I read this article the other day, and it’s worth a share. There’s so much crappy information and conjecture going around at the moment on this topic and in the frustration some commentators are blurting defensive, misinformed stuff to their followers. Granted, though, it’s a damn confusing topic and the latest science not only goes against what nutritionists learned at uni howevermanyyearsago, it also goes against the simplistic thinking (calories in = calories out; eat fat = get fat) that we’ve all been exposed to (an equation that has suited the low-fat movement for years).

This explanation is very cleverly done, with the information sourced from Gary Taubes of “Is Sugar Toxic” and “Why we Get Fat“. Get informed!

You might have followed all the chatter yesterday – sugar as toxic as alcohol…should be banned…oh, hang on, no, it’s harmless. Etc. Etc. Wendy Harmer buzzed and asked me to provide this comment for TheHoopla. I’d spent the day chatting about it today on radio (and I think I shocked a few jocks into putting down their Boost).

Thought you might like to read my thoughts…

It’s a year to the week that I quit sugar.

And because I’m about to bang on about the need for more transparency in this world, some disclosure: I wrote an ebook about it. So it could be said I have a vested interest in this topic.

Anyone who’s quit sugar would know what I mean when I say that the most challenging-slash-intriguing part of quitting is The Resistance. People get affronted. Angry.

It’s funny. If I told people I no longer ate frozen peas, no-one would care. I wouldn’t get the outrage. The anger.

But sugar? Well…

Earlier today it was revealed a team of scientists from the University of California has called for sugar to be treated as a poison, in much the same ways as alcohol and nicotine. They’ve suggested sugar, too, be taxed heavily and come with warnings, better labelling and education campaigns.

In an article published in science journal Nature they argued sugar isn’t just a bunch of naughty, empty calories. It’s making us fat and killing us. Sugary food, they say, is responsible for 35 million annual deaths worldwide.

They point out that, at the levels consumed in the West, sugar alters metabolism, raises blood pressure, disrupts hormone signalling and causes significant damage to the liver that is still not fully understood, leading to heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

And boy has it brought on The Resistance. Today I’ve watched online as nutrition experts around the world railed against the idea.

But why? I mean. Why?!

Surely none of them think sugar is good for us? Or would disagree with the claim that we’re consuming too much of it? Why not push for better labelling?

As one of the article’s authors said, “We’re not talking prohibition. We’re not advocating a major imposition of the Government into people’s lives. We’re talking about gentle ways to make sugar consumption slightly less convenient, thereby moving people away from the concentrated dose.”

Some of these experts are arguing sugar is entirely avoidable. No it’s not!

Have you been to a supermarket or food court lately? Sugar’s in everything, and insidiously so. It’s so well hidden it shocks when I tell people that barbecue sauce is 50 percent sugar, that pasta sauces can contain more sugar than chocolate topping.

On Monday night I did my first I Quit Sugar webinar, which was oddly fun given there I was in a hotel room talking to a pinhole in my laptop screen (when I remembered to)….

image via lavoile tumblr

Over 200 viewers live, plenty of questions… and plenty who watched later on…

I answered:

* Are lemons OK?
* Why some people lose weight and others don’t when they quit sugar (there is a reason!)

* What are some portable snacks that aren’t veggie sticks and nuts

* What exercise do I do

* Plus more…

I know many of you asked via twitter and facebook whether you could find the video later if you couldn’t watch live. Here she is: on my Ustream page. I’ve also posted it on facebook, and you can watch it here.

I’ll be doing another one shortly.

In the meantime, if you have any more IQS questions for next week, please add them in the comments section here.

Join my 8-week I QUIT SUGAR reboot program kicking off January!

It’ll be easy + not-boring-at-all + it WILL work

I get a sense that a few of you are thinking they’d like clean up their insides after the year that was. And, of course, the indulgent I-can’t-cope-with-being-discplined-right-now-I’m-too-exhausted Christmas and New Year we’re about to give in to.

photo via Ellieblog

2011 was harrrrrd. And lots of stuff built up, don’t you think? We were also so very harsh on ourselves this year, frantically trying to cope and not really being mindful of how we were treating our bodies. So, we’re a little gunked up, addicted, heavy, stuck.

If this sounds like you, what do you reckon of this:

In January we’ll be kicking off a program for everyone keen to start the I Quit Sugar program as a New Year commitment. If you’ve been procrastinating about getting on board, now might be a good time.

This is how it will work:

* Simply buy the I Quit Sugar ebook for $15 here.

* Start any time in the first week or so of January. No stress. Once you’re ready.

* Each week I’ll answer your questions as they come up. Ask dumb ones. Smart ones. All cool.

* I’ll also be holding a webinar where you can fire off your wonderings at me. Anyone who’s already bought the book or started the program is free to join in, too.

This week in Sunday Life I eat like a caveman

Of all the self-imposed guinea pig antics I’ve subjected myself to for this column, this week’s might be regarded as my bravest. For it entailed eating, oh-glory-be-yes, fat.

In a fat-fearful world, my no holds barred consumption of chicken skin, the crackling and the 3cm of subcutaneous tissue on my pork belly, several teaspoons of butter on my veggies, whole cups of full cream milk, chunks of ghee and avocado each day has freaked the innards out of most in my culinary orbit. And yet (boldly! fearlessly!) I’ve persevered with this particular experiment for three whole months.

Turn to the person to your left, and the one to your right. I’m betting one of you is making friends with your egg yolks right now, having picked up on what’s been dubbed the “paleo” or “caveman” diet. Images of loin clothes and bone gnawing aside, the diet boils down to something pretty innocuous: not eating anything fiddled with.

So, no grains, no additives, no sugar, no grain-fed meat, no mucked-around-with fat-reduced dairy.

And instead the unadulterated foods of our ice-age forebears. The subsequent claim is that doing so makes us healthier, thinner and live longer, a claim I had to test for myself.

Ever come across Yasmin Boland‘s astrological insights? The other day she wrote about how things right now are primed for quitting sugar. Or, more to the point, right now we can’t tolerate sugar….we’re all wanting to quit. Which would explain why a few of you have quite liked my  I Quit Sugar ebook. Which, by the way, is still $15. You can catch up on the health changes and weight loss others have experienced here.

photo via browneyedbellejulie.blogspot.com

So. Yasmin very kindly offered to explain the deal… it’s fun and weird and got me thinking in different directions. I thought you’d like to know about it, too. Basically, Yasmin reckons we are in the biggest Smash Sugar Forever cycle that we’ve been in for 30 years, which is the length of one Saturn cycle. And Saturn is the planet of wisdom and hard facts and truths.
I’ve asked Yasmin to share a little more:

“In astrology, every planet represents certain qualities or parts of life. Saturn is about teaching and wisdom among other things. Saturn is the mean old headmaster and the strict parent, as well as the representative of the truth in the horoscope. Right now it is in the sign of sweetness Libra. Just as with the planets, each sign governs certain parts of life. Libra is about balance and harmony, art and luxury. And sweetness, including anything made of sugar.

If you’re wondering how these classifications came about, the short answer is that astrologers have observed the movements of the planets for literally thousands of years and noted what happens when and how it coincides with events on the planet and in peoples’ lives. This is Astrology 101. If you want to know more, delve into Secrets From A Stargazer’s Notebook by the awesome Debbi Kempton-Smith.

This Saturn in Libra transit continues until October 2012. (If you happen to be a Libran, now you know why the past couple of years have been so intense! The harder you work between now until October next year, the easier the rest of this Saturn in Libra transit will be).

So if you take the keywords for Saturn and Libra, it’s easy to see that Sarah really has tapped into the skies.

We are all learning (Saturn is all about learning) the truth (Saturn is all about truth) about sugar (Libra is all about sugar) and it’s not pretty (Libra is all about All Things Pretty).

The truth about sugar is coming out. I’ve even read that sugar is more addictive than crack. People who give it up say they feel amazing. It’s everywhere and it’s hard to kick. However since I found out that the food industry actually puts sugar into our foods as a way of hooking us, it’s become a little easier to just say no.