Clean Eating

[Chancie]

I have chosen to stop drinking diet soda.

[FetchingClever]

Originally Posted by Chancie

I have chosen to stop drinking diet soda.

Good for you, Chancie!!

I'm working on cutting back on sodas and other drinks that are mostly sugar or chemicals that taste like sugar. Not all the way yet, but I'm making progress!

I really think taking small steps is the right way for me. It feels so much more *doable* this way.

What else are you all doing?

~Clever

[Soft*Silver]

I have moved toward clean eating since I moved back to Ohio. I use to buy frozen foods, packaged meals in boxes and bags, and canned goods. Now you wont find these in my house, except for the occassional rare frozen pizza and ice cream. When I think back on how many mac and cheeses, hamburger helpers and hot pockets I use to eat, I groan. I cant eat those things anymore. In fact, even fast foods hurt my stumach if I indulge in them.

I eat alot alot alot of fresh fruits and vegetables. I buy chicken from the stores but am looking for a source that is more local in hope to get away from the chemicals they pump into them. I just heard they shove sugar into chicken to make it more tasty for our palates. Really??? I am not much of a red meat eater.

I am gardening so I can can and freeze my own foods.

My big downfall is the dang candy I consume and that has SO much trash in it, along with the processed sugar. I have a helluva sweet tooth. I go thru rounds of getting away from it and then I find myself going back to it. Its a never ending battle with sugar and me...

oh and I love Fresca and yes I do buy it on occasion. Dont get me started on diet sodas. I buy some every week but I have cut way down. I buy caffeine free if I buy them.

life is a journey with alot of processes to go thru...all I can do is try and when I fall off my route, to climb back on it...

[chai~]

~for me, I stay as close to Mother Nature as I can. Raw fruit and veg. No dairy, grains, pasta, meat etc. Simple, gorgeous, fresh, easy, practically pick and eat!

[JustJo]

Lovely thread fetching

My diet used to be pretty atrocious...single, working mom, long commute, going to school at night and on the weekends, tired all the time and living on fast food (as in McDonald's 5 to 7 times a week), processed food, several Cokes a day, etc. The crazy part is that I know how to cook from scratch, have done preserving (jams, pickles, etc.) since I was 10...just didn't have the time and energy and focus to get it done.

Well...turns out I was undiagnosed diabetic, and while part of my exhaustion was my schedule, part of it was the effect of my diet on my diabetic body.

Since then, I've virtually stopped with the fast food (maybe once or twice a month), eliminated regular soda, and gone back to cooking the way I know how to cook...with almost everything from scratch.

I avoid high fructose corn syrup completely and cane sugar as much as possible. I use stevia for making my iced tea, although I haven't figured out how to bake with it yet.

I bake my own bread sometimes...and if we're having treats it's home-baked cookies or cake so that there are no artificial colors or preservatives, and I can go easy on the sugar. Our only non-homemade splurge is ice cream....which I have occasionally cuz I'm human

Lately I was having some negative reactions to my diabetic meds, and cut out both diet soda and coffee. This is very, very tough for me...cuz it means that my okay beverage list is now water, tea (hot or iced), or an occasional glass of red wine. Pretty limited.

I figure that the foods our bodies have been eating for hundreds of years are okay...so I eat butter and eggs (and have no problem with them), lean meats, all fruits and veggies...and basically just try to keep it simple.

It helps.

[nycfem]

Thanks for this post Jo. I've been pre-diabetic for a number of years and have steadily improved my knowledge of healthy eating and the actual doing of it over the past three (and have lost some weight along the way). I gave up coffee and all caffeine and have found that really helpful. I switched from white/bad carbs to pure whole grain carbs and love that! I now have a job at a school instead of working long hours at a hospital. This has helped tremendously because I can come home and cook healthy dinners for BB and me (who, thankfully, eats whatever I cook). I still drink diet soda sometimes, though my primary drink is water. How does it help to give up diet soda in regard to diabetes? Maybe you'll answer will motivate me

Originally Posted by JustJo

Lovely thread fetching

My diet used to be pretty atrocious...single, working mom, long commute, going to school at night and on the weekends, tired all the time and living on fast food (as in McDonald's 5 to 7 times a week), processed food, several Cokes a day, etc. The crazy part is that I know how to cook from scratch, have done preserving (jams, pickles, etc.) since I was 10...just didn't have the time and energy and focus to get it done.

Well...turns out I was undiagnosed diabetic, and while part of my exhaustion was my schedule, part of it was the effect of my diet on my diabetic body.

Since then, I've virtually stopped with the fast food (maybe once or twice a month), eliminated regular soda, and gone back to cooking the way I know how to cook...with almost everything from scratch.

I avoid high fructose corn syrup completely and cane sugar as much as possible. I use stevia for making my iced tea, although I haven't figured out how to bake with it yet.

I bake my own bread sometimes...and if we're having treats it's home-baked cookies or cake so that there are no artificial colors or preservatives, and I can go easy on the sugar. Our only non-homemade splurge is ice cream....which I have occasionally cuz I'm human

Lately I was having some negative reactions to my diabetic meds, and cut out both diet soda and coffee. This is very, very tough for me...cuz it means that my okay beverage list is now water, tea (hot or iced), or an occasional glass of red wine. Pretty limited.

I figure that the foods our bodies have been eating for hundreds of years are okay...so I eat butter and eggs (and have no problem with them), lean meats, all fruits and veggies...and basically just try to keep it simple.

It helps.

[JustJo]

Originally Posted by nycfembbw

Thanks for this post Jo. I've been pre-diabetic for a number of years and have steadily improved my knowledge of healthy eating and the actual doing of it over the past three (and have lost some weight along the way). I gave up coffee and all caffeine and have found that really helpful. I switched from white/bad carbs to pure whole grain carbs and love that! I now have a job at a school instead of working long hours at a hospital. This has helped tremendously because I can come home and cook healthy dinners for BB and me (who, thankfully, eats whatever I cook). I still drink diet soda sometimes, though my primary drink is water. How does it help to give up diet soda in regard to diabetes? Maybe you'll answer will motivate me

It's amazing how much a less stressful schedule helps, isn't it? My life improved dramatically when I started working from home...no commute, able to cook from scratch and slowly...much, much better.

The diet soda thing is tricky as there are many opinions on both sides. Most doctors tell diabetics to use artifical sweeteners because they don't raise blood sugar.

However, there's some evidence that they actually activate incretin in the brain, which makes us both crave sweets and absorb glucose (sugar) more effectively. So, you might not get any sugar from your diet soda, but it will make your body suck up more of the sugar in everything else you eat, and make you want to eat more sweet stuff overall.

Here's a link to an article that explains it better than I can.

I used diet soda as a crutch (cuz I still miss my coke...sob), but it actually makes it harder to stick to my diet. I do better when I eliminate it completely and drink iced tea instead.

Ironically, stevia (which is an herb) sweetens without calories, is totally natural, and appears to have a stabilizing effect on diabetic blood sugars. Give it a try!