Sugar Rush

Lately, I've been feeling ill in the evenings. We have also been busy trying to get our house packed and ready to go for this weekend. So what do I do? Grab a Monster or a soda of some kind or another...preferably with caffeine. I thought the ill feeling was the caffeine, but after having the same exact feeling after having a root beer (caffeine free, see?) I began to think that I wasn't reacting to the caffeine but the sugar! So like any other person who has WAY more to do than humanly possible in the time allotted (read article here) I ran around the house collecting samples and reading labels of things that I (or my children) have consumed in the last week. Talk about an eye opener!!! This is only a partial list. 

The standard teaspoon of sugar is "a mere 15 calories" say the commercials. And they are right, one teaspoon (level) of sugar is equal to 15 calories, but how many times do you consume only a tsp of sugar? I put FOUR in one (large) mug of coffee alone! One teaspoon of sugar is equal to 4 grams so each cup of coffee I drink has 16g of sugar in it, but wait, there's more! I also add a serving (or two...) of flavored creamer with a price tag of 7g of sugar. So for each cuppa joe that I consume, I will have eaten the equivalent of almost 6 sugar cubes! PER CUP!!!

Here's my list (in no particular order):

Raw Honey (1 tbsp) 16g of sugar (but at least its all natural...)

SlimFast Optima, Creamy Milk Chocolate (11 oz can), 18g sugar

ChexMix Bar "Turtle" (1.2 oz bar), 11g sugar, including High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)

Monster Green (16 oz can= 2 servings...yeah, right!), 27g/servings for a total of 54g sugar per can

A&W Root Beer (12 oz can), 45g sugar, HFCS is the SECOND INGREDIENT!!!

Mountain Dew, Live Wire (12 oz can), 46g sugar, HFCS is the SECOND INGREDIENT!!!

Costco Gourmet Chocolate Covered Raisins (20 pieces), 23g sugar incl. corn syrup

Multigrain Cheerios (1 cup), 6g sugar

Walmart Brand Traditional Jar Spaghetti Sauce (1/2 cup ), 12g sugar incl. corn syrup

100% Juice Box, Apple (6.75 oz box), 23g sugar

KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce (2 tbsp), 12g sugar, incl HFCS

Heinz Ketchup (1 tbsp), 4g sugar, incl HFCS

Jif Creamy Peanut Butter (2 tbsp), 3g sugar

Kirkland Fruit Snacks (.9 oz pack), 13g sugar, corn syrup and sugar are the number 2 and 3 ingredients, respectively.

Let's be clear here. Every time I drink a soda, I'm eating the equivalent of ELEVEN AND A HALF SUGAR CUBES!!! Yummy!!! And that's just in the drink. Also note that I didn't include things that don't include "sugar" but that your body treats like sugar like chips and starches.

Gee, I wonder if the ill feeling was my body trying to tell me to break up with sugar???

Evening Snacking?

I was on SparkPeople tonight and one of the message boards asked what you do about night-time snacking. Here is my answer:

I have two different strategies. The first is to plan ahead; if I have done this successfully, I will grab one of those (ridiculously expensive but very convenient) 100 calorie packs of my favorite junk food. I eat them very slowly, savoring each flavor in my mouth and I always eat at the table. Drinking a full glass of water before I do that is even better. The other snack I have are the 100 calorie popcorn bags. I always seem to crave junk food at night (which is when I did all my binge eating...kids are in bed and I don't have to share or explain myself) so eating a banana or something so "healthy" doesn't always work. Even still, often times, I don't plan well enough and am left with no free calories for snacking.

In THAT case, I drink a large glass of cold water, brush my teeth (try varying your toothpaste flavors...even including the "sweet" kids versions) and go to bed! I plan to eat my snack in the morning, after breakfast. Most of the time, I have already planned on a sweet breakfast (lots of fruit and yogurt for breakfast) and I forget about the extra snack. This works well during the day too. Just promise yourself to wait an extra hour before snacking, drink a large glass of water and distract yourself with a hobby or some entertainment. Don't make a point of remembering to snack, but allow it if you remember. I always like to keep controlled quantities of snacks, so I don't have to do any thinking.

Being hungry for a short period of time isn't the worst thing in the world- I know I am going to eat the next day, so when I am feeling REALLY low, I begin to pray for the people who are hungry and DON'T KNOW if they will eat in the morning. That usually puts my cravings into perspective.

So, I am using options two and three right now, going to bed hungry praising the Lord that I don't have to hear my kids crying because they are hungry and I have no food, thankful that I can wake up (God-willing) and eat more food to nourish and sustain my body.

What do you do?