Ever feel like you’re fighting a losing battle? I do, and it centers on the great sugar debate. As a post-op gastric bypass patient, I’m supposed to limit my sugar intake. Albeit, I’m quite lucky (depending on your perspective) – about half of all RNY gastric bypass patients suffer from “dumping syndrome” (picture a diabetic attack with sweating, heart palpitations, vomiting and diarrhea all at the same time) when they consume too much sugar. I’m part of the 50% who don’t. I occasionally find myself in a dumping situation after (of all things) too much natural sugar from fruit (pineapple is usually the culprit for me!), but complex sugars tend to not affect me (unless in huge quantities, which I can’t fit into my pouch anyway). Ideally, I should consume less than 60 grams a day, but through careful research, my aim after my surgery has been 25 grams a day to stay safe. And wow, is it ever difficult! You’d be so surprised as where those little sugar grams hide – in everything from bread to milk. So it’s not enough to just cut out candy and baked goods (if you hear sobbing, it’s just me) – carefully reading labels, making educated choices and limiting portion size are all keys to success.Recently, my wonderful garcon-aimee was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes. Scary! In addition to all of the health-risk factors type 2 diabetes leads to, actually getting his sugar levels under control has been a struggle. We haven’t sorted it out yet (sadly, there may be insulin shots in his near future), but our first step has been to cut out as much sugar from his diet as possible. It has me re-examining all of the foods that we eat and all of the cooking methods I’ve been employing over the past year and a half, and I have to say, it’s been eye-opening. I realized that it’s easy to slip back into old habits if you’re not diligent all the time. For example, right after my own surgery, I made the switch to Splenda over real sugar in any baking or cooking I did, and in my coffee too. But I allowed myself to be swayed by all of the bad press Splenda and other sugar substitutes have received (especially aspartame), and though “oh, I only use a little here and there, anyway!” and went back to it. Once that happened, I found myself not being so careful with prepared foods and drinks, often ordering “low sugar” options at my favourite coffee shops instead of “sugar-free” ones. When the diagnosis came, I started checking out the nutritional values on things we both had been consuming, and was shocked to find that the “low sugar” options can sometimes have upwards of 50 grams of sugar per serving!
And of course, I haven’t even delved into the carb / complex carb debate, and how they turn to sugar in your system too…I have a fairly solid background on this issue thanks to my fabulous post-op nutritionist, but I’m happy to be going to the 3-hour education session with the boy at the Diabetic Clint to get a refresher! I think it’s time to go back to the basics – lots of “eat only what comes out of the earth that way” or make it myself with wholesome, real-food ingredients. It’s funny how I am so committed to doing it because it’s for a loved one, but didn’t mind falling off the wagon when it was for me. Oh, I can hear the weight-loss therapist now!
So from here on out, hold the sugar, please! We’re all, apparently, sweet enough ;)
