[mescelestus]

This article is intense I am a huge advocate for not eating sugar, and I NEVER let HFCS cross my lips. Yet is the weight falling off me? No! lol. What do we think about this article chickies? Over-exaggerated? Please discuss.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...ly-Part-2.aspx

[JulieJ08]

I haven't seen the video yet, I will when I get a chance.

I do think sugar in this country is completely nuts. I eat very little added sugar, and I've been amazed at what tastes sweet now.

However, I think that sugar is much more problematic for some people than others, and then those people project their experience onto everyone.

[mescelestus]

Sugar is a HUGE problem for me and my whole family, but I wouldn't go as far as saying that is what is making everyone fat....Although I do think that people probably shouldn't be eating HFCS, I yell at my mom for eating it all the time. (it is pretty hard to avoid, that is the worst part).

[geewhizkid]

wow overdramatic for sure! i certainly think that sugar can't be as dangerous as all that... i'm still an advocate for moderation.

[SkinnyK10]

Read that yesterday. I never was a big soda or juice drinker so I certainly can't blame my excess weight on that. I do think HFCS can and should be avoided. Really, does spaghetti sauce need to be sweet? I started buying Ezekiel bread- all natural sprouted grain and it took me awhile to get used to my BREAD not having a sweet taste to it.

If anything it confirms my feeling that soda should be a no-no in general. But I still put juice boxes in my kids lunches!

My neighbor has cancer and he was put on a NO SUGAR regimen - not even fruit. Knowing that cancer feeds on sugar gives you something to think about.

Still, am I ready to give up sugar all together? No. I sometimes feel like if I read too much of Dr. Mercola's stuff I would go insane - he can make you feel afraid to breathe!

[mescelestus]

It was not even what he said about sugar, it was the crazy dramatic build up that made me laugh. I agree that soda should not really be consumed, but I was terribly addicted to it for my whole life until my lifestyle change. I am sure some sugar is fine, but literally drinking liquid sugar is probably bad lol!
Great comment about the bread; I have not been able to find Ezekiel products, where do you get them? Also the (added) sugar content of tomato sauce bothers me too!

[mandalinn82]

On the cancer/sugar connection, it is true that cancer cells (like other body cells) are fueled on glucose (blood sugar). But a sugar-free diet won't prevent you from having some glucose in your blood (all carbohydrates metabolize to glucose in the blood), and sugar doesn't cause cancer in any sense (genetic mutations in single cells do). So I wouldn't use cancer as a reason not to consume sugar, unless advised to do so after a cancer diagnosis by my doctor, and even then, I'd be skeptical.

I am another "everything in moderation" believer. People ate sugar before obesity rates skyrocketed, and plenty of people eat small amounts of sugar and maintain healthy weights and active lifestyles. People who eat TOO MUCH sugar are a different question, and since sugar is in EVERYTHING it's easy to eat way too much, but in and of itself, I really don't believe it's evil.

[kaplods]

Two things I think we have an insane overabundance of in this country -

sugar

drama/theatrics


In short supply?

fresh, healthy foods

objectivity


Even news journalism in print as well as on television, doesn't even pretend to be impartial anymore. Everything is a cliff-hanger "stay tuned, when we return we'll tell you why everything you thought was safe, is going to kill you."

All that being said, I do think that wheat and sugar are very HUGE problems for me. Ironically, I never realized I had such a "sweet tooth," because I didn't get my sugar from the most obvious sources. (Except during TOM/PMS when I would crave chocolate, which I didn't eat any other time of the month). Most of my sugar was hidden sugar and/or incidental sugars, rather than food in which sugars played center-stage. Barbecue sauces, sweet salad dressings and other sweet and tangy condiments were one of my weaknesses (not all that hidden, but I rationalized that it wasn't a dessert, so it wasn't all that bad).

Even now I have to watch my intake of all sugars, even fruit because I can overeat "healthy sugars" nearly as easily as unhealthy ones.


Everything in the article and video may be true (it seems mostly true for me), but I HATE the overdramatic way such "information" is always presented. It seems like the "rant" is the most common form of communication today, even in "hard-news" stories.

God forbid anyone give an unbiased opinion (that's too boring).

And it's so pervasive, it becomes second-nature to the point that even people opposed to it find themselved doing it.

Like I just have.

[helwa588]

I agree that sugar is bad for you. I think sugar is highly addictive. I am a sugar addict myself. I've been trying to kick my habit for the past 3 years with no success. I do think affects of sugar she be looked more into and raise more awareness about it.

But I think the guy in the video is being dramatic. Yes sugar is bad for you. but there are worse things that they put in food nowadays (like the hormones in meat and chemicals used on fruits and veggies) than sugar.

And sugar in foods isn't to blame solely on cardiac disorders and deaths. I think excessive drinking nowadays, work stress and cigarettes contribute more to heart diseases and deaths than sugar.

And I'm so tired of the media saying everything is going to kill you. I remeber one time reading an article that said tomatoes (fresh) could cause cancer.

There will coming a day where some one will say "breathing is a killer."

[Meenamom]

Mescelestus,
I can get Eziekial Bread in my regular grocery store, but I can get it cheaper at my local Health Food Store, So I stock up as I have an extra freezer and buy two loaves at a time.As someone else mentioned it takes a little getting used to but I won't go back to regular bread.

I have known the dangers of HFCS for a while but I did not realize it was in Formula, I tried really hard to breastfeed but I don't produce enough milk so I had to supplement. And I have been a crazy women keeping as much fructose out of her diet as possible and there I was feeding to her in her formula

[JulieJ08]

What's interesting to me is they say the average American has about 150 pounds of added sugar a year. That's about (roughly) 3/4 cup per day. I feel like I'm really hitting the sugar hard if I have a whole tablespoon of added sugar every day (about 11 pound a year)! If all I have is, say, a 1/4 cup in a dessert on the weekend (typical), that's about 6.5 pounds a year. Wow - 150 pounds a year?

Makes me think there's not much point in me worrying about HFCS, but I use it as a marker for processed, preserved food made as cheaply as possible. They probably also cut corners in ways I don't know about. Plus I don't really want to support the industry.

[giselley]

I think it is pretty accurate, not "overly dramatic."

[Amarantha2]

I can't open the link but if Mercola is the author as the link suggests, he is not a journalist. He has blogged for many years about low glycemic eating and dramatic or not (sorry, can't see it), personally, I think there is much truth in the efficacy of that, IMO and according to my own experience.

Dropping refined sugar and junk carbs as completely as possible (it isn't totally possible) and replacing with low glycemic food items IS a dramatic way to jumpstart weight loss, although in the final analysis it is calories in, calories out that matters (IMO, of course).

[Elladorine]

Originally Posted by Janga

Dropping refined sugar and junk carbs as completely as possible (it isn't totally possible) and replacing with low glycemic food items IS a dramatic way to jumpstart weight loss, although in the final analysis it is calories in, calories out that matters (IMO, of course).

Agreed.

I just finished watching the video and reading the article myself, and it's much more a focus on the sudden abundance of fructose/HFCS in our modern diets rather than the smaller amount of sugars people traditionally consumed in past generations. I don't think he's being overdramatic here. The article even says, "It isn’t that fructose itself is bad -- it is the MASSIVE DOSES you’re exposed to that make it dangerous."

Massive doses is right, it's in everything. Knowing that even many baby formulas have just as much HFCS as Coca-Cola? The thought of it just makes me sick.

We recently bought all-beef hot dogs, and as I was cooking tonight I glanced at the ingredients list. What the heck is HFCS doing in hot dogs? I expect to find it in most processed food products so I typically check labels and try to stick with whole foods when I'm being health-conscious. Silly me for not realizing that even "all beef" is subject to added HFCS.

[mescelestus]

Thanks MeenaMom... I got some Ezekiel bread yesterday. I LOVE it! No getting used to here. (I never ate that mushy bread anyhow lol)