Sugar Busters?

We've been doing Body for Life and eliminating all refined sugars and flours from our family. The transition has been amazingly easy and because our kids see how committed we are to it they've been really interested and going along with it pretty well. My daughter actually prefers the natural cereals over sugar cereals now! www.bodyforlife.com

Hi N.-We have been doing exactly that for 7 years. We do not eat any processed foods and NO sugar. It was funny-my daughter went to a b-day party yesterday (she is 8) and the candy and cake did a really serious number on her!!

It is scary how detrimental the US eating regimen is for us and now with mad cow, cloning and gmo foods in our food chain it will get much worse before it is better. EVERY ailment that is in our society is related to the chemicals in our water and food. There are only truly about 4% of illnesses that are inherited or organic in nature.

What kind of questions do you have?? I am also a detox coach, so I have alot of great info. I mainly shop at Trader Joes and I make sure that we get at least 6 servings of fruits and veggies a day. I am vegan, however my children do eat very little organic, free range chicken. We also have a group of like minded mothers that meets once a month to discuss different holistic topics.

T.

Hi N.~

My family and I eat no refined sugar or white flour (almost 100%). We love it and all feel very good with our diet. We take it a few steps farther and eat purely vegetarian, which has many health benefits as well.

It's a great idea to avoid commercial, non-organic sugars now more than ever as Kellogg's and other companies are about to begin using Genetically Modifed beet sugar in their products without labeling it as such.

As for advice on some alternatives:

Replace sugar with honey or (our favorite) agave nectar. It comes from the agave plant and has a mild flavor that is quite sweet and is a 7 on the glycemic index (meaning that it won't spike and drop your energy the way white flour and sugar will. They are in the 200s range on the index). Also, if you need a granulated form of sweetener, try turbinado sugar or evaporated cane juice crystals.

My kids have never had anything different and they don't even know what the candy is at the checkout. They love eating dried fruit which is quite sweet. Their favorite dried treats are dates (a special treat that is very sweet), apricots, figs, mango slices... With dried fruit I make sure it does not have sulphur dioxide in it as a preservative, which is really not very good for the body and is easily avoided by checking the ingredients.

Which reminds me, CHECK THE LABLES! For us, our rule of thumb is if we can't pronounce it and don't know what it is, we don't eat it. That simplifies things a lot.

Try shopping at Trader Joe's. They have lots of organic stuff and truly, their prices are not much, if any, higher than non-organic food. And refined processed food is more expensive than simpler foods anyway. Whole Foods is a little more pricey but they have some things Joe's does not.

Ok, my last piece of advice for this letter: Try the grain called Quinoa. It is a complete protein, tastes delicious (slightly nutty flavor), and has lots of great nutrition in it. It cooks just like rice (2 parts water, one part quinoa... put it all in the pot with a lid, boil rapidly, add olive oil and/or seasoning salt if you desire and stir, (do not stir or remove the lid anymore), reduce heat and continue to boil for 10-12 minutes with lid on, turn off heat without removing the lid and it will finish cooking without burning.)

Diet and nutrition affect every asspect of life. It is a really great decision to become more informed and selective about what you and your family are eating (or not eating).

Best wishes,
L.

PS~ feel free to contact me with any other questions.

Good for you!! This can be easily done and very effective for better health. Learn to read lables, very simple. Great shopping at Trader Joes and Whole Foods, along with local grocery stores who seem to have caught on and are providing a larger Organic section. Involve your 5 yr. old to help. He too can become a Nutrition Detective. This is a program that teaches kids to make healthy choices by learning to read and interpret food lables. The doctor behind this wonderful program is Dr. David Katz, M.D. He is the nutrition columnist for O (Oprah magazine) and medical contributor for ABC News to name a few. I have the privledge to get this information thru the wellness company I support. Dr. Katz has shared this information with us so we may share it with others. He does support whole food nutrition - Juice Plus. If you wish to learn more, let me know.
In good health,
N.-Nutrition Naturally
www.jp4ahealthieryou.com

Hello,

My mom is a diabetic so my parents bought the sugar busters cook book. The meals are a little in depth but my mom's sugar levels were controlled and she lost 20 pounds! My dad who didn't need to lose any weight lost almost 10. They both swear by it. I have had some of the dishes and they were very good, the creamed spinich is great. I couldn't tell the meals were missing sugar or the processed flour.