Sugar: The Bitter Truth
Fat doesn’t make you fat, fructose does. This medical fact is becoming painfully clear to the public, but there has yet to be a full-scale revolution against the corn and sugar lobby (and Big Food) to reject what all this cheap, easy to love, processed sugar has done to our collective health.
Click here to listen to Dr. Robert Lustig on NPR’s Science Friday yesterday, or if you have the time and interest (and you should!), watch and listen carefully to the lecture below. If you do, you’ll never pick up a can of soda the same way again.
Restaurant reviews, quips, picks and pans-with some seriously salivating history-from the man who eats his way through Sin City every day.
February 18th, 2012 at 9:17 am
I love your blog ELV, I read it daily and I love your reviews but you should really stay away from the nutritional posts like this. I’m a chef but I have also taken several nutrition classes at UNLV and I can say that I strongly disagree with this post. Yes, fat can make you fat, yes sugar, fructose and other carbs can make you fat, and yes protein can make you fat…It really comes down to calories, are you taking in more than you’re expending, then you will gain weight.
The chemical breakdown of high fructose corn syrup is almost identical to table sugar, being about %50 glucose and %50 fructose; and both contain 4 kcals per gram, just like any other carb. Yes, we want to try to keep our daily sugar content down, and minimize soda intake and get more nutrient dense foods like grains, fruits and veggies but let’s now freak out about how HFCS is making us fat when in actuality it’s the excess of kcals in our daily diet and lack of exercise.
Still love your blog ELV!
February 18th, 2012 at 9:36 am
ELV responds: Don’t argue with me, argue with the endocrinologist….who says that fructose and table sugar are decidedly NOT similar in the way the body breaks them down.
February 18th, 2012 at 10:11 am
All right so duck confit and fried eggs for breakfast will lead to weight loss. Thanks John
February 18th, 2012 at 2:06 pm
HFCS is garbage, pure and simple. If you want to have something sweet, make sure it has real sugar in it. Obviously in moderation. People these days are so fixated on calories, fat, carbs, ect. I am more concerned with how processed and genetically modified foods are and how most people are oblivious to this.
Garbage in, garbage out. That’s how it works
February 18th, 2012 at 5:20 pm
I’m not arguing with you John I just don’t agree with some of what Dr. Robert Lustig’s saying and people will take this post in a nutshell and get incorrect information because of it. He presents some good information but his message as a whole is misguided.
I think a better message to take out of this video is that Americans are overweight, generally eat too many kcals and don’t exercise enough.
My friend, licensed nutritionist, very respected sports nutritionist Alan Aragon breaks down this video in an objective manor.
Must read in response to this video:
http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
February 19th, 2012 at 1:31 am
If man makes it.. Don’t eat it.
February 19th, 2012 at 5:44 am
Fat makes you fat. Period. Ornish and Esselstyn would agree. It also blocks your arteries and veins all over your body.
February 21st, 2012 at 12:04 am
And then today a published study comes that says fructose isn’t the cause of obesity. It’s the excess calories.
http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20120220/fructose-off-hook-for-overweight-obesity