SUPERFOODS Series: Honey & Cinnamon

Honey is the only food on the planet that will not spoil or rot. It will do what some call turning to sugar.  Never boil honey or put it in a microwave. To do so will kill the enzymes in the honey. Make sure your honey is untreated and unporcess and not heated. This will have the greatest benefit. Caution honey is a form of sugar so too much honey of any kind is not good for the body. But a little bit will help some of the following conditions.And the Cinamon should be organic. Chinese medicine says it is warming and nourishing for the Kidneys.

Weekly World News, a magazine in  Canada has given the following list of diseases that can be cured by honey and cinnamon as researched by western scientists: ARTHRITIS: Arthritis patients may take daily, morning and night, one cup of hot water with two spoons of honey and one small teaspoon of cinnamon powder. If taken regularly even chronic arthritis can be cured. In a recent research conducted at the  Copenhagen  University , it was found that when the doctors treated their patients with a mixture of one tablespoon Honey and half teaspoon Cinnamon powder before breakfast, they found that within a week, out of the 200 people so treated, practically 73 patients were totally relieved of pain, and within a month, mostly all the patients who could not walk or move around because of arthritis started walking without pain.
BLADDER INFECTIONS: Take two tablespoons of cinnamon powder and one teaspoon of honey in a glass of lukewarm water and drink it.  It destroys the germs in the bladder.
CHOLESTEROL: Two tablespoons of honey and three teaspoons of Cinnamon Powder mixed in 16 ounces of tea water, given to a cholesterol patient, was found to reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood by 10 percent within two hours.  As mentioned for arthritic patients, if taken three times a day, any chronic cholesterol is cured.  According to information received in the said Journal, pure honey taken with food daily relieves complaints of cholesterol.
COLDS: Those suffering from common or severe colds should take one tablespoon lukewarm honey with 1/4 spoon cinnamon powder daily for three days. This process will cure most chronic cough, cold, and clear the sinuses.  To make it lukewarm,  place it in a small jar and let it set in warm water for awhile.
HEART DISEASES: Make a paste of honey and cinnamon powder, apply on bread, instead of jelly and jam, and eat it regularly for breakfast. It reduces the cholesterol in the arteries and saves the patient from heart attack.
Regular use of the above process relieves loss of breath and strengthens the heart beat.   In  America and  Canada,  various nursing homes have  treated patients successfully and have found that as you age, the arteries and veins lose their flexibility and get clogged; honey and cinnamon revitalize the arteries and veins.
UPSET STOMACH: Honey taken with cinnamon powder cures stomach ache and also clears stomach ulcers from the root.
GAS: According to the studies done in  India and  Japan , it is revealed that if Honey is taken with cinnamon powder the stomach is relieved of gas.
IMMUNE SYSTEM: Daily use of honey and cinnamon powder strengthens the immune system and protects the body from bacteria and viral attacks. Scientists have found that honey has various vitamins and iron in large amounts. Constant use of Honey strengthens the white blood corpuscles to fight bacterial and viral diseases.
INDIGESTION: Cinnamon powder sprinkled on two tablespoons of honey taken before food relieves acidity and digests the heaviest of meals.
INFLUENZA – FLU: A scientist in  Spain has proved that honey contains a natural ‘ Ingredient’ which kills the influenza germs and saves the patient from flu.

LONGEVITY: Tea made with honey and cinnamon powder, when taken regularly, arrests the ravages of old age. Take four spoons of honey, one spoon of cinnamon powder, and three cups of water and boil to make like tea. Drink 1/4 cup, three to four times a day. It keeps the skin fresh and soft and arrests old age. Life spans also increase and even a 100 year old might start performing the chores of a 20-year-old.
PIMPLES: Three tablespoons of honey and one teaspoon of cinnamon powder paste. Apply this paste on the pimples before sleeping and wash it next morning with warm water.  If done daily for two weeks, it removes pimples from the root.
WEIGHT LOSS: Daily in the morning one half hour before breakfast on an empty stomach, and at night before sleeping, drink honey and cinnamon powder boiled in one cup of water. If taken regularly, it reduces the weight of even the most obese person. Also, drinking this mixture regularly does not allow the fat to accumulate in the body even though the person may eat a high calorie diet.

SKIN INFECTIONS: Applying honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts on the affected parts cures eczema, ringworm and all types of skin infections.
FATIGUE: Recent studies have shown that the sugar content of honey is more helpful rather than being detrimental to the strength of the body. Senior citizens, who take honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts, are more alert and flexible. Dr. Milton, who has done research, says that a half tablespoon of honey taken in a glass of water and sprinkled with cinnamon powder, taken daily after brushing and in the afternoon at about 3:00 P.M. when the vitality of the body starts to decrease, increases the vitality of the body within a week.
CANCER: Research in  Japan and  Australia has revealed that advanced cancer of the stomach and bones have been cured successfully. Patients suffering from these kinds of cancer should daily take one tablespoon of honey with one teaspoon of cinnamon powder for one month three times a day.
BAD BREATH: People in  South America first thing in the morning, gargle with one teaspoon of honey and cinnamon powder mixed in hot water, so their breath stays fresh throughout the day.
HEARING LOSS: Daily morning and night honey and cinnamon powder, taken in equal parts helps restore hearing.

More veges, fruit vital for long life

Many Kiwis don't eat enough of them and are on path to early death, research shows.

 

Eating too few fruits and vegetables was ranked eighth on a list of causes of death that was topped by smoking and on which obesity was number five.

Nearly one in three New Zealanders are eating themselves to an early grave by not consuming enough fruit and vegetables, research suggests.
Broccoli, kiwifruit and most other fruits and vegetables are at the centre of recommendations for a healthy diet and people are urged to fill half their plate with them at each meal and snack on them in between.
Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables helps protect against some cancers, heart disease and stroke - the biggest killers of New Zealanders - through their vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre.
But in the latest national adults health survey, only 68 per cent reported eating the recommended three or more servings of fruit and two or more of vegetables per day. The rates for children were even lower in an earlier survey.
Those eating too few fruits and vegetables are on a path to premature death, according to a Swedish study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Nearly 72,000 people aged 45 to 83 recorded what they ate and researchers checked on death data in 13 years of follow-up.

Those who ate:
• Five servings of fruit and vegetables a day lived three years longer than those who ate none.
• One serving of fruit a day lived 19 months longer than those who ate none.
• Three servings of vegetables a day lived 32 months longer than those who ate none.
One serving is roughly what fits in one palm, such as a medium-sized apple weighing 130g or half a cup of stewed fruit or three heaped tablespoons of cooked vegetables (although potatoes don't count); a child's serving is based on the child's palm.
A New Zealand study in 2003 - whose findings the Health Ministry says cannot be compared to the Swedish research - estimated that up to 9000 deaths a year in this country reflected poor diet. That included 1559 deaths that were attributable to inadequate fruit and vegetable intake, with an average loss of 10.6 years of life for each death.
Eating too few fruits and vegetables was ranked eighth on a list of causes of death that was topped by smoking and on which obesity was number five.
After that study, one of the authors said if everyone in New Zealand ate one more apple a day, it would save "a couple of hundred lives a year".
Public health researcher Rob Quigley said eating plenty of fruit and vegetables helped to reduce sodium (salt) intake and to obtain many vitamins and minerals and fibre.
"They are nutrient dense and energy poor," Mr Quigley said. "There's a lot of stuff in fruit and vegetables that we don't know a lot about, so when people try to put them in a pill, they don't work too well."
The Cancer Society says antioxidants in fruit and vegetables but not in other foods help to protect cells from damage.
"Perhaps even more important than the antioxidants in fruit and vegetables is the way they help maintain a healthy body weight when they replace other foods high in sugar, fat and energy. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of many chronic diseases like [type 2] diabetes, heart disease, stroke and some kinds of cancers."
Obesity is linked to an elevated risk of bowel, breast and other cancers.
What they contain
*Vitamin C in broccoli, spinach, kiwifruit, strawberries, oranges and melon.
*Folate in spinach and oranges.
*Thiamin in dried peas and beans.
*Calcium in broccoli and spinach.

How Exercise Can Calm Anxiety

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

Gretchen Reynolds on the science of fitness.

In an eye-opening demonstration of nature’s ingenuity, researchers at Princeton University recently discovered that exercise creates vibrant new brain cells — and then shuts them down when they shouldn’t be in action.
For some time, scientists studying exercise have been puzzled by physical activity’s two seemingly incompatible effects on the brain. On the one hand, exercise is known to prompt the creation of new and very excitable brain cells. At the same time, exercise can induce an overall pattern of calm in certain parts of the brain.
Most of us probably don’t realize that neurons are born with certain predispositions. Some, often the younger ones, are by nature easily excited. They fire with almost any provocation, which is laudable if you wish to speed thinking and memory formation.
But that feature is less desirable during times of everyday stress. If a stressor does not involve a life-or-death decision and require immediate physical action, then having lots of excitable neurons firing all at once can be counterproductive, inducing anxiety.
Studies in animals have shown that physical exercise creates excitable neurons in abundance, especially in the hippocampus, a portion of the brain known to be involved in thinking and emotional responses.
But exercise also has been found to reduce anxiety in both people and animals.
How can an activity simultaneously create ideal neurological conditions for anxiety and leave practitioners with a deep-rooted calm, the Princeton researchers wondered?
So they gathered adult mice, injected them with a substance that marks newborn cells in the brain, and for six weeks, allowed half of them to run at will on little wheels, while the others sat quietly in their cages.
Afterward, the scientists determined each group’s baseline nervousness. Given access to cages with open, well-lighted areas, as well as shadowy corners, the running mice were more willing to cautiously explore and spend time in open areas, an indication that they were more confident and less anxious than the sedentary animals.
The researchers also checked the brains of some of the runners and the sedentary mice to determine how many and what varieties of new neurons they contained.
As expected, the runners’ brains teemed with many new, excitable neurons. The sedentary mice’s brains also contained similar, volatile newborn cells, but not in such profusion.
The runners’ brains, however, also had a notable number of new neurons specifically designed to release the neurotransmitter GABA, which inhibits brain activity, keeping other neurons from firing easily. In effect, these are nanny neurons, designed to shush and quiet activity in the brain.
In the runners’ brains, there were large new populations of these cells in a portion of the hippocampus, the ventral region, associated with the processing of emotions. (The rest of the hippocampus, the dorsal region, is more involved with thinking and memory.)
What role these nanny neurons were playing in the animals’ brains and subsequent behavior was not altogether clear.
So the scientists next gently placed the remaining mice in ice-cold water for five minutes. Mice do not enjoy cold water. They find immersion stressful and anxiety-inducing, although it is not life-threatening.
Then the scientists checked these animals’ brains. They were looking for markers, known as immediate early genes, that indicate a neuron has recently fired.
They found them, in profusion. In both the physically fit and the sedentary mice, large numbers of the excitable cells had fired in response to the cold bath. Emotionally, the animals had become fired up by the stress.
But with the runners, it didn’t last long. Their brains, unlike those of the sedentary animals, showed evidence that the shushing neurons also had been activated in large numbers, releasing GABA, calming the excitable neurons’ activity and presumably keeping unnecessary anxiety at bay.
In effect, the runners’ brains had responded to the relatively minor stress of a cold bath with a quick rush of worry and a concomitant, overarching calm.
What all of this suggests, says Elizabeth Gould, director of the Gould Lab at Princeton, who wrote the paper with her graduate student Timothy Schoenfeld, now at the National Institute of Mental Health, and others, “is that the hippocampus of runners is vastly different from that of sedentary animals. Not only are there more excitatory neurons and more excitatory synapses, but the inhibitory neurons are more likely to become activated, presumably to dampen the excitatory neurons, in response to stress.” The findings were published in The Journal of Neuroscience.
It’s important to note, she adds, that this study examined long-term training responses. The runners’ wheels had been locked for 24 hours before their cold bath, so they would gain no acute calming effect from exercise. Instead, the difference in stress response between the runners and the sedentary animals reflected fundamental remodeling of their brains.
Of course, as we all know, mice are not men or women. But, Dr. Gould says, other studies “show that physical exercise reduces anxiety in humans,” suggesting that similar remodeling takes place in the brains of people who work out.
“I think it’s not a huge stretch,” she concludes, “to suggest that the hippocampi of active people might be less susceptible to certain undesirable aspects of stress than those of sedentary people.

Addictive Nature of Processed Carbs

A staggering two-thirds of Americans are now overweight, and one in four are either diabetic or pre-diabetic.
Carb-rich processed foods are a primary driver of these statistics, and while many blame Americans’ overindulgence of processed junk foods on lack of self-control, scientists are now starting to reveal the truly addictive nature of such foods.
Most recently, researchers at the Boston Children's Hospital concluded that highly processed carbohydrates stimulate brain regions involved in reward and cravings, promoting excess hunger.¹ As reported by Science Daily:²

“These findings suggest that limiting these 'high-glycemic index' foods could help obese individuals avoid overeating.”

While I don’t agree with the concept of high glycemic foods, it is important that they are at least thinking in the right direction. Also, the timing is ironic, considering the fact that the American Medical Association (AMA) recently declared obesity a disease, treatable with a variety of conventional methods, from drugs to novel anti-obesity vaccines...
The featured research is on the mark, and shows just how foolhardy the AMA’s financially-driven decision really is. Drugs and vaccines are clearly not going to do anything to address the underlying problem of addictive junk food.

Brain Imaging Shows Food Addiction Is Real

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition³ examined the effects of high-glycemic foods on brain activity, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). One dozen overweight or obese men between the ages of 18 and 35 each consumed one high-glycemic and one low-glycemic meal. The fMRI was done four hours after each test meal. According to the researchers:

“Compared with an isocaloric low-GI meal, a high-glycemic index meal decreased plasma glucose, increased hunger, and selectively stimulated brain regions associated with reward and craving in the late postprandial period, which is a time with special significance to eating behavior at the next meal.”

The study demonstrates what many people experience: After eating a high-glycemic meal, i.e. rapidly digesting carbohydrates, their blood sugar initially spiked, followed by a sharp crash a few hours later. The fMRI confirmed that this crash in blood glucose intensely activated a brain region involved in addictive behaviors, known as the nucleus accumbens.
Dr. Robert Lustig, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, a pioneer in decoding sugar metabolism, weighed in on the featured research in an article by NPR:⁴

“As Dr. Robert Lustig... points out, this research can’t tell us if there’s a cause and effect relationship between eating certain foods and triggering brain responses, or if those responses lead to overeating and obesity.

'[The study] doesn’t tell you if this is the reason they got obese,' says Lustig, 'or if this is what happens once you’re already obese.' Nonetheless... he thinks this study offers another bit of evidence that 'this phenomenon is real.'”

Previously, Dr. Lustig has explained the addictive nature of sugar as follows:

"The brain's pleasure center, called the nucleus accumbens, is essential for our survival as a species... Turn off pleasure, and you turn off the will to live... But long-term stimulation of the pleasure center drives the process of addiction... When you consume any substance of abuse, including sugar, the nucleus accumbens receives a dopamine signal, from which you experience pleasure. And so you consume more.

The problem is that with prolonged exposure, the signal attenuates, gets weaker. So you have to consume more to get the same effect -- tolerance. And if you pull back on the substance, you go into withdrawal. Tolerance and withdrawal constitute addiction. And make no mistake, sugar is addictive."

The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food

Previous research has demonstrated that refined sugar is more addictive than cocaine, giving you pleasure by triggering an innate process in your brain via dopamine and opioid signals. Your brain essentially becomes addicted to stimulating the release of its own opioids.
Researchers have speculated that the sweet receptors located on your tongue, which evolved in ancestral times when the diet was very low in sugar, have not adapted to the seemingly unlimited access to a cheap and omnipresent sugar supply in the modern diet.

Therefore, the abnormally high stimulation of these receptors by our sugar-rich diets generates excessive reward signals in your brain, which have the potential to override normal self-control mechanisms, thus leading to addiction.
But it doesn’t end there. Food manufacturers have gotten savvy to the addictive nature of certain foods and tastes, including saltiness and sweetness, and have turned addictive taste into a science in and of itself.
In a recent New York Times article,⁵ Michael Moss, author of Salt Sugar Fat, dished the dirt on the processed food industry, revealing that there’s a conscious effort on behalf of food manufacturers to get you hooked on foods that are convenient and inexpensive to make.

I recommend reading his article in its entirety, as it offers a series of case studies that shed light on the extraordinary science and marketing tactics that make junk food so hard to resist.
Sugar, salt and fat are the top three substances making processed foods so addictive. In a Time Magazine interview⁶ discussing his book, Moss says:

“One of the things that really surprised me was how concerted and targeted the effort is by food companies to hit the magical formulation. Take sugar for example. The optimum amount of sugar in a product became known as the 'bliss point.' Food inventors and scientists spend a huge amount of time formulating the perfect amount of sugar that will send us over the moon, and send products flying off the shelves. It is the process they've engineered that struck me as really stunning.”

It’s important to realize that added sugar (typically in the form of high fructose corn syrup) is not confined to junky snack foods. For example, most of Prego’s spaghetti sauces have one common feature, and that is sugar—it’s the second largest ingredient, right after tomatoes. A half-cup of Prego Traditional contains the equivalent of more than two teaspoons of sugar.

Novel Flavor-Enhancers May Also Contribute to Food Addiction

Another guiding principle for the processed food industry is known as “sensory-specific satiety.” Moss describes this as “the tendency for big, distinct flavors to overwhelm your brain, which responds by depressing your desire to have more.” The greatest successes, whether beverages or foods, owe their “craveability” to complex formulas that pique your taste buds just enough, without overwhelming them, thereby overriding your brain’s inclination to say “enough.”
Novel biotech flavor companies like Senomyx also play an important role.
Senomyx specializes in helping companies find new flavors that allow them to use less salt and sugar in their foods. But does that really make the food healthier? This is a questionable assertion at best, seeing how these “flavor enhancers” are created using secret, patented processes. They also do not need to be listed on the food label, which leaves you completely in the dark. As of now, they simply fall under the generic category of artificial and/or natural flavors, and they don’t even need to be tested for safety, as they’re used in minute amounts.

This is a Flash-based video and may not be viewable on mobile devices.

How to Combat Food Addiction and Regain Your Health

To protect your health, I advise spending 90 percent of your food budget on whole foods, and only 10 percent on processed foods. It’s important to realize that refined carbohydrates like breakfast cereals, bagels, waffles, pretzels, and most other processed foods quickly break down to sugar, increase your insulin levels, and cause insulin resistance, which is the number one underlying factor of nearly every chronic disease and condition known to man, including weight gain.
By taking the advice offered in the featured study and cutting out these high-glycemic foods you can retrain your body to burn fat instead of sugar. However, it’s important to replace these foods with healthy fats, not protein—a fact not addressed in this research. I believe most people may need between 50-70 percent of their daily calories in the form of healthful fats, which include:

Olives and olive oil	Coconuts and coconut oil	Butter made from raw, organic grass-fed milk
Organic raw nuts, especially macadamia nuts, which are low in protein and omega-6 fat	Organic pastured eggs and pastured meats	Avocados

I've detailed a step-by-step guide to this type of healthy eating program in my comprehensive nutrition plan, and I urge you to consult this guide if you are trying to lose weight. A growing body of evidence also suggests that intermittent fasting is particularly effective if you’re struggling with excess weight as it provokes the natural secretion of human growth hormone (HGH), a fat-burning hormone. It also increases resting energy expenditure while decreasing insulin levels, which allows stored fat to be burned for fuel. Together, these and other factors will turn you into an effective fat-burning machine.
Best of all, once you transition to fat burning mode your cravings for sugar and carbs will virtually disappear, as if by magic... While you’re making the adjustment, you could try an energy psychology technique called Turbo Tapping, which has helped many sugar addicts kick their sweet habit. Other tricks to help you overcome your sugar cravings include:

• Exercise: Anyone who exercises intensely on a regular basis will know that significant amounts of cardiovascular exercise is one of the best "cures" for food cravings. It always amazes me how my appetite, especially for sweets, dramatically decreases after a good workout. I believe the mechanism is related to the dramatic reduction in insulin levels that occurs after exercise.
• Organic black coffee: Coffee is a potent opioid receptor antagonist, and contains compounds such as cafestrol -- found plentifully in both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee -- which can bind to your opioid receptors, occupy them and essentially block your addiction to other opioid-releasing foods.⁷ This may profoundly reduce the addictive power of other substances, such as sugar.

All Calories Are Not Equal

  by Kerry Fleckenstein

I think we all have been led to believe that calories in are equal to calories out. Studies now are showing however that this is not true. There are qualities to calories that make them differ. When working with my clients we talk about the difference in 100 Calorie packs vs. 100 calories in greens. These calories are not equal in nature. One feeds you, the other does not.

Fiber: greens for example, have a lot of fiber in them. The same with legumes, seeds, other veggies and fruits. When eating these we have to chew them for a while in order for them to be digestible. This allows your brain to catch up with your stomach so it knows you are eating and filling up. Not all fiber is digested by you body therefore eliminated. Saving calories.

Protein: your body will spend the most calories digesting protein. It takes a while for the breakdown to happen and for the food them to move out of the stomach. Therefore you will feel full longer. Protein is used to build muscle mass and helps to maintain your blood sugar levels, directly opposite of what a simple carb or sugar would do for you. (100 calorie pack)

Fats: you don’t want to consume fats from things like French fries or fried foods and chips, but a good dose of healthy fats you need in your diet. This would come from nuts, avocado, olive oil etc. Stay away from trans-fats.

You also want to stay away from liquids. I know “diet” soda does not have any calories but your body still recognizes it as a sugar. Leading it to ask for more and that will give you cravings. A 100 calories of liquid may mathematically the same as 100 calories of food. An apple for example. But the liquid will not give you any of the above. The fiber in an apple will allow you to digest slower etc.

So the key is make your calories count. Make them a source of good nutrition while you are watching them. That being said you still cannot eat a phenomenal amount without the benefit of exercise.

According the Journal of the American Medical Association researchers have concluded that those who are on a low-carb diet (carbs from veggies and good sources and not bagels and cakes) burn the most calories. This would perfectly fit the above. Low-carb diets include protein, fiber, and a small amount of good healthy fats.

Vitamins and Minerals Can Boost Energy and Enhance Mood

July 16, 2013 — Vitamin and mineral supplements can enhance mental energy and well-being not only for healthy adults but for those prone to anxiety and depression, according to a July 15 panel discussion at the 2013 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Food Expo® held at McCormick Place.

---

Bonnie Kaplan, Ph.D., professor in the faculty of medicine at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, said Monday vitamins and mineral supplements can be the alternative to increasing psychiatric medicines for symptom relief of anxiety and depression. The supplements, she said, also can provide the mental energy necessary to manage stress, enhance mood and reduce fatigue.
In a series of studies she recently conducted in Canada, Kaplan found of the 97 adults with diagnosed mood disorders who kept a three-day food record, a higher intake of vitamins and minerals were significantly correlated with overall enhanced mental functioning.
Other vitamins that have been known to enhance mood, said C.J. Geiger, Ph.D., president of Geiger & Associates, LLC, and research associate professor in the division of nutrition at the University of Utah, include 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5 HTP), Vitamins B and D, as well as ginkgo biloba and Omega 3.
In her research, Geiger has found most adults define energy throughout the day as peaking mid-morning, falling to a valley in the afternoon after lunch and recovering with a pickup in late afternoon, settling back down before bedtime. However, these peaks and valleys did vary with gender, age and climate. She said many adults are known to use coffee, soft drinks, chocolate and candy bars as well as energy drinks, bars and chews with high sugar boosts to maintain energy throughout the day. She found other adults ate more frequent, smaller meals to sustain energy while making time for lots of rest and exercise.
Read the IFT Live article: http://live.ift.org/2013/07/15/undernourished-and-mentally-unbalanced/

Diet Detective: 10 Tips to Reduce Sugar in Your Diet

Added sugar is a nutritional zero.  I know you've heard all kinds of advice over the years: "Don't eat fat; it's horrible." "Low carb is the best way to go." "Avoid all the white stuff." "Low carb is unhealthy." "You need the ‘good' fat."
If you're tired of all the conflicting nutritional advice, you can rest assured that there is one rock solid recommendation: Reduce consumption of ANY added sugar. I'm not 100 percent sure, but I bet that the only ones who would tell you anything different are the companies that add sugar to their products. Added sweeteners quickly boost calorie intake while providing little nutrient value. Those calories can stack up very quickly if you're eating too many highly sweetened foods. If you're consuming more calories than your body needs, the evidence will appear quickly in the form of added pounds.  Here are 10 tips to help you avoid unwanted sugar.

1. Avoid ADDED Sugar and Beware of Sugar's Many Disguises 
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the term "added sugar" is defined as any "sweeteners added to processed and prepared foods."
And while many sugars are found naturally in foods, such as milk, fruit, vegetables and grains, it's the sugars added to many of the foods we eat (by food companies) that we have to watch out for.  When you read the food label, here is what you should look out for:  brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrin, dextrose, glucose, fructose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, invert sugar, lactose, maltodextrin, maltose, mannitol, molasses, natural sweeteners, polydextrose, raw sugar, sucrose, syrup, turbinado sugar, and xylitol.
Remember, regardless of the name, whether it's honey (although there is some research that indicates honey can help with allergies and work as an antibiotic), brown sugar, raw sugar or maple syrup, all added sugar is essentially just calories without significant nutritional value. The one exception may be molasses, which is actually a fair source of potassium, calcium and iron.

2. Read The Label 
To track down the amount of sugar you're consuming, read the nutrition label and look for the many different forms of sugar mentioned above. The "sugars" section includes those that are present naturally in the food (such as lactose in milk and fructose in fruit), as well as sugars added to the food during processing.
If you're interested in finding out whether a sweetener has been added, check the ingredients list for terms such as "sugar (sucrose)," "fructose," "maltose," "lactose," "honey," "syrup," "corn syrup," "high-fructose corn syrup," "molasses" and "fruit juice concentrate." If any of these sugars appears first or second, or if many of them are listed among the ingredients, it's most likely a high-sugar food.  Just so you have a reference point, 4 grams of sugar is approximately 1 teaspoon.

3. Are You STILL Blinded By Fat Phobia? 
If you're too preoccupied with reading the number of fat grams on the food label, you may be missing the fact that many reduced-fat or fat-free products still carry a hefty number of calories. Additional sweeteners are often substituted for some of the fat that has been removed from these products.

4. Don't Ban Sugar Completely 
Sugar is part of a normal diet, but it should be in foods such as fruits and vegetables.

1 cup of cauliflower = 2 grams of sugar

1 red tomato = 3.2 grams of sugar

1 cup of broccoli = 1.6 grams of sugar

So, you see, these ALL have sugar, but it's a small amount, and vegetables contain natural (not added) fiber, which helps to slow the release of the sugar into your blood. Plus, green, leafy or cruciferous vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, cabbage and bok choy) don't have much sugar and are very healthy.

5. Sugar-Caution: What You Should Know About Carbs, Sugar and the Glycemic Index
The glycemic index (GI) was created as a research tool to determine the actual effect carbohydrates, including sugars, have on blood sugar.  GI measures how quickly a food that contains carbohydrate raises a fasting person's blood sugar level and subsequent insulin in two hours. (Insulin is the hormone that activates cells to absorb sugar from the bloodstream, thus reducing blood sugar levels.)
Foods with a high GI value raise the body's blood sugar very quickly, which signals a corresponding rapid release of insulin into the bloodstream; this quick rush of insulin then lowers blood sugar.
High-GI foods include white bread, white potatoes, pasta, doughnuts and bagels, but also watermelon and carrots. Low-GI foods include most vegetables, low-fat yogurt, lentils and peanuts, but also whole milk and pound cake.
When you consume carbohydrates there is a process that switches you from feeling famished to being fed. The problem is that foods with a high GI slow down the feeling that you've eaten and are full and, as a result, can cause hunger. Typically, foods that are high on the glycemic index are highly processed foods that have lots of processed sugar and little naturally occurring fiber.

6. Make Your Sweets Count
I'll be honest, as healthy as I try to be, I do eat sweets.  But the most important thing I do when I'm eating a sweet food or drink is to make sure it is splurge-worthy. I consciously ask myself:  "Does this taste amazing?" "Am I paying attention and focused on the enjoyment of this food, or am I on the phone, computer, in a deep conversation or doing something else distracting?"  "Will this food or drink satisfy my sweet craving?"
Bottom line: I'm not suggesting that you give up sweets altogether.  However, I do suggest that you become more deliberate about your selection of sweet and gooey foods and drinks. Select sweets that offer more than just fast-acting carbohydrates if you can.

7. Avoid "Big" Thinking
When it comes to satiating your sweet tooth, there's a good chance you only need a bite or two to feel satisfied. Ice cream is a great example — if you're going to have it, stick to a ½-cup serving and you should be able to keep the calories under 200 while still satisfying your craving. If you don't trust yourself to do your own scooping, buy individual servings so you won't be tempted to eat more than your share.

8. Eat Lots of Healthy Vegetables and Avoid Getting Too Hungry
If you let yourself get too hungry, chances are the first foods you reach for will be high in sugar and fat and low in nutrients. Prevent this urge by eating meals filled with low-calorie vegetables. If you fill yourself up on the "good" stuff, you will be less likely to eat the "bad" stuff (e.g., foods with added sugar).

9. Reduce Sugar In Recipes and Use Spices 
There's a pretty good chance that, with a little smart thinking, you can cut the sugar in most recipes by one-third, and the finished product will turn out fine (you probably won't even notice the difference).  Check out recipe sites such as eatingwell.com, cookinglight.com and allrecipes.com.  Also, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, anise and mint can add a sweet taste to foods without adding sugar or calories.

10. Buy Right and You Can Easily Switch to Fruit for Dessert
A great peach or a few delicious strawberries can certainly do the trick in most instances.  The good news is that they also provide vitamins, minerals and fiber (which helps to fend off the effect of sugar on your blood). You can also try pureeing fresh frozen fruits to make your own sorbets, drizzling fruits with chocolate syrup, or dipping them in yogurt. Check these fruit buying guides: