Getting Sauced

Ketchup is a source of high sugar that dieters and diabetics alike can easily overlook. Its healthier relatives of tomato sauces, whether for pizza or pasta, can also be another high sugar content source. Sauces, however, have more variance in sugar content from vendor to vendor.
I have little direct experience with jarred or canned sauce for home consumption. In addition to being leery of sugar content, many tomato sauces contain pieces of things I don’t like and won’t east, including onion in any form or pieces of peppers or tomatoes. I find it easier to make my own sauce from a tomato paste base and mixed with meats, vegetables and herbs. I do not add any sugar or salt to the pot, though I will salt it on the plate.
Tomatoes are acidic, so sugar is usually added to counter-effect the natural acids. Most grocery-bought sauces will contain some sugar. The FDA requires ingredients to be listed from most abundant to least, so it is best to choose brands by the most ingredients before sugar. Monitoring blood sugars after the meal is also advisable. Sauces sold in cans with tomato pastes, purees and pieces often are very straightforward and plain. These products, with makers such as Hunts, Contadina and store generics will usually have less or no sugar and can be seasoned to taste. Jarred sauces such as Prego, Ragu and Aunt Millie’s, sold as the "flavor" brands, will have more sugar.
Restaurants are harder to plan. Some chains may use basic foodservice packaged varieties of common brands, but these may also be labeled for specific chains so even the employees may not know. Many of the pizza chains have their own secret house recipes. These are also generally make offsite and shipped in gallon cans or five gallon bags. I worked for the New England chain Papa Gino’s and never felt as though my sugar was higher. I did notice when working in a mall that Pizzeria Regina lunches always shot my sugar higher than it should have been after a reasonable meal. As you cannot be sure of the accuracy of what most employees will tell you, it is best to avoid other sweets when eating Italian out and paying attention to your sugar levels afterwards. Avoid the places that raise your sugar and frequent those that do not.
You may find your prefer the higher sugar recipes . That’s okay, in my opinion. A successful diet is one you can maintain permanently, and avoiding all sugars all the time is not possible for most people. The important thing is to know what you are consuming and how it affects your body and knowing when you need to compensate. A carb-rich plate of pasta is an important thing to track as a sugary sauce will spike your sugar sooner and the pasta carbs will keep the levels elevated.

Covering Condom’s...

Condiments, that is.
Like the low fat varieties of salad dressing or even the vinegarettes that can have major unrealized sugar content, condiments are typically the biggest source of unrealized sugar intake.
Ketchup/catsup is really one of the worst things a diabetic can casually eat. The sugar content exceeds orange juice, and, depending on the manufacturer, can contain multiple sources of sweetener such as both raw sugar and corn syrup. Manufacturers like mixing these two types of sweeteners in all sorts of products to make the taste sweeter without having to list a single sugar ingredient higher on the ingredient list. The United States Food and Drug Administration requires ingredient lists to be ordered from highest content to lowest, so dividing sweetener between multiple sources can be a deceptive way of "reducing" sugar content.
Barbeque sauces should also be reviewed before consumption. Typically, the spicier the condiment, the less sugar it will have, but particularly with barbeque sauces, the ingredient lists must be checked for sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, honey, molasses and maple.
Mustards also follow this trend. A "mild" mustard will almost always have more sugar than a naturally hot mustard.
Restaurant "special" sauces should always be suspect, not just for sugar, but also for salt.
Steak sauces and marinades should also be checked before consumption.
I’m not advocating bland diets of plain food. By my experience, here in America, if something "needs flavor," chefs add sugar or salt or onions and think things much improved. I just hope to help diabetics and dieters be more informed in their choices and to think twice about their decisions. I don’t find catsup to be an enjoyable enough addition to anything to use it. I use barbeque as a more flavorful replacement, but have noticed that some push my sugars up higher than other.
All condiments from relish to basic salt should be checked for sugar. We are so familiar with these products that we may take them for granted and discount the things hidden within.

Mono Sodium Glutamate

The third "unknown" pratfall of salad dressings is mostly but not exclusively a danger of Ranch dressing, including the "original" by Hidden Valley. Almost all varieties of Ranch dressing include MSG.
MSG stands for Mono Sodium Glutamate. The average person can think this is a danger exclusive to Chinese food; that is far from the truth. Breaking down the name Mono Sodium Glutamate can leave us with a rough translation as "One Salt Sugar compound." "Glutamate" shares roots with glucose. This is a chemical compound of intense salt and sugar. I’ve seen MSG sold as a spice. It’s a white powder that makes food more "American" by adding both salt and sugar in forms that do not have to be specifically listed in ingredients. Despite the fact that MSG induces headaches in many people, the FDA does not require the ingredient to be bold in the contents list as true allergen foods must be.
I actually have a pretty good diet, blood sugar levels aside. I am one of those who discovered my problem with MSG by the resulting headache.
Any Asian restaurant that states "no added MSG" is telling you that their food has MSG from the vendor. American Chinese food is actually much sweeter than true native cuisine. Many restaurants no longer use MSG, but it is safer to always ask. I found that most hold outs of MSG use are kiosks of Asian food in malls rather than true sit down restaurants.
Unfortunately, MSG is much more common than that. Here’s a partial lost of things I discovered through the illness derived from having eaten the wrong thing.
The Ranch dressing sold in the produce section of better super markets is the only Ranch I have found without MSG.
Regular Kraft dinner does not contain MSG. Kids’ varieties, even by Kraft, do have the compound. Most generic and lesser brands also contain MSG.
Most chip dips contain MSG.
Seemingly all Hillshire Farms sausage products contain MSG.
Cheese doodles, whether puffy or friend, contain MSG.
Spreadable cheeses are more likely than not to have MSG.
While more vendors and manufacturers are making the switch away from SG, it is better to assume that most soups and broth, particularly chicken varieties, contain MSG. It seems most prevalent with chicken varieties, and companies such as Progresso are labeling the changed formulas with prominent "no MSG" labels. Broth and bullion needs to be specifically checked before use.
Most dry soups including Cup o’Noodles and Ramen are huge MSG sources.
Convenient pasta pouches such as "Pasta Sides" and Hamburger Helper contain MSG.
Crackers, popcorn and snack chips in cheese flavors are likely to contain MG. Labels need to be read carefully. Check non-cheese varieties on any brand or line that you discover MSG in the cheese flavors.
MSG headaches are crippling to those prone to them. If you discover you’ve eaten something with MSG, I advise preventative aspirin as soon as possible and to intake as much water as possible to prevent the salt from dehydrating you.

Dressed for Unsuccess

Low fat diets can be dangerous to diabetics due to the addition of sugar to many low fat products. This does extend beyond foods labeled as low fat varieties. Last time out highlighted low fat dressings. The modern popularity of vinegarette dressings is another trail of the low fat craze, but many of these varieties are advertised as naturally low in fat but not as a "low fat" alternative.
The vinegarette dressings are lower in fat because they do not mis vinegars with oils as much as traditional Italian dressings do. Very often, they are high sugar options.
Raw sugar is often added to balance the bite of vinegar. Particularly in fruit flavors of vinegarettes, the sugar content can be particularly high. Diabetics and "healthy" dieters alike need to read salad dressing labels carefully. That salad that was chosen as a healthy alternative to an earnest diet can be an unrealized source of high sugar intake.
Sugar in salad dressings may be unavoidable, but careful label review can minimize the unwitting intake of excess sugars. The safest bet is plain old oil and vinegar, but that can get boring fast. The key to success is moderation. As diabetics are "supposed" to make each meal half fruit and vegetable, salads are an important staple to success, but extra attention is required to what is put on the salad.
If I was whole and capable, I would provide research and label comparisons. My eyesight has nowhere near enough capabilities for me to do that any more, so that extra effort has be put in by those truly interested in what they are consuming.

Low Fat, High Sugar

In almost all cases, it is advisable for "healthy folk" to follow diabetic diets. Diabetic diets emphasize a balanced healthy diet. The reverse is not true. Diets for the general population typically are geared for weight loss, the quicker the better. Instead of emphasizing balanced, sustainable diets, they encourage the avoidance of certain foods or food classification, and this is seldom any healthier than bulemia.
One food diabetics need to avoid at all times is low fat or non fat versions of foods. In removing fat content, the manufacturers need to make the products taste good. The easiest and most frequent way they do this is by replacing the reduced fat with sugar.
One statistic I like to cite long after I have forgotten the source is that obese women consumer the most raw dietary sugar via low fat salad dressings. Obviously, diabetics and dieters alike should read labels carefully. What is being saved in low fat varieties may be providing excesses in other areas. Diabetics need to eat to avoid sharp and sudden rises and falls in their sugar levels, so obviously low fat but high sugar options are typically counterproductive to those goals.
Something seems to counteract most healthy choices as widening American population pursues lower fat diets in haphazardly convenient ways. E get information from people trying to sell us something. We embrace ground turkey as a low fat alternative to ground beef without realizing that turkey contains a much higher cholesterol content. They get you coming or going and prey on our choices for convenience.
The best diets are the ones you can consume for the rest of your life, not some fad that will be broken in a matter of weeks.

Excuses...

The blog has been neglected lately for a few reasons that accumulate enough to come across as excuses.
First, and always best, is that my eyesight continues to deteriorate. Everything’s harder for me, including the computer, and I can spend less time on here before my eyes just burn out.
That burning out limitations works a few other ways too. I am, eleven months after the reattachment surgery, still on four different eye drops, and some recent events temporarily necessitated a fifth. The drops greatly reduce my vision for a few hours afterwards.
Despite the fact that I am really and truly disabled, I have not yet divested myself of all old responsibilities and some of those became quite taxing over the last couple weeks. Things seem to be under control again. I impressed even myself with some of the things I can do blind and am grateful for the lesson that I could still do some things. But the other side of that coin is that I know I don’t want to be doing most of those things. The effort just takes too much out of me.
The last excuse is my favorite. I submitted a shelved novel to a publisher and got a nibble. There’s promise and potential but far from any type of guarantee, but such a chance needed to be pursued. Again, my functional computer time is physically limited and the holdover responsibilities interfered even with the full writing goal, but I got "a more traditional synopsis" out tonight, so can eke out some time to resume posts.
I will be turning back to general diabetic issues of diet.

Diet Differences

Popular or common use of the term "diet" does not fit exactly to "diabetic diet." The general term among non-diabetic populace carries an indication that the diet can be ended or suspended at any time. Diabetics just can’t do that. Every sugar spike, no matter how temporary, adds to the debilitating effects than can plague diabetics.
Diabetic diet must become a lifestyle change of healthy eating and exercise. The diabetic cannot take a week off from the diet. Upon diagnosis, the diabetic must cat back and cut out of their diets and routines. Forever.
That Boston Creme donut enjoyed once a week? Gone.
Diet soda is no longer an option, but the necessity of soda.
McDonald’s is a place that should never be entered again.
"Healthy" people wanting a diet routine could do well to look at diabetic allowances and routines. Diabetics cannot base their diets of fat cutting, calorie counting weight loss "tricks." Too many of those options just are not healthy.

Looking Ahead

The blog has slowed down a bit, just like most aspects of my life have, for the same reason: I’m not seeing as well, with a marked decrease in vision even from one month ago. My rested, strongest vision doesn’t last under much exertion, and real functional time I have is even more limited. More disabled, you could say. Even as I have completed and/or pared down my responsibilities, more things have arisen from those that remain to have kept me busier with less ability.
With the accounts of low and high blood sugar done, I am proceeding with the next phase of direction for the blog, matters of diet. The forthcoming posts will focus on both diabetic and general population diet, how those things can be incompatible, and things diabetics specifically need to keep ion mind, most of which can be useful for non-diabetics to know.
I do thank those who are known to me and strangers who have been keeping up with the blog. I’m limping along through life right now. When I have adjusted to my once again newly diminished status quo, I’m hoping to deal with issues of the blondness more directly, and hopefully with touched of humor that many readers look forward to.
In the meantime, I do hope the forthcoming dietary issues offer information of value to the general readership and those who stumble upon the blog through other sites and sources.

Big D's

Scientists actually know precious little about how the brain works. Intricacies of memory and thought often baffle the researchers. I understand the basics enough. As a science fiction writer I know generalities and specific details about many things, enough to give advance thought and theory but not an expert unless I specifically research a topic and I can often forget the specifics. My mind is limited and usually stretched too thin across too many things.
I understand the chemical imbalances of depression and when the depression is emotional. For months now, as the eyesight has been steadily deteriorating, the depression has gotten worse, with definite biochemical interaction to the despair of my situation.
My mind works by association, I pay attention to assorted random things and have made definite connection between lifelong cycles and my changing situation.
Constant lower sugar levels bring on a biochemical depression. This is now constant low sugar; the A1C numbers will still be higher than any level that any doctor will find acceptable.
I heard a news bit more than a decade ago and putting it into practice seems to have lent weight to the theory that fish and seafood acts as a natural antidepressant. It doesn’t cure me, but I do just feel better the day after eating scallops or whitefish or a tuna sandwich.
All of these fish sources male ,e dream. I am one of those who normally does not remember dreaming, but have never denied that I do. I have vivid dreams the nights of fishy meals. It took a year or so of my time traveling to England on business to realize that I was dreaming due to regular fish intake, not because of a tendency to eat hot custard deserts while there. My roommate always has vivid dreams when he has done a routine trip to Maine. He thought something about being in Maine made him dream, even when he returned that same night. I realized that his typical Maine lunch of seafood (usually tuna) was the true cause. He has no depression or dream issues otherwise.
I have come to believe that people who do not remember dreaming are more prone to depression. More recently, I’ve come to theorize that Vitamin D plays a major role in the chemical equation. The core of the belief if seasonal depression. Less sunlight, less Vitamin D, more depression.
In the last year and a half, as my mobility has decreased, my Vitamin D level has fallen from normal healthy levels above 25 to "insufficient" at 20 and finally to "deficient" at 13. I can’t see where I’m walking and can’t walk where I’m seeing. I don’t leave the house as often. It’s too much effort for too little result. There can be stretches of days where I just don’t leave the house and get no direct sunlight.
Vitamin D can’t be effectively gotten through diet. Sunlight or supplement is essential. Milk actually does not have enough. Online research indicated that the only equal is two servings of fatty fish per day. Besides lacing variety, such a diet can raise big stinks. Lack of vitamin D can produce bone problems, but also result in a variety of other debilitations, including muscle atrophy. I’m sure it has also contributed to the severity of the depression.
I’m taking the supplements as well as an antidepressant.
I’m still trying to pull myself back up.