Sugar....

For Lent I have greatly reduced the sugar in my diet, and by default my family's diet.  When at home, the only sugar I consume is from honey or maple syrup (sometimes sucanant) and that has been minimal.  I sweeten my life with frozen and fresh fruit and got rid of most things in our house that contain sugar.   I do not deprive my kids of having sugar but I do limit it.  They have a sweet dessert once a day (I try to do homemade desserts so I can control the sugar and use syrup or sucanant) and there is sugar in the yo baby yogurt that Lil'C eats.  Z also LOVES his Maple Syrup and eats a small dollop at breakfast.  The rest of their daily sugar comes from fruit, milk and other natural sources.

Sugar is added into EVERYTHING.  It is in most pasta sauces, crackers, breads....EVERYWHERE.  I bet if you went through your cabinet right now and looked at the foods inside, you'd be floored to see how much sugar is hidden in the foods you eat.  I started making my own crackers because I could not find any without sugar.  Sugar has many labels....Agave Nectar, Barley Malt Syrup, Corn sweetener, Corn syrup, or corn syrup solids, Dehydrated Cane Juice, Dextrin, Dextrose, Fructose, Fruit juice concentrate, Glucose, High-fructose corn syrup, Honey, Invert sugar, Lactose, Maltodextrin, Malt syrup, Maltose, Maple syrup, Molasses, Raw sugar, Rice Syrup, Saccharose, Sorghum or sorghum syrup, Sucrose, Syrup, Treacle, Turbinado Sugar, Xylose (this list came from About.com.  In our world it is next to impossible to eliminate added sugars from our diet but it is my mission to do as much elimination at home as possible.

This past weekend I did my own little experiment regarding sugar.  I ended up eating out twice and both times I ate double what I normally eat and felt hungry afterwards.  I know that both meals contained sugar (pasta, bread, cornbread, tortillas, tomato soup) and I believe that these empty calories left me hungry for more.  I also felt incredibly rundown and sluggish for the two days following these meals.  Now that I am back to my regular eating routine, I am feeling good again.  Could it be the sugar?? 

Here is the 60 Minutes spread that came out this past Sunday.  It discusses whether or not sugar is toxic and what it exactly does to the human body in excess.  It is only about 10 minutes long and I really think you should watch it.  It might make you think twice about what will be in your children's Easter basket this Sunday ;)