Last night on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, there was a feature story on the dangers of sugar in our diet.
Researchers are currently publicizing the link between sugar and high blood pressure, diabetes, dementia, and even cancer. We talked about the link to diabetes in the post the other day, but some of these other links are new (at least to me). The problem is that the average American has 22 teaspoons a day, three times what we need and this is coming in almost all foods- from the obvious cookies and treats, to the not so obvious, such as canned vegetables.
Researchers are currently publicizing the link between sugar and high blood pressure, diabetes, dementia, and even cancer. We talked about the link to diabetes in the post the other day, but some of these other links are new (at least to me). The problem is that the average American has 22 teaspoons a day, three times what we need and this is coming in almost all foods- from the obvious cookies and treats, to the not so obvious, such as canned vegetables.
The solutions to this problem:
1. Government regulation in the form of a tax, the way we currently regulate alcohol and tobacco.
The backlash- This targets low income groups who rely on these packaged foods. This also is not a sustainable solution against obesity because it does not corrolate to healthy decisions in the future. Also there are more factors for obesity than consuming less sugar. For example, high fructose corn syrup is also extremely bad for you, but it is one of our countries many industries, so it would be unproductive to reduce the production or tax it. (Corn and soy beans account for 70% of our agricultural product, producing 3,900 calories per U.S. citizen per day.) If there were one solution like this, I think we would have found it, but the factors are wide spread, including physical activity and television watching. In fact I learned today that of adults who lost 30 pounds and kept it off for at least one year, 2/3 said that they watching 10 hours of fewer of TV each week. (The average adult watches 28 hours)
2. Nutritional education
The backlash- America is fighting a losing battle by saying that we can regulate our sugar intake on a personal level. The obesity epidemic is ever increasing, and law makers are starting to believe that government regulation is the best policy.
I’m in favor of personal responsibility and making your own choices on what you eat, but America has not done a good job of educating the youth on what really is good nutrition. One major part of this is school lunches. Recently pizza was named a “vegetable” in school lunches because of it’s tomato sauce. This does not set the stage for healthy choices down the road. I went to a great high school which offered classes such as health, life skills, and ethics, but I never really learned the basics of what makes a good diet, the pros and cons if different vitamins and fats etc. To be fair, maybe the information was there and I didn't see the relevance to my life, but I know that most of the stuff I read now is news to me. I learned a lot by reading the book Animal, Vegetable Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver, but it’s information I wish I had learned growing up.
Barbara Kingsolver writes in her book about how far our country has fallen in terms of food education in the past two generations. Here are few examples of our missing knowledge.“When various fruits and vegetables come into season, which ones keep through the winter, how to preserve the others. On what day autumn’s first frost will likely fall on their county, and when to expect the last in the spring. Which crops can be planted before the last frost, and which must wait. Which grains are autumn planted. What asparagus patch looks like an august. Most importantly: what animals and vegetables thrive in one’s immediate region and how to live well on those.”
The backlash- America is fighting a losing battle by saying that we can regulate our sugar intake on a personal level. The obesity epidemic is ever increasing, and law makers are starting to believe that government regulation is the best policy.
I’m in favor of personal responsibility and making your own choices on what you eat, but America has not done a good job of educating the youth on what really is good nutrition. One major part of this is school lunches. Recently pizza was named a “vegetable” in school lunches because of it’s tomato sauce. This does not set the stage for healthy choices down the road. I went to a great high school which offered classes such as health, life skills, and ethics, but I never really learned the basics of what makes a good diet, the pros and cons if different vitamins and fats etc. To be fair, maybe the information was there and I didn't see the relevance to my life, but I know that most of the stuff I read now is news to me. I learned a lot by reading the book Animal, Vegetable Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver, but it’s information I wish I had learned growing up.
Barbara Kingsolver writes in her book about how far our country has fallen in terms of food education in the past two generations. Here are few examples of our missing knowledge.“When various fruits and vegetables come into season, which ones keep through the winter, how to preserve the others. On what day autumn’s first frost will likely fall on their county, and when to expect the last in the spring. Which crops can be planted before the last frost, and which must wait. Which grains are autumn planted. What asparagus patch looks like an august. Most importantly: what animals and vegetables thrive in one’s immediate region and how to live well on those.”
I think nutrition education can have a big impact. It is a sustainable solution and is one of things our country had more of before the obesity epidemic, and less of as obesity became a bigger and bigger problem (no pun intended).
If what you’ve taken from this is that you should eat foods with sugar substitutes, please rethink/reread--- I’ve mentioned before that sugar substitutes are not good for you, but new research proves two other unintended consequences: they are actually sweeter than regular sugar, and they make your body crave sugar even more than you would normally. As I wrote in the post on will power, learning to love food that loves you back will significantly reduce your sugar craving. Overall diet sodas and splenda are not really better for you. Stick to natural food and soon you'll love them and they'll love you back.
On another note, my sister sent me a recipe she came up with today! I love hearing about what other people are discovering! Just using what she already had in the apartment, she combined rotini, cherry tomatoes, craisins, pickled beet, napa slaw, goat cheese, and pecan salad. "So good, didn't even need a dressing!"
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