The average American consumes ninety-three pounds of sweeteners a year. Gary Taubes (Harvard BS 1977 and Stanford MS 1978) in his book ‘Good Calories, Bad Calories,’ says that certain carbohydrates in our diet are responsible for heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer. He claims white flour, sugar, and easily digested starches like high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) via their dramatic and long term effects on insulin, need to be greatly reduced in our diets. He feels meats, fats, and eggs have been unfairly blamed for our health problems. Taubes also challenges the quality of the science and conclusions that have been used as the basis for our government’s interpretation of what a healthy diet should be. Over the last forty years, American consumption of HCFS has increased 380%. The soft drink industry is the largest user of HCFS in the U.S.
Therefore, our lesson is that eating the recommended daily intake of 65 grams of fat while watching your intake of simple sugars such as sucrose and high fructose corn syrups can help you maintain a healthy weight most efficiently and aids in protecting you from the aforementioned diseases. That means we must be actively avoiding sodas, our daily Starbucks, energy drinks, and candy in excessive amounts.
