The BB sugar experiment: I want the truth

Sugar really is the big thing at the moment. Since I started thinking about giving up that delicious white substance after reading this blog by another mum, I have read as much information as I can find about it. What I have discovered is a raging and divisive debate. A debate almost as passionate as the anthropogenic global warming (AGW) issue. Everyone seems to have an opinion about it; whether they are scientists, journalists, lawyers, government bodies, academics, and so many of them are conflicting.

How could all this deliciousness be bad?

I am a sceptic by nature. I'm cynical too. The sceptical cynic! I am sceptical about diets that claim you only have to cut out one type of food and you'll lose weight. And I am particularly sceptical about claims that something natural, like fruit, could be bad for you. And, whoa, if someone tries to tell me that exercise is irrelevant to fat loss then, well, as much as I'd like to believe it, I just don't. I'm cynical about radical claims such as these, especially when people are making money from them.

But who am I to understand what the truth is and who I should believe? I'm just another person caught in the never ending cacophony of noise bombarding us about the human diet and how to stay fit and healthy.

The ABC published an analysis of the sugar debate, which pretty much sums up everything I've been reading, in a really clear and informative way. If you are thinking about giving up sugar, I recommend you read it here. Make sure you read the comments, they show you how inflamed the discussion has become. This interview with David Gillespie of Sweet Poison fame (also by the ABC) is interesting for the comments it ignites as well.

One aspect of the argument that really interests me is whether or not sugar is proven to be physically addictive. Dr Robert Lustig, who seems to be one of the loudest on the anti-sugar side, says that it is (check out this podcast here, if only to hear the dulcet tones of Alec Baldwin who interviews him). But then there's another bloke, a Mr David Benton, who says that there's no real evidence to prove that sugar is addictive for humans. You can read his paper here if you want. The most interesting bit I got was that this paper was funded by The World Sugar Research Organization. I'm not saying that this guy has been swayed by this fact but it puts doubt in my mind.

And that's what shits me about all this. This issue, just like the AGW issue, is political. Money and power are involved which makes it difficult to know who to believe. Well, it makes it me cynical about the players involved.

For me, personally, I think sugar is addictive. I think about it and respond to it in just the same way as I did illicit drugs before I got sober over four years ago. If there's chocolate in the house, I gotta eat it. If I'm feeling anxious or tired or sick or upset I gotta eat it. If I want to reward myself or celebrate I gotta eat it. And when I try to abstain from it I crave it like a crazy woman. I don't think I need more evidence than that!

But what about all the other claims about sugar? That sugar is worse for us than some fats, such as saturated fats like butter and animal fat? That sugar is just as bad for our livers as alcohol is? That it causes heart disease? That sugar is actually poison!?

How am I, or anyone else trying to wade through all this, suppose to know?

I just want to know the truth. But is there a truth? Is the 'science settled'? Just like the human induced climate change issue, I don't believe the sugar debate has been settled either.

I'll be keeping an open mind on both issues until they have.

V.

Disclosure
I am just your average chick trying to make sense of the information that's out there with my layman brain. I am writing this as I make my way through a bag of Darrell Lea Choc Coated Honeycomb. If I have made any misrepresentations of any person or fact it was an accident and I blame the chocolate!

The BB sugar experiment: Sugar crash and burn

Week three of I Quit Sugar? No. Starting week one again of the I have a lap-band let's use it shall we diet. Or maybe I'm back on the big is beautiful and becoming way more accepted just check out these fabo girls here and here for instance so don't bother dieting at all diet.

Either way, I couldn't do it. I just could not give up sugar. I have a host of excuses! I lasted three days last week. Just until Wednesday night. I went out on a date (yes, a date!) Wednesday night with a young man I met on RSVP (why I put myself back on there I do not know!). The date was at a pub. The first drink I ordered was a Diet Coke. Second, a Red Bull. Can't get more sugary than that!

Since giving up grog I've taken to energy drinks as my 'going out drink'. Dating when you're teetotal is annoying. People are suspicious of non-drinkers. It is true! Either you're a wowser or a recovering alcoholic. I don't know what is considered worse to most Aussie blokes out there. The energy drink at least gives me a little buzz to feel included.

Now I could take this post in a number of directions:

1. I Quit Sugar FAIL
2. Lap-band FAIL
3. Body image acceptance
4. Online dating as a single parent
5. Online dating as a recovering alcoholic
6. Online dating as a fat girl with a sugar addiction
7. Online dating as a single fat girl in recovery from poly-substance addiction but still in active sugar addiction who also has a kid that she is raising alone
8. Or maybe I could go to bed early...

Yeah, number eight is looking good right now (even though now, effectively it isn't early, because I've been editing this shitty piece for the last hour!). I ain't making any sense. I'll write something proper tomorrow.

Here's a photo Noo took on the weekend. He doesn't like having his picture taken very often and he's never shown any interest in my phone's camera. Until Sunday. He took heaps of them. This is the best. Totally unrelated to the post but hey, I need something for my LinkWithin widget below.

Batman, Wonder Woman and Spiderman...
Copyright Noo Bandit

Night all.

V.

Dress Up Attack! Ned's first music festival

Noo and I went to our first music festival together on Saturday. It was awesome, in every sense of the word. Dress Up Attack was Noo's first festival ever. I, on the other hand, have been to heaps. Dress Up Attack, was a family music and arts event. A complete alcohol free zone (unlike the other festivals I've been too!). It was very 'inner west', if you know what I mean, Sydneysiders. Very inner city. Think Fitzroy if you're reading this from Melbourne. 

The gig started at 10am but as the day went on til 5pm, I figured Noo and I would start slow and make our way there by midday to enjoy a whole afternoon of shakin' our booties. Noo decided he wanted to catch the bus which I figured would add to the whole sense of adventure of the day.

It was warm in the sun, cool in the shade with a fair bit of breeze; a typical Sydney spring day which ended with a shower and a rainbow. The first day of spring in fact. 

Noo decided early he was dressing up as Superman. His grandparents had got him the suit last year which didn't fit then but was the perfect outfit for the day. Noo wore that thing from the moment he got up. 

I just chucked on my most colourful gear and thought I'd make fun of it all too. Although Noo wanted Wonder Woman to accompany him to his first festival he got Whacky Woman instead.

Noo wanted me to go as Wonder Woman, I could only manage
Whacky Woman

Whacky Woman and Superman (who never stands still!)

Whacky Woman but this is my usual get-up

Superman - My hero!
And the trusty trolley. Since ditching the stoller this is our mobile home.

We walked down to Circular Quay via my new favourite coffee shop, The Fine Food Shop, which is hidden in Kendall Lane in The Rocks. I've been past it so many times but only went in for the first time this week. I've already been back three times! I am in love.

This piccolo latte is from The Fine Food Store which is in The Rocks
which I happily promote for free because they make the
best piccolos ever. Even better than my favourite Don Campos.
They use Campos beans too. My drug of choice these days.

Mr Man on the bus to Marrickville. I so thought he'd get fidgety on the
long bus ride from the city to the gig but he was cool as.

When we finally reached the Addison Road Arts Centre in Marrickville I was feeling pretty anxious about the whole thing. For some reason I was freaking out internally about not having the car. We always drive everywhere. For some reason I feel safer with it. You need to lug so much crap around with a kid: change of clothes, shoes, food, snacks, water. You know what I mean. I only take the trolley out on our city adventures like when we do Darling Harbour or the Botanic Gardens - places walking distance from home. Or Harbour places like the Zoo or Cockatoo Island.

Anyway, turns out Noo was pretty nervous about everything too. We handed over our tickets and walked through a small corridor and boom! We were smack bang in the middle of the Spurs for Jesus gig. They sounded awesome but Noo was totally overwhelmed by the sights and sounds and kids and grown ups dressed as weird furry things. It was totally full on. Totally awesome. The kids and the parents were all super cool. Pretty much everyone dressed up. It was fantastic.

But Noo pulled my hand and dragged me out into the light, hoping for escape, only to be met by disco beats coming from the DJ tent and the sound of screaming children on the jumping castle. It was all a bit too much. I found a spare spot of grass and proceeded to lay out our blanket and food supplies but Noo stopped me half way and said "mum, I want to go home".

I was shocked! Noo is usually so confident and so into all things to do with rides and face painting and other kids. I think it was the noise. An enormous cacophony of competing sounds were annoying me somewhat but I wasn't frightened by them like poor Noo.

I mentioned Noo's reaction to another mum in the queue for some food and she said she had the same reaction from her kids when they first arrived. She joked how she remembered what it was like when she first turned up to a festival. I remarked that we, unlike the kids, had grog to help get into the atmosphere. Her response was "yeah, and the rest!".

There it was. I had the feeling, by the looks of the parents, this was my generation of ex party people who were now past doing it themselves but were really happy to be taking their kids to their first festival. I wondered how many of them were now like me: in recovery thanks to too many music festivals!!

Superman getting his jungle moves down

Deliciously salty and fatty corkscrew potato

Noo finally started to relax after he got his face painted.

Superman has an identity crisis and opts for a Batman face

He was very still. My superhero.

The finished work

We checked out TEDDY ROCK but Noo didn't like the noise so we left to the relative calm of the outdoor area.

'Punk/nu-wave Teddy band, TEDDY ROCK'

The DJ tent where Robbie Buck whipped
up a storm of get-down-and-boogie tunes

Fairy floss bigger than his head.
So much for giving up sugar!
He only ate half.

I tried to settle us down in a possie on the grass again but it wasn't long after Noo consumed half of his fairy floss that he was off. I tried so hard to get him to get into that dance tent but obviously he needed to figure it all out on his own...

My bub finally warms up to get in the disco tent

I don't like this music, mum

More disco tent

Jimmy Giggle from the ABC4Kids Giggle and Hoot show turned up to say hi to the kids. He didn't stay long. Noo got a high-5 after I pushed him over several times (god, I'm one of those parents!). Noo was stoked.

Jimmy Giggle turns up for about 20 minutes.
I don't blame him. He has to do that silly voice the whole time!

By about 4pm I was buggered. Noo got changed and we started the long public transport trip home.

The walk back to the bus stop dressed in his usual gear

Waiting for the train

Another great day of the Adventures of Noo and Me!

My kid rocks. I bet yours does too.

V.