Since my daughter was born, four years ago, I’ve held onto “those last ten pounds,” unable to shed the weight that bumps me into the category of “overweight” according to the World Health Organization. Despite the fact that I strive to eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, I have a weakness for sweets. It wasn’t until last Fall, when I found myself eating desserts at least twice a day, that I realized something needed to change. In January of this year, I gave up sugar, a task that proved to be nearly impossible. But why? I gleaned a wealth of insight last week after watching Fed Up, the film the food industry does not want you to see.
Katie Couric, Laurie David (Producer of An Inconvenient Truth), and Director Stephanie Soechtig expose the root cause of our nation’s obesity problem in a compelling documentary that will change the way you view food. Following the stories of three obese children, Fed Up documents their nearly impossible journey to lose weight, despite following the sage old advice that diet and exercise should effect results. But why was (and is) it so difficult for adults AND children to lose weight in our country?
Thirty years ago, the US government issued its first dietary guidelines, designed to promote healthy lifestyles and dietary habits among Americans. Supposedly grounded in science-based nutrition, the question begs…why has the incidence of obesity and the resultant chronic diseases that go hand-in-hand with this epidemic, continue to rise exponentially? The answer is in our food. The push for lower calorie, lower fat-containing foods posed a problem for the food industry. How could they reduce fat and calories from our foods while still ensuring the public would consume them? The answer is sugar.
If you’ve ever browsed the nutrition label on the back of a food product, you’ll notice that something is missing…the Recommended Dietary Allowances for Sugar. This was not simply an error of omission, rather a purported effort to mask the excessive amount of sugar in our foods. If you knew that the daily recommended amount of sugar was limited to the equivalent of 1/2 of a 12-ounce can of soda (25 grams per day or 6 teaspoons), you might think differently about the foods you are consuming as a family. And if cost was not a factor, that would influence your purchasing decisions…something that would hurt the food industry at their core…their profit margin.
When I endeavored to completely eliminate sugar from my diet, I found it easier than I thought to cut out cookies, cakes, and other desserts that are laden with sugar. What I failed to realize was just how much sugar is in foods you don’t typically identify as “dessert.” For example, 1 jar of store-bought pasta sauce contains 12.5 teaspoons of sugar. I’ve made pasta sauce from scratch more times than I can remember, never once adding a single teaspoon of sugar. It’s in granola and cereal and bread and yogurt…of the 600,000 food items in our country, 80% of them have added sugar. And we wonder why diabetes is an epidemic. In the film, one of the physicians commented on the fact that medical research dictates how to treat an adult with Type II Diabetes…but there is no precedent for treating a teenager or what the outcome and life expectancy would be for someone that young living with a chronic disease for many decades.
I knew that sugar was detrimental to overall health…but did you know that our brain responds to sugar the same way it responds to cocaine? This documentary is eye-opening, not only to the dangers of a diet consistently high in sugar, but to the food industry’s masking of the issue. There is much to be done, some of it only by change at the state and federal levels. What I took away from the film was simply confirmation of what I already knew…cook real food at home…avoid packaged, processed foods and dining out.
When I cut sugar from my diet earlier this year…an amazing thing happened. I actually started seeing the scale move! I was very close to achieving my goal weight. People noticed that my clothes fit better…that I looked more energetic (and I felt it). Without changing anything in my routine except the amount of sugar I was consuming, I was able to finally see a difference in my weight. Admittedly, I have allowed some sugar back into my diet…and while all of the weight has not returned, I have noticed my clothes getting snug. In honor of the film’s release, I’m taking the Fed Up Challenge. For 10 days, I’ll be going sugar free. I’m hoping that sets a precedent for our family (particularly my children). Are you Fed Up? Join me by taking the pledge at FedUpMovie.com/FedUpChallenge.
For more information, visit Fed Up on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (#FedUpMovie)
Images: The Weinstein Company
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Great post! I stay away from most processed foods for this very reason, but I have stopped short of doing a true sugar detox. I need to work up the will to just do it.
Great post – saw the movie…..agree it’s hard to eliminate all the processed foods – every little bit helps…