Sugar Blues

John Pickard · 03-19-2015, 10:54 PM

Has anyone else read this book, written by William Dufty?

OK, that may be a dumb question, given where I'm asking that question, but let me just say this - if you haven't, I can pretty much guarantee that once you do you will never think of sugar in the same way again.

Here's the Amazon.com link - but if you have a local bookstore you like, check there, too (I got mine through my favorite brick-and-mortar store).

https://www.amazon.com/Sugar-Blues-Wi...+william+dufty

John

sarah c. · 09-28-2015, 03:29 PM

Sugar can be a terrible depressant too.
I saw a nutritionist years ago that altered my
entire diet. And I never ate excess sugar. It was simply
already IN the food I ate. It was kind of scary.
(I mean pretending to be happy all the time is exhausting enough WITHOUT sugar...

)

Ludlum'sDaughter14 · 09-13-2016, 12:47 PM

Read the book for the first time this summer, and I think I might read it again! It was actually the "last straw" that convinced me I needed to drastically change the way I ate.

Also just ran across this online article from the NY Times published yesterday:

How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR
SEPTEMBER 12, 2016

"The sugar industry paid scientists in the 1960s to play down the link between sugar and heart disease and promote saturated fat as the culprit instead, newly released historical documents show.

The internal sugar industry documents, recently discovered by a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, and published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, suggest that five decades of research into the role of nutrition and heart disease, including many of today’s dietary recommendations, may have been largely shaped by the sugar industry...."

The rest of the article can be found here: https://nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/e...me-to-fat.html

It seems the truth is finally becoming widely recognized.

ojai22 · 09-13-2016, 03:49 PM

I've read the book, too, and was shocked at what I learned.

Here's an example of the sugar thing, Ludlum'sDaughter:

https://www.dirkbenedictcentral.com/f...7&postcount=10

It sounds like an addiction. People are certainly drinking this stuff. Paying for their own sickness and death.

Ludlum'sDaughter14 · 09-13-2016, 05:08 PM

It's scary... so many of my college friends drink Starbucks on a regular basis (thankfully I never could tolerate the caffeine so I never got addicted to coffee). I hope people keep getting the truth out there about what we've been doing to ourselves. As with any addiction, people probably won't want to come off until they're undeniably convinced they're killing themselves (sometimes, not even then). Ignorance and unquestioning conformity are deadly mistakes most of our society makes on a daily basis.

ojai22 · 09-13-2016, 07:56 PM

So true - there are so many people that won't
change their habits for anything. They've settled
into a complacent hole and don't want to be
disturbed. But that, too, is in large part due to
what they've been eating, drinking and breathing
all their lives. Some don't care. And some still
think you can trust politicians and greedy people;
they can't believe that anyone would do bad things
to us. After all, they have our best interest at heart.
Bullshit.

I seem to be on a roll today. Think I should stop,
have a bowl of rice and a cup of tea.

Flygirl · 01-05-2017, 04:37 PM

I never had read this book (even after reading CKC). Just ordered it from Amazon.

Flygirl · 08-30-2017, 06:17 PM

I actually finished this a long time ago, and didn't realize I hadn't left a review, but there's nothing I'd say that hasn't been said... I expected the lecture, honestly, but the book was surprisingly more disturbing than I imagined. Definitely worth recommending to someone you think could use it. Unfortunately the people in my life who could use it... well, they enjoy their blissful ignorance.

But I think this is a relevant thought...

If food labels looked like this, do you think people would change their eating habits??

Vballspieler · 08-30-2017, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flyngirl5

I actually finished this a long time ago, and didn't realize I hadn't left a review, but there's nothing I'd say that hasn't been said... I expected the lecture, honestly, but the book was surprisingly more disturbing than I imagined. Definitely worth recommending to someone you think could use it. Unfortunately the people in my life who could use it... well, they enjoy their blissful ignorance.

But I think this is a relevant thought...

If food labels looked like this, do you think people would change their eating habits??

No, they wouldn't because that doesn't look very appetizing. But, people won't listen and really prefer their ignorant bliss.

LittleMonkeyDog · 08-31-2017, 04:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vballspieler

No, they wouldn't because that doesn't look very appetizing. But, people won't listen and really prefer their ignorant bliss.

I also came to realize while talking to people about healthy food and MB that some just don't pay attention and don't listen.

Ludlum'sDaughter14 · 09-01-2017, 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LittleMonkeyDog

I also came to realize while talking to people about healthy food and MB that some just don't pay attention and don't listen.

Yep. In most cases you can't help other people against their will. An unfortunate and frustrating truth.

I really need to read Sugar Blues again. It's been a while, and I think I'd understand and enjoy it even more now. If and when I pick it up again, I'll try to add my thoughts to this thread.

For the record, I'm currently (i.e., as of this week) developing my approach to eating to help me follow macrobiotic principles. It's going to look more like a funnel process than a straight line, but it's what I think will work, as opposed to banging my head against circumstances I can't change. I'm not posting all of it in the threads since it feels a little too personal for that, but if you're interested in what I've been doing so far, it's on my blog starting with the post "You Must Begin at the Beginning." If you want to read my despairing, cathartic rant from the night before on why going macrobiotic (and a few other things) would be impossible, that's the one called "My Excuse for Being Delinquent." Warning: It was really cathartic.

It is amazing the energy swings sugar can cause. I noticed a huge difference when I stopped eating breakfast cereal in the morning - even the "healthier" kinds. Before, I was always sleepy shortly after breakfast. Now, with brown rice cakes or whole wheat bagels/toast, my energy takes me to lunch on most days.

Flygirl · 09-02-2017, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ludlum'sDaughter14

For the record, I'm currently (i.e., as of this week) developing my approach to eating to help me follow macrobiotic principles. It's going to look more like a funnel process than a straight line, but it's what I think will work, as opposed to banging my head against circumstances I can't change. I'm not posting all of it in the threads since it feels a little too personal for that, but if you're interested in what I've been doing so far, it's on my blog starting with the post "You Must Begin at the Beginning." If you want to read my despairing, cathartic rant from the night before on why going macrobiotic (and a few other things) would be impossible, that's the one called "My Excuse for Being Delinquent." Warning: It was really cathartic.

It is amazing the energy swings sugar can cause. I noticed a huge difference when I stopped eating breakfast cereal in the morning - even the "healthier" kinds. Before, I was always sleepy shortly after breakfast. Now, with brown rice cakes or whole wheat bagels/toast, my energy takes me to lunch on most days.

I'm really enjoying your diet blogs.

And I had exactly the same experience when I changed my breakfasts! My mom - who was not at all aware of MB or plant-based eating - always used to say that oatmeal was the best breakfast, because it "sticks to your bones", staying with you for a while and boosting your energy in the morning when you need it most. True story.

A pop-tart just doesn't do it. And you wind up crashing hard, instead of gradually feeling hungry again. Whole grains give you a much more natural "full" feeling.

Sassy Devil · 03-22-2018, 07:45 PM

Sugar is my weakness. I was raised on it. My parents gave me sugar almost anytime I wanted it. I drank several Pepsi Colas a day. I'm trying to stop. I don't plan on giving it up 100%, but I want to as close as possible. Problem is, I'm not a big fan of vegetables. I don't want to die young, and I have to lose the weight, but it's hard to change when you've been eating the same types of foods all your life. My diet has changed throughout my life, and I'm eating less sugar these days, but I have OCD, and that affects my diet, too.