Give Me Some Sugar

I decided to dust off the blog (which I miss), and post an urgent message about sugar, finding that my last post last spring (cough cough) was about... well... truth is eternal, right?

I am sure the entire universe has seen Robert Lustig's lecture on youtube. I'm afraid to do a search because I probably posted it. There's an interesting rebuttal on another site, which lost some ground with me because in the comments section, where he rebutted Dr Lustig's rebuttal, I decided the fitness blogger was beating his chest (no doubt a consequence of all that testosterone. If I had a chest like that I'd beat it too.)

So what is my conclusion? That I've been eating too damn much sugar and allowing my kids to do the same (the eldest, 19, is I guess technically off my books nutritionally, but I can still raise my eyebrows). I've been "sort of" 5-factor, which means that I "sort of" fit into my clothes, except for the one pair of largish jeans I've been relying on which are springing holes in the thighs. I've been feeling not-great-ish, which is in contrast to how I feel when I eat like a grown up. Just yesterday, I justified a McDonald's ice cream cone, 3 or 6 squares of chocolate, and 2 Blow pops as "a small treat." Allow me a moment to enjoy a good belly laugh at my own expense.

The main difficulty I'm looking at now is that I love baking... the act of getting out the flour and sugar, the smells, the warmth, people's pleasure at some homey treat. It's Friday and I either bake or let my daughters bake on Friday, when we have friends dropping by to help us eat our treats. But of course, if I give up the McDonalds ice cream cones and the spoonfuls of jam straight from the jar during the week, baking on Friday doesn't have to leave my life, does it?

That's the ticket. Eat like a grown-up.

For those of you with kids: Lustig's recommendations.

Four Simple Guidelines

•Get rid of every sugared liquid in the house. Kids should drink only water and milk.
•Provide carbohydrates associated with fiber.
•Wait 20 minutes before serving second portions.
•Have kids buy their “screen time” minute-for-minute with physical activity.

Fructose is abundant in fruit. Fruit is fine, Lustig says, but we should think twice before drinking juice or feeding it to our kids.

Eating fiber also results in less carbohydrate being absorbed in the gut, Lustig notes. In addition, he says, fiber consumption allows the brain to receive a satiety signal sooner than it would otherwise, so we stop eating sooner.

Exercise burns only a modest amount of calories, Lustig notes. But it does have other benefits. Exercise improves insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle, lowering insulin levels in the bloodstream. Exercise reduces stress and, therefore, reduces stress-induced eating, according to Lustig. Lastly, exercise increases metabolic rate.

The directive to balance active play with computer, video and TV time is the most difficult one to comply with, Lustig says. But failure to limit sugar intake appears to be the most predictive of poor weight control in children, he adds.