nancy324
Cathlete
Thanks everyone for all your good wishes!
About the diet soda. You're not gonna believe what she said. Aspartame can cause an increase in hunger and sugar cravings and lowered serotonin, which can cause depression. She said, although it's hard to believe, that the body is fooled and actually releases insulin in proportion to the sweetness of the soda, thereby overproducing insulin which causes fat cells to grow faster and generally wreaks havoc in the body. She also said that aspartame increases thirst because it tends to dehydrate the body and that it can impair sleep. She also said that any aritificial sweetener tends to change your perception of what is sweet and alter the amounts of sweetness it takes to satisfy you. Studies have shown that people who use artifical sweeteners consume more sugar, and tend to be more overweight, than people who don't. Whew!
Regarding sodium, however, most diet sodas, like diet Coke and diet Pepsi, do not contain much salt at all, so that's not usually the issue.
I hate to tell you how much diet soda I've been drinking and for how long (it essentially replaced water for me), but today I couldn't even look at the stuff!! She recommends mint tea for me because she says it helps your energy level, and I need all the help I can get. I have no idea why mint tea gives you energy, but, hey, I was drinking water and mint tea all day instead of diet Coke! Okay, it's only one day, but so far so good.
Another interesting thing was the Carbohydrate Glycemic Index she gave me. Every food gets a rating from 0-100 with water having an index of 0 and table sugar having an index of 100. Foods that rate 55 or less are "good carbs" and foods over 55 are "bad" because they spike your blood sugar level. On the chart, whole-wheat bread is just as offensive as white bread, and they are both offensive. Instead of bread and rice, I need to eat more legumes. Peas, soybeans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, lentils are all great. Pasta is better than bread, rice or potatoes and whole-wheat pasta is actually healthy.
-Nancy
About the diet soda. You're not gonna believe what she said. Aspartame can cause an increase in hunger and sugar cravings and lowered serotonin, which can cause depression. She said, although it's hard to believe, that the body is fooled and actually releases insulin in proportion to the sweetness of the soda, thereby overproducing insulin which causes fat cells to grow faster and generally wreaks havoc in the body. She also said that aspartame increases thirst because it tends to dehydrate the body and that it can impair sleep. She also said that any aritificial sweetener tends to change your perception of what is sweet and alter the amounts of sweetness it takes to satisfy you. Studies have shown that people who use artifical sweeteners consume more sugar, and tend to be more overweight, than people who don't. Whew!
Regarding sodium, however, most diet sodas, like diet Coke and diet Pepsi, do not contain much salt at all, so that's not usually the issue.
I hate to tell you how much diet soda I've been drinking and for how long (it essentially replaced water for me), but today I couldn't even look at the stuff!! She recommends mint tea for me because she says it helps your energy level, and I need all the help I can get. I have no idea why mint tea gives you energy, but, hey, I was drinking water and mint tea all day instead of diet Coke! Okay, it's only one day, but so far so good.
Another interesting thing was the Carbohydrate Glycemic Index she gave me. Every food gets a rating from 0-100 with water having an index of 0 and table sugar having an index of 100. Foods that rate 55 or less are "good carbs" and foods over 55 are "bad" because they spike your blood sugar level. On the chart, whole-wheat bread is just as offensive as white bread, and they are both offensive. Instead of bread and rice, I need to eat more legumes. Peas, soybeans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, lentils are all great. Pasta is better than bread, rice or potatoes and whole-wheat pasta is actually healthy.
-Nancy
I was wondering if you could just elaborate on why specifically sweet potatoes are so good.
