My sister-in-law was telling me about a documentary she recently watched called That Sugar Film.
Similar to “Supersize Me,” Damon Gameau becomes a human guinea-pig and consumes the equivalent of 40 teaspoons of sugar a day for 6 weeks.
Sounds like a very informative film. There are a lot of loopholes in labeling laws and you really need to be a detective to know what you are really putting in your body. For example, many people think if they see the words “All Natural” plastered across the front of a box then the item is healthy. This isn’t always the case.
Foods many people believe are healthy like flavored yogurt and grain cereals are anything but.
The film also goes into a little history of how we got here – A place where people are killing themselves with sugar. It all started with the low fat craze. Believing that fat was the culprit of diseases (That wasn’t a full picture), people and companies simply replaced calories from fat with sugar.
So what’s the problem with sugar anyway? In short, it can do the following:
- Weight gain
- Abdominal obesity
- Decreased HDL
- Increased LDL
- Elevated blood sugar
- Elevated triglycerides
- High blood pressure
- And more
When you consume sugar, your blood sugar is then elevated. In response to that your pancreas releases insulin to help control the sugar in your blood. This is why many diabetics take insulin – They need to regulate their blood sugar but their bodies may not produce insulin on its own.
Once the insulin regulates blood sugar, you’re often left with low blood sugar. Then you crave sugar again. This yo-yo can lead to the bullet list mentioned above. The key is to minimize sugar in order for your body to function at its best. This is the ideal scenario to optimize fat burning and health.
I haven’t watched the documentary yet but I will.
I did watch this music video all about sugar. This video will make you laugh and hopefully motivate you to make some positive changes.
If you watch the documentary, let me know what you think. Either way, I urge you to be more aware of what you are putting into your body and set small achievable goals to move in the right direction.
Billy Hofacker – Owner & Transformation Coach at Total Body Boot Camp – BS, CSCS