I came across this https://www.eatthismuch.com site  a few weeks ago and thought it was a great idea for people who don’t like cooking or thinking too much about planning meals. You enter the parameters of your way of eating and it will come up with various meals and recipes for the foods.

I know a lot of people who don’t have patience with meal planning and preparation which may cause such people to stop at the nearest pizza place, or other fast food sources–never a good way to go.  Meal planning and preparation is often key for success when starting a new diet or new way of eating, and need not be onerous.  While I happen to enjoy cooking and don’t find the preparation a challenge, I still don’t like to spend a lot of time every day cooking or thinking about what our next meals will be. I tend to cook a lot of meat or make a big casserole type dish once a week to have some always ready to go. But if you are one of the people who don’t want to do this, you may find this site a good option.

Yours in convenience,

Nan aka Sugarbaby

My rant for 2016 is that sugar in all its forms is killing people. Look around, the number of morbidly obese people is astonishing. When I was first teaching at a large university in the 1980s, I would see a few heavier kids; by my last classes a few years ago, I was astonished by how much heavier some many of these young college kids had become. There used to be some heavy people, but nothing on the order we see every day in the 21st Century. The latest data says that about a third of children in U.S. are already obese, some already developing diabetes and fatty livers. This was absolutely rare until the seventies advent of high fructose corn syrup, micronized flours and sugars, artificial sweeteners which create even greater cravings for sweets and food generally. Remember grains (whole or otherwise), pushed for so long as healthy, turn into the triglycerides aka sugar once digested. If you crave sugars and starches, you are likely to become a victim of the sugar-pushing culture we now live in.

Our food has been dramatically altered over the last fifty plus years, with hybridization and genetic modifications making fruits, vegetables,and grains much higher in sugars and starches, and the processed food industry has learned how to pack the most calories into the smallest packages. Further, food is everywhere! You can’t even go through a clothing store without seeing candy and soda at strategic spots; usually the check out. Fast food, junk food is ubiquitous. You can’t watch a  movie, a television program, look at a magazine, or listen to the radio without ads for food and drinks regularly pushed forward. This is a big problem for our limbic brains which evolved to see, smell food and then issue a demand to eat. Yes, there is that tiny group of people who are not affected, but the evidence is clear all around us, that for the majority of people, the results are highly fattening.

The fattening eventually leads to one of several problems, mainly diabetes, high blood pressure, fatty liver, dementia, allergies, and many believe cancer and heart disease are the result of a diet gone crazy.

The number of diabetics has quadrupled since the 1970s, and all the other related diseases have increased dramatically as well.

I have read continuously on this subject for the last seven plus years, and the evidence keeps mounting. I find it astonishing that if we have three cases of ebola, the CDC and the government go into a full-blown panic, but this epidemic of obesity still gets the same wrong information perpetrated since the 1960s, to eat, and exercise. Of course, the agribusiness, big pharma, hospitals and medical people have nothing to gain by telling people the simple truth that their way of eating is causing the problems.

People now expect to grow older and start popping a dozen different pills to keep going, for that is what they see in all around in their families, but what a terrible quality of life. This doesn’t have to be our future.

Success is found all over the world by people willing to give up the junk. Low carbohydrate and even ketogenic diets are now becoming popular among many older and younger people who want to reclaim their health, as well as control their weight. And it works! Go to any of the hundreds of blogs out there like MarksDailyApple, DietDr, AuthorityNutrition, and more, to see the successes people have by eating in a way that eliminates modern high sugar-starch foods, highly processed, chemical-filled cheap calories.

We can be healthy, enjoy great food, and age healthily and appropriately without the aid of expensive pharmaceuticals.  That’s my goal! I hope it is yours, too.

Yours in frustration,

Nan aka Sugarbaby

I’ve been off sugar and most starches, as well as any artificial sweeteners but a little stevia and erythritol, for years now, and it is true that with time you will lose most of your desire for sweets, especially for sugaraholics. I always had a sweet tooth, but the longer I’m away from sweets, the less I want them. The real surprise, though, is how much I dislike most of the sweet things I used like.

Today, on an impulse while grocery shopping at my favorite Wegman’s, I got a bottle of diet iced tea, a brand I used to often get, but I threw away most of it for it was so overpoweringly sweet tasting. I said “Yuk!” right out loud.  Another thing I used to love was Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, but the last few times I had a taste, it was really unplalatable.

Same goes for bread. For years I made most of the bread we ate, I loved bread, but really don’t miss it anymore.  So, given time, many things that used to be triggers become much less desirable. But the catch is, if you start to eat those foods again with any regularity, the old habit pathways will open right back up. At this point I can’t imagine doing that with sweets since most of those sweet foods don’t taste good anymore, but I wouldn’t risk it with good whole grained breads.

So that’s the good news: be patient, and sugar becomes much less potent in your thoughts, and diet.

Yours in patience,

Nan aka Sugarbaby