I been trying for awhile, with little success though. My biggest problem has always been the coca cola. I drink 2 litres of coke per day, and have for the most part the last 17 years. I have quit it before, and always starting drinking it again for some stupid reason like running out of bottles of water. This year though i have started drinking water from out the tap only, so i know once i stop drinking the coke i will quit it for good this time. I have eaten a few cakes the last 6 months to since i quit smoking, but i don't need them like i did a couple of months ago.


I do buy the sainsburys range of oriental, indian and taste the difference ready meals a few times a week, but i plan on just sticking to one per week. I don't have any at home but i do like to buy the schwartz recipe mix. What are they like sugar wise?

I'm personally not a sweet/ sugar in tea, coffee person & I know there's such thing as hidden sugars in foods. But I'm lucky to be at home & make my own fat free soups, meals etc - but I'm astounded when I go to our apartment in Turkey ( up North not a tourist area - so they're not necessarily catering for tourists, if any) that even in the local, corner shop they sell sugar in sacks! Yep, like those huge catering bags!!
My sister in law is diabetic & FIL died from neglecting his yrs ago - and they still sell full sugar soft drinks ( I'm a tap water drinker).
Anyhow, what I'm getting at is we might be bad but even I'm astounded by what qualifies as sugar free out - there. Even their version of 'fat free' is just 40% less fat!
Don't start me on their tiny tea cups that the majority usually but two sugars in and they go on to drink it for hours while gossiping! Same for their coffee - they look at hubby & I stupid when we ask for sugar free or fat free items of food.

Isn't there loads of sugar in shop bought bread anyway? Maybe that's on the show tonight - I'm sure I read/heard I mentioned somewhere recently

It probably varies widely from brand to brand. I don't know if I would say 'loads', but a slice of Kingsmill 50/50 THICK (for example) has 18 g of carbohydrates, 1.5 of that being sugar. I wouldn't say that's massive. Their wholemeal bread has 16.7 g of carbs per slice but no info on sugar content on the same site. I think the difference is meant to be the fiber anyway.

Also, people that are counting calories/fat/sugar shouldn't be fooled by breads labelled as low-fat or 'diet' or 'lite', sometimes the loaf and individual slices are just smaller than your average loaf of bread. So if the price is considerably more, you'd be better off just eating less bread in general.

Yep, there's nothing wrong with 'real' bread or sugar in moderation via treats, it's processed ready meals ( including cereal ) and sugary drinks that are the big problem. Oh and a lack of exercise.

My grandparents ate bread and sugary treats all their lives, granddad past away at 91 from lung cancer ( having been a smoker until he was in his 50's ) and nana is still going at 88. Mary Berry has eaten cake all her life ( in moderation ) and so has Delia Smith, neither are suffering from major health problems.

Anyone who gives up a food group entirely are just following the latest fad, rather than using common sense.

We can all think of examples of people who have done all the wrong things and had none of the health problems but that doesn't prove these things are not harmful.
The fact is that sugar consumption is too high and is causing a load of health problems which cost a lot of money.

It's the hidden sugar in pasta sauces and even curry sauces that people often don't realise they're consuming. I sometimes wonder if the food industry is deliberately trying to wean people onto extra sweetness. For example just about every one of the ready-sweetened chocolate drinks taste as if they have about ten spoons full of sugar added, even though it's often sweetener.

People buy the live bio yoghurts because they think they're healthy, but they often contain colossal amounts of sugar, as does just about and fruit pie. Coca Cola has staggering amounts of sugar added.

I eat very little sugar. I take no sugar in tea, coffee etc. can reject sweets and chocolates and rarely eat puddings and cakes.

I just wish I could say no to cheese.

The lady on the 'Are You Addicted to Sugar' program on Ch4 this week touched on the food industry's use of sugar/fat/salt in processed food. They call it the 'bliss' point, where our tastebuds receive the ideal amount of each of those ingredients for maximum pleasure, but she said maybe it should be called the 'trick' point because it leads our brains to think that the food we're eating is actually better than it is. The idea was that the food industry does this on purpose hoping that we will buy/eat more of their food.

I agree about the yogurt being high in sugar/sweetener which is why I now buy Greek/plain yogurt with nothing added to it. I was reading recently that easily digested carbohydrates—such as the sugars that are added to low-fat yogurt to replace the fat that has been removed—drive weight gain by promoting insulin resistance. This hormonal change, in turn, signals the body to convert more sugar into fat and to hold on to more of the fat found in food rather than just letting these ingredients be excreted in the stool or converted into something else—like cholesterol or heat.

I haven't been a regular soda drinker for a few years now, I buy a bottle maybe once a month, less often sometimes. Energy drinks are another thing that many people consume without realizing the amount of sugar that's in them. And some of them are marketed to kids, most kids these days aren't active enough to warrant an "energy" drink.

I do still have the odd bit of sugariness but my lifestyle is basically low carb.

It's been many years now and I wouldn't go back.
No sugar spikes followed by sluggishness, no feeling tired.
I consistently lost weight then hit my maintenance ideal which hasn't fluctuated.

I eat lots of vegetables too.

Our grandparents' generation were eating better than we are, that was my point.

Whilst they still ate sugary treats such as cakes and biscuits, they weren't eating ready meals stuffed with hidden sugar and fat but homemade dinners made from fresh ingredients, they weren't drinking pop like today's generation and they were more active - my grandparents ran a children's home in the 50's and 60's and of course there was more manual / physical work in the 50's and 60's anyway. Smoking was more popular back then, drinking beer / ale in the local pub was a common hobby amongst working men and health & safety at work was almost non-existent, so they weren't doing everything right but in terms of food, their diets were better than today's generation.

I agree diets have got progressively worse and while I agree their kids did have sweets back then I doubt many put them away at the rate some kids today do. I agree people not looking at the ingredients of ready made food and drinks is part of the issue but its not just ready meals and pop. Unless, like me, you live on meat eggs, veg & butter, its pretty normal for people to eat more carbs than they need, which increases hunger and results in the fact that on average we all eat more and weigh more than our grandparents who drank full fat milk, had condensed milk on their deserts and cooked in butter and lard.

Ketone bodies derived from fat are only effective for roughly 50% of your nervous system.

You'd know that if you weren't starving your brain.

Don't suppse you have a source for that? There are scientific peer reviewed journals on studies related to a ketosis diet that show cognitive function is improved and can also slow the onset of Alzheimers disease.

My brain works just fine, thank you.