The Bitter Truth about the Sweet Stuff

First thing’s first (as opposed to ‘first thing’ being second?), I don’t claim to be all too informed about the ins and out of the human body. Biology is by far my least favourite science (even though my teacher this year is kinda funny and I’m pretty sure I’m absolutely smashing it)…but I know these two things, (thanks to the mighty education of television); “there’s nothing healthy about a tan” and there’s nothing sweet about sugar.

Sugar, It’s really bad for you. (shock horror) It’s not so much that I actually care because it doesn’t stop me and it probably doesn’t stop you either when those woolies mud cakes come out to play right?, but I think it’s interesting how we think we know what’s good for us. Let me tell you, we don’t. I watched “That Sugar Film” last night again to recap for writing this…so yeah, I know sugars bad from me…who doesn’t? But I didn’t know enough to have actually retained the information in that movie after my first few times watching it. Sooo I guess, here’s the rundown for you guys;

There are heeeaaps of different kinds of sugars, but only two are bad for you. You’ve got the really obvious kind- the kind you put in your coffee or tea or water if for some reason you don’t know how to live…and then you’ve got fructose. That’s the stuff that they put in everything- and who actually knows what it is? not meeeee! But yeah, freaky sneaky fructose gets in everywhere nowadays (i say like a seasoned old health teacher who’s goal was to be an Olympic athlete and now I’m just teaching kids about stuff that they definitely already know to give the dumb kids an easy A).

But honestly, the only safe food is the stuff you grow yourself. Basically the less processed the better. Obviously, we need sugar. That’s why things with high levels of glucose are sweet. So that our ancestors knew what they could and couldn’t and should and shouldn’t eat. that’s why we crave it. The problem with fructose, of course, is that we crave it, we essentially overdose and then on the down slope we feel the full effects of malnourishment and withdrawal, and eventually, our minds become dependent on it.

We go through literal drug cycles, some scientists claiming that the effects are worst than those of cocaine. It’s responsible for western world health epidemics from anxiety and depression to self-image issues and their results, to general stupidity, the inability to focus in class, to dental issues to obesity to diabetes and cancer and a lot of unnecessary acne. And you’d never know if no one told you because they hide them in everything. And call them fancy sweet sounding names…

Okay but even then, fructose isn’t even the problem. Fructose is in everything we are supposed to be eating. The golden rule in not only food but in life, in general, is that everything is good in moderation. We find it a lot in fruit because the sweetness was biologically useful in that the sweetness helped us know what we were could eat when we were scampering around grabbing nature’s berries and trying not to die. But we just take the sweetness and throw out all the fibre, the stuff that makes us actually full and nourished. And then we zero in on the little bit of fructose and concentrate it and put it in everything. I mean everything.

Ok, not everything. they don’t put it in Brussel Sprouts obviously (I started this article overestimating my actual knowledge and interest in the topic but here we are okay?)

…and on that note,