It’s a unique “Fun-Filled Friday” for you here today as we bring you the syrupy sweet sounds of the most candylicious, sugar pie, honey-loo-loo songs of all-time to make a point. You know what I’m talking about. It’s as if we are living in The Twilight Zone and everybody just ignores how unhealthy sugar is for their bodies. And yet we all know how detrimental sugar can be on our weight and health.
But take a good hard look at how so deeply entrenched sugar and sweetness has become in our culture that we use it as a term of endearment towards the people we love. I’ve even caught myself saying things like sugar, sweetheart and honey to my darling Christine and others without even consciously thinking about it–this merely solidifies the notion that sugar is a good thing when very clearly it is not. And in the realm of music, it’s literally everywhere.
I was surfing around YouTube a couple of weeks ago and started looking up some of the most famous songs that cite language of sweet, sugar, candy and whatever else to come up with the top 10 sugar songs. If you think sugar isn’t highly exalted in our culture, then explain all of these tunes (yes, I realize they’re not talking about actual sugar in most of these examples, but the idea of sugar being good and acceptable through these examples holds true):
1. LITTLE SUGAR LITTLE SAKA SUGAR by Woody Guthrie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeDlYhKu-6U
2. SUGAR SUGAR by The Archies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JywK_5bT8z0
3. SUGAR DADDY by The Jackson 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r42Abu_IF8
4. SUGAR PIE, HONEY BUNCH by The Four Tops
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3bksUSPB4c
5. A SPOONFUL OF SUGAR by Julie Andrews
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9Pbd3RSbLo
6. SUGAR by Stevie Wonder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFWO7GLkRbk
7. POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME by Def Leppard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPy2BggZP5I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPy2BggZP5I
8. SUGAR by Tori Amos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB9Ll8LgPmw
9. LIPS LIKE SUGAR by Flo rida
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyBite0GTKk
10. THE CUPCAKE SONG by Judianna Castle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNlTenyS2Fw
Now do you believe me about how our culture has become so conditioned to embrace sugar so readily? Can you imagine this same treatment if it were given to fat? “Pour some fat on me…fat pie, porky bunch…just a spoonful of coconut oil helps the medicine go down…fat, awww bacon bacon.” HAHAHAHA! Doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, but it sure sounds inviting. Here are some of the top low-carb health headlines from this past week:
- My fellow health blogger/podcaster/all-around good guy Sean Croxton from “Underground Wellness” has a brand new television show coming soon called “The UW TV Show!” Check out this behind-the-scenes of Sean shooting an interview with Gary Taubes. We’re gonna be hearing a lot more from this show in the coming months–Sean has said he wants to get me on for an interview sometime later this year. WOO HOO!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgo-G5EmQlY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgo-G5EmQlY
- Check out the February 2011 issue of Reader’s Digest for their cover story on Gary Taubes’ new book Why We Get Fat And What To Do About It called “The Myths of Losing Weight” which also included a cool companion piece featuring Duke low-carb researcher and practitioner Dr. Eric Westman in a column entitled “Limit Your Carbs and Lose Weight.” This was amazing national exposure for the low-carb lifestyle!
- Speaking of Gary Taubes, he was the guest this week on “The Low Carb Journey Podcast” with Hank Garner. For you Taubes junkies who can’t get enough of what he has to say, don’t miss this special one-hour conversation. And I’ll be sharing my own interview with him next Thursday in what looks like may be a two-parter since it will be well in excess of an hour long. DON’T MISS IT!
- One more bit of news on Gary Taubes: He was briefly interviewed on KPBS Radio recently about “Turning Wisdom About Weight Gain On Its Head.” If you only have time to listen to about a 20-minute interview, then check this out! And the PJ Tattler was impressed with his new book too!
- CONGRATULATIONS to longtime LLVLC reader Sharon LaFleur! She entered one of her favorite low-carb recipes into a Better Homes & Gardens magazine contest and won $500 cash! WOO HOO! It will be published in the April 2011 issue–look for the “Lemon Butter Skirt Steak with Crispy Vegetables” recipe. YUMMY! Way to go, Sharon!!!
- Check out “Swine and Mankind” from my buddy Peter Ballerstedt on the satiating power of dietary fat, mankind’s long history with swine, and the changes made to swine through genetic selection and some implications for humans fighting excess fat. This is quite a thought-provoking piece that is worth your time to read!
- ABC News had a segment called “Fat-Fighting Fads Through the Ages” which examined ways people in the past dealt with the battle of the bulge and they highlighted the working of William Banting in his book Letter on Corpulence (click on the link for a FREE copy of the book online). Pretty cool stuff!
- Slowly but surely the message is getting out there about the detrimental effects of consuming carbohydrates. Check out the American Health & Beauty column “Eating Carbohydrates at Night Makes You Gain Weight” stating that consuming carbohydrates at night is harmful. Hmmmm, so what makes them any less harmful during the daytime? I think this is part of the incremental, back door way of embracing low-carb in earnest. It’s only a matter of time before full-fledged acceptance will be here.
Thanks to the amazing generosity of one of my Twitter followers, I now own the Sous Vide Supreme created by Drs. Mike and Mary Dan Eades of Protein Power fame. Here’s a brand spankin’ new video featuring these two low-carb darlings talking about this fabulous cooking unit that I can’t wait to try for myself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsmLTyYRLU4
I’m excited about cooking up a nice tender and juicy grass-fed beef roast in this bad boy! Should be a lot of fun. Well, that’s about it for this “Fun-Filled Friday!” THANKS so much for reading and I hope you have a wonderful weekend full of happy good times. As always, if you have something you’d like to share with me that would be appropriate for a future “Fun-Filled Friday” post, then e-mail it to me at livinlowcarbman@charter.net. SEE YA!
