Not All Calories Are Equal

In 2013 the Coca Cola Company stated “Beating obesity will take action by all of us based on one simple common sense fact: All calories count, no matter where they come from. Whether it’s cheesecake, carrots, nuts, an apple or from Coca Cola, all calories are equal. If you eat more than you burn you gain weight, if you burn more than you eat you lose weight

What is a calorie- A calorie is a simple unit of energy and considered a measurement.  A calorie is the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water through 1 degree C, equal to 1000 small calories and often used to raise the energy value of foods.

In 2015, Dr Robert Lustig set out to prove this fact wrong at his conference “Is a calorie a calorie, food experiment gone wrong” at Stanford University. Dr Robert Lustig is a pediatric endocrinologist and so much more

In 1957 a gentleman by the name of John Yudkin, a British Physiologist, stated his first warning about sugar. He wrote that sugar consumption was a factor in the development of conditions such as dental issues, obesity, diabetes and heart attack. His findings were brushed aside.

In 1964 after performing some cultural studies, he wrote “In wealthier countries there is evidence that sugar and sugar containing foods contribute to several diseases”

You don’t know it, but we were all a part of a food experiment gone wrong and it spanned fifty years. Beginning in 1965 when the first ultra processed marketed fast food was introduced into the market. The Swanson TV dinner. It was meant to liberate woman from the kitchen and it has.

In 1967, John Yudkin a British physiologist suggested that excessive consumption of sugar might result in a disturbance in the secretion of insulin and could also contribute to heart disease and Diabetes.

It was in 1970 Ansel Keys, an American Nutritionist, concluded that dietary fat was to blame for high serum cholesterol and thus far heart attacks. John Yudkin disagreed naming sugar, especially fructose as the cause of heart disease, cavities, obesity, liver disease and some forms of cancer. Keys and his advocates quickly attacked Yudkin. Keys eventually won. 

In 1972 Yudkin published the book “Pure White and Deadly”. The last paragraph of chapter 1 begins “I hope that when you have read this book, I shall have convinced you that sugar is really dangerous.

In fear of losing profits the Sugar Industry worked hard to hide what the FDA was learning about sugar. They worked so hard they hired a Public Relations firm to launch a huge campaign to influence consumers that sugar was good, told to keep it not quite clear that sugar causes disease.

This campaign was so good, the firm won an award for their ability to hide the truth about sugar from the consumer.  

“No confirmed scientific evidence links sugar to death-dealing diseases” J.W.Tatum Jr. Presidents Report, Sugar Association October, 14, 1976

In 1977- The Government states all Americans should eat less fat

By the 1980’s we enter the low-fat food craze, where fats are replaced with whatever carbs.

Society is now convinced sugar isn’t that bad after all it’s natural, tastes good and it gives you a burst of energy. We also live in a world that if you are fat it’s your fault… not so much.

The food industry successfully manufactured a huge market for its own processed foods, which contained little saturated fat and lots of sugar.

Can anyone name an energy source that has absolutely no function in the body? We really like it a lot even knowing it is toxic in high doses. It is an energy source; it is not nutrition, yet we love it and its toxic.  It’s alcohol.

Now you wouldn’t think twice about not giving your kids a Budweiser, but you rarely think twice about giving your kid a can of coke.

Sugar processes in the liver the same as alcohol does except 20% of alcohol is processed in the brain. Fructose is exclusively processed by the liver and carries no nutritional value to the body. Too much fructose in the way of soda, energy drinks or fruit juice and the liver turns the fructose into fat. If the liver can’t rid of it fast enough the fat builds up in the liver and can lead to non alcoholic fatty liver disease, diabetes and/or heart disease.

If you eat a handful of almond equal to 160 calories, the food is not going to be absorbed immediately because of the fiber it takes time to digest as your blood sugar rises and then lowers, those almonds are going to sit in the liver longer and metabolize slowly.

A soft drink has no fiber, so it gets absorbed immediately and turns into fat. When the fructose enters the liver your blood sugar rises and you get that sugar rush, your liver has no choice but to turn it into fat.

We are not eating more fat, but we are consuming more carbs from sugar, especially the liquid kind. In 1995 kids consumption of soda was up 41% from 1991 and fruit juice was up 35%. Children are getting the diseases of alcohol consumption from sugar without consuming alcohol. 

Does anyone realize that up until 1953 exercise was considered taboo? In his early studies Dr Jean Mayer a French physiologist reported that large lab mice ate the same amount of food as the small but not as active. Conclusion, you must be active to lose weight. 

Eat less and exercise more is what we are taught.

Energy balance is not the answer. 1 20oz coke takes 1 hour 15 min of biking to burn, 1 cookie- 20 minutes of jogging. 1 med fry is 1 hr 20 min swimming. We cannot exercise our way out.

In 1982 our meat consumption was 31.3% in 2012 21.% down 10%, when you compare vegetable and fruit consumption we are eating the same. The amount of sugar and processed foods we consume have doubled. In 1982 11.6%, 2012- 22.9%. The way we eat has changed. Our perception of what it is to eat healthy is warped.

Some calories cause disease more than others, as taught to Dr Robert Lustig when he studied nutritional biochemistry, different calories are metabolized differently. A calorie is not a calorie. He later attended medical school where he was untaught everything he learned. Dr Robert Lustig is an American pediatric endocrinologist and so much more. 

Fast-forward to 2015 and the data from the food experiment begun to come in. The processed food that is available has multiplied by the thousands. Our diet has uniformly changed over the last 50 plus years. Currently 74% of the food available to you in the grocery store is laced with sugar and we are now purchasing double the amount we were in the 80’s.

Even the media has us believing a fast food meal for 4 is cheaper than a home cooked meal. If you are trying to imitate those chefs on TV it can cost more to cook at home, but a home cooked meal, no.

We are normal human beings living in a society that pushes calories and sugar upon us. Most everywhere you go some form of sugar is available for you to eat.

The government is subsidizing the sugar industry. We need to stop blaming fat people. There are plenty of people out there who are thin on the outside yet fat on the inside. People are being sold a belief system.

Everything John Yudkin claimed in his book is coming up again and being proven as true. Decades later he is finally having his say.

Type 2 diabetes is at an all time high among kids under 10.  Obesity rates are climbing globally, USA not even being the worst. Saudi Arabia and Mexico take the lead. We are killing our own by having so much food available and not enough tools out there to support it. It is estimated that 20% of Americans have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

In a food study done in various countries based on 150 of calories eaten each country, risked diabetes by .1%. But if those same countries were to drink soda the risk increases 11 times to 1.1%.

Currently on average per person we are consuming 38.6 pounds of sugar per year from sugar drinks and added sugars. 

I know this sounds harsh, but in high doses sugar is toxic. Sugar is the alcohol of the child. Sugar is the cigarettes of the 21^stcentury and not all calories are created equal.