The Cardiologist's Wife's Chocolate Too! Diet: No Sugar, Low Fat *&* Low Carb

The Cardiologist's Wife's Chocolate Too! Diet:

No Sugar, Low Fat *&* Low Carb

FRUCTOSE, THE NEW DANGER

Just another member of the sugar family, but fructose is not safe, especially in quantity. It’s the biggest bait-and-switch gimmick in years. A derivative of honey, berries, tree fruits, agave (90% fructose), & sweet potatoes, fructose has been commercialized into a refined sugar which -- true, absorbs more slowly, but also damages the body far more. Fructose & HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup) have been added to processed foods, beverages and, more ominously, so-called “diet yummies,” telling people they can “cheat & eat” as much as they like. Irony: fructose, with its longer shelf life & the fact that it’s cheaper, has become the trans fat of the sugar family. (For more, google “dangers of fructose.”)

WHAT ABOUT STEVIA? Another controversy. The FDA has refused to approve Stevia because of its possible cancer-causing effects. Pro-stevians argue that it’s 1) natural (so are tobacco & most of the world's poisons, & 2) been used by South American natives for centuries, without mentioning how long those people lived (not counting battles, snakes bites, animal attacks, & infectious disease). Also, were any long-term studies & control group studies done on them? Cancer can take years to develop, as with smoking. Meanwhile Stevia’s being as aggressively marketed as High Fructose Corn Syrup.

WHAT ARE SUGAR ALCOHOLS?

There are five main sweeteners in commercial use today: saccharin, aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame, and sugar alcohols. “Sugar alcohols,” a consumer-friendly name, are derived but changed from sugar molecules, and include names like sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, lactitol, maltitol, and others. They still have calories of the sugar type (though fewer: 2-3 calories per gram as opposed to 4 calories per gram of standard sugar), but they still affect your blood sugar and are no free ride, especially for diabetics. Their benefit is that they metabolize more slowly than regular sugar, so they last you longer, hold off those need-sweets-again-crashes.

Products containing sugar alcohols are marketed as “no sugar added” -- but beware. They often cause bloating and diarrhea. There is also the misconception that all sugar alcohol-containing products are “sugar free.” These products may still contain significant amounts of carbohydrates, which break down to sugar anyway. Check the labels.

SUGAR ALCOHOLS VS. ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS

Sugar alcohols and artificial sweeteners, such as saccharin (Sweet & Low) and aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet, and NatraTaste) are not the same. Artificial sweeteners contain no calories or carbohydrates at all.

Saccharin got a bad rap a few years ago – it produced bladder cancer in rats exposed to prodigious amounts – but those tests didn’t hold up in humans (no one would eat a truckload of saccharin). Still, it seems to have a slightly metallic aftertaste.

Instead we like aspartame, and love Splenda. Aspartame is in Diet Coke, practically everything else, and we’ve experienced no side effects from either product. Both have decades-long track records and many studies in humans: no red flags, as physicians say.

Now you’re wondering, if Splenda and aspartame are so great, why do manufacturers still use sugar alcohols? Because only sugar, in one form or another, makes the cookie stiff, the gum or candy bulky. Splenda and aspartame are terrific in your coffee or no-fat yogurt or to bake with (Splenda), but they can’t make the muffin bind, the cookie stiff. That’s why, since trans fats have been banished, you’ll find sugar alcohols in more and more products. And sugar alcohols are still technically carbohydrates, remember.

They’re still a boon, though, these artificial sweeteners -- and, in moderation, sugar alcohols.