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Small Steps
A journey of a thousand miles begins with
a single step.
Lao-tzu
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Try This:
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Information is powerful. Know before you bite.
Why is it that every time I write about sugar, sweeteners and substitutes I have to take a deep breath before I start? It is a subject I tread lightly with because each of us has our go-to sweetener and many will defend the choice passionately. A year ago I wrote a Small Steps saying that I had successfully given up sweets and how much better I felt. (Click here to read that earlier edition.)
I'm not quite sure how long 'giving up sweets' lasted. I'd like to say 3 or 4 months, but I probably would be over-estimating. It was good while it lasted. However, I took one bite and then another and soon I was back to eating sweets regularly. Not a problem, since I believe the first step in success is trying. The next step is trying again.
So this week I'm looking at decreasing my "added sugar" intake by really looking at the processed foods I buy. Of course, this would have been a better idea if I'd done it BEFORE I bought my pudding snacks and found "sugar" as the third ingredient in my fat free pudding and "maltitol" as my second ingredient in the sugar free one.
Just to give you an idea of the complexity of the issue, all of these (and some that I am sure I missed) are used as sweeteners in processed foods and beverages, and I'll be looking for these on the label:
- The usual suspects: sugar, honey, high fructose corn syrup
- Some others: agave, dehydrated cane juice, fruit juice concentrate, invert sugar,
turbinado sugar, molasses, sorghum, brown sugar, corn sweetener, treacle, raw
sugar, maltodextrin, dextrin
- Formal (-ose): glucose, fructose, maltose, lactose, sucrose, sucralose, xylose
- Syrups: maple syrup, rice syrup, malt syrup, barley malt syrup, corn syrup, sorghum syrup
- Substitutes (natural and artificial): stevia, saccharin, aspartame, Splenda, Equal
- Sugar alcohols (-ol): dulcitol, erythritol, lactitol, mannitol, maltitol, sorbitol, xylitol
Which sweetener you choose to use is up to you. I'm not offering any suggestions, but I do believe the best choice is the one you make with knowledge & intention and one
that supports your goals and needs.
My choice is to start eliminating processed foods that have a sweetener (any type of sweetener, not just sugar) in the first 3 ingredients. If I want something sweet I can make it myself and choose all the ingredients (as well as being able to pronounce each and every one of them).
Will you try to decrease your added sugar intake this week?P.S. I've learned a lot more about the history of honey and sugar than I ever thought I'd be interested in. Honey bees are not native to North America and were imported to Virginia in 1622. Sugar cane was probably first used in Polynesia and then spread to India before 500 BC. Sugar didn't get to Europe until the 11th century.
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How'd it go?
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Check This Out:
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| Nutrition information on local foods in Hawaii: Hawai'i Foods: Nutrition with aloha
How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label from the FDA
Calorie & nutrition information search tools:
National Public Radio (NPR) story -- Study: Added Sugar Increases Heart Risk
There is a reason some of us may eat more sweets than we should -- we're addicted. Intense sweetness surpasses cocaine reward abstract available on PubMed.gov
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Quote: |
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| Knowledge is power, but enthusiasm pulls the switch.
Ivern Ball
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My Journey:
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