60 minutes show on sugar

[Rogar]

Did any of you happen to catch last night's (Apr. 1) show on sugar? I was doing a few chores at the same time, but I caught the gist. The doctor, who seems to have some decent support from the medical field, claimed that sugar was not just the cause of obesity and type 2 diabetes, but also causes cholesterol problems, heart disease, certain types of cancer, and stroke. It went WAY beyond any sugar warnings that I've seen in mainstream news. He was proposing that products with high amounts of processed or raw sugar are toxic, addictive, and should have warning labels just like alcohol and tobacco.

I maintain a decent weight and get routine exercise, but also have a sweet tooth. Not soft drinks, but cookies, candy bars and such. The program was rather sobering.

I had to re-watch it to see what I missed. If you are interested and can deal with a few short commercials, the episode is here: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?...ain;contentAux

[fidgiegirl]

Thank you, Rogar. Watching now.

[catherine]

Yes, I did see it. The evolutionary history of why we crave sweet stuff really makes sense to me. I do like a lot of sweet things, but have really curbed my sweet tooth. For instance, I used to love ice cream but now if I have a craving I use a melon baller to scoop out one scoop.

I have long ago given up on sweetened drinks of any kind and only drink water, or carbonated water with lemon. Like any obnoxious convert, I can't get over how so many people just can't seem to get by without this crappy sugar water that didn't even exist a few decades ago.

Jack LaLanne used to say "If man made it, don't eat it," and I think that that's a pretty simple rule to follow, if not particularly easy.

[herbgeek]

Back in the mid 90's, I followed a low fat diet to try and reduce my cholesterol. Everyone was jumping on the low fat bandwagon at the time, so it was easy to find low fat foods then (and I didn't yet have my aversion to processed foods). It wasn't until later that I realized that sugar was being used to fill the void of fat. My cholesterol did not go down at all (and I think it might have gone up slightly) even though I was eating a low fat diet, and almost no dairy, butter or fatty meats. Now I know why.

[pinkytoe]

I saw it and even checked out the you tube mentioned: Bitter Truth. It is long so I will have to watch in segments as I can. Luckily, I don't have a sweet tooth at all.

[iris lily]

When one food item is made out to be The Devil, I immediately set aside the information as probably tainted with prejudice.

Of COURSE we shouldn't nurse sodas all day like tiny babies sucking on a teat. For god's sake, that's just common sense. Same for the endless list of processed foods that most Americans eat.

[redfox]

Iris, I'm with you. We're far to complex a biological being for one food to be either the devil or silver bullet. That said, highly processed foods like alcohol are clearly bad in quantity.

I tend to believe that various conbos of food are either healthy or not... Since in my life, at least, refined sugar tends to also come with fat, it's the double whammy that does me in. I have a huge sweets addiction, ice cream being my favorite drug, er, treat.

[ApatheticNoMore]

When one food item is made out to be The Devil, I immediately set aside the information as probably tainted with prejudice.

+1 not that I think sugar is exactly health food but yea ...

If man made it don't eat it ..... but what about if BEES made it? (ok been enjoying some honey recently)

[Tussiemussies]

I follow Dr. Mercola by email and by Facebook and he announced this show. I didn' t get to watch it but have cut out mostly all items out of my diet that have sugar and/or any form of it. I really do feel much better these days. I did cut it out because my mother recently became diabetic although it is not genetic in our family and my husband also became diabetic as well. So I am determined to stay sugar free!

[Rogar]

If man made it don't eat it ..... but what about if BEES made it? (ok been enjoying some honey recently)

If I remember correctly, the guy said there really isn't any difference between HFCS and other simple sugars, which I assume includes not only cane sugar but honey and syrups like maple syrup ( which I LOVE on oatmeal). Looking back to the fatty cheese burger discoveries in the 70's to present day, it seems like it has been a pretty wild ride finding the best diet. Between the 60 minutes show and everything else out there, I'm pretty convinced that sugar isn't just the next trendy "devil" food out there, but a real health issue. I almost wonder if the next shoe to drop will be highly processed carbs like white flour.