Seriously. I much prefer salty treats (potato chips!) to chocolate. As such, it was hard for me to accept that there are some people who seriously cannot go a day without consuming a ridiculous amount of sugar or sugar substitutes.
In an effort to become more compassionate to my friends who "suffer" from this problem, I looked into the book Sugar Shock by Connie Bennett. My recommendation is that if you do indeed suffer from this affliction (and yes, it really is an affliction), read this book!
Most importantly, get off of sugar, saccharin and sucralose. In a recent issue of the American Heart Association's journal, Circulation, was research showing that fake sugar molecules disrupts our ability to naturally regulate calories and results in binge eating.
As highlighted in the July/August issue of OnFitness Magazine, under the most rigid definition of safety, a safe sweetener must meet four criteria:
1) It must not raise blood glucose or trigger the release of our fat-storing hormone insulin.
2) It must not give rise to deadly AGE (advanced glycation end) products.
3) It must not prevent our body from producing anti-aging and muscle building hormones.
4) It must be non-toxic.
So, what are considered safe sweeteners?
- Stevia
- Erythritol
- Agave
I realize that many of Catapult Fitness Blog readers are most interested in weight loss. If I cannot convince you to kick the sugar, saccharin and sucralose habit for health reasons, perhaps this tool will provide the necessary incentive:
Stay strong.
Peace.
Susan
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comments
6 Responses to "Sugar Shock"Great post Susan! when I started to lose weight after the birth of my second child (she is turning 2 next week) I stopped all sugar and flour intake. Now that I have reached my goal I have gradually added back a small amount of both in moderation. I now love to drink my green tea with sucralose and I know that I need to extinguish this craving as it is now my new sugar. I do use stevia in my coffee but have not been able to find the right balance for my tea and do away with the sucralose. Anyway, my ramblings are getting to the point that perhaps I will try again with the stevia in my tea! Thanks for the information and getting me thinking again :-) Have a great day!
Gabrielle, It sounds like you've come a long way (it's so incredibly difficult banning white flour for your diet).
I'm thrilled that my posting has you reconsidering sucralose!
Good luck with that! I really have much more sympathy in regards to what sugar-holics go through than I did before.
Nice post...I am a salt person myself. Great tips!
Right up my alley.. being a sugar freak and all. Thanks for the post and all the info! I need to try that Stevia stuff. I've heard wonderful things about it.
Also, thanks for your comment on my blog. I really did "cave" last week and now I am so ready to get over it and get back on track. Thanks for reminding me about perseverence... it's so important!
Mark, thanks so much! I was just on your site and all I can say is WOW. I hope CatapultFitness can grow up someday to garner the type of community you've been able to develop!! Great information on your site and much thanks for the invite!!
Julie, you had a great month! 6+ lbs is awesome!!!
Yes I would have to agree that sucralose is one of the most toxic things we can put into our body. Here's another interesting tid bit of info on this zero calorie sweetener. Splenda otherwise known as sucralose turns to fahmaldehyde when it reaches a temperature of 86 degrees fahrenheit. Well our natural internal temperature is about 98.6 so you can see my point here that you are ingesting pure poison. Great article by the way we need to help inform the public on these kinds of things because people can get brainwashed so easily.
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