Sugar Is My Kryptonite

About a week ago, I quit eating sugar and artificial sweetner (except for what I get from fruit). So far I've lost 5 pounds. But the most dramatic change is my psychology. I feel like I've gone from a crippled Superman chained to Lex Luther's torture chair to the unshackled Superman.

Of course, my manic state is partly due to some afternoon coffee (sweetened with Stevia).

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Comments

[StarHalo]

Salad and Splenda are two necessary components for me to get anywhere near my correct calorie number; a salad with lunch and dinner, and all the Splenda-sweetened drinks I want, plus a Splenda dessert (Dreyer's Slow-Chunred Sugar-Free, twice the serving size versus regular ice cream!)

[Angelo]

Red Bull in the afternoon makes me feel like...Bruce Jenner...when he was an Olympic athlete, not a reality stooge.

[Ulysses]

You see? It's good stuff. There's also some evidence that stevia can lower blood sugar levels, which is handy for diabetics but probably not so important to a guy that doesn't eat sugar at all. How many billions of dollars could be saved in medical expenses if everyone realised that sugar was their kryptonite, I wonder.

[Ed S]

The brain runs on sugar. And it's mostly made of cholesterol. Life ain't fair.

[jonnybardo]

It isn't either/or, as I see it, but a hierarchy from healthiest to least healthy:

1) GREAT: whole organic fruits
2) GOOD: Stevia, raw honey
3) OK: real maple syrup, sucanat, coconut nectar
4) IF YOU MUST: organic sugar, organic molasses
5) BETTER NOT TO: molasses, agave nectar, natural sugar (e.g. sugar in the raw)
6) TOXIC: conventional white/brown sugar, corn syrup, splenda, xylitol, aspartame, saccharin

Or something like that. Not all are equal within tiers, but they're similar. Note that agave nectar used to be considered the wonder sweetener but is now considered very bad. Raw honey has amazing properties - I think a teaspoon a day should be part of just about any diet.

I for one will never touch artificial sweeteners - they're toxic. But I think you can't go wrong eating as much organic fruit as you want, and 2-3 can be used in moderation, 4 rarely, and it would be best to stay completely away from 5-6.

I dislike stevia so never use that (after mistakenly using a 1:1 ratio for sugar replacement in a cookie recipe over a decade ago...I made disgusting green cookies and haven't been able to eat stevia since).

My personal problem is that I have a hard time moderating 2-4. I'm pretty good about staying away from 5-6, except the occasional donut or Ben & Jerry's binge. But if I could moderate 3-4 I'd lose a lot of weight. I love that homemade organic gelato.

[herculodge]

I eat plenty of fruit sugar: Two Medjool dates a day with my afternoon plain yogurt; bananas, oranges, apples, berries. I never touch juice, protein bars, sugary cereals, etc.

[Angelo]

I still like occasional fresh fruit/vegetable juice in my home juicer. Orange juice in a carton? Tastes okay. Oranges juiced in my Juicerator? Incredible. I love mixing fruits too----or carrot-apple juice.