Tag Archives: starch

Spring at Last: Brings New Focus

We in the northeastern USA have gotten through a strange winter all predicted by climate change science a few years ago. But now, the snow is gone, and it is springtime. Like most creatures in springtime, I have the normal animal urges to get out, plant, be productive, and feel connected with the great cycle of the seasons. My beloved and I were both down with some version of cold-bronchitis-flu for most of a month, and that only increased my usual winter ennui. So just now feeling focused, wanting to do more, like reconnecting via this blog. I have been storing up a few possible posts to share, and hope to be more regular for a while.

Blogs are a bit like diets; there is an initial excitement and intensity, then you slowly move to a kind of burnout phase when your interest wanes. But what does not wane is my absolute belief that our people are being made ill, and dying of diseases, caused by sugars, starches, and most artificial sweeteners. Death by diet. Our big-agri business has co-opted the government and medical establishment into supporting a way of eating that is not only unhealthy and fattening, but ultimately dangerous. A look at the western diet prior to the 1950s and now is evidence enough; a look at the change in obesity and diabetes rates during that time is appalling. Take a look at the stats found at these sites, more than enough to be disturbing:

http://www.diabetesandenvironment.org/home/incidence

http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9043-1/index1.html

Click to access stat904z.pdf

http://authoritynutrition.com/11-graphs-that-show-what-is-wrong-with-modern-diet/

http://mpkb.org/_detail/home/pathogenesis/mortality.gif?id=home%3Apathogenesis%3Aepidemiology

I am not a person who buys into conspiracy theories (they take a level of cooperation almost impossible for any group of people), and I don’t believe what happened in our western food realm was an conspiracy, except the ultimate one ruled by money. The same issues were at play in the cigarette industry for decades; not until there was no denying the obvious fact that smoking was killing people in droves did anything finally get done to show the public that tobacco kills.

Here is a good interview with a soda representative that shows it is hard for an abuser to defend his/her abuse: https://youtu.be/g4nTuSKEJug

I have a couple new recipes to add to my recipe blog, so take a look there.

Yours in the burgeoning of spring,

Nan aka Sugarbaby

Two Negatives Equals a Positive

One of the hardest things for a person is to appreciate when something did not happen. We seem to be able to if we can see it, like if the car stops at the edge of pit, or something visible and dramatic like that, but is is hard to appreciate a situation wherein a course of action prevented a catastrophe. People may or may not appreciate how great the danger actually was, or be in denial that a disaster had actually been imminent. When it comes to health we have a similar conundrum.

Had I not gotten off sugars-starch-most artificial sweeteners,  I know I would have become a diabetic, the trajectory was there;  but, because I did make changes, I did not become diabetic. Also, that I didn’t become morbidly obese is another thing that did not happen, though I know it would have had I kept eating the standard American diet (called SAD for a reason).  I had seen all these things happen to my mother, so I knew that these two consequences were highly likely if I did not make changes.

Yet, despite avoiding the worst, I have been unhappy that my weight would not come down faster, which is the problem of insulin resistance–the body stores fat, but doesn’t release it for energy. I get discouraged, and forget how much worse everything could be, and that I should be happy that the two big negative things did not happen. We are not well equipped to look at life this way, though; so it takes writing in a journal, blogging, or other aids to memory and positive thinking.

Trial and error is a friend, so I’ve been trying different diets to get some movement downward on the weight-loss; after everything else, or so it seems, I’m on a ketogenic diet which gives me great energy, good sleep, and voila the pounds are again coming off.

Sugar/starch is the cause of a lot of suffering, and I hope that younger people, like my children and grandchildren, will see that they will have much more positive health with by leaving out these negative foods.

Yours in trying,

Nan aka Sugarbaby

Sugar Addiction is Lifelong

Back again, and only more dedicated to making sure people know that sugar is truly addictive for many, if not most, people. Further, it is a lifelong struggle.

I took a long break since we  had a lot going on for several weeks with grandchildren visiting for a month, vacation, and lots of business to deal with. I found that having kids around does make a challenge for those working to stay away from sugar. I definitely had a few caves, and ultimately gained about eight pounds. The real struggle was to get the sugar-starch-artificial sweeteners cravings under control. A week off may mean a month of struggle.

More coming up about sugar addiction, and how a high fat diet may be the ultimate solution.

Check out my new blog: highfatlowcarbrecipes.com

Sober News for Sugaraholics

Do you find yourself under the spell of sugar, starch, sweet tastes? If so most likely you are, as I am, a Sugaraholic.  Like alcoholics, the same part of our brains gets overly-stimulated, and we get messages to eat or drink more and more, even when we have just glutted on sugar. If nothing else has worked, the final solution is to get sugar-sober; meaning, to refrain from all sugars, artificial sweeteners, starches, and most sweet tastes.

Are you ready to be sugar-sober? If so, join me in this effort to give information and support to those who are suffering, struggling, and in some cases destroying their lives under the influence of most carbohydrates, especially sugars.

For much of the last fifteen or more years I have struggled with constant cravings. Not until I read Gary Taubes Good Calories, Bad Calories, did it all begin to really come home to me.  Dr. Robert Atkins at least got me on the road enough that I didn’t wind up too wide to get through doors, but it was a struggle, for I would have two or three great weeks, then fall off the wagon. I lived with private shame about binges, and having very little control over sweets and carbs.

The reasons I was falling off the wagon were mysterious to me. If it was purely about will power, then I had tremendous will power in most aspects of my life. If it was simply the food, I was eating well most of the time, better than 90%; so I remained in a stalemate with my weight. Then all hell broke loose; or perhaps a better metaphor, a perfect storm came into my life:  I was at the peak of a stressful career, I had to have spinal surgery,  my mother had a sad, pitiful death from diabetes complications, and my sleep flew out the window as I aged into the peak peri-menopausal years. Result, a steady 6-8 pounds of weight gain each year over the next few years.

This blog is an effort to help others who find themselves gaining or unable to lose despite good efforts. I have read dozens of diet books, tried many, failed many times, been through the gamut, but never gave up believing I would one day find the answer.Thanks to Gary Taubes, Dr. Atkins, Nora Gedguadis, Mark Sisson, Dr. Jack Kruse, and others who have been committed to learning and talking about the truth of the disaster that is our modern western diet, I finally was able to get on the right path to control of my problem and did one thing I never thought would be possible–I gave up sugars/sweets.  I really don’t care about sweet foods or drinks much any more. In fact, I am repulsed by the thought of much of what I once stuffed into my poor unhappy body. I am relishing being carbohydrate sane and sugar-sober.

Now, with the aid of these primal programs, I have been steadily losing the weight using a primal diet, and restricting intake, and the final coup de’ grace, stopping not just sugar, but artificial sweeteners, and avoiding most sweet tasting foods and beverages.  If that scares you, then you are a most likely a Sugaraholic.

I hope you will join me in creating a supportive forum to discuss the issues of being a Sugaraholic, discovering hidden sugars and sweeteners, finding ways to enjoy food in social settings without breaking the pledge to be sugar-sober, and working together towards good health.

Let’s begin.
Sugarbaby