How Sweet It Isn't

It's not often that a TOJ sees a video (Thanks, Lou!) that he thinks everyone he knows -- of all ages -- should watch, but the one below is that good and important. The speaker is Robert Lustig, MD, a pediatrician and endocrinologist (homones like insulin), who teaches in the med school at the University of California in San Francisco. The topic is childhood obesity, but what he discusses holds true for all of us. As Wordsworth said, the child is father of the man.

There's a little biochemistry but it's all well presented and understandable, and I guarantee you will gain tremendous insight into a critical issue related both to your health and everyone you know. A warning: Dr. Lustig presents evidence that will make you want to limit (maybe eliminate) sugar from your diet, in all its forms, including (have mercy) beer.

At the end of the presentation, he offers a simple prescription that has had dramatic success lowering the BMIs of obese children. It would work for you and those around you as well. If you have weight issues, try it. Actually, all of us would be healthier following this intervention.

He has an fascinating discussion of exercise, and how it's not about burning calories, but elevating your overall metabolism. Exercise doesn't just burn fat, it prevents fat from forming in the first place. 

This video has had over 1.5 millions views, and deservedly so. It is the centerpiece in a NY Times article by Gary Taubes, ominously entitled "Is Sugar Toxic?," which is also worth reading.

So what's wrong with a cookie or beer every now and then? Nothing, except that it's not every now and then. For many of us, it's a daily habit. Sometimes a multi-times per day habit because sugar is hidden in almost every processed food that you eat, even if it's not labeled as a sweet. Examine labels on the packaging for sugar, fructose, corn syrup, and words ending in "-ose."

Mounting evidence indicates that many serious illnesses like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers are linked to our modern diet, especially sugar. Sugar, in all its forms, causes by a nightmarish hormonal disruption that slowly and quietly harms the arteries and organs of children and adults. Dr. Lustig tells you exactly how it all happens and how easy it is to stop it.

Knowledge is power, but only if you're smart enough to use it.