This would be true for farmers, except they can't really make money this way. The reason is complicated, but essentially, the government heavily subsidizes production of corn and soybeans, meaning farmers make more than market value for those crops when they grow them (A LOT more than market value). This resulted in a glut of corn and soy, thus all of the HCFS, soy isolates, and corn and soy-based additives flooding into the food supply...they're cheaper, because the government pays extra for them to be grown (out of our tax dollars, by the way).

So while ideally farmers could just switch to other products, without the government backup to do so via a drastically altered Farm Bill, they're still going to go out of business (unless people are willing to pay a premium for healthier foods, which the market has shown that most people won't...obviously 3FC is an exception here, but most people would rather buy cheap, corn-and-soy based calories subsidized by the government than expensive, veggie-based calories).

Maybe the next step...
 

This journey to better health has been one of many baby steps. I will put this one in the back of my brain for the next baby step once I've mastered the one I am working on right now :) which is truly staying on plan 100%, the next one is exercising. I could probably do them concurrently but it's all about baby steps for me. 30 days is definitely do able though...I'm pretty much sugar free right now...wouldn't be hard to go all the way.

thank you for the link. I was worried I was going to open a very sad post. :( Whew...thank goodness it is just youtube. :) I was very worried!

When I first found that low-carb dieting was THE best way for me to eat (not only for weight loss, but for other health issues I have, also) I believed that I was probably "rare." I thought "most people" can eat a lot more sugar without problem.

The more I read about low-carb and paleo eating (also called caveman or primal diets - the theory that man is designed to eat relatively low-carb. The diets differ on what modern foods can be eaten in moderation - and what moderation means, but all focus on removing most or all grain products, very high sugar/carb fruits and vegetables and other high-carb modern foods) the more people I think probably should be eating this way.

Even "natural" sugars will act just like processed sugar in excess. I've proven that to myself on more than one occasion (usually with watermelon, ranier cherries, lychees, and young, fresh sweet corn).

Until I went low-carb, I had no idea how much sugar was hidden in my diet (because all carbohydrates break down into sugar, it can be very easy - even eating naturally, to get a lot more sugar in your blood stream than you want or need).

For most of my life, I've gotten most of my carbs from "healthy" sources. Eating "healthy carbs" much more often than "processed" foods. I can maintain my obesity just as easily on quinoa, almond butter, and lots of fruit as I can on white flour, potatoes, and added sugar.

How much sugar is too much, and what "counts" as sugar? It's not an easy question to answer, but I am convinced that sugar is my enemy - and not just sucrose. Everything that turns to glucose in my body, has to be treated (at best) very suspiciously. Most of the time I KNOW that, but it's surprising how many times I can say to myself "I probably shouldn't eat this much fruit (or other "natural" high-carb food), but it's ok, because they're healthy carbs." Then when I feel lousy and don't lose weight that week, I'm surprised (only, I'm really not - I've done it too many times).

This week was a perfect example. I bought a lb of tiny mangoes (so cute, and so tasty) and some bananas (husband hates both), both were very ripe, so I ate more than I normally allow myself in a day so they wouldn't be wasted (I could have sliced and frozen them, but I wasn't thinking - I shouldn't have bought them both). It triggered a carb-craving that ended in my eating a lot of high-carb foods, and feeling like crap on Sunday and Monday. I even had a flare of the autoimmune skin issues (the skin of my face becomes inflammed, the skin swelling making the skin look like a bright pink orange. It itches, flakes and and burns, and if I don't get the inflammation down, I will get patches of weepy, raw, open sores that crust (which feels like someone took a brillo pad to sunburn). At it's worst, my nose will swell to twice it's normal size, and my lip will swell so much that it actually becomes difficult to lift the upper lip far enough to see the gumline.

I've found that sugar is the culprit. To avoid the physical pain (not to mention whatever permanent damage it's doing), not to mention the embarassment of looking like a horror movie victim, you'd think I'd find it easy to avoid sugar. Yeah, you'd think.

Yeah, the more I experience, and the more I read, the more I'm convinced that almost everyone needs less sugar in their diet. How much they have to cut, and what consequences there are for not doing so - well, I think that varies a lot.

Not to start political debate but I sure hope the government doesn't get involved in this deeper than just guidelines. Prohibition of alcohol was a dismal failure. I'd prefer less government not more especially in lifestyle type issues. Please don't tell me (Gov't) what I can/can't eat, can/can't sleep with, can/can't say, whether I can/can't pray, etc. But again, that's probably a whole other topic :dizzy:

My issue is that the government is doing this now, really, by subsidizing corn. In an economically/price driven market (which food is, especially in this economy when people are trying to cut back), subsidies on corn and soy and the resultant flood of cheap corn and soy based junk foods have absolutely had a strong influence on diet. Right now, that influence is just pointing people toward foods that are not healthy. If the government were to attempt to influence people toward buying foods that were healthier (fruit and veggie subsidies, etc), I'd support that, if only to reverse the damage that the government is already doing with corn/soy subsidies.

A question for those with sugar issues, do you find artificial sugar (Splenda, etc...) equally bad in terms of side effects? Also I saw the clip, is there a full documentary somewhere to view?
Thanks,

Totally agree. The influence is very much there, just not in support of healthy food. I wonder if more people would be aware of that if they suddenly shifted their focus?

Side effects like making me pre-diabetic and pre-hypertensive, causing 100 pounds of extra fat on my body, headaches, muscle aches, lethargy, insomnia, poor sleep, blurry thinking, etc? ...Nope.

For one thing, since sweeteners such as Splenda and stevia are far sweeter by volume than sucrose (white sugar) is, it's hard to eat as much of them in terms of quantity. So any potential effects are going to be smaller.

For another thing, eliminating sugar from my diet has made my sense of sweet taste (and taste overall) much stronger, so I only need a very small quantity of any kind of sweetener, when I want something sweet. Stuff like spinach, almonds, cinnamon, and milk taste sweet to me now. It doesn't take a lot of Splenda to enhance that, if I want it.

I could see calorie-free sweeteners being a problem when they are consumed in large volumes, but I don't believe that any of us who have eliminated sugar do that. And to know why we don't, you'd really have to try out going off of sugar...it just changes everything.

I know it's hard to fathom, at least it was for me, but by staying sugar free for 30 days, well, I'm pretty certain that that would GREATLY increase your chances of being on plan 100%. Just something to think about....

I have no problem with either aspartame or Splenda (though I prefer Splenda). I also find that the fewer "real" carbs I eat, the fewer carb cravings I have, and the less artificial sweetener I need, when I do want something sweet.

I once again agree with Robin a billion percent. A lot of current diet dogma says, "Well, if you deny yourself a thing, then you're just going to binge on it at some point." And yet the experience of those of us who have eliminated sugar is exactly the opposite: If we keep including even a small quantity of it in our diets, THAT sets us up for binging, whereas if we totally get rid of it, we can be completely FREE of binge behaviors and other dietary struggles.

When I started at this in 2008, I also had a very "baby steps" attitude (and still do...I'm constantly making tiny changes to improve myself), so sugar wasn't the first thing I quit. The very first thing I quit was caffeine. But the second thing I quit was sugar, because I knew in my heart of hearts that it was the very most important and fundamental change I could make.

I agree with both of you!---sugar can be eeevvvvviiiiiiiillllllll for some of us. I have gone sugar free for multiple months at a time, and it definitely helped with lessening the amount of binges I had, and when I combined not eating sugar with not eating foods that quickly convert to sugar, I ended up losing a good amount of weight AND my "constant hunger" really went down. I strongly suggest not having sugar if you can avoid it, if you find that it is a trigger for a binge.

Stay strong, you can do it! :)

It's not a matter of avoiding it - *if you can*, IMO, it's a matter of you have to make it your business TO avoid it.

And for me, I have no problems from using Splenda.

Exactly. Drives me crazy when I hear you can have everything, *just in moderation*. Ummmm, noooo, I don't think so. Does anyone ever say that about an alcoholic and his alcohol consumption? Ummm, nooooo, I don't think so.

I want to add that I really do think that it matters 1) how much sugar you are ingesting, and 2) what kind of sugar.

I currently have in my fridge some sweets that are made very naturally....oddly enough, I have had them almost a month (yes, they are still good), but I did not binge on them, and they are super super good! I am shocked! One item I could imagine myself bingeing on, but didn't.

On the opposite end, I bought a whole box of doughnuts---about 8 decent sized ones on Sunday, and only have 2 left today...and I may eat one today (just being honest). Plus, i have been having those little mini doughnut packs, about 2 each weekend, and I literally scarf them down. I have to stop myself from eating a whole pack at once.

So, I think that it is a combo of how much sugar, what type of sugar, if it is eaten in combination with other foods (i.e, sugar and white flour) and the form it is eaten in (i.e., added sugar to drinks, hfcs, raw turbinado sugar, etc.)