So. Im going to talk about it until I convince myself of how totally evil it is. Special occasions are ok of course. I am going to visit family this month and I assure you if my sister and I are together - there WILL be chocolate ;). But everything in moderation and when Im back Ill be off of it again (Ive lost several pounds since I stopped eating sugar 2wks ago!).
Check out Ferbit's blog entry about how sugar affects the immune system: Green Republican
She mentions that ONE teaspoon of sugar can lower your immune system for 5hrs.
1 tsp sugar = 4 grams.
Here are some example so you can see how quickly your sugar content adds up in a day:
- 3/4 cup Honey Nut Cheerios: 9 grams (more than 2 tsp of sugar!)
- 1 Snickers bar: 29.8 grams sugar
- Kellogs Cereal Bar (apple cinnamon) = 13 grams (Id rather have half a snickers bar LOL!)
- 8 oz Orange Juice = 22 grams sugar (even 100% juice is processed by your body just like sugar - sorry!)
- 1/2 cup M&Ms = 48 grams of sugar (ouch!)
- 1 cup Ragu Spaghetti sauce = 10.8 grams
- Sonic Blast, Large = over 100 grams of sugar!!!! (ask me how I know LOL)
I can eat M&Ms with the best of them. But I cant imagine just chewing on 14 teaspoons of sugar - YUCK.
We are no longer buying Orange Juice. We are trying to switch to some healthier breakfasts like Steel Cut Oats with stevia and cinnamon or eggs instead of the organic shredded wheat they often eat (more on breakfast cereal on another day).
anyone want to get on the No-Sugar bandwagon with me? ;)
EDITED TO ADD: Its nearly impossible to eat ZERO sugar. I dont want to be a sugar-natzi and never enjoy life. I should clarify that we dont eat sugary drinks, juice, cookies, ice cream, candy, etc. If its a whole wheat product that has *a little* sugar then Im ok with that for the kids. But no junk. I guess thats relative LOL but I just try to error on the side of not eating it if Im not sure ;)
7 comments:
hmmm, I don't know if I could do it! *hiding*
So if Juice is so much sugar (fine by me, we don't drink juice except for once in a looong while), what about fruit? Do you give up fruit too?
We've gotten a lot better about sugar here, but we still have a long ways to go.
well you can always have some cheat days - like Saturdays off or something like that.
We do eat fruit. I firmly believe you shouldnt cut out anything that God made (in its original form). But eating an apple is WAY better for you (for many reasons) than drinking some apple juice. Its not even comparable.
We even have some 100% fruit leathers from Costco. High in sugar but still not like eating a candy or granola bar. And we dont have them every day. But its a nice treat.
Most things have sugar so we consider what it is. Its tough with the kids food allergies. So today I got some 100% whole wheat "crackers" that they like that taste more like cookies. Two cookies have 3gm sugar. Not perfect but its not fruit gummies or pop tarts or whatever so Im happy with it. (I had half of 1 and I dont consider that cheating.)
When I make homemade bread I use a little sugar and also honey. Most breads do. I use organic raw turbinado sugar, but its still sugar. I also dont eat the whole loaf LOL. I dont consider that cheating either.
Ideally Id have ZERO but for me its a HUGE step to have no ice cream, no candy, no chocolate, etc. :)
Oh, this is way down the road for us. The thought of getting rid of all sugar makes me cry. :) I'm working on the trans fat and the hfcs first, since I feel like factory-made stuff has got to be worse. At least sugar is a crop... I'm burying my head in the sand and singing la la la on this one!
I imagine I'll get there eventually though...
well, I'll join you until this weekend...we're going to a lakehouse with my parents and siblings and I just don't know if I could do it...but I'll do it for the rest of the week which is a HUGE leap for me. Then, I will also go back to it when I come home.
Sorry, not sure if I can give up the sugar, we are not junk food eaters, but I have a major sweet tooth, I love my chocolate M&M's they are my best friend, and they listen so well, and they taste so good, they make me happy on my rough days. I can give up other things but not that.
We don't drink juice here, the kids get it when out at a family gathering or something and there is juice. I don't buy sugar cereals, We love corn flakes here,
Best of luck with the NO sugar, I know I don't have the will power to give up my chocolate friends.
Yeah, this is further down the road for me too. I'm not easily convinced that sugar is all that evil, but I haven't done any research on it. Obviously too much sugar is bad, but it seems to me that it's the other cr@p they add in to foods that also have sugar that make it bad. Or maybe I'm just justifying.
oh, it is a dream of mine to eliminate sugar in my diet. I don't know if I could ever do it. We too have no juice in the house, which helps a lot, but I find sugar in many other ways. I take my hat off to you. One day I'd like to try going sugarfree completely. Instead I'll settle on having just a bit less...
Post a Comment