Artificial Sweeteners



homemade xylitol frosting on Pillsbury sugar free chocolate cupcake


A friend who's been reading my blog asked me a good question.  She knows that I like to eat organic if possible.  So what kind of sweetener do I use.

When my husband first started TNT, I was very uncomfortable with his use of artificial sweeteners.  Mostly he was getting them in the form of protein supplements and diet sodas.  When I was persuaded to go low carb myself, I began to do a lot more baking than previously because there aren't so many tasty and affordable low carb items in the marketplace.  Following my inclination toward natural & organic stuff, I tried to use stevia alone.  But I found the bitter aftertaste a little off putting.  Then I read somewhere that many companies that manufacture sugar free items combine two or more sweeteners to get a more natural sugar-like flavor.  Common combinations are Splenda + a sugar alcohol or acesulfame K + a sugar alcohol.  I tend to use Splenda + stevia to get a better overall flavor while reducing the total amount of artificial sweetener to achieve a certain sweetness.

I choose Splenda over the other common artificial sweeteners like Equal and Sweet N Low because it is the one artificial sweetener that is supposed to be the most stable when heated.  I also use small amounts of molasses, say in place of caramelized sugar when making a flan or in a tomato based sauce to cut the acid.  Molasses also has iron, which women & children could always use more of.  When I cheat & have pancakes or when I make low carb pancakes, I prefer the flavor of organic agave nectar over the artificial low carb maple syrups (not too keen on a strong maple flavor).  I chose agave nectar because it has a low glycemic index, i.e. it does not give you a big, quick blood sugar spike, and it is much sweeter than other syrups so I only need to use a tiny amount to get that big sweet flavor.  Pancakes with butter and gobs of Log Cabin syrup are one of my huge downfalls...just have to make efforts not to fall down too many times over the course of a month!  ;-)

There is evidently some debate about whether sugar alcohols are okay for those trying to reduce their carbs, whether you can subtract them from the total carbs when calculating net carbs.  (In case you are unfamiliar with calculating net carbs: total grams carbs - grams fiber = grams net carbs.  Some say this formula is okay: total grams carbs - grams fiber - grams sugar alcohol = grams net carbs.)  Our family has foods prepared with sugar alcohols as fun foods - treats like low carb ice cream on weekends or sugar free cake mix with homemade xylitol frosting for specials occasions or sugar free candies when that sweet tooth bites.  We don't use sugar alcohol as a tabletop sweetener.  Sugar alcohols vary in their sweetness and in their impact on blood sugar, so moderation in their use may be prudent especially for the insulin dependent diabetic.

Links:

• http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/artificial-sweeteners
• http://diabetes.about.com/od/nutrition/a/sugarsubchart.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucralose
• http://www.livestrong.com/article/440319-agave-nectar-vs-high-fructose-corn-syrup/
• http://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/17/3/137.full

My Mom's Story - Cancer & Sugar

Shortly before my dad died of cholangiocarcinoma (cancer of the bile duct) which metastasized (spread) to his liver, my mom entered into the chemo phase of the treatment for her own colon cancer.  She was still in recovery from the cancer resection (surgery to remove the tumor & surrounding lymph nodes to check for metastasis) and quite frail.  Her cancer was stage three, meaning that some of her lymph nodes were positive for cancer cells, i.e. the cancer was spreading.  Having seen how quickly my dad's cancer had progressed and the kind of horrible pain that it wrought, when the doctor gave her a choice of going forward with chemo then or delaying until she felt stronger, I encouraged her not to wait. 

The recommended chemo was evidently not as strong as say treatment for leukemia (cancer of the blood), but still the side effects were wearing and got progressively worse with successive rounds of chemo.  Having been a pediatric oncology nurse herself, my mom knew the importance of making efforts to eat although one's appetite takes a nosedive and side effects like a bad taste in the mouth made food choices limited.  My sister-in-law was an invaluable help to my mom as this time, preparing favorite ethnic dishes in an effort to tempt her to eat.

Shortly after my mom completed her last round of chemo & was declared cancer free, I discovered that cancer loves sugar.  The manner in which cancer cells use sugar is different than the way normal body cells do; basically, they ferment the sugar in order to get a quick jolt of energy.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycolysis  It's a wasteful process; instead of getting the full amount of potential energy that resides in the sugar, cancer cells carry out anaerobic respiration even in the presence of oxygen.  Normal body cells carry out aerobic respiration.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_respiration  But then everything about the way cancer works is a waste.  Cancer cells have a special ability to hijack a body's resources and channel everything toward themselves in such a way that the cancer's host will eventually starve to death or be squashed by the overgrowth of the abnormal cells. 

So cancer loves sugar.  Most cancer cells need glucose to perform anaerobic respiration because their mitochondria (cellular power plants) are malfunctioning.  This is called the Warburg Effect.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warburg_effect  It was discovered by the Nobel Prize winner Otto Heinrich Warburg who formulated the Warburg Hypothesis on the origins of cancer in 1924.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warburg_hypothesis  There is in fact research going on today where cancer is being treated with a low carbohydrate-high fat ketogenic diet.   http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1662484,00.html  Basically, one's body cells can survive on energy derived from fat.  And the byproducts of fat metabolism are  ketone bodies.  Previously, ketogenic diets have been used to treat some pediatric epilepsy.  For an in depth discussion of the topic, check out: http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/66/18/8927.full.pdf

It also turns out that high blood sugar increases one's risk of developing 24 different forms of cancer: http://www.news-medical.net/news/20100521/Researchers-study-correlation-between-type-2-diabetes-and-increased-risk-of-cancer.aspx  Further, high blood sugar is a predictor of mortality for those with some cancers: http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/159/12/1160.abstract

If you are so inclined to read more scholarly articles, here are some links that attest to the negative relationship between high blood sugar, hyperinsulinemia (high blood levels of insulin either from over secretion due to insulin resistance or the chronic use of insulin to reduce high blood sugar), and cancer. 

• http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/msj.20167/abstract
• http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3322/caac.20078/pdf
• http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/1097-0142(195611/12)9:6%3C1127::AID-CNCR2820090610%3E3.0.CO;2-4/abstract  (this one is particularly interesting because it states that in 1885 cancer patients were observed to have high blood sugar)

So, out of concern and with the notion that it can't hurt to cover all one's bases, I began to nag my mom about reducing her refined carbohydrate intake in case there were any rouge cancer cells floating around trying to get another foothold within her body.  To my utter surprise, she listened and asked me how to go about reducing her carbs!  My mom is very independent and private, not one to be told what to do, and Asian, i.e. she eats white rice three times a day.  Hence, it was flabbergasting that she wanted to hear more. 

About a month & a half ago, I learned why she was so compliant.  My mom revealed to me that she too is diabetic.  I understood in that moment that this must have been crushing to my mom because I distinctly remember her telling me when I was about seven years old (30+ years ago) that she dreaded ever becoming diabetic after doing some private duty assisting a diabetic patient.  From what my mom told me, her doctor said that her case is not severe, that if she controlled her diet, she would not have to go on any medications.

So, we went grocery shopping together, and I showed her which products we frequently used and how to calculate net carbs from the nutritional information on prepared food containers.  After 70+ years of eating white rice daily, my mom does not partake anymore and does not even have cravings for it.  She snacks on nuts, cheeses, & sugar free sweets (such as Power Crunch protein bars and baked goods that I prepare & share with her), and she's substituted vegetables, low carb bread, & shiratake noodles for the rice she used to eat.  I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but let me testify that my mom is aging in reverse; she is glowing again and stronger.  She is resuming daily exercise which includes walking & resistance training.  You would not know from looking at her that she had been so very ill less than a year ago.  I pray to God that the cancer is gone for good and that she can enjoy the remainder of her years with vigor and joy.  Amen!

Recipe #2: Cheesy Crackers

The internet has been so helpful in terms of finding low carb recipes that may be used straight up or customized for our tastes.  This recipe is perfect and so simple that small kids who can operate a microwave can make it.  And my 2 1/2 year old loves to eat this.  So much so that when I make it, there is hardly any left over for us parents!  On our microwave, a full minute works.  But as the recipe states, yours may be slightly different.  So experiment until you get the crispness & color that pleases you.

Ingredients:
American cheese slices
parchment paper

Instructions:

1. cut a sheet of parchment paper to fit the microwave's glass plate
2. break cheese slice into 16 pieces by repeatedly folding in half
3. evenly space the cheese pieces on the parchment paper lined glass plate
4. microwave on full power for ~1 minute (microwaves vary, so cooking time may be more or less than 1 minute)
5. cool on the parchment paper for a minute, then enjoy!

Original recipe from the web:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4682690_low-carb-crackers.html#ixzz10yPmkq7r

Weight Loss & Recommended Books






BEFORE

 

AFTER

This week, I bought four new size 4 blouses.  It blows my mind to think of that number - four - because only two years ago, I was size 12 and expanding!  My dearest wish was to get down to a single digit dress size.  And 8 would have pleased me forever after that - I wasn't greedy!  Similarly, my husband went from a waist circumference of 34+" to almost 30".  Today, he finally bought size small t-shirts because he's swimming in all his other casual clothes.

Both of us have had ups and downs in our weights since we met and eventually married.  We both ballooned out after the wedding - a supposed sign of marital happiness according to teasing family friends.  And now we're both slimmer than on our wedding day ten years ago!  Many people will claim that they just want to get healthy.  That's why they spend so much time and money in the pursuit of weight loss.  But the deep dark truth is that we don't want to feel ugly anymore.  I know it was true in my case!

Both my husband & I had struggled with our weights, trying to find the time to exercise enough to burn away all those stored calories while trying to control the (natural) urge to eat and choosing masses of oatmeal & brown rice in the effort to "eat clean."  All to no great avail.  In my case, I slowly deflated 10 pounds over the course of a year & a half (33% body fat to start) but it started to creep back into place before I had even reached my goal weight. 

In the meantime, my husband had discovered TNT Diet: Targeted Nutrition Tactics by Campbell & Volek a year ago.  It was a great watershed event!  His weight seemed to just slip away like water off a duck's back.  We began to resemble the number ten - he the '1' and I the '0'.  It was not to be borne!  My hand was forced and I must join him in his racist way of eating (no white anything - no sugar, no flour, no potatoes, no bread).  Simply put: if you imagine loading up your plate as usual (meat + veg + starch), just remove the starch and substitute in another serving of veggies (meat + veg + veg).  The diet is not a high protein plan; increased protein is only added proportional to one's increased needs before & after weight training. To my absolute surprise, it worked for me also!  I dumped a further ten+ pounds in 3 months and lowered my body fat to 24%.  And I know it would work for you too if you would just keep an open mind and try it out.

Why does it work?  There is some discussion of the scientific rationale in TNT Diet but two books by another author truly dissect the history & science of fat gain & loss: Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It and Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health by Gary Taubes.  In a nutshell as I understand it: when simple carbs (sugars & starches) are eaten, insulin is secreted by the pancreas; insulin stimulates fat cells to remove sugar out of the bloodstream & store it (i.e. we get fatter); it stimulates the liver to convert blood sugar into triglycerides & fatty acids (i.e. we develop bad blood lipid profiles); and it stimulates the kidneys to dump potassium by hanging onto sodium (i.e. we bloat & our blood pressure goes up).  Minimizing one's carbohydrate load, and thereby one's insulin secretion, allows your body to liberate the fat you've already stored as well as the fat in your food to be used for energy.  When sugar or starches are present, they are always preferred by the body, so fat is not used and is in fact stored on top of that which is already present.

If you have any interest in slimming down, whether for health or for vanity, please, look up these books and consider giving carbohydrate/insulin control a try!

Links to Recommended Books:

• http://books.google.com/books?id=NPThUn6T0kIC&dq=TNT&ie=ISO-8859-1&source=gbs_gdata
• http://books.google.com/books?id=Pm9ZcFYtLZ4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=gary+taubes&hl=en&ei=i6DcTaizHeTW0QG87vHXDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
• http://books.google.com/books?id=Xdm40JUD9HwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=gary+taubes&hl=en&ei=i6DcTaizHeTW0QG87vHXDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

Products We Love

 

Pillsbury Devil's Food chocolate cupcakes


My family has been eating in a carbohydrate controlled fashion for almost one year now.  During that time, we found products that help us stay on the straight and narrow.  We hope that they help you to live healthier while still enjoying yourself!

·         Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Sugar Free Instant Drink Mix

·         Stewart’s Diet Root Beer

·         Stewart’s Diet Orange Soda

·         Diet Dr. Pepper

·         Emerald Cocoa Roast Almonds – Dark Chocolate Flavor

·         Nutritious Living Hi-Lo cereals

·         Blue Diamond Almond Breeze unsweetened almond milks in various flavors

·         NuNaturals NuStevia White Stevia Powder (less bitter than other stevia brands)

·         Coca-Cola Zero in a variety of flavors

·         Sprite Zero

·         Hansen’s Natural Tea Stix & Fruit Stix (sweetened with stevia)

·         Horizon Organic Cream Cheese

·         Horizon Organic Sour Cream

·         Horizon Organic American Singles

·         House Foods Tofu Shirataki noodle substitute in Angel Hair or Fettuccini shapes

·         Dreamfields ‘Healthy Carb Living’ pastas

·         PowerCrunch Protein Energy Bars (uses stevia & sucralose – the lowest carb protein bars we’ve found and SO DELICIOUS even the toddler eats them as candy bars)

·         Mrs. Butterworth’s Thick-n-Rich Sugar Free Syrup

·         Vermont Sugar Free Low Calorie Syrup (the prior two can be used in place of corn syrup when making pecan pie!)

·         Sara Lee 45 Calories & Delightful 100% Whole Wheat With Honey Bread (only 5 net carbs per slice)

·         La Tortilla Factory Low Carb High Fiber Original Tortillas Made With Whole Wheat (only 3 net carbs each)

·         Pillsbury Moist Supreme Sugar Free cake mixes in Devil’s Food or Classic Yellow

·         Pillsbury Sugar Free Chocolate Fudge brownie mix

·         Ideal Confectionary Low Calorie Sweetener (xylitol)

·         Bob’s Red Mill Finely Ground Almond Meal/ Flour





My Dad's Story

I'm getting my stories out of order, because my mother was diagnosed with colon cancer about three weeks prior to my father's cancer diagnosis.  But his story really punches home the issues surrounding refined carbohydrates & the problems with them.

My father was exhibiting extreme tiredness, weakness, & weight loss; it was to the point that even his hygiene started to lag because he wanted to spend so much time sleeping.  His regular doc had diagnosed him with some depression, which is quite common among seniors who have experienced illness & death in their social & family circles.  24 hours after his depression diagnosis, while I & my sister-in-law were watching him eat a lunch that we'd prepared (he didn't have the energy to even make his own typical soup & sandwich), he fainted in mid-chew and began to choke on his sandwich!  After administering the Heimlich manuever & learning that my dad felt disoriented and as if his eyesight were darkened, we called 911 thinking perhaps he was having a stroke. 

It turns out he was in the terminal stages of cholangiocarcinoma (cancer of the bile duct), which was inoperable, not so much because of age, but because it was also discovered that his liver was cirrhotic.  This was a stunning shock - not so much the cancer but rather the cirrhosis!  He had never been a drinker and had never had hepatitis.  The docs had no reason to explain the genesis of the liver damage, "idiopathic."  One asked whether he had been exposed to radiation.

In the weeks following his death, after watching his terrible suffering and pain as the docs let the cancer have its way, I just had to find out why and how this had happened.  Not just to know what happened to him, but to avoid this fate for myself and for my kids.

Turns out that refined carbohydrate consumption may contribute to chronically elevated blood sugar, which in turn may lead to what is called fatty liver.  Fatty liver may then evolve into Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH), which can damage the liver, having just the same result as alcoholic cirrhosis.  This is precisely the process whereby the French delicacy foie gras is made; ducks are force-fed corn to produce an exceptionally fatty liver that is buttery in flavor.  What's bad for the goose is bad for the man, too! 

What is shocking is that this was evidently completely off the radar screen for the doctors who consulted in my father's case even knowing that he was DIABETIC.  Hepatitis C, alcohol abuse, and fatty liver are the most common causes of cirrhosis of the liver.  Turns out 10-20% of all Americans have fatty livers.  And 2-5% of all Americans have NASH & probably don't know that they have it.  Absolutely tragic!  Please, educate yourself:

• http://www.digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/nash/
• http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/nonalcoholic-fatty-liver-disease/DS00577
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_liver
• http://journal.diabetes.org/clinicaldiabetes/v17n21999/Pg73.htm

Recipe #1: Cornbread

This is perhaps getting ahead of myself, or out of order, but it was also very important to me to get recipes out there that can help someone who is just starting out or trying to maintain a low carb lifestyle.  My husband has no problem in eating rather plain, strict meals.  But I struggled with the cravings for bread & pasta.  This is a recipe for a cornbread facsimile that is good enough for my six year old to eat with enthusiasm.  Enjoy!  :-)


"Cornbread"

2   cups almond flour

¼ cup corn meal

3 T Splenda

2 t baking powder

1/3  cup water

4 eggs

1 stick butter melted and cooled slightly


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line 1-12 muffin pan with paper liners or grease an 8"x8" square pan with butter. 

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients.  Use a spoon to pulverize any baking powder clumps.  Add the water & eggs.  Mix until combined.  Then drizzle the melted butter into the batter while stirring to prevent the hot butter from cooking the raw eggs.

Pour into the muffin tin/pan.  Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 15-20 minutes.  Serve with more butter if you like!

 

Entering the Blogosphere

I have never blogged.  I am, in general, a rather technologically challenged individual!  But what moves me to write now is a desire to spread the word about low carb lifestyle change for better health. 

Two years ago, an old childhood friend passed away (we were both in our late 30s), and I just wanted to lose weight because I was tired of being fatter than I wanted to be.  This friend's death made me feel that there was no time to waste in feeling bad about my self-image and physique.  So at size 12 (again) & growing, I engaged the enemy of obesity with a conventional weight-loss plan that requires unnatural self-control of both quantity and quality of food.  It was torture; I had never had that bulemic or anorexic episode in my youth that so many of my friends did.  I loved myself and food too much to do that!  And frustratingly, the smaller I got (very slowly), the less I was allowed to eat.

Then almost one year ago, both my parents were diagnosed with cancer.  Lightning, figuratively, struck my house twice.  Long story short: my dad died; my mom was able to endure surgery & chemo but is awaiting results of another two biopsies; and both my parents turned out to be diabetics.  This was almost the greater shock than the cancer because neither was overweight/obese and had always been relatively healthy individuals who exercised as best they could in advanced age.

Having been a science major in college, I needed to find reasons for what happened.  The MDs didn't have any answers.  Just bad luck...

Next post: my dad's story