Growing up the son of a dentist was no treat. Literally. There were no treats. No pop, cookies, white bread, “good” cereal, pop tarts, or any other measure of delicious food that a growing boy may need. I remember lectures about the harm from sugar and probably rolled my eyes in response. If we went out to eat, we may be allowed to order a soft drink. Once it hit the table, my dad would ask, “Do you know how much sugar is in that drink?” I would likely respond with, “No, but I’m sure that I am about to find out.” It was exhausting and took the fun out of a restaurant experience.
I think I may be turning into my dad. Recently I heard myself asking my teenage daughter, “Do you know how much sugar is in that can of pop?” I had no idea, but I guessed it was a lot. I looked at the can and it read 56 grams of added sugar. I googled how much 56 grams was and was not entirely surprised to learn it is about ¼ cup. I then went to the drawer to pull out the ¼ measuring cup to illustrate. She responded exactly as you can imagine. But I could sense the ironic joy of my late father watching me from above. By the way, this one can of pop contains about the same amount of sugar that a child 150 years ago may consume in an entire year.
A good portion of my health journey has been focused on what to eat, what not to eat, and the impact of what I consume on the various systems in my body. I have desperately honed in on anti-inflammatory foods, and foods that will support my immune system and gut biome. It has been like going back to school and learning for real this time, instead of just passing the test. Because it is for real, and it has never been more real or important than now.
The argument against sugar has been settled. The data is too overwhelming for anyone to make the case that my dad was wrong. Sugar is not just bad for teeth, it is just bad. Too much sugar in our blood is causing prediabetes and type 2 diabetes at rates that we haven’t seen before. These two conditions affect over 50% of adults and almost 30% of children in the US. Not to mention that 74% of the U.S. adult population is overweight or obese. Doing what we have been doing, will not provide improved results.
Had I not had my chronic health challenge and subsequent fight for my health, I would be happily going along with multiple metabolic issues brewing without my knowledge. Since I was blessed with the challenges I now face, I am learning how to use my body to help heal itself. I am also using this forum to help bring awareness to others.
Here is a fun fact. Throughout the average American life, we will eat an astonishing seventy metric tons of food (154,000 pounds). This is according to the amazing book by Dr. Casey Means (and her brother, Calley) Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health. This massive input is what we are using to feed (or destroy) our living cells. The very cells which are trying to provide us with optimal health. This reminds me of a poster that hung on the wall of a gym that my wife used to frequent. It read, “Food is the most powerful form of medicine or the slowest type of poison.”
Food is the single largest input we ingest in our body, and Dr. Means would argue that it is the most critical. She earned her medical degree from Stanford University, so she is pretty smart in my book. However, she shared that she had zero nutrition courses over the entirety of her medical education. The single largest input in how our bodies function, and she received no direct training in it. 80% of medical schools do not require their students to take a nutrition course. Does anyone else find this to be odd? I find it shocking. Dr. Means concluded that her training was focused on disease care and surgical intervention instead of addressing the underlying source of the problem. She was constantly putting out endless fires instead of helping people avoid them in the first place.
She describes her awakening and realization that the training she received was not actually achieving the results of improved health, she had a conversion of sorts. She overlays this realization with the loss of her own mother and makes connections with how the system failed her, and she shares candidly. She is now on a crusade of sorts, and I suppose I am one of her converts.
If you don’t want to read the whole book, and I think you should, she has three top admonitions for reducing processed and ultra-processed foods from your diet. In particular: eliminate refined sugars of any kind, remove refined grains of any kind, and eliminate all industrial vegetable or seed oils of any kind. She offers pages and pages of reasons why, and how to replace them with other delicious foods. I have highlighted and dog-eared my copy of the book and have found myself referring back to it multiple times per week since I finished it.
Since my awakening to my body’s ability to heal and regenerate, I am keenly aware of the message on that poster. I continue to have my own issues to deal with, in addition to the adrenal fatigue. I have higher inflammatory markers than I would like, in addition to a borderline blood glucose level. So, I am not suggesting in any way that I have it figured out, but now that I know what I am fighting and how to fight, fight I will.
The nice thing about my blog is that I am learning in real-time and sharing what I discover as I discover it. I know that some people are responding and benefiting from what I share (because they tell me). As long as that is the case, and as long as you don’t mind learning alongside me, we will get along just fine. I will continue consuming, and processing information, and implementing what I learn “On Purpose.”