4 ms·
I quit eating sugar 4 years ago. No specific health problems, but having seen a couple of similar articles I thought it would be a good idea. When I got my firs
by bwanab 3y ago
I quit eating sugar 4 years ago. No specific health problems, but having seen a couple of similar articles I thought it would be a good idea. When I got my first checkup about a year after stopping, my numbers had all improved drastically with essentially no other big changes in lifestyle. Positive reinforcement!
You do have to be careful about your grocery selections. One of my favorite boogeymen is the product called peanut spread which comes in a jar just like peanut butter and looks just like it, but it's loaded with added sugar. Of course, some brands of peanut butter are, too, but this is a thing with the high end products that you'd think wouldn't do that.
But, my advice is just stop adding sugar to recipes and stop eating stuff that is obviously sugar laden (muffins, cookies, etc). Over time, you become somewhat sensitized to foods that have it where you don't expect it. Check labels when in doubt, but basically, don't sweat the small stuff and absolutely don't refuse a small piece of your niece's birthday cake - it won't kill you.
- jncfhnb 3y agoAnd start with drinks. Drinks are by far the worst offender.
- eddd-ddde 3y agoKetchup is one of those products that are mostly sugar for no reason. Same with those processed juices. Ironically, tomato juice is usually not that sugary and I love it a lot.
- voisin 3y agoPresumably ketchup has sugar because tomatoes are acidic and it balances it out? I have never seen a sugar free ketchup, whereas there are plenty of “just nuts” peanut butters that taste fantastic with no sugar.
- ddejohn 3y agoI believe sugar is added to tomato-based products (sauces, condiments, etc) because tomatoes are pretty acidic by themselves and sugar is a common way to balance out acidic foods.
- PartiallyTyped 3y agoThat's true. You can cut the acidity with some cinnamon, further cooking and / or some butter, but that's more expensive and less addictive than adding sugar.
- throwup238 3y agoOr by adding a base like baking soda.
- PartiallyTyped 3y agoThe texture suuuuucks though, or at least it did the first (and last) time I tried it.
- duped 3y agoI've tried this but I don't think it really works, it forms sodium citrate which tastes sour. Maybe not as pronounced as the citric acid in tomato sauce, but you still need sugar to balance it out. It's also an emulsifier so it can change the texture of the sauce. A lot of tomato based sauces are just very sweet. If you're worried about the sugar intake eat less of it.
- bwanab 3y agoI've found that making tomato sauces from raw ingredients is a really simple and much better than most store bought which, as you say, usually have a lot of sugar added.
- WalterBright 3y agoI switched to eating cacao nibs instead of chocolate bars. Other people ask how I can stand the bitterness, but I like the bitterness. Just like black coffee's bitterness. Why blunt the bitter, it tastes good.
- mcbishop 3y agoI try to keep my chocolate bars at 95% cocoa... less than that and I plow through them.
- mixmastamyk 3y agoI ate a lot of 85% for a while but recently read about lead and cadmium contamination here and significantly cut back.
- apothegm 3y agoI don’t mind the bitterness, but find the acidity unbearable. I’ll eat unsweetened chocolate (which is still bitter) gladly, but it has to be dutch-processed, which removes the acidity. Cacao nibs… just nope.
- nurettin 3y agoI tried going full no sugar for a year. Improvement to cholesterol levels for sure. But I had extra stress. I switched to intermittent fasting+no sugar drinks/snacks. Blood levels are pretty much the same, except I do desserts almost daily (sometimes I skip a day) with no bad effects, and have better mood overall.