January 19, 2012

Good morning,
Hope you are finding the informational week of benefit. The article yesterday with the drink configurations was an eye-opener. I really felt that while I wasn't doing sweetened, fancy drinks that Half in Half in my Dunkin Donuts coffee was a good trade off. Gonna have to "weigh that a little more." :) As for now, though, it's better than the Italian Cream I used to have. Most fat can metabolize better than sugar, which is stored as fat if not converted to energy quickly. Remember, we read that. However, we cannot get out of balance. Our heart and arteries need us to avoid most saturated, fatty foods as well as sugar-laden foods (which are going to be fat in our bodies soon). It's too much to handle for our systems. Lean proteins, lots of veggies, and fruits. That's the winning ticket. Add in some healthy fats like avocados.......home run!

I will say, that probably the strongest component of my journey though was the help I received from God because I was desperate. Some many times I would be hungry in those early days and I would use that "reminder" to ask God for help and pray for someone else. Can't dismiss that. Everyday we need to cry out to God for help in our journey - he knows our body types, our blood streams, our internal organs. Ask him - he wants to help you.

Here's our reading for today. Enjoy. Talk in the morning??? :) PK

Sugar Has Many Disguises

Careful reading of labels is necessary to know how much added sugar you are getting. Sometimes there will be small amounts of many types of sugars, so none of them end up being in the the first few ingredients of the label. Other times, sugar masquerades as apparently more “healthy” ingredients, such as honey, rice syrup, or even “organic dehydrated cane juice”. These are sugar. Sometimes fruit juice concentrates will be used, which sound wholesome, but usually the juices chosen, such as white grape, apple, and pear juices, are among the least nutritious of the juices. By the time they are “concentrated”, very little remains but the sugar.

Here is a list of some of the possible code words for “sugar” which may appear on a label. Hint: the words “syrup”, “sweetener”, and anything ending in “ose” can usually be assumed to be “sugar”. If the label says “no added sugars”, it should not contain any of the following, although the food could contain naturally-occurring sugars (such as lactose in milk).
Agave Nectar
Barley Malt Syrup
Corn sweetener
Corn syrup, or corn syrup solids
Dehydrated Cane Juice
Dextrin
Dextrose
Fructose
Fruit juice concentrate
Glucose
High-fructose corn syrup
Honey
Invert sugar
Lactose
Maltodextrin
Malt syrup
Maltose
Maple syrup
Molasses
Raw sugar
Rice Syrup
Saccharose
Sorghum or sorghum syrup
Sucrose
Syrup
Treacle
Turbinado Sugar
Xylose
Remember, your body doesn't care what the label says, it's all just "sugar"!