Today, I am pleased to share with you a very informative post from Judy that appeared on her companion web site about the various sweeteners available on the market today. Most people who are livin' la vida low-carb already know to avoid sugar, but what about other so-called "healthy" sweeteners like maple syrup, stevia, and Splenda. Which ones should a low-carber be using and which should be avoided? Judy Barnes Bakers cuts to the chase and shares her knowledge with you to help you make smarter choices for your healthy low-carb lifestyle.
Special thanks to Judy for continuing what I started in this recent blog post about fructose with a more in-depth look at the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to providing good alternatives to sugar. ENJOY!
I have received questions as to why I did not include some of the all-natural alternatives, like brown rice syrup, agave nectar, and date sugar in the discussion about the different kinds of sweeteners in my book. I did not include most of them because, in my opinion, they offer little advantage over common table sugar. However since the subject continues to come up, I will address it here.
Let me point out at the start that “natural” is not synonymous with “safe.” Nature abounds with natural poisons: arsenic, mercury, lead, death cap mushrooms, puffer fish, anthrax, and snake venom to name a few. Also, keep in mind that many foods that we consider healthful, like parsley, cabbage, beans, celery, tomatoes, and basil contain poisons and antinutrients that can be dangerous in large amounts.
Potatoes can contain lethal amounts of solanine; those big green bananas called plaintains cause heart disease; lima beans, flax seed, and almonds contain high levels of cyanide. (Fifteen bitter almonds, the kind used in the Italian cookies called amaretti, can cause serious illness or death.) In fact, most vegetables, even after thousands of years of selective cultivation, still contain some potentially harmful substances. (Jeffery Steingarten included a chapter titled: “Salad the Silent Killer,” in his very entertaining book, The Man Who Ate Everything.)
Let’s look at some of those “healthy, all-natural, minimally-processed” sweeteners:
-Agave nectar is touted as a healthful, natural alternative to sucrose because it has a very low glycemic index, so it doesn’t cause a spike in blood sugar or raise insulin levels. However, the dangers of fructose are well known and agave nectar is almost 100% pure fructose. High fructose corn syrup contains only 45% fructose; agave syrup has twice as much of this most dangerous of all the sugars. The reason fructose doesn’t provoke an insulin response is that it does not enter the blood stream but is metabolized in the liver where it is converted directly into triglycerides (fats). It promotes fat storage, especially around the midsection and the organs.
It has been implicated as a major contributor to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome. Fructose also increases the formation of advanced glycation end-products, known by the acronym AGEs, because they promote the cross-linking of proteins which speeds up the aging process. According to Dr. Michael Eades, fructose “… is a driving force behind the development of insulin resistance and all attendant problems. When researchers want to give lab animals insulin resistance, they feed the animals high doses of fructose.” Here is a link to an article on fructose by Dr. Eades: "Unclear on the Fructose Concept"
-Date sugar is simply ground up dates. It is more than 96% sucrose; sucrose is about half glucose and half fructose. Date sugar contains some fiber and some trace minerals and vitamins, but it is essentially the same as common table sugar and causes a similar rise in blood sugar and insulin levels. It does not dissolve and is not a useful substitute for sugar for baking or cooking.
-I did include information about stevia in the book. Many people like it, but many find it to be bitter. Some of the more refined brands are said to be less so. Stevia can only be sold as a supplement in this country because it has never been tested orapproved for sale as a sweetener. The FDA has been petitioned three time to grant GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status for stevia so that it will not have to go through safety testing, but it has been rejected so far. If you feel more comfortable with stevia than Splenda, one packet of most sweeteners is equal to 2 teaspoons of sugar so they can be used interchangeably in some recipes for sweetening. Stevia powder does not dissolve, ferment, or caramelize. It is heat stable up to 392 degrees F.
-Maple syrup is made from the sap of maple trees, which is 2 to 3 percent sucrose. It is collected in buckets and boiled down to make a concentrated syrup. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. Most of the sugar is sucrose (like common table sugar), but some, especially in the lesser grades, is glucose and fructose. Maple syrup contains traces of vitamins, especially the B vitamins, and minerals.
-Succanat is cane sugar with the water removed. It retains trace amounts of vitamins and minerals that may be lost in the refining process for regular table sugar, but it is still concentrated sucrose.
- Brown rice syrup is made by fermenting brown rice with enzymes to break down some of the starch into sugar and then cooking it until it is thickened. It is only half as sweet as table sugar. It contains 45% maltose (the kind of sugar in beer), and 3% glucose. The rest is starch. Maltose has a glycemic index of 110, higher than pure glucose (glucose or blood sugar has a GI of 100) and will provoke a very high insulin reaction. It contains 34 net grams of carbohydrate and 132 calories in a serving of 2 tablespoons. I’ll pass on this one.
Note: Brown rice syrup is one of several malt sugars made from grain that include barley malt, barley/corn malt, and rice syrups. Malt sugars are used in making beer, which is why beer is sometimes called “liquid bread.”
Why I prefer Splenda®: Sucrolose, the sweetener in Splenda, is made from sugar by replacing a few atoms of hydrogen and oxygen on the sugar molecule with three atoms of chlorine, making it 600 times as sweet as sugar.
Splenda has been used in Canada since 1991 and in Australia since 1992. It has been approved in 60 countries worldwide. In 1998, after reviewing 110 studies, the FDA approved it for use in the U.S. It is not required to carry any warning label and is considered safe for pregnant women and nursing mothers. After much anticipation, we finally had a safe alternative to sugar that tasted good and held up to cooking temperatures.
So why suddenly is there so much hysteria about Splenda?
Dr. Eades brings up some very important points about Splenda in this article. He contends that Splenda is not really artificial since chlorine is a natural substance, but that it is instead an altered sugar molecule. Half of common table salt is chlorine (NaCl), and chlorine is a normal part of the makeup of our blood serum. Chlorine is a necessary chemical that our bodies need for metabolism and the amount is carefully maintained by the kidneys at the proper level. At any given time you have about 1 teaspoon of chlorine circulating in your blood which is about 20,000 times as much as you would get in a serving of Splenda, if it were digestible, which most of it is not.
The study most often cited as proof of the toxicity of sucralose is one conducted by the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme of Australia that showed that feeding large amounts to rats caused shrinkage of the thymus gland, which is important to the immune system. The dosage used in the study was the equivalent of 240 grams of sucralose per day for a 176-pound human for 28 days. That works out to 20,000 packets of Splenda every day for 28 days. To put it in perspective: If you drank 560,000 cups of coffee with one packet of Splenda in each one over a 28 day period, you would reach the level of sucralose fed to the rats. But you would have no symptoms because you would be dead within 15 minutes from the caffeine contained in the first 75 cups of coffee.
Dr. Jonny Bowden, fitness expert and author of The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, gave the following response to Jimmy Moore (in this blog post) when asked about Splenda: “…I've looked like mad and can't find any really good, responsible argument against it that can be substantiated. That does NOT mean I won't be proven wrong in a year and I reserve the right to change my mind if there's more compelling stuff coming out. But right now I see it as the least bad of the choices."
This is very much like what I said about Splenda in my book. When you write a cookbook you must use ingredients that are readily available and reasonably priced. Splenda is safe, it tastes good, it is in all the stores, and it is not terribly expensive. There are some other sugar substitutes already available that have the bulk and physical characteristics of common sugar and actually offer some health benefits, but for now they are only available by mail order and are very expensive.
Oligofructose, for example, is made from chicory root. It has been popular in Japan for many years. It consists of long chains of fructose molecules that are not broken down by our digestive enzymes. It is prebiotic, meaning that it selectively feeds the beneficial microbes that live in the lower intestines and so enhances the immune system. (It can be ordered from Low-Carb Specialities. The company also sells fantastic chocolate bars sweetened with oligofructose.)
The decision to eliminate sugar is more important than just avoiding a few extra carbs. Sugar is the prime contributor to the epidemic of obesity, diabetes, and the cluster of diseases called the metabolic syndrome that have devastated this country for the last 40 years. In Good Calories, Bad Calories, Gary Taubes explains how sugar and simple carbs may also promote cancer and speed up the aging process.
Most people already know that they need to cut down on sugar, but the goodies and snacks that constantly surround us are hard to resist. If we can have food that satisfies our cravings without harming us, we are less likely to give in to temptation. If you have an iron will and are always in complete control of your impulses, eliminate sweets altogether and more power to you! But if you are subject to human frailties like me, then try the next best thing.
THANK YOU again for sharing your wisdom with us today, Judy! Be sure to pick up YOUR copy of CARB WARS and pay a visit to see Judy Barnes Baker at CarbWarsCookbook.com.
Aspartame targeted for bogus study funded by parent company in Japan
Imagine for a moment that you read a news headline that proclaimed, "Study Concludes Eating French Fries Does Not Cause Obesity." Would that get your attention? Sure it would, until you kept reading and discovered that the company who paid for that study to be conducted was none other than McDonald's! Now how credible is that headline?
As off-the-wall as that example may sound, that is PRECISELY what has happened with a study on a rather controversial subject. This University of Maryland press release details the results of a study conducted by a panel of "experts" who declared the artificial sweetener aspartame is 100% absolutely safe for human consumption. Oh really?
Regular readers of my blog already know what I think about aspartame--or as I like to call it, NASTY-tame! I warned my fellow low-carbers to avoid aspartame if at all possible in my latest YouTube video because there are too many unanswered questions about this sugar substitute with some rather peculiar side effects.
Speaking from personal experience, I try to avoid NASTY-tame because it has done a doozy on my body in many ways when I consume more than just a little bit of it. I can tolerate about 1-2 diet sodas made with aspartame and that's it. Besides the disgusting flavor of aspartame (aka Equal and Nutrasweet), it also can bring on some of the most vicious headaches I have ever experienced.
Dr. Bernadene Magnuson assures us aspartame is completely safe
And this is something lead researcher Dr. Bernadene Magnuson, assistant professor of Nutrition and Food Science at the University of Maryland, acknowledged in this Reuters column about the study when she named headaches as "one possible area of concern" because "a small subset of the population" could be impacted by it.
Why do these "experts" attempt to say this side effect is somehow the exception and not the rule? Statin drug companies claim the same thing about their products causing joint pain in only a very small segment of the population when just about everyone I know who takes Lipitor, Crestor, or any of the other statins experience this. What's wrong with this picture?
Dr. Magnuson, along with various other panel members from the United States, The Netherlands, and Great Britain, examined previous research conducted on aspartame to determine whether there is validity in the claims that it leads to health concerns such as brain abnormalities and cancer, among other things. After sifting through over 500 studies dating back three decades, their conclusion was to give aspartame nothing but high marks as an approved sweetener.
“There have been continued questions in the media and on the Internet about the safety of aspartame,” Dr. Magnuson remarked. “Our study is a very comprehensive review of all of the research that’s been done on aspartame. Never before has a group with the breadth of experience of this panel looked at this question.”
But the real sticking point to this whole so-called study goes back to the point made at the beginning of this blog post: Guess who paid for this study to be done? It was none other than the Japanese manufacturer of aspartame--Ajinomoto Company Inc. who has an entire web site devoted to this "core strategic product" of theirs.
Just how credible is a study like this one? I'm not saying a study can't be objective simply because it is paid for by a company whose product stands to benefit from a positive report. But you have to admit something really screwy is going on around here when aspartame is given such flying colors by an allegedly unbiased panel.
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has given their seal of approval for aspartame, but my personal experiences consuming it are all that matter to me. Headaches, memory trouble, and even weight stalls have occurred whenever higher amounts of aspartame are in my body. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not even mess with these side effects which is why I stick with sweeteners like Splenda instead (even if it is more difficult to find diet sodas made with it).
You can contact Dr. Bernadene Magnuson about her study on the safety of aspartame by e-mailing her at bmagnuso@umd.edu.
In our eagerness to pump out another video in our new "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb On YouTube" series, Christine and I went a bit long with Episode 4. It's not so much that we don't want to do longer videos, but YouTube limits the length to NO MORE THAN 10 MINUTES.
I found out this little factoid the hard way last night when I was up until 2AM trying to whittle this thing down to size so we didn't have to record it over again! UGH!
We had recorded a new video yesterday afternoon on artificial sweeteners and what a low-carb dieter can do to get something sweet in their diet. It was the usual fun video and I even started off serenading Christine with my own unique rendition of "Sugar, Awww Honey Honey." Plus, at the end, we gave a BIG shout out to all the wonderful people at my new "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Discussion" forum.
Unfortunately, the raw feed went 13 1/2 minutes long and that didn't even count the intro and outro! BOO HOO! Oh well, so I had to chop off the front and the back and leave the primary meat of the video as the totality of the content. It's just a lesson learned for future videos to keep a closer eye on the clock.
So, with that perspective in mind, now you'll understand why it seems the video abruptly begins and ends. Sorry about that, we'll do better next time. Check it out as we talk about Splenda, aspartame, xylitol, maltitol, oligofructose, and erythritol as well products that contain these sweeteners:
Yes, I know about stevia and even included several minutes of the original video talking about this all-natural supplement that's a popular sweetening agent that low-carbers use, but it was part of the chopping block. Perhaps I could do an entire video just on the subject of stevia since it is becoming more and more popular.
Leave a comment for Episode 4 and be sure to rate it and favorite it if you enjoyed what was presented. :) If not, then I'd still love to know what you thought about it.
Just in case you missed any of our previous YouTube videos, here they are:
- Promo video--A half-minute promotion of the new video series - Episode 1--Introduction of Jimmy & Christine Moore - Episode 2--What kind of fruits can you have on a low-carb diet? - Episode 3--What kind of veggies can you have on a low-carb diet?
Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube videos so you'll never miss an episode! THANK YOU so much to everyone who has supported us by watching and commenting on our videos. Please send your suggestions for future YouTube video topics to me anytime at livinlowcarbman@charter.net.
These watermelons may look normal, but they have about half the sugar
Leave it to modern-day technology in research labs to come up with some creative ways to make the foods we eat even healthier. We saw an attempt earlier this year at this concept when scientists figured out a way to produce natural low-fat milk straight from the cow (although that wasn't very healthy, IMHO!). But now there's something low-carbers and diabetics alike should cheer: a low-sugar watermelon (my low-carb blogging friend Robin from "Limenade And Watermelon" will be thrilled)!
Yep, have you heard about this yet? This Science News story details what researchers have come up with as the perfect replacement for this higher-sugar member of the melon family. You'll recall I addressed this in Episode 2 of my "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb on YouTube" video when my wife asked if watermelon was appropriate for someone on low-carb.
While it's not too terribly high in carbs, watermelon is a little higher than you would prefer for those in the early stages of the Atkins low-carb diet where you restrict your intake to around 20g daily. At about 11g net carbs for a cup of watermelon, that usually makes this fruit off limits for people trying to lose weight the low-carb way.
But now a research geneticist named Angela R. Davis from the USDA's Lane, Oklahoma-based Agricultural Research Service gives hope that this plump, juicy summertime favorite can be back on the menu again for those of us leading a lower-sugar, low-carb lifestyle! They have been working on this for years and wanted it to be perfect before releasing the technology to seed companies to replicate the results for consumer production.
Early experiments resulted in white and even yellow flesh for the watermelon--not exactly the most appetizing way to eat watermelon (kinda like the green ketchup from Heinz was for me a few years back--EWWWW!).
"The project took a lot longer than we expected," Davis remarked. "Because there's a correlation between color and sugar content."
Finally they found a way to make the flesh turn pink while virtually cutting the sugar in half! So, instead of 11g net carbs for a cup of watermelon, how about 5g instead? WOO HOO! The lighter the red in the watermelon, the lower the sugar content. And thus is born a low-carb, reduced-sugar watermelon thanks to science.
Details about these new genetically altered low-sugar watermelons will be published in the journal HortScience before the end of the year.
I bet you're wondering how they taste (yeah, me too!). Well, Davis says that will be the primary issue for people who switch from regular watermelon to this one. But for those of us who already eschew sugar in our diet to manage our weight and/or diabetes, it'll probably taste pretty good. I liken it to switching from regular soda to diet soda. The transition takes some getting used to, but it happens.
Just as the soda companies use artificial sweeteners to replace the sugar in their products, so too will those sweeteners come in handy for people choosing to eat this lower-sugar watermelon. I, of course, would recommend either Splenda or stevia if you feel like you need to use a sweetener at all.
Davis said they ran taste tests among teenagers and adults with diabetes and the low-sugar, artificially-sweetened (with Splenda!) watermelons actually BEAT the regular watermelon among those surveyed. WOW! There may be hope for us yet with those kind of results!
"Overall, there was a significant preference for the artificially sweetened watermelons compared with the conventional watermelons," the researchers concluded.
What's so healthy about eating watermelon, you ask? In a word--LYCOPENE! Yes, you can find this awesome nutrient in tomatoes (which gives it that rich, red color!) and it is a powerful antioxidant responsible for destroying free radicals which can wreak havoc on your health. You'll be pleased to know that these reduced-sugar watermelons retain their high lycopene content!
"A low-sugar watermelon is a palatable fruit choice to individuals who must restrict sugar or total carbohydrate intake--with the added benefits of lycopene," the researchers added.
These new reduced-sugar watermelons will look like a typical 10-12 pound watermelon when they do become available in stores--no specific date as of yet. We'll let you know when they're available and will try to blog about how they taste when we get our hands on them. I would think an ice-cold low-sugar watermelon should be ready for consumption by the time the dog days of summer hit in 2008. I can't wait!
You can e-mail Angela Davis to thank her for her research into making watermelons lower in sugar for those of us on carb-restricted diets for weight and diabetes control at adavis-usda@lane-ag.org.
I get flooded with e-mails about Splenda-sweetened diet sodas
There is a lot of interest by people who are livin' la vida low-carb to find a diet soda that is sweetened with sucralose, commonly known as Splenda, instead of aspartame, aka Nutrasweet. Unfortunately, the options are few and far between and are getting smaller by the minute.
One of my readers wrote to me recently about how Diet 7-Up has changed from Splenda back to aspartame without even telling anyone. This happened about six months ago, but some people are only just now noticing the change.
Here's what she wrote in the e-mail:
My Mom and I are both diabetics and we bought some Diet 7-Up to drink knowing that it has Splenda, which is safe for us, instead of aspartame. There was nothing on the bottle about the change except in the ingredients label.
My poor Mother was in bad shape for an entire day because of the violent sudden diarrhea that aspartame causes in both of us. If you could warn your readers about this, I am sure many people would be thankful.
In my diabetic class, over 90% of us have some type of reaction to aspartame ranging from stomach problems to migraines. None of us ever had any problems from Splenda.
Because of this e-mail, I thought it would be best to share a list of the Splenda-sweetened diet sodas currently available on the market. It is certainly slim pickins, but well worth looking for when you want a diet soda.
Keep in mind these Splenda-sweetened sodas are mixed with another sweetener called acesulfame potassium, aka ACE-K, to enhance the sweetness:
SPLENDA-SWEETENED DIET SODAS WITH NO CAFFEINE Diet Rite, all flavors (12-packs, 2-liter bottles, 20 oz bottles) Diet Cheerwine (12-packs, 2-liter bottles, 20 oz bottles) Waist Watcher (12-packs, 2-liter bottles, 20 oz bottles)
You can also find many store brands that are sweetened with Splenda and ACE-K, but most of them have caffeine in them. Just read the labels carefully to avoid the ones with aspartame.
It will be difficult, but try not to buy into the highly-marketed, hyped-up diet sodas like the new energy cola Diet Pepsi Max and even Diet Pepsi Jazz or the vitamin-infused Diet Coke Plus and the ever-growing line of Coke Zero products just because they taste good with the ACE-K blend. They all contain NASTY-tame (that's my word for aspartame!) and should be absolutely avoided since there are just too many good alternatives available with very real questions about aspartame's safety still left unanswered.
Coke is currently going through the process of getting FDA approval for their name for stevia--rebiana--but The Coca-Cola Company has some corporate muscle to strongarm them into acceptance. If and when this comes out, it will become my new favorite diet soda. I'm assuming this one will also be an ACE-K blend.
The diet soda market is currently dominated by NASTY-tame offerings, but hopefully that will soon begin to change. If it's a cost issue, then I know I wouldn't mind paying a little more to get Splenda in Diet Cherry Coke or Diet Mountain Dew. I'd even like to taste Splenda in Diet Barq's root beer sometime.
Why not offer a few more choices?
For low-carbers like me who love drinking diet soda, that's all we're asking for. How about it soda manufacturers?
NuNaturals is a company on the cutting edge with NuStevia™
Last month I blogged about how Coca-Cola is pursuing putting the all-natural plant-based Stevia in their diet sodas as a healthier sweetener than the artificially-made chemical aspartame (aka Nutrasweet) that they so readily use in almost all of their calorie-free beverages today. Their crusade represents what I believe is the beginning of the end in the battle for FDA-approval.
With the inevitability of Stevia joining the sweetener market in the United States looming large, one company is already out there leading the charge by producing delicious and healthy Stevia-based products for people to enjoy. It's NuNaturals and they have a full line of stevia and stevia blends that will suit the tastes of anyone who is livin' la vida low-carb.
The quality of these products is unmistakable and I've tried many kinds of Stevia products that were supposed to taste good. Not even close!
NuStevia™ is revolutionizing the sugar alternative industry
Most Stevia products are very bitter, but not NuNaturals. These taste amazing in drinks, used in recipes, and so much more. You can feel confident in sprinkling NuStevia™ White Stevia products on whatever you usually sweeten with sugar for an economic and natural substitute.
For those of you with allergies, you'll be pleased to know NuStevia™ is gluten-free and contains NO soy, yeast, wheat, milk, synthetics, artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. Cool deal!
Anyone wanting to keep their carbs at ZERO or close to it should try the NuStevia™ NoCarb Blend™ made with just a touch of erythritol. This is the purest form of Stevia you will find anywhere, so it's highly recommended.
If you'd prefer to have a liquid version, they've got that, too!
Of course, there are also liquid versions of NuStevia™, including the hot new Vanilla Stevia Liquid. This does not contain flavorings as other companies products do, but Pure Vanilla Extract from the famous Singing Dog™ Vanilla products.
Liquid Vanilla Stevia is one of the hottest new NuNaturals products
NuNaturals also makes some excellent versions of other popular sweeteners, including Xylitol, Lo Han, and Erythritol. CLICK HERE and check out these sugar alternatives for yourself. I love using them as part of my low-carb lifestyle so that I'll never go back to eating sugar again!
I recently received an e-mail from a 5'2" tall diabetic woman who has finally reached her goal weight of 118 pounds this month after restarting her low-carb lifestyle way back in November 1999--OVER SEVEN YEARS AGO! This was a long but steady race for her and now she stands proud to be livin' la vida low-carb to this very day for the sake of her weight and health.
Starting off weighing in at 162 pounds and failing to control her diabetes using the "doctor's diet" of a low-fat, high-carb diet, my reader decided to go back to a way of eating that had worked for her nearly three decades before--the Atkins diet. She remembered how the popular low-carb plan from the late Dr. Robert C. Atkins had worked so well for her in the past although she never thought of it as a permanent lifestyle change as we do nowadays.
So why not now? The lessons she had learned about carbohydrates from Dr. Atkins previously would certainly serve her well again, especially now that she has diabetes to contend with.
"I figured out that if I didn't eat carbs I wouldn't have high blood sugar. But I did have to endure a year of harassment from the doctor even as I lost weight and felt great."
Yeah, those doctors can be ruthless if not purposely then at the very least through blissful ignorance. But by following her chosen low-carb program exactly as prescribed with the occasional visits to the Chinese restaurant and a nibble or two of low-carb chocolates and Atkins ice cream, the result she experienced was nothing short of miraculous--45 pounds GONE FOREVER representing a 28 percent loss of her starting weight which she describes as "a good place for me to be!" WOO HOO! That's super!
About a year ago, she gave up all artificial sweeteners and replaced them with more berries and nuts, especially her favorite--pistachios. As a result, her HA1C level, the compass of health for any diabetic, has been brought way down to a very safe 4.8. Amazing!!!
She took her time on the last 10 pounds and didn't care how long it took.
"I figured if it happened, great and if it was an impossibly low number at least I would always think of myself as being in Atkins Stage 3, not maintenance, therefore needing to be more vigilant."
Oh, wouldn't it be great if we all have that kind of attitude when it comes to keeping our weight down once we reach our goal?! On the advice of her chiroprator, she gave up caffeine a little over a month ago which has helped her sleeping pattern as well as blood sugar levels. And today she weighs a very petite 118 pounds for the first time since she was 12 years old! WOWsers!
She more than anyone else understands how I want to feel wanting to be 199 again for the first time since I was 11! That's my weight loss goal currently and, like my reader, I don't care how much longer it takes me to get there--I'LL GET THERE!
"I hope to celebrate that day with you when you see your 199! Your dedication to spreading the word brings so much to so many who get discouraged by the anti-Atkins people out there. Thanks for your continuing inspiration!"
Gee, thanks so much and the same to ya! What an encouraging story of tenacity and triumph in your low-carb lifestyle. You have a lot to be proud of and there is no doubt in my mind that you will share with so many people within your inner circle of friends and family the change that has happened in you. GO GET 'EM GIRL!
At this moment, I know if I had my abdominoplasty that my weight would be under 200 pounds already. But until that happens (someday!), I'll keep trudging downward until the scale hits 1-9-9 (I'm at 216 right now)! What a day that will be!
My reader concluded that her low-carb weight loss success means we now need to "chalk up another win for the late, great Dr. Atkins!" YEAH BABY!
YOU BET WE DO! CONGRATULATIONS and keep on livin' la vida low-carb!
I couldn't resist sharing with you this press release bragging about how consumers "overwhelmingly prefer pure cane sugar to Splenda in taste tests." Ooooookay, let's see what this is all about.
Not surprisingly, the suspicious "taste tests" were commissioned by the C&H Sugar Company and was conducted on June 9 and 10 in Redwood City, California and Buffalo Grove, Illinois by an independent market research company. This "independent survey" found that people who cook fresh baked desserts such as brownies were much more pleased with the taste, texture, and appearance of pure sugar cane (which C&H sells) than either Splenda or Splenda Blend (which is C&H's primary competition). I wonder how objective a study paid for by a company against it's #1 competitor is REALLY gonna be? But I digress.
They go on in the press release to show statistics that allegedly prove that people prefer pure cane sugar over Splenda and even found a pastry chef from a restaurant in San Francisco to slam Splenda on their behalf.
"Sucralose (Splenda) tends to block flavors provided by other ingredients, especially chocolate," this pastry chef said. "Brownies baked with Splenda and Splenda Blend don't offer the rich cocoa flavor or taste of those made with pure cane sugar. They are dry and dense."
He goes on to sing the praises of the product made by C&H Sugar Company to help them solidify their point even further.
"Pure cane sugar adds more than sweetness to recipes; it also provides bulk, moisture and browning. Artificial sweeteners do not," he explained. "Why would you want to sacrifice the taste of something you love just to save a few calories?"
This is where I have to step in to steer this debate back in the right direction.
Is this "world renowned pastry chef" really telling people to ignore the nutritional content of sugar and to just eat, drink, and be merry gorging yourself on sugar?!
I have been using Splenda almost exclusively since I started livin' la vida low-carb and losing over 180 pounds since January 2004. It is 600 times sweeter than sugar and can provide people who are wary of the impact sugar can have on their weight with an alternative way to give the foods they eat sweetness.
Despite the advancements in sugar substitutes and artificial sweeteners in recent years, I am still seeing people scrunch up their nose at me when I tell them I don't eat sugar but rather sugar-free products. That's what one television reporter who interviewed me the other day about my weight loss did. I assured her and others who react like she did that the taste is absolutely fabulous.
When I was addicted to sugar at the beginning of my low-carb lifestyle, there was a transitional period where my body had to wean itself off of the negative effects of sugar and literally detoxify itself from the years of damage that had been done to both my weight and my overall health. I discuss these issues in a special chapter on sugar of my book "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" because this is much too important an issue to turn a blind eye to.
Even "The Biggest Loser" personal trainer Bob Harper said in an exclusive interview with the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog recently that "sugar is a very powerful and strong drug that people are extremely addicted to" and "has most everything to do with our problem with obesity." Why aren't we listening to voices like this one and pushing harder to provide the public with the truth about sugar? There are fundamental facts that should not be overlooked about how sugar is impacting the health of the American people.
Nobody will argue with you that consuming a lot of sugar can and will harm your body. It's an understood fact, although millions of people still consume it like there's nothing wrong with eating gobs and gobs of sugar.
But I saw what it can do firsthand to a person's body (MINE!) and it's not a pretty sight. The cravings and headaches that come when I didn't get my "hit" of sugar would slam me in the face like a cast iron skillet until I stuffed my face with even more sugar. Over and over again, that ruthless cycle continued until I "got clean" last year. Thankfully, that rollercoaster ride is one that I don't ever plan on getting on again. It's just not worth it!
Thanks to products like Splenda, I can enjoy the great sweetness of sugar without suffering the consequences it will have on various aspects of my health. Quite simply, Splenda is a miracle product for people who are livin' la vida low-carb. Sure, there are some like my friends Connie Bennett and Regina Wilshire who do not promote ANY sugar or sugar substitutes as part of a healthy lifestyle, but a lot of people are like me and need to have some sweetness in the foods we eat.
This little "taste test" released by a sugar company really means nothing regarding comparisons to Splenda because they only show the front-end qualities of their product. On the back end over the long-term, sugar will do more to pack on the pounds and destroy people's health than Splenda ever will. That's why I said goodbye to sugar once and for all nearly two years ago. And so should you!
I guess I've just invited Qorvis Communications back to my blog again today with this post! :-O
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