Trying to give up or cut down on Sugar intake

[gogo@]

Milky coffee without sugar at breakfast is going to take some getting used to!

I used to think life without Bar Ones wasn't worth living... can't touch them now.  Hang in there!

[Eldron]

My post was not about table sugar only, hence sugar(s) but sucrose and fructose are a major additive (because, do we need them?) to many foods, for taste and as a preservative.  Check your can of beans.  The ones without tomato sauce. There's a very very good chance sugar has been added.

Things like HFCS (high fructose corn syrup which replaced sugar in many drinks like Coke in the '80s) and fruit juices are obviously just highly concentrated sources of fructose - so it's not about TABLE sugar, but the fructose component in it, and for that matter anything and everything that has fructose added to it in some form or another.  Even pastry, which you would "read" as a carbohydrate, but not necessarily a sugar, or containing fructose.  So yes, which is why it becomes so important to read labels and work out what the effect of the glycaemic content is -- how will it interact with insulin? If your fructose comes with a load of fibre then that will slow its absorption in the gut, which slows the insulin response, so go eat fruit, but watch the juices and definitely anything with HFCS in it.

I have a friend who is diabetic (type 1) who has to monitor sugar levels closely.  For her, there is no difference between eating white bread and a particular rye bread made by PicknPay which I considered a healthy alternative.  Most likely explanation is it's not all rye flour, and the flour(s) is heavily processed, so digestion happens more rapidly.

 

We're pretty much on the same page - read the label!

 

For me the problem is "processed food" - food which is designed to be cheap, easily produced, taste great and last forever - all great attributes for industry - not exactly what our bodies need,

 

Sugar is, of course, one of the major culprits in the processed food market.

 

We agree :-)

 

Have another look at fructose though - the stuff I'm reading says that fructose is predominantly metabolized in the liver and does not create an insulin response. It's glucose that does that.

[Bonus]

I used to think life without Bar Ones wasn't worth living... can't touch them now.  Hang in there!

The coffee thing is a good example of habit and routine, plus resistance to change.

 

Well I started this at midnight so I'm nine and a half hours in. (Ok most of that was asleep!)

[Eldron]

The coffee thing is a good example of habit and routine, plus resistance to change.

 

Well I started this at midnight so I'm nine and a half hours in. (Ok most of that was asleep!)

 

Go Bonus! Stay strong!

[gogo@]

 

We agree :-)

 

Have another look at fructose though - the stuff I'm reading says that fructose is predominantly metabolized in the liver and does not create an insulin response. It's glucose that does that.

Yes!

Curious to know what you're reading on that.  Lustig has an explanation of why the liver-fructose connection which you mention leads to metabolic syndrome problems but I'd have to go look again for the detail.  He's not alone, so I'd like to know what the alternative view is.  These are details, however!

[johannrissik]

Milky coffee without sugar at breakfast is going to take some getting used to!

Try it with cream. Full fat cream.

[shaper]

Milky coffee without sugar at breakfast is going to take some getting used to!

Took me 6 months to enjoy a coffee without sugar.... now I do not miss it at all

 

You can try with the sweeteners (xylitol etc), else look at bullet coffee

Edited April 25, 2018 by shaper

[Eldron]

Yes!

Curious to know what you're reading on that.  Lustig has an explanation of why the liver-fructose connection which you mention leads to metabolic syndrome problems but I'd have to go look again for the detail.  He's not alone, so I'd like to know what the alternative view is.  These are details, however!

 

Here is a Harvard Medical School article: https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/abundance-of-fructose-not-good-for-the-liver-heart

 

Basically glucose gets broken down everywhere and turned into energy. Fructose goes to liver and gets turned into fat.

 

Too much fructose equals fatty liver disease then steatohepatitis and eventually cirrhosis. Not great!

 

I guess the general rule is - less sugary stuff and less refines food.

[Stretched@Birth]

I've become a lot more "Sugar Aware" in the last while, and have consciously cut down mine and the families sugar intake (in a lot of instances, they have not even noticed).  What is interesting is when you actually start reading the labels, and see the sugar content in a lot of products one would think are low in sugar. 

 

Case in point, Jungle Snack Mix Cranberry Infusion, 48g of Carbohydrate per 100g, of which total sugar is 45.2g. 

 

The label also shows content per 30g single serving, yet the packet contains 50g...

 

Bottom line is, read the labels and be aware of what you're eating.

[gogo@]

The coffee thing is a good example of habit and routine, plus resistance to change.

 

Well I started this at midnight so I'm nine and a half hours in. (Ok most of that was asleep!)

This really is a battle.  My problem was worse than BarOnes, to be honest! Your opening post rang all the bells.  I pretty much dropped all the carb stuff I could, but bread remains a serious weakness, for the reasons you have here.  And every now and then a chocolate raisin attack happens ;-)

I have two coping modes (probably like many here) cycling and eating the wrong stuff.  A while back I managed to reign in the eating but training for Trans Baviaans 2016 pushed me way out of my comfort zone.  I tried everything and landed up with Hammer Perpetuem which worked but I also got back into eating a lot of bread and even sweets.  I was training full gas on our long rides compared to the others so would drop off like a stone - unless I ate carbs.  Before that, I could ride 2.5 to 3 hours on water only, slowly.  It's taken 18 months to get back to that but the problem is... the bread and the biscuit still need the chop.  Somehow, fueling with carbs opened the door again and the problem is back.

BUT, food actually tastes a whole lot better if you give yourself a break from sweet stuff, so there's that to look forward to as well.

IF you decide to cut something out and have a lapse, just let it go.  Start again and don't use it as an excuse for a total relapse.  Good luck!

[TIB]

Milky coffee without sugar at breakfast is going to take some getting used to!

 

There is some pain involved. But you will be surprised how bad sugary coffee taste once you have adapted to bitter coffee!!

[gogo@]

Here is a Harvard Medical School article: https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/abundance-of-fructose-not-good-for-the-liver-heart

 

Basically glucose gets broken down everywhere and turned into energy. Fructose goes to liver and gets turned into fat.

 

Too much fructose equals fatty liver disease then steatohepatitis and eventually cirrhosis. Not great!

 

I guess the general rule is - less sugary stuff and less refines food.

I think this is actually what I was referring to - fatty liver syndrome - and why HFCS is as bad as alcohol. It's not just diabetes, hence metabolic syndrome.  Also, if you think how quickly corn syrup was taken up by food manufacturers from the mid-1980s (anybody remember New Coke?) and then consider the rise of diabetes in the populations eating these foods, you really have to start asking questions.  Then put salt and fructose together, what happens?  You drink more, because the salt makes you thirsty, literally fueling addiction.

[Slowbee]

The problem with reading the labels, is, well, reading the label.

 

They print them so damn small !

 

And then they print the numbers in a jumbled way that requires a PhD in nuclear dance fairy moves to decipher.

 

And of course you are looking at the box in the fullest aisle and the kids are yackety yacking in your ear for said packet of chips you are trying to find out if it is safe to eat.

 

And then granny bumps your trolley and smiles innocently at you "sowwry"!

 

Just eat the damn chips. Then go ride your bike. But no junk miles. Ever.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

There is some pain involved. But you will be surprised how bad sugary coffee taste once you have adapted to bitter coffee!!

THIS

[Rouxenator]

Milky coffee without sugar at breakfast is going to take some getting used to!

Go black, once you go black you won't go back. 

[Eldron]

I think this is actually what I was referring to - fatty liver syndrome - and why HFCS is as bad as alcohol. It's not just diabetes, hence metabolic syndrome. Also, if you think how quickly corn syrup was taken up by food manufacturers from the mid-1980s (anybody remember New Coke?) and then consider the rise of diabetes in the populations eating these foods, you really have to start asking questions. Then put salt and fructose together, what happens? You drink more, because the salt makes you thirsty, literally fueling addiction.

Yup. Agreed on all points.

 

It really is an us versus them scenario. Food manufacturers will use colured boxes, clever ingredient mixes, selective slogans (like ZERO FAT!!! on jelly babies), smart supermarket placement and a variety of other tactics to make us buy their products. Luckily we're armed with a brain :-)

 

Sometimes those damned emotions interrupt brain function though!

 

Stay vigilant and fight the fight hahaha.