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The Skinny on Sugar (or a clever oxymoron for you.)

We are a nation of fat people. I went back to a highschool reunion in Western Pennsylvania not too long ago and noted with great satisfaction that I, in my size 8, was the tiny, svelte one of the crowd. I was also thrilled to note with a great sense of schadenfreude that the cheerleading contingent (of which I was not part - but I have had lots of therapy and it no longer matters. Much.) were all really heavy except for one very skinny woman who came up from Florida and who appeared to be psychotic due perhaps to the amphetamines she was taking. My highschool boyfriend was waddlingly obese and seemed to be proud of it, as was his equally obese wife who laughingly (but did I detect a note of ruefulness?) said they watched TV every night with bowlsfull of M&M's and microwaved buttered popcorn.

I am not a fattist, folks. That is, I am not pronouncing any moral judgment on weight and I hope that I am not coming across that way. I just want every single one of you to have a wonderful life feeling grounded in a healthy body that works for you. We were meant to move easily, freely, joyfully and exuberantly and as the pounds go up, this god-given right is taken away from us.

We were all horribly mislead - what? Maybe 20 years ago? - by the generation of "'nutritionists" who decided that the American people were eating too much fat. Oddly, this coincided with the "invention" of statin drugs and the arbitrary lowering of what was considered to be a safe cholesterol level from 300 to now way under 200. This also ushered in the Fat Free generation.

Slowly but surely, we started noticing that everyone was getting fatter. With sickening regularity, children were being diagnosed with Type II diabetes (heretofore a disorder of older adults). A new syndrome called The Metabolic Syndrome (HBP, elevated glucose levels, obesity and insulin resistance) was coined to describe the results of eating all the sugar which replaced all the fat in the fat-free foods which we were told to eat by trusted higher-ups who said we would then be healthier!

This is perhaps the biggest bridge ever sold to the trusting American public. Because when you take out the fat and you add the sugar you are a hell of a lot worse off than before.

Listen, here's a confession: Yes, I even bought into the whole "reduce fat" thing for awhile and scrupulously avoided all fat, increasing my consumption of fat-free foods and refined carbs and artificial sweeteners. The end result was I felt terrible, was fatigued, I couldn't think very well, I was depressed, I gained 15 pounds and my triglycerides shot up to 700! Then a lifesaving chiropractor friend - who had lost 75 pounds - directed me towards the Atkins Diet and I got my body back on track again and have never looked back.

So, if you are heavier than you would like to be, the first thing you have to do is to make the decision that you want MORE: Freedom, health, joy. Then secondly, start losing weight by controlling your intake of all the "empty calories" like alcohol, refined carbohydrates and all the gooey white stuff that is so appealing like bread, cereal, cookies and pastries. (Oh, lose the M&M's and popcorn, too.)

As far as I am concerned there are only two allowable sweeteners: Stevia and Xylitol. All the rest are marginal due to glycemic index, taste, insulin resistance. And when we get into the artificial sweeteners like Nutrasweet (blue pack), Splenda (yellow pack) and Sweet 'N Low (pink pack), we arrive in a murky land filled with neurotoxic disorders like brain tumors, ADHD, depression, Alzheimers, chronic headaches, and prob. a hundred other symptoms and disorders. Obviously, you will want to avoid these fake sweeteners.

When you start reading labels, (and I wish you would ), here are some sugars that you may encounter: I will start with all the "oses" and the "tols."

Fructose: Not that good for you. Raises triglyceride and LDL levels and uric acid levels and is usually made from corn which many people are sensitive to. It is highly refined (unless you eat the unadulterated fruit itself) and highly sweet. Despite all the bad stuff just mentioned, it scores low on the glycemic index, but I would still avoid it since it is a "fast" absorbed sugar and can overwhelm liver enzymes.

Sucrose: White refined table sugar. Causes cavities. Tastes great. We are all addicted. Bah Humbug.

Glucose: Another baddie. High glycemic index, causes cavities. Another fast sugar. Stay away.

Tagatose: A new sugar substitute. Great flavor. High cost and not readily available yet.

Mannose: Not very sweet, very expensive, can help with bladder infections and reduce the need for antibiotics. I have d-mannose in my office and often find it useful in bladder infections.

Galactose: In G-Push, a new energy drink. Low sweetness, and not that good for you either.

Ribose: Expensive, supplies energy, and good for anabolism. Good for cardiac patients.

Sucralose: The real name of our nemesis, Splenda! Mannitol: Used for dusting chewing gum. Not too bad for you. Can cause diarrhea.

Sorbitol: Used in toothpaste, low sweetness, can cause gas and diarrhea.

Isomalt: Ideal for hard candies. Not too bad for you.

Maltitol: You'll find this everywhere. Good flavor and sweetness. Can cause diarrhea. Not a lot is known about this sugar.

Erythritol: Nearly zero glycemic index, calories and well tolerated. May taste funky, though.

Some Sugars you may find in the health food store and think are A-OK. Mostly, they're not.

Agave: Some people think this is fine, because it has a low glycemic index, but I'm not so sure. True, it is a natural fructose and dextrose sweetener from the juice of the cactus plant, but fructose tends to raise triglyceride levels, so watch out. And the calories of agave match those of sugar, so if you want to lose weight, don't go there.

Dehydrated Cane-Juice Crystals, other wise known as Sucanat: It has nutrients because it hasn't been refined, but it can raise the insulin levels, make you fat and it's not the "good guy" that some make it out to be.

Honey: Yes, it's natural, but it is sweeter, has more calories, and raises blood sugar even more than white sugar.

Maple Syrup: A pal of honey. Use this also if you want to cook with something sweet. Yes, it is natural and has a full complement of minerals (esp. rich in potassium and calcium), but is will raise the glycemic index and keep that sugar craving going.

Strange things like rice syrup, rice amasake, barley malt, and sorgheum are made by fermenting the grains from which they came. These are better for you than some, not very sweet and are darlings of the macrobiotic and vegetarian community.

Fruit Juice and Fruit Juice Concentrates: The devil disguised as a healthy face. You will find these in a lot of health food products including all the health food bars that people are snacking on nowadays. Even if your bar says self-important things like POWER- HEALTH- ENERGY BAR and it has the fruit juice sweetener, it's not that great for you. These sweeteners quickly flood your bloodstream with sugar, then cause that fast free-fall into hypoglycemia-land where, all of a sudden, you will feel weak and dizzy and will find yourself reaching for another "health" bar to start the sugar fix process all over again. Lastly, my two favorites:

Xylitol: Made from birch and sometimes (not as good but much cheaper) from corn. Hardly any glycemic index, decreases bacterial adherence, inhibits tooth decay and is a reduced calorie product. If you must sweeten, try this although it does have some calories. I have discovered gum made with xylitol which is pretty good. I use xylitol in my tea in the morning and Whole Foods is offering xylitol now as a sweetener in their coffee bar. You can also buy it in little packets and carry them around with you. When it's available, choose xylitol.

Stevia: My number one favorite. It's kind of a "free" eat-all-you-want sugar to me, sort of like a salad which is a "free" eat-all-you-want food for me. No calories, no glycemic index, very sweet. Stevia is actually an herb and is sold in the supplement section of your health food store. The one with the least after taste is called Stevia Clear. Stevia is 200-300 times sweeter than sugar, so be careful! Start slowly, drop by drop, to sweeten stuff. It's not all that good in hot drinks and will not interact with yeast to raise breads. But I use it to sweeten smoothies and other, mostly cold, things.

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