Grayma

Insulin spikes also result in surges in bad cholesterol and they feed fat cells, which is why it's important for those of us who struggle with weight to avoid other foods that spike blood sugars and have high rankings on the glycemic index (like potatoes and pasta and most grains). Personally, I believe that high sugar levels are worse for your cholesterol than healthy animal fats.

Is sugar toxic? - CBS News

Deafness

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Grayma

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KristinaB

So - are we talking high fructose corn syrup, or sugar?

Reason I ask is, hubby now has heart issues and is on medication and still undergoing testing. He is also a sugar fiend. He refuses to use the agave syrup I have in the kitchen. Son & I are using that now. Cardiologist has placed hubby on a low fat/cholesterol/sodium diet. Did not say anything about sugar.

Hubby grew up eating all the ice cream he wanted, candy like crazy and things like that. Yes, I know they have a lot of the HFCS, but they also have sugar.

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deafdrummer

After reading the article linked above, I get the sense that the health profession is in the somewhat-early stages of beginning to realize that our civilized way of eating food is destructive to us.

It has already been known for years and years that diabetes is a fat problem, not a sugar problem. Even if you eat nothing but raw fruit for sweetness, you can still develop diabetes if you have a high enough fat intake to interfere with insulin uptake of glucose in the bloodstream. That is easily doable with the American diet. This results in blood sugar levels staying elevated usually for the life of the person until finally the pancreas gives up through sheer exhaustion. What happens is that a feedback loop is established because the fat interferes with insulin's job of glucose uptake. The blood sugar level not falling looks like continually eating sugar to the monitoring system responsible for maintaining blood sugar levels, so it keeps indicating to the pancreas to release insulin to bring the sugar level back down. Thing is, the sugar level won't drop down. The pancreas keeps making insulin to get the sugar level down. Now, it has been determined that when you eliminate or reduce the fat levels of your intake to about 5% or less, then your blood sugar level starts to resemble the spike up and down of a healthy person more and more, with shorter times between spike up and resting level, instead of staying elevated for hours at a time.

Here's the other thing about refined sugars (the type of sugar the research in the article is focused on) - the fact that there are little, if any nutrients along with the sugar. It is also known that when you eat fruit, not only does the fruit structures slow down sugar uptake, but also supplies needed nutrients that are needed together in the stomach to help metabolize the sugar properly. It is especially important to realize this because it includes alkaline minerals that are needed for proper sugar metabolism. Without them, such as when eating Oreos, guess where the minerals are going to have to come from? First, your bloodstream, as your bloodstream needs to stay slightly alkaline to stay alive. Even if it starts to head towards neutral before going acidic, you're already in trouble. So, when the alkaline balance is disrupted by going towards acidic, guess where the lacking minerals will have to come from? Right! Your bones! Especially your teeth! This stuff can rob your of the nutrients needed to maintain your bone structures.

But now, this article confirms the worse part of refined sugar - cancer! Now, can we finally start to get this S* banned as my stepmother has been asking for the last 5 years??? What we need to do is go to the grocery store, find everything with high fructose corn syrup, contact the makers on their websites, letting them know that you refuse to buy their products because of the sugar content and point them to this article so they realize that it'll be endgame some day if they don't change their recipes.

Boult

agave syrup is highly processed sweetener… worse than sugar and HFCS!

In my Paleo Lifestyle, I eliminate any forms of sweeteners completely… except for fruits which I consume less often than in moderation as it has fructose, a natural sugar. I do use Lemon or Lime for use with beverage like iced tea. (Paleo Lifestyle: http://is.gd/paleo)

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Barbaro

I see what Boult means. What I know is that agave nectar has a low-glycemic index, but it also contains 90% fructose or more, almost- but not quite- twice as high as HFCS. Fructose causes insulin resistance and significantly raises triglycerides. It is a risk factor for heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Some people are fructose intolerance cannot have agave nectar. I remember reading that Dr.Mercola strongly opposes agave nectar repeatedly. He even had three different brands tested independently in the lab to prove agave nectar manufacturers wrong.

Just eat plenty of fruit and stay under 25 grams of fructose.

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Grayma

All sweeteners. the researchers I linked to do not find a difference between corn syrup or sugar.

Cardiologists have been following the same manta for decades about fat, and it's a shame because it's based on some really bad research and cherry picked data. And, as the researchers noticed, the more low fat we go, the more heart disease we have, not less. They blame it on increased sugar to replace fat, but I think that is not the whole story.

The article also has information on the way we respond to sugar like addicts respond to cocaine.

This tells me that the old story about 'moderation is the key' may be a recipe for failure at least for some of us. Alcoholics cannot do alcohol in moderation. Maybe some of us just have to go cold turkey, no sugar at all instead of 'moderation.'

Grayma

The only sweetener that I seem to be able to use is Stevia.

Barbaro

I often see Stevia in recipes, but I have not had an opportunity to try it yet. I never use any sweetener except I use raw honey occasionally.

Xylitol is one of the popular sweeteners. However, some people cannot tolerate it. Xylitol is also poisonous to dogs.

In Mexico, Raw cane sugar is so popular. We love to suck on raw cane sugar stick. I notice that in major Mexican cities, they're so Westernized, and don't suck on raw cane sugar anymore. Soy was added to those vegetable and herb cans at the Mexican stores a while ago. Diabetes is so out of control down there.

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Foxrac

Many beverage companies switched from sugar to HFCS in 1980's because cost of sugar had been increased due to demand/supply and we have high tariff on sugar as well. Without tariff, beverage companies could abandon the HFCS and use imported sugars instead.

That why I don't support tariff for food anymore.

I love Sprite and drink them regularly, they do contain HFCS.

I used sugar for any dessert recipes that I made like cookies and cake.

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KristinaB

I have now been informed by both hubby's cardiologist and my primary care doctor that we are not to have any artificial sweeteners at all. We are to use real sugar or honey only. For me, it has to do with my allergies, for hubby, they think the Splenda and Sweet 'n Low was raising his blood pressure. I tried Stevia and hated it.

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jazzy

Get use to stevia, I can not eat real sugar or honey at all. I do not eat any artificial sweeteners at all too. I use stevia in my oatmeal for little sweetener and on bread when I can not have jelly because of sugar. I would suggest to check out for hydrogen oil fats, they cause health problems also.

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teamint

Deafdrummer; I am afraid someone confused you about diabetes. You have some info right. But the info about insulin and pancreas and sugar and fat and fruit and digestion is not right. Close, but not right. The details are wrong. And they are really important. Especially in Diabetes Mellitus. And in medicine. I can try to explain. If you want? But I type in English and not ASL. So you would have to be patient with my writing. (I mean grammar and word choice and stuff) Or you could ask your doctor to clarify for you.

Grayma

Stevia does take some getting used to, and it comes in different varieties. They work differently in different things, so you have to experiment, but it's not a cheap experiment.

For instance, I buy liquid stevia in flavored drops. We all love this in apricot flavor with lemon juice in water. It's amazing. And I think the flavor of stevia complements lemon juice and lemon cheesecake really well. I like it okay in plain yogurt, too.

But we don't like the drops in hot drinks. For that we prefer the granulated kind.

I also like a stevia sweetened soda called Zevia. I like the orange flavor, but I despise orange soda in most other brands. Zevia has a lighter, crisper flavor of orange.

It also tastes better the longer you go without any sugar or sweeteners at all.

rolling7

Here is my cardiologist orders: If it is white don't eat it.

white rice...no, no ... wild brown rice....yes
white sugar.....no, no ... brown sugar...moderation
white bread...no, no ... wheat bread...moderation

wish someone had told me this when I was a teen and not after I have all these heart problems

Glenn

I believe white meat is better than dark meat (poultry).

KristinaB

Hubby's cardiologist basically said, nothing pre-packaged, nothing artificial, then go low fat, low sodium and low cholesterol. On top of that, no more than 3 ounces of red meat in 7 days, nothing fried, plenty of leafy vegetables and whole grain.

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Grayma

I'm surprised about the brown sugar. It's exactly the same thing as white sugar, just with flavoring and moisture agents.

But cardiologists really don't study much nutrition, and then they tend to be getting information at least ten years out of date.

Glenn

Where is the fun of that?

rolling7

That is a technical term because poultry is all the same color, we just find it easier to say white/dark instead of breast/wing/leg/thigh.

rolling7

Perhaps it would have ben better for me to say "raw sugar". Sugar from cane or honey is brown.

KristinaB

He's learning to eat new things and better things. He is enjoying it a lot. He's losing weight. His blood pressure is back in the normal range (no medicine) and he no longer has chest pains from the enlarged aorta.

He is joining me on my vegan diet, so it is healthier for him. I no longer keep any salt in the house. Biggest downfall is, his dentures were never made right and we can't have them redone again and can't afford new ones, so he has no teeth at all. I have to cook his veggies to being overdone, but I make up for it with herbs and such for flavor.

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Grayma

Ah, okay. Yes, we buy raw sugar from time to time. Molasses is a healthy sweetener, if you're not diabetic or worried about spiking blood sugars.

But at the grocery store, brown and white sugar is typically just died and moistened white sugar or white sugar.=)