A few years ago I wrote a piece on cravings for the Sam’s Club newsletter. In the process of writing it, I became further convinced that sugar is a recreational drug to which a great many Americans are addicted. Today I’m going to discuss my impressions. But we’re going to start not with sugar, but with alcohol. Continue reading
Tag Archives: sugar
Not a Breakfast for Champions
Breakfast cereals, generally speaking, are not particularly nourishing, although they do have a praiseworthy origin. They were invented near the turn of the 20th century by health spa owners offering an alternative to the eggs, coffee, and beef, bacon or sausage that constituted the usual breakfast of the time.
Not coincidentally, the invention of breakfast cereal also provided an economical use for the crumbs that fell to the bottom of the bread ovens at the health spas. The word “cereal” itself is a synonym for “grain,” and it is derived from Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture. We have strayed a long way from that origin. Continue reading
Hide ‘n’ Seek: The Sugar in Your Breakfast
Breakfast cereals have a more or less praiseworthy origin. Invented by a couple of resourceful health spa owners to offer an alternative to the usual breakfast of the time — eggs and coffee, plus beef, bacon or sausage — breakfast “cereal” not coincidentally also provided an economical use for the crumbs that fell to the bottom of the bread ovens at the spas. The word “cereal” is simply a synonym for grain, and it is derived from Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture. We’ve come a long way from those origins, but unfortunately it’s been in the wrong direction. Continue reading
Take Back Your Teaspoon!
Did you know that most sodas are sweetened with a teaspoon of sugar per ounce? That means the average 12-oz. can of soda (pop) contains the equivalent of 12 teaspoons of sugar. Excessive, to say the least. Actually, it causes diabetes and obesity. Not in my cup of tea. When would you ever consider putting 12 teaspoons of sugar in your glass of iced tea? It seems absurd when asked this way, but people are doing it all the time — every time they pop open a can of soda. This week, we’re talking here about the crazy amounts of hidden sugar in processed items. Continue reading
Stripped Carbs: The Emperor’s New Clothes
I promised a friend that I would write another post about stripped carbs and processed edibles. Sometimes stripped carbs are called simple carbs, but there’s nothing simple about them. Stripped carbs include white flour, white rice, corn starch, corn syrup, sugar, fruit juice, and beer. It’s not that you can’t eat them at all; it’s that Americans are drowning in them. Continue reading
Fruit: Friend or Foe?
Here is how this all got started:
Last month I received an email from a friend asking about whether it was okay to eat a lot of fruit every day. She had seen an article in the NYTimes, “How to Stop Eating Sugar,” in which she read that fresh fruit is a good way to satisfy a sweet tooth without resorting to processed items with their excessive (absurd even, I would say) amounts of added sugar. Without specifying exactly how much was too much, the author included a warning… … Continue reading
What You Need to Know About Yogurt
Been wondering whether you should be feeding yogurt to your kids? Or to yourself? Here’s what I think! Continue reading
Make Your Insulin Last a Lifetime
If you’ve seen my TED talk, then you know I spend a fair amount of time teaching folks how to use their insulin more efficiently so that they don’t run out, and so they have enough (hopefully) to last a lifetime. Insulin is like a valet service that escorts blood sugar from your blood to all your cells. If you don’t have enough, your sugars start to rise. The fact is that even though you need insulin to live, it is not your friend. You want to use as little as possible. You want the levels of insulin in your bloodstream to stay as low as possible. Just like blood sugar, you want your insulin levels to remain low. Why? Continue reading
Eat the Orange, Skip the Juice
Juice is not a great choice unless you need to raise your sugars rapidly. Do you want to spike your blood sugars? Probably not. Not if you want to conserve your insulin and reduce your risk of developing diabetes. When I was a kid, my doctor used to keep orange juice in the office to treat patients with low blood sugar. Continue reading
Sugar is a Recreational Drug
I just finished a piece on cravings for the Sam’s Club newsletter that will be coming out in June, and here’s what I learned while doing the research for it: Sugar is a recreational drug. And now I’m going to prove it. Continue reading