially those that add sugar in place of fats for flavor, avoid overly sweet foods, count on fruits, and try to add fats to the treat (even if it’s an apple with cheese) to slow down the absorption of sugars, avoid alcohol. After a few weeks of this you’ll notice that most desserts and processed foods taste cloyingly sweet. You’ll probably notice a little weight loss and should see better attention throughout the day.
I know now that I’ve only touched the tip of the sugar iceberg, but there’s only so much one can share at a time! Personally, I’ll be reducing the amount of sugar in my diet to see what kind of impact it makes. Have any of you had experience with reducing or replacing sugar?
Resources:
Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats; Sally Fallon. 1999, 2001.
Well Being Journal. Vol. 20, No.2. March/April 2011.
http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/73/1/White-sugar-vs-raw-sugar.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_sugar
Jennifer can also be found at Unearthing this Life where she blargs about homeschooling, cooking, gardening, and living in rural Tennessee.
Not Dabbling In Normal 
I’ve been using more honey, maple syrup, molasses, and sorghum (which is sooooooooo gooooooooood omg) when I can get it, these days. I still do use white sugar but lately (don’t know why it’s taken me so long) I have discovered the amazing deliciousness that is piloncillo. It’s SO delicious and a little goes a long way. Plus it’s fun to get the cone-shaped ones. 🙂
I haven’t yet tried piloncillo or rapadura, two sweeteners on my list for the near future. Fortunately we live in the south so sorghum is readily available – and I find I much prefer it to molasses.
I just started not eating processed sugar for the real food challenge this month. Boy, did I go through some nasty withdrawals at first but now I feel great and lost a few pounds on my belly! One thing that helped through the sugar cravings was upping my protein intake.
Good advice on the protein. I know I thought I was constantly hungry when I cut back on my processed sugar last year. This year I intend to take it even further to see if my sweet tooth is one of the causes of my headaches.
We’ve been doing this as well, we use mostly maple syrup for sweetening (along with some sorghum, honey & rapadura), and eat fruits as our “desserts”. It is tough for Mr Chiots the resident sweet tooth though. I’m not a sweeties, I’m a salty so it’s easy for me to do away with sugar in my diet.
I’d highly recommend slowly adding less sugar to things you can. Every couple days reduce the amount of sugar in your coffee till your very low or without. Most baking recipes (except for cookies) can often have the sugar cut in quarter or in half without much detriment to the taste/texture.
Once you cut out a lot of the sugar in you diet you’ll find that most things are simply too sweet to eat, which is good, they will have no draw for you – so press on, you’ll be there someday!
I totally agree with Jennifer – avoid GMO’s and their byproducts. This is a great way to go low sugar, the alternatives are more expensive so you’ll naturally use less.
Even though I’ve succeeded at going caffeine free for, what – 6 months now – I still could not imagine drinking my fake coffee without sugar at this point. Growing up in above the Mason-Dixon, I can drink my tea either way, so I’ll sooner drink tea for my morning beverage.
Most of the recipes I prepare have their sugar/sweetener reduced and most people won’t notice. Hubby doesn’t mind because he’s like you, Susy – doesn’t care much for sweet stuff. I just have to quit cooking goodies!
What a great article. Both my wife and my mother went through the Weight Watcher’s program a couple of years ago and, while it’s a great program for a lot of reasons, it does lead almost directly to a learned habit of choosing “low X” products over traditional ones in order to “save points.” In fact, WW themselves admit that most members don’t get enough fat in their diets because it’s “too many points” and people choose to spend their points on tastier things.
As a foodie and a bit of a science geek, I’ve always been deeply concerned by foods claiming to be low-this and low-that (sugar, fat, carbs…take your pick). Without doing any research on it, I know that it has to be replaced with *something* and that something is probably just as bad for you in some other way than the item it replaces. This is what food manufacturers do. They jump on the bandwagon with the latest trend and market the heck out of it, not really caring to understand the problem fully or to develop a product with nutritional balance.
It bothers me to see people choosing low-fat mayonnaise, sucralose (Splenda), 40-calorie slices of bread, and other things over the traditional foods. How do you make something low fat when the only ingredients should be oil and eggs? How do you you make a slice of bread that’s 40 calories when the ingredients are 95% carbohydrates? And have you ever tried to make low-calorie, low-fat granola? I’ve tried to match the nutrition labels of the store-bought stuff and I just can’t do it. Oats themselves have too much fat in them and you need oil and honey or sugar to make it brown and clump.
Thanks for explaining some of the food science behind sugars. It was really a great learning experience and it goes along with the feelings I expressed above. Sometimes, it’s more about learning how to get the right sources for your nutrition and eating them in moderation than it is about finding complete substitutes or avoidance.
BTW…I have a history of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) but I’m a sucker for a highly sweetened cup of morning tea. I’ve tried it all (Spenda, Stevia, Honey, using less, etc.) and they all change the flavor I expect from a good cup of tea. I recently found that switching to Agave Nectar over white sugar doesn’t mess with my glucose levels quite so much and it doesn’t alter the flavor of my tea. I’m not sure about the health benefits, but it suits me well and I end-up using less in the long run too.
Hypoglycemia and diabetes run on my father’s side of the family. Fortunately neither myself or my daughter have shown signs. If I can continue to educate myself and my daughter, hopefully we never will.
My husband tried both stevia and agave nectar and didn’t care for either of them. I’d much rather him have 2 tsp of sugar than 2 tsp of splenda every day. I had read at one point that agave nectar was supposed to be better for your glycemic levels, but I’m not sure of the studies, nor the evidence.
As a fellow foodie I find it hard sometimes to give up those foods that are supposed to TASTE good, but have horrible side effects. I imagine Anthony Bordain with a deep fried fois gras covered twinkie growing out of his head one day. Yeah, it tastes good but come on! There’s a reason people call some of these meals gross exaggerations of what should only happen in an emergency room!
I think we’ve become so accustomed to the splurge/diet teeter totter that we believe we have to eat low-fat/calorie/sugar “food” to make up for the previous splurging we did because our bodies were craving something it needs. Too bad we go overboard and eat two days worth of calories in one meal.
I applaud you finding a balance. It’s something that has challenged me since I was a teenager. Some years I have it, others I don’t. Perhaps dealing more with my love for sugar will help me find my way.
I’ve got PCOS and a family history of diabetes, so I try to limit my sugar intake, which is terribly difficult for me because I do have a sweet tooth. I switched over to sucanat for a lot of my baking, I love the flavor. I have never been able to deal with the flavor of stevia though, I just think it tastes nasty. I’ve tried many times, just can’t get used to it. I think I’d rather do without and as long as I’m not baking I definitely can.
The best thing I ever did was switch from soda to unsweetened iced tea. I switched over to iced tea with added sugar, then slowly reduced the amount of sugar I added until I got it down to nothing. It’s the slowly that makes the difference, so that you don’t get the jarring feeling that it tastes off. I’ve been drinking iced tea that way for years. Iced tea doesn’t need sugar to taste good, we’re just brainwashed by all that super sweet soda to think it should be.
I used to have a terrible soda pop addiction. I could easily drink a 2-liter a day. I weened myself off the same way you did back before my daughter was born.
Next to quitting smoking, it was the best thing I ever did for myself!
We don’t eat a lot of sweets here. Although my husband would LOVE it if we did. This is a great post for me to read today because today, in fact, I have tried to change the granola bar recipe I make. It calls for 1/2 cup sugar + 3/4 cup brown sugar. I want to see about replacing some of that sugar with honey instead. They are just going in the oven right now and I am anxious to see how they come out. I didn’t write down my changes though, so I hope if they turn out good I can think along the same lines as I did when I mixed them up. I left the brown sugar the same and tried adjusting the regular sugar (org cane sugar). Does anyone have experience with substituting honey for sugar in larger quantities? any advice? I increased the flour in the one batch where I added more honey….Emilly
Emily, I’ve always substituted honey 1:1 for sugar, although some people say it’s sweeter tasting than sugar. To me sugar is actually sweeter tasting…
Technically it would depend on the brix level of the honey. Old honey with not enough water in it would be sweeter tasting. Also imported honey or low-quality honey may be cut with corn syrup. (Ack! sorry for the tangent – talk to a beekeeper about honey….)
See how it tastes today – if it’s too dark tasting, cut back on some brown sugar as well. And now you’ve got me hungry!
Jen