The Cardiologist's Wife's Chocolate Too! Diet:
No Sugar, Low Fat *&* Low Carb
The usual game: if the recipe says it’s fat-free, it’s crammed with sugar & carbs. If it says sugar-free, it’s loaded with fat -- which metabolizes from carbs (all) & sugar anyway if there’s too much in the diet...so let’s concentrate on sugar in its “innocent” disguises.
Consider this casserole recipe for diabetics & obesity sufferers: “Replace sugar with one 12-ounce can (1 1/2 cups) of evaporated fat-free milk. Sound healthy? Not. One of those cans contains 300 calories and 45 g carbs -- which equal 11 tsp sugar. That’s a candy bar! For someone already ill, it’s poison. For someone just trying to lose weight, it’s deception. Another gimmick is listing just “Carbs” on the recipe or food product label – instead of admitting that there’s 35 grams of sugar per serving. And if that “serving” is tiny, who’s going to eat just one?
There’s more deception (brown sugar is sugar!), but fruits are up there too. Dates , so frequently substituted for sugar, are the most sugar-crammed fruit. Next come raisins & any dried fruit, but there are also crammed-with-sugar “sugar substitutes” like honey, molasses, & maple syrup. Per cup, honey has 1031 calories and 278 grams of Total Sugars, which equals 70 teaspoons of sugar! Want me to continue? They’re all just sugar in colored liquid solution, no different from the sugar in your sugar bowl.
Avoid too all-purpose flour. It’s in nearly every diet recipe, on nearly every diet site. Why? Because it makes things taste better (& the Diet popular). Its outer husk was removed to make foods lighter & fluffier, but that whole-grain husk, with its slow enzymatic breakdown, was what gave slower sugar absorption; avoided the glucose/insulin highs and crashes. All-purpose flour metabolizes almost as fast as sugar -- & with 456 calories per cup, of which 95 grams of carbs quickly convert into 24 teaspoons of sugar. Better to stick to whole grain flours. I’ll teach you how to cook & bake with whole wheat pastry flour, soy flour, & milled flaxseed -- which, with its heart-healthy Omega-3 oils, helps to reduce the risk of heart disease, lowers cholesterol, and helps to fight cancer.
Beware too of “diet” recipes telling you to use: butter, stiff with saturated fat. Since trans fats are out, Diets & Diet magazines are suddenly extolling the “old time natural goodness of butter.” Sure, it’s gloriously delicious but…die another day. Diet recipes also tell you to use cake mix, corn muffin mix, etc. Don’t. You know what’s in them.
Remember too that even whole grains, while better for you, have carbs which metabolize into sugar, and plenty of calories too.
EASY WAY TO TRANSLATE CARBS INTO SUGAR:
4 grams sugar OR 4 grams carbs equal 1 teaspoon of sugar.
If (sneaky) food labels list only grams of carbs, take that number & divide by four. For example, a power/granola/"meal replacement" bar admitting to 24 grams carbs on its label -- divide those 24 grams by 4.
That "healthy" granola bar contains the equivalent of 6 teaspoons of sugar!
Hidden Sugar in your Diet/Commercial Food
Below is a list of Sugars in Disguise. Adapt it to your needs. Understand that, besides nice flavor & fiber, they’re all really sugar by another name. If you’re only trying to lose weight, just go by calorie count. If you’re pre-diabetic or diabetic, factor it in; be aware. In either case, realize that, while fresh fruits & veggies are good for you, go easy on the fruits high in sugar. Also know that lower cal ingredients or safe artificial sweeteners can replace those crammed-with-sugar dates, raisins, etc. Here's the list:
Per cup:
FRUIT CALORIES, g of SUGAR
Apple Sauce (unsweetened) 100, 25 g
Apple Sauce (regular) 200, 42 g
Apples (dried, diced) 210, 50 g
Apricots(dried, diced) 315, 70 g
Banana, mashed 200, 28g
Blueberries (fresh) 83, 14 g
Blueberries, dried 520, 128
Cranberries, dried 370, 26g
Dates (dried, pitted) 501, 125g
Pineapple, fresh, diced 80, 16g
Pineapple, canned, drained 109, 26g
Raisins 500 98g
DOES THIS PAGE SOUND PRETTY RESTRICTIVE? Yep, most of us love sweets. So decide for yourself, based on your needs and objectives. (We do use unsweetened apple sauce & mashed banana in some recipes, their sugar content isn’t that high & if it’s muffins etc, & the recipe’s results get divided into 6 or 9 muffins or something else, no problem.
Just watch out for those “dried fruit sugar substitutions.” 1/2 cup dried dates contains 63 g sugar, which equals 16 teaspoons of sugar! (Divide # of grams by 4. ALWAYS TAKE # OF GRAMS OF SUGAR OR CARBS & DIVIDE BY 4 TO FIND THE EQUIVALENT # OF TEASPOONS OF SUGAR. WHEW!)
Copyright © 2009 The Cardiologist's Wife Chocolate Too Diet. All rights reserved.
Strawberries, low in sugar & good for you. Dip into No Sugar No Fat Fudge Sauce -- 40 calories & 8,000 antioxidants per serving! Or how ‘bout a fork-dipped multi-fruit compote!? Rapture
Fruit tart made with healthy crust & no-sugar fruit jam. No taste difference, swoony delicious! (Sugar-free Apricot preserves used here.)
RECIPES (soon!)
