I decided to improve my health this year (that’s New Year’s
resolution #1 for many of us) by reducing my intake of refined sugar. I eliminated all added sugars and starchy
carbohydrates for 3 days. During that
time, I subsisted on lean protein and non-starchy vegetables. After the first
three days, I started adding back foods while trying to avoid foods with added
sugar.
Some nutrition researchers
believe that sugar affects the brain much like an addictive drug, and that
those who are sensitive will not lose their cravings unless they eliminate sugar
completely for several weeks. I think I fall into this category; I seem to be
engaged in a constant battle with my inner Cookie Monster. When I started reading food labels very
carefully, I found that many foods, even “healthy” meat substitutes like Garden
Burgers, have added sugar. (Yes, that
woman squinting at a bag of “soy crumbles” in the frozen food aisle was me.
Sorry I took so long.)
I learned to drink my coffee black. I quit sweetener in coffee a few months
ago, but giving up that splash of milk was brutal. That only lasted for the
requisite three days. After the first 3 days, I got to add a serving of dairy, an
apple, more vegetables (oh joy!), and a glass of red wine. I was totally ready for the wine. As we all
know, extremely restrictive diets don’t work as a long term weight loss
strategy for most people because they are dull and difficult. (I mean the
diets, not the dieters.) Still, this “detox” made me much more aware of the role
that sugar plays in our diets, even for those who don’t load up on
desserts. I also found that once I got
past my craving for sweets, I noticed the more subtle natural sweetness in many
foods.
According to food writer Michael Pollan--whose book The Omnivore’s
Dilemma traces the evolution of our food sources from farms to
industrialized food production systems--since 1985 Americans’ consumption of
added sugars, both refined and unrefined, has increased from 128 pounds to 158
pounds per year. (Think of eating your
weight in sugar in a year – sort of like a giant marshmallow Peep!) Besides
white sugar, honey, and maple syrup, that includes corn sweetener, and high
fructose corn syrup. Consumption of high
fructose corn syrup has increased from 45 pounds to 66 pounds per person.
There has been a parallel increase in obesity in the U.S. According
to a study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the
percentage of U.S. adults categorized as “obese” in a 1988-1994 study
was 22.9% compared with 30.5% in 1999-2000 .The prevalence of those
classified as merely “overweight” also increased during this period from 55.9%
to 64.5% Extreme obesity (BMI 40) also increased significantly in the
population, from 2.9% to 4.7% .
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| 4 grams of sugar per serving |
While fruits, vegetables, and dairy foods all contain
natural sugars, sugar and other sweeteners have also become a common added ingredient
in most processed or prepared foods. Take, for example, commercially-prepared
pasta sauce or marinara. Now, I know that in a perfect world, I’d have prepared
and preserved batches of homemade spaghetti sauce during last summer’s tomato
harvest. Sadly, odd weather and a trip
to Colorado created a major crop failure in our garden. One tomato and no sweet peppers. So instead
of rows of shiny red jars of all natural marinara in my pantry, I have nothing. I didn’t mind much, because I think that
there are lots of tasty, good quality pasta sauces available at my local
grocery store, and the idea of home canning vegetables raises my fears of the
kind of botulism that doesn’t take away wrinkles.
When I decided to make tofu
parmesan, I wanted to find a marinara without added sugar. Hunt’s used to make a canned sauce with no
added sugar, but it’s apparently been discontinued. I read the labels on at least 10 different
brands or varieties of sauce, and all had added sugar.
I finally found a couple of “gourmet” style sauces without
added sugar. This one cost about
$3.50. It had a nice natural flavor,
although it was a little bland. I
decided to pass on the Mario Batalli sauce that sold for more than $9 a jar. My favorite, though, is Trader Joe’s Organic
at under $2.50. It has a nice spicy
flavor and no added sugar.
It strikes me as odd that it costs more to leave extra sugar
out of foods than to put it in. Sugar is
now substituted in many foods to reduce fat and used to improve flavor. That makes me wonder why flavors need
improving, if quality ingredients are used. I realize that many traditional
spaghetti sauce recipes call for a pinch of sugar, but a “pinch” does not equal
up to 12 grams per serving. This means that ½ cup of sauce contains nearly 3 teaspoons
of sugar, which is about half of the daily consumption of sugar recommended for
women by the American Heart Association.
While a small amount of the sugar is
naturally occurring from the tomatoes, that amount is only about 2-3 grams. I
guess this is a reminder of how important it is to read food labels if you are
concerned about the ingredients in the foods you eat.
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| 3 grams of sugar per serving |
As I was writing this post, a Center for Disease Control
study reported that adults who get at least 25 percent of their calories from
added sugar were three times more likely to die of heart disease than those who
only consume 10 percent of their calories in added sugar. This risk is for
people at a normal weight and does not include the health risks connected to
obesity which have been well-documented in the media. It is obvious that eating excessive amounts
of sugar is bad for us, but what most people don’t realize is that our modern
American diet of fast and convenience foods, those prepared and sold by large corporations, contain unhealthy
amounts of sweeteners that we all could do without.
