MSNBC Double Whammy

Today MSNBC aired a segment with Dr. Robert Lustig, whom I have mentioned before in this blog.  Dr. Lustig is a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California San Francisco, where he is Professor of Clinical Pediatrics.  He is known for his statements about sugar and toxicity.  The interview is a must-hear: Fighting Sugar Addiction.  When you arrive at the link, you will need to scroll down in the left column to select the segment with Dr. Lustig -- Fighting Sugar Addiction.

It has been well over one year since I began my own experiment with sugar.  I had the opportunity to see in a very direct and dramatic way the effect of eliminating sugar from my diet -- not just added sugar and sweets but the much more insidious sugars that unfortunately permeate commercial foods.

I have always been health oriented and have paid attention to my diet, but I had gotten a little lazy.  One week after eliminating all sugar from my diet, all aching which I had attributed to arthritis was gone.  You might say this experience was coincidental or even wishful, but my blood work suggested there might be more to the story  My blood glucose went from high to well within the normal range.  At the time, my overall cholesterol dropped significantly.  HDL, which had been consistently lower than the desired 50, shot up.  My LDL dropped, and my triglycerides dropped.  Over a period of a very few short weeks, I lost 15 pounds.  I was convinced.  Now in my second winter, I have continued to avoid my yearly winter weight increase.  My results from this single change in my diet were quick and dramatic.

Well into my experiment, I happened to come across a reference to Dr. Lustig.  I did a little internet research and read his articles and viewed videos of him teaching a class of medical students.  I believe we will hear more about Dr. Lustig and his ideas with regard to sugar -- and I believe we will hear from more and more medical professionals and researchers on this topic as research continues to find direct links between sugar, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer's/dementia and some forms of cancer.

Dr. Lustig just completed a book, Fat Chance, which I am going to pick up.  People in my weight loss groups will have the opportunity to purchase the book at Read Between the Lynes with a 20% discount.

Since I began my own sugar project, I lost a brother-in-law to pancreatic cancer.  Another close relationship, who happens to be significantly overweight, has developed breast cancer.  A third was just informed he has stomach cancer.  As I mentioned, my passion for health, and in particular health as influenced by what we eat, was generated 45 years ago when my grandmother died of colon cancer.

I believe all of these preventable diseases are "foodborne illnesses," and my passion for eliminating sugar and, in particular, the sugar in commercial foods from my diet has deepened.  According to Dr. Lustig, the sugar in commercial foods is responsible for fully 50% of the weight gain represented in the obesity epidemic.  More importantly, it is associated with metabolic syndrome, the precursor of many of the diseases that plague us today.  Yes, I think we will hear more about this.