Why do articles like this say, "ditch soda". What about diet?     I understand that sweeteners could be bad for you, and there may be other considerations, but if the recommendation is "reduce sugar intake", then shouldn't the advice be, "switch from Cola to Diet Cola?".

Yes...is there a SAFE sugar substitue??

How about the 'habit' part of the sugar habit?

How addictive is it, how does that work, chemically, and how to go about that?

Stevia is good, it is natural.  You can get it at any health food store.  The taste is very sweet so s little goes a long way.

There is a product on the market now called Truvia, but I have never had that.  It uses stevia.  But you can always get Stevia plain.

P.S. Personally I did notice that if I eat something with added sugar I crave more added sugar later on. If I resist, I can break the cycle. Maybe I'm reaching the wrong conclusions or something, but that was my impression. Any ideas/experience on this?

I agree with adriatic.  I find the sAMe is true for me.  The more I eat it, the more I want.

I use prunes for a nice sweet treat or Sugar Free dark chocolate squares.

From the American Heart Association pressroom regarding this sugar intake:

" “It is important to remember that people’s discretionary calorie ‘budgets’ can vary, depending on their activity level and energy needs,” Johnson said. “So, if you can’t live with the recommended limits on your added sugars, you’ll have to move more.”

For example, a moderately active 51–55 year-old woman who eats 1,800 calories per day and maintains her weight would have about 195 discretionary calories per day and only about 100 calories, or half that amount, should come from added sugars. In comparison, if that same woman, still maintaining her weight, was more physically active and burned 2,200 calories a day, she could consume 2,200 calories a day, and would have a larger discretionary ‘budget’ of about 290 calories. About half of that amount, or 145 calories, could come from added sugars. "

i.e. Calories from sugar might make you gain weight, so if you have extra calories from sugar, you need to burn it off through exercise to maintain a healthy weight. Not exactly a spectacularly new argument.

This is great that you offer our recommended intake in teaspoons, but products don't list sugar in teaspoons. I think it would be helpful to know how many grams of sugar per day we should consumer.

I've heard that cancer cells love sugar.  I am a cancer patient and have been told that sugar is not a great thing.

As a replacement for sugar, I use honey, molasses, pure maple syrup and applesauce in my baking. Yes, they are still sugar, but they are a more natural form.

I'm a big fan of stevia...and as another poster put it, a little really goes a long way.

I pay a lot of attention to my sugar through the CC tools, and it is hard to keep it low, but when I do, I really see the results.  I have also found, once I get a few days 'sugar free' behind me, my cravings subside and I have an easier time saying no and walking past the candy dish. 

I use sucralose (Splenda or generic equiv.) instead of sugar.   No I don't know if it has long term effects... just that I am still enjoying sweet foods and losing weight (>35lbs since Sept) I also find that eating something sugary triggers a desire for more of the same, especially if it also has starch and fat -- like a rich brownie, for instance -- so I try to avoid buying or eating baked goods.  It is easier to not eat them in the first place than to stop  once I've tasted them.  Not so much an issue with the sucralose, though even there I try to use it in foods like yogurt, oat bran, or similar healthy foods -- it helps accustom me to eat nutritious foods instead of empty calories.  So it is not "natural" but it works for me.

Original Post by: selaine04

I've heard that cancer cells love sugar.  I am a cancer patient and have been told that sugar is not a great thing.

Granulated sugar is about 4 grams per teaspoon (according to my Domino sugar package, anyway).

Lately, I've been substituting fruit for sugar and it works for me.  I am the same way as many of you mentioned before.  The more sugar I eat. . . .the more I want.  It's especially hard for me because the artificial sugars actually cause me body aches and a "bruising" feeling in my legs.  I stay away from the stuff.

fridgelight, I don't know where you heard that from, but it is wrong. Cancer cells "love" sugar no more than normal cells do. Your daily sugar intake does not really directly affect your cancer at all. The only risk is that increased sugar intake means usually increased weight. Being overweight or even obese obviously increases the risk of cancer, but sugar it self has no effect on it. But you are right, taking less sugar usually means the person is more likely to eat naturally sweet things like fruits, which will contribute towards a healthy diet.

To bonzei69:

I heard it from a physician.  When you have scans, they use a sugar type solution so that the cancer cells will gravitate towards it and show up on the scan if present.  Are you a physicain or in the research field?

to bonzei69:

p.s. I am not overweight.  Never have been but go cancer.

I'm with the cravers. The more white sugar or candy I have, the more I want. I  now satisfy my sugar cravings with sugar free jams and jellies (they are delicious!!) at breakfast, splenda in my iced tea, and best of all,  I've rediscovered that fabulous fruit, the orange.  Nothing beats it for a sweet afternoon snack.  And I like my fruit at room temperature...it's much sweeter. 

to bonzei69:

Are muscle aches a documented side effect of artificial sweeteners?  I suffer from sore muscles in my neck and shoulders and often have pain in my legs but never considered that my increased intake of Splenda could be causing it.  Just thought I was getting old! 

I quit sugar (other than fruit) May 2009.  I quit ALL soda diet or reg.  I treat myself to two sugar free popsicle  every day to get through the sweet cravings and also keep a bag of hershey dark chocolate kisses for that chocolate craving and eat 1 or 2 when the chocolate craving is out of control.

Read the book, Fat to Skinny Fast and Easy by Doug Varrieur. It is an easy read and explains all about the sugars. A well done book. Opened my eyes!!

This topic is close to my heart.

I am avoiding ( abstaining from) refined sugar for 6 months now. My waist size has come down by 3 inches.

This weight loss could also due to the fact that i am forced to avoid sweetened sodas, pastries, ketchups & lots of other food stuffs with empty calories.

I make sure that i never feel deprived by stocking dried fruits with me. My mom was a big help when she sun dried bananas for me. I also take my share of natural sugars like honey & jaggery.

click here to see some more healthy eating tips that i follow. :

http://www.friendly-tips.com/eating-healthy-tip-6/

Regarding sugar: I hear that not good to eat processed sugar when your sick.  It supposedly weakens the immune system.  I read that in a health article online a while back.

Honey though is the exception.  Don't know why article never went that far into the subject.

Does anyone agree/disagree?

Overall I guess too much of any processed sugar is not good for any of us.  I try to limit sugar intake and limit what canned/packaged/processed products I buy.  The fresher the item/closer to nature it is the better it is for you, basically.

try xylitol, made from birch trees. natural safe and twice the sweetness of sugar & half the calories, aslo great for cooking . 

I'm not a fan of stevia so if you need an alternative try Xylitol .

Definitely the more sugar I eat the worse it gets. That includes alcohol, white bread and pasta & rice. The more I eat small amounts of natural sugar the better I can control all my cravings. Xylitol is great for making healthy cake , which means I can indulge once a week and still keep to my healthy regime.

just like sodium. sugar is in everything. If plain yogurt can substitute sour cream, why would it taste any better with fruit in it? I can't see that the sweet taste I'm accustomed to could be replaced by this. am I wrong?  I also read articles on evaporated cane juice and artificial sweeteners and basically it's all the same stuff so I don't know why to bother other than not sitting down with a bag of sugar and spoon. moderation right?

I also find that if I eat sweets, I only crave it more later.  To help break the cycle, I try using natural taste enhances whenever possible, vanilla and cinnamon for example.

I eat plain yogurt, but add a touch of vanilla, and a teeny bit of Stevia and it's fantastic! Add some fruits and granola and I'm set.

Same thing with coffee... I bought a milk frother so now I can make my own sugar-free vanilla lattes.

For me it all about will power (fortunately I don't have a sweet tooth). I know refined sugar is bad so I do everything I can to avoid it. Don't get me wrong I might have a piece of desert at a party at some point in my life but it is not a daily or even a monthly occurance. I haven't had a soda in over 2 years, all I drink is water and the occasional V8. If I feel like something sweet I eat fruit.

I think the biggest problem for people is the lack of time. It is so easy to eat pre-packaged foods that are loaded with ingredients you are not aware of. I think getting in the habit of cooking all of your meals will eliminate the unwanted fats/sugars..etc..

I had heard that if you give up all soda (incl diet) the average person will lose about 20 lbs in a year. I did this and the beginning was super hard. I remember opening the 2L of Coke (my DH's) just to smell it! I also started eating other sweets as my body tried to compensate for the loss I think. I actually gained weight the first 3 months until I realized this (I didn't count calories then) and cut out the extra desserts and junk. After 2 years without soda, I decided to add diet soda, in moderation back to my diet (in part because I no longer live in Europe where juice selections are better) and now my sugar cravings are back full tilt. As I count calories, it hasn't affected my weight but I am hungry more often now as I use too many calories for sugars that don't keep me full long. . . I think it's time to go back to a no soda policy for me.

Original Post by: adriatic

How about the 'habit' part of the sugar habit?

How addictive is it, how does that work, chemically, and how to go about that?

They're all safe, the concept they are harmful is false. 

I really wish I was able to give up my diet soda but I think that's going too far for me. :)  I use sweet-n-low and stevia for any extra sweetness I might need.  I've started using splenda for some of my baking and have gotten decent result. 

I know someone asked this earlier, but how many grams per day are you supposed to have of sugar? 

I read it was 44 grams per day.

On my last diet where I needed to lose a bit of weight, but hd no idea how to do it (this was before Ifound CC) the first thing I went for was added sugars from drinks, or foods.

The weight and inches melted away very fast, as well as the craving to have sugry foods, the headaches associated with a lack of them.

I was also more motivated to find other healthier foods to fill the cravings until they subsided.

7 years on, I need to lose a few extra pounds, and I have again, attacked the artificial sugars. It has been one week, and although the cravings have not gone (I never went back to soft drinks from the first time though) the  inches have started again, moving. I dont go for diet stuff either, it's got too many chemicals in it for my liking. I do allow myself one sweet drink a day, be it a mug of black tea with honey and half cream milk or one cup of fairly diluted ribena.

I agree with all those people who have talked about sugar cravings, it's about breaking the cycle.

Another good way to break it is to have long lasting carbs.

Replacing say, a piece of white bread (which will be used and turned into sugar fairly fast) by a piece of brown bread (which will keep you satiated for much longer, especailly if accompanied by some sort of protein or a piece of fruit)

That way the sugars are completely natural, and if you feel full, then your body won't crave (at least, that's my experience, if I'm hungry, I want more sugary foods, but feel better with the healthier ones)

Xylitol is a lousy sugar substitute for many folks. It causes diarrhea in sensitive people, and I am one of them. I've never found a decent substitute for sugar.

Now I went from having my Dunkies coffee as Extra Extra (in otherwords I had it extra cream extra sugar).  Now that I'm trying to curb a "sugar addiction" I take my coffee with Skim and 2 Splenda. (Not to mention I use to drink a couple cans of soda a day to one every other week; cut back on alcohol/wine/ect to once every month in moderation instead of once a week)

But how much better is Splenda?

Original Post by: selaine04

I've heard that cancer cells love sugar.  I am a cancer patient and have been told that sugar is not a great thing.

selaine04-

I found this on About.com...another really good resource for health and exercise.  Hope this helps.

 Question: How do I convert grams of sugar to teaspoons or tablespoons of sugar?

There is no real universal formula for converting grams to teaspoons that will work for all ingredients. This is because grams measure weight and teaspoons measure volume. A teaspoon of sugar weight 4.2 grams while a teaspoon of salt weighs six grams. A teaspoon of dried parsley only weighs 0.5 gram.

I have started using Truvia in place of sugar in my coffee, tea, oatmeal and anything else that may require some sweetener.  It's good in flavor and 0 calories and usually one packet is enough.

Sugar is used in a lot of products, including bread, because consumers are addicted to the sweet taste in foods.  If it doesn't have it, then it tastes bland but without careful watch of how much is consumed daily, the risk for weight gain goes up which in turns leads to a whole multitude of problems, includind diabetes.

i like my coffee bitter.... its an aquired taste but unno theres just something about it, and sometimes if im in the rush and I need to eat something ill just whoop up a whole grain bagel with peanut butter and coffee with chocolate whey protein mixed in it :D it NEVER fails

I love agave nectar. It's sweeter than sugar, but not super sweet the way artificial sweeteners are. I think it's a little less refined than your typical table sugar. I haven't done so, but I was thinking of adding this to yogurt. I agree that your best bet is just all things in moderation.

Last November, in an effort to lose weight (28 pounds), I cut out all added sugar and high-sugar-content foods (candy, cookies, etc.). I have lost 15 pounds so far (good rate for a 64 year old!).

The big surprise was when I had my cholesterol tested a few weeks ago---It was down significantly (50 points!)! Because I am a vegan, I consume NO cholesterol in my diet--animal products (meat & dairy) are the only sources of dietary cholesterol. However, I have hereditary high cholesterol--or so I thought. I looked up sugar on the internet and found that sugar consumption raises cholesterol and also takes calcium out of the bones (osteoporosis is another challenge for me). At first I was angry at my doctor. She knew I struggled w. high cholesterol & bones density! Why didn't she tell me to avoid sugar? Then I remembered that most doctors have NO training in nutrition or the relation between food and disease!

These are the things I have come to believe about sugar: Sugar is poison! The more sugar we eat, the more we crave. Sugar substitutes are no good either. Besides being potential health hazards, they too increase the sugar craving.

The American diet has become too sugar-infused. The only way to stay healthy is to eat real food (fruit, vegetables, whole grains, non-animal protein) and avoid all processed foods (most of which contain sugar) and added sugar except for rare treats. After doing this for awhile, one's tastes change. You start to taste how sweet fruit is. Without the sauces, you find that (not overcooked) broccoli really has flavor and is delicious. And nothing fills you up like real food.

We must fight the machine that is the American food industry. Take charge of your own life and diet. It is hard & time consuming to effect these changes, but so well worth the effort-good health and a slim body throughout a long life! 

Original Post by: smabel

Why do articles like this say, "ditch soda". What about diet?     I understand that sweeteners could be bad for you, and there may be other considerations, but if the recommendation is "reduce sugar intake", then shouldn't the advice be, "switch from Cola to Diet Cola?".

I know several women who lived well into their nineties and a few past 100 yrs of age.  During their lifetimes, they ate plenty of white sugar in pies, cakes, homemade candy, cookies, custards, etc..  A couple of them had a soda (pop) each day with their lunch. Sugar never made them obese.  Of course, they did housework everyday.  Personally, I'm not afraid of a little sugar in moderation.  I think it may be fructose coupled with lack of exercise that maybe the culprit.

Original Post by: caitlynmary

This is great that you offer our recommended intake in teaspoons, but products don't list sugar in teaspoons. I think it would be helpful to know how many grams of sugar per day we should consumer.

One teaspsoon = 4 grams of sugar. You do the math :)

Original Post by: caitlynmary

This is great that you offer our recommended intake in teaspoons, but products don't list sugar in teaspoons. I think it would be helpful to know how many grams of sugar per day we should consumer.

One teaspoon of sugar equals about 4.2 grams of sugar. so if you have something with 15 grams of sugar in it - that would be about 3 1/2 teaspoons of sugar. (divide the grams by 4.2 - so 15/4.2=3.57 or 3/12 teaspoons). :)

I actually use agave nectar, too.  I've found that I like the taste better than honey and I've heard it is better than sugar.  I'd rather not use artificial sweeteners, I don't really trust them.  If it comes down to Splenda or sugar, I choose sugar.

My husband and I have started baking all our own bread, and it is amazing how strange it tasted at first without sugar.  Not that my whole wheat bread ever tasted sweet, but compared to my homemade bread of flour, nuts and yeast - holy cow!  It has taken some getting used to, but I'm starting to prefer the taste of my plain ol' bread.

to Meridithw:

I think sugar does a whole lot of bad things...but maybe only to the one who are pre-disposed to certain conditions or illnesses.  Thats why some people can smoke and drink and live until they are 90 and others it kills them at 50.  But how do you know where you fall? 

I don't think sugar is are only enemy.  Additives are probably worse than sugar.  It would be great if we could all eat natural but in today's world it is so hard so we just take our chances.

I eat prunes also! They give me so much energy! I am one to get distracted at work with thoughts of snacking and I usually crave something sweet. They help me focus on whatever I am working on and I forget about snacking altogether.

I am the biggest sugar-head in the universe, so when I decided to give up all sweeteners for Lent, I was afraid that I'd be climbing the walls the way I did when I quit smoking. Happily, I've found it easy to do. I've got a stock of apples and oranges, and I treat myself to dried figs and dates. My husband still enjoys ice cream, toffee, etc., but it doesn't bother me to see him eat them. As others have said above, once you break the cycle it's easy to abstain. It just needs a bit of planning.

I try to eat 3-4 fruits/day for natural sugar so that I won't crave sweets so badly.  And of course, Fruit has other benefits. And it is true that once I start eating a sweet, I want more than 1.  "Turning down the sweet dial" is needed which includes artificial sweeteners as well as sugar (from Zonya Foco's DIET FREE program.)

If fruit works so well, then wouldn't fructose (fruit sugar) work as well? I just DO NOT enjoy my coffee (and I REALLY enjoy my coffee!) without cream and sugar, and I figure it into my daily calorie budget. I exercise will power in so many other areas that I really feel resistant to taking my one last self-indulgence.

I wouldn't take my coffee w/ creamer and artificial sweetener away either. I count it in my calorie budget as well.  I do try to reduce the amount of sweetness in my coffee, but it is hard.  You do what works for you.