Dr Lustig says we (the Americans) are. Listen to him at about 49:15 minute. He takes the average population data (275 kcal over consumption per capita per day) and applies it to all Americans. He also used the statement of the American Heart Association paper, to which he contributed by the way, that there is a sugar problem.
I do not deny that there is a problem with excess sugar in the U.S. and other countries worldwide.
What I am saying is that we are NOT ALL addicted to sugar. Definitely not me. As I mentioned elsewhere, I may be "addicted" to fruits, but also to fresh vegetables which make me feel great and keep me healthy. You will hardly find sweets in my house except of an odd 70% and above dark chocolate. One bar is there, it has been there untouched for over a month. I do tend to add a little honey into my peanut butter sandwich, but not always. And this peanut butter contains no more than 1% of added sugar. Full stop. I even find an apple sometimes so sweet that I do not enjoy it as much and I often give out an over ripen banana because I just do not like it for its intensive flavor. Once I stopped at a cafe (I think it was called American, what an irony) and ordered a BBQ chicken with a lettuce salad and some vegetables. I expected a true barbecued chicken meat. Instead I received some meat covered with sticky BBQ sauce. That sauce was so bloody sweet it ruined the whole meal. So what addiction to sugar is this?
Regarding the drinks, I mostly drink clean filtered tap water during the day, some fruit or herbal infusion and I only sweeten an occasional black tea with added lemon juice because I grew up on it and I like it that way. One Splenda into my morning coffee is just right - because I do not want to mess up with my insulin straight in the morning - by glucose found in the sugar, not fructose. By controlling my diet I managed to lose 9 kilos over the past 4 years, steadily, without a drastic dieting or yo-yoing and I am in a healthy BMI range now. This happened while still living in London, while attending a university and spending hours and hours in front of the computer, hence not doing much exercise. Should I have been more active, the weight loss could have been bigger.
So why Dr Lustig keeps saying we are all addicted to sugar? There are many people like me and we balance the statistics of people really hooked on unhealthy food in general (fatty, rich, processed) who are over consuming by even thousands calories a day. That is what the average 275 extra calories represent - the AVERAGE, not that each one of us is consuming this amount of extra calories.
I know Dr Lustig knows this as well. But he just keeps saying the nonsense again and again:
"We cannot eat moderately because it is being abused, we are all addicted."
The truth is that while many really struggle in this obesogenic environment and cannot resist the junk food of all sorts (not just sugar), others just cannot be bothered to do something better for them. In contrast to these, there are armies of health conscious Americans who manage to be fit, avoiding junk food and feed their bodies with the right stuff in the right amounts. Do those who CAN moderate their food intake live on a different planed or something? Am I?
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