21-days no-carb no-sugar challenge

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manas
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Re: 21-days no-carb no-sugar challenge

Post by manas »

Ben wrote:Fruit is full of simple sugars.
So if you are eating fruit, your diet is far from being simple carb, sugar-free.
Hi Ben

fruit is replete with simple sugars, but it also contains vitamins, minerals and most importantly 'living', biologically active water which the cells of our body need. It's only concentrated forms of sugar that are harmful, and spike blood sugar in a way that throws us off balance - chocolate, cake, white bread or even honey can do this - but having an apple (for example) will only do good, and won't spike the blood sugar in an unhealthy way.

kind regards
:anjali:
To the Buddha-refuge i go; to the Dhamma-refuge i go; to the Sangha-refuge i go.
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manas
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Re: 21-days no-carb no-sugar challenge

Post by manas »

Hi kizma,

well done on your attempt to cut down on overly sweet / starchy foods. Here's a useful chart I found that might be of assistance, it documents the GI and the GL of a range of common foods (glycemic index and glycemic load):

http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/ ... _foods.htm


kind regards,
:anjali:
To the Buddha-refuge i go; to the Dhamma-refuge i go; to the Sangha-refuge i go.
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Mojo
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Re: 21-days no-carb no-sugar challenge

Post by Mojo »

manas wrote:
Ben wrote:Fruit is full of simple sugars.
So if you are eating fruit, your diet is far from being simple carb, sugar-free.
Hi Ben

fruit is replete with simple sugars, but it also contains vitamins, minerals and most importantly 'living', biologically active water which the cells of our body need. It's only concentrated forms of sugar that are harmful, and spike blood sugar in a way that throws us off balance - chocolate, cake, white bread or even honey can do this - but having an apple (for example) will only do good, and won't spike the blood sugar in an unhealthy way.

kind regards
:anjali:
Fruit juice is pretty easy to overdo. 4oz/120ml is one serving of fruit. It's healthier to just eat the fruit though.
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Ben
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Re: 21-days no-carb no-sugar challenge

Post by Ben »

Greetings Manas,
manas wrote:
Ben wrote:Fruit is full of simple sugars.
So if you are eating fruit, your diet is far from being simple carb, sugar-free.
Hi Ben

fruit is replete with simple sugars, but it also contains vitamins, minerals and most importantly 'living', biologically active water which the cells of our body need. It's only concentrated forms of sugar that are harmful, and spike blood sugar in a way that throws us off balance - chocolate, cake, white bread or even honey can do this - but having an apple (for example) will only do good, and won't spike the blood sugar in an unhealthy way.

kind regards
:anjali:
I disagree with you entirely - which I won't go into right at this moment. However, what I am interested in the above is the term " 'living', biologically active water". I would appreciate it if you could explain to me what it means.
Thanks

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

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kizma
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Re: 21-days no-carb no-sugar challenge

Post by kizma »

Hi Ben,
I would love to hear your views on this, because I happen to share manas' opinion and I would be very grateful if you could enlighten us with a perspective that we have not thought of on the subject of sugars. :anjali:

On another note, this experiment was a success on my side. This was a great opportunity to have a good look at cravings and automatic reactions to emotional distress.


For some reason many people offered me pastries during those three weeks. The first week was kind of hard, especially te first days. But then it felt like I was being nice to myself and I felt happy to decline.
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Ben
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Re: 21-days no-carb no-sugar challenge

Post by Ben »

Greetings Kizma,

Congratulations on reducing the sugar in your diet!
I'm not sure exactly what you would like me to share an opinion on. Is it in regards to low-carb diet, "biologically active water", or was it something else?
kind regards,

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
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lyndon taylor
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Re: 21-days no-carb no-sugar challenge

Post by lyndon taylor »

As a diabetic, I can assure you that fruit will spike your blood sugar levels!!
18 years ago I made one of the most important decisions of my life and entered a local Cambodian Buddhist Temple as a temple boy and, for only 3 weeks, an actual Therevada Buddhist monk. I am not a scholar, great meditator, or authority on Buddhism, but Buddhism is something I love from the Bottom of my heart. It has taught me sobriety, morality, peace, and very importantly that my suffering is optional, and doesn't have to run my life. I hope to give back what little I can to the Buddhist community, sincerely former monk John

http://trickleupeconomictheory.blogspot.com/
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kizma
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Re: 21-days no-carb no-sugar challenge

Post by kizma »

I'm not sure exactly in which way fruits are better than bread, pasta and cookies.
I do know through experience that on an empty stomach, I will feel refreshed and energized after having fruit. After having the same weight in bread, pasta or cookies, I'll often have a huge drop of energy, dullness and fatigue, but more easily satiated.
I have a tendancy to attribute these experiences to the wholesomeness of fruit, it's inner balance of water, vitamins and minerals.
In my experience, melons eaten alone feel the best. Next comes fruits like apples with pears or oranges with grapefruits and in a third group bananas with dates or apricots with prunes.
They seem to me to be ordered by ratio water/sugars.
I prefer avoiding if possible the last group more often than not, even though the taste is immensely satisfying to me, as they are the only ones I have had bad experiences with and felt most addicted to.
I do feel like I could survive days and weeks on only melons without any health issues. I do not frel the same about transformed cereals althought I've behaved like it was the other way around.
My knowledge of nutrition is limited, but I have read enough works on the subject to have noticed how controversial the field was. I have a cautious attitude towards the official research done by my country's government as it is often founded by the dairy, grains and pharmaceutical industries. This is not, however, enough to automatically give reason to their detractors.

I would be delighted if anyone who has more experience could point to a mistake in any of these reflections, as I would be glad to learn more. As for sugar spikes, I can't translate that idea into a noticeable experience, if not a hypothetical drop after the spike which can be felt as dullness and fatigue.

Next 21-day challenge is to eat one salad each day!
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lyndon taylor
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Re: 21-days no-carb no-sugar challenge

Post by lyndon taylor »

if you're not diabetic, you don't have to worry about it
18 years ago I made one of the most important decisions of my life and entered a local Cambodian Buddhist Temple as a temple boy and, for only 3 weeks, an actual Therevada Buddhist monk. I am not a scholar, great meditator, or authority on Buddhism, but Buddhism is something I love from the Bottom of my heart. It has taught me sobriety, morality, peace, and very importantly that my suffering is optional, and doesn't have to run my life. I hope to give back what little I can to the Buddhist community, sincerely former monk John

http://trickleupeconomictheory.blogspot.com/
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