9.21.2013

Sugar Sugar, Honey Honey

Nothin' like a little controversy to kick off a weekend. 







I'se supposed to be zippin' off an article, but in the true spirit of procrastinatin' I'se blogging' about 
Sugar wars. Does y'all consume sugar? High fructose corn syrup? Stevia? Splenda? Drink Diet Death colas?





Doom and Karl left comments on the back porch post about mah new BFF, Delta Dawn.

DD done tole Aunty that she had her hair snipped  by her Natropath and sent to some lab whar' they did a cellular analysis of all that be wrong in her body, chief among her woes were a sugar saturation--hence she wears her sugar (see photo in prior post) but doan eat it.

Now, ain't it so that  ever'body has always known too much sugar is a plague? This ain't a revelation, is it? Yore Granny and mine scolded us'uns when we snitched one too many cookies. We's warned of black rotted teeth an' tummy aches, iffin' our sweet tooth got the upper hand. An' thar' wuz trades, too, as in, "Eat half them Brussels sprouts on yore plate, Darlin' an' ya can run git a Popsicle."

I lost a friend two years ago to a shocking death-- they tried to save her by amputatin' her laigs--due to Multiple Sclerosis complications. She had "late onset" MS, which may or may not be the case. Anyhoo, a nutritionist friend of hers done suggested 20 years ago that diet drinks had more than a casual link to MS, or, more accurately, Aspartame, the artificial sweetener had a link to MS. ah dear friend pooh poohed that notion an' kept her office and home stocked wif' diet drinks.



Wuz in Maryland a few weeks ago fer a confab. A young man thar' tole Aunty of his upcoming radical surgery to remove a cancerous organ-- he looks the picture of health though. T'was a puzzle to look so spunky but have a stage 3 cancer. This young fella said he ain't never felt better either, cause his doc sent him to a "wholistic" practitioner what put mah friend on a high protein, high fiber  high immune building' regimen. It ain't meant to cure the cancer, jes' boost the system so the surgery and recovery goes well. But...


But this is what he reported that got me twitchy: cancer feeds on glucose. Sparin' y'all the details I doan even know, the gist of thang is that in the 1930s a Nobel winner showed how cancer uses glucose for fuel in some wonky metabolic process that steals energy from yore other food, so cancer patients often are malnourished once they are at stage 3. Then he said, that they way they find cancer in tissues is to flood you with glucose and "see" the cancer cells in the PET scan, 'cause cancer cells metabolize like demons, much faster than normal cells.

Uh, mercy. ain't meanin' a post on cancer, jes' a look at sugar in its many forms. 

By now, most know artificial sugar is BAD fer ya', an' high fructose corn syrup is jes' as deadly, and both of these is in nearly ever'thang that comes in a box or a bag or a bottle. (An beet sugar? Ah, yeah, we'll, most sugar beets is GMO beets. NOOOoooooo! Do not eat that!)





When Granny be so sick, all she wanted was sweet treats. The nutrition specialist said give her plenty of puddin', 'cause that got milk protein in her system along wif' the sugar, an' protein slowed down the sugar, kept it from dumpin' into the blood like a flood.  This specialist said sugar is good fer the brain when it is natural and in moderate amounts an' always paired wif' protein. 

Whew! So, I CAN have that latte wif' a spoon of the real thang: pure cane sugar.

What about y'all? Does ya have a sweet tooth?  Or youse cured of sugar cravings?  Stick to honey only?  I keep packets of Agave fer visitors, but I doan use it mahself.

Or, does ya' think all this alarm is hogwash?  












17 comments:

Jenny said...

Great post, Aunty. I recently stopped all sugar, due to high blood sugar. The more I researched it, the more I didn't want to ever eat it again. There's a great book written in the 80's called "Sugar Blues" that I'm now calling my bible. Sugar creates inflammation in the body, cancer LOVES sugar and it's also highly addictive. In the six weeks since I've stopped using it (as much as I can because it really is in everything) I've noticed a big change in my skin, energy levels, sleep and more. And? I also broke up with vodka because that turns into sugar also. As for the packs of pink/blue and yellow? POISON. Diet drinks? POISON. POISON

moi said...

Nothing tastes better to me than a cold Coca Cola on a hot day. Nothing. I love it. But I don't drink it very often.

As for the link between MS and sugar, maybe, maybe not. MS runs rampant in my family: One Aunt, two cousins, my brother. None of us were indulged with sugary anything growing up. Only thing we do know is that we know very little about it. This disease is so puzzling, so mutable, no one in the medical industry has been able to get even one finger's worth of a firm hold on it.

The older I get, the more I believe neither eastern nor western medicine really knows much of anything about the human body. It's all guess work. My great Aunt smoked two packs a day her entire life, died at 88 years of age, didn't even have a cough. My dad's best friend died of lung cancer at 40.

Live your life, do what makes you happy, don't do the obviously stupid stuff like cramming your body chock-a-block full of fats and sugars. Don't smoke, get plenty of exercise, don't stick a wet finger in a dry socket or sunbathe in Iran. Then cross your fingers, because most of it is beyond your control.

Aunty Belle said...

Jenny,
Sorry fer yore high blood sugar. Bummer. But youse feelin'. Better, lookin' purty, so t'aint all bad. I recall that Sugar Blues book. Good advice.


Moi,

Not sugar an' MS, but aspartame an MS. Aspartable turns to methanol or somethin' lethal to the myelin. Oh, chile! Hate to hear of yore family woes wif that monster. As fer Coke??? Oh we's a pair on hat. I does have one on rare occasions, but only the Mexican bottled coke--made wif' cane sugar, not GMO corn syrup.

Jenny said...

There is plenty of research, silenced by many large corporations, about health issues and aspartame.

Moi makes an excellent point; we are all snowflakes and the best thing to do is being aware and responsible with how much you eat/drink/smoke. Americans treat every meal as if it's Thanksgiving Day. Portions are out of control with the "Super Size It" mentality.

Clearly, my body was making too much sugar and now that (I hope) it's under control, I can say I feel better. But that's me.

BlazngScarlet said...

19 years ago, when I was pregnant with my eldest, I had heard about the dangers of aspartame to fetuses.
From then on I have been VERY vigilant about staying away from the stuff!
I don't trust anything artificial.
I used Stevia for a bit, but I have switched to raw cane sugar, honey and agave if I want sweetness.

I just keep hearing my Grandmother's voice in my head ... "everything in moderation".
She's still kicking at 94!

moi said...

Jenny: I'm so impressed you've been able to cut down that much! And you're right, it's shocking how much sugar is in processed foods, even so-called healthy grains.

Aunty: Ah, aspertame. I don't know much about it. If I'm out and about, I'll use Equal in my coffee. At home it's sugar. (I cannot drink coffee without it being sweetened, tried, can't do it.) A couple times a week I'll drink a diet 7-Up. Probably better just to drink the real stuff if, as you point out, you can find the colas made with cane sugar.

MamaHen said...

I absolutely believe that artificial sweeteners are poison. Nasty, nasty, nasty. Luckily I've never had much of a sweet tooth so it's not much of a struggle for me to stay away from sugar. I do have an occasional treat but try to stick with real sugar or honey. Never have been able to abide the taste of stevia.

Doom said...

You have most of my sense of things. But since I did toss the bombs that started this, or was part of it, I'll fill her out.

Good medical data is difficult to find, and trust. Just as with smoking, while doctors may have had an altruistic intention of banning it through excessive taxation and other legislative maneuvers, even those motives lead to very questionable science. (Using a similar issue to highlight the problems).

Further, because the AMA, and other medical groups, and academic circles, are so prone to being leftist lapdogs, they certainly can't be trusted to make policy decisions that impact people's rights, economic development, or even that which they are supposed to play a part in, health care. Since when do doctors tell people how to live so as to control what they treat. Bassackward... period.

The real reason doctors came out against smoking was because most of the political donations from those business went to Republican coffers. Period. The real health issues of smoking, especially second hand smoking, have not been settled. But as with almost what is happening with groblal warbling, the left got the agenda and propaganda machines going the fastest and created the curve. For medical, it has to do with government taking over medical practice, and trying to force it to "cheap". It provides a really easy path to "gentle genocide" as well, and puts them in charge of who goes down and who doesn't. The IRS, the government, and your doctor, you don't get a choice.

Well, that and Republicans have been politically suicidal since they started. Abe, go figure. Never mind. (Truth is, Republican politicians are merely smaller state big government crony capitalists, they aren't conservative for the most part... it's... just business, see?)

So, is aspartame a lead to MS? Is sugar, and more so corn sweetener, and less so "natural sugar" problematic? You will never know in your lifetime, so long as science, including and specifically medical science, remains jacked by leftist political movements. Their job isn't to discover truths, it is to blur and confuse. Read their manifestos, communist and socialist, then look at what is happening in the world.

As to diets? I have always been high protein, moderate fat, low carb guy. But that is because I actually got to see that work in my own body, in my prime benching 550, and probably more if I didn't want to compete so... stopped off there, for official purposes. But I must add that my way isn't everyone's way, not even other strong men. Some guys truly worked better with a higher carb ratio, some worked better with a more balanced diet. Proteins, carbs,and fats are the three pieces of the puzzle, little else involved, mostly. One size shoe simply doesn't fit all feet. If you are wise you will learn for yourself and keep government out of your decision.

Doom said...

Oh, as to sugar. As I mentioned, I actually need some to maintain a "healthy" blood sugar level. The rest of the time I go with Splenda. I have a friend who is avowedly anti-Splenda, it sent his diabetes into overload. He uses pure Stevia. I don't mind Stevia, occasionally, but it has a liquorice taste, which is off-putting as a general use sweetener (if pure is a little less noticeable) (actually spelled liquorice right first shot, second too without looking, all air, no net... whoosh).

fishy said...

Playing hooky to write a post? I like it!

On the sugar issue I have two cups of tea in the morning with organic, pure cane sugar. That is the only time I have sugar as sugar. I rarely eat anything which comes in a box, bag or can so usually there are none of the alternative sweetners in my diet. I do eat a lot of fresh fruits and veggies. In Summer my favorites are watermelon and grapes both of which are very high in natural sugars. Because there is data indicating there is a link between sugar and inflammation I am trying to switch to using Nectress , which is a different natural sugar derived from monk fruit.

I rarely eat honey, if I do it is very light, almost clear in color, as this is less sweet. I buy it from a local Farmer's Market.

I also try to never eat sugar without a protein to modify the insulin uptake response. If I am going to eat ice cream, I have natural almonds with it.
Carbs really need to be paired with protein too like lentils with rice.

@ Jenny, have you also got a copy of Sugar Busters?


On Aspartame and MS, I think there is a connection based on a single observation. Blowfish's son has MS. As a young teen he became (in my opinion)
addicted to diet Dr. Pepper. I did some research and talked to the family doc. Even then (1980's) there was evidence the body had no way to process the stuff out of the body so stored it in the skull or along the spinal cord. It was not proven to be the cause of but a significant catalyst to those already susceptible to neurological abnormalities and illnesses like MS, ALS, and Alzhiemer's.

I convinced Blowfish to not buy the stuff. Talking to a rebellious teen who raged about how I ruined his life by keeping diet sodas out of his home was useless. His mother countered my "meanness" by providing him with cases or the stuff which he stored in his bedroom. No amount of data could convince either of them to stop.

I often wonder if memories of those conversations and data haunt mother and son.

Jenny said...

Anyone who doesn't believe sugar isn't in everything we eat and/or isn't addictive, should try stopping for a week. That means, nothing in your coffee/tea. No stevia, honey (because it all turns into the same thing.) NO alcohol. That's what I did and the headache, body ache and emotional ache wasn't pretty. I'm following an 80/20 rule now which means I know it's nearly impossible to live life without a glass of wine, or birthday cake and I don't want to live life without those things. But artificial sweeteners? Never. Fishy, your story is heart breaking.

Jenny said...

Doom - great comment, btw.

moi said...

Word, Doom.

Debora said...

I drink a few products with aspartame, maybe twice a month. Eat very little sugar. Grow my own stevia but haven't really learned to use it. I use honey in my tea and on my oatmeal. I can tell you this much...my hubby's glucose levels were high so we both cut sugar from out diet by 80%. He lost 15 pounds in a couple of weeks. I lost 8 pounds in a month without changing anything else. Hate to say it, but sugar is bad stuff. So are all the substitutes.

Karl said...

Good morning Aunty Belle,

Ale, coffee (black, no sugar) and water are really my only drinks. I can't remember the last time I had a soda pop. In my teens diet soda was the thing to drink. I can remember feeling better after giving it up. Both my brother and I gave up drinking soda. We both have "normal" body weights. My sister drinks lots of diet soda, she is heavy and controlling her weight is a constant issue. I believe sweeteners are a big part of her problem. Unnatural sugars change the body chemistry. The metabolism slow and other calories process differently.

Another example is some of the folks I work around drink lots of soda. They miss work at much higher rates than the ones who don't drink soda. Their immune systems don't seem to be as strong.

Processed foods are also part of the equation. The manipulation of food products to get people buy more and eat more is a big part of the problem. An interesting read on how the food industry manipulates food products is: Salt Sugar and Fat by Michael Moss.

Nice to see all you guys conversing again.

@Doom: Well put.

Aunty Belle said...

Great comments...will be back, us'uns had a transformer blow, no wifi. Back soon

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunty. It was nice to see you at Foam's. Come join us in Haiku Monday this week at my place. We have missed your quick wit.

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