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"A Year of No Sugar"

Dazza1984 said:
I was on FB today and a friend had posted up this...

http://www.everydayhealth.com/columns/my-health-story/year-of-no-sugar-one-family-grand-adventure/

It would be good to hear what you all think. Plus, I reckon the book would be a good read if nothing else :)
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Interesting, I can see that cutting out added sugars all together is not easy, I can't even eat 0% fat Greek yoghurt without noting that it has sugar, I'm told that it adds flavour to something with no fat in it, I should probably make my own, although milk has lactose in it, so who knows. I try my best and yoghurt is one of the few processed foods that I eat anyway along with no bread/rice/pasta/potato and overall low carb is good for me and I would agree that I'm a lot healthier for it.
 
My first reaction was the same as when I was drinking ... "b....y amateurs" :meh:
But now I realise how alien even a small change in diet seems to most people, and that a first step like the one quoted here can be of benefit.
 
We are conditioned from birth to like a certain amount of sweetness, breast milk is of course sweet (though Dr Lustig seemed not to know this, to the amusement of his audience !) I'd agree though that most processed desserts are incredibly sweet and you certainly lose the taste for them when you rarely eat highly sweetened things
If you don't eat many processed foods though you also cut out on all the added sugars mentioned in the article. If you are eating mainly non processed foods that in itself will go a long way to improving health generally.
 
It's a good start but the next step is to educate the masses that sugar is just another carb. The Change4Life leaflet just received goes on about sugar (good) but carbs don't really get a mention.
 
Most authorities don't consider that carbohydrates are bad. Refined ones yes but fruits, veggies,]legumes and whole grains and nuts are considered healthy foods and they all contain carbohydrates. Eating a diet high in these things tends to be associated with less disease
It's actually not that hard to eat healthily David Katzwho recently compared all sorts of diets in a paper "Can We Say What Diet Is Best for Health?" puts it like this
"If you eat food direct from nature," you don’t even need to think about this. You don't have to worry about trans fat or saturated fat or salt—most of our salt comes from processed food, not the salt shaker. If you focus on real food, nutrients tend to take care of themselves."
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/a...very-diet-and-the-winner-is-real-food/284595/
 
phoenix said:
Most authorities don't consider that carbohydrates are bad. Refined ones yes but fruits, veggies,]legumes and whole grains and nuts are considered healthy foods and they all contain carbohydrates. Eating a diet high in these things tends to be associated with less disease
It's actually not that hard to eat healthily David Katzwho recently compared all sorts of diets in a paper "Can We Say What Diet Is Best for Health?" puts it like this
"If you eat food direct from nature," you don’t even need to think about this. You don't have to worry about trans fat or saturated fat or salt—most of our salt comes from processed food, not the salt shaker. If you focus on real food, nutrients tend to take care of themselves."
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/a...very-diet-and-the-winner-is-real-food/284595/
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The trouble is some equate flour derived from whole grains as OK and then highly refined white flour as still OK. Some regard organic sugar as more healthy as it's 'organic'; same for honey. You are right that food direct from nature is generally good for us but how do we get that point over to the average man in the street. Not easy.
 
DeejayR said:
My first reaction was the same as when I was drinking ... "b....y amateurs" :meh:
But now I realise how alien even a small change in diet seems to most people, and that a first step like the one quoted here can be of benefit.
Click to expand...

Love it. :D

I've recently had a similar chortle.

Mr B has recently embarked with much fanfare, on the Annual LC Diet. Which usually lasts til about half way through Feb, then fizzles out
My cooking and food provision was getting scrutinised to an almost comical extent.

It was a lightbulb moment for him when I pointed out that I live permanently on a LC lifestyle that is far stricter than his 'no white carbs' idea of LC.

He hasn't whinged once, since then.

What is doubly amusing is that we have been cohabiting for 8 years, married for 3 years, and he didn't already know this.
:banghead::banghead::banghead:
 
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@Daibell
I doubt that anyone can stop people eating a proportion of refined foods. Bread after all has been a staple for hundreds of years (just not the type mostly eaten today) and the Italians do very well with a fair amount of processed flour in the form of pasta. I do think campaigns should aim to reduce the proportion of pre prepared meals and get people using more fresh ingredients .Most people aren't diabetic so their pancreases do what they should do when they eat carbohydrates I though admit to being quite horrified when I see the contents of many supermarket trollies,If people actually did follow some of the ideas on the change for life website it would help .
http://www.nhs.uk/Change4Life/Pages/meal-planner-recipe-finder.aspx
 
Had a leaflets sent to me from IDDT today ref carbihydrates.. Really pretty good info... However in another leaflet they list fruit and carbs etc ok to eat and give a weekly example of foods to eat which has upward of 150 g a day for healthy eating.

I'm doing a health and well ess exhibition w/c 17th and will display their carbohydrate leaflet but no way can I display their healthy eating menu's....
 
phoenix said:
@Daibell
I doubt that anyone can stop people eating a proportion of refined foods. Bread after all has been a staple for hundreds of years (just not the type mostly eaten today) and the Italians do very well with a fair amount of processed flour in the form of pasta. I do think campaigns should aim to reduce the proportion of pre prepared meals and get people using more fresh ingredients .Most people aren't diabetic so their pancreases do what they should do when they eat carbohydrates I though admit to being quite horrified when I see the contents of many supermarket trollies,If people actually did follow some of the ideas on the change for life website it would help .
http://www.nhs.uk/Change4Life/Pages/meal-planner-recipe-finder.aspx
Click to expand...
Most families these days will not have a housekeeper, traditionally, many moons ago, that would be the lady of the house (I'm a house spouse myself). These days there seems to be an emphasis on getting eating done as quickly as possible, convenience being the over-riding factor. To the extent that not only do people eat in front of the TV (not knocking, I've been there), but they eat at their desk, in front of their computer, while they're traveling (driving/buses/trains/walking), and we end up not thinking about what we're eating, we just get it down our necks. It is my opinion that making meals a more formal occasion where you sit at the dinner table, we would look at what we eat more seriously. I know people have busy lives and unfortunately the knock on effect of that busy life is eating without thinking.
 
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