A (too) sweet breakfast

Bob and I both had oats for breakfast. I had a bowl of Kellogg's low fat granola with raisins, and he had oatmeal with a few raisins made in the microwave.

His oats had one ingredient--whole oats. Mine had whole oats, sugar, brown rice syrup, rice crisps (made with sugar) and molasses (aka sugar). Mine was 28% sugar (32 grams) and his was 0% (1 gram). Mine had 3 grams of fat and so did his. Mine had 115 mg of sodium and his had 0 mg sodium. Mine had 6 grams of protein and his had 5 grams. Mine had 4 grams of fiber and his had 6. Mine had 240 calories per serving and his had 150 calories. Serving sizes (in grams) were not the same probably because my serving size (larger) included raisins and he added raisins to his, so some of the nutrients were hard to compare.

But still, what part of my cereal was low fat, the most prominent phrase on the box? Compared to what--a candy bar? Who needs that much sugar on/in their cereal? US population consumes more than 300% of the recommended daily amount of added sugar. Since 2000 the rate of consumption of sugar is actually slowing down as is the increase in obesity. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6959843/

Chocolate pudding

I stopped using sugar from the bowl or canister about 2 years ago and changed to local honey. We haven't given up sugar, because we still eat restaurant and store purchased desserts. But today I made chocolate pudding from scratch using honey. It was quite good. Just milk, cornstarch, dark chocolate (cocoa, 100% cacao natural unsweetened), a little sprinkle of salt, honey, vanilla, and I added some butter which wasn't in the recipe. It was very good, more chocolate tasting than the box or store bought.

Boxed dry chocolate pudding mix (both Jello and Godiva) contains: sugar, modified cornstarch, cocoa processed with alkali, sodium phosphate and tetrasodium pyrophosphate (for thickening) contains less than 2% of natural and artificial flavor, salt, artificial color mono- and diglycerides (prevents foaming), red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1.

Sodium phosphate is a salt, but it is also what is used when preparing for a colonoscopy. Tetrasodium pyrophosphate is used as a buffering agent, an emulsifier, it’s more salt, and is used in toothpaste and cat food but can promote algae growth in water. Yuk. I won't even analyze the dyes, but I can assure you, that by using 100% cacao ( which has to have a lot of processing to make it useable) the dark color was richer than the box mix.

Addicted to sugar?

I've never thought of myself as addicted to sugar, but I wouldn't want to go cold turkey deprivation, either. Yet I know I have more than the recommended amount for women (6 teaspoons of added sugar a day). One or two sodas a year works for me, and maybe 3 snickerdoodles warm from the cookie sheet if I made them.

"If you have a history of binge eating, failure at setting rules about your consumption (like cheat meals / days) and repeated failures with the “everything in moderation” approach – then perhaps you are addicted (like I was).

The same way that a smoker needs to avoid cigarettes completely, a sugar addict needs to avoid sugar completely.

Complete abstinence is the only reliable way for true addicts to overcome their addiction.

I have personally made the choice to never eat added sugar again. I now haven’t touched it in over 7 months. I’ve lost a lot of weight and I feel awesome. Kris Gunnars"

I have a friend who says she's stopped eating "white." White sugar, white rice, white flour products like pasta and bread, white beans, white potatoes.  She had lost some weight doing this, in 2015, I think.  Don't know if she was able to continue down that road. The No White Foods diet. But more whole grains can't hurt.

Chocolate, wine, coffee and butter?

The more the government studies our nutritional needs, the heavier Americans get. I've gone back to butter and whole milk. If the experts can't figure out fats, carbs, and supplements, and now find good stuff in chocolate, coffee and wine, why follow the guidelines? Eat less, move more. The rest is footnotes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/upshot/are-fats-unhealthy-the-battle-over-dietary-guidelines.html?_r=0

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/02/12/275376259/the-full-fat-paradox-whole-milk-may-keep-us-lean

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/03/19/174739752/whole-milk-or-skim-study-links-fattier-milk-to-slimmer-kids

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/03/19/174739752/whole-milk-or-skim-study-links-fattier-milk-to-slimmer-kids

My own theory is, the more fat and real sugar you remove from food, the hungrier people get, so they just eat more.

Mass in Motion

Sandy at Junk Food Science has a great article about a new tax waster [or waister, if you will] in Massachusetts, called Mass in Motion. It's $750,000 in grants for wellness programs. Remember, this is the state which has sent Barney Frank to Congress year after year to supervise Fannie Mae. If employers can tap you on the shoulder and coerce you into a "lifestyle management program" can voters suggest that some of the Congress need to lose pork in order to be returned to Washington?

I'm no expert on weight loss, but some of the things in the "tool kit" have already been judged in peer reviewed research to have little affect in long term weight loss--such as Weight Watchers

There was no difference between the low-carbohydrate approach of Atkins, the high-protein low-glycemic load approach of the Zone diet, the very low-fat approach of Ornish, and the low-calorie/portion-size approach of Weight Watchers, according to a 2005 study published in JAMA

And drinking 8 glasses of water a day was also debunked some time ago as a weight loss aid. I think that myth was started by plastic bottle manufacturers.

These type of grants (the $750,000 to Massachusetts) are ubiquitous--the only surprise is that it is so modest. They are everywhere, especially from HHS and USDA which props up our farmers, and the private foundations; it keeps the grant writers busy and the bureaucrats and lawyers employed. They often go hand-in-hand with greenies and vegan wannabees--so you throw in a few million for bike lanes, redesigned housing complexes, and community gardens. Mike Huckabee may be one of our most famous former fatties, and he put Arkansas on a diet because it worked positive results for him. The results are quite mixed, and Sandy also reported on this two years ago. There was an increase in underweight children, and the percentage of overweight and at risk African American girls significantly increased as they grew.

I can't prove it, but I'm guessing if you chart the huge weight gains of Americans and the rise in diabetes and other obesity related health problems, you might track it back to government interference 30-40 years ago with our food commodities like corn and sugar. When I was growing up we had real sugar in Coca-cola and candy bars, and I sure didn't see so many obese people. Our legislators and regulators, probably after a few hearings before Congress, slapped tariffs on imported sugar (because it was bad for us and made us dependent on foreign imports), and then paid U.S. farmers to grow more corn to put high fructose corn syrup in everything from soup to soft drinks. And each generation got fatter. Anyone know where there's a chart?

We don't eat oil, but we're dependent on it for everything in our culture. The government has done the same thing in the name of being "independent of foreign oil" and going green. Then when the government botches it up and creates huge industries like carbon exchanges and ethanol that support their mistake, they can tax us again to try to correct it.

4075

Sugar: the new oil

Have you seen that new TV show CANE being advertised where the voiceover proclaims that "Sugar is the new oil?" Here's what's happening in Brazil with sugar as a biofuel. As seen at this Dept. of Commerce website.

• Brazil is the largest sugar cane producer (425.7 million tons produced in 2006/07 harvest).

• Brazil is also the world's biggest ethanol exporter (3.5 billion liters exported in 2006 or US$ 1.6 billion). The United States is the largest buyer of Brazilian ethanol when both direct and indirect exports are considered. The U.S. Government’s Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) exempts imports from the Caribbean from payment of $0.54 per gallon import tariffs, encouraging Brazilian alcohol exports to that region. As a result, recorded exports to destination such as El Salvador, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and Costa Rica are generally destined for the U.S. market; however, exports tend to occur, for limited periods, when gas prices spike in the United States.

• World’s leader in ethanol production (Brazil has 351 producers who generate an output of 18 billion liters/year. About 15 billion liters are destined for internal Brazilian consumption and around three billion are exported.)

• The sugar-alcohol sector’s annual revenue is about US$20 billion (2006).

• 86 new ethanol projects should result in investments of US$17 B (US$14 B in new plants and US$ 3 B in existing plant expansions).

• 80% of flex fuel cars (filled with either alcohol or gasoline, or a mixture of both). In 2006, 1.4 million flex fuel cars were sold in the Brazilian market.

• Alcohol production average cost in Brazil: US$ 1.06/gallon (excludes freight and taxes)

• Petrobras’ large distribution and logistics network in Brazil has always played a key role to boost the ethanol program. The company is investing US$340 million through 2011 to expand its export ethanol infrastructure.

• Petrobras is Brazil’s largest ethanol buyer through its BR Distribuidora subsidiary.

• Petrobras is building ten micro ethanol refineries adopting a family production model. Petrobras is also partnering with Japanese Mitsui to build 40 plants to export ethanol to Japan.

The United States and Brazil are exploring ways to partner on developing second-generation biofuels.

Opportunities may exist in the future for US companies in the biomass to liquids (BTL) and lignocelulose arenas.

Just a thought. Burning sugar sure makes me hot. I wonder what it does for the environment?