I stand before you today to declare—I am a sugar addict.
And I’m damn proud to be.
I can’t seem to and won’t give up this one vise. My love of sugar started as a little girl growing up with sugary cereals for breakfast like Captain Crunch Berries, Frosted Flakes and Fruity Pebbles. Not to mention Rice Krispies that I poured a ton of sugar on to make their plain crunch taste sweet! Home made cookies, lemon bars and other treats were a standard in my house. The baking bug started early, when I was 10. Sometimes I would even make a white bread (cringe) sandwich with butter on one side, peanut butter on the other and a generous layer of good ol’ white table sugar in the middle! Would I eat that now? Well… no, of course not. Mmaaybe if someone made that for me and I was starving. Maybe. The point is, sugar has been around forever and I have consumed it largely my entire life. That is just about 47 years of the sweet stuff.
Cutting out sugar, something that has been around for centuries, is the latest food craze or trend. So, with all the news hype about how bad sugar is for us, I have tried to cut back. I went totally clean the first three weeks of this year (like everyone else and their new year’s resolution), especially after the delightful sugary debauchery of the holidays, but now here I am a few weeks later, missing my old friend, not caring about how much sugar I am consuming. Truth be told… I don’t see it as a problem. Not for me anyhow. It’s not like I down pixie stix all day or anything.
oh sweet love of mine!!
I Love Sugar!!
I really do. I love it in coffee. I don’t drink coffee everyday, thankfully, but if I am gonna have it, there is no way I’m not dumping a fair amount of REAL sugar into it. I used to sugar my coffee in secret. You know, tearing 3 (or more) packets all together so they look like one. I used to be embarrassed about how much sugar I liked in coffee. Now I proudly dump massive amounts (ok, still 3 packets which = three teaspoons). I also like it in some types of tea-not the herbal types. I do drink tea everyday. My favorite part of the tea is when I get to the bottom. It has all the sugar that’s settled there. Honestly I don’t know how anyone drinks coffee or caffeinated tea unsweetened. YUCK!! I also add brown sugar to my oatmeal. How can you not? I put sugar in my homemade pasta sauce. It really does make it taste better. I also add sugar to my pancake batter, my french toast egg dip… you get the picture.
I made this sweet creation two nights ago… chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream oreo icing!
I just love sweet stuff… caramel, chocolate, frosting, cakes, cookies. Any sweet treat. Peanut brittle… Yum.
My love of sugar is so pronounced, that my boyfriend Tom has nicknamed me ‘The Fly.’ Whenever he sees me using sugar, he jokingly says… The Fly! (with a little smirk). This always conjures up an image in my head of the character Seth Brundle (played by Jeff Goldblum) in the movie remake, The Fly, where he is sitting, partially transformed, eating a plate full of candy bars. I am really not that bad!
Brundle also developed a craving for sugary foods, and his lab quickly became a cluttered mess, full of half-eaten donuts, cakes, and other junk-food items.
As I mentioned before, everywhere… in the news, online, in magazines, they say you should give up sugar. That it is bad. Yet, it is still so readily available. Given the option of having real sugar or those other substitutes, I choose the real mccoy. Same with butter. No margarines or spreads for me. In small amounts (and I really only use whipped butter) it isn’t that bad for you. I can’t imagine what those processed things are doing for your body. Same with sugar substitutes. I recently tried some stevia, and I didn’t like it. Real sugar just tastes so much better. Why eat something that is supposed to be sweet if you are gonna fuck up the taste with artificial tasting sweeteners? I don’t get it. It’s a sweet treat, eat it proper, with real good old-fashioned found naturally in nature sugar!!
Check out those yummy treats!
Years ago, I used to do the ‘Equal/Sweet n Low’ thing (and all those other types), mostly to save on calories. Now I’d rather have the real sugar and extra calories than the fake stuff. I don’t really get why sugar has such a bad rap! It’s natural! There is no artificial and synthetic substances, like Maltodextrin, found in low calorie sweeteners. Nasty.
So I did some investigating. Since I am pro-sugar, here is what I found.
Sugar has some important roles in our food.
- Sugar add sweetness and texture to cooked products, making food more palatable (think oatmeal).
- It stops mold and yeast growth- it’s used as a preservative to prevent micro-organisms growing and perishable food from spoiling: think jams, marmalades and candied fruit.
- Sugar fuels our brain since it is converted to glucose, a fundamental fuel needed by the brain.
- Naturally sweet, sugar only has 15 calories in one teaspoon (not bad if you don’t overdo it).
I even read in Runner’s World, that we runners need to consume sugar for performance. How about that?
This article posted last year states:
“All things considered, sugar can be part of a healthy diet”.
HA!! I wholeheartedly agree.
from another article they wrote:
“Many runners rely on sports drinks (Gatorade, Powerade) and gels (PowerBar Gel, GU) for their carbs. “Both are sugar by another name,” says Clark. “Sugar is what your body wants.” But feel free to eat it in whatever form works for you, whether that’s Gummi Bears, dried fruit, or Twizzlers. Clark, a veteran of nine marathons, eats mini Milky Ways on her long runs; Shulman, a runner and triathlete who routinely wins her age group, likes Fig Newtons.”
and this great read:
Well, Hi There, Sugar
I like sugar… a lot. I am an addict. I didn’t have a cookie business for a few years for nothing. I love to bake cookies! These oatmeal cookies that I make everyone loves. People think because it’s oatmeal that it is good for you. I know there is a boatload of sugar in them. That is exactly why everyone loves them… the sugar!!!
somewhat ‘healthy” (whatever) oatmeal cookies
(I do slightly agree that too much sugar can be addicting). I’m ok with that idea. Honestly, I really do try to eat foods with low grams of sugar, like yogurt and cereals. I even check the nutritional information on the labels. I do my best to NOT eat large quantities of sugar anymore. Although I don’t know why I have put that restriction upon myself. It seems like I am trying to stay in this fad that sugar is bad for us. I don’t agree with that. I think like everything we consume, we must use it in moderation and have a healthy balance. I declare here and now… I will not give up sugar. I won’t! I will agree that I am a little bit of an addict, but I will not fall into the thinking that sugar is bad. Everything in moderation.
Enjoy your sweet treats. I do!
Rungirl's Adventures with Charlie 
yes, I confess, I am a sugar addict too.
Yay!! Fellow sugar addicts unite! 😉
Moderation???
Ha ha… yes, well, you know that is a great buzz word that folks like to hear. There was nothing moderate about my sugar consumption this week… but I think I was having a pity party since I haven’t been able to run for 3 weeks now. 😉
I always had a major sweet tooth and I love to bake and even sell my delicious treats. I do not believe in eliminating or ignoring the foods we love to eat. Everything in moderation. So no reason to give up the sugary foods you love! Sneak some in each day so you don’t feel deprived. As a runner sure we can indulge more than others. I go by how I feel. I swear over the last year or so I have chosen fruit (yes, I swear I just said fruit) over chocolately desserts that normally hit my plate for dessert. My absolutel favorite combo is a big green apple with peanut butter. I eat it every day. And throw on top a handful of dark chocolate chips. I still indulge when I eat out and get my big sundaes, cakes, cupcakes – when I feel like it. Are there any fruits or choices you can make that would give you a sugar fix from natural sugars on a daily basis? I have learned that I like how I feel after eating fruits vs cakes, cookies etc. Just a thought.
Hi, thanks for visiting! Yes, I do eat fruits. I like to start my day with a fruit smoothie, bananas, raspberries, strawberries, coconut milk and protein powder (which has zero sugar and carbs!) I find when I drink that for breakfast I can go hours before I am hungry. Not quite the same if I eat sugary stuff.
I do think as runners we tend to allow ourselves the sweet treats more than if we didn’t run. I know I would cut back.
I’m looking forward to checking out your blog today!!
omg, i totally agree! it’s such a struggle for me to not eat sugar, and i rarely succeed, although i did try the after new years sugar-deprivation diet that was so in vogue this year. ugh. pure torture. as ggirl says, everything in moderation. i could never do the no carb diet either..or no alcohol..or no dairy (i love my cheese)! anyway, don’t get me started. isn’t that why we run anyway? so we can eat?:)
Absolutely!! I love all those foods too! I won’t give them up… ever! 😉
I totally agree… all things in moderation, but I think the problem with sugar is that it is sneaked into almost everything and it causes health problems in both the short and long term. It’s especially scary knowing the obesity statistics for kids. Robert Lustig from UCSF explains it well. But! I would not want to live life without any sweets ever! I just want to make sure I get to choose when I indulge and control how much I’m consuming. Oh great, now I’m craving a cupcake, lol!
I agree we should not go overboard with the sweets. But I also think that obesity in our children can’t be linked to sugar alone. I think we Americans consume way too much food in general. Large portions in restaurants and snacking all day at home with little activity seems more the culprit to me. I give my kids sweets all the time… they are not fat. Poor health starts with a poor diet, not just sugar.
That said, I do think sugar is in a lot of processed foods, things we “think” are good for us. I have even fallen prey to that numerous times. I recently tried those Naked products and am blown away by the sugar content. I still like them though. Just can’t have them everyday!
Go eat a cupcake. You’ll run it off!! 🙂 LOL