Countdown to Fitness

Raw Sugar

Thank goodness scientists are finally looking at the dangers of sugar consumption!  It sounds counterintuitive: cut back on added sugar if you want to lower your cholesterol levels, but new research is finally supporting what a few people already knew.

For years, mainstream thinking was to cut back on red meat and saturated fat to lower cholesterol because it seemed reasonable to believe that the fat one eats in the diet is directly related to cholesterol.

It also seems intuitively obvious that two objects of different weights will fall at different speeds, or so Aristotle thought.

What do long-held ideas for high cholesterol have to do with Aristotle’s hypothesis of falling objects?  Lack of rigorous experimentation and incorrect conclusions.

(more…)

In my continuing series “Boost Your Metabolism,” I’m going to post multiple articles on food, not just the types to avoid and the types to eat, but also how to time your exercise with your eating to maximize your efforts.

Too Much Added Sugar
If you are like most Americans, according to the 2001–04 NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey), you will consume 22 teaspoons (355 calories) of added sugar today.  Most of that comes from soft drinks, sweetened beverages, and other processed foods. (more…)