@dorisena

Hi Dorisena. I am not diabetic. And I do still eat a number of things that come from packages, like Amy's dinners. But the one thing I did that I have really noticed a major benefit from was reducing my sugar intake. In 2014 my wife cut her sugar intake WAY down as she read sugar feeds cancer (she had been dealing with cancer for about 2-3 years by then). In sympathy to her I decided to cut out a lot of things from my diet to lower my sugar intake as well. For example, I had been having a small bowl of ice cream and 2 store bought cookies every night. I quit that cold turkey and stopped all after dinner snacking as well. I also stopped any random sugar eating that I was doing during the day, i.e. no candy, cookies, pastries, etc. in the diet at all. For about 2 weeks I dealt with bodily cravings for sweets. But I did not cave. After the two weeks the cravings ended and I never looked back. I felt better and was happy to be free of the cravings. Since then I have stopped wanting sweets when I see them in the store. I have not had more than 2 or 3 bowls of ice cream in the past 6 years, mostly just to be polite when I was a guest. I do feel better, healthier. I have always been fairly healthy but this gave me a feeling of well being that was at a different level than before.

I think sugar (or honey or corn syrup, etc.) is not good for the human body and people would be well advised to eliminate it from their diets as much as possible if they want to be healthier. I am not fanatical about it, and although I do read ingredient labels, I don't nix things out of hand if they contain some sugar, just try to keep the sugar content on the low side. I know cutting out most sweets is not an idea welcomed by everyone but I would nudge everyone to at least give it a try.

Best, Hank