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mommylamb
04-13-2011, 06:22 PM
Has anyone seen this article? It's the type of thing that makes me:dizzy:, but I thought the food/diet concerned here might be interested in it. And, can sugar really be no better than HFCS?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&seid=auto&smid=tw-nytimes

ThreeofUs
04-13-2011, 06:59 PM
I saw this, too, but haven't made it through all the way. I thought he rather glossed over the manufacturing process for HFCS, which is really where the problems lie (mercury, manufactured food, etc.)...

But sugar has long been villainized as highly contributory to all western diseases.

jenny
04-13-2011, 08:43 PM
I just posted about this article in the Lounge section...

I'm really confused. I don't know what the author expects of us. I can cut down refined sugar use, but I like my sugar in my oatmeal. And I like my ice cream.

Am I never to bake anything for my kids? What about the sugar in milk??

LMPC
04-13-2011, 08:49 PM
What about the sugar in milk??
I plan on reading the whole article tomorrow when my eyes are less tired, but just wanted to say that milk has lactose in it, not sucrose. Lactose is made up of galactose and glucose (had to look that part up but remembered the part about lactose lol).

mommylamb
04-13-2011, 08:54 PM
I haven't finished reading it either (read the first 4 pages and then realized I was no where near the end and I gave up).

brittone2
04-14-2011, 12:53 PM
I posted in the Lounge but I love G. Taubes. I read his book (hate the title, such a disservice to the book IMO) Good Calories, Bad Calories a few years ago.

brittone2
04-14-2011, 01:20 PM
I just posted about this article in the Lounge section...

I'm really confused. I don't know what the author expects of us. I can cut down refined sugar use, but I like my sugar in my oatmeal. And I like my ice cream.

Am I never to bake anything for my kids? What about the sugar in milk??
nak-
Some people can tolerate some grains/sugar (maybe not particularly "healthy" but impact isn't quite as large on their health). However, a huge percentage of the population has insulin resistance. And that IR often goes undetected until people are diagnosed w/ metabolic syndrome. I have PCOS, am a normal weight (5'3" and 122 lbs right now) but am IR due to my PCOS. My parents both have markers of metabolic syndrome. If I hadn't been diagnosed w/ PCOS, no doctor would ever have looked at me and thought "insulin resistance" IME.

Some people can incorporate some sugar/more grains into their diet, but many people cannot, and the "cannot" group is much larger than I think many people realize. We don't adequately address looking at who might be prone to metabolic syndrome, IR, etc. right now. We only address it (IMO/IME) once they are a full blown type 2 diabetic.

As the article says, there are thin/normal weight people with IR, etc. and there is very little attention paid to the metabolic impact of insulin on this group in particular, let alone those with more obvious markers of metabolic syndrome.

Gracemom
04-15-2011, 06:19 PM
nak-
Some people can tolerate some grains/sugar (maybe not particularly "healthy" but impact isn't quite as large on their health). However, a huge percentage of the population has insulin resistance. And that IR often goes undetected until people are diagnosed w/ metabolic syndrome. I have PCOS, am a normal weight (5'3" and 122 lbs right now) but am IR due to my PCOS. My parents both have markers of metabolic syndrome. If I hadn't been diagnosed w/ PCOS, no doctor would ever have looked at me and thought "insulin resistance" IME.

Some people can incorporate some sugar/more grains into their diet, but many people cannot, and the "cannot" group is much larger than I think many people realize. We don't adequately address looking at who might be prone to metabolic syndrome, IR, etc. right now. We only address it (IMO/IME) once they are a full blown type 2 diabetic.

As the article says, there are thin/normal weight people with IR, etc. and there is very little attention paid to the metabolic impact of insulin on this group in particular, let alone those with more obvious markers of metabolic syndrome.

This is fascinating! Thank you for sharing. Do you eat any sugar? Or are their substitutes that you use?

brittone2
04-15-2011, 08:51 PM
This is fascinating! Thank you for sharing. Do you eat any sugar? Or are their substitutes that you use?

I personally try not to eat a lot of sweet stuff on a regular basis. It is true that once you step away from it for a few weeks you really don't miss it as much. Maybe once a week or every other week I bake something and we'll eat that for a day or two. When I do bake something at home, I tend to use erythritol and stevia as my sweeteners. They are both refined but the most natural of 0 carb sweetener options IMO (I can't/won't use splenda, nutrasweet, aspartame, etc). Honey, sucanat/rapidura, etc. is still just too much of a whammy on blood sugar for my insulin resistant self.

Over time I learned to like my coffee sans sweetener of any kind and can't stand sugar in it now. I like it with cream or half and half.

bisous
04-17-2011, 04:07 PM
You know, I've seen first hand how sweets can affect blood sugar and I know that what it does is unhealthy. I'm still interested in low carb diets but our financial situation at the moment makes that a really daunting, difficult prospect. However, it will cost me almost nothing to eliminate refined sugar from my diet. I think I'll invite DH to do the same. I think the evidence is pretty overwhelming actually that sugar IS detrimental and heaven knows I've consumed enough of it in the past to know that I need to make up for lost time with good behavior! DH has high triglycerides and low HDL (that's the good kind, right?) so I think this kind of diet can help him as well.

I'm not ready to eliminate it entirely from my kids though. I need to think this through more but I am concerned that with DS1 having Diabetes that he'll "rebel" against a total sugar by becoming and "addict" if you will and that can be disastrous. I also LIKE some of the cultural aspects of sweets. Sipping lemonade on Grandma's porch is fun and seems wholesome enough. Homemade cookies and sweets can be so memorable for a kid. I'm just not sure I'm ready to cut that out!! I'll continue to let them eat sweets on special occasions. I'm hoping that if I can be successful, maybe they'll follow my lead?? Wishful thinking maybe? We'll see...

brittone2
04-17-2011, 04:22 PM
My kids enjoy sugar here and there. We don't bring ice cream into the house all that often, but will sometimes make our own with erythritol, or take the kids out for it vs. having it available daily. I bake cakes and quick breads/muffins with almond meal and they are fairly close to the real thing. We make cheesecake (sans crust, with erythritol/stevia), carrot cake, a banana split cake w/ an almond flour base, etc. and those are all enjoyed by my kids. They'll have some Easter candy and they do pick out cookies at the store here and there. I just try to avoid having them ride the bloodsugar/insulin rollercoaster day after day, meal after meal. So a good percentage of the time they eat our lower carb/low sugar concoctions, and other times they get more traditional junk. I don't think they feel deprived at all. My DS1 when eating something sweet will ask for something to "cancel out the sweetness" afterward (he means a pickle, some cheese, etc). He likes something salty/savory after eating something sweet, and doesn't like things overly sweetened, iykwim. He will say "this is too sweet" about certain things, which is interesting to me.

We do white bean and black bean cupcakes (I know, sounds positively awful but I swear they are really quite passable. I don't say that lightly.) sometimes and they enjoy those the most of our lower carb "sweets".

http://healthyindulgences.blogspot.com/2009/05/healthy-chocolate-cake-with-secret.html
http://healthyindulgences.blogspot.com/2009/07/healthy-cake-with-secret-part-2-gluten.html (I prefer the white bean ones). The vanilla xylitol icing is really good :)

jenny
04-17-2011, 09:44 PM
I think all the posts you guys have made here and in the Lounge section regarding this topic is really interesting.

I'm interested in learning more about IR. I did a google search and I'm curious about the symptoms associated with IR. What is a good place to start reading about IR?

bisous
04-18-2011, 04:19 PM
Beth, that's exactly what I think I'll do with my kids. Actually, it is pretty close to what we do with our kids now! We don't do dessert as a family very often. One of our problems is that we spend a good deal of time with friends and family who eat a lot of sweets! My mom is actually the worst!

Well, maybe not THE worst. I have a secret sweet tooth and I often eat candy bars in my room--after feeding the kids a healthy lunch. Yeah, not great.

I'm going to get better at this! I know it will feel better!