Sugar and the brain

[Matt2584]

peppersmith.co.uk/effect-su...

Sugar, or refined sugar, really does no good for the body or brain.

[sospan]

Yep, as we have said many, many times we need more legislation to stop the proliferation of unnecessary sugar foods. A survey a few years ago showed that the average UK child had double the recommended daily amount by the time they had finished breakfast

[Hidden]

I love the boost in my brain when I have a sugary doughnut and coffee with sugar. Mmmmmm!

[Matt2584 in reply to Hidden]

I do like donuts, especially Morrison's donuts, but to put it bluntly, sugar is just not good for you.

I like to think that I am a chunky monkey that is on the way to burning off a lot of fat.

At times, yesterday evening for instance. My mum offered me a piece of chocolate cake that was bought from Lidl. Any other day I would have gladly had some but I refused.

I can be quite good now, I try not to eat so much fake food with sugar in it now.

I call it fake food cos you don't see a Mars bar growing on trees do you :).

Food you grow is REAL food.

[iforget]

I will admit I haven't followed the link and you may be surprised but I agree...and despite the kick we might get from a sugar high (donut, chocolate etc), added/refined sugar is not good for us.

A lot of the natural food we eat is converted into sugars when it is broken down and for anyone eating balanced diet which contains proteins, fats, carbs, fruits and veggies, added sugar is just so unnecessary.

When I started reading food labels I was totally appalled at the amount of sugars in things you would not expect to find sugar...and I stopped eating processed foods a while back because of all the added things they contained...many of which I could not pronounce and did not understand

There is so much information and misinformation out there about food with "experts" of all kinds publishing conflicting views on a regular basis... to the point that the general public seems to have become jaded and sick of it all.

I am a huge fan of the "all things in moderation" approach to life... and if I want a piece of chocolate I will eat one, but its not something I do all the time and it is alongside a balanced healthy diet...

But at the end of the day people have choices... and sometimes people make choices that are perhaps not in their best interests...

Trouble is, for those who have not option but to eat processed foods, the sugar free options bring another set of issues with sugar substitutes...

[Matt2584]

As you said, natural foods have sugar or converts into sugar but that isn't much of a problem, our bodies need sugar... just not a lot of the refined/added rubbish.

Refined sugar is addictive, that's most probably why so many people buy into it. I would actually prefer to eat a bag of dates rather than a bag of Galaxy Minstrels now.

I do still eat processed foods with added sugar in them but I try not to eat as much of it as I used to. If it were possible, I would like to eat completely organic but that would be near impossible to do now. It would sort out a lot of health problems for people, I think.

And like you said, sugar is added to almost every processed food, even the savoury foods!

The other thing is that sugar comes under different names too.

I remember my mum was telling me how she spotted a new "Healthy" cereal that had spelt in it but when she looked at the ingredients, sugar came up 5 times and was under different names. Fructose, Glucose, some other 'ose' and so on.

And what's the need for all these chemicals in these "foods". Surely a yogurt doesn't need 10-20 different unpronouncable chemicals in it.

I was eating a processed yogurt once and out of interest I was looking at the ingredients. Out of the paragraph of (probably unnecessary) ingredients, pork gelatine was also in the yogurt!... Why would that be in there?

That reminds me of most spray-on deodorants, they contain aluminium. Now, according to scientists. Alumium is the metal found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. I don't know about you but I don't think people should be spraying themselves with toxic metals.

[iforget in reply to Matt2584]

I guess I am lucky in that I enjoy cooking and I have the time to do it from scratch most of the time. I would love to use all local grown foods but being in central London that isn't exactly possible, but I do buy British as much as I can and will eat "in season" foods rather than tasteless imports...I am so happy English Strawberries are in the shops now they are the best in the world...

Obviously I do buy some processed store cupboard basics like baked beans, ketchup and dried pasta but I am horrified at the all the chemicals that go into processed food these days and avoid them as much as I can. I rarely follow recipes but always shake my head at those with too many ingredients or where there is way too much fat, salt or sugar than is needed...

Like salt and sugar, gelatine is another thing that pops up in some unexpected places

Its a minefield but I feel common sense can prevail.

[Matt2584 in reply to iforget]

You are very lucky to enjoy cooking and have time to do it, I wish I was able to cook. My mum cooks for me. When my brother used to live at home he used to rely on my mum's cooking too but now he has moved out and he cooks for himself. It envys me and it can frustrate me sometimes because I don't do any cooking. I would want to at least try, even if it were a pretty simple recipe. I know it is possible for me to do so because I have done cooking courses with my headway. But the main thing is it is my mums kitchen and I don't know where everything is kept so I can't exactly say "I am gonna make a quiche" and get it done without her assisting me in some sort of way but she is usually busy doing her thing in the garden as that is her domain :).

[iforget in reply to Matt2584]

I can't follow a recipe to save my life but luckily I am an instinctive cook and go by senses...Post BI I have to use the timer on my oven for absolutely every step... even when I am not using the oven. It is so useful (along with the reminder alerts to start prep and to start the actual cooking...) The oven timer beeps loudly and can be heard around the house ...and it will not quit beeping until you turn it off or reset it. My husband knows better than to turn off anything that is beeping...he will tell me something is beeping if I do not respond to the beeps. It works brilliantly

I have my kitchen set up to suit me - if someone moves something I am thrown- but for the most part it works just fine. I am not so good when we go on holiday and I try to cook in a strange kitchen and the first few days are a bit tense until I figure stuff out. I have been known to put post-its on cupboards so I know what is inside... much the amusement of the resort housekeeping staff. Who cares if it gets the job done eh?

Maybe when you have time on your hands you could figure out where stuff is and make a note of it so if you do get the urge to cook something you would be able to refer to the notes and find what you need? I bet your Mum would love a home baked quiche surprise

[Matt2584 in reply to iforget]

That is a good idea about making a note of where everything is. The trouble with that is that she likes to change things up. She doesn't like things being the same so one week the utensils could be in one draw and the next week or month they could be somewhere completely different :).

One of the things I want to do is when the weather gets hot, like it has done already, she doesn't like to do much cooking and I have said to her that I would like to cook up a homemade soup for my parents but first I would like some assisstance from my mum but she can get caught up with other things and easily forget.