This time of year, the gyms are packed, and the low-fat aisles at the grocery store are jammed with shopping carts.
My reaction…”If they only knew they were spinning their wheels!” All I can do is sigh.
I know, and you know, they may drop 5 pounds, all the while starving, only to go back and gain 10. It is the endless cycle I was in most of my life. If only I had known then what I know now! I would have been a much happier and content individual. Not to mention, healthy and lean.
I have heard so many times these last two weeks, “Count your calories…” or “Eat more fruits and vegetables” and even, Agh, “Cut down on saturated fat.” Really?!?! Wake up to 2016 all of you morning talk show special guests. We have been in a downward spiral for over 50 years, and it is time to rise up and realize this low fat business was a really, really bad idea! It is okay to correct the bad advice!
I have heard nothing about eating more fat, so I am here to tell you; EAT MORE FAT!
Now…with that, goes cutting down on the sugar – way down. In fact, way way down! The sugar and the carbs have to give, to stop that spike in your blood sugar so you aren’t hungry every two hours. This means eating healthy fats and saying no to sugar and processed foods.
The good part is: you get to eat healthy, satisfying foods that will keep you going for hours and hours with endless energy AND boost your brain power. It is an awesome feeling to gain control of your health so that you never have to struggle with hunger pains and yo-yo dieting ever again!
I was beyond excited to read an article my sweet friend, Tina, sent my way. It is interesting, scientifically based, and best of all, everything we have been preaching for the past two years. I just had to share! Take a moment, read, comment, and share with those you love. And…EAT MORE FAT!
Read David Ludwig’s article here. It is worth the read!
We are so excited about this article! July 10, 2015, the New York Times printed an article, that in our opinion, is long over due.
The authors of this article appear to know what they are talking about:
Dariush Mozaffarian is dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. David S. Ludwig is the director of the Obesity Prevention Center at Boston Children’s Hospital and the author of the forthcoming book “Always Hungry? Conquer Cravings, Retrain Your Fat Cells, and Lose Weight Permanently.”
“BOSTON — SINCE the publication of the federal government’s 1980 Dietary Guidelines, dietary policy has focused on reducing total fat in the American diet — specifically, to no more than 30 percent of a person’s daily calories. This fear of fat has had far-reaching impacts, from consumer preferences to the billions of dollars spent by the military, government-run hospitals and school districts on food. As we argue in a recently published article in The Journal of the American Medical Association, 35 years after that policy shift, it’s long past time for us to exonerate dietary fat.”
For the most part, I think most would agree that sugar is bad, very bad! It causes a copious amount of diseases, is almost entirely responsible for the obesity epidemic in our country, and is 8 times more addictive than cocaine. Yes 8 TIMES more addictive than COCAINE!
So what about all those “sugar free” choices out there? Well, this is the definition by the FDA of “sugar free” : “Sugar Free”: Less than 0.5 g sugars per RACC and per labeled serving (or for meals and main dishes, less than 0.5 g per labeled serving) (c)(1)
Contains no ingredient that is a sugar or generally understood to contain sugars except as noted below (*) You can read their definitions on the FDA website here. The problem with this definition is the fact that there are a lot of ingredients these days that are hidden in our foods that will spike your insulin levels faster than cane sugar and are not identified as so called “sugar”. Many of these are sneaky ingredients in foods you would never guess like salad dressings, spices and seasonings, and marinated products. These are foods that you may still be eating because I know you are not eating those awful processed foods anymore, right?
You need to know that just because you don’t see “sugar” or dare I say, “high fructose corn syrup” on the label does not mean you are home free.
If you see any of these ingredients – Stay away – far, far away. If you are still drinking diet drinks – wean yourself, by drinking sparking water, La Croix, fresh brewed tea, or water! It does the body good!
The sneakiest one on the list for me has been the Maltodextrin! It is in more than you could imagine. I have found it in sauces, and especially seasoning mixes. For instance, I used to love dumping a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix into 16 ounces of sour cream for a yummy veggie dip. Then, I actually took a minute to look at the ingredients, and there it was, in black and white – #3 on the ingredient list – Maltodextrin. That was a huge wake up call for me when I thought I was doing it all right! I cannot say it enough, “READ YOUR LABELS!” A really good rule of thumb to follow is this: If it has more than 5 ingredients, you probably shouldn’t eat it, but if it has ingredients you cannot pronounce, you definitely should not eat it! I guarantee that if you saw the manufacturing and chemical processing of these products you wouldn’t want them in your body. Best to choose foods grown from the earth or raised grazing the green grass. These are your REAL FOODS!
The other mention on this subject is the Glycemic Index. There is more study needed on this index, but it is a good resource going back to ingredients like Maltodextrin. The Glycemic Index measures how much the food you eat affects your blood sugar levels. The higher the rating, the greater the effect the food will have on your blood sugar. The scale ranges from 0 to 100, with 100 being the highest (well-used to be the highest). A 100 rating will shoot your blood sugar through the roof! Here are some examples:
Remember that Maltodextrin? Well, it measured higher than pure Glucose which used to top the scale:
Maltodextrin – 110
Pure Glucose – 100
Splenda – 80
Sucrose (Table Sugar) – 65
Maple Syrup – 54
Honey – 50
Lactose – 45
Coconut Palm Sugar – 35
Maltitol – 35
Agave – 15
I like this website published by the University of Sydney, that allows you to enter in foods to calculate the impact it has on your body. This website published by Harvard is also an eye-opening chart that lists common foods with their Glycemic Index as well as the Glycemic Load which takes into account the serving size, or “dose” of sugar. The difference between the Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load is the serving size. The “Index” measures the sugar impact on the same amount of food, not a typical serving size. The “Load” uses the Glycemic Index as its foundation but takes serving size into account.
Watch out for those hidden sugars. “No Sugar Added” always mean sugar! Food labels are tricky. I really like the way JJ Virgin writes in her book, “Let’s be honest. You get excited when you see that sparkly starburst on the box telling you there’s been no sugar added to those fruit roll-ups. Well, I’ll be delicate here. They’re taking some poetic license – with you health. Manufacturers give you some credit, and they know that if you saw a box that read “21 teaspoons of added sugar for your metabolic upheaval!” you might think twice. So they’ve spent a lot of time and money testing ways to get around your sensible objections so they can manipulate you into buying as much of what they’re selling as possible, guilt and worry free. They’ve made all your favorite treats “without added sugar,” so you could have your cake and eat it, too….And just because a manufacturer labels a food or drink “no added sugar,” that in no way means that it doesn’t contain sugar. No added sugar does not mean sugar-free. It can also mean they’ve used fruit juice concentrate as their sweetener. That’s essentially fructose without the fiber. (Fructose goes straight to your liver!) And remember that white flour will end up as sugar anyway, so many of the ingredients in your no-sugar added cookie will turn into sugar as soon as you start munching. Labels can be misleading.” JJ Virgin – Sugar Impact Diet.
In a nutshell, read your labels – the ones on the back, buy “Real Food”, and know your sugars and their impact. And remember:
We know sugar is BAD! The sad truth is that many “No Calorie Sweeteners” are also bad. The choices are plentiful! The health consequences of these are also plentiful!
My first choice of sweetener when we decided to go Keto was Splenda (Larger name is Sucralose.) because that was my husband’s sweetener of choice, and you could bake with it in equal amounts. Then…I heard the story about how Sucralose was invented. It was invented by a group of chemists looking for a new formula for pesticide. Yes, I said pesticide! When you eat Splenda or other versions of Sucralose you are eating the mistake of chemists looking for a new improved pesticide. When Chemist A said to Chemist B, “Have you tested it?”, Chemist B responded, “It tastes sweet!” Obviously mishearing, taste for test, Chemist A was horrified that B actually put this poison in his mouth. But, the formula for a new product began at this point. Let’s see when you put that stuff to your lips again.
There are many other choices…We are all familiar with the blue stuff, the pink stuff, and the list goes on. Then you have honey, agave, and maple syrup. Granted, these are natural sweeteners, but have an effect on blood sugar. Honey, agave and maple syrup can all have a dramatic effect on your blood sugar, and leave you craving for more. Honey? I know, but just like everything else, it has become highly processed, and basically “all the good stuff” has been removed. The only exception I would find, would be a good local source that you know has quality honey from the area in which you live. I still would not eat it, but I would use it to sweeten things such as grass-fed plain yogurt and other quality foods for my children. If you can find good LOCAL honey, it is great for allergy resistance for your children in very small amounts – I emphasize SMALL. Please use with caution because it still will spike blood sugar. If you are trying to lose weight or have insulin resistance at all (which over 70% of our adult population does) stay away and stick to the others mentioned next. To read more about the worst and best sweetener, check out this article, The 4 Best and 3 Worst Sweeteners to Have in Your Kitchen, written by Dr. Mercola.
Natural sweeteners that do not have an impact on blood sugar are Swerve, Stevia, and Chicory Root, and every once in a while, Xylitol for certain foods (be careful with Xylitol – toxic for pets). These are the ones that we choose to use. You can purchase Swerve at Whole Foods, Sprouts, or in our Amazon store, here. There are many different forms of Stevia on the market. Be careful, and READ your labels. I have found all sorts of added ingredients. This is the Chicory Root powder sold by Chocoperfection:
This is granular swerve, good used on anything that is NOT cold, such as coffee or baked goods. Choose the purple confectioners for cold items, such as puddings or custards.
We do all need to try to be as sugar free as possible for so many health reasons. The problem is, any time there is a good thing, the food industry can take it and make it BAD! Take for instance, Stevia. Stevia is a great product, used for centuries in South America. It is all natural, has a low glycemic index, and a little goes a long way. The food industry in America saw that this was an up and coming sweetener, and has come along and ruined it in many ways. For example, Pure Stevia used to be the only thing you could buy. Now you have huge food and beverage companies coming into the market, and adding other ingredients, such as sugar (yes, sugar) maltodextrin, and a variety of other ingredients we do not want inside our bodies. My point of this post is to tell you to be careful when choosing sweeteners and reading labels. We need to cut down on the “sweet” period! That is, teach our tongues not to crave the sweet. If you do need a little sweet every once in a while, choose carefully by doing your research, and reading your labels. Do not go by what you see on the front of a box! At the moment, I buy the Sweet Leaf packets:
And Stevia Drops which come in a variety of flavors and you can purchase at Whole Foods, Sprouts, or our Amazon store here:
Sometimes as a treat, I use these drops to sweeten plain unsweetened almond milk for the children. When I use the chocolate drops, it magically turns into a chocolate milkshake!
Stevia measures VERY VERY differently than any of these other sweeteners which more or less can be measured cup for cup just like sugar. This website is a great resource for conversions if you have any questions. Just click here for a conversion chart! This works for PURE Stevia only.
I ordered a “Pure Stevia” off of Amazon last week, and was livid when I received it to find that the “other ingredient” was Malodextrin which has one of the highest glycemic index values out there. It is BAD stuff! Needless to say, it is going back, and I will continue to do my research to find an actual PURE stevia with no other added ingredients. It is becoming harder and harder to do this. The one place I have been able to find actual pure, organic, non-GMO stevia for baking is Trader Joe’s. While there, pick up some coconut cream, ghee, nuts of many varieties, and some Creme Fraiche! Yum!!!
So the take away of this article is to READ, READ, READ you labels! There are new brands of Stevia, especially, coming to the market daily because it is a HOT item. To make them better, companies are making these sweeteners worse for us. Take care and sweeten carefully!
