White & Red : Healthier Junk Food

[Hayl3y]

 

 

Are you hungry?

 

Are you feeling that craving for junk food?

 

Sometimes, eating junk food has to be ruled out.

 

You, then, have to find alternatives...

 

It is not always easy but a couple of combinations can come in handy

 

 

 

ooooooooooooo

 

 

 

1. Do you have an alternative for candy?

 

Here are the ones I found:

 

Dried fruits

 

Nuts

 

 

2. Do you like the alternative ?

 

3. Now what do you think of this :

 

Here is a choice of healthier candy : http://www.rd.com/health/healthy-eating/7-healthy-halloween-candy-choices/

Can it be considered healthier indeed?

[WildTaltos]

1. Do you have an alternative for candy?

Don't eat candy. It's always been something for special occasions, such as someone giving it to me as a gift; I will rarely eat it otherwise. Haven't had any so far this year. If I want something very sweet, I will eat fruit or something with honey.

 

2. Do you like the alternative ?

Yes

 

3. Now what do you think of this :

I think the article is unethical as it is deliberately misleading. None of those choices are any definition of "healthy;" the mini bar at the top of the page for example, is equal calorically to about half or more serving of yogurt and has just as much or more sugar, which for something that is not even the size of your thumb, that's horrible. The marshmallows have as much sugar as an entire MetRx meal bar (and more depending on what kind you get) without any of its benefits. All of them are pretty much just eating a dose of sugar (or high fructose corn syrup) as they don't have much of any other nutritive value to them. 

 

I think if the article was remotely true to its title, it would suggest more traditional treats for the holiday such as caramel apples, fruit cakes, or candied fruit. Not the healthiest things but at least you are getting some nutrition from those. 

[Elgee]

My grandparents used to put sweet potatoes in the wood fired oven after cooking a meal and leave it there to caramelise in its own skin. My mom claims it tasted better than any sweet (candy) you could get today, and was much healthier besides.

[Guest]

I have never tried that but it sounds yummy !

 

I agree with WildTaltos... Even if a lollypop will last longer and drive you to eat less candy, it is not really healthier (especially for the teeth). I was surprised at the number of articles with similar content on the web O.O

But... maybe... it can help some people ?

[Elgee]

I have never tried that but it sounds yummy !

 

 

I've wrapped them up in tinfoil and stuck them in the oven and they turn out quite yummy, but best if really slow roasted.

[Ryrin]

Dried fruit has tons of sugar!

 

I love caramel apples. 

 

Sweet potatoes are really good!

[Elgee]

Dried fruit has tons of sugar!

 

 

Courtesy of Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar):

 

Sugar is the generalized name for sweet, short-chain, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. They are composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. There are various types of sugar derived from different sources. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose (also known as dextrose), fructose, and galactose. The table or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide. (In the body, sucrose hydrolyses into fructose and glucose.) Other disaccharides include maltose and lactose. Longer chains of sugars are called oligosaccharides. Chemically-different substances may also have a sweet taste, but are not classified as sugars. Some are used as lower-calorie food substitutes for sugar described as artificial sweeteners.

Sugars are found in the tissues of most plants, but are present in sufficient concentrations for efficient extraction only in sugarcane and sugar beet.

...

Sugarcane refers to any of several species of giant grass in the genus Saccharum that have been cultivated in tropical climates in South Asia and Southeast Asia since ancient times. A great expansion in its production took place in the 18th century with the establishment of sugar plantations in the West Indies and Americas. This was the first time that sugar became available to the common people, who had previously had to rely on honey to sweeten foods.

[Ryrin]

I've had both individual and group diabetes education classes (not that I always implement what I know) and we were taught to look at carbs not sugar.

 

Dried Fruit

 

Sugar Amounts

Most dried fruits are more than 50 percent sugar. The exceptions are prunes, which are about 38 percent sugar, and dried figs, which are about 48 percent sugar. Among the dried fruits with the highest sugar content are currants and sweetened dried cherries, with 67 percent, and sweetened dried cranberries, with 65 percent.

Compared to Fresh by Weight

When comparing the sugar content of dried fruits and fresh fruits by weight, dried fruits are much higher in sugar because they have had much of their water content removed. Fresh apricots contain about 9 percent sugar, while fresh plums and apples have about 10 percent sugar, which is much lower than the 53 percent sugar in dried apricots, 38 percent sugar in dried plums, or prunes, and 57 percent sugar in dried apples.

[Guest]

That much? O.O

 

I usually have a couple of dried grapes

I guess it is still better than the sour bears candy (that I like so much) but I understand that there are still better choices lol

 

 

 

 

 

Now, drinks... water is the best choice, but it's hard for me to drink just that. I like to have something with more taste.

I'm trying to lessen the amount of coke zero I drink, drinking tea and juices made of 100% fruits.

 

what about you?

[WildTaltos]

 

Dried fruit has tons of sugar!

 

Courtesy of Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar):

 

Sugar is the generalized name for sweet, short-chain, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food.

 

That is the general name but in the scientific community, unless communicating to the public, "sugar" refers to any sugar, monosaccharides, dissacharides, and the complex sugars that are carbohydrates (hence the distinction between "simple sugars" such as sucrose and fructose and "complex sugars" which are long carbon chained compounds).

 

 

That much? O.O

 

I usually have a couple of dried grapes

I guess it is still better than the sour bears candy (that I like so much) but I understand that there are still better choices lol

 

 

 

 

 

Now, drinks... water is the best choice, but it's hard for me to drink just that. I like to have something with more taste.

I'm trying to lessen the amount of coke zero I drink, drinking tea and juices made of 100% fruits.

 

what about you?

 

I get most of my water from the food I eat. I will drink water when I can if it seems clean. Otherwise mostly raw milk.

[Elgee]

I've had both individual and group diabetes education classes (not that I always implement what I know) and we were taught to look at carbs not sugar.

 

Dried Fruit

 

Sugar Amounts

Most dried fruits are more than 50 percent sugar. The exceptions are prunes, which are about 38 percent sugar, and dried figs, which are about 48 percent sugar. Among the dried fruits with the highest sugar content are currants and sweetened dried cherries, with 67 percent, and sweetened dried cranberries, with 65 percent.

Compared to Fresh by Weight

When comparing the sugar content of dried fruits and fresh fruits by weight, dried fruits are much higher in sugar because they have had much of their water content removed. Fresh apricots contain about 9 percent sugar, while fresh plums and apples have about 10 percent sugar, which is much lower than the 53 percent sugar in dried apricots, 38 percent sugar in dried plums, or prunes, and 57 percent sugar in dried apples.

 

Yes, that's what people have been taught up to now. You should read up on what Prof Tim Noakes has to say about it. Makes for very thought provoking reading. Obviously the vast majority of the medical world are getting their knickers in a knot because they don't like being told that they've led the whole world up the garden path for decades.

[Guest]

Oh do you have links towards some of his work?

[WildTaltos]

I think it is funny in a sad way that everyone freaked out when he (Tim Noakes) recommended to a mother that she not feed her child sugary garbage. It is still a growing subject but there are many studies predating his dietary idea that support or suggest the notion that sugar (both simple and carbs) is extremely detrimental to your or your offspring's health (via possible epigenetic mechanisms) if consumed in excessive amounts as in a typical Western diet. The Paleolithic diet, which predates the "Tim Noakes" diet, is built partly on that premise, and of course banting, which his diet is compared to, was a thing over 100 years ago. Variations of such diets may not call for the same proportions as him but all of them call for a sharp reduction in sugar/carb consumption and some (like Paleo diet) call for the exclusion of all processed food, sugar and otherwise. 

 

My own opinion is it is not as much about proportions of carbs or fat but about how "clean" your food is, to borrow a phrase commonly used in the bodybuilding world. As I stated in another thread, foods tend to become unhealthy the more invasively processed they are, such as the use of pesticide and herbicide on produce, refining and then enriching grain or sugar, refining fats/oils, treating animals with antiobiotics and hormones, and then, as is often the case of processed snacks or pre-made meals, throwing all or most of those together.  In regards to the refinement of flour/sugar and fats, that is essentially taking nutrients (sugars and fat) that otherwise exist in small manageable quantities in the original plant or animal alongside other nutrients that would limit consumption of it (such as fibre in plants and protein in animals) and extracting and concentrating it to many,many times more than you would ever find it naturally. A single candy bar made from such refined sugar is essentially then equivalent, close to, or above our ancestor's daily quota of simple sugar, but lacking all of the nutrients it would have been delivered in a natural form (such as fruit, which have many vitamins besides fibre) - add to that the fact that most people are not just going to eat that one candy bar but are going to be consuming other sources of refined simple sugar or carbs as is typical in a Western diet (such as in soft drinks, other seemingly innocuous snacks, and whatever you eat at meals) then it is quite easy to rush into obesity or struggle constantly with weight, while those plus the other parts that come with processing, such as antibiotic use or pesticide residuals, can rush you into a lot of other health problems associated with modern living, from cancer to dementia to heart disease.

 

One should then not worry so much about carbs and sugar as eating "clean," which is generally creating your own meals through fresh, minimally handled produce or meat. That would necessarily limit your carb/sugar intake considering the requirement of minimally-handled/processed should automatically throw flour and refined sugar out the window as an option (which throws out bread, cakes, and most processed snack foods), limiting you to carbs/sugar locked in fruits and vegetables which you necessarily cannot eat anywhere near as much of because you are eating fibre, proteins, and other harder-to-digest materials with it. That would be more than sufficient for most people living a modern lifestyle - I would say the only time you would need a huge punch of carbs/sugar is if you are an athlete/body builder, as you need more than just protein to make gains, but those sort of muscular gains are something you would never see living a natural lifestyle so I suppose it makes sense that they would need the artificial boost of refined flour to get where they are going. 

[Elgee]

I think Taltos put that beautifully.

 

Here are 2 links, Chae:

 

http://www.health24.com/Diet-and-nutrition/Nutrition-basics/Tim-Noakes-on-carbohydrates-20120721

 

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Scientists-have-misled-the-public-Tim-Noakes-20150813

[Ryrin]

I've already read some of his stuff. He's quite interesting. 

 

I'm looking at things from a diabetic perspective. I'm not even supposed to have fresh fruit for breakfast or snacks.

 

I enjoy veggies with dip. I have to make an alternative dip.

[Elgee]

Yeah he's pre-diabetic too. Apparently much healthier on his current paleo diet.

[Guest]

Thanks Mother !