Rules of the Revolution

If you think you know what's going on, you're probably full of shit.

-A magnet given to me by my friend Sue about twenty years ago.
It is the only statement I have ever found to always be true.

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I am beginning to believe that Dr. Lustig made his radical pronouncement just to get some press.
It kind of makes me feel better to think it's a tactic rather than just an assinine idea, but I'm still going to rant a little more.
As a tactic, it definitely worked. I saw the head line on every news outlet. Sugar should be regulated like alcohol and tobacco.
As an idea- it needs to be squashed. The whole idea of dietary coersion needs to stop.

This is why- doctors make all kinds of dogmatic pronouncements based on the evidence that is available at the time of the proclamation. They have done it since the beginning of doctors. The advice they have given in the past is clearly wrong. There is clearly more information out there that they haven't found yet- that's why we are still fat. Although I agree with a lot of Dr. Lustig's conclusions about sugar, there is no reason to think they are absolute.

They need to stop assuming they know what the hell is going on. Their track record just isn't all that great.

Dr Lustig, while his heart is clearly in the right place, needs to admit his own limitations.
Let's talk about hyperinsulinemia. Dr. Lustig has identified a group of obese people who produce too much insulin. His solution to this problem is to ablate their pancreas. That means fry it. He kills part of their pancreas so they create less insulin.
It does reduce their symptoms. It does. But what if a defective pancreas isn't the problem? What if those people have an illness that alters their insulin activity or something like that. Increasing evidence shows that sugar metabolism is affected by common infections and allergies. If this pathology isn't being addressed, their illness will progress, and he's killed off the very cells that are affected. Rather than treating the cause of type 2 diabetes- surgically inducing type 1 diabetes may be the long term outcome of that particular therapy. Nobody really knows yet.

He has the same attitude as the lap-band hucksters. Doctors' intentions justify doctors' means. It's that kind of certainty that fuels this proposal.

Dr. David Katz makes a more measured and nuanced argument.
He thinks Dr. Lustig has gone too far but the idea is still valid. People need to be coerced. Have incentives.

I am incentivized enough, thankyouverymuch. The reason there is fruit loops and soda in schools is because your profession has pushed the exact OPPOSITE agenda for the last forty years. I have been nagged to lower my fat intake so aggressively that I now avoid doctors. I know that I am sensitive to carbohydrates. And all my doctors have ever been concerned with is my fat intake and cholesterol levels.
Our insurance company actually calls our house and tells us to eat more fruit. Seriously, they do.
Fruit is fructose and that is sugar. My health care provider calls our house to tell my diabetic husband to EAT LESS FAT AND MORE SUGAR.

You need to stand up to Them before you start coming after Us. Get on TV and call out Your colleagues,Your institutions and Your associations.
You need to speak the truth and let us decide what to eat for a while.
When your house is clean, maybe there won't be a mess to blame on your patients.

Heal Yourself, Physician.