What to Eat Wednesday #4

Sugar?

For this What to Eat Wednesday -- I'm doing things a little differently.  Instead of listing what to eat, I'm posing the question:

Should we be eating Sugar?

I recently watched the film Fed Up -- a documentary on Netflix about the U.S.'s obesity epidemic.  The 2014 film argues the following:

• Obesity is an epidemic that affect the whole world, not just the U.S.
• Obesity is coming for our kids
• Obesity has been caused by the increased sugar consumption
• The food industry is hiding sugar in all our food and then lobbies to prevent regulation -- basically the food industry is bad news bears...
• The government is bad news bears because they should be doing more to control the food industry

When reacting to a film like this, I have to remind myself that there are two sides to every story -- and then there's the truth somewhere in the middle.  This is a perfect example of one of those sides, in an extreme example.

I found a lot of the movie's claims interesting and appauling (if they are true, oh boy -- bad news bears for sure!).  I do worry that the film's message isn't entirely "balanced" -- and the idea of cutting out all sugar from one's diet isn't exactly a good idea.

Do I eat sugar?

For a runner -- like myself -- I need sugars (usually in the form of complex carbohydrates) in order to fuel my runs.  During my half marathon trainings, I would bring honey and jam sandwiches with me to fuel while running.  THose things were LOADED with sugar.  Because I was expelling energy so rapidly, I needed a way to refill my stores just as rapidly.  Thank you sugar!  For helping me reach my goals without hitting a wall!

So what's the problem??

The problem comes when I'm paying as close attention to what I'm eating... I don't monitor my portions, balance my macronutrients, and ensure I'm eating my veggies!  This is when the scale creeps up and I start to feel lousy!

What do you think about sugar?  

 Is it a villain in your world?  

Do you avoid eating it?

 Have you see this film?  I double dog dare you to watch it!!