I went to a discussion group the other night about sugar. The speaker was Tracy Harrison, a certified health counselor from Hopkinton, MA, who runs a company called "Purpose". Tracy did a wonderful job of describing the harmful effect that sugar has on our bodies, as well as drawing attention to the immense amount of sugar that the average American consumes. We certainly learned a lot of information, much of which was very thought provoking. Here are a few facts that I jotted down from the meeting:
The absolute best diet change that one can make in order to improve his/her health is to reduce the amount of sugar consumed.
A bottle of coke contains approximately 1/2 cup of sugar. Also, in many cases, "healthy" foods, such as yogurt and granola, contain as much sugar as that bottle of coke.
Sugar actually can become an addiction. Over time, our taste buds are "deadened" so we need more sugar to satisfy that sweet tooth of ours.
Our body considers all refined carbohydrates (ie. bleached flour) as sugar.
It can be overwhelming to think about cutting all refined carbs from one's diet. I'm not sure that's totally practical for many of us, but I do think the goal of significantly reducing sugar intake and eating healthier can be attained.
Our family has decided to do this by:
Avoiding high fructose corn syrup
Eating more fresh fruits and vegetables
Adding more whole grains to our diet
Drinking more water (we love the seltzer!)
Making our own fruit and vegetable juice (still on the lookout for a juicer, but found a free juice recipe book from someone online!)
There are lots of other changes I would like to make (like baking our own whole wheat bread), but we'll take it a few steps at a time. I've reassured my husband that I won't be taking all things sweet away. We'll still be eating chocolate chip cookies (I'm going to be trying a recipe calling for maple sugar soon), and you bet I'll still be drinking that coffee with a sugar (or two), but we will be calling on mother nature to provide more of the food we consume, and surely our bodies will be thankful for it!
