I’ve been very pleased to receive feedback from some people who have been quick off the mark in reading Sweet Poison. Catherine from Sydney wrote:
“I just found the video of your interview on Sunrise, and I was so excited when Mel mentioned that you had written Sweet Poison, so I found your website immediately.” She then went on to mention two ‘healthy’ cereals and says, “It’s just that I’ve noticed I have been putting on weight since I started eating both of those cereals, and I couldn’t understand why – as I also walk 7kms at least 3 times per week, and occasionally attend gym!”
One of the cereals Catherine mentioned is Norganic Crunchola Apple Blueberry. According to its label, it delivers 22.33 grams of sugar in every 100 gram serving (about the size an adult would have). The serving also contains 390 Calories, 90 of which come from the sugar. Catherine’s seven kilometre walk burns just 300-500 Calories on average (depending on how fast she walks and how much she weighs). So on the three days that she goes walking she may be ahead of the game (and will probably get hungry if the cereal is all she ate), but the fructose Calories will never be used or counted by her appetite control system.
If Catherine eats that for breakfast every day, after a week she will have consumed 156.31 grams of sugar from the cereal alone. After a year it will be 8.1 kilograms! Eight kilograms of sugar contains four kilograms of fructose which will never be used for anything other than creating fat. Catherine’s liver will convert that fructose into just under 1.8 kilograms of body fat as soon as she eats it. It’s no wonder she has been putting on weight despite eating a ‘healthy’ cereal and exercising frequently.
Catherine finished by saying “The answer to that is probably in your wonderful book – which I did find today at Angus and Robertson’s at [XXXXX] – so I’m looking forward to diving into it tonight!” … happy reading!
I heard David give the interview last Tuesday night on the ABC while driving to Rockhampton from Brisbane. I was so interested I found a book store next day and bought the book. While I was working over the next few days, I read the book as often as I could and immediately started looking at all the sugar I had been eating without really noticing. My husband and I drove back to Brisbane on the Sunday and I read the book aloud to him all the way back (eight hours driving). I have been trying to find the hidden errors in my eating pattern for years. I don’t eat junk food, very few biscuits or cakes, and I exercise at least four times a week at the gym in a group training programme at a consistently high difficulty rating. However, I can’t lose any weight and I am still in the overweight zone by about 5 kilos. You would think I could lose that amount. Well I couldn’t budge the weight. I realise now that the cappuccino sachets that I have at least 2 – 3 times a week have from 3g to 9g sugars, and I don’t add any sugar, the sachets of Uncle Toby’s oats with prunes and prune juice are more than 10g sugar, even BBQ sauce is packed with sugar, the low fat yoghurt with the syrup topping, plus the muesli that I sprinkle on my low fat, low sugar “WeetBix” has loads of sugar. I have never thought about this before because I was concentrating on low fat. In addition, David’s comment about rewarding yourself after working so hard at the gym is a particularly easy trap to fall into. So my husband and I would share a block of chocolate as well as indulge in liqueurs at least once a week. No wonder I couldn’t lose any weight. David’s book has opened my eyes to all the hidden traps in our modern way of eating. I was that mother who said “if you don’t want milk or water, then you aren’t thirsty” but when the kids left home, I forgot all the rules. I was born in 1950 and therefore taught that party food was for parties. But how easy it is to forget all of that when faced with added sugar every day in every meal. Once I started looking at the labels I realised that I thought I was being healthy, keeping to low fat food, no junk food, exercising regularly and only having a few treats but every day I was eating far too much sugar without even realising it. I couldn’t work out why I had so much trouble with my weight. I have become an evangelist for this message. My husband and I have told all five of our children as we want to ensure that our grandchildren are not given fruit juice every day. I have already sent my book to Sydney to my daughter, and I will have to buy another one so that I can read it again. We have told all of our staff at work, we have told the manager of the gym that we go to and he is buying a book as well. “Sweet Poison” is the perfect name for the book. Of course, I don’t have any weight loss to report yet however I feel so aware of the “poison” now that I am sure I am going to find that it has been the hidden enemy for a long time. Thank you very much David.
Thank you so much for your detailed comment! It is incredible how much sugar we all eat without realising it. Don’t worry about weight loss – you don’t have much to lose and it will likely be a slow process – the critical thing is that you have stopped filling your arteries with fructose generated fat.
Thanks again for the feedback!