“Cheating”

We hear this a good bit in reference to diet. “I was doing well but I’ve been cheating a lot lately.” I get it…we all feel a twinge of remorse when we make a choice that we know isn’t the greatest…it’s only human. I have a feeling a lot of those reading this are “A type” personalities who have taken their health into their own hands and challenged conventional wisdom in pursuit of optimum nutrition…you are even more prone to feeling like you’ve let yourself down. I just feel that this notion of “cheating” really puts the wrong connotation on what we’re doing when it comes to diet/nutrition. After all, this isn’t meant to be a fad diet…you know that. Going off of your plan for a 1 week juice fast (help!!!) would seem like more of a failure than eating something less-than-optimal in a LIFE LONG commitment you have made to eating well. Saying that not eating perfectly is “cheating” is setting yourself up for certain failure if you think of it this way. You have what’s called “a life”…it’s a life that does not exist inside a bubble. Where everyone does not know about the paleo diet. Hell, it’s a world full of tasty innovations and special occasions…and everyone KNOWS it is not realistic (and probably not necessary) to abstain 100% from these situations (read: it is next to IMPOSSIBLE).

Cheating as we say it implies an unforgivable sin. Are we really comparing eating an (insert your favorite “non-paleo” food here) to adultery? Should we be emblazoned with a scarlet letter for doing such? Come on…we all know that it’s not that serious.

In a way I feel that the guilt is brought on by those in positions of influence…the bloggers and writers and media authorities that put on airs about their compliance to their method. You know the holier-than-though attitude I am talking about. They would lead you to believe that they are always perfect and if they do show a sliver of being mortal…they will chide themselves and make atonement to show that they are really “above” that. (I hope we are not so guilty of this here, though we don’t go out of our way to show you pictures similar to those below.) They have something to gain from this pretense and it may be a lack of security as well, but I think it’s adding to the paranoia. And I would guarantee that behind closed doors they are living at least a slightly different life than they present. Let me be clear…I don’t mean everyone, there are those that seem very transparent in a good way.

I can illustrate this with the thought of politicians and other celebrities that show a storybook life until the headline breaks. And even more easily with a comparison to another type of relationship, a marriage (or committed pair).

So many married couples present a perfect relationship on the surface. It might leave you wondering how everyone else’s marriage seems problem free when you have disagreements with your spouse. Well, guess what…they do have disagreements and they just don’t want you to know about it. It probably stems from pride and lack of security…sound familiar? Saying that a marriage is a failure because you have an argument is like saying you “cheated” on your diet because you did not eat perfectly.

So can I propose that eating imperfectly now be called “having a disagreement” with your diet? I know it’s more of a mouthful but bear with me. Your marriage or committed relationship is very much like your commitment to your nutrition ideals.

1. It changes and evolves
2. When you are committed, a disagreement is tiny bump in the road not a burning of the bridge
3. It does not adversely affect the outcome

At Health-Bent…we feel like we need to relax a bit about not eating perfectly all the time. I’ve written some about the 80/20 rule in the past. Of course, if you use this to justify eating poorly all the time then it’s counterintuitive. What I’m saying is that if you are committed to your relationship with food, you wouldn’t let it be anything more than a relative rarity.

I am not perfect. I eat bullcrap sometimes and can be mean to my wife on occasion. But I am committed to a great relationship with my wife and with food. I know that the amount of time not making both happy better be slim. I recognize that having self diagnosed imperfections doesn’t make me the only one. Everyone does. And as such…it’s just part of the norm…it doesn’t mean anything is wrong. It also doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive to be the best you can. Just don’t beat yourself up over it so much. It’s just my opinion but I think that is the healthiest way to be. If you’re shooting for perfection you’ll land at excellence…so don’t cry over spilt coconut milk.

I wouldn’t know what a perfect marriage or a perfect diet would look like anyway. In my next post I plan to write about how “cheating” would be hard to define even if we were calling it that because every single thing you eat falls within a scale of values you have set (based on what you can know so far). Since we are learning more and more every day those values change some and any food choice is not a full on perfect or not perfect choice…almost all fall somewhere in between. (another reason you can’t really say conclusively what food would be a deal breaker or a “cheat”) I’ll introduce a way we subconsciously evaluate our food choices as “good”, “better”, “best” using our umbrellaparameters.

I hope this helps. If you feel like you’re eating very well the majority of the time…you should be proud of it and own it. That’s all I feel anyone can do…no matter what they’ll have you believe. At the end of the day, Megan and I fundamentally believe that –

Let me start out by clearly stating, Health-Bent believes that sugar, of any form, should be consumed in extreme moderation. Our desserts are not overwhelmingly sweet and are not intended to duplicate “traditional” recipes. We’re on a mission to change what dessert means, not to try to squeeze our recipes into the conventional definition of dessert.

Why do we write recipes that use table sugar (sucrose) as the sweetener instead of any of the “healthy”sweeteners listed above?

Sucrose, evaporated cane juice, beet, raw and date sugar, maple syrup and even HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP contain about the same number of carbohydrates–4 grams per teaspoon. That equates to 12 grams of carbohydrates per tablespoon. There are 16 tablespoons in a cup. Let me get your jaw up from the floor for ya.

Don’t confuse G.I. with gastrointestinal…it stands for Glycemic Index. Glucose is blood sugar. Fructose is fruit sugar. Lactose is milk sugar. Everything else should be self-explanatory. So, looks cool that Agave Nectar is low on the G.I. and so is Stevia. So we should use those right? Wrong…

The “sugar is sugar” axiom works to help us understand that any starch (though not sugar as we think of it when we eat it) will eventually be broken down into sugar in our bodies…and will raise our blood sugar (blood glucose). Starch is a chain of bound glucose that will become glucose in your bloodstream by digestion. This saying also serves to get us to take a harder look at fruit as something that conventional wisdom will tell you needs no moderation. But the saying does fall flat and is too simplistic in conveying a fundamental difference with sugar molecules that definitely needs attention. Most of the sweeteners (table sugar, maple syrup, honey, fruit juices, etc.) and sugary foods (fruits) that we eat contain different compositions of the molecules glucose and fructose. We know that regulating our blood glucose is important…but where does fructose fit in this equation?

Fructose is not metabolised in the same way as glucose (starches are chains of glucose). It’s metabolised almost solely by your liver. High levels of fructose consumption can put a real burden on your liver and lead to Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). Fructose molecules can also glycate (bind with other molecules) to produce free radicals and promote inflammation. So any sweetener or fruit with high fructose content is worth being very mindful of. The so called “low glycemic” sweeteners are such because they contain less glucose and more fructose. That’s how they raise your blood sugar less…but they’re even nastier.

Agave nectar is made in a similar fashion as high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). The starch inside the agave plant is transformed into free synthetic fructose. Agave nectar has MORE synthetic fructose than HFCS. So what does that mean? Your body can’t use it and so it ends up stored as fat in your body, is inflammatory and can wreck your metabolism. No thanks.

Trace minerals, etc.

The trace minerals, vitamins and amino acids found in honey, maple syrup and unrefined, raw sugars really aren’t beneficial enough in the small quantities we consume them in. Besides, a diet like ours, high in animal fats and protein will give you a much higher dose of all of these things. It makes less sense to worry about what “IS paleo” than to just try and be aware of your fructose consumption. If you’re going to eat sugar, you’re fooling yourself if you think honey or concentrated fruit juice or dates will be much better for you than white sugar. Your body can barely tell the difference.

Taste reigns supreme in our house. Stevia has been known to leave some funky, licorice-y aftertastes in your mouth–and it can be a budget buster.

Splenda, Equal, NurtiSweet, etc. Oh it’s fabulous right? It’s calorie free, let’s eat it by the spoonful! Think about this for a minute–why on Earth is it calorie free? What exactly does that mean? It means that our bodies CANNOT digest these foreign chemical substances and they pass directly through us.

Sorbitol, Xylitol and other sugar alcohols are not calorie free, but can still cause discomfort in some people. Anyone have I.B.S. that can’t be attributed to lactose or gluten? Cut out the diet drinks, conventional toothpaste, mouthwash and gum. Apples, pears, peaches and plums contain Sorbitol too, so don’t mass consume them or their juices! See if your tum-tum (and your bum-bum) doesn’t thank you.

Like I said from the get-go, any sweetener you use should be used in extreme moderation. Plain and simple, I don’t like to waste food or money and I am more familiar with how sucrose works in baked goods. I know it creates fluffy textured goodies by way of air bubble creation during the creaming method, it’s hygroscopic; making treats soft and tender. In frozen concoctions, it keeps large water crystals (a.k.a. ice) from forming– this keeps the texture soft and smooth.

BUT…

All that being said, if you want to experiment with different sweeteners, DO IT! If you find success, please share! We are open-minded (and hell-bent on health!) here and are always interested in hearing your opinions.