Anyone else feeling an uncontrolled need for root beer lately?

[Rudy Kohn]

I don't know about sugar, but that is true regarding natural fat versus hydrogenated oils.

That is really interesting--I have never heard that before.  Perhaps a good reason to use real butter when cooking?

On the other hand,

Perrigue et al (2006) compared the effects of isocaloric servings of colas sweetened HFCS 45, HFCS 55, sucrose, and aspartame on satiety and subsequent energy intake. They found that all of the drinks with caloric sweeteners produced similar satiety responses,

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fructose_corn_syrup, but it does quote a real article:  Perrigue et al. in Proceedings from Experimental Biology, 2006.  (Not a great citation, thanks wiki), as well as another by Melanson, also in Proc. Exp. Biol., 2006.

So, I guess what my friend said is probably not true.

Also, thanks for the welcome, Antibubba! 

[K Frame]

I've heard that the "I'm full" response from eating or drinking something sweet isn't actually a message sent from the stomach to the brain, like when you eat something, but it's messages from the taste receptors to the brain kicking off endorphins and other chemicals. In other words, your brain is happy, so it thinks that your stomach is full. Sort of a reverse message.

True or not, I don't know.

[Fly320s]

Rudy,

Trans fats (hydrogenated oils) still contain bad fats.  The problem comes when a person eats the trans-fats to satiate a desire for fat.  The trans-fats don't trigger the "mmmmm, that was some good fat I just ate; I'm full now" switch, so a person will still want the fat the body needs.  If a person keeps eating trans-fats to satisfy the craving then their overall caloric intake increases as well as increased fat intake.

Perhaps a good reason to use real butter when cooking?

Yep.  I always suggest using real food, natural food, not man-made garbage.  Gimme me real fat and real sugar.  That's what my body was designed to handle.

[Scout26]

The local grocery store has a shelf right when you walk in the store of various items that are 10 for $10 One of the things they always have is 24 oz bottles of Root Beer (Dad's , Mug etc.) I normally grab a bottle or two and stash 'em in the frig in the garage.   

I'm not supposed to be drinking soda, but one or a two a week can't be too bad (plus there's  no caffeine in root beer, which is a big NO-NO with my doc.)

[RocketMan]

I'm not supposed to be drinking soda, but one or a two a week can't be too bad (plus there's  no caffeine in root beer, which is a big NO-NO with my doc.)

Actually, there was caffeine in Barq's the last time I looked.  That suprised me, as I had always thought, like you, that root beer universally had no caffeine.