Sugar
I’ve been working hard on my doctoral thesis. I only went to crossfit once this week, but have procrastinated by reading all sorts of information on lifting and the evils of sugar.
Moving from sugar has been alright. My father wasn’t a sugar addict. My mother used sugar in traditional desserts and high quality chocolate. I didn’t consume much sugar, as High Fructose Corn Syrup became as ubiquitous as it is now. So making these changes hasn’t been psychologically challenging.
I do think we are all potentially addicts. Today I had sodabread and coffeecake offered to me for breakfast. I chose the fruit salad. And later, a neighbor said, “You’ve lost a lot of weight.”
Matt Baldwin and Mark Smith pointed me to the video by Robert Lustig:
It pointed out how fructose was responsible for numerous health problems.
I thought Maple Syrup and Honey are, actually, glucose (but apparently they also have fructose as well). Lustig points out that fruits are our way of getting fiber. Sugar kills the liver, without the buzz of alcohol.
Still, I’ve been good about staying away from most sugars, unless its giving me a lot of fiber.
Old Stone Epicurean 
That video is about fructose. Glucose is really ok – its fructose that isn’t. Maple syrup and honey are the same as sucrose – half glucose and half fructose – which is bad because half is a lot of fructose. You can buy dextrose, which is all glucose and that’s a lot better, but its not quite as sweet. Still it has 0 fructose which is the evil that Lustig is talking about.
Glucose and Dextrose may not be toxic, like Fructose, but all refined carbs causes a robust insulin response and can potentially impede lipolysis or contribute to unwanted weight gain, trigger systemic inflammation, or encourage metabolic derangement. There’s no getting around it: carbs need to be consumed in moderation, and should come from unrefined and/or low density sources.
No doubt they cause a robust insulin response. Some people believe that this is ok because the insulin response is temporary and what really causes problems is chronically eleveated insulin caused by insulin resistance. Insulin levels fall within a reasonable amount of time in a person who is not insulin resistant. What is counter-intuitive is that glucose (and starch by extension) does not contribute to insulin resistance. Fructose is actually much lower on the glycemic index than glucose and doesn’t cause as rapid an insulin response but it contributes to insulin resistance in a way that glucose doesn’t and in the long run that is much more fattening because it causes permanently elevated insulin levels instead of just temporarily elevated insulin levels. I don’t know if this matter has been completely settled though.
I corrected the statement about honey, maple syrup and fructose.
I’ve been pretty good. Tonight I made a chicken dish over broccoli and sweet potatoes. I did have a couple glasses of wine. But by and large, that’s the only toxic sugar I’ve been consuming.