The Coming Anti-Sugar Tsunami

If you have been on this blog for a while, you have probably been paying more attention to the articles about carbs, sugars, and fats. Hopefully you have noticed a little different narrative than what were reading in the 90's and early 2000's when we (myself included) were almost obsessed with no fat products. Unfortunately for our bodies, almost all these no fat products were packed with added sugar to make them edible. But sugar is so bad for us, how did fat get replaced by sugar? It appears the answer is the same as many other issues in our society that don't quite make sense, it is all about the money.  Not that long ago, we all learned how the tobacco industry paid millions of dollars to keep the fact that it caused cancer secret.  Guess what....the sugar industry did the same thing to keep the fact that it's product can be a danger to the health of our society if over-consumed. Now I could go on about this for hours, but I'm going to try and get to the point as I have a big, hot rack waiting for me right now!

The good news is that the tide has begun to turn. The same government agency that added "calories from fat" to nutrition labels to warn us about all that 'dangerous' fat we were eating has made some changes to the nutrition labels. Although, calories from fat helped me choose the foods I wanted to eat, it probably wasn't viewed in that light by 99.9% of the population (since people still associate the word 'fat' in food with the fat that is on their bodies; when they have very little or negative correlation to each other). So I'd say that is a win for the health of 99.9% of the population. And the most drastic change, I feel, is a win for 100% of the population. They created an entire row that lists added sugar. This is a HUGE change since the only sugars previously listed were natural sugars and the added sugars were simply rolled into the total carbohydrates.  Now you can actually better judge the processed foods that you consume. *Although if the majority of what you eat still has nutrition labels, you need to read the rest of these blogs!

Old label is on the left, new label with "Includes Xg Added Sugars" is on the right. Score one for the good guys!

More good news is that it's not only the FDA getting on board. Mainstream, well known Dr's, are starting to get on board (kind of). The great parts of the video below: 1) All carbs, no matter what form they come in (soda pop, fruits, starches) are all treated as sugar once they enter your body. 2) A diet low in fat and high in carbs can be bad for you. 3) Sugar (carbs) cause an insulin reaction which turns excess sugar into body fat. 4) The Standard American Diet really is SAD.  
But then he took some really wrong turns: 1) We all need carbs to provide energy. Not really, I have a growing list of friends that intake little or no carbs and have more energy than any 'standard' American. 2) The foods used in the examples drives me insane. Putting fruit, vegetables and candy as the prime examples of simple carbs sends the wrong message to the general public. "Fruits, veggies and candy are equally bad for me." Fruits in general, are high in simple sugar and very low in fiber. Take the banana in the video (27g of carbs, 14g listed as sugar and 3.1g fiber), that's a pretty good chunk of sugar. Then let's look at the lettuce that was in the same cut-away, it has 1g of carbs, half of which is fiber. And I personally wouldn't put either of these in the same category as candy (straight refined sugar). Points for saying a sugary drink is bad and showing a big mac as bad, but why not show a greasy double patty cheese burger, with bacon and no bun as something that is good for you?? Sorry, I just drifted off into OFM dream land for a moment. 

 In the coming weeks we are going to have some friends new to OFM share their experiences on here. Every single person that calls, emails, texts, or messages with their success stories on OFM makes me just as happy as the very first person I heard from. We are chipping away at the low fat ignorance. You all are well ahead of the Tsunami that is about to wipe added sugar off the map. Hopefully for all those not reading this blog, our health care system, and our society it happens sooner rather than later. It's not going to solve every problem, but I'd stake everything I have that the our nation would be healthier overall if people simply cut the sugar out of their diets and stopped eating so many processed foods. Now off to get my hands on that hot rack!

Want your own hot rack like mine? It's really pretty easy! 
1) Go to the store and buy a rack of ribs. This one happens to be 'spare' meaning that the cartilage etc has not been trimmed off the bottom half. If you get 'St Louis' they will be more trimmed and 'baby back' will be trimmed all the way up to the big bones you see. For each step of trimming you decide to purchase, decrease the amount of cook time.
2) Throw some seasoning on these bad boys, your choice. Today I used Jim Baldridge's Secret Seasoning straight out of Nebraska (http://baldridgeseasoning.com/). Rub it in, especially on the meaty side, and let it set out for a while. If you are really thinking ahead, do this the night before and refrigerate it over night. 
3) Preheat your oven to 250 and throw them in on a rack to keep them out of the drippings, for 1.5 hours uncovered. Then cover them and put them in for another 1.5 hours.
4) Pull them out and start your grill. Once your grill is nice and hot, throw them on there for about 3-5 min on each side, just to firm up the outside and give them a nice color.
5) Eat them. I like dry rub but used a little mustard, butter, and bacon fat sauce today with them which was pretty tasty. Remember that most bbq sauces are filled with sugar.

Now these are not going to be as good as those ribs smoked for hours by skilled bbq masters, but for a guy without a smoker and a lot of work to get done while they cook- they are super easy and hit the spot.

Now go get your own hot rack while I enjoy mine!