Not So Sweet
Just last month I had an illuminating exchange with Mr. Dave over at his Ridiculous Food Society. Mostly I was amazed to learn he had abs. Having read his blog, I feel like I’ve seen him eat. And for the most part, I think it’s reasonable to assume that those who delight in hot dogs with meat sauce and who have contributed to the This is Why You’re Fat cookbook might command a heavier build.
But it turns out he exercises more than your average bear, and while he may delight in these sometimes foods, they are indeed just that. Occasional treats.
This week the spotlight has been turned onto my eating habits by a reader. Maybe you saw the comment yesterday, but maybe you didn’t. -R wrote in on his perceptions of my diet, which may be fair, and presumably what he thought was a helpful or interesting idea (that is a bit harder to tell). Anyway, this is what he said:
You do, however, seem to consume a lot of sugar. Have you ever attempted to completely eradicate sugar from your diet for any period of time?
The nice thing about having a blog, is that we can nip this in the bud.
What?!?! At first I was flummoxed. Sugar? Moi? And I scrolled through my average day. Mrs. Fussy wakes me up with a cup of black coffee. If I’m lucky I’ll get to scarf down a slice of 100% whole grain toast with some butter or soy-free Earth Balance spread and maybe a little kosher salt.
On good mornings I’ll get out of the house and do some writing and enjoy some more black coffee. Occasionally, I’ll have a midmorning snack of an egg and cheese sandwich or a bagel. If I don’t get out of the house, and I’m feeling puckish before noon, I might have some plain yogurt either Stonyfield or Cowbella mixed with organic granola (which admittedly is sweetened).
Lunch is something savory, without any soda or juice to wash it down. That’s not to say it’s particularly virtuous. I eat pizza slices a lot and savory buns from the Hong Kong Bakery are a regular treat. And unless I’m out for a nice midday meal (like that tasting at Jack’s Oyster House) the thought of a dessert wouldn’t cross my mind. I might finish my meal with piece of fruit, but I’m not sure this is the kind of sugar that –R was concerned about.
Afternoon snack might be a handful of nuts or some chips if I’m feeling decadent. And then dinner, which tends to center around whole grains and vegetables. Dessert could take the form of a small bowl of ice cream. But often I’ll skip dessert in lieu of an after dinner cocktail.
Soda, sugar cereals, candy, pastry, baked goods, and even chocolate don’t play a role in my everyday life. Still, I get sugar from bread, dairy, and fruit. I might take a splash of 100% pomegranate juice in my seltzer.
For the most part, I eat a pretty healthful diet. This is how I’m able to maintain a weight just north of 180 pounds, despite occasionally eating like an assh*le, and really not exercising any more than lifting up my children at least one time per day.
Sure, I ate a bunch of ice cream this summer, and once in a while I’ll gorge on donuts. But the truth is that I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. Even at a bakery, I’ll lean more towards the croissants, brioche and savory scones. When it comes to ice cream, at home I’m content to eat it a spoonful at a time, and out of the house I always get a small (or kid-sized) serving.
Thanks to the recent holiday I’ve been eating more than my fair share of candy. But that generally isn’t in our house either. I do make the exception for a bag of dark chocolate M&M’s or Haribo Gummy Bears just so I can bribe the kids to do my bidding. It’s amazing what terribly deprived kids will do for a morsel of a sweet sweet treat.
So thank you for your concern, but I’m pretty sure I consume less sugar than the typical American by a significant factor.
However, even if I did have a sugar problem, it’s unlikely you would find me attempting to completely eliminate it from my diet. After all, I do believe in moderation, even if the moderation I practice may be unconventional.
Reducing the problem ingredient is much more my style. If I do ever need to lower my cholesterol again, I’ll do what I did last time. Cut way back on animal fats, and really make sure the little bits I continued to enjoy were spectacular.
Life is hard enough. Sugar and fat can bring some pleasure into living. I think pleasure should be celebrated and not demonized. Too much pleasure maybe. But trying to eliminate either of these things from your life (in the absence of a dire medical necessity) is just sick.
FUSSYlittleBLOG 
I actually went on the Atkins diet back in 2004. I lost over 100 lbs, but between 2007 and 2010, I gained it all back with interest because I lost focus on fitness and exercise. Since the beginning of this year, even though most of my written food excursions have involved carbohydrate and sugar dense eating, I’ve been trying to follow a high protein plan to match my gym training, and I was successful (at least until September, when I got the pizza bug). In 2011, rather than say I’m doing just a high protein diet, I allow myself to enjoy some of the things I like. Maybe I’ll kick the training up a little if it’s excessive, or maybe I’ll adjust the diet on other days, etc, but mentally, I’m finding it much easier to stick to the plan for the majority of the time if I do not outright deprive myself.
That said, I do have to get focused a bit more to jump start the results again.
I read somewhere that if your goal is to get healthy, you need to get active first and the diet is secondary (though also important). If your goal is to just lose weight, you need to go on a strict diet and exercise will only get you so far.
The former is, obviously, the better choice for a laundry list of reasons. But, people are impatient.
@Daniel, great post, and I am in 100% agreement.
Haha, everyone has abs Mr. Fussy, it is just a matter of how much, ahem, ahem, insulation is on top of them. I did not mean to imply that I am an Adonis as I have a respectable Upstate New York, wintertime abdominal bagel. You wouldn’t want me to freeze, would you?
First, thank you for directly answering my question, and taking up an entire blog entry dedicated to outlining your dietary habits. What we have here is a fine example of the disconnect between blogging and the real world. If I go back through a month of your blog posts, there’s discussion of Halloween candy, gooey breakfast treats, rum-based cocktails, cider booze and donuts, TCBY yogurt, boxes o’ wine, etc. And yes, I realize writing about these topics makes for more captivating reading, since honestly, who really wants to hear about whole-grain toast, or yogurt (although yogurt is certainly a topic worthy of protracted discussion – it’s such an interesting and diverse substance).
That said, I have no personal interest in your overall health or dietary predilection; it was merely an observation and a question based upon what you write and I read. Perhaps I should have dug further into the archives for further clarity. I think a possible trigger in my query relates to my own personal experiments with attempting to eliminate processed sugar from my diet several months ago. After a while, I understood I couldn’t be completely successful at this endeavor, since processed sugar is nearly ubiquitous. It has, however, made me look at sugar as more of a drug, to be carefully regulated, and consumed as carefully as possible. Despite my seeming asceticism, I agree: life is full of angst, and food and drink provide much needed solace; the three major food groups (fat, salt and sugar) all have their own delightful place in my diet. As with everything in life, moderation is indeed the key.
@-R – I found it was easier to cut out, specifically, high fructose corn syrup, and then just moderate my eating of processed sugar, opting for something sweetened with pure cane sugar when possible, and then either skipping sugar entirely or using another sweetener (such as honey, for example) when eating/drinking something unsweetened. This has helped tremendously, and I find I crave sweets even less than I did before (which, really, wasn’t a lot – I’ve never been one to have a sweet tooth), and that when I do want something sweetened, I want it mildly sweetened at most, with something natural like fruit or honey.
Food is fuel but food is also fun. Hopefully we can all keep both things in mind :) Hazzah for moderation.
I had a lovely duck confit salad at Provence last night and what made me so happy about it (besides the fact it was delicious) was that by treating the fatty, yummy meat as a garnish rather than as a main dish I got to enjoy it completely guilt free.