YOU: On a Diet - and other Oprah inspired diets - I'm new to YOU (3fc) and I have a few questions.

Hi everyone,
I just bought the book YOU: On a Diet. At the end of chapter two it says not to use anything that has simple sugars in the first five ingredients. But how do you tell if they are simple or some other type of sugar? And I was also wondering if you guys have been able to buy all of your groceries at Wal-Mart or am I going to have to find a health food store in my area?
Thanks.

Simple sugars end in -ose - glucose, fructose, lactose, dextrose, maltose plus corn syrup, honey, molasses, sugar, and fruit juice concentrates. I believe they get into more detail further into the book.
HTH,
Kim

You should definitely be able to shop at Wal-Mart - I can get most of my stuff there. They carry my bread, my english muffins, a lot of the Kashi products I like to use, my yogurt and of course, canned goods, fresh foods, meats...

The things I can think of that I can't get there is stuff like condiments - typically you have to buy "organic" stuff to get that which is sugar-free. But, I get those at Trader Joe's - they have the best prices. Oh, I can't get steel-cut oats at WM either - I have to go elsewhere for those.
Cindy

Thanks guys :)

The Discovery Channel has been running a one-hour segment called "You- On a Diet", and I watched that the other day and it was really helpful to see the Dr.s explain the diet a little more- they go into more detail about food and diet.

If you can catch the show, it might help you too :)

Ok so I went grocery shopping yesterday and I'm confused. Because it said in the book we could eat cheerios but cheerios have sugar in the first five ingredients?

Grr.

And I was also wondering does it explain anywhere why steel-cut oats are recommended over regular oatmeal. I couldn't find the steel-cut ones and the Quaker oats are all natural and don't have any of the prohibited ingredients.

Yeah, that sugar thing confuses me too. I eat Kashi Heart to Heart cereal every day (similar to Cheerios) and sugar is the third ingredient!

But, the book also says not to eat anything with more than four grams of sugar per serving, and that makes a lot more sense (page 244) If you made steel cut oats with just water and then added maple syrup and spices to make it tasty, then sugar would be the second ingredient because there is nothing else in the oats. So to me, the grams of sugar per serving makes much more sense than where sugar falls on the list of ingredients.

The reason that Cheerios are ok is because they contain less than 4 grams of sugar per serving (they are only 1g/serving). The ingredient list guideline is just that - a guideline. There are some foods, like Cheerios, that because they are made of few ingredients, sugar may be in the top 5, even if they are low in sugar.

So, go ahead, enjoy Cheerios, and any other wholesome food that has less than 4g of sugar per serving.
Cindy

Steel cut oats. They are the oats in their most natural form. And because they have not been processed beyond being cut into smaller pieces, they contain the most fiber of any form of oatmeal. Rolled oats have been processed - cooked, steamed and pressed into that flat form. They aren't terrible for you, it's just that steel cut are better - they will stick with you longer because they take longer to digest - more breaking down needs to be done.

Think of it like an orange vs. orange juice. Both are good for you, but the actual orange is less processed and the best choice.

If you do need to have rolled oats, be sure you get the "old fashioned" type, not "quick" oats. The quick type have been processed even more than the rolled oats have been.

Hope that helps!
Cindy

Yes, your replies have helped tremendously. Thanks all!

But I do have one more question :) Can something have more than four grams of sugar per serving if it's natural sugar? Because milk has eleven grams of sugar per eight ounces so are we still allowed to have that?

I'm really enjoying the book but I'm also grateful for this forum where I can ask questions!