Losing weight and sugar

betaboy

How much sugar is too much?

I drink many cups of tea, so all in all I could be consuming at least 5 spoons of sugar each day. Is this too much, if one wants to lose weight?

lobster

It sounds like 5 spoons more than you have with sugar free tea. More clues on request.

robot

Some people say that any sugar is too much. I like sugar so I eat sweet things.
In the scheme of things 5 spoons is not that much. A can of coke has at least that much.

poptart

With respect to Buddhism (since this is a Buddhism forum) you should honour your body and be mindful of what you put into it. Are you consuming sugar to feed your body or some other craving?

Also, if you are trying to lose weight it might be better to switch to some other non-fattening sweetener.

betaboy

poptart said:

With respect to Buddhism (since this is a Buddhism forum) you should honour your body and be mindful of what you put into it. Are you consuming sugar to feed your body or some other craving?

Also, if you are trying to lose weight it might be better to switch to some other non-fattening sweetener.

I am addicted to chocolates, but I have cut them down to just one bar per week. But sugar I cannot avoid because the tea tastes like c**p without it.

TheEccentric

betaboy said:

poptart said:

With respect to Buddhism (since this is a Buddhism forum) you should honour your body and be mindful of what you put into it. Are you consuming sugar to feed your body or some other craving?

Also, if you are trying to lose weight it might be better to switch to some other non-fattening sweetener.

I am addicted to chocolates, but I have cut them down to just one bar per week. But sugar I cannot avoid because the tea tastes like c**p without it.

That is probably because you are used to it with sugar. If you keep on having it without sugar you will get used to it.

ThailandTom

To be honest refined sugar is a poison and it is something the body doe snot need, natural sugars on the other hand are a different thing entirely. I would say zero spoonfuls of sugar is the right amount.

MaryAnne

Maybe you can sweeten your tea and other things with natural honey, instead?

Steve_B

I have the same issue with sugar in tea.

Over the years as I have improved my diet and overall health, I have taught my taste to accommodate new ways. I now prefer whole wheat to regular, though at first I found it too dry and gritty. I prefer vegetarian meals, I like the taste of tofu and garden burgers, though I still sometimes crave a Whopper. Cooking bacon smells great, though I haven't eaten it in years.

It seems the things I have trouble adapting are the things I learned to like when I was young. I have to have sugar in my tea. Have to. I have to have salt on french fries. I have to have butter on matzoh. So for me, with these "stubborn" tastes, it's easier to cut down than modify. I rarely eat french fries, for example. But when I do have them, I have them the way I like them. And I have not found a sugar substitute that tastes good.

I doubt a few spoonsful of sugar significantly impact your weight. If it worries you, see if you can eat 5 spoonsful a day less of something (anything) else.

ThailandTom

Yea the main thing here beta is the bigger picture, not just these 5 spoonfuls of sugar. Exercise, balanced diet etc. It is quite simple to lose weight, actually on paper it is VERY simple, it just requires effort. You jst need to be burning more calories than you are consuming. If you have a really slow metabolism then work around that. Some people like my partner think that diet alone can lose some weight, if you really want to lose weight then do it properly and put in those 30 minutes of cardio a day.

betaboy

ThailandTom said:

Yea the main thing here beta is the bigger picture, not just these 5 spoonfuls of sugar. Exercise, balanced diet etc. It is quite simple to lose weight, actually on paper it is VERY simple, it just requires effort. You jst need to be burning more calories than you are consuming. If you have a really slow metabolism then work around that. Some people like my partner think that diet alone can lose some weight, if you really want to lose weight then do it properly and put in those 30 minutes of cardio a day.

Because of work, exercise is out of the question - I am too tired. Besides, they say abs are made in the kitchen, lol. I just want to eat less and lose weight.

ThailandTom

If you had a decent diet change-up and literally woke up 15-30 minutes earlier, you would find enough time, all it takes is at least 15 minutes solid cardio work daily with a decent diet and you should lose weight. I understand tough routines with regards to time and work etc, but surely you can find 15 minutes in the morning or somewhere? Look on youtbube, there are great quick cardio workouts for people in your position, I will look myself in fact brb

ThailandTom

This is literally 8 minutes and if you did this after breakfast in the morning or before you will see the results start to kick in after a few weeks for sure.

poptart

Refined sugar behaves like a drug in your body, giving you a sudden rush that leaves you craving more. That's why foods with a high sugar content are very addictive. Apart from that it has no nutritional value so it won't help build muscle or give you energy other than that brief sugar "high".

If you have a sweet tooth there are lots of alternatives. Naturally occurring sweet foods, like honey or fruit are far better for your body and also contain important nutrients. If you want to boost your energy eat more fruit and vegetables and drink lots more water to aid digestion and flush toxins out of your system. And exercise doesn't have to be strenuous - try walking more instead of taking the car, or climb the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Even five minutes of brisk walking in fresh air is better than nothing.

how

I can have twice that amount of sugar a day with my tea guzzling habits but have never had my weight reflect anything more than how much food I was consuming.

vinlyn

When I snack, sometimes I try to be aware of not just the amount of sugar, but also the amount of fat. One doctor told me, "If you have to eat cookies, eat sugar wafers." I told him that was odd advice. He said they have the same amount of sugar as most cookies, but virtually no fat. I can eat sherbet, which is very sweet, and not gain weight. But the fat in ice cream makes me visibly gain weight over just a few days.

how

Just a side note about sugar.
Vegetarians might be surprised to learn how many major sugar manufactures use bone char ( Chard cow bone ) as part of their normal sugar refining process.

ThailandTom

how said:

Just a side note about sugar.
Vegetarians might be surprised to learn how many major sugar manufactures use bone char ( Chard cow bone ) as part of their normal sugar refining process.

There is an awful amount of sugar in things like ketchup, these days things in the supermarkets often contain sugar. This is why I mainly buy from actual markets, also I have always had a distaste for ketchup for some reason, I don't know anybody else who dislikes it.

Dakini

betaboy said:

poptart said:

With respect to Buddhism (since this is a Buddhism forum) you should honour your body and be mindful of what you put into it. Are you consuming sugar to feed your body or some other craving?

Also, if you are trying to lose weight it might be better to switch to some other non-fattening sweetener.

I am addicted to chocolates, but I have cut them down to just one bar per week. But sugar I cannot avoid because the tea tastes like c**p without it.

Have you tried experimenting with different teas, and adding milk instead of sugar? Have you tried stevia?

Sugar and starch (carbs, especially refined carbs) provoke an insulin response in the body, which in turn causes the body to horde fat. Maybe one tsp at a time isn't much of an issue, but I thought I'd mention it.

Vastmind

You will need to re train your taste buds, that's all. It takes some
time. Start using a little less at home. When out, instead of ordering
sweet tea, order half and half. Here in the South, you say
"Ill have a sweet tea...cut in half" ...... I'm with the other's that say
you can replace with honey or something else...but eventually
you can get used to no sweeteners at all. It actually helps in
mindful drinking and tasting the subtle differences in the leaves.
Slowly wean yourself off.....

BTW..only you know if it's too much for you...I have no way of
knowing...this is just my suggestion if you decide you want to
cut it out for weight or craving purposes.
You could also wean/watch your foods that are high in sugar.

betaboy

Thanks, everyone.

I know one must avoid sugar ... and as far as possible I try to limit my chocolate consumption to just one bar a week. So I think that's taken care of. But sugar is a different issue because I drink tea at least 5 times a day, so even one spoon each time would amount to 5 spoons per day.

My doctor friend said even this is too much, and that I must avoid even two spoons. Was he serious or just trying to encourage me? It is all confusing. I thought anything in moderation was fine, even sugar.

Dakini

Try stevia. It's a natural sugar substitute (an herb from the Amazon), and it doesn't cause an insulin reaction. A very little goes a long way. See if you like it.

Vastmind

Stevia is also very easy to grow! We have 2 huge plants in pots on the
back porch..... @riverflow can give a testimony as to my stevia plants.

The home improvement stores around here carry more species...but
even Wally-Mart had some last year.

Vastmind

how said:

Just a side note about sugar.
Vegetarians might be surprised to learn how many major sugar manufactures use bone char ( Chard cow bone ) as part of their normal sugar refining process.

I did not know that...In finding some reading pages on it, I came across
a list online of companies who do NOT use it, if anyone is interested...
I can post it. Apparently beet sugar is vegetarian friendly

Nevermind

betaboy said:

Thanks, everyone.

I know one must avoid sugar ... and as far as possible I try to limit my chocolate consumption to just one bar a week. So I think that's taken care of. But sugar is a different issue because I drink tea at least 5 times a day, so even one spoon each time would amount to 5 spoons per day.

My doctor friend said even this is too much, and that I must avoid even two spoons. Was he serious or just trying to encourage me? It is all confusing. I thought anything in moderation was fine, even sugar.

No sugar at all is best of course, but it's certainly possible to use moderation and lose weight. Two teaspoons of sugar a day shouldn't pose a problem at all. Yet, the fact that you say tea is undrinkable without sugar is concerning. It seems to me that either you have really awful tea, or you've got something of a sugar addition going.

Processed food practically always contains some amount of sugar, or far worse, high fructose corn syrup. This includes even 'diet' food, oddly enough. Just read the labels of the food you eat. It's difficult to find processed foods without sugar (Agave Nectar, Barley Malt Syrup, Beet Sugar, Brown Rice Syrup, Brown Sugar, Cane Crystals, Cane Sugar, Coconut Sugar, or Coconut Palm Sugar, Corn sweetener, Corn syrup, or corn syrup solids, Dehydrated Cane Juice, Dextrin, Dextrose, Evaporated Cane Juice, Fructose, juice concentrate, Glucose, High-fructose corn syrup, Honey, Invert sugar, Lactose, Maltodextrin, Malt syrup, Maltose, Maple syrup, Molasses, Palm Sugar, Raw sugar, Rice Syrup, Saccharose, Sorghum or sorghum syrup, Sucrose, Syrup, Treacle, Turbinado Sugar, Xylose), actually.

ThailandTom

@betaboy I suggest you watch the documentary FoodInc which really will give you an insight into the food industry, especially in the US. Once you watch it I am sure you won't look at food or shop in the same way ever again

ThailandTom

lobster

I like to mix herbal teas with 10% - 30% fruit juice.
Tea with lemon and sweetener? No? Tea with sugar free cordial?
Smaller teaspoon?
Yinyana tea is delicious, includes sugar but takes six hours to make . . . you could probably only make three a day . . .
http://yinyana.tumblr.com/day/2012/12/30

:wave:

betaboy

One doubt. Someone mentioned adding honey ... but isnt that also sugar? Or is there a difference here?

hermitwin

Our body was not designed to get sugar from white sugar.
It is very bad for your health.
Honey or any other natural 'sweets' would be better.

White sugar is usually made from cane sugar.
It is highly concentrated and rushes into your bloodstream
immediately, causing a severe shock to your system.

Honey is also sugar , and too much of it is bad for you too.
but its nowhere as harmful as white sugar.

betaboy said:

How much sugar is too much?

I drink many cups of tea, so all in all I could be consuming at least 5 spoons of sugar each day. Is this too much, if one wants to lose weight?

pyramidsong

I've cut way back on sugar. It wasn't even really conscious. I think I was just eating less of it for a time, then I started to want it less. Now overly sweet things make me feel sick. I still have sugar in my coffee/tea and will eat a chocolate or piece of cake every so often, but it just doesn't have as much appeal. Honestly, I find the less you have it, the less you want it. The inverse is also true.

Also agree about processed white sugar (well, that and high fructose corn syrup) being the worst. I'm vegan so I don't eat honey, but if I do sweeten things I try to use alternatives to white sugar. In my coffee I use panela or demerara, in other things I might use agave, maple or rice malt. I make a green smoothie with baby spinach, a frozen ripe banana and soaked organic dates for sweetness. Delicious. I've tried Stevia but it's gross- tastes exactly like artificial sweeteners, aspartame and the like.

pyramidsong

ThailandTom said:

how said:

Just a side note about sugar.
Vegetarians might be surprised to learn how many major sugar manufactures use bone char ( Chard cow bone ) as part of their normal sugar refining process.

There is an awful amount of sugar in things like ketchup, these days things in the supermarkets often contain sugar. This is why I mainly buy from actual markets, also I have always had a distaste for ketchup for some reason, I don't know anybody else who dislikes it.

Yes. This.

The more natural, organic wholefoods I eat, the more shocked I am by the sweetness when I eat packaged supermarket foods. Cereal, bread, crackers, spaghetti sauce, salad dressing. I'm no purist or ascetic, I like to indulge, but no-one needs to eat the amount of sugar we do, on average. It really surprises me, in retrospect, how accustomed my tastebuds were.

I do love ketchup, though. I make a mean vegan American "cheeseburger". It's not health food but it sure does taste good!

Jeffrey

ThailandTom said:

To be honest refined sugar is a poison and it is something the body doe snot need, natural sugars on the other hand are a different thing entirely. I would say zero spoonfuls of sugar is the right amount.

A lot of people don't realize it but honey also has simple sugars that are the same chemically to some refined sugars. Sugar from fruit is also just a chemical. The difference in fruit is that you get the fiber from the fruit. Fruit juice you don't get fiber.

dextrose (chemical) - corn sugar
fructose (chemical) - fruit and high fructose corn sugar (and honey)

high fructose corn sugar is dextrose exposed to a catalyst that makes it into fructose. Again this is no different chemically from the fructose in fruit.

Sucrose (chemical)(a dextrose attached to a fructose) - table sugar. The body breaks sucrose down into fructose (same as fruit) and dextrose (same as corn sugar).


So why is honey (fructose) and fruit juice healthy and high fructose corn syrup (fructose) not healthy?

vinlyn

I'm still trying to figure out the problem with bone char.

Nevermind

Jeffrey said:

So why is honey (fructose) and fruit juice healthy and high fructose corn syrup (fructose) not healthy?

Actually honey and fruit juice are not all that healthy, as you mention they don't have the fiber. The fiber helps metabolize the sugars properly.

And I don't think there's any such thing as high fructose corn sugar. There's high fructose corn syrup, which is produced chemically and is processed by the body as a toxin.

Jeffrey

High fructose corn syrup yes. Which is about 80% fructos sugar and 20% corn sugar.

The reason they use it is that they get a given level of sweetness for less cost.

Why do you think high fructose corn syrup is a toxin if it is fructose? The catalyst is toxic? Just because fructose is extracted and pufified does not mean it is much different from honey and fruit juice.

Why is fructose in fruit juice different from fructose processed from plants?

Straight_Man

When westerners talk sugar, they sometimes mean processed sugar. As opposed to natural fruit and vegetable (beet) sugars. Just something to add to the thoughts above. Being a westerner that also understands the more eastern ways of speaking of sugar, I tend to process the implications myself mostly automatically.

For those without this perspective, processed sugar BAD, fruit sugars GOOD in moderation. Some blood sugar is needed in body, but not too much.

pyramidsong

vinlyn said:

I'm still trying to figure out the problem with bone char.

I have a problem with it, as a vegan.

vinlyn

I'm talking about health issues.

Dakini

betaboy said:

One doubt. Someone mentioned adding honey ... but isnt that also sugar? Or is there a difference here?

There's no difference in the effect on the body; honey triggers the same insulin response.

hermitwin

This is an overstatement.

If we processed honey to extract only sugar out of it,
then there would be no difference.

Dakini said:

betaboy said:

One doubt. Someone mentioned adding honey ... but isnt that also sugar? Or is there a difference here?

There's no difference in the effect on the body; honey triggers the same insulin response.

hermitwin

Moreover, the health benefits of honey is well known.
I have yet to hear a single health benefit of white sugar.

Dakini

What are the health benefits of honey? They're not well-known. From the perspective of the hormonal and fat-storage effect on the body, it's the same as white sugar, juice, mashed potatoes, white rice, etc.

Steve_B

Honey is almost entirely sugar.
Corn syrup is almost entirely sugar.
White sugar is almost entirely sugar.

Any nutritional difference would be the benefit (or detriment) of the trace contents. Honey contains tiny amounts of quite fascinating biochemicals. Fruit juice less so. Corn sugar (or syrup) and table sugar, basically none. But even honey contains VERY little by proportion. Calorically they're all just sugar. Nutritionally it varies by the value of the minor constituents.

hermitwin

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/honey/NS_patient-honey/DSECTION=evidence

ThailandTom

vinlyn said:

I'm talking about health issues.

I don't think there are any health issues, but of course if you are a vegan or care about the living beings, you will take it into consideration I would assume. That would open up a whole new set of doors including no ketchup, 99% of sauces in fact, and loads of others things because of bone char.

ThailandTom

Dakini said:

What are the health benefits of honey? They're not well-known. From the perspective of the hormonal and fat-storage effect on the body, it's the same as white sugar, juice, mashed potatoes, white rice, etc.

Minimal if any, to keep this all very simple, I do not eat chocolate (I have just gone off of it naturally for some reason), don't drink coffee and when I drink tea it is herbal with no milk or sugar. I don't eat honey and I get my sugar mainly from small portions of fruits. The key is moderation and balance, I have also started to add a small tablespoon of iodized salt to my meal as I need more iodine.

vinlyn

Whoa! You are adding salt to Thai food. You gotta be kidding me.

ThailandTom

vinlyn said:

Whoa! You are adding salt to Thai food. You gotta be kidding me.

I know!! How crazy am I!! No but seriously I never did before but I realize I need more iodine so I got myself some iodized salt, not just your average salt

vinlyn

Soy sauce -- 1 Tablespoon = 38% of your sodium for the day.
Oyster sauce -- 1 Tablespoon = 20% of your sodium for the day.
Maggi sauce -- 1 teaspoon = 17% of your sodium for the day.
Fish sauce -- 1 Tablespoon = 40% of your sodium for the day.
Salt -- 1 teaspoon = 98% of your sodium for the day.

And you're worried about sugar in ketchup????? :eek2:

ThailandTom

I literally do not have any sauce ever, I am not a saucy person But I am not worried about sugar in ketchup, or shall I say 95% of products in super markets, I am just conscious of it and thus steer clear of such things. High fructose corn syrup products are worse though and also in large quantities in the supermarkets. Like I posted above, there is a documentary called Food Inc, I think it is an award winning documentary, anyway I would advice anybody in this thread to give it a look-ee-loo