Sugar: the battle continues with new WHO guidance

Sugar has been the most difficult of the three food vices — sugar, fat and salt — for me to cut down on since my angioplasty. I find my food life without it hideously boring and old man-ish, so I’ve been eating more fruit to get it, despite warnings about the “bad” sugar in such things as grapes, for example.

Once my favorites, Hostess HoHos are off my diet today, but I will never forget them.

The first nutritionist I saw after my angioplasty in 2012 said to eat no more than 40 grams of sugar a day, either added to foods or in foods naturally (such as in fruit). I’ve found that level impossible. I’ve since read there is no recommended daily sugar allowance, even for healthy people. But a recent article on the World Health Organization talking about sugar does provide some new guidance — guidance which makes me extremely sad, unfortunately. Continue reading “Sugar: the battle continues with new WHO guidance” →

March 12, 2014 4

Food trainers don’t eat, but I once loved

Celebrity fitness trainers aren’t people I normally pay much attention to, but I was drawn to a recent article entitled 8 Foods Celebrity Fitness Trainers Won’t Eat because I wondered what the eight foods could be.

Not surprisingly, the list included foods I once loved, like fried foods, diet soda, bread, crackers and croutons. But surprisingly, some foods I’ve taken to eating since my angioplasty also made the list. These included yogurt, bananas and grapes.

What would a celebrity trainer say about Drake's Yodels? — What would a celebrity trainer say about Drake’s Yodels?

Yogurt is called out by one trainer because most yogurts are high in sugar. I normally look for the sugar-free yogurts, but that opens the debate about what sweetener is used instead in those. Continue reading “Food trainers don’t eat, but I once loved” →

March 5, 2014 1

New nutrition labels and how they show salt, fat and sugar

Nutrition labels, or more accurately nutrition information panels on food and beverage labels, are getting a makeover, the Food and Drug Administration announced last week. My first reaction: disappointment that salt content isn’t being targeted and that the FDA didn’t significantly reduce what it recommends as daily salt intake for an adult.

“The FDA proposal also reduces the daily recommendation on sodium to 2,300 milligrams from 2,400, which the Center for Science in the Public Interest said isn’t enough. The daily value should be reduced to 1,500 milligrams, the nonprofit advocacy group said,” reported Bloomberg.

Since my angioplasty, nutritionists have told me to limit salt intake to 1,500 mgs a day. I’ve aimed for 1,200, believing products can have more salt than advertised, especially when it comes to restaurant food. Continue reading “New nutrition labels and how they show salt, fat and sugar” →

March 3, 2014 1

Fat-free, sugar-free foods: checks the labels before buying

I am an advocate of finding tasty fat-free and sugar-free treats to replace ones you have to give up when you’re on a low-fat, low-sugar, low-salt diet as I am. But you have to check all ingredients on such offerings, not just the levels of the things you’re trying to reduce.

That was brought home in a recent article I saw from the Cleveland Clinic. “The High Cost of ‘Free’ Foods. The truth about fat-free and sugar-free products,” has some warnings about fat-free and other free-from foods.

“Think twice before reaching for that fat-free cookie or sugar-free ice cream bar as an afternoon snack.

“In most cases, you’re better off having the real thing in moderate portions, says Kristin Kirkpatrick, MS, RD, LD, wellness manager at Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Institute.

“The issue, Kirkpatrick says, is that choosing heavily processed foods over natural foods often means taking in too many additives and refined ingredients with questionable nutritional value,” the article states.

When I write about say, fat-free or low-fat cookies I‘ve found, I also include sugar levels so you know whether sugar has been upped to compensate for the lower fat. Unfortunately we have to be constantly reading labels and evaluating what we eat, nothing seems without perils at the moment. I only hope science progresses past this frightening time in our food lives and finds out it’s ok to eat fun foods again some time soon.
John

February 14, 2014 2

Sugar and heart disease: is sugar deadly?

Sugar has been the one vice (of fat, salt and sugar) that I have had the most difficulty dropping since my angioplasty 18 months ago. I feel like without it, in things like frozen yogurt and low-fat cookies, my food life would be endlessly boring.

so I was extremely saddened to see reports of a new study linking sugar and heart disease.

nutrition labeling — A 3 Musketeers bar nutrition panel, is sugar the culprit for heart problems, rather than the fat or salt we also need to watch?

A CBS News report on this study states:

“Having a cinnamon roll with your morning coffee, a super-sized sugary soda at lunch and a scoop of ice cream after dinner would put you in the highest risk category in the study. That means your chance of dying prematurely from heart problems is nearly three times greater than for people who eat only foods with little added sugar. Continue reading “Sugar and heart disease: is sugar deadly?” →

February 10, 2014 1

Sugar or Fat? Which turns you on more?

Sugar, we all crave it and at some level we all know we crave it. Our bodies were conditioned to thousands of years ago when that compulsion helped us survive. Christmas brings out the Christmas candy in every stocking, Christmas cakes, a festival of sugar, in other words.

So when a new study comes out telling us the sugar’s the thing, should we be surprised? Apparently some researchers were, reports the New York Times and others recently.

The study gave 100 high school students milk shakes that were either high in sugar and low in fat or low in sugar and high in fat. Each type had the same calorie content. The sugar-laden shakes lit up pleasure centers in the brain more effectively than the fat ones. Sugar was a more powerful stimulus than fat, they found.

We all crave sugar, like I did during this pie-eating contest a few years ago. No pie for me today, thanks to my angioplasty.

Continue reading →

December 26, 2013 0

IFT report — food industry trying to help our health?

I just attended a food industry ingredients show as part of my day job. It was fascinating to me to see all the ingredient companies pushing substitutes for salt, sugar or high fructose corn syrup.

Other companies were touting gluten-free, high fiber and protein source products. I left thinking the food business is starting to get the message that people want to eat healthier.

Or maybe it’s just worried the government will start regulating salt and fat content. Either way, the outcome hopefully will mean more products that those of us on restricted diets can eat and enjoy. Continue reading “IFT report — food industry trying to help our health?” →

July 17, 2013 0

How Will Having Angioplasty Change What I Eat?

Having angioplasty August 13, 2012, has completely changed what I eat. It has made me a man on a restricted diet, cutting out fat, salt and sugar whenever possible. And it also has greatly changed me. In the four months since the surgery, I’ve lost 23 pounds and now weigh roughly 193 pounds.

In recent years, I’ve cut out or cut back on many of my favorite foods. Pizza and Chinese food, for example, which I once ate weekly, are now a rarity for me. The same can be said for one-pound T-bone steaks and many cheese-filled Italian dishes which I’ve reserved for only holidays. Potato chips and french fries, once daily items for me, also are mostly gone from my diet.

Days of eating giant meatball subs like this one are over for me.

Continue reading →

December 18, 2012 1

Welcome to Living on a Restricted Diet

Hello everyone, welcome to my new food blog, Living on a Restricted Diet. If that title sounds grim, I apologize, it’s meant to simply sound like the reality many of us Baby Boomers face as we get older and deal with more health-related issues that impact how we eat.

In August, 2012, I had an angioplasty done to open an 80% blocked artery to my heart, for example. Since that event, I have completely changed my eating routine, giving up scores of foods I truly loved. I was one of those people who lived to eat rather than simply ate to live. So it’s been a painful process for me.

Trays fo stuffed shells were once my Super Bowl party main course. No more though.

But I’ve learned valuable lessons along the way, along with creating my own no-salt, no-sugar, no-fat recipes, and want to share them with you. I also want to hear what you’ve done because I have no illusion that my approach is the only correct one. I leave that kind of hubris to those writing other food blogs, including one I founded and left after it adopted an incredibly self-righteous tone that included repeatedly insulting me and what I was going through. Continue reading “Welcome to Living on a Restricted Diet” →

December 12, 2012 0

Tag: sugar