Sugar or Arsenic? No, they are not equal chemically nor are they similar in their toxic ways. Arsenic can kill any of us if ingested like sugar in as short a time as 24 hours. Sugar, on the other hand, is possibly equally as deadly if ingested often for one's lifetime, from infancy onward. The diseases that sugar contributes to are well known by most of our readers; as an inflammatory molecule, sugar induces weight gain, sluggishness, headaches, poor concentration and contributes to diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, strokes, dementia, arthritis and can feed cancers as well. What am I to do about it? The next page will give you some practical tips.
Several people in town and as far away as Australia have been fighting to reduce sugar in our children's diets. Linsie Steele has created a shopping concept called getvie.com Each week she scours the local food stores and comes up with a list of the healthiest foods at the lowest prices and posts them on her website. You can subscribe to this service on a monthly basis. Check it out!!
Books:
- SUGAR: A BITTERSWEET HISTORY BY Elizabeth Abbott, a large read that is very illuminating. This book got me started on the thought of this campaign several years ago.
- SWEETNESS AND POWER: THE PLACE OF SUGAR IN MODERN HISTORY by Sidney Mintz,
- SUGAR: A GLOBAL HISTORY, by Andrew Smith
- Gary Taubes. a New York Times writer whom I delivered a public talk with several years ago, has written THE CASE AGAINST SUGAR and WHY WE GET FAT and GOOD CALORIES, BAD CALORIES.
- Author Barbara Stitt has written several great books, FOOD AND BEHAVIOR & NUTRITIONAL GUIDELINES FOR CORRECTING BEHAVIOR, Barbara helped a prison in Ohio help with prisoners' behaviors by reducing sugar and has worked in school systems to reduce drop out rates and behavioral problems just by adjusting the amount of carbohydrates (sugars) in their school breakfasts and lunches!
- Wendy Vigor-Hess, nutritionist, has written a very easy to use cookbook, Sweetness Without Sugar
Check these books out, they are important educators in the fight against sugar.
FILMS:
Some films are now viewable for low cost or free. One such film, found on Amazon is THAT SUGAR FILM, by Australian Damon Gameau who visits Aborigines who previously ate well until their government made it much harder to get good food and much easier to buy really bad, sugar laden food. Then Damon comes to America and visits places like Kentucky where 2 year olds are introduced to Mountain Dew.
