That said, Liz was right. Sugar is bad for you, as 'they,' 'the food people' can verify.
Noted food person, Dr. Robert Lustig, has called sugar a poison. In his book, "Fat Chance: The Hidden Truth About Sugar, Obesity and Disease." he suggests that, sugar- and fructose-laden processed foods have warnings, just as tobacco and alcohol do. He stated, "We don't have to ban sugar. But the food industry cannot be given carte blanche."
'They' said in an article in The Guardian that the diabetes epidemic affects 350 million people. 'They' suspect Western fast food has caused the increased number of cases.
A food/fitness person (Steve Kamb, of www.nerdfitness.com) explains the chemistry. This is an excerpt from his blog:
"When your pancreas detects a rush of sugar, it releases a hormone called insulin to deal with all of that excess sugar.
Insulin helps regulate that level of sugar in our blood; the more sugar in the blood stream, the more insulin is released. Insulin helps store all of this glucose in the liver and muscles as glycogen and in fat cells (aka adipocytes stored as triglycerides).
Now, oftentimes our body struggles to get that balance right (with us putting way too much sugar in our system very quickly). TOO much insulin is released, which ultimately results in our blood sugar dropping below normal levels.
This is called hypoglycemia, essentially a sugar crash: Our bodies respond by telling us: WE WANT SUGAR. So we cram sugar down our throats and the process starts again."Other 'food people' claim that Americans consumed, on average, 22 teaspoons of sugar a day. They say it should be 6 teaspoons for women, and 9 for men on average. (Hint to Aunt Liz... It was the American Heart Association in a published statement in 2009.)
So Auntie is off the hook for this batch of 'they says.' Mind you, I'm still cross with her. Telling a fat person that sugar is bad for them is like calling them fat AND stupid. Perhaps it's just as well that we're no longer speaking.
Dr. Lustig is one of my favorite people and I've read his book. He is correct about sugar.
ReplyDeleteWhat we need is to not call people names (such as fatso and glutton) but to educate them. Starting with children in school and parents, the correct dietary information will give them the opportunity to make informed choices especially when accompanied by slides showing how sugar creates and manifests itself in diabetes complications. Showing foot amputations and blindness, etc would also be helpful. If after that they still want to mainline sugar and die a slow agonizing death from diabetes complications then that is their choice.