Reflections on Sugar

The thoughts below capture some aspects of my personal dilemma with sugar. Professionally, I also work with clients that manufacture products containing large quantities of sugar – while also working with foundations and nonprofits committed to helping Americans reduce sugar consumption. The conundrum is real; while no one wants to become sick or make anyone else sick, we live and work today within a tangled system of business decision-making and advertising, personal choices, and public consequences. Another blog, The Sustainability Trajectory, explores the challenges and opportunities over time as that system evolves – either predictably or in very disruptive ways.

• I really like sugar.
• I know too much sugar is bad for me.
• The more I have the more I want.
• I used to think honey was better than sugar.
• I expect to find sugar in my Hershey Bar.
• I did not know that one cup of condensed Campbell’s Tomato Soup also has 24 grams of sugar.
  
  
  
  
• I really like both those companies.
• I thought fresh, organic, natural juices were good for me.
• I realize now that sugars removed from the fibers that bind them into fruits are metabolized differently.
• I am sometimes bewildered when I shop.
• Is a smoothie, with fiber, better than juice?
• The body metabolizes high fructose corn syrup differently from other sugars, but I am not sure I understand exactly how.
• One calorie is not the same as every other calorie.
• According to the CDC, diabetes can be prevented through “healthy food choices”; afflicts 28 million Americans; was the 7th most common cause of death in 2007; and cost us more than $174 billion that year in direct and indirect costs.
• $174 billion is more than thirteen times the total GDP of Iceland.
• Americans are heavier than ever before, myself included.
• But people who are thin can also be very sick with metabolic syndrome.
• FedUp, the new movie, is very sobering.
  
  
  
  
• According to the Harvard School of Public Health, the average American eats 22 teaspoons or 88grams of added sugar every day – not quite 4 Hershey bars.
• The FedUp challenge to not eat sugar is hard.
• Because there is no nutritional value to added sugars, food labels don’t share an RDA – which might help us understand more about what we are eating and drinking, and what it is doing to us.
• 80% of the 600,000 food products in the US contain sugar.
• Coca-advertising budget in 2014 will be more than $4 billion.
• Investors called for PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi to resign after she announced plans to focus advertising on nutritious products.
• Dr. Robert Lustig’s you tube video on the dangers of sugar, The Bitter Truth, has over 4,600,000 views.
  
  
  
  
• I am helping him build the Institute for Responsible Nutrition.
• I really like sugar.
• I know too much sugar is bad for me.
• Have a nice day.