That Sugar Film

It's pretty funny that right after watching this film, I of course found a Slate article calling it a "stupid movie" with bad science given by a panel of "charlatans and cranks." Most of this stuff in the film we all kind of know already, so it's pretty absurd how the author of this Slate piece continues the exact same BS (proven fraud) that began with The Sugar Papers.Never heard of The Sugar Papers?Google "The Sugar Papers." That tells you everything you need to know that these sort of articles (like Slate's hit piece) are just more BS in a long line of BS. Just as it says in the film, the sugar industry's job was to make sure there is no consensus about sugar in order to stay profitable. If that isn't enough, check out the award-winning documentary The Century of the Self about the origins of Public Relations and the blatant war businesses fought with the US government to win the right to lie to the American people. It's fascinating and it shows this is also the origin of when people stopped trusting the government (spoiler: part of the PR tactic to fight the government trying to regulate their lies was actually lying to the American people about the government in all the papers and tv, making them look like the bad guy for going after private enterprises who were doing nothing wrong. Our government was not prepared for that and it actually worked so well that now our government itself is run by these big businesses. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Propaganda was officially legalized in USA with the NDAA in 2012, btw.)At this point, anyone who believes industry-funded science which just happens to exonerate a suspect industry is a moron. There is a known peer-review problem in the scientific community and we have a decades-long history of proof that industry-funded scientists lied and our government experts lied (again: Google "The Sugar Papers"). And if they didn't intentionally lie, we have also seen that they are often just plain wrong, but this is revealed to consumers after they've been following this bad advice for 20 or 30 years of their lives already.The film is definitely worth watching, although it's padded with some fluff to make it feature length. If they took out a half hour of fluff and replaced it with more scientific facts and details, that would have been money better spent than all the fancy graphics in the movie. But, people watch movies like this to be entertained, so maybe I'm wrong. I deducted 1 star for some cutesy stuff that I didn't find entertaining, just a waste of time.There are always going to be those Slate-reading types who tow party lines and beep their status quo funny clown noses as they spew more uninformed BS like you find in the Slate article...but, for anyone who has just come back from the doctor and learned they have "metabolic syndrome," take sugar off your diet and watch how fast that reverses. It is exactly what you see in the movie and it works every time. Hang out on AIP forums and you will see 100% success rate with people who dumped 30+ pounds of visceral fat and reversed course away from diabetes, fatty liver, etc. simply be cutting sugar out of their diet (that includes carbs that just immediately turn into sugar, which is not only the obvious like bread, pasta, and fries, but also supposedly "healthy" foods as shown in this film).The guy in this movie ends up exactly where I was 4 months ago. Cutting sugar out of my diet, I lost 30 pounds in about 3 months and have simply kept it off, feeling great, no mood swings or trouble concentrating, just like it shows in the movie. I actually did the same thing about 10 years ago, but I slowly slipped back to my old ways because it's just too easy to eat unhealthy even when you're trying to be healthy. You basically have to prepare all your own meals and when you go out, you will quickly see that restaurants and prepackaged foods are heavy on carbs and sugar.Anyone can prove this movie is true for themselves by simply experimenting with sugar. Keep an accurate food diary to prove to yourself just how serious your sugar cravings might be. It's a similar approach to what he does in the movie. Then, cut it out almost entirely: limit your sugar intake to 2 small pieces of fruit a day (but no bananas, they are high in sugar). Avoid carbs which simply turn into sugar like all breads, pastas and potatoes. Instead of all those "bad" carbs, you can eat yams (sweet potatoes), jicama and green plantains. Don't eat sweet potato french fries, though, because they're fried in the wrong kind of fat. Eat healthy fats instead: olive oil, coconut oil, and avocados. Cube a sweet potato (yam) and bake it in a pan with a little olive oil at 350 degrees for a half hour. Add salt for a "sweet potato french fry" sort of taste; add salt and cinnamon for a delicious desert sort of taste. Green plantains can be sliced and baked the same way in coconut oil for "plantain chips". Just add salt and they're delicious! Besides this, just eat meat and plenty of salads and steamed vegetables with nothing but olive oil, white vinegar and some salt. Dressings have a lot of sugar in them, so avoid them.Not only did a standard american diet make me 30 pounds overweight in exactly the same way as this movie shows, it also caused incredible full-body inflammation which led to muscle and joint pain, headaches, brain fog and several other debilitating conditions. I never thought of "chronic inflammation" as a serious term until I learned chronic inflammation is behind every major life-threatening illness like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc.

I first saw this documentary three years ago and that was all it took for me to make a drastic change and give up sugar completely, I mean cold turkey. I researched various diets and began to read the nutrition labels and was astonished to find that there's sugar in just about every packaged food you find at the supermarket. A tip I learned is to stay away from the center aisles of supermarkets (that's where you find processed "fake food") and stick to the perimeter because that's where you'll find fresh produce and fruits, dairy, and meat market, in other words, "real food."After my research, I decided to embark on a keto lifestyle three years ago because it cuts out added sugars and refined carbs, which turn into sugar, and it has worked wonders for me. I lost 60 pounds and reached my goal weight of 138 pounds in eight months. My doctor discontinued my blood pressure medication because my readings were consistently normal after I lost the first twenty pounds. Pre-keto, I was considered "obese" although many people would tell me I didn't look fat because my weight was well distributed. Three years later, I'm still maintaining my weight because I continue to follow keto. When I first started keto, the first two weeks were hell because I was addicted to sugar, as most people are, and I was literally going through withdrawal symptoms (headaches, mood swings, craving everything carb and sugar related, slight nausea, loss of sleep, fatigue, general malaise). The term for this is "keto-flu." It went on daily for two weeks and at one point, I was feeling so miserable that I seriously considered stopping keto but decided to tough it out. I'm so glad I didn't quit because I clearly remember waking up one morning and immediately noticing that I FELT GREAT! No aches or pains and no more keto flu! Here's the thing, as part of keto, I consume healthy "fats" (real butter, ghee, avocado, etc.) and that's the one thing the Standard American Diet tells you to avoid because "fat will make you fat" and will lead to heart disease even though there is no documented scientific proof of this, I know because I researched that too. In my humble opinion, that's a bunch of crock because I took a baseline cholesterol test prior to starting keto and my cholesterol levels were out of whack in a bad way especially my bad cholesterol (LDL). I have checked my cholesterol every year since then and my good cholesterol (HDL) continues to rise and my bad cholesterol and triglycerides continue to drop so much so that my cholesterol test is now "normal." Not to mention that all those healthy "fats" helped me lose 60 pounds and all I did was cut out added sugar and refined carbs. Wow, who knew? I watched this documentary again today because I want to remind myself that I made a very important life-altering decision the day I decided to cut sugar from my diet and I no longer crave it.Keto is not for everyone and you should certainly discuss this with your healthcare provider before starting any diet. I am not promoting or recommending keto, I'm just telling you my personal experience and the health benefits I reaped from cutting out sugar. I enhanced the quality of my health and my life when I made the conscious, educated decision to take control of the quality of food I shoved into my pie hole.

Watch a healthy non-sugar consumer change before your eyes over just 60days in health, happiness and size as he consumes the same number of calories as previously, but basically swaps his calorie-dense 'good fats' for so-called healthy foods to increase his sugar intake to that of an average Australian. Be amazed as he manages to consume nearly 30teaspoons of sugar for breakfast, without a sugary cereal in sight or a similar quantity from a child's lunch box without a single sweet, chocolate bar or fizzy drink. I could go on, but you don't want any more spoilers!Very entertaining as well as informative. Probably particularly eye opening for some people who think they already follow a healthy diet (juice, muesli, health bars, dried fruit, smoothies, low fat yogurt etc).For me there was nothing in here that I didn't already know, BUT the information is conveyed extremely well, without extremism, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite my open-mouthed horror on occasions and the very worrying content.It would play particularly well to children of a reasonable age if you're trying to get to a healthier lifestyle as a family and should be compulsory viewing for every parent or parent-to-be. I'd like to think it would stop even teenagers in their tracks, but they are tough cookies if you'll pardon the pun, so maybe a wish too far.To be honest I feel that absolutely everyone should watch this, then whether you act on the information is your choice, but at least you will have seen the possible consequences of an average level of sugar consumption and be able to make a decision or research it further.If you decide against watching this, please just take home this one point: 1teaspoon of sugar is approximately 4g so try looking at some of the non-sweet food you buy, work out the sugar it contains in teaspoons and ask yourself whether you really intended to consume that much sugar - I suspect the answer is no.

I love this film (and the book). Unlike "super size me" it is very realistic. I'm very active but never shifted any weight. Granted, I have a lot of muscle but there was no denying that I still had a fair bit of chub! What was I doing wrong?? I didn't think I ate that much sugar. I know I have an addiction to it but I didn't think it played such a part in my moods and weight. After reading and watching this I did a food diary for a week. And yes! I was eating 39tsps of sugar a day! Whhhaaat! I have now been sugar free for 6 weeks. My moods are stable, I no longer crash and burn, I really enjoy my meals and can't finish them most of the time! Ive lost 11lbs so far and looking pretty lean! I tell anyone that will listen about going sugar free (ha) most of which have given it a go and they all have similar results. The main thing for me is the lack of desire and cravings. Thank you so much for this realisation!

Informative and delivered in an upbeat way. The experiment Damon undertakes shows the impact on the body by eating too much sugar (fructose) by following what has been marketed by governments and the food industry as a healthy diet. ( he does not eat ice cream, fizzy pop, sweets, chocolate or cake). The results are truly frightening and it has highlighted how I (we) have been and continue to be manipulated and deceived by the food /sugar industry. Since watching this film I have given up foods containing sugar including all slimming/ diet/ low fat products and lost almost 3kg in3 weeks. I think watching this DVD is a must not just if you are over weight. The style will appeal to both children and adults. Thank you Damon for enlightening me in more ways than one!:-)

This by far the best documentary I have seen. People think documentaries as boring but this is certainly not boring. Everyone needs to watch this and should be made aware of what we are putting our bodies through!

One of the best and most educational films about food and its affects on humam body I have ever seen. Should be shown at schools across the UK. What is important, it is not "talking heads", on the contrary, it is actually FUN to watch; I loved the humour, special effects and animations. All of these elements get the message across beutifully and make you look at sugar completely differently. I am a foodie and a keen cook and will not give up my occasional indulgence in a yummy home made cake (everything in the right measure!) but "That Sugar Film" showed me how to better control sugar intake in products where it actually occurs naturally. And I thought given my interest in nutrition and cooking I had been pretty clued up about sugar! Turns out that wasn't the case... I can't recommend it highly enough.