@wild edges I haven't drunk tea since I was thirteen. I was really sick and my mum made me a lovely comforting cup of hot tea because that's what we always drank. Haven't been able to face it since!
(Did the same with kippers but that's another thread).
I would have sugar, in moderation, over any artificial sweetener.
Most foods are processed @raisingirl. Unless a food is exactly as nature left it, it’s processed. Artificial sweeteners are ultra-processed, which is a very different thing. Sugar isn’t. Not that that makes it a good thing, but in small doses, depending on your personal susceptibility to sugar, it won’t do much harm.
Carmarthenshire (mild, wet, windy). Loam over shale, very slightly sloping, so free draining. Mildly acidic or neutral.
Sugar is highly processed!! Even raw cane sugar has been refined tho to a far lesser extent than white sugar. It's one of the worst foods you can eat and all too easy to consume in excess as it's hidden in so many processed foods.
I use Canderel on the rare occasions I have a coffee when we're out, whether it's black or cappuccino. Otherwise I drink tisanes. My favourite is Réglisse Menthe which is liquorice and mint. Odd, but it works.
I'm lucky enough not to have a milk intolerance or allergy but I don't like the taste so usually consume it as cheese or, in winter, in hot chocolate. OH likes it tho and we buy it from a local farmers' co-operative whose cows are reared on open pastures and in good conditions.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I would also have a small amount of sugar rather than artificial sweeteners (and a small amount of butter over manufactured margarine/spread). I'm lucky though, I've always drunk my tea black with no sugar and I can't stand coffee in any form. To hell with social conformity, if someone can't make me a cuppa I'd rather go without.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Sugar is certainly processed. But it isn’t ultra-processed. Ultra processed foods have long lists of weird-sounding ingredients on the packet. Like xanthum gum, emulsifiers etc etc. Sugar is definitely not a good for you, but that doesn’t mean that it’s highly, or ultra processed. It is just bad for you by its very nature, which is that it has a crazy amount of calories by volume, with no compensating nutrition at all. And the human body is ill-equipped to cope with it.
Carmarthenshire (mild, wet, windy). Loam over shale, very slightly sloping, so free draining. Mildly acidic or neutral.
Never too old to switch from sweetened drinks, and the benefits are huge. Sugar is definitely not a safer option, jury still out on artificial sweeteners but sugar has definitely been proven to exacerbate lots of poor health conditions. An added danger is to the teeth, for those of us who have hung onto them! As we get older, we are more likely to be taking medication with dry mouth as a side effect. It’s not the amount of sugar that causes dental decay, it’s the frequency ( your mouth takes about an hour for saliva to dilute the acids caused by bacteria digesting the sugar you’ve just eaten) If you are drinking frequent cups of sugared tea or coffee, your teeth will be in danger for an hour after each cup. An added problem for people my age ( 27!) is that our gums may have been gradually receding over the years, exposing the softer cementum at the top of the root, not as resistant to decay as the harder enamel on the crown. I’ve seen at first hand, healthy looking teeth snap off at gum level - sometimes caused by sucking sherbet lemons to compensate for a dry mouth, double trouble. Same techniques work for cutting out sugar in drinks as giving up milk in tea or coffee, it can be done.
This explains the difference between ‘processed’ and ‘ultra processed’ foods … and you will see that sugar is in the ‘processed culinary ingredients’ category.
@wild edges I haven't drunk tea since I was thirteen. I was really sick and my mum made me a lovely comforting cup of hot tea because that's what we always drank. Haven't been able to face it since!
(Did the same with kippers but that's another thread).
A similar thing happened to me! Off topic but I had glandular fever back as a teenager, I had sweet potato fries and I haven’t been able to look at them the same since!
Thanks for all your comments. OH has a very sweet tooth... over the years he's cut down the amount of sweetening he has in drinks to 2 teaspoonfuls (or equivalent sweeteners) per mug. I don't make cakes or puddings unless we have visitors so he doesn't get a lot of other sweet things - unless he's on his own, when packets of sweets appear.
I'm sure you can learn to cut down sugar in drinks, and it's easier to do with real sugar than with tablet sweeteners. Maybe if he starts with just a bit less than 2 spoonfuls, and reduces that again when he's got used to it, that might work. He needs to want to do it though, and I don't think he does yet.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
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(Did the same with kippers but that's another thread).
Most foods are processed @raisingirl. Unless a food is exactly as nature left it, it’s processed. Artificial sweeteners are ultra-processed, which is a very different thing. Sugar isn’t. Not that that makes it a good thing, but in small doses, depending on your personal susceptibility to sugar, it won’t do much harm.
I use Canderel on the rare occasions I have a coffee when we're out, whether it's black or cappuccino. Otherwise I drink tisanes. My favourite is Réglisse Menthe which is liquorice and mint. Odd, but it works.
I'm lucky enough not to have a milk intolerance or allergy but I don't like the taste so usually consume it as cheese or, in winter, in hot chocolate. OH likes it tho and we buy it from a local farmers' co-operative whose cows are reared on open pastures and in good conditions.
An added danger is to the teeth, for those of us who have hung onto them! As we get older, we are more likely to be taking medication with dry mouth as a side effect. It’s not the amount of sugar that causes dental decay, it’s the frequency ( your mouth takes about an hour for saliva to dilute the acids caused by bacteria digesting the sugar you’ve just eaten) If you are drinking frequent cups of sugared tea or coffee, your teeth will be in danger for an hour after each cup.
An added problem for people my age ( 27!) is that our gums may have been gradually receding over the years, exposing the softer cementum at the top of the root, not as resistant to decay as the harder enamel on the crown. I’ve seen at first hand, healthy looking teeth snap off at gum level - sometimes caused by sucking sherbet lemons to compensate for a dry mouth, double trouble.
Same techniques work for cutting out sugar in drinks as giving up milk in tea or coffee, it can be done.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I'm sure you can learn to cut down sugar in drinks, and it's easier to do with real sugar than with tablet sweeteners. Maybe if he starts with just a bit less than 2 spoonfuls, and reduces that again when he's got used to it, that might work. He needs to want to do it though, and I don't think he does yet.