Cutting Down on Sweets

Johnny Jones, 30 June 1995

Maybe Americans have always associated "sweet" with "good." Until our wealth allowed us sweets every day, I suppose sweets were good. Treats can be a way of conveying love.

Aunt Ola, during the Great Depression, remembers getting an occasional piece of candy with left-over egg money as a treat. But is it so today? Is something we have in our homes, something our kids take in their lunches, something they buy regularly at the store, a treat? Or is it a compulsion?

"Cutting back on sugar will require, among other things, many of us terminate our love affair with the sweet taste. Evidence suggests that while we have an innate preference for sweets, we spend much of our lives cultivating that preference into a passion. Some, in fact, call it an addiction, since the more sweets people eat, the more sweets people seem to want," according to Jane Brody's Nutrition Book.

Ms. Brody continues, "Given the chance, newborn rats will consume sugar water in preference to a nutritious diet, even to the point of malnutrition and death....our sweet taste served us well....It helped us to know when foods like fruits and berries were ripe and ready to eat. But...in recent times we've separated the good taste from the good food, and our sweet taste is no longer working to our advantage."

I had a friend who traced her weight problem to a love affair with chocolate. "Whenever we did anything Mama liked," Donna told me, "she gave us chocolate." My friend came to associate chocolate with praise, love, and affection - and she reached for it when she was in emotional need. She added, "I will never do that to my children."

Knowing about Donna's problems caused me to think about alternatives for treats. I hated the thought of our children grasping at food for happiness. Here are some ideas I came up with: a hug, a word of praise, a special privilege. How about a story, a walk in the woods together, a new tape? Not that food isn't a treat, too - but homemade spaghetti can convey love as effectively as cream cheese brownies if it's a favorite food.

Jane Brody says, "It would make better nutritional sense if sweets were eaten as an occasional treat, rather than as part of the daily diet. Many people find that when they decide to forgo sweets for a while (a week or longer), their craving for them gradually subsides. And as the sweet habit subsides, instead of gorging on sweets to make up for lost time, they are likely to be satisfied with smaller quantities than they used to be. The following tips can help you to reduce your consumption of "empty" or unneeded sugar calories."

1. "Don't buy sweet snack or candy to `have in the house.' Instead, keep a plentiful supply of fresh fruits and vegetables. If you must have a carbohydrate `nibble food,' try popcorn without butter - 29 calories a cup."

2. "Get in the habit of serving fruit - preferably fresh fruit - for desserts. If you must rely on canned or frozen fruit, look for brands that are packaged in water instead of sweetened syrup. Fruit contains nutritionally useful quantities of vitamins, minerals, and fiber as well as natural sugars. Unlike ice cream or cake, fruits have no fat or cholesterol. However, dried fruits - raisins, dates, figs, dried apples and apricots, etc. - have a high concentration of sugar...and are sticky, making them less desirable for your weight and teeth."

3. "Instead of buying cakes, pies, or cookies, make your own and cut the sugar in the recipe by a third or more. You might try making `dessert' breads that contain relatively little sugar and are loaded with nourishing ingredients like whole-wheat flour, oatmeal, nuts, raisins, and perhaps a fruit or vegetable like pumpkin, zucchini, cranberries, carrots, or peanut butter."

4. "Don't use sweets as a reward for children, and ask friends and relatives not to bring them as gifts."

5. "Eliminate soft drinks from your diet."

6. "If you put sugar in your coffee or tea, try gradually reducing the amount you use."

7. "Try new combinations of foods to create sweet flavors without adding sugar. For example, use sweet spices and herbs, such as cardamom, coriander, basil, nutmeg, ginger, or mace."

8. Start reading the labels on all the processed foods you buy. The ingredients must be listed in order or their prominence in the product, with the ingredient present in the largest quantity first....if sugar or some other sweetener is among the top three ingredients in a major food product, beware."

Sugar can be a quick fix, both for the body and the spirit. A treat makes us happy, but an indulgence is bad for character as well as teeth. We need to understand that candy is not a necessity, like food and water. And "sweet" is not always "good."