Tag Archives: sugar

Who is spoiling your kids ROTTEN?

Dob in your family’s Sugar Bandit.

You might be doing the best you can to raise your children with less sugar but someone is lurking in the background to tempt them with a ‘treat’.

I regularly hear this from parents trying to set the example at home but the children spend time with others and the good example comes unstuck.

It can be other members of the family in the house, grandparents are often shockers or the extended family. Then there is the school, kids parties and sporting functions. The amount of lollies at little athletics and football (all codes, so as not to offend anyone ) or like events can be disastrous.

Here is your chance to ‘Dob in your family’s Sugar Bandit.’

Poor dental hygiene results in dental caries (holes in your teeth) and gingivitis (inflamed gums). All of this sets you up for a lifetime of problems.

Sugar consumption is implicated in this and particularly the “frequency of that sugar consumption was far more important in influencing dental caries than the amount.”

This is a recent campaign fro the Australian Dental Association. The dentists have been campaigning against sugar for a long time.

More from the dentists at http://www.dentalhealthweek.com.au/

and a link to some articles at at http://www.nofructose.com/health-issues/dental-disease/

The link between Cancer, Obesity and Diet

cancer

The more I read the more I am convinced of the link between diet and cancer. A lot hinges around the role of insulin on stimulating factors involved in cellular division and metabolism.

A diet high in fructose and refined fibreless carbohydrate just keeps hammering away at the pancreas, giving us insulin spikes and a chronic stimulation of the system, ultimately responding in an insulin resistance.

This review article by Dr Elio Riboli notes the increased risk of late onset breast cancer, colon, rectum, endometrial, oesophageal and kidney cancers with obesity. He touches on the association between high sugar and carbohydrate load in the article.

I agree with him on the concept of where we were with the links of tobacco and disease were known for a long time but action took longer.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/12/9

Back to school food choices a nightmare

Kieron Rooney explores some of the food recommendations being used around the supermarket in this article on ‘The Drum’.

The red, amber and green light labelling is being manipulated by the food industry in his review.

I grabbed this Kellogg’s packet off the shelf yesterday. LCM’s are being promoted as a healthy lunch box option. Chocolate flavoured, laden with sugar, refined carbohydrate and vegetable oil. All of the different types were the same – a huge sugar and carb load.

Kellogg’s use the term ‘Sure Fire Lunchbox Hit’ – to me that’s a chemical hit. Continue reading →

What is LCHF?

LCHF is eating by the concept of a diet of Low Carbohydrate and High (Saturated) Fat intake. It is sort of two thirds of the No Fructose concept.

Fructose is half of sugar. Sugar is a carbohydrate and the fructose portion ‘makes you’ hungry and gets turned into the ‘bad cholesterol’ – the small dense LDL’s (low density lipoproteins).

Glucose is another carbohydrate and it makes up half of sugar and is the basic carbohydrate in starch, bread, pasta and rice.

Glucose that is not used up immediately by the brain and muscle in particular goes to fat production. Continue reading →

‘Death by Food Pyramid’ – Denise Minger

If you live by the food pyramid, you will die by the food pyramid. I have been stating this for some time.

I have just finished Denise Minger’s new book ‘Death by Food Pyramid’. It was predictably informative and insightful.

She dissects a lot of the history of how we have gotten into our modern diet and filled in some gaps for me.

I liked her section on meat. She quelled some myths around the good and bad aspects.She reminded me of the benefits of eating more than just the lean muscle part of animals as well as cooking on low heats rather than burning the meat to a charred mass.

Minger looks at the common ground of what ‘diets’ work and revisits Weston A. Price’s work from the 1800’s on what healthy societies ate. The common theme was what they avoided rather than what they ate. No surprises for me here.

The common themes for healthy living were minimal sugar, no refined carbohydrates and no modern polyunsaturated vegetable oils!

Fresh air, physical activity and community involvement all play a role in longevity and health.

It was an easy read with plenty of references. I will be cross checking a few for more information.

‘Sugar’ not as Sweet as it used to be.

‘Science’, ‘Sugar’ and ‘Fructose’ – Changed Interpretations in 2013

Sounds boring but ‘Science’ was the 2013 Word of the Year from the Merriam Webster dictionary group.

‘Science’ had a marked upturn in search engines than ever and the communities interest in looking for an evidence base rather than just an opinion seems to be increasing – but that’s just an opinion, or is it? The Huffington Post article explores this.

What I have seen is that the wider press and community is changing the definition and understanding of the word ‘sugar’.

A year ago, ‘we’ still felt that sugar was a treat and ‘natural’ and good for us. ‘Sugar’ has lost it’s shine. It has a dark side now. Not everyone has picked up on it but they will as more ‘science’ comes along. Continue reading →

Pudding for the Poms Prompts Poor Performance?

That Christmas pudding laden with sugar and carbs may not have helped the English cricket team in the Boxing Day Ashes test match. Or was it the lack of a sugar binge on Christmas day that helped the Australian team to go 4 nil up?

Clearly the change in diet for most of the Australian cricket team this year to Low Carb (low fructose) and high fat is not ‘proof’ that diet alone will turn a team performance around. Nor is that Christmas pudding enough to cause the demise of the English cricketers.

None of this is ‘Proof of the Pudding’ that diet is the answer but the Australian cricketers who have adopted this eating strategy have all improved their weights, lean body mass and skin folds – with a better mental attitude and now performance results.

The USA LA Lakers basketball team have switched over to this change in eating in the last few months. Norwegian football club Strømsgodset (champions in 2013) have flipped over too into this more efficient ‘fuel’ for the system.

The ‘Proof of the Pudding’ is there for you to experience yourself. May 2014 bring in a real change in health and well being for more of us.

LA Lakers

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/writer/ken-berger/24370416

Norwegian football club Strømsgodset

http://www.dietdoctor.com/football-champions-low-carb-diet

Sugar Laden Desserts Recommended for Diabetic Hospital Patients

This is what I am up against in the hospital food debate.

‘These choices are recommended for individuals with heart disease and DIABETES’

Sugar laden jellies such as jellied peaches, custards, fruit yoghurts, ice cream, sponge cake, fruit loaf, apple crumble and sultana pudding are just a few options from the current hospital menu for inpatients. At least a daily serving of these foods appear with a healthy heart symbol and a recommendation for these to be consumed by diabetics. Continue reading →

Irish modelling supports the introduction of a 10% tax on sugar sweetened beverages

A 10% tax is most likely to reduce consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) to those most affected, namely adolescents.

The projected benefits may be small but still significant and will send an important message to the community.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-13-860.pdf?utm_campaign=10_12_13_BMC_PublicHealth_Article_Mailing_BMCUp&utm_content=7389568758&utm_medium=BMCemail&utm_source=Emailvision

Inroads in the ‘Junk Food’ Hospital Debacle

Last week saw the introduction of some changes at the Launceston General Hospital. A start!

There has been a relabelling of the drink fridges in the hospital cafeteria. The Coca Cola signage is down and replaced with Mt Franklin Water. Same company but a different message.

After existing stocks are depleted they will no longer stock Red Bull or Mother.

Some of the vending machines now have healthier options. Cheese and biscuits and a nut mix in the first one I came across. Continue reading →