What My Brother Told Me

My brother and I were talking on the telephone recently. We ended up talking about sweets and smoking. He quit smoking and said he did it just like that. (It’s true, he decided to quit and he just did.) He said he’s had a puff off three cigarettes since he quit several years ago. He could name the times.

A friend of his found out he quit and she asked him how he did it.

“Well, it’s pretty simple,” he told her, “Just stop smoking!”

She retorted, “That’s it? There has to be more to it than that.”

He said it was that simple. She didn’t believe him and so he asked her if she likes money. She said she did. He asked if she could use more money. She said she could. He asked her why she doesn’t go and rob a bank.

“That’s crazy,” she said.

It’s true. It would be crazy for her to go and rob a bank. But still he asked her why she didn’t go and do it anyway.

“It’s against the law, and it’s wrong,” she said.

But that wasn’t his point. His point was that she didn’t go and rob a bank not because it’s wrong, but because she is in control of her own life. She has the ability to choose not to rob the bank.

She is in control.

In the same way, you choose to eat or not to eat sweets. You make the choice.

There is a difference between a sugar addict and a heroine addict. I highly doubt a sugar addict would break into a house and steal jewelry from someone’s dresser drawer to sell for money to buy cookies. First of all, cookies can be purchased nearly anywhere for pocket change and your family and friends will usually smile through supplying you with a sugar fix. Sugar is everywhere and it’s cheap.

So if sugar doesn’t make you go buy it and eat it, what does?

YOU. You make the choice.

“Of course you might use some nicotine gum and you’ll probably snack more during the first few weeks,” my brother added.

My point in telling you this is that the first thing you must do is decide you want to stop being sweet and then you have to make it happen. To “get off sugar” is like deciding you want to earn more money. After the decision is made you have to take action and start to figure out how you’re going to do it. Then it takes time and effort. You can stop eating sweets on your own—right now—if you’re ready. But then reality kicks in; avoiding sugar is a choice that has to be made by you over and over and over again.

Sugar-free Carob Chip Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup of wheat flour
baking soda
2 eggs
vanilla
white grape juice concentrate
3/4 stick of butter
oats
carob chips

Instructions:

Mix 1/2 cup of flour, butter (softened), baking soda.
Add eggs, vanilla, grape juice, and another 1/2 cup flour, oats.

If it’s dry you can add water or milk.

Mix in carob chips. 

Place on un-greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 315 degrees until done.

Sorry about the lack of exact measurements, I tend to just shake a little of this-or-than into the mix and judge the amount visually. If you have been eating sweets then the results of this recipe will taste like cardboard. However, if you’ve been off sweets for a while then these are pretty darn nice!

Addendum: Carob contains natural sugars. However, unsweetened carob has less natural sugars than sweetened chocolate and therefore does not cause me to want to binge on it.

Should Sweets Be Taxed?

There has been talk of a new “soda tax,” as it is being called, that will tax sugary drinks to help pay for health care.¹  Coke and Pepsi, Rockstar Energy Drink and Gatorade would all be eligible for the new tax. As you can imagine, beverage companies are not happy.

Mutar Kent, CEO of the Coca-Cola Company, recently wrote an op-ed article in the Wall Street Journal arguing that it is a lack of exercise and not drinking soda that makes Americans fat.

Mr. Kent states, “Policy makers should stop spending their valuable time demonizing an industry that directly employs more than 220,000 people in the U.S., and through supporting industries, an additional three million. Instead, business and government should come together to help encourage greater physical activity and sensible eating and drinking, while allowing Americans to enjoy the simple pleasure of a Coca-Cola.” ²

Bottom line? Don’t stop drinking sugar drinks, just exercise more! What worries me about this is that the Coca-Cola Company is now partnering with the American Academy of Family Physicians to help teach consumers about nutrition. ³

This means that Coke (all-American sugar water fizzy drink manufacturer) is going to be the first corporate partner to work with AAFP on educational materials for your family.

“The AAFP recognizes the significant influence that consumer companies have on consumer health,” said Lori Heim, M.D., president-elect of the AAFP. “We look forward to working with The Coca-Cola Company, and other companies in the future, on the development of educational materials to teach consumers how to make the right choices and incorporate the products they love into a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.”

Sources:

1. Wall Street Journal

2. Wall Street Journal

3. American Academy of Family Physicians

Alternative Halloween Hand Outs

For those of you who celebrate Halloween, what will you be handing out this year? When you were a kid, did it annoy you when people gave out something other than candy on Halloween?

Do you go to the store and buy a few bags of your favorite candies, stick them in a huge salad bowl and then secretly hope you don’t get too many tick-or-treaters? If so, does that make you feel guilty?

Why is it that some of us feel guilty about having a huge bowl of candy in the house—knowing we’re going to eat all of it ourselves—and yet we’re fine with handing out tons of sugary crap to all the kids in our neighborhood?

I have vivid memories of trick-or-treating and when people broke from convention they always seemed to give out something “heavy handed” like a toothbrush. No fun!

There are many things that you can hand out on Halloween besides candy and sweets. Here are a few ideas, please add your own. Perhaps we can start a new paradigm.

• Juice Boxes - with real fruit juice.
• Cool Erasers
• Mini Pretzel Bags
• Goldfish - real, live ones in bags of water (memories for a lifetime!)
• Bat or Spider Rings
• Glow-in-the-Dark Fangs!
• iTunes (okay, that’s expensive - are you listening Apple?)
• Rubber balls
• Something you made yourself
• Crazy glue — just kidding!

What else can we hand out that’s fun but not part of the sugar machine?

10 Tips That Will Help You Quit Sugar

1. Keep It A Secret

You’re at your friend’s house for dinner. Dessert comes and you announce, “No thanks, I am quitting sugar.” The most common reaction is laughter, surprise and disbelief followed by your friend attempting to temp you into just one bite. Instead of telling them you are on a mission, quietly say you just don’t feel like it. Suddenly they’re concerned, offer you some fruit or something else, and soon the situation passes.

2. Get Rid of the Stuff

Get rid of all the tempting foods from your kitchen, pantry, closet, cupboards, car, purse, backpack, desk, etc. Wherever you keep it get rid of it! Even if you get a hankering for something sweet, it’s a lot hard to eat sugar when it’s not there.

3. Replace Sugary Snacks with Healthy Foods

When you’re hungry for a candy bar but you don’t have any in the house, you’ve got to eat something. Stock up on all the good things you like to eat and you’ll end up eating more of them.

4. Bring Dessert to Parties

People do not usually make healthy, sugar-free desserts. When you go to a friend’s for dinner, bring a fruit salad or some other type of sugar free dessert for you and everyone.

5. Avoid the Places You Used to Go

If you are accustomed to eating lunch in the break room and that includes having some cookies from the cookie jar, a free soda from the tap and some candy from the candy vending machine, then start eating someplace else. Eat at your desk. Eat outside. Take a walk. It is not like you will never go back to the lunchroom, but while you transition from a sweetie to an unsweet person, staying away helps.

6. Write Down Everything You Eat

Include how much you paid as well. You will be surprised at the end of the week.

7. Don’t Do It Alone

If you can, find a friend and avoid sweets together. It really helps to be able to discuss what you’re going through with others who are also going through the same thing.

8. Expect to Eat MORE

When you first quit sweets you will end up actually eating more (healthy) foods in order to satisfy your sweet cravings. This will pass.

9. Read Books & Websites

There is tons of information on the subject of sugar. Read, read, read and learn, learn, learn.

10. Create An Outlet

Create a blog. Keep a personal journal. Make drawings. Cut the lawn. Feed the birds. Find or figure out an activity that you like to do and do it whenever you have the sweet cravings. It will not be easy at first, but in time you will be able to change your behavior.

Little Sugar Addicts: Why You Can’t Quit Sugar

Ever wonder why you can’t quit sugar? It’s probably because you are too old to have videos of yourself grabbing for, overeating, overacting to, and being rewarded for all of your cute’n’sweet behavior. With positive reinforcement at such a young age it’s no wonder we just can’t stop ourselves…

Benefits of Stevia Website Launched

The nonprofit association Calorie Control Council launched a new website, SteviaBenefits.org, to provide “accurate and reliable information” regarding stevia, a natural, zero calorie sweetener.

The site features recipes, frequently asked questions, and links to external sites such as http://www.caloriecontrol.org, http://www.purevia.com, http://www.steviaextractintheraw.com, http://www.suncrystals.com, http://www.truvia.com, and http://www.fda.gov.

But wait a minute! Truvia? Purevia? Those are Coke and Pepsi’s trade marked brands of Stevia extract. When selecting their external links, why did the Calorie Control Council choose so few companies to plug?

I think we’re in for something big. With reports of sugar shortages and GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status given to Purevia and Truvia, the American Heart Association’s recent report about how Americans should cut down on sugar, and the launch of informative websites about Stevia such as SteviaBenefits.org, one might think we are on the edge of a national push toward eating Stevia sweetened food products.

Stevia is still considered a dietary supplement. That means you can find Stevia sold at your local health food store as if it were some kind of vitamin powder (or liquid). Until Stevia itself gets GRAS status it cannot be used in commercial food products such as cookies or candy bars. However, Coke and Pepsi have created their own versions of Stevia which are a form of Stevia-based sugar alcohol. That’s Truvia and Purevia.

I wonder if the FDA will give GRAS status approval to all Stevia based sweeteners or will they continue to only pass on patented name brand (Coke, Pepsi, etc.) versions of Stevia extracts. I know at least one Stevia company that has submitted their Stevia to the FDA for approval with no word thus far. There’s big money and politics in the sugar and Stevia industries. My hope is that Stevia gets the green light and that it turns out to be the wonder-sweetener it claims it to be.

Check Out Sugar Stacks

I’m not sure who they are, but the people behind Sugar Stacks must hate corporate-pushed sugar addiction as much as I!

The website simply shows images of products along with a corresponding amount of sugar cubes representing the amount of sugar in that product, like so:

They’ve also started a new blog called Sugar Delirium that’s worth the read.

I find it interesting that the authors of the site have chosen to remain anonymous (at the time of this writing). Perhaps they’re worried that large corporations will come after them. It sounds like a movie, doesn’t it?

“Corporate hit men raid renegade anti-sugar group’s offices. Says anti-sugar propaganda website was damaging their credibility. The unsweet terrorists have been detained and are being water boarded with High Fructose Corn Syrup. Officials anticipate the terrorists will soon give up the password to their website so the sugar companies can erase the offending website.”