SUGAR ME THIS? This morning I would like to walk down memory lane. I thought how much eating has changed since I was a lot younger and slimmer. Today’s world has changed a lot. After I explore the “sugary days” I will provide some healthy information on avoiding sugar in our healthy eating lifestyle but let’s remanence first. We live in a world of instant this and instant that. We are blessed to have great cake makers and for everyone in my hometown, your thoughts probably went to Holt’s Bakery, home of the sugar adventure land. However, I want to walk some of you back to a time when we made birthday cakes at home. I realize I still make some cakes but now, with time restraints this process has been replaced by the commercial bakeries.
The time I am talking about was when it was usually the only way we had the birthday celebration with cakes baked by Mom and we helped decorate the cakes with the edible sugar decorations as seen in the picture. I searched to find a picture of the ones I remember so well and this was close but not the same. I remember the candle holders with different colors and we had to be careful when we put the candles in them. I remember the precision we peeled and placed the letters HAPPY BIRTHDAY in the direction we felt was the best one. We took pride, we discussed, we had fun decorating the cake and building up the anticipation of the surprise; though hardly ever was it a surprise since we had grown to expect the party.
All of this is hopefully to jog your memory and then to bring you to the focus of this message…..eating the decorations. Talk about sugar fixes; we ate them like we were never going to get any more….ever! How sugary they were but we didn’t mind. We were into sugar thoughts and now I am diving into deeper thoughts…...Life is somewhat like the sugar thoughts. We have to go through a lot of tasks in life; we build up anticipation on upcoming events like birthdays, weddings, church events, family reunions and during this anticipation of how good life is going to taste, we take pride in how we place our decorations such as our home, our cars, our clothes, etc. Then, it happens! We have the celebrations of life; our spouses, our children, our families, and our friends. Those are the sugar thoughts of life. When we witness a sweet thought of life like graduations, birthdays, new jobs, new children and for the lucky ones, grandchildren. This is when we know we have reached the time of life’s party when you get to pull of the sugary decorations and enjoy the sweet taste of life!
To Stay on Our Healthy Lifestyle read the article below from the American Heart Association. My thoughts: Reduce the Added Sugar and Add the Natural Love and Sugar from Life!
How to Reduce Added Sugar in Your Diet
- Brown sugar
- Corn sweetener
- Corn syrup
- Fruit juice concentrates
- High-fructose corn syrup
- Honey
- Invert sugar
- Malt sugar
- Molasses
- Raw sugar
- Sugar
- Sugar molecules ending in “ose” (dextrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose, sucrose)
- Syrup
- Sugar-Free: Less than 0.5 g of sugar per serving.
- Reduced Sugar or Less Sugar: At least 25 percent less sugars per serving compared to a standard serving size of the traditional variety.
- No Added Sugars or Without Added Sugars: No sugars or sugar-containing ingredient such as juice or dry fruit is added during processing.
- Low Sugar: Not defined or allowed as a claim on food labels.
- Remove sugar (white and brown), syrup, honey and molasses from the table — out of sight, out of mind!
- Cut back on the amount of sugar added to things you eat or drink regularly like cereal, pancakes, coffee or tea. Try cutting the usual amount of sugar you add by half and wean down from there, or consider using an artificial sweetener.
- Buy sugar-free or low-calorie beverages.
- Buy fresh fruits or fruits canned in water or natural juice. Avoid fruit canned in syrup, especially heavy syrup.
- Instead of adding sugar to cereal or oatmeal, add fresh fruit (try bananas, cherries or strawberries) or dried fruit (raisins, cranberries or apricots).
- When baking cookies, brownies or cakes, cut the sugar called for in your recipe by one-third to one-half. Often you won’t notice the difference.
- Instead of adding sugar in recipes, use extracts such as almond, vanilla, orange or lemon.
- Enhance foods with spices instead of sugar; try ginger, allspice, cinnamon or nutmeg.
- Substitute unsweetened applesauce for sugar in recipes (use equal amounts).
- Try zero-calorie sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose or saccharin in moderation.
DAILY FEATURED BIBLE VERSE:
Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.
(c) copyright 2012-2016 Arline Lott Miller. The material here copyrighted, use only by permission
