Jamie's sugar rush

[lastqueenofscotland]

Anyone be watching tonight?
I'm really looking forwards :)

Helena - sounds like you have done really well and with having to deal with all that too.

I am on the fence about the tax on fizzy drinks, certainly don't feel strongly enough about it to sign a petition I do think that the manufactures need to take a more responsible attitude to how much sugar they are putting in food. I also think instead of taxing consumers any company which puts more than xxx amount of sugar in a product should be paying significantly more tax.

I was shocked to realise that bread has sugar added to it

Agree re pack lunches, my dds 9yo is probably fairly typical of a child in her class and usually consists of a sandwich (cheese or tuna) crisps, fruit, yogurt and a biscuit of some description.

I did say that we're all different and react to sugar in different ways. I object to the huge amounts being used in everything savoury and sweet.

The point of the challenge on GBBO would be to make people think more about the ingredients that are used automatically. I suppose.

The Americans are terrible for excessive sugar. A little honey or esp. molasses is not so bad for most people. IMO and E Lovely

I too am always amazed that people don't realise how much sugar is in things. Pellegrino tastes so sweet - what do you think is in it?!

By the same token, everyone is different and our capacity to metabolise sugar properly varies.

I didn't see the programme but did he mention stevia at all? Very similar to sugar but with a negligible impact on blood sugar. I use it in all my baking now and it works very well.

Sorry blood glucose rathe than blood sugar.

on no i think custard creams are highly addictive and not just becuase of the sugar....and now a spread that tastes of them...good thing i dont ever go to tescos.

but honestly a little sugar is not that bad, a small piece of cake, the odd packet of sweets, etc is not evil. surely we should all be thinking more along lines of generally healthy eating and not focus on one ingrediant ....especially if we look back it was fat that was evil , then it was carbs ( which basically is sugar) and now sugar...wait long enough and it will be fat again.
Jamie likes self promotion dressed up as doing good....

The hidden sugars are what needs targeting , and the 'treats' need a shift away from something we all 'deserve' ( especially would like to ban that phrase - oh go on you deserve it-) to something that is an occasional thing but to be enjoyed and not stigmatised.

Lindt 90% is the best thing ever. I suppose caffeine might be an issue but other than that I can't see anything bad in it - just wish it was fair trade.

I can taste stevia thoughstealth I prefer molasses. I make fab brownies with it.

Thanks Anjelica. I figure if i keep my sugar intake as low as possible and basically carry on the way i have been i should be ok from now on.

redjelly my cake treat is the choc yule log at Christmas. Its the only time of year you get a choc yule log anyway.

I dont do mince pies or Christmas pudding or traditional Christmas cake because i cant stand any of it.

Seeing as fizzy pop is a totally unnecessary luxury, they can tax it at 100% or ban it entirely as far as I'm concerned.

Yes mine too Helena I make the Delia Smith one with a marscapone filling. No one likes the trad. cakes or pudding. Except dh. I make a sugar\gluten free pudding for him. (I keep the homemade mincemeat for years ).

Sounds great.

helenadove - i think you nailed it further up when you said you keep sugar intake low and carry on doing what you are...i also lost 4.5 stone in weight when i just stopped eating so much FOOD in general. Reduced portion sizes, less 'treats' and when i did have a biscuit or cake ...well i jolly well enjoyed it but instead of eating whole pkt had one or two once or twice a month.
I didnt cut out sugar all together or frankly even think about my sugar consumption but was just aware of how many calories i was eating and decreased them

I think it's rubbish when people say that if you restrict sugar for a child they go mad on it later. I always restricted sugar, gave fruit with full fat plain yogurt for pudding etc. Then when dc went to school there was just loads more sugar in his diet, the ice cream van parked outside the school, birthday sweets, kids having cereal bars at break. In fact, the school have intermittent "walk to school" days, where if you walked to school you get a very high sugar cereal bar. This is so misleading. Crisps are not allowed, but bars made of corn syrup and palm oil, they are fine apparently
What I have noticed is that the nag factor has increased year on year, and that the more ds is given sugar, at school, at friends houses, and yes at home when I give in, the more he wants.
Sugar is totally addictive. I have stopped doing puddings at home now, except aforementioned fruit and plain yogurt, and we have cake etc at the weekends only, and a small sweet on Friday. I had sweets and cake as a child, but it was limited and a treat, so I am trying to get back to that.
I don't buy pasta sauces, or Chinese style sauces anymore either, and I can really taste the sugar in all processed foods.
I think the more we wean ourselves off sugar, the sweeter things will taste and the less addicted we will be.
I do make porridge on school/work mornings, just put it on a low heat in a non stick pan, shower, dress, it's ready.
I add mashed banana to sweeten it, or blueberry, raspberries etc.
Also make pancake batter the night before sometimes and keep it in a jug in the fridge and we have pancakes with a tiny sprinkle of sugar or some honey, but it's still better than cereal.(This is really the only organised thing I ever do!)

So what kind of plain yogurt / Greek yogurt is the lowest in sugar?

I think it's about time that sugar was viewed in a similar way to nicotine. Both substances do serious harm to the body.

ifnotknow....what i am often wondering is did you have puddings often at home before ? lots of posters talk about not having puddings anymore or giving fruit instead ....we have always only had a pudding on a sunday and sometimes it was fruit salad...made a cake or brownies maybe once a month if that....just never offered it and dds never asked for it.
I was like you...brought up that a small cake was a big treat every now and then and sweets and chocolates were christmas only .
personally i would put sugar on pancakes and porridge but then again dont have it every day.

Do you use sugar in your pancake recipes?

I watched sugar rush and was horrified at the amount of sugar in the sandwich and lemon sauce. I should know better but suppose I've mentally blocked that fact. I'm trying to reduce sugarfor everyone.. It's so pervasive. Did have pancake the other rmorning and wasn't at all hungry until lunchtime. So much better than cereal in that respect but it did taste sweet. Hence the question.

I think it's rubbish when people say that if you restrict sugar for a child they go mad on it later.

Well it happened to me.

I have Lidl Turkish yoghurt - amazingly creamy! They do Greek yoghurt too, if I can get to Lidl I use Total yog

well lots of things do bad things to our bodies...but surely it is about learning self control and self regulation rather then stigmatising some food stuffs.

Sugar is not necessary in the quantities we consume it, but some sugar in a balanced diet is not bad.
If we look at it sugar is a naturally occurring substance found in many healthy foods stuff...fruit / milk for instance. The body does not differentiate once you have eaten it.
the current fad for sugar free diets is nonscence and giving our young people a very distorted view of how food should be treated.
But I am a bit of a soap boxer about self control and a balanced diet and no food being bad just some in moderation, some very occasionally and some everyday
its not rocket science

As a diabetic I've had to look at what I eat closely and knew hidden sugar was in a lot of things but never expected to find it in things like fresh pesto - I make almost all meals from scratch now as its almost impossible to find bought things without sugar - it really limits "cheat" meals and has meant I've had to be a lot more organised.

It depends on what you mean by restrict sugar. If you ban sweets comprehensively IME it does make dcs go mad for them when they can shop for themselves. Also it makes some dcs steal other dcs sweets (it happened in our house). DM didn't ban sweets but we had to buy them with our own pocket money and we didn't much want to spend it on them when there were far more exciting things to spend it on. Dh and I did the same with our dcs. .

Most of us are 'normal' weight and keep sweets things in proportion. Though dh is affected badly by sugar. He never used to like it but it seems he's addicted now despite his pre type 2 diabetes. That's what I mean by some people can cope with normal amounts of sugar and others can't.

redjelly Yeah, we had got into bad habits with too many cakes and puddings. I like them too!
I dont put sugar in pancake batter florriesma if that's what you meant, but sprinkle a tiny bit on when they are cooked.

I don't think all sugar is bad, far from it, and I am fine with Friday sweets, I just want us to be a bit more conscious about it.
I definitely believe that the more you have the more you want, but also the more you can stand.
As a child I couldn't eat stuff like french fancies, they were so sweet to me they sort of burned my mouth! I could inhale 3 now no bother, just because over the years my tolerance to extreme sweetness has grown.
At least with actual puddings and sweets you know what to avoid the extra sugar in so called savoury foods is really evil.

Maybe sugar is a bit like alchohol. Some people will always be able to take it or leave it it, some will not have it then when they discover it won't be able to moderate, some will find even a little alters them, or that they can't control it.
I am quite interested in the correlation between sugar addiction and alchohol abuse actually, because it seems to me that people who have trouble controlling sugar also find the same with alchohol ( I do).