Sugar: Watch out! It’s Behind You!

Today, I watched a news story on a man named Damon Gameau who went on a high-sugar diet for 60 days. To be exact, he consumed 40 teaspoons of sugar per day. He turned his journey into a documentary called That Sugar Film.

I bet you can guess how things went for him.

Within 12 days… he was 5 pounds heavier.

Within 18 days… he developed fatty liver disease. We wrote about this before. It’s not good.

Here’s the catch to Gameau’s experiment:

He didn’t literally eat spoonfuls of sugar.

So how did he pack in an extra 40 teaspoons per day?

He must have had something like soda… or candy… or perhaps a heaping bowl of delicious ice cream, right?

No, no, and (unfortunately for him)… no.

Instead, he helped himself to “hidden sugar” in foods most people would consider healthy. For instance, his go-to meals included breakfast bars… low-fat yogurt… and apple juice.

Gameau goes on to say some of the sneakiest sources of sugar are condiments.

In a general sense, he’s correct. Pick up ANY kind of sauce or flavoring in the supermarket and you’re lucky if the first or second ingredient is anything other than high fructose corn syrup. For our purposes, we might as well consider high fructose corn syrup to be sugar, even though the FDA rejected the Corn Refiners Association trying to change its name to “corn sugar.” (You know your product’s awful when your propaganda tries to link it to sugar, rather than distance itself.)

Sometimes, for fun (I have some pretty odd definitions for fun), I’ll go through every condiment I can grab in the aisle… and completely fail to find one lacking in corn syrup.

It’s gotten so bad, even finding actual sucrose (real sugar!) can be a challenge. Last Thanksgiving, while shopping for dessert, I thought to myself, “If I’m going to enjoy an ice cream sundae, at least I want the real deal” and searched for some chocolate syrup made from sucrose and not HFCS.

Guess what?

There wasn’t any. I had to settle for some hot fudge. Which was awful, because the stuff (apparently) has to be heated and mixed first. Otherwise you get hard bits of sugar and some weird gelatinous filler dumped into your bowl.

So disappointing…

Anyway, I’m now realizing if I wanted genuine sugar so much, I could have just piled my cart full of foods the government considers healthy. Good thing to keep in mind for this year.

So what happened to Mr. Gameau?

After just 60 days, he was on the verge of being Type 2 diabetic, showed signs of heart disease risk, and had gained 18 pounds. He even collected 4 inches of visceral fat around his organs.

“Well, hold up,” some skeptics might say. “Of course eating more sugar led to all this! After all, more sugar means more calories!”

Nope. All the while, he ate the same amount of calories.

“Well, then it must have been lack of exercise!”

Wrong again. He didn’t change his exercise schedule.

When interviewed, Gameau said the point of his film wasn’t to demonize sugar.

Why not? You’d be better off drinking an equivalent amount of hard liquor.

Watch out for this stuff. It’s lurking everywhere. Check your labels. And just in case you don’t feel like memorizing the different names for sugar that manufacturers use to sneak the stuff into their products, we’re working hard on a shopping guide. Armed with it, you’ll have X-ray vision for all food labels.

Regards,

Nate Rifkin
Underground Health Researcher

Nate Rifkin

Written By Nate Rifkin

Nate Rifkin is an obsessed health and mind-power researcher and author. To hear more from Nate, sign up to receive Living Well Daily for free, here.

View More Free Articles

Eat 23 of These Daily to SLASH Heart Risk [DELICIOUS!]

When it comes to heart health, we’re constantly told what we need to cut out. You know the drill—ditch the salt, dump the sugar, and avoid the processed foods. But what if I told you that adding something to your diet could be just as effective for protecting your heart? A comprehensive new scientific analysis...

Read This

"Yellow Devil" Fruit CRUSHES Blood Pressure Better Than Meds

I have a confession to make. I hate bananas. Even the smell of them causes my stomach to flip. The funny thing is that I have an uncle and a daughter who are the same—so I wonder if it’s genetic. But even though I consider them the yellow devil of the fruit world, I recommend...

Read This

50-Cent Nutrient Puts the Brakes on Aging

Scientists discovered a remarkable “anti-aging” solution hiding in plain sight. It isn’t some exotic compound from a remote rainforest or an expensive laboratory creation. It’s a nutrient you can find at any pharmacy for less than the cost of a cup of coffee. The trouble is, most seniors aren’t getting enough of it, which researchers...

Read This

The Hidden Brain Risk Lurking in Your Living Room

If you’re reading this while settled into your favorite chair, you might want to consider standing up… New research uncovered something that might surprise you. Sitting too much can literally shrink your brain. But it gets worse… We all know being sedentary isn’t good for our health. However, researchers at Vanderbilt University uncovered something alarming....

Read This

“Biohack” Your Life Like a Billionaire?! Here’s How

You’ve probably seen the headlines about the billionaire who spent millions on “biohacking” to try to make himself younger. He measures hundreds of biomarkers and pops dozens of pills daily. And he’s undergoing experimental treatments that cost more than most folks’ houses. It may have left you wondering if regular people like you and I...

Read This

Do THIS Daily to Improve Strength, Flexibility, and Endurance

For any couch potatoes out there… I have some exciting news. If you’ve been avoiding exercise because you hate the gym or don’t have the time, that might be about to change. A groundbreaking study reveals how a few simple moves, done daily in your own home, could dramatically improve your fitness—even if you’ve skipped...

Read This

Mailbag: A Post-Prostate Cancer Blueprint for a Better Recovery

“My son just got his prostate removed because of cancer. He is doing well and recovering. My question is there any information you can forward with regards to his lifestyle? Are there things he should not eat, things he should be eating, is social drinking a risk, any vitamins that should be on his list?...

Read This

The Stroke-Boosting Threat Lurking in YOUR Arteries

We want to take a moment on this Memorial Day to honor the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation. Their courage, dedication, and selfless commitment to protecting our freedoms will never be forgotten, and their legacy lives on in the country they helped preserve. I’ve warned you...

Read This

20-Minute AM Hack Will Revolutionize How You Wake Up

If you feel like you’re in a fog for the first hour after your alarm goes off, you’re not alone. Mornings can be rough. That groggy, disoriented feeling isn’t just annoying—it’s a real physiological phenomenon called “sleep inertia.” And it can drag on for up to two hours after waking, even if you’ve had a...

Read This

Weekly Habit QUINTUPLES Your Cancer Risk

Everyone knows that sugar-sweetened sodas aren’t going to win any nutrition awards. That’s not news. But now, a disturbing new study suggests these soft drinks hide a deadly secret. A regular soda habit could do far more damage than just expand your waistline or raise your diabetes risk. The new research reveals these sugary treats...

Read This