Does sugar cause wrinkles? (and other superstitions)

I like to think I base all my nutritional beliefs on science, but I don't. It's hard to admit, but that's the truth. The most powerful unfounded belief I have is that sugar causes wrinkles. At the time I heard it that idea floated, I thought there was research behind it. I have since looked and can't find anything conclusive.

Yet the paranoia remains...

There's plenty of reason to be paranoid about sugar in our modern diet. Diabetes is an epidemic. Damage done to a diabetic's body by sugar can be very disfiguring.   Some diabetics loose toes, feet, or eyesight in their fight with the disease. Sugar can do horrible things sometimes.

Sugar can also make us overweight. This can lead to heart disease, joint stress, and just plain tiredness. It can also lead to wardrobe challenges if we don't know how to wear the extra weight well.  But wrinkles? Will sugar really give me wrinkles?

Why choose between feathers and bow?
Get them both!

My daughters tell me that the sun is the #1 cause of wrinkles and try to get me to wear sunscreen more often. I try wear it more, but sunscreen breaks me out. I think I'll just buy a hat.

I found a number of expensive spa sites who say that "adrenal fatigue" is the #1 cause of wrinkles.   Adrenal fatigue is supposedly caused by a hectic lifestyle, stress, and hormonal imbalances.  I can't find collaboration for the adrenal fatigue claim from any site without something to sell, so...  moving on.

 I have read studies that say smoking give you wrinkles. I have a friend who smokes but doesn't eat sugar (real or fake.) She has a nasty cough, but no wrinkles, and she's over 40.

Hmmm... I think I'll hang on to this superstition for a little longer.  And wear a hat!

No White Food vs. No White Carbs

So what's with the name of my blog - nowhitecarbs.blogspot.com? What do I mean by " no white carbs"? You've probably heard the trendy diet term, "No White Food." As a phrase, it's great. Very catchy! I like it. As a practice, it's a little extreme for me.

There's a lot of white food I like and have no intension of giving up. I love milk. That's a big one. I also like feta cheese, cauliflower, and water chestnuts. Color alone is not the key. What IS key is what some white foods do to your body.

Any white food that your body sees like white sugar is a white food to be avoided. Those foods are all simple carb foods. White bread, white rice, white potatoes - these are white carb foods that your body processes just like sugar.

They may not taste like sugar at all. They might taste quite salty. The salt doesn't change how your body sees the simple carbs. The dynamics of insulin and blood sugar work the same with the simple carb in white rice as it does with the simple carb in cane sugar or corn syrup.

Change your mindsetL  White carb food is dessert.  Every time!

"No white carbs" doesn't mean you never eat any dessert.   But it DOES mean that white carbs have NO useful place on your lunch plate.

You know that if you eat dessert for breakfast every day, and have dessert as a side for lunch, and then eat it twice at dinner...  you won't be healthy.  It would be no surprise to you when you get sick and feel like crap. We all know this.

What we don't know is how to recognize all desserts when we see them. No white carbs for dinner! Save them for dessert.

There's food, and there's dessert

You are what you eat.  This is why my husband doesn't eat asparagus.  There's nothing about steamed asparagus he wants to emulate.

Another favorite joke of his is to point to a veggie and say, "This is not food.  This is what food eats."  Our friends laugh and affectionately refer to him as the Hardcore Carnivore.  The really funny thing is that he probably eats more veggies in one day than they eat in a week.

Very pleased (and surprised!) that I had both fresh veggies and
homemade bread on hand for my first blog photo!

What is it about us?  We all know that stuffing our face with broccoli is far better than stuffing our face with french fries.  But, knowing that doesn't change our behavior one bit.  Instead, we spend extreme amounts of time and money on all kinds of weird diets, strange food, and fad exercises just so that we can avoid switching out french fries with broccoli.

Maybe it's because we see them both as taking the same spot on the plate - a side dish, next to the meat.  In reality, they have nothing to do with each other.  Broccoli is food, and can go anywhere on the plate, any time of day.  French fries are salty sugar sticks.  They are only dessert.  They don't belong on the dinner plate at all.

Yup.  That sums up my culinary world view.  There's food, and there's dessert. 

Dessert is not food - it's entertainment.