Authors: Anne Alexander,Julia VanTine
My point: In this food-centric society, we rarely deprive ourselves of food. It’s plentiful, quick, and often cheap. It’s the other, more deeply satisfying pleasures that we cut out because we are too busy. I think we have it backward. This plan will change your weight, no question. The proof is in those before-and-after photos. But if you let it, it might also change your life.
We’ll talk more about the perks of putting yourself first later in the book. Before I do that, I need to tell you what’s been going on with our food supply for the past 40 years. You may be shocked. You may get angry. But at long last, you’ll learn the truth about the rising tide of added sugars implicated in obesity and chronic disease and get a glimpse of the solution that will take you to your sugar-smart, sweet life.
T
hink back to that recent birthday party, baby shower, or wedding. There was a cake, of course. Whether vanilla or chocolate, sheet or layer, decorated with icing roses or Scooby-Doo, each sweet, moist, melt-in-your-mouth bite was a celebration of family, tradition, life’s meaningful transitions—life itself.
But the truth must be told: Sugary foods are no longer just an obvious treat, taking center stage. It’s likely that you are eating far more sugar than you realize and getting it from places you would never suspect. Ever-increasing amounts of sugar have invaded the American diet in the past 40 years, and it’s not because we’re eating more oranges and apples. The average American consumes 130 pounds of
added
sugar per year—that is, sugar that’s an ingredient in food rather than sugar that’s naturally occurring in food. Since sweetened beverages get most of the bad press, you might think that the majority of our added
sugar intake comes from soda, juice, and specialty coffee drinks. Nope. Sweetened drinks account for only one-third of that amount.
You might also think that most of that added sugar gets consumed away from home. The cheesecake chaser after a nice dinner, fast-food pit stops, convenience store snatch-and-grabs—nope again. We consume two-thirds of that 130 pounds at home.
Which means,
the sugar is coming from inside your house
. Indeed, one study that analyzed almost 86,000 packaged foods over a 4-year period found that 75 percent contained added sweeteners. The vast majority of it is in the form of white table sugar and the syrupy goo called high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
On top of all that sugar, we are also drowning in highly refined carbohydrates. The average daily calorie intake in the United States has risen nearly 25 percent since the 1970s. More than half of that increase has come from grains and sugar. We eat
11 servings
of grains and grain products on average per day—about twice as many as we should be eating—and we aren’t talking quinoa and wheat berries. Most of those servings come in the form of refined grains. This category doesn’t just include white flour, bagels, muffins, and white bread. Pretzels, crackers, pita chips, white rice, pasta, and pizza crust are also part of that group. So are highly processed whole grain products—such as brown rice cakes, whole wheat bread, breakfast cereals (like whole grain flakes, cream of wheat, and instant oatmeal), and whole wheat crackers. These foods may have fiber and labels touting the grams of whole grains they contain, but because of the way they’re processed, they behave like sugar in your body. On top of that, grain products are often sweetened with sugar!
Not you, you say. You don’t eat that much sugar. Maybe you don’t. But maybe, just maybe, you do and you don’t even know it. After all, research has found that we think we consume fewer calories than we do. It isn’t a stretch to say that you may be seriously underestimating your intake of sugar, especially when it goes by so many different names and masquerades as healthy foods.
How did we arrive at this sugar-drenched state of affairs? Blame it on fat phobia.
In 1978, disco was in full swing, and American obesity rates were steady: 13 percent of men and 17 percent of women were obese (meaning a BMI of over 30). By the late 1980s, those rates had risen to 18 and 25 percent, respectively. By 2003, 2 years after Americans first heard the phrase “obesity epidemic,” a stunning 32 percent of men and 35 percent of women were obese. In 25 years, obesity rates in America had more than doubled. Rates of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome—both associated with obesity—had skyrocketed, too (see
this page
).
What happened? It’s complicated; there’s no one cause of obesity. However, two significant diet-related changes occurred during that 25-year period.
The first change: the rise of the low-fat diet—SnackWell’s Madness, if you will. In 1977, 3 years before the introduction of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a Senate report recommended that we reduce our intake of dietary fat. We listened, drastically cutting back on even those fats that current research shows are healthy.
In response to our fat phobia, the food industry swung into action, rolling out fat-free everything—chips, ice cream, granola bars, muffins. SnackWell’s cookies were born, with just as many empty calories, but zero fat, and they sold like gangbusters. (Of
course
I bought them. I could eat cookies? And not get fat? Ah, the wonders of science!) Even manufacturers of cereals, bagels, and pasta—which have just traces of fat to begin with—got into the act, slapping “naturally fat-free” on their labels. America became a fat-free wonderland, and refined carbs were king. By the mid-1990s, SnackWell’s Madness was in full swing. The number of new reduced- or low-fat products rose steeply, reaching 2,076 in 1996 before sinking to 481 in 1999.
These products may have contained little or no fat, but many
did
contain sugar. Lots of it. (And those that didn’t contain sugar were comprised primarily of white flour.)
And that was the second major dietary change: HFCS became the nation’s primary caloric sweetener. Between 1970 and 1990, its use skyrocketed 1,000 percent. (Seriously. One thousand . . . one with three zeros.)
High-fructose corn syrup had replaced cane sugar in sodas by the end of the 1980s; food manufacturers began using the goo in their products soon after. That’s why the earliest research on the potential link between obesity and HFCS focused on soft drink consumption.
Full-bore SnackWell Madness is long gone. We cook with olive oil, snack on nuts and seeds, and stud our salads with avocado chunks. We’ve made peace with these and other heart-healthy fats. But the added sugars that gave low-fat and fat-free foods their appeal remain in virtually all processed foods, and our consumption of added sugars, particularly fructose, has doubled in the past 30 years. Doubled!
It’s in soda. It’s in cereal. It’s in beef jerky, for goodness’ sake. It’s high-fructose corn syrup, prized by food manufacturers, reviled by food activists, and maddening to anyone who tries mightily to stick to a healthy diet. This syrupy goo has infiltrated our food supply. What is it, and why is it added to virtually everything?
Until the 1970s, most American foods were sweetened with cane sugar. Then, capitalizing on earlier American attempts to transform glucose to fructose, Japanese researchers figured out how to convert cornstarch, the powder made from the inside of corn kernels, into a substance sweet enough to replace the costlier cane sugar. That substance: HFCS, which bears only a passing resemblance to actual corn syrup, the thick, clear bottled liquid in the baking aisle of your supermarket.
Corn syrup proper is cornstarch, broken down into individual glucose molecules, which is essentially 100 percent glucose. To make HFCS, enzymes are added to corn syrup to convert some of the glucose to fructose. The result: corn syrup on steroids, so aggressively sweet that even a grandma baking a pecan pie might make a face. Compared to the pure glucose in corn syrup, HFCS is high in fructose.
A paper published in an obscure journal devoted to California agriculture way back in 1979 made a prediction that would have escaped the notice of pretty much everyone but a handful of researchers and the food industry. Today, the paper’s title gives it away: “High Fructose Corn Syrup: An Important New Sugar Substitute.” And the prediction was: “Adoption of HFCS is projected to be rapid between 1978 and 1984 and would be essentially completed by 1990.” As it turned out, a 1990 Yale study conducted on 14 healthy kids found that those who ate the sugar equivalent of two frosted cupcakes a day had a tenfold increase in adrenaline and exhibited abnormal behavior. People began cutting their intake of cane sugar (white table sugar). In response, food companies pulled a switcheroo, using less sugar and more HFCS.
Food manufacturers make different formulations of HFCS. The most common forms contain either 42 percent or 55 percent fructose. HFCS 42 is mainly used in processed foods, cereals, baked goods, and some beverages, while HFCS 55 is used primarily in soft drinks. Food manufacturers use HFCS for several reasons: It improves the consistency of processed foods and extends shelf life. It also makes sweet foods cheaper—good for food manufacturers, but not so good for you! As you’ll see, the large amounts of fructose we’re consuming—much of it in the form of HFCS—is being implicated as a primary factor in overweight and chronic disease.
This sugar- and carb-drenched diet may be taking its toll on your weight, energy, mood, and health. In fact, without knowing it, you may be experiencing some of its symptoms right now. Do you start your day with a container of fruited yogurt or a “healthy” fast-food smoothie, only to feel famished an hour later? Turn to cookies as a reward after a brutal day or as comfort when you feel low? Steer clear of soda and sweets, and choose wheat bread and whole grain cereal, but still struggle with fatigue and intense cravings? Do you find your weight edging upward, or have a bigger belly than you’d like? Do you spend your day fighting your cravings—and doing your best to ignore that little voice inside that whispers, while you’re at work, “Sneak out to the corner store—chocolate is 5 minutes away!”
These are all signs of a physical and emotional tie to the added sugars in processed foods and drinks that, over time, can lead to a big gain in body fat, especially around your middle. This is what I call a
sugar belly,
and it can cause more than just a bad day in the department store dressing room. There’s mounting evidence that consuming too much of one type of sugar—in particular, fructose—is a major player in the epidemic-level rates of obesity and diabetes. Fructose causes you to pack on fat and may bypass many of the body’s “I’m full” signals, which may promote overeating, weight gain, and insulin resistance, a body chemistry glitch considered a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease.
“Well, okay,” you say, “but my belly is just fine, thank you. What I’m doing must be working.”
Au contraire, mon ami.
Even if you’re rocking size-8 jeans, a sugary diet may be packing on fat where you’d never see it: in your liver. As you’ll see in
Chapter 3
, a fatty liver may tip the body into metabolic disarray and disease.
The bitter truth is that the food industry has hijacked our natural attraction to sugar and easy-to-digest carbs—a desire that’s both physical and emotional—and radically altered our expectations of “sweet.” But we’ve got sweet news:
You can shrink your sugar belly without swearing off sugar forever.
Talk about having your cake and eating it, too! When
you
take control of your sugar intake and outsmart hidden sugars, you can lose weight, protect your health, and enjoy one of nature’s greatest treats on
your
terms.
That’s what the Sugar Smart Diet is all about. Yes, I am going to help you dial down the amount of sugar you eat—not to deprive you, but so you can
retrain your taste buds and your habits. I’m also going to show you how you can bring it back into your diet in a healthful way. You’ll learn how much added sugar you should be eating on a typical day and when it’s appropriate to treat yourself to a little extra (and the right way to do that). This plan puts you on the path to the sweet life of sugar freedom.
But first you have to understand just what I mean when I say
sugar
.
Maybe you’ve heard that certain parts of the tongue register specific tastes. According to this “tongue map,” the taste buds that register sweet tastes nestle on the tip; those that detect salt are found near the front of either side; those discerning sour lay behind them; and those that identify bitter are found on the back. This idea, which dates back to 1901, was pretty much disproved in 1974 by scientist Virginia Collins, to the notice of no one.
Actually, Collins
did
find variations in how receptors in different areas of the tongue detect tastes. But the differences were so small as to be insignificant. However, wineglass manufacturers have been known to cite the map, playing up the variations part but ignoring the “insignificant” part.
What science shows now: Every part of the tongue can register every taste, as well as an odd “fifth taste” dubbed umami, the result of tasting glutamate (found in monosodium glutamate, or MSG). While the taste buds on the sides of the tongue
are
more acute than those in the middle, those at the back are even more discerning: They are exquisitely sensitive to bitter tastes, probably, experts believe, to sound the alarm (“yuck”) if we ingest poisonous or spoiled foods before we swallow them.
For 10 seconds, forget about your weight, the ice cream in the freezer, and every talk show segment or Internet headline you’ve caught about sugar and health. Drag everything you think you know about the sweet stuff to your mental recycle bin and hit delete.
Now, consider your flower or vegetable garden, or the prettiest tree in your backyard, or the plant on your sunniest windowsill. Sugar helps it grow. Sugar keeps it alive.