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Losing weight and sugar
betaboy
Veteran
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?
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?
0
Comments
In the scheme of things 5 spoons is not that much. A can of coke has at least that much.
Also, if you are trying to lose weight it might be better to switch to some other non-fattening sweetener.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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"
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.
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.
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.
a list online of companies who do NOT use it, if anyone is interested...
I can post it. Apparently beet sugar is vegetarian friendly
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?
For those without this perspective, processed sugar BAD, fruit sugars GOOD in moderation. Some blood sugar is needed in body, but not too much.
If we processed honey to extract only sugar out of it,
then there would be no difference.
I have yet to hear a single health benefit of white 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.
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: