I am a sugar junkie and have always been one. I ate sugar right out of the bowl when my parents weren't looking. I would sell my soul for a bag of wine gums or liquorice all sorts. I feel I need to admit this before commenting on this item. I am also overweight and have struggled with my weight most of my adult life, though I was average weight and in good shape during childhood and adolescence. It was not till my late twenties and early thirties that I began to add weight, lose it, add again, rinse and repeat. So what was different when I was younger? Probably the fact that I played a lot of sports, marched in drum corps and had several other activities to keep me busy. In addition, we were not permitted to sit around the house watching tv and I can still hear my parents telling us to go out and play and don't come in until you're called. We were not part of a digital generation with video games and computers, there was no virtual reality, just reality which required more calories to negotiate.
There are, undoubtedly, several health risks to over consumption of sugar. If we study the consumption of sugar, especially high fructose sugar, since the 60's we might actually find a correlation between sugar and obesity rates. We might also find a correlation between space flight and obesity, which have also been on a corresponding increase. But while that example is pretty silly, the idea that our fast food culture has also been on the rise in a corresponding fashion is not so silly. Neither is it silly to look at the cost of food to the average household over that same time and the declining activity rates amongst youth. There has never been more food more available at a lower cost any other time in human history. And not just sugar.
What has been proven about weight gain is this, calories consumeed and not burned equate to weight gain. This is not simply a correlation, but a causation. If you consume 2500 calories per day and use 2000 calories per day you will gain about a pound a week. If you consume 2000 calories per day and burn 2500 you will lose about a pound a week. This is only modified by variations in metabolism and genetic disposition to fat storage. I think we all have a friend we can think of who can eat anything they want and still not gain weight. I work with someone like that and it is frustrating to watch him eat bacon and eggs every day for breakfast and still fit into his high school clothes. But is this evidence that a high fat diet is the best for losing weight? Doubtful.
I am not a doctor, nor have I played one on tv, though I do play doctor and have dressed as a nurse on halloween (I am sure it was just a phase) but my understanding is that the human brain is a glutton for sugar. I also understood that muscles use sugar, in the form of glucose, as energy. So right off the top of my head, with no expertise in biology, I can think of two bodily functions that make use of sugar. Does this mean the body requires corn syrup, honey or beet sugar? No, it can extract the sugars from vegetables, fruit, grains, meats and even milk. So you can make the claim that the human body doesn't require any given single food item. But, a little bit of sugar, regardless of the source, is not responsible for the obesity we see in the west today and, in the case of a diabetic with low blood sugar, it can actually be a good thing. Imagine a diabetic kid not getting a candy bar fix because he can't produce i.d.
If one wants to find a true culprit in the obesity epidemic one only needs to look at the eating habits of the typical fast food chain. The total calories of a typical fast food chain meal are close to the 2000 calorie limit specified for adult males, and the kids happy meal is not much better. But even if you stay home and cook for yourself there is a danger of over consumption. Our supermarkets are stacked with a greater variety and quantity of food than ever before at prices that are lower than ever. And, even if you think you have healthy eating down and are only a few calories over, there are the recent studies which show that there is a genetic predisposition to the way we store and process fat that may be exerting evolutionary pressure on modern humans.
The real cause of the obesity epidemic, if one exists, is more complicated than one food groups reaction on the human body. It is more likely that our high calorie, high fat diet combined with our sedentary life style exacerbated by our genetic coding is more the cause. It is not just the consumption of sugar, but the over consumption of everything. If you want to improve people's health we should be educating them on the benefits of moderation and the real cost of food. Never mind the nutritionists - which are unregulated in most jurisdictions, by the way - instead see the services of a board certified and licensed dietitian. A dietitian will teach you about the benefits of moderation and variety in your diet; they will teach you how to track and control your consumption and give you hints to limit your total calorie intake; they will explain the benefits of being physically active; and they are well versed in the analysis of scientific studies and can explain the difference between correlation and causation. I know this because I have been to a dietitian for my own diet issues, and while I am not very good with following advice, I know that their approach to eating sensibly is backed up by study after study and not based on some hypothetical idea drawn from a series of correlations. Will a dietitian tell you to avoid processed sugar? Yes. And, they will tell you to avoid bread, alcohol, meat proteins as a main dish, high fat dairy products and fun. But the reason to avoid these products is not because in and of themselves any one product causes obesity, but because the best way to fill your stomach and keep it feeling full is nutritionally dense, low calorie, high fibre food. They will also introduce you to Canada's Food Guide, a good source for anyone trying to find a healthy way to lose weight.
There are no easy ways to losing weight. You have to make sensible decisions about the foods you put in your mouth and you need to make sensible decisions about being more active. Having an understanding of what a typical 300 calorie meal looks like might help, too. Now, get out side and play.
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