I have read a book recently, about the journey of a Zen Monk towards enlightenment, (sadly the author, Soko Morinaga Roshi died in 1995), it was a lovely read, heart warming and heart breaking in parts too. What these monks have to endure to even get into a monostary is amazing, however, the important message of the book was relating this journey towards our own lives.
After reading the book, and letting it stay in my thoughts for a while, I came to the realisation, that any moment and all moments in life, are 'once in a lifetime' moments. We only have one life that we are consciously aware of, and we never live the same moment twice. Certainly we have similar days, similar moments, but never the same moment.
It has given me a completely new perspective on life, and although I still slip into the same mind habbits of before, when I catch myself and remind myself of this once in a lifetime moment, life takes on a wonderfully new sense of clarity and happiness.
In my own small way, I have briefly touched the edges of enlightenment!
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Do we need sugar in our diet?
Do we need added sugar in our diet if we are trying to lose weight? I am talking about the white stuff here (and brown sugar, syrups etc,) are added sugars essential to our health, or even useful at all when dieting?
I was reading a book a short while ago by Judith Wills - How to escape the fat trap for life. In this book she mentions that although sugar provides energy, it does not contain any nutrition, no vitamins or minerals, just calories. So logically she suggests that sugars should be the first to go from our diets.
So often we hear that we should cut back on fats, as they contain twice the calories of carbohydrates and proteins and should be cut down on to reduce calorie intake. While the numbers are true, fats contain about 9 calories per gram and carbohydrates and proteins contain about 4 calories per gram, is it the best advice to lose weight healthily?
Fats are essential to our health, healthy fats (unsaturated), found in food like avocados, nuts, oils, oily fish and seeds contain compounds that help the body rid itself of the unhealthier fats like saturated fats, like the hard white fat that see on a meat joint. Every cell in our body needs fat, so should we be cutting back on all fats yet eat sugars freely?
Sugar on the other hand,we use for energy, and it is something that our bodies can create from complex carbohydrates (things like whole grains for example) proteins (meat, fish and eggs) and fats. It has to work hard to make simple sugars from these foods, but it can, and does. So why do we need to eat added sugar in our foods, if our bodies are already making it for themselves from other food that we eat, that incidentally may also contain the nutrients that we need for good health? If we need to gain weight, then sugars could be useful, but if we are wanting to lose, weight, and use up our stored energy (stored energy like that spare tyre and over sized hips!) do we really need it?
So in light of this, when we pop into the supermarket, and pick up a 'fat reduced' yoghurt, why is it that most of them have added sugars in? Yes you know why, to make them taste better, so we buy them! Take a look in your local supermarket, compare a full fat to a reduced fat item and look at the added sugars. (some foods contain natural sugars, like fruit sugars, and milk sugars, here I am talking about added sugars). There is usually a substantial increase in the amount of added sugars (in one example I saw that low fat yoghurt had an extra 10g of added sugar per 100g, that is equal to approximately 40 calories). What is the point of taking 90 calories of fat out and adding 40 calories of sugar? At least the fat may have contributed something nutritionally! The added sugar does not.
When it comes to cutting down on the calories we consume, it is not just about eating fewer calories, we also need to make sure that we are getting adequate nutrition for our health. A size 12 jeans may look better than a size 16 jeans, but if your skin is dry, patchy and spotty and the foods you are eating are leaving you feeling hungry (one sign that our bodies give out when they need more nutrition) then what use is that to those of us who want to improve how we look, not just change from feeling fat but healthy to slim but feeling hungry and under par. Is that actually an improvement at all?
We can often be caught out by added sugars, here are a few of the names used for added sugars used in an ingredient list : brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, fruit juice concentrates, glucose, high fructose corn syrup, honey, invert sugar, lactose, maltose, malt syrup, molasses, raw sugar, sucrose, and syrup.
I had a cup of soup from a packet recently and when I checked the ingredient list the very first ingredient was syrup! I don't know about you but the last time I made soup I didn't add any sugar to it at all!
So, although it tastes great, and yes there is a place for it in a balanced diet for someone of a normal weight, do we want it added or even hidden in food that is being promoted for weight loss? What effect does this added extra sugar have on the increasing obesity levels of both adults and children, the increase in diabeties and prediabetic states?
What do you think?
I was reading a book a short while ago by Judith Wills - How to escape the fat trap for life. In this book she mentions that although sugar provides energy, it does not contain any nutrition, no vitamins or minerals, just calories. So logically she suggests that sugars should be the first to go from our diets.
So often we hear that we should cut back on fats, as they contain twice the calories of carbohydrates and proteins and should be cut down on to reduce calorie intake. While the numbers are true, fats contain about 9 calories per gram and carbohydrates and proteins contain about 4 calories per gram, is it the best advice to lose weight healthily?
Fats are essential to our health, healthy fats (unsaturated), found in food like avocados, nuts, oils, oily fish and seeds contain compounds that help the body rid itself of the unhealthier fats like saturated fats, like the hard white fat that see on a meat joint. Every cell in our body needs fat, so should we be cutting back on all fats yet eat sugars freely?
Sugar on the other hand,we use for energy, and it is something that our bodies can create from complex carbohydrates (things like whole grains for example) proteins (meat, fish and eggs) and fats. It has to work hard to make simple sugars from these foods, but it can, and does. So why do we need to eat added sugar in our foods, if our bodies are already making it for themselves from other food that we eat, that incidentally may also contain the nutrients that we need for good health? If we need to gain weight, then sugars could be useful, but if we are wanting to lose, weight, and use up our stored energy (stored energy like that spare tyre and over sized hips!) do we really need it?
So in light of this, when we pop into the supermarket, and pick up a 'fat reduced' yoghurt, why is it that most of them have added sugars in? Yes you know why, to make them taste better, so we buy them! Take a look in your local supermarket, compare a full fat to a reduced fat item and look at the added sugars. (some foods contain natural sugars, like fruit sugars, and milk sugars, here I am talking about added sugars). There is usually a substantial increase in the amount of added sugars (in one example I saw that low fat yoghurt had an extra 10g of added sugar per 100g, that is equal to approximately 40 calories). What is the point of taking 90 calories of fat out and adding 40 calories of sugar? At least the fat may have contributed something nutritionally! The added sugar does not.
When it comes to cutting down on the calories we consume, it is not just about eating fewer calories, we also need to make sure that we are getting adequate nutrition for our health. A size 12 jeans may look better than a size 16 jeans, but if your skin is dry, patchy and spotty and the foods you are eating are leaving you feeling hungry (one sign that our bodies give out when they need more nutrition) then what use is that to those of us who want to improve how we look, not just change from feeling fat but healthy to slim but feeling hungry and under par. Is that actually an improvement at all?
We can often be caught out by added sugars, here are a few of the names used for added sugars used in an ingredient list : brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, fruit juice concentrates, glucose, high fructose corn syrup, honey, invert sugar, lactose, maltose, malt syrup, molasses, raw sugar, sucrose, and syrup.
I had a cup of soup from a packet recently and when I checked the ingredient list the very first ingredient was syrup! I don't know about you but the last time I made soup I didn't add any sugar to it at all!
So, although it tastes great, and yes there is a place for it in a balanced diet for someone of a normal weight, do we want it added or even hidden in food that is being promoted for weight loss? What effect does this added extra sugar have on the increasing obesity levels of both adults and children, the increase in diabeties and prediabetic states?
What do you think?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)