Sweeeeeeeeeet Poison *sigh*

Woah. I almost wish I hadn't read Sweet Poison: why sugar makes us fat by David Gillespie. If you believe what he's saying, then fructose is a bit evil in large quantities. The body is not programmed to tell you to stop eating it, like it is with other foods, because early in human history fructose-filled foods were so rare to come by and were therefore not harmful in the available small quantities. However in today's environment of processed foods with added sugars, and readily available sugar, honey and fruit juice, we eat much more fructose than our bodies can handle. We can eat and drink sugar by the bucketload without feeling full (though we might eventually feel sick); meanwhile the fructose causes weight gain (Gillespie blames fructose for the obesity epidemic we see in the developed world at the moment) as well as a whole range of serious - and often lethal - health problems. Being all around us, however, fructose is not an easy thing to avoid or even reduce.

I think I will be asking a qualified dietitian about the fructose issue, as I don't plan to drastically change my diet based on one book written by a lawyer/IT professional. Still, Gillespie seems to have done a lot of research and hard work, and has lost 40kg from his fructose-free ways. Yet another example of a person who changes their life drastically, and then writes an inspiring book that motivates me to change my own. If he is right, I will voluntarily walk my way down into a personal hell: no more than 5-10g of fructose a day (which you would get from a few pieces of fruit). While I research Gillespie's theory, I'll start the first easy (and beneficial for me no matter whether Gillespie is right or not) steps. After all, if I'm going to give up eating much fructose I think the key to success will be to do it in stages. The first two will be... *drum roll*

1. stop drinking coffee as I only like it with three sugars. Swap to sugar free tea.

2. give up soft drinks altogether, and if I really need a sweet drink, have soda water with a TINY bit of cordial instead of the tonne I have with it now.

At the very least these two steps will save my teeth some grief (my dentist has already told me to give up the large number of sugary drinks I was consuming, namely coke which I have almost completely given up), and reduce my caffeine intake as I am a terrible addict.