Sugar is not so sweet after all

So, in my post titled, what's it going to be about, I told you all that I was 30lbs over weight?  A lot of people are surprised by that since I eat so "well". Truth is, I wasn't eating as well as I thought I was. I was so concerned, no not concerned, obsessed with staying away from GMO foods that I didn't take any else into consideration and that's where I failed. I had no idea that all the ORGANIC food I was eating had so much sugar in them. I'm talking, apple cider, vegetable juice, yogurt, salad dressings, ketcup, pasta sauce, cookies, bars and more, all organic, all loaded with sugar. I look at the ingredient list of everything I buy now I look at the sugar content as well. It's amazing how much I had to change. One thing I will say is that regardless of how bad sugar can be when over consumed as most of society does, I will never, ever consume sugar substitutes, they're just as or even more harmful! I had also fell victim to the low/no fat lie, you 'll see how that ties in below.

All this came about when I was watching a podcast series called Underground Wellness and another called Summer Tomato. Both podcast talk about the dangers of sugar and how blind most people are to the damage it can do to the body, mainly the liver. You can check these podcast out yourself on Itunes or you can youtube them. Below I posted a video where the damage sugar does to the body is explained in a short version by Sean Croxton of Underground Wellness. I have also posted an article for you to read written in the New York Times by leading sugar expert Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology.  Gary Taubes also has thoughts on sugar and carbs in his book Good Calories Bad Calories but I have not explored those.

A couple of things that make sugar scary to me:
1) Its addictive! When I started my no sugar regiment it was, actually is, very tough. I think about it and want it a lot. The scary thing about it is that most people don't know their addicts, hence all the obesity and other dangerous health problems. Sugar has also been linked to depression and what do some people do when depressed, eat, it's a horrible cycle. And because eating is socially acceptable, no one thinks their doing anything wrong. Sugar is seductive. You see all the commercials with the women who are enticed by their sweets. The worst are the yogurt commercials! The women are bragging about how much weight they've lost by eating these yogurts that taste like desserts. Notice, it's only women in these commercials, the industries are targeting our emotions and insecurities lonelyness and buying power!

2) Like I mentioned in my 1st paragraph, I, like most of us, believed at one time that fat was bad. I've since learned better and love my fat, good quality, grass fed, and or aleast organic fat. I'll do a post about that another time. I bring fat up to say that when most dairy is made to be no and low fat the companies really bump up the sugar amounts. Pay attention to all those flavored yogurts and look at how much sugar they have. Lets say you have a flavored yogurt and an apple and sugar in your coffee - that's a lot of sugar, just in your morning. That may seem like a pretty "healthy" breakfast right?  Be aware - there are about 21 grams of sugar in the average flavored (artificially) yogurt, a small/medium apple can have about 13 or so grams of sugar and we can't really gage how much coffee has cause it's different for every one. Ready for math - 4 grams of sugar equals 1 tablespoon, so you figure, about 6 tablespoons of sugar in yogurt ( If  "flavored"), about 31/2 table spoons in the apple and however many tablespoons you put in your coffee, that's about 10 table spoon of sugar plus whatever you put in your coffee/tea and that's just breakfast! That in conjunction with the sugar you'll eat the rest of the day, including other sweets, breads and pizza/pasta (even whole wheat) really adds up, without us even thinking about it. Also something to really be carful with are the serving sizes. Most drinks are 2 serving sizes, a pint of ice cream 3 or 4. Crackers and cookies are about 2 or 3 per servings. And I don't know about you but I can eat a pint of ice cream alone and I rarely eat just 2 or 3 cookies. Serving sizes are tricky because most juices are about 24grams of sugar or more per serving and a serving is usually an 8oz cup. And from an ethical stand point I can't stand those non fat, fake yogurt places. But I will enjoy a plain at PB with fruit once in a blue moon though. I highly take it into account everthing I eat in terms of sugar content.

So now, a couple of changes I’ve made.
I've always believed in drinking water but I really like this organic apple cider that my partner buys and even though it's staight fruit sugar from crushed apples, its still sugar. So when I’m in the mood and when I'm giving it to Jas I dilute it. It's actually a money saver. He buys it and I split it into 2 jugs and fill them with filtered water and BAM 2 for the price of one! There is a another juice I allow her to have it's 10grams of sugar pouch but like I take my sugar (and not just treats) into consideration for the day, I do the same for her. My daughter is an huge water drinker so I don't worry so much, but I do pay attention. She also is an avid milk drinker and plain is just fine for her. We drink whole grass fed and or raw when we can get it. Every once and a while I'll put some chocolate Stevia (Stevia is a non-caloric herb that is a member of the Chrysanthemum family that grows wild as a small shrub) in her milk as a treat. Stevia in it's closest to raw form should be a white powder. With that said, I don't keep actual sugar in my house, I find now that I don't really need it. But if you want to have something on hand date sugar, coconut sugar and maple crystals are fine, orgainic of course. I'm carful with Jaslynn's "treats" too. Fruit leather has lots of concentrated sugar and so do those applesauce pouches. A couple of those treats in one day can add up quick. And with apple pouches (which dad buys, blessed his heart) there is no fiber or other nutrients she can get from plain old actual apple etc.
I have started making oatmeal with out sugar and it taste just fine and my daughter has even gotten used to it. I make it taste good with a couple of things; you can add cinnamon, cloves or nutmeg (just a touch, its strong) cream, butter, and coconut oil. You could of course throw some good quality (not sugar laden) dried fruit or even fresh fruit in. You can do this for yogurt too. I got caught up in the flavored organic yogurt/yogurt tubes trick too, paid no mind the sugar count - its crazy! Now I buy plain and hook it up. There is a brand that I like now that uses' grass-fed dairy, their coconut flavored has I think 6 grams of sugar and the vanilla has 9. So when Jas and I are in the mood for flavor I will get a couple of those too. My worse habit was eating a bowl of sweet cereal at night while watching bad tv, talk about depressed. How I'm getting over that is to drink a big cup of tea at night. Something with flavor, I don't consume caffeine so there are not that many great options for me but I have come to love spearmint and peppermint or course camomile is always good. My favorite with a splash of half and half is honey bush caramel. It's warm, tasty and satisfying, no sugar needed!

So as you can see, like me, you can also find a positive substitute for sugar and find ways to curb your cravings. I hope you can also see you don't have to change every single thing, just pay attention to you sugar in take and take the steps to moderate. Hope I’m not leaving anything out. If you have any questions please feel free. And oh yeah, I've lost 3lbs! I can't imagine what'll happen if I actually worked out ;o) That's the next battle!

Lcyerra sent you a video: "Sugar: The Bitter Truth (The SHORT Version)"

	help center | e-mail options | report spam
Lcyerra has shared a video with you on YouTube: A short explaination on how sugar damages the body. Sugar: The Bitter Truth (The SHORT Version) Watch Dr. Lustig's LONG version at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM Catch NEW videos and blogs ONLY at http://www.undergroundwellness.com ! Sign up on the website to receive video notifications. TWEET ME at http://www.twitter.com/ugwellness ORDER Protandim at http://www.undergroundwellness.com/protandim http://www.facebook.com/undergroundwellness http://www.facebook.com/justeatrealfood http://www.blogtalkradio.com/undergroundwellness
© 2011 YouTube, LLC 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066

Lcyerra sent you a video: "Sugar: The Real Truth"

	help center | e-mail options | report spam
Lcyerra has shared a video with you on YouTube: loved this Sugar: The Real Truth ...Putting the USDA Recommendations in Perspective: To better grasp the USDA sugar recommendations, Consider that the average 12 to 19-year-old boy consumes about 2,750 calories and 1 ½ cans of soda with 15 teaspoons of sugars a day; the average girl consumes about 1,850 calories and one can with 10 teaspoons of sugars. Thus, typical teens just about hit their recommended refined-sugars limit from soft drinks alone. Adding in fruit drinks, candy, cookies, cake, ice cream, and other sugary foods, most teenagers exceed those recommendations by a large margin... For annotations of this video see: http://www.drbonine.com/sugar_movie_bibliography.html
© 2011 YouTube, LLC 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066

I love my fat.

Latest Research Debunks The Saturated Fat Diet Myths. 

Not the greatest article on this, I'll find better ones. 

http://t.co/ehZw0jt

Sent from my iPhone

Fwd: Is Sugar Toxic? - NYTimes.com

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Linda <lcyerra1@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Aug 7, 2011 at 8:34 PM
Subject: Is Sugar Toxic? - NYTimes.com
To: Linda <lcyerra1@gmail.com>


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html?pagewanted=all


Sent from my iPhone

--

Peace & Blessings

          Linda

Fwd: Fooducate Blog - Insurance Companies Say: Quit the Fizzy Pop

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Fooducate <info@fooducate.com>
Date: August 20, 2011 8:13:32 PM EDT
To: lcyerra1@gmail.com
Subject: Fooducate Blog - Insurance Companies Say: Quit the Fizzy Pop

Fooducate Blog - Insurance Companies Say: Quit the Fizzy Pop

---

Insurance Companies Say: Quit the Fizzy Pop Posted: 20 Aug 2011 05:48 AM PDT Via: Term Life Insurance Check out this infographic, published not by doctors, not by dietitians, and not by the government. This "propaganda" is disseminated by a for-profit organization that has a direct financial interest in reducing your junk food intake – an insurance company. For the full size graphic, click here. The checklist of cola induced maladies includes: asthma kidney disease due to phosphoric acid diabetes obesity heart disease tooth decay osteoporosis reproductive problems Perhaps this is a good time to point out that a family of 4 can save $500 a year simply by switching from soft drinks to tap water. This could well be the best health decision you'll ever make. [h/t to YG and The Kitchn] Get Fooducated: iPhone App Android App RSS Subscription or Email Subscription Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/fooducate on facebook: facebook.com/fooducate

You are subscribed to email updates from Fooducate To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

http://t.co/B5NxGSE

Sent from my iPhone

http://ow.ly/63RIc

Sent from my iPhone

Love when this happens

http://t.co/ptNDLEk

Sent from my iPhone

http://t.co/79GMyde

Sent from my iPhone

Hi all

Just an fyi on why I haven't posted anything this week. I'm trying to get my numbers up!
I'm also getting some info on the next topic I'll be writing about. Of course it will be based mostly on my experiance but there's lots of info behind it as well and I'm trying to figure out how to share it properly.
Thanks for your support - and please share.

Lcyerra sent you a video: "GMO Film Project Sizzler"

	help center | e-mail options | report spam
Lcyerra has shared a video with you on YouTube: a must see GMO Film Project Sizzler KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN: http://goo.gl/jwQ1A WEBSITE: http://www.gmofilm.com/ Today in the United States, by the simple act of feeding ourselves, we unwittingly participate in the largest experiment ever conducted on human beings. Massive agro-chemical companies like Monsanto (Agent Orange) and Dow (Napalm) are feeding us genetically-modified food, GMO's, that have never been fully tested and aren't labeled. This small handful of corporations are tightening their grip on the world's food supply—buying, modifying, and patenting seeds to ensure total control over everything we eat. The GMO Film Project (Untitled) tells the story of a father's discovery of GMO's through the symbolic act of poor Haitian farmers burning seeds in defiance of Monsanto's gift of 475 tons of hybrid corn and vegetable seeds to Haiti shortly after the devastating earthquake. After a journey to Haiti to learn why hungry farmers would burn seeds, the real awakening of w... more
© 2011 YouTube, LLC 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066

What's it gonna be about ?

This is the question I've been plagued with ever since I started telling people about my blog. What's it gonna be about, well......it's going to be about my journey. About what I think is interesting in the health/food world and about all the different things I'll try throughout the journey. I will use this forum and the people who join it to hold me accountable for preaching health. I will share recipes, stories and articles that I think people should read and share information I think people should know. I will share tips on how I get my daughter to eat well (and by get I mean bribe & trick ;o)) how I buy great food on a budget and I will answer questions.
And of course it wouldn't be real with out the story of any failure I may encounter. Though I try really hard to eat well, I am about 30lbs over weight, I'll tell you why in my next post.

They say writing can be therapeutic, that's cool because the relationship between people and food can be very emotional (I know for me it is) so this will also be my outlet for feelings of frustration and or celebration regarding my journey throughout this health maze.

I'm going to try and get on a regular schedule to post. I thought about doing a daily blog of what I eat to share and keep my on track but I can do that on Twitter (follow me @jazzyhealth) you can see what I tweet on the side of my blog. I do have other interests so my tweets will probably be about 80% food 20% other stuff.

So I think that about covers it as far as what my blog will be about.
I will post on Sunday to let you know where I am in the maze nowadays.
Until then eat some greens and thanks for your support!

Fwd: Great 2 Minute GMO video!

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Institute for Responsible Technology <webmaster@responsibletechnology.org>
Date: August 4, 2011 4:32:52 PM EDT
To: lcyerra1@gmail.com
Subject: Great 2 Minute GMO video!
Reply-To: webmaster@responsibletechnology.org

Enjoy the fun new 2.5 minute GMO video Food Fight, produced by Alex Bogusky. Alex was the man behind the Truth Campaign against tobacco, and was named Creative Director of the Decade by Adweek.

Click here, and then scroll to the bottom of the page to find the new video. The top of that page also features a GMO T-shirt contest with the same Food Fight theme. So after you watch the video and send the link to your friends, please vote for your favorite T-shirt design. Or submit your own.

The chosen designer gets:

• $500 Cash
• A $500 Threadless gift certificate
  
• An iPad2, provided by EcoBonus.com preloaded with IRT's ShopNoGMO app
  
• An ebook of Jeffrey M. Smith's international bestseller Seeds of Deception (due out soon in Ebook format)
  

And the contest sponsor Threadless will sell the chosen design on its site, and give 25% of all sales to our Institute for Responsible Technology—to help us reach the tipping point of consumer rejection against GMOs.

Designs are posted for 7 days, with the final submission date of August 15th. Judging goes till August 22nd.
Help us win the FOOD FIGHT.
 
Safe Eating,

Jeffrey M. Smith
Director
Institute for Responsible Technology

 

------------------------
To ensure you receive updates from ResponsibleTechnology.org in your inbox (not to bulk or junk folders), please add webmaster@responsibletechnology.org to your address book. You have received this email through your subscription to this campaign's email list.  If you did not subscribe, or would no longer like to receive email updates unsubscribe here.

To update your email address or change your subscription details, click here.

http://deck.ly/~c1Irs

Sent from my iPhone

http://ow.ly/5V2EB

Sent from my iPhone

http://bit.ly/nuq5Jm

Sent from my iPhone

Where I am in the food maze...

Anyone close to me knows that I’m passionate about food and work hard to
try and maintain a healthful diet and life. And with all the mis-information out there it can be difficult.

Below are some things I'm doing to make changes for the better. I'm also often asked how I get my 7 year old daughter to eat healthy food. The answer is, it's tricky, requires consistency and is really a lifestyle choice. I've been "training" her (& myself) since she was very young and still can get
some resistance. I realize that I can't control every single thing she eats and I have learned
to let go, a little, when we are not home. But at home, there are some things that just won't make it to my kitchen - here's a condensed list: I do not purchase foods that contain msg (very tricky one), soybean oil (or soy anything), canola or cotton seed oil, foods with dyes. Breads, crackers and pastas that have been enriched, I actually try not to eat any of those anyway if I can avoid it. I stay away from all GMO foods, soy, canola oil, corn, alfalfa sprouts and yellow or little neck squash. You can avoid gmo by buying organic, as organic by "law" can not contain gmo's. You can also avoid them by limiting the processed foods you buy. I don't buy or eat anything containing these gmo foods. You can go to responsibletechnology.com  to learn more. Even when something is organic I still check for these things and won't buy them, but that is a personal choice. We also don't use tooth paste with floride in it.

 The trick is, if it’s not in the house it can’t be a choice! Going food shopping alone and being able to take your time and read ingredients without a little one begging for the cereal or cookies that are brightly colored and eye level to them helps with this. Marketing is a bitch. The companies know exactly who they're marketing to and where to put things in the stores.

Here's what's important to me
* I go food shopping 2 or 3 times a week. I buy foods with as little ingredients as
possible, and 90% of my food is organic and or local.  I shop for most of my veggies and herbs at the farmers markets. It's so important to support them!
* I cook dinner 6 nights a week!
* I cook with olive oil (not extra virgin), coconut oil (which has amazing
health benefits) & butter (real butter). NO CANOLA OIL
* All dairy and meat is grass fed and or at least organic. I actually haven't had chicken in a while because I have not found a place in the city that sells it grass fed/free range. Love eggs ( the whole egg ) get them free range room the farmers market. And all my seafood is wild caught never farmed.

* We have lots of omega 3. I sprinkle ground flax seeds in most dishes and we eat salmon
(not farm raised) and sardines weekly. I also supplement my daughter giving her krill oil
& making sure her vitamins include D.

These are some of the methods of health I chose based on my own research.
I urge anyone who wants to get "healthy" or change their lifestyle to do their own. I
figured with obesity, heart disease, diabetes, autism, digestive issues, depression and many other ailments
(a lot which are faced by many children today) at such high rates, I had to do something
different. Food doesn't just fuel the body; it feeds the brain as well. I could not rely on a
system that doesn't seem to be working to guide my family to physical & mental health.
So that's my deal, this is what i'm doing for now. 

I'm here and willing to share why I buy what I buy, what/how I cook with it and other things I do to try and be healthy. I am also open to questions and/or different information anyone is willing to share.

And the jorurney continues but kinda begins again

So my first post was Feb. 2009 and since then it been a long hard road.
My weight went up due to poor emotional eating.
I was in a rut. You know how life gets, I let my problems get the best of me and it affected my eating big time and it showed in my weigtht.

For some reason the strict eating rules that I enforced on my daughter only applied to me during dinner time, when I cooked for her and we ate together.
And when I say strict, I mean If my mother was spending time with her and took her to Burger King I would have a fit and that's just 1 example. So whenever she goes over to grandma's now I send meals, I mean maybe once in the bluest moon you could ever see, she can go.
I guess I didn't care about myself as much as I cared about my daughter. I find that's very typical in a lot of moms though, but we gotta get it together ladies!!!!

Because of my height, 5'8" and 1/2, it wasn't noticeable for a while. Now almost 200llbs, it is.
Since my weight is mostly in my stomach area, that puts me at a greater risk for heart disease. The toughest thing for me recently is learning that there is a 60% chance one of my moms arteries is cloged and her cholestoral is very high.

That's when my food interest turned into an eating foods that will help me live long interest, an eating foods that keep my body clean and  functioning properly interests, an eating foods that wont kill me even if they claim ( and I used the word claim very strongly ) to be healthy interests.
Now more than ever it's not just about losing weight but gaining life.

I've learned so much in the past 6 months. In my journey these years I've gone organic, I've tired vegetarianism and veganism and now I guess I'm at the "flexetarianism" stage.

So this is just a catch up. I'm off to wash and braid my daughters hair using all natural products and oils of course.
I will post later this week about what I thought I knew and what changes I've made recently.

Until then
Peace, love and health !!!

How my daughter changed my life

I had never paid attention to the good and bad of food. Of course you grow up knowing that fruits and veggies are good for you. I'm talking about the words you can't pronounce and the artery clogging ingredients in food. Who knew about that?

The only veggies I ate were either beans ( I'm Puerto Rican ) and corn or string beans out of the can. I got a bit of fruit from my grandmother and peaches from free lunch in the summer time.

But I had tons of other crap. From the " butter " my mom used, the free "cheese" we got or the kool aid we drank, with tons of sugar, of course. We would eat spam like it was going out of business and potted "meat" and crackers was slamming. And my favorite of all time, large cans of Ravioli, with white bread and Pepsi. I would dig in the pot and sneak more every time we had it, I loved it.
My mom the whole time doing the best she could, of course!

My grandmother would make a sweet treat called limbe, don't know if  I'm spelling it right, probably not, but it was good and sweet. It was made with sweet condensed milk ( which I would guzzle ) coconut milk, cream and sugar of course. She would freeze it and we would eat it in the summer time. Her (white) rice pudding was also full of sugar and good. She would also fry white rice and we would eat bags of it. My grandmother did always have mangoes and a fruit she called "Chinese apple" come to find out it was really pomegranate, so there goes some fruit.

Growing up I ate tons of junk food - the savory kind and the sweet kind.  I would sit on the steps of my building and eat $2 ribs tips from the Chinese spot. Sandwiches made with $1 packs of "deli meat" with gov. cheese and no name brand bread. Now and laters, lemon heads, bags and bags of chips. I'm surprised my fingers are not permanently orange from all the bags of crunchy cheese doodles I would eat. I could go on and on about the gross - good food - I ate, but I digress!
The point was we were poor and had no clue about how to eat well. Nor would we have had  the money to buy the "better food" if we did.

Fast forward years and years, I'm out of work and have ample time to fall in love with watching cooking on T.V.  I'm not cooking yet but am obsessed with watching.
Next, I give birth to my daughter, I'm over weight not by much but enough and I join Weight Watchers with my sister hoping for some help to lose weight. It was an ok experience but I stop going. I did get something from it. Even though I was watching cooking shows, there wasn't a big emphasis on health. I got eating brown rice, veggies and lean meat from Weight Watchers.

When it was time for my daughter to eat real food, I wanted it to be "good" food. She had already been drinking formula with DHA and HRA in it, which is good for the brain and eye development. I learned that by researching the best formula for infants, since she had not taken to breastfeeding. I just wanted to build on that beginning.

I took what I learned about healthy food at Weight Watchers and started learning more and even started cooking. I was now reading ingredients when I shopped.
I have a bad stomach and even had a hernia repaired. I'm pretty sure my diet had something to do with that. With the knowledge I had gained there was just no way my daughter was going to eat like I did.

So this is where my healthy eating journey starts. The little knowledge I had gotten changed me, actually scared me. From then on I started watching everything we ate.

Now I know some stuff.  I'm also learning all the time. I have a good friend who's been a chef for 20 years, another who is a new chef (vegan) and a couple of good ole foodie friends. We talk food all the time. Learning about health and food has become my passion!

The press person at my job last year came to me and said the Daily News wants to interview a single mom about her food shopping on a budget in the city, will you do the interview? I thought nobody wants to hear about what I do and buy, but she said, yes they do.
I did the article and was pleasantly surprised by the response. It wasn't all good, cause I didn't know much yet, but it wasn't all bad either. I thought, maybe I have something here.

In this blog I just hope to share what I know, what works for me and what I continue to learn with anyone who cares. 

I'm certainly no expert by any means, not a Chef or a Nutritionist. And anyone who reads my blog should definitely do their own research regarding anything I post.

So this is my intro.

Until next time, I wish everyone good health, peace and blessings

Lcyerra