Reflecting back on the path traveled in 2016 - Sugar

 At the start of the year I decided to stop eating sugar, I went through the shaking the wanting, like I had seen in movies of drug, Alcohol addiction, you can't be a addict of sugar right????............or can you be?

I had seen maybe a year before that a short documentary about how sugar was more lethal than heroine as it had a wider reach, meaning children ate it and then will be come reliant on it, adults, everyone and it was hiding in everything.
It was a great documentary that I now can't find.

With trying to realize I was a addict, was infecting kids with it, not only I Dr's give it to kids in form of a lolly pop and when you say no they are like come on it's ok.
We went to a nutritionists that said to eat a muffin for morning tea and when i said it has sugar in that are surer you want to recommend that, she laughed and said sugar is fine in moderation.

Finding out just change the type of sugar you eat - use raw, use  Molasses, use organic, use Coconut sugar, I  tried it all but it's still sugar at the end of the day just in a rawer form or without as much processing.

The problem with most products is the chemicals used in the processing of the product, but sugar is different sugar breaks down your immune system -  wondered why kids are sick alot - do you spoil them with treats, or give them packaged food.Most food contains sugar but it's the added sugar, and most parents do it, grab package food when in a rush or have some on hand, and I know around Christmas time is the worst with more and more to do and all the extra events that go on and then treat the kids to an overload of sweet treats.Then your told it's not actually the sugar you need to be aware of Fructose.

So here's the Wikipedia version of what Fructose is

Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a simple ketonic monosaccharide found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and galactose, that are absorbed directly into the bloodstream during digestion. Fructose was discovered by French chemist Augustin-Pierre Dubrunfaut in 1847.[4][5] The name "fructose" was coined in 1857 by the English chemist William Miller.[6] Pure, dry fructose is a very sweet, white, odorless, crystalline solid and is the most water-soluble of all the sugars.[7] Fructose is found in honey, tree and vine fruits, flowers, berries, and most root vegetables.Commercially, fructose is frequently derived from sugar cane, sugar beets, and corn. Crystalline fructose is the monosaccharide, dried, ground, and of high purity. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a mixture of glucose and fructose as monosaccharides. Sucrose is a compound with one molecule of glucose covalently linked to one molecule of fructose. All forms of fructose, including fruits and juices, are commonly added to foods and drinks for palatability and taste enhancement, and for browning of some foods, such as baked goods.About 240,000 tonnes of crystalline fructose are produced annually.[8]There are speculations that excessive fructose consumption is a cause of insulin resistance, obesity,[9] elevated LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, leading to metabolic syndrome,[10][11][12] type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.[13]However, the European Food Safety Authority stated that fructose is preferred over sucrose and glucose in sugar-sweetened foods and beverages because of its lower effect on postprandial blood sugar levels.[14] Further, the UK's Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition in 2015 disputed the claims of fructose causing metabolic disorders, stating that "there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate that fructose intake ... leads to adverse health outcomes independent of any effects related to its presence as a component of total and free sugars."[15]
to read more here is the link to Fructose - Wikipedia

if you would like it explained in video form this is one I found on Youtube about sugar and fructose but if you would like the more in-depth version of sugar this one here!

I tried doing sugar free muffins, cutting sugar out, food tasted horrible, bland, and came out weird, some food you could get away from it others you couldn't.

And if sugar is in everything WHAT DO I EAT - Vegetables, fruit, lean proteins, lentils, beans
But with fruit it has to be in moderation as they contain natural sugar - here is a quick video I found on youtube explaining what do you eat when sugars in everything. 

When looking on youtube for answers, one lady I came across mentioned a film called That Sugar Film - I haven't watched it yet, it's on the list to watch - but watched the trailer it looks very interesting as 80% of food we eat contains sugar and if you keep to the outside isles of the super market you should be fine...but now they put the treats on the outside...

In July when I got introduced to  Steemit, I followed a few people on there that talk about health and do recipes which have been truly very helpful in making food taste better and learning what foods to use as sweeteners
.Like Raw honey - with this some people say it's dressing up sugar in another form, as it's still not good for you but a bit better for you than sugar. - this is the issue what is raw honey and honey arn't they all just honey from the hive, it's all about process again, raw honey is not heated or fermented.
Dates, Figs, Coconut, Fruits but the thing we forget the most is like most things in life we need to eat things in moderation.

Are you confused I sure am sooooo while I was writing this I was snacking on mars, bounty bars you know the mini ones, I found a big box of mini chocolate bars in the cupboard, the ones fill of sugar not cocao or dutch cocoa or the ones that has 60-70% cocoa mass,    crasssssssssssssssh goes the system, when you can feel your self crashing is not a great feeling but I do it to myself.

With some nutritionists calling for sugar to classed as a class A drug, and others believe it to be as addictive as Cocaine that is very scary I think in 2017 for me personally it's time to cut the sugar cord once and for all of processed sugar as we still need natural sugar from fruit and vegetables ...here goes into 2017...

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Thank you for stopping by and reading our post on Reflecting back on the path traveled in 2016 Sugar, you can find our other post Reflecting back on the path traveled in 2016 - Introduction.

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Wishing you and your family a wonderful New Years!