I need to use that word more often!

I just made it through the whole thing and, wow, it was basically someone discussing the science behind why what I've being doing works.

I really have found that my hunger decreased once I cut out sugar. I also get less headaches, have more energy, etc. I know some people are shocked because he calls sugar a poison but I have to agree with him. I was and IS a poison for me.

One thing I would've loved to hear from him was what he does use. In another interview I found of him, his daughter is there and she mentions that on the weekends they do have ice cream or chocolate sometimes so I really wonder what kind of sweetener he's using? I'd love to know.

And for me, it was explaining why what I was doing wasn't working! I don't drink soda or eat sugary desserts but I wasn't checking my processed foods for HFCS either. I was just doing the calories in vs. calories out. But last year I lost 30 lbs on a "anti-inflammatory diet" that happens to cut ALL processed foods. Now I know at least in part why that worked but regular calorie counting hasn't.

I wonder how many people who have been classified as "food addicts" actually are "sugar addicts"? I wonder how it would impact the Nation if everyone saw that video? I bet a lot of people would make some real changes, and I think that the food producers would have to start cleaning up what they put in the foods if they still wanted to sell it here.

I wonder how many mothers would feed formula if they knew it was the equivalent of a baby milkshake, or how many pregnant women would drink soda if they knew they were setting their unborn children up for a lifetime of sugar cravings and the associated health problems?

This caused me to check even our cats' food. The brands we have don't have sugar (though they do have things the kitties don't need).

My son had severe acid reflux disease as an infant (he still has flare-ups at 15 months) and the only formula he could tolerate was Enfamil Soy, which the #1 ingredient was corn syrup solids. It still kills me that it was the only food that would stay down in his stomach (and it still came up a lot, he vomited all my breast milk too).

I think he mentioned something about the amount being the real issue. But I don't fully recall. Do you eat anything with sugar in it or have you cut it all out? I wish I was ready to do that. I can't imagine not having a slice of birthday cake ever again or my mom's famous baklava. She's deceased and my sister makes it 2 times a year.

I cut out all sugar/artificial sweeteners but I did use natural sweeteners for baking on occasion for about 6 months (I can count on one hand the number of times I ate sugar during that period). Then we moved abroad and it took some adjusting for me to figure out new ways to cook. However, I'm basically working on going back to that. I'm seeing a nutritionist so her suggestion was that I could have one chocolate bar per week. Also, I should underneath NO circumstances ever buy chocolate/sugar of any sort and keep it in the house (I really can't control myself) so that I just buy a single serving bar (but buy a fancy brand so I feel it's worth it).

I do cook with natural sweeteners so it's pretty easy to make birthday cake and whatnot, I actually prefer the taste over sugar and I've gotten so I don't like things too sweet. I've also found simple desserts like combining cottage cheese+an apple+cinnamon really do satisfy my sweet tooth now (although not at the beginning!!!).

runningfromfat.... what natural sweetners are you using?

My family uses apple juice or rice syrup, in some instances, maple syrup (but very little).

thank you so so much for posting that link. it makes so much sense and i will never look at food in the same way again

I use honey/maple syrup/blue agave. Locally, honey is the best option because it's by far the cheapest but it's the worst for me in terms of cravings afterwards. I can find maple syrup locally but it's roughly 5x the price so I only get it from abroad and I haven't found blue agave at all locally (DH brought back a bunch the last time he went to the US).

From experimenting I've found blue agave works the best when it comes to baking non-chocolate stuff (it's really good in cheesecake, for instance). I like maple syrup the best with chocolate stuff and honey works the best with fruit (apple pie, for instance, but I'm sure maple syrup would work just fine here too). I always cut the amount of sweetener in half at the very least.

Another great resource is "Sugar Nation: The Hidden Truth Behind America's Deadliest Habit and the Simple Way to Beat It" by Jeff O'Connell. Just finished reading it and loved it. It really paints the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in a bad light for not promoting a healthier diet (less carbohydrate) in their recommended diet. Also stressed how many people are "skinny diabetics" & don't know it. Very good read!

http://www.amazon.com/Sugar-Nation-H.../dp/1401323448

Anne-

Thanks! I will check that out!

Thanks for posting that! I pushed play and was totally hooked! An hour and a half later and I thought my clock was wrong, I couldn't believe I had been sitting there for that long!

I thought it was so interesting how he was comparing the way our bodies process alcohol to the way we process fructose. I knew fructose was bad because it was only processed by the liver and more calories get stored that way, but I never knew that it was actually poisoning us in the process!

Hearing about the economics behind all of the policy surrounding this stuff always makes me so mad. We're being misled and told this stuff is safe for us and our kids to eat because it's helping a few people make tons and tons of money selling cheap, addictive garbage that never spoils. I had quite a few stick-it-to-the-man moments watching that .

That was eye-opening to say the least. This is going to sound stupid, but he mentioned that fiber is taken out of foods in order to preserve shelf life and freeze, so does that mean frozen veggies and fruit loses a lot if not all of their fiber, because that's pretty much all I buy.

I found this here: http://www.everydayhealth.com/specia...er-basics.aspx