OPERATION "NO SWEETS" CHALLENGE

[Porcelain]

Re: OPERATION "NO SWEETS" CHALLENGE

I used to think I was just hurting myself but now I think it hurts others too. When I was at Disneyland, I didn't go with my friends to the haunted house and just sat there trying to get my back and legs to stop hurting. I started noticing groups of people and what they were eating. There would be whole groupd of people that was obviously a family, you could see the resemblances, but every single one of them would be greatly overweight...all of them including the kids as young as six. They were all gorging themselves on food. One boy ate all his food and started crying because he couldn't steal his sister's and he was about 12. There were also groups that looked healthy and I noted what they were eating and drinking but they were drinking water and food out of baggies they brought. The parents looked a healthy weight and so did the kids. This upset me because my daughter has now started gaining weight (she is 15) and she has no idea about portion control. I know this is my fault because I taught her so many bad habits. I have since talked to her about portion control and I asked her if she would give up sugar. She sees me drinking water all the time and I got her a really cool water bottle so she drinks a lot of water now. I divorced her father when she was four and she has always wanted to be with me and always wanted to be just like me. I feel a lot of guilt because I didn't teach her something so important. I just hope I can stick with it now and show her some good lessons she can learn from. It just makes me so upset to look back on those times we curled up on the couch for "quality time" surrounded by really bad-for-you snacks and a movie. It's the same with exercise too. She has started walking on the treadmill now.

[Sherri]

Re: OPERATION "NO SWEETS" CHALLENGE

DIABETES
Effects on the Heart

It starts with that central obesity. Your expanding midsection is not due to an increase in the number of fat cells there. No, when you're overweight, the number of cells remain more or less constant, but each cell increases in size. In other words, the fat cells themselves grow fat. When these cells expand, the insulin has trouble attaching to them properly and unlocking them. That's why, if you weigh to much, the sugar and fat levels in your blood stream rise higher than they should. The insulin key takes longer to open the lock.
That in turn brings about several other blood conditions, all of which are further signs of Type-2 diabetes (and even pre-diabetes), signs that can only be seen by a doctor. They're a familiar list you've been paying attention to health news over the past decade. High blood pressure, high triglycerides, low HDL, high ratio of total cholesterol to good and relatively unknown, but critical matter of small bad cholesterol particles.
When insulin isn't working properly, it takes longer than it should to store fat you just ate. Because of the delay, your liver is being flooded with fatty acids. In response to that, the organ emits harmful particles that deposit fat and cholesterol in the blood vessels of your heart--future blockages, in other words.
So this, then, is the link between obesity and heart disease. The danger isn't the carbs or the sugars themselves. It is how they affect your body's ability to process fats. Eating too many jelly doughnuts may not cause a heart attack, but it can and does create the conditions that will lead to one. Obesity itself doesn't damage your cardiovascular system. It's the number one sign of an unhealthy blood profile, which will someday almost certainly curtail your good health and maybe your life.
Today, alarmingly, we're seeing Type 2 diabetes in your young adults and even in adolescents. It's not that we're genetically less healthy than previous generations, but our habits are much worse. Gym memberships and home treadmills are staples of middle class life, but the truth is that we perform less physical activity than our parents and grandparents did. Maybe their jobs required more exertion, or they enjoyed fewer labor-saving devices. Perhaps they just walked a lot more than we do.
This lack of exercise extends even to the youngest among us. It's distressing to know the levels of physical playtime children now get. The trends of building schools without schoolyards-which also means no recess-and of cutting physical education in favor of more classroom instruction are disasters in the making. Time spent in front of the T.V., videogames, and computers have not helped.
Probably more harmful than decreasing exercise, however, is how food has changed. As we delegate more and more of our food preparation of fast food restaurants and food manufactures, its quality has deteriorated. Not just in taste but in fibers and nutrient content. In a sense, food manufacturers have begun the digestion process for us. Until quite recently we did not appreciate the processed food were and have contributed to our epidimic of obesity. We endure hunger once, now the plenty we enjoy as a nation translates directly into the load on our dinner plates. The fact that more than half of all reseraunt meals come in the form of fast food has only worsened things. Once, the carbs we ate were less processed than they are today. More of our bread was baked at home or in local bakeries, not factories, and was made with whole grains, not flour that has been overly processed and stripped of fiber. Back then the convenience and speedy preparation weren't the highest ideals food aspired to. We were in less of a rush and home cooking meant starting with fresh ingrediants. Rice has more of it's fiber intact, and had to be cooked slowly. Potatoes weren't sliced and frozen or powdered and bought in a box. Children's after school snacks weren't limited to what could be micro waved. More of what we ate had shelf lives measured in days, not months and sometimes years.
We didn't require large infusions of sugar in every meal, starting with our breakfast cereal and continuing at every feeding through the late-night snack on pretzels made from pure, processed white flour. We didn't spend quite so much of our time amid food courts and chocolate chip cookie stands and convenience store coolers and slurpees and bis gulps and all the rest.
Even the impulse toward healthy eating brought us closer to this unhealthy state. Next time you visit a supermarket, examine the nutritional information on all "low fat" products. Invariably, you'll find that the processed carbs have been added to replace fats or notice how many breads there are labled "vitamin-enriched" or "fortified" which means so much of the natural fiber (which contains the fiber)has been stripped away that some nutrients had to be added back in. It's the nutritional state of the union that's to blame for what is happening internally to many millions of us. Usually serious damage doesn't show up until you're in your fifties or sixties. But in invisible harm is being done decades earlier, setting the stage for the future catastrophe.
But, as far as I am concerned, this is the true goal of any great diet. Looking good on the outside is important, I know, but having, physically fit blood vessels and a healthy blood chemistry as a result makes it that much more important.

[Porcelain]

Re: OPERATION "NO SWEETS" CHALLENGE

Thank you for taking the time to post that Sherri. That was good information.

You are rocking this challenge!

[Sherri]

Re: OPERATION "NO SWEETS" CHALLENGE

Thank you Porcelain!

Challengers,
I wanted to share with you all that night before last I made a blackberry sundae without sweetners and it was wonderful! I had picked fresh blackberries last summer and put them in the freezer. I made DH a pie with xylitol and left some berries out for myself and cooked them down without sweetner. I let it cool and the berries thickened up real nice in their own pectin. When he ate his dessert I whipped up some heavy cream to put on my berries. Again, no sweetner in the whipped cream. The berries were so yummy they didn't need any sweetner and the whipped cream really balanced out the flavor. It tasted like I was eating the berries right off the vine. I didn't miss the sweetner at all!
Sherri

[Sherri]

Re: OPERATION "NO SWEETS" CHALLENGE

Here's to day 11 of our Challenge! Great Job Challengers!

[Porcelain]

Re: OPERATION "NO SWEETS" CHALLENGE

Yesterday was hard for me, I really wanted some pork rinds, but I didn't eat them.

Is the board lagging/messing up or is it me?

[Sherri]

Re: OPERATION "NO SWEETS" CHALLENGE

Hi Porcelain,
Ya, looked that way to me earlier too. Seems to have cleared up now.
Where is everyone today?
Sherri

[Porcelain]

Re: OPERATION "NO SWEETS" CHALLENGE

Probably got tired of trying to get in and will probably be back later.

[hopejoy]

Re: OPERATION "NO SWEETS" CHALLENGE

[QUOTE] from Elsy" I often compare my addiction with food with what drug addicts go through. I do this every single time I'm gorging over all kinds of evil stuff. It's reallly tough yet some people manage to stay clean for life. So then I think about that and I know I can do this too. The difference is that they hurt themselves and others around them. With food addicition, we mainly hurt ourselves. Well, unless we're really moody with all the carbs in our system and take it out on those around us. LOL! Don't you agree? "

I had to laugh when I read this... although I do agree, but I got a picture of a typical 'alcoholic abuser' picture in my head only with a cupcake in each hand vs a bottle... sugar does affect our moods and so it's not that funny I guess... but I had to laugh... I always felt that way about 'my' chocolate... the kind that was 'sugar free' 'my treat' didn't want any one messing with it... and wanted to know it was there if I 'needed' it...I hid it in a special drawer (just like a drug, or alcohol) yes, it is an addiction we have to sugar/sweets.

There's another way it hurts others, because when we get fat, and feel bad about how we look, we withdraw from those around us who love us, we go into hiding... we don't go to parties because we have nothing to wear... we inadvertently hurt people's feelings who have no idea what our problem is or why we are so 'snooty'... but our shame gets in the way... and hurts our relationships. We run and hide and other people think it's something about them... sad.
liz

[Porcelain]

Re: OPERATION "NO SWEETS" CHALLENGE

Yes, that is so very true Liz but we are going to break that beast and get it off our backs. I am glad we all have each other here.

[hopejoy]

Re: OPERATION "NO SWEETS" CHALLENGE

Sherrie, your sundae sounds yummie!!! have to try that!
liz

[Alexa]

Re: OPERATION "NO SWEETS" CHALLENGE

Hi everyone,

Well done for being sweetner and sugar free.

Sherri - I'm afraid I can't say the same for me....confession time. I was fine whilst away over Easter and didn't eat any chocolate eggs. But yesterday, I don't know why I bought a small Lindt egg and ate it. So no sweetner, but sugar....I've had this before I cheat after the danger zone (a visit often) is OVER! Does anyone else have this problem? It's ridiculous and infuriating!

So, am I out, or am I allowed a pass key...I'm sory everyone for letting you down.

[Porcelain]

Re: OPERATION "NO SWEETS" CHALLENGE

I was like that Alexa. Before when I was on the diet, I found I cheated at the most mundane times even after being really good at social events where it was very hard. I thought I was going to break after going to Disneyland Monday. The whole next morning I could smell the candy I didn't get to eat. It didn't go away until the evening.

Sherri, I need another X. I got some acidophilus and opened it in the car and took one. Then when I was reading the bottle I realized it had maltodexterine in it. I can shelve them until the end of the challenge.

[Sherri]

Re: OPERATION "NO SWEETS" CHALLENGE

Hi everyone,

Well done for being sweetner and sugar free.

Sherri - I'm afraid I can't say the same for me....confession time. I was fine whilst away over Easter and didn't eat any chocolate eggs. But yesterday, I don't know why I bought a small Lindt egg and ate it. So no sweetner, but sugar....I've had this before I cheat after the danger zone (a visit often) is OVER! Does anyone else have this problem? It's ridiculous and infuriating!

So, am I out, or am I allowed a pass key...I'm sory everyone for letting you down.

Hello Alexa,
First off, Happy to see you here Alexa! We've wissed you! No, you are not out of the challenge. It's three x's and your out. But, no ones going anywhere even if they get 3 x's. It just means you won't get to flash around a No Sweets award. Stick with us. We'll keep supporting you. I'm planning on hostessing a "How Long Can You Go "No Sweets Challenge, starting April 17. This is a challenge for life. We'll eventially get it right.
Sherri

[Sherri]

Re: OPERATION "NO SWEETS" CHALLENGE

Sherrie, your sundae sounds yummie!!! have to try that!
liz

OMG, it was yummy. I have more berries in the freezer. I've decided that they will be my reward once a week for getting through the week without sweetners. Yes, do try it. You'll notice how distinct the flavors are. And when you whip the cream up without the sweetners. The berries will balance out the cream without the sweetners. The berries were sweet enough in there own juices. You won't even miss having sweetner in your whip cream. DELICIOUS!
Sherri