The Skinny on Sugar
Sometimes I can’t figure out if I’m smart or if the rest of the world is stupid when it comes to health.
The other day I watched an entire segment on “60 Minutes” titled, “Is Sugar Toxic?” with the overall message that if you eat too much sugar, you will get all kinds of ailments such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity.
The show has caused a national discussion about sugar, and whether or not it is toxic to our bodies. It’s remarkable how ridiculous it has become. Articles in The New York Times have been written up on the work of Doctor Robert Lustig, who has become a youtube.com star by discussing how sugar is not just bad for you, but toxic. Lustig is the leading expert in childhood obesity at the University of California, San Francisco Center for Obesity, Assessment, Study and Treatment.
`He basically states, over and over again, that sugar is bad for you and will lead to serious health problems if you eat too much of it.
Apparently, this is new and fascinating information.
The world famous Doctor Sanjay Gupta has weighed in on the story. The two doctors discuss in an interview with one another, as if they have just discovered that sugar is bad for you. It’s just so absurd to me. They discuss how sugar is as addicting as cocaine, that it causes cancer and that it’s causing obesity.
GET OUT OF TOWN? SUGAR IS BAD FOR YOU? IT MAKES YOU FAT AND CAUSES HEALTH PROBLEMS? WHAT A FREAKING NEWS FLASH.
I’m sorry, folks, but we have got to stop dumbing down America so much, it’s just so embarrassing to me. Of course sugar is bad for you. Everybody has known that since they were five years old. Of course sugar makes you fat. Calorie dense, high fat, high sugar foods consumed in large portions with little exercise make you fat. Everybody knows that. Cancer? Everything that is done in excess causes cancer. You could say eating apples causes cancer, and find evidence to support it.
I just don’t get why we allow serious professionals to get away with talking to us as if we are children and have no idea how to lead our lives. We all know it’s bad for us. We all know we shouldn’t eat so much of it. We eat it anyway because it tastes good, just like anything else that is unhealthy. Avoid it when you can, take responsibility for yourself, stop acting shocked when you don’t feel well after going on whacky diets or eating high fat/sugary foods and wondering if medicine or government has an answer for you. It’s ridiculous.
I’ve been reading articles by serious people suggesting that sugar be outlawed. It’s not sugar that is the problem, it’s people who think they can solve every problem in the world through a series of controls, that are the problem. Outlaw sugar? Are you kidding me? How about say, “Don’t eat sugar, it’s not good for you, try to limit it and take some responsibility for your own health.”
It’s people like these “experts” that are the problem with health. They go to extremes, and convince way too many other people to go to extremes, and anything to the extreme is bad for you, even water. But all of a sudden a hot news story on sugar happens, and we are now going to have thousands of people who are going to go on whacky diets that will be impossible to maintain.
What’s the next health fad? Let me guess, we are going to have a ground-breaking story about how bottled water is killing us all thanks to the BPA in it and we all need to go back to drinking tap water, which will also kill you.
Oh and let’s not forget that if you eat bacon all day you’ll lose weight because there are no carbs. Good luck with that.
Grow up.