Cutting down sugar

[JaneV2.0]

I like the occasional brandy. The only wines I've ever liked are the single-note dessert wines, like plum--and I don't like them well enough to buy them. I called an expert here once at the UW to see if brandy had the same (supposed) health properties as red wine (from which its made), but alas, he didn't know. Oh well, I don't drink it often enough to benefit anyway...

Pure spirits don't have sugar, but--like all alcohol--they're metabolized first--before whatever else you ingest--in the liver, probably because the body perceives them as toxic. Next up, carbohydrates, which are also hard on the liver, as in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

[catherine]

Pure spirits don't have sugar, but--like all alcohol--they're metabolized first--before whatever else you ingest--in the liver, probably because the body perceives them as toxic.

Jane, thanks for bringing this up. I do drink wine, on average one glass a day. I'll have two glasses some nights but then none for a couple of days. But I've been grappling with the idea of becoming a teetotaler, for several reasons. The one you mention is a good one. If the liver thinks it's toxic, it probably is! I know it's considered to be benign in moderate consumption, and studies even show some health benefits, but I'm thinking, why bother with it? It's probably worse for you than it is better, it's expensive, and it's calorie-ridden.

I never bought myself a bottle of wine (or any alcohol) until I was 52. I hardly ever drank before then. When I went freelance I started doing a "cocktail hour" with a glass of wine in the evening in the back yard as way to unwind. At that time, I looked 10 years younger--I know because people used to mistake my son for my husband and my husband for my father.

Now, I know I'm 15 years older, so I should look older, but I feel like I've lost that advantage--I definitely look my age, if not older, partly because of my Anglo skin and the long-time effects of time in the sun, and other post-menopausal factors. I've wondered if my glass of wine has contributed at all to my accelerated aging.

You've given me food (or drink) for thought!

[iris lilies]

Oh I do not like this talk at all about evils of wine, it should be banned. Perhaps I will exercise my moderator powers and zap this thread! Haha.

Now lets get real--an occasional, even daily glass of wine is not the sugar devil. For God's sake, people, you are going off the edge of reality.

That said, I have cut way down in wine consumption while I am doing a Weight Watcher's program. That one glass of wine
was more than 10% of my daily allowed WW points, and it wasnt worth it UNlESS it was coming from my high end favorites. I find that I can nurse a 4oz glass from my $60 bottle of Silver Oak. cabernet for at least an hour.

[catherine]

Oh I do not like this talk at all about evils of wine, it should be banned. Perhaps I will exercise my moderator powers and zap this thread! Haha.

Yeah, this was a tough one to bring up! I've been thinking of switching to port, because port is so much more "sip-able" as opposed to chilled white wine, which goes down like lemonade.

[JaneV2.0]

I don't think wine is evil--except for its taste, haha*--nor do I really think a glass a day is going to do you in. Unless your liver is fragile, or something.

*And I know there are wines that taste pretty good; I went to a wine-tasting once. Unfortunately, I forget which ones they were. I think one was white.

[SimpleDan]

I had the same problem, but I managed to stop eating unhealthy food especially sugar. I'm 35 and I know if you are getting older its hard to loose weight, but not impossible. public health have nothing to do with that. They can't make people to stop eating fast food, It's your life choice. If you really want to stop it you will and if you like junkie food you will carry on with it. There is no one to blame except you and your diet.

[Yppej]

They can't make people to stop eating fast food, It's your life choice. If you really want to stop it you will and if you like junkie food you will carry on with it.

I read this and was picturing the culinary equivalent of speakeasies during a sugar ban.

[JaneV2.0]

On the other hand, Tom Naughton proved in the documentary Fat Head* that you can eat every meal in a fast food joint, lose weight, and improve your health markers, if you choose judiciously.

*a rebuttal to Supersize Me, among other things.

[Zoe Girl]

Okay this morning was 156, I probably started over 160. My goal is 150, although I would feel awesome at 145.

[SteveinMN]

I had the same problem, but I managed to stop eating unhealthy food especially sugar. I'm 35 and I know if you are getting older its hard to loose weight, but not impossible. public health have nothing to do with that. They can't make people to stop eating fast food, It's your life choice. If you really want to stop it you will and if you like junkie food you will carry on with it. There is no one to blame except you and your diet.

First post! Welcome, Dan!