Veggie challenges...

[Guest guest]

>>As a newbie Laura what challenges you the most?:

 

>>Sweets are my enemy! I am healthy, but I am overweight...

>>I know that refined sugar is bad for me...

 

I've heard that comment about " refined sugar " for about as long as I've been

veggie, and it's always sounded incomplete to me. A few years ago, I met a

nutritional researcher and posed the question to her. The response

surprised me.

 

Basically, she said that the body cannot tell the difference between a

chocolate brownie, a piece of tofu, or a cucumber or anything else for that

matter. I'm simplifying the explanation to avoid technical terms that were

used.

 

Here's what the body knows about what you eat. You pop a brownie into you

mouth, chew it, and swallow. The food arrives in the upper chamber of the

stomach where a number of concentrated digestive juices are added to the

food to predigest it. After about 40 minutes, the food is released to the

lower chamber where another infusion of digestive juices is added. During

the next 2-3 hrs, the stomach releases the food into the intestinal tract

for actual digestion now that predigestion has occurred to some degree or

another. So, you can repeat this example with any food you want. It's

always the same process. You can spin this issue anyway you want, but it

won't change the basic facts of the process.

 

Now, here's the only two things that really matter to your body--the

quantity (of food) and it's composition (of the three macronutrients.)

 

Getting back to the issue of " refined sugar. " For discussion purposes, 1

gram of fat has 9 calories, and both protein and carbos have 4 calories per

gram. 1 ounce equals 28.35 grams.

 

Sugar is a carbo and, in any of its many forms, is still a carbo because

they all still have only 4 calories per gram. That fact never changes.

 

So, is refined sugar bad for you because of its " bad " effect on the body?

Or, because of its production by mega " bad " corporations? Or, because of a

preparation process which removed something " good " that our body needs?

I've met proponents of each of these points of view. None of them really

matter that much to me.

 

One brownie has around 200 calories (according to several recipes I'm

consulting.) In the US, the average daily diet for a woman is around 2,000

calories (and close to 3,000 for a man.) That one brownie is 10% of the

daily diet (or close to 1/3 of any one meal.) If you're like me, having

only one brownie is out of the question, so adding 400-600 calories is a

more likely scenario. Now, we're looking at more like 25% of the daily

calorie intake (or close to 100% of a single meal).

 

Here's my simple question. Is " refined sugar " the problem or that second or

third brownie? For me, it's that extra enjoyment of eating more than one.

A solution that works for me is to cook brownies (or any other recipe I

prepare) with less sugar. I can still have sweets in my diet without the

unnecessary calories.

 

Forgive the lengthy response. I easily get carried away on things like

this.

 

Dave

[Guest guest]

A serious question about 'refined' sugar. Is so-called raw sugar really

unrefined in our part of the world? I understood that it was simply

refined sugar that had then been altered so as to look nice and brown

because the government watchdogs required that *all* sugar be put

through a refining process. Since I only use sugar once in a blue moon,

it's not an issue for me. But I do wonder ;=)

 

best,

pat

--

PAT (In London, Ontario)

Email List: townhounds-

(townhounds/)

Personal Email: SANTBROWN

Personal Webpage: http://www.angelfire.com/art/pendragon/

----------

* " Until he extends the circle of compassion to all living things, man

will not himself find peace. " - Albert Schweitzer

* " Don't be afraid. Just start the tape. " - Anne Rice

* " I don't do pawprints. " -- Snoopy

----------