Sugar is EVERYWHERE!
 

I watch the commercials on tv from the guy named Bob who trains on the Biggest Loser. He's telling everyone to eat Quaker Oat Squares for heart healthy fiber.

So I think, "Ok! I'll go get some to switch up my mornings a bit. They look good. He says they are good."

The second ingredient on them is sugar. I'm on no refined sugar. The third ingredient is brown sugar.

I'm sure they taste great. I took a moment and looked at other "healthy cereals". Sugar as the second ingredient in them all. I left them on the shelf.

Back I go to my steel-cut oats, stevia and skim milk.

It's so frustrating isn't it? I'm on a no sugar diet as well and I thank GOD for stevia, but I'd like to have something sometimes that I won't have to add it to. When I was in the USA I was a HUGE fan of the gluten free Isle at the grocery store because it had a ton of cereals that tasted awesome, without the sugar. My weakness was peanut butter cereals and I was thrilled when I found they had one. Of course there are other healthier choices too. So try checking out if your grocery store offers gluten free foods. There are also other things like gluten free brownies. My mom has celiac disease, as well as me(though I'm miserable about following my diet) and she introduced me to a whole new world of sugar free.

Also, I try to switch up my breakfast cause I get sick of eating the same thing every morning. Love oats, but not really suppose to have them. I do like to grill or sauté apples till they're soft, then lightly sprinkle a stevia cinnimon mixture on top of them. That with an egg is awesome. This kicks sweet cravings quickly too.

Yogurt, with peach slices, stevia and cinnimon was a breakfast I ate for a while till I got burnt out on it lol

I know, It is hard to find cereal with no sugar coated. And most cereal bar are full of sugar. TV is your enemy, all they do is try to advertising, try to sell you something. They are not work in your interest.

Have you seen that they are now doing Biggest Loser Nutri-System type meals? They've lost my respect with this.

Thats how effective marketing is and probably the majority of people watching buy into it and why not - its designed that way. I love this fitday site - I feel committed yet balanced with my diet and not worried that it will end and I will revert to old bad habits. Its not controlling or manipulative and it gives me the responsibility of making good choices and seeing that it only affects me if I don't make good choices. Its an honour system so if you can't be honest with yourself, then likely this site will be revealing about what the problems are. Its easy to say I just wont enter my info today and I can ignore the bad day I had or pretend I didn't eat this or that but honestly I think we all know thats exactly why this is a great system - you can mess up but be honest and unload the guilt, forgive yourself and realize thats a big step forward by dealing with it and moving on. How many people on weight watchers or dr bernstein or whatever learn to be honest about their food habits? I think not enough do. Those programs are still using reliance on something or someone else to lose weight and gimicky. Everyone I know on WW and Dr B have gained their weight back and more. I know they advertise testimonials of successful cases, but personally I don't know any. Dr Oz recently wrote that its not a good idea to do any weight loss program or change your diet so that your calories significantly drop from what they had been - he says if you fet a hungry feeling, then your body is already fighting to store calories. He says just eat one less thing each week, make good choices and don't be hungry. Life long success will depend on finding eating habits that don't feel like a penalty.

The fat-free labeling is misleading, too. First you think, "Great, this treat is fat-free!", until you read that your entire day's allowance of carbs are in one cookie....umm...Next!

Weight Watchers..and many others, don't work, if they did you would do it once and be " fixed"...and this is life long. They make their money on people who come for the magic fix...over and over and over. I have been here for about 6 weeks and I have not been separated from one thin dime. I have 2 friends who just this winter have bounced around from one diet plan to another and not made any headway that will hold them in good stead, and it is sad for me to see. One of them asked what I was doing and was shocked that the correct thing to do is read labels .. And she is 50 yrs old!! IMHO Weight Watchers keeps people thinking they are dependent and that is how they make their money. I watch my 2 friends who have been at WW on and off for 30 to 40 yrs and they both quote overly simplistic jargon that makes my head spin. So for myself I will just stay in here and quietly plug along losing my weight then maintaining it when the time comes.

I would like to say one more thing. There are people in the world that will just take on an issue such as weight loss or addiction and be successful no matter how they do it. I get a bee in my bonnet when some leader type people claim they are the way and you have to follow them to get there, and they keep people down instead of teaching and giving skills for people to become independent and skilled and strong in their own right. I actually had a priest tell me he was closer to God than me..and to get to God I had to go thru him!! utter rubbish. I love Fitday for educating us and giving us the daily gift of taking care of ourselves and learning from each other.

Special K brand bothers me too with all their added artificial crap and sugars. They market themselves as diet friendly, but it's really not. Sometimes I get jealous when I see co-workers eating their 'whatever was in the cupboard' snacks knowing I took an hour to plan my day's meals to ensure the right balance of proteins/carbs/fats, kept my calories at an appropriate level, and managed to get in two workouts so as to keep my calorie deficiet at a fat-burning level. It really can be exhausting, but I just keep reminding myself of the new pants in my closet (a size smaller than before) and look ahead to bikini season and remind myself that the effort is absolutely worth it. That look on my boyfriend's face when I put on some slinky new lingerie that shows off my newly thinner self is fantastic! (sorry if that's TMI, but it's true!)

Everyone has the strength and grace to accomplish anything! When we are blessed with knowledge, it is our responsibility and should be our joy to share our gifts with others. I have been an aerobics and fitness instructor for most of my adult life. I am also a Communications consultant.

You are all wise to discard these marketing tactics as rubbish. Big Media will do anything to manipulate messages for big bucks.

Never, NEVER will a refined, boxed food source be better for you than the natural food source. Oat groats, rolled oats, steel cut oats, and other natural sources of fiber will always be best for your body. Go organic. Even better!

Here is a tasty alternative: Pull out your crock pot. Combine water, oat groats, raisins, apples, and cinnamon. Cook on low overnight. In the morning, you will have a lovely, tasty treat. Add stevia to taste.

Peace, love, and joy,

Mel

There is no diet on earth that works so that once you do it, you are 'fixed.'

Absolutely none. Even bariatric surgery has the effect that 'life goes on' and you have to adjust everything you eat to the aftermath. There is no magic fix. Atkins tells you to eat a certain way and you must always do that. When you don't, you've 'fallen off the wagon' - hence, the Atkins maintenance diet which you must observe and obey the restrictions or go back to even stricter induction.

Weight Watchers is completely upfront about how you must always watch what you eat. Lifelong members, rewarded for reaching goal, get to weigh in once a month so that they can jump back into the program if they go 5 pounds over their goal weight.

More insidious than the presence of sugar is the presence of fat. 'Cut fat out of your diet' and log the food you eat in fitday. You'll still see that fat is a part of the food you eat. It carries flavor, making the food you eat taste good. But why even compare sugar and fat? Sugar is a carbohydrate. You'll see that a gram of sugar has 4 calories, the same number as protein. You'll probably taste sugar sooner than you'll taste fat.

Fat has more than twice the number of calories as sugar. 9 calories in the same unit, one gram. Are you necessarily going to 'taste the fat'? No. Look at an egg - do you taste the fat in a boiled egg? You end up thinking that low-fat is not frying an egg. The fat is there anyway, hello, and you're not even thinking about it... and it's got a bonus of being highest in calories.

This is why low-fat diets work. They may be so 'yesterday' in terms of popularity but the are based on fat's caloric punch. Go on a 'low-sugar' diet, just looking at sugar and you'll make some progress in calorie control, but fat is going to be an ever-present consideration.

I love these responses
 

So many wise people tuned into the struggle and reasons we became overweight to begin with. Thanks for posting replies. They are awesome.

I have a twelve year old son who is very active, built like a tank, and was on the edge of being overweight like so many children are these days. He asked me what to do to avoid this (smart guy for so young) and I told him he was NOT going on a diet. Instead he was going to change out what he drinks and he was simply going to eat Mom's cooking. I'm so proud of him. All sugar drinks are out of his diet. No pop. Lean meat and fish because he's a major carnivore. He's lost fifteen pounds without feeling it. And here's the thing....he understands that he needs to be playing outside and not sitting playing video games. When he played basketball in the city league here, he was the only one on his team that could keep running the length of the court. He's normal weight for his size, he loves tilapia and he loves green tea with stevia...go figure.

I wish when I was a child I was not put on so many diets. I may have found a solution before getting so large with a massive weight loss to have to go through. Never give up though.

Hang in there everyone.

I love these replies as well! I have learned SO MUCH and this is only my first week on fitday. I feel like I want to look at all my labels now. lol! thanx everyone for the awesome words of encouragement. I could not be able to do this all by myself and now I know where to make changes in my way of life. not gonna say diet, cuz most diets are temporary. :D