sweet tooth

I just bought these today and they are Gluten Free!!!

I'd say unpopped corn would be a great snack food. You would certainly have to take your time eating it, and you wouldn't eat much. You would have to concentrate really hard so you didn't crack any teeth, so you wouldn't be thinking about cream cakes during that time.

(Just kidding)

However, unpopped corn is just maize, isn't it? Corn on the cob, polenta, nachos and other Mex type flatbreads. Maybe popping corn actually has different types of sugar from normal maize?

I think a good way to deal with sweet tooth is to ensure that the sweet foods you eat are low glycaemic index foods, ie the sugar is released slowly into the bloodstream. These are mostly unprocessed foods that are in big bits, eg burghul instead of refined flour, whole corn rather than corn syrup, whole apple rather than apple juice. This keeps your blood sugar more stable, as all diabetics know.

The other way to deal with sweet tooth is to treat yourself as a sugarholic and just don't eat anything sweet, right down to sweet root vegetables. The craving certainly diminishes for me when I eat less sweet foods. Or else make sure they are well-diluted with other unsweet foods. It just takes discipline. After a few days with no sweet foods the craving lessens and I can go back to a more normal diet.

The other thing about sweet tooth is that it often visits us pre-menstrually. Fight it for a few days and it will go away as soon as you menstruate. I think it is often a problem in perimenopause too, for similar hormonal reasons.

The other thing I find is that I get no more satisfaction from eating two whole pieces of cake than I get from just having a sliver. I try and really concentrate on enjoying that sliver before I swallow it, and pretend that it is the last sliver of the two pieces I didn't eat. That kind of allows my brain to wallow in sweet-sensation-land, which is such a nice place to be. Then I can get on with the day. Ah yes, the last bit. Never eat sweet things alone. That is a recipe for disaster. Always eat in the presence of somebody else who will keep you honest!

Cheers

Louise

Hi Kiki,

I know you're more genned up than most of us on nutrirional matters so I'm sure that you've got some great ideas of your own. I think that "sweet tooth" arises for various reasons: low blood sugar and/or candida; habit/emotional comfort reasons, associating sweet food with good feelings or particualr times/situations; genuinely just liking the taste.

In any of these cases, maybe it's worth considering Xylitol to bake cakes and biscuits without sugar. There's a new cake cookbook out in England, can't remember the name but I'll check it out if anyon'e interested, using vegetables instead of some or all of the wheat. You could bake some reasonably healthy treats replacing the sugar with Xylitol. I know about its good points - natural (unlike aspartame etc), low GI, actually prevents tooth decay, doesn't feed candida, bakes pretty much like sugar - but I don't know if there are significant drawbacks other than too much of it can cause diarrhoea in some people. There's another similar sugar substitute which doesn't cause diarrhoea, I think it's called erythritol.

I've never used either because I don't have a sweet tooth and my family don't seem to eat much cake anymore. Has anyone heard of reasons not to eat Xylitol? Judith

I completely forgot about this! Refined sugar free, gluten free, wheat free, soy free, casein free, egg-free, vegan and kosher!!! It is a bakery in New York city and they have a great cookbook out. BabyCakes by Erin McKenna Here is their website....www.babycakes.com They use Agave Nectar instead of sugar and other things like that.

Xylitol seems fine Judith, also good is Stevia, a herbal sweeter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia

My personal preference is: pure creamed clover honey.

I know ...

Best sweet snack for me is fresh local fruit such as black berries, blue berries, or strawberries.

Yummi!

Oceanblue

do you want the craving to go away or do you just want to satisfy it when it pops up with suitable alternatives to sugar?
We are sugar free, grain free, dairy free right now due to the parasite (little bugs love sugar- we are starving them out!) and one treat we enjoy is "sweet potato pie"
take 1 fig and blend it with the nut of your choice (almond, walnut, whatever)- add a few tablespoons of coconut oil- press into a pie pan and bake @ 350 for 10 min- this is your crust.
then cut up 4 apples ( I like tart) and put them in a pan with half a cup of water and cinnamon ( a couple of heaping table spoons) -
bake 2 large sweet potatoes-
ok
now blend the potatoes with the liquid off the apples
pour into crust
top with apples

enjoy
this is really sweet tasting!

otherwise there is this delicious coconut icecream that is only coconut and agave. SO SO good-
how do you feel about coco powder? There is a great brownie recipe that is just black beans, coconut oil, coco, agave nectar and flax meal-

If you really want it to go away I would suggest some kind of CBT :) feeding it only makes it worse :)

Hi Kiki

It's Red Velevet and Chocolate Heartache by Harry Eastwood (who is a woman). The title is the name of two of the cakes. There was an article about it in the Guardian a few weeks ago. Still only in hardback I think but if you have time you could do what I sometimes do and go to a large bookshop and copy a recipe from an expensive book!

Incidentally, re your oatcakes, Nigel Slater has a nice recipe made with butter, no oil. Would that be ok for the omega 3 thing (so much to think about!)

Re Stevia, I've come across some adverse reports on it, and also agave syrup, sorry to say, because of its high fructose content. One of the problems with the internet is that there is so much conflicting information, how do you know what to believe? There's quite a bit of stuff about agave being a bit of a con health food. I haven't found anything negative about Xylitol, other than the diarrhoea thing. Alemama's pie sounds just the thing though, no sugar substitutes at all.

With this health thing it all depends on how far you want to go really. There's also the low GI/Dr Mercola camp who advocate restricting all fruit and high GI veg such as sweet potatoes. That's where I draw my personal line, I love fruit, but I do restrain myself from eating as much of it as I used to because I think I have a sugar regulation problem and recurrent candida.

It's really useful to get other people's tips and experiences on all of this. Judith

http://www.katheats.com/?page_id=4681
Baked Oatmeal Snack Bars
Ingredients
1.5 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup dried fruit (I used 1/4 cup cranberry trail mix, 1/4 cup raisins, 1/4 cup chopped dried "just banana" from TJ’s)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp kosher salt
1.25 cups skim milk
1 egg or egg substitute
1 tsp vanilla
Method:
Preheat oven to 350*
Mix dry ingredients.
Mix wet ingredients.
Pour wet into dry. Stir to combine.
Pour into a 9×9 baking dish either coated in cooking spray or lined with parchment.
Bake for 40 minutes.
Cut into 9 squares.
Makes 9 servings . Each bar is appx. 165 calories, 3 grams fiber and 5 grams protein.

for oatmeal bars, thanks Alemama. Kiki, re Nigel Slater oatcakes, there was no flour, only oats, so the online recipe can't be his. I'll check it out as soon as I can and report back. Judith

Hi Kiki

I made some oatcakes yesterday without a recipe, just made it up. Whizzed some oatflakes in the food processor to make oatflour, didn't weigh them; chopped in a knob of butter (not even an ounce, probably more like half an ounce); added water to make a dough; forgot to add salt or bicarb of soda as was in a rush (taking them to my book group meeting, last minute decision); rolled it out, cut out with a glass, made 10 circles; baked at 180 for about 20 mins - utterly delicious. I don't think you need to weigh or have a recipe, you can't go wrong. And it was very quick - inside the oven in about 5 mins. Hope that inspires you, Judith

Hard to describe, not too wet and sticky, not so dry it cracked. I used plenty of oat flour on the rolling pin and table to stop it sticking - obviously it's not stretchy like wheat dough because it doesn't have the gluten content. I think that it's probably far less temeperamental than wheat pastry, you could just add more oatflour or water as needed but I suggest erring on the side of too sticky because you can just easily roll it in more oatflour.

And guess what, tonight I made some rice biscuit/crackers, same idea exactly except that I used ghee (solidified, from fridge)and packet brown rice flour (from health food shop). Also, really good, quite hard and crispy (DS said they would be great with a large chunk of cheddar cheese!).
Let us know if you try them. Judith

Get the book "Get the Sugar Out" and you won't regret it.

After using the ideas and recipes in this book, I was able to stand in front of the fancy chocolate bar isle and not want one of them! I was shocked!!

You can add plenty of 'sweetness' in your diet by using sweet food or food that simulate sweetness in the body. Onions, carrots, sweet potatoes, etc... just be sure you're not still locking yourself into too much sweetness.

Consult a Holistic Health Counselor in your area that can help you deal with cravings and understand how to bring your food life back into balance.

If I could do it, anyone can do it!

Good luck with the book and the sugar adventure! And don't forget to treat yourself!

Emily

Kiki, when I was tryng to get rid of the last really persistent thrush attack, which was a few years ago now, I decided to starve out the yeast by not feeding it. I cut out all refined carbs, all sweet stuff, which meant most fruit, and sweet veges like sweet potato, pumpkin and carrots. The aim was really to do a low glycaemic index diet, which would keep my blood sugar more level.

I also cut out most foods which could conceivably have mould on them, eg nuts, and anything fermented, which might have extra yeast in it. I also cut out mushrooms because they are fungi. t I didn't do it for more than a week. My body would have revolted, but I did notice that the less sweet stuff I had, the less sweetness I craved. It was like I reset the clock. I gradually introduced more sweetness into my diet again, but have kept away mostly from the refined carbs and straight sugars. I was certainly less of a sugar craver after that.

L

Kiki, I have learned (since dealing with parasite) that yeast LOVES sugar (so does cancer, parasites, and other unhelpful bacteria and virus). Have you ever considered systemic yeast as a cause of your sweet tooth?