Earlier quoted context omitted.
My daughter has chocolate in the cupboard from Easter this time last year. She has a can of soda maybe once a week and does eat not much candy, when she does it's recognised as a treat and not a part of her normal diet. She does drink smoothies that I'm sure have a good bit of sugar. I never buy products with artificial sweeteners if I can help it and I never use fake sugar (Truvia/Stevia/…) supplements–I'm actually…
Smoothies are horrifically sugary, I was shocked when I found out. A blender probably isn’t a bad investment... I’m not sure if they come in child safe flavours, maybe a nutribullet?!
Big Sugar Versus Your Body
51–60 of 77 posts
Re: Big Sugar Versus Your Body
#52I'm currently two weeks into a no-Coke month (I guess it would be "no soda" but truly that's the only one I drink). I have a couple reasons for trying it: - 1) Coca-Cola is an objectively evil corporation that I would like to support less. - 2) I don't know exactly what's in it, and thanks to the corruption at the FDA, Coca-Cola doesn't have to tell me. I worry about what other additives might be lurking about, in ad…
Re: Big Sugar Versus Your Body
#53Two days ago I was wondering, why there is this thing called 'energy' on nutrition labels. I mean its not 1:1 sugar, but somehow those two seem to have a positive correlation and while sugar has a bad reputation, energy sounds very positive. Who doesn't want more energy?
Re: Big Sugar Versus Your Body
#54The author conflates sugar/honey etc (pure carbs - glucose, fructose) and artificial sweeteners like stevia and erythritol which don't have any effect on your blood glucose and really are completely different. I fully agree with the premise of minimizing sugar consumption but I don't think encouraging people to avoid certain artificial sweeteners like stevia etc is helpful - and in fact it's hurting because certain p…
I couldn’t read the article, so I will only go off what I imagine the article might say (like pretty much every other nytimes article). The problem with making food taste more sugary, with or without artificial sweeteners, is that as a society we are growing too accustomed to hyper-stimulating foods. Why can’t people just live with the fact that every food doesn’t need to be loaded with sugar and instead open their p…
Re: Big Sugar Versus Your Body
#55The author conflates sugar/honey etc (pure carbs - glucose, fructose) and artificial sweeteners like stevia and erythritol which don't have any effect on your blood glucose and really are completely different. I fully agree with the premise of minimizing sugar consumption but I don't think encouraging people to avoid certain artificial sweeteners like stevia etc is helpful - and in fact it's hurting because certain p…
I can't remember where I read it. But there apparently is a link between something tasting sweet and your bodies insulin response. The study seemed to suggest that our upper intestines have similar cells as our tongue and can actually taste food. The result is that eating sweet tasting things that are not sweet cause a insulin serge, which the body then registers was not needed due to the lack of actual glucose incre…
That is a very weak argument as the products with artificial sweeteners are made for people with diabetes... Nevertheless, a source for the first part of your argument would be very helpful.
Re: Big Sugar Versus Your Body
#56I can confirm at least one part of this story with a personal anecdote: As a child, I absolutely loved, craved, was addicted to Coca Cola. A liter a day, perhaps more. Coming to the US, I noticed that it tasted different because of substituting sugar with high fructose corn syrup. No problem - I switched to Mexican Coca Cola (the one in a glass bottle) - and carried on. Fast forward to after grad school, I wanted to…
I was a kid when I started drinking Coca Cola a lot and was in my late teens when I more or less stopped it.
There were a couple of reasons, but my teeth completely decaying and being in a really really orange to almost red zone in terms of enamel made me think seriously about stopping the drink -- to be fair Red Bull was doing a lot more.
Here is how I stopped it (in order of effectiveness):
1 Replacement. I happened to love tea and found out that green tea does amazing things to your teeth: nothing! And that's a hard feat to accomplish for any drink. I fell in love with green tea because I quite liked the taste and it was healthy.
2 Negative Associations. I demonized cola. When I'd drink it I'd picture myself getting a barrel of acid which would go down my troath and would completely burn my esophagus (the thing that pulls stuff to your stomach when you swallow). I would then be unable to eat and die of hunger. It wasn't a pleasant fantasy, but that form of demonization made me feel I wasn't drinking Coca Cola but pure acid.
3 Being lenient. Sometimes I can't shake the craving, I think I have it once per month. Very rarely I drink it, but in most cases I get myself to drink something like orange juice through a straw. One time this happened so much that I'd drink a glass of orange juice through a straw per day. When this happens, I tend to focus more on drinking green tea and the fact that orange juice is also acid, that works quite well.
I feel that I have it under control, especially with Coca Cola since the taste completely changed for me after fighting it so hard, and it tastes less good.
Re: Big Sugar Versus Your Body
#57The author conflates sugar/honey etc (pure carbs - glucose, fructose) and artificial sweeteners like stevia and erythritol which don't have any effect on your blood glucose and really are completely different. I fully agree with the premise of minimizing sugar consumption but I don't think encouraging people to avoid certain artificial sweeteners like stevia etc is helpful - and in fact it's hurting because certain p…
I can't remember where I read it. But there apparently is a link between something tasting sweet and your bodies insulin response. The study seemed to suggest that our upper intestines have similar cells as our tongue and can actually taste food. The result is that eating sweet tasting things that are not sweet cause a insulin serge, which the body then registers was not needed due to the lack of actual glucose incre…
Re: Big Sugar Versus Your Body
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was sad to learn that sauces like ketchup are mostly sugar. Even sriracha is quite sugary.
If it's a popular sauce in America, it's almost sugary as a rule. BBQ sauce, maple syrup, salad dressing, tomato sauce. Mustard might be the one solid exception (?) I don't know if this is because sugary sauces become popular, or because popular sauces were adulterated with sugar.
Most everything else either has sugar or an artificial sweetener in it--or some back-door sugar, like raisin paste, or fruit juice concentrates.
It is likely because condiments came from preserved foods, and those generally require a high concentration of sugar or salt, or a low pH, in order to avoid spoilage. And some are concentrated from foods that are naturally sweet.
I think the sweetness was always valued in a sauce, and substituting the previous source of the sweetness with corn syrup or HFCS is a more recent trend, to cut costs. So it's the latter: popular sauces were adulterated with sugar.
Re: Big Sugar Versus Your Body
#59Also would like to know if the author had any younger kids at home. Being a parent I find it difficult and almost impossible to deny my kids of sweet treats few times a week. We end up buying things that kids like but then temptation is very strong and I end up eating some of those treats as well! Also I am addicted to fake sugar (Truvia/Stevia etc). I use them almost everyday. Are they bad than natural sugar or wors…
Children model their behavior off their parents and peers.
> Also I am addicted to fake sugar (Truvia/Stevia etc). I use them almost everyday.
Young children do not comprehensively understand the difference between actual caloric versus non-caloric sweeteners. If you are talking about young (> Are they bad than natural sugar or worst or same?
Behaviorally, I believe non-caloric sweeteners are worse for children. It is setting up a norm for them in their later lives that puts them at a disadvantage understanding nutrition, as they then ingrain into their habits a sweets throughout every day and every food norm that is increasingly difficult to dislodge when they grow into young adults and older.
Teaching my children nutritional balance is my goal. Balance to me personally is not the American or American-derived food pyramid, though. You will have to fumble your way through this, as pediatric nutrition research is as much all over the map as adult nutrition. Personally, I'm genetically deficient with an extremely strong family history of Type 2 diabetes, and I have very likely passed that onto my children, so my choices won't be your choices. In a developed-world context however, it is relatively safe to let them free-range (as much as they want) green leafy vegetables with minimal to no dressing. Free-range up to reasonable amounts of other vegetables that are predominately or contain lots of complex carbohydrates (like carrots, celery, etc., as long as the diet is filled with a diverse range). Sufficient proteins and fats depending upon what pediatric research you subscribe to that defines "sufficient" for pediatric developmental goals. Fill remaining caloric budget with complex carbohydrates with low glycemic values. As little processing as possible for everything. Tap water for hydration; not bottled, not ultra-filtered, not carbonated, not oil-flavored, not iced, not diluted juices.
6 years-old is when I was able to teach mine to simplistically read a nutrition label; at that age, they were able to see that a particular packaged food for example is overwhelmingly sugar, with little to no proteins, fats or complex carbohydrates, and willingly place it back on the shelf. It helps in my case that they are terrified of needles, then see me testing my blood sugar many times a day, and remember that I told them when I was younger, I ate too much sugar, and now have a disease that requires I eat as little sugar as possible. They don't want to have to poke themselves to draw blood now, so they are much more moderate in their sugar consumption compared to many peers.
If you didn't start them out as infants along this path, take very small steps over a long period of time, and model your own behavior for them. How small the adjustments, and how long a time period, is governed by the individual child, your creativity, and your parenting time/effort. Your tolerance to whining and fits over the world is going to end if they don't get what they want, as well. Offer two choices, both representing a moderately reasonable adjustment. Fasting for even up to a full 24 hours two times a year separated by 4-6 months each time is not developmentally harmful for children 5 years old or older if you encounter refusal to choose one of the alternatives; many children will do that just catching a really bad stomach bug.
As long as you don't react emotionally to tantrums, acknowledge their feelings that it is hard to change, etc., then change is difficult but doable.
Re: Big Sugar Versus Your Body
#60Also would like to know if the author had any younger kids at home. Being a parent I find it difficult and almost impossible to deny my kids of sweet treats few times a week. We end up buying things that kids like but then temptation is very strong and I end up eating some of those treats as well! Also I am addicted to fake sugar (Truvia/Stevia etc). I use them almost everyday. Are they bad than natural sugar or wors…
They are often coupled with sugar alcohol, which can cause constipation and perhaps a stomach ache. I've been off sugar (well, below 20 grams a day) for a few months now. I also have a 14 month old son but I think we can just exclude sugary treats while he's at home, he seems to be OK with fruit (not juice, the real kind).
Xylitol and erythritol are the only ones I'd consider consuming regularly, and they will be uncomfortable until you develop a tolerance for them.
I have never heard of anyone that has ever experienced constipation resulting from sugar alcohols. It has always emphatically (and sometimes noisily) been the antipode to that condition.