A friend sent me an article from the magazine “Bicycling,” warning readers to avoid some lies about sugar. A link to the article follows below. I recommending reading it now, and seeing what you think, before considering my opinion in the balance of this post.

http://www.bicycling.com/food/nutrition/don-t-believe-these-three-lies-about-sugar

I enjoyed the article, but mostly for the entertaining nonsense.

The author’s very first statement, that people who stop eating sugar don’t have long to live, is completely wrong. She probably is thinking about how the body uses glucose for energy on a cellular level, but the digestive system converts starches and even proteins into glucose, too; sugar itself isn’t at all necessary. In fact, carbs are the only nutrient with no minimum safe level – there are many documented cases of people going decades without eating a single carb, much less sugar. Take Eskimos, for example.

Now, for sure, I’m not discounting that endurance athletes probably find sugar to be performance-enhancing. My friend, a pro bike rider, pointed this out, and I’m sure there’s good science for why it’s true.

But this article itself doesn’t contain any actual science. Their expert, Leslie, is a “registered dietitian,” and she reflects the bad old days of our nutrition science. (Fat makes you fat, Count Calories, etc.)

More of her incorrect statements:

1. “The brain only can use glucose.” Wrong, the brain can also work quite well on ketone bodies, or ketones, which is what it gets in ketosis.

2. “The body primarily uses glucose”. Nope, the body ONLY uses glucose – except in ketosis, when it also toodles along happily on ketone bodies.

3. She’s also implying that you need to eat sugar to have glucose available to your cells, which isn’t at all the case, as I mentioned above, although it may be an efficient way to do it during intense physical activity.

3. “Artificial sweeteners have been linked to weight gain, diabetes, destruction of gut bacteria, etc.” Actually these studies are anything but conclusive, and are blown up far beyond their importance by journalists who know that ironic conspiracy theories sell advertising. The health costs to sugared soda drinking are crystal clear and well-documented in comparison.

 

 

So, the blood test results are in. Finally. My TV show friends had wisely suggested that it might make a cleaner experiment if I didn’t know the results from the first test, before I drank the Diet Cokes, until we got the results from the blood tests AFTER the experiment.
In other words, I didn’t have a clue what to expect.
To briefly recap: after drinking 10 Diet Cokes a day for 30 days, my basic physiological condition did not change: no weight gain at all, no changes in fasting blood glucose measurements, or blood pressure. Felt good, had energy, slept well, no cravings.
But what really happened – inside, might be much worse than a little bit of weight gain, so I had very sophisticated blood work done before and after the test and then the results analyzed by a doctor.
Here’s what the blood tests showed: Nothing really happened. My Lipid profile shifted very slightly. Not really anything else. 300 Diet Cokes in.
I’m going to create a chart to post on the site with details from the blood work, but here’s some of the basics for now:
Total Cholesterol went from 318 to 326 mg/dL
But the good HDL went from 106 to 124
And the Bad LDL improved slightly 197 to 190
The level of insulin in my blood rose slightly from 1.2 to 2.8 uIU/mL – but the reference range is 2.6 -24.9, so these are both super-low readings.
Yeah, it’s all pretty boring. Nothing happened. And when it was regular Coke I was drinking, my body and health blew up. I’ll post the rest of the details of the blood work Monday, but for now, I gotta tell you… I’m wondering if it’s sugar industry lobbyists who are creating the “Diet Soda is Bad For You” articles.

I have to say, I’m a little sad that this is the last day of Diet Coke drinking. Okay, not that sad – but it had gotten pretty easy to live with by the last week or so. It wasn’t really difficult or unpleasant.

I worked out a routine where I would have two Diet Cokes in the morning when I got up and during breakfast. That left just eight to drink at the office, and if I just kept a can going while I talked on the phone and worked, I was usually done drinking soda by 4 pm or so.

The Diet Coke has come to seem like a little friend – a long line of cans across my desk, the day’s work, and the office strewn with empties like an out-of-control aluminum hoarder.

My weight is steady today, at one pound more than I started the experiment. We’ll see final results tomorrow, but this morning I recorded a very low fasting insulin level of 73 mg/dl, but it’s been holding the same as I started. This is the part that has been kind of boring, actually: In the first Coke experiment, my weight was constantly increasing, my vitals continually getting poorer. So, it’s not very exciting. Everyday the same weight.

The one thing I won’t miss is pricking my finger every morning to take a fasting blood glucose measurement. I know I’m being a baby, and there are a lot of people out there with diabetes who must do this all day – but I feel for you. At least if it’s Type II you do have the ability to improve or cure it by cutting out sugar and grains and fruit.

But I’m not a doctor. I’m just glad I don’t have to keep drawing blood every morning. It’s like “Welcome to your day! Here’s a sharp poke in the finger!”

I’ve got only 3 more Cokes to go today and then I’m done. I’ve had 297 Diet Cokes in the last 30 days.  Tomorrow, speaking of pokes in the finger, I go to get blood drawn for lab tests again. And then next week my doctor looks at the results… and tells me what?

 

Tomorrow I’m going to have to look for some Diet Cherry Coke or something to break the monotony. It seems like there’s always a long line of Diet Cokes ahead of me. Like that fairy tale about the porridge pot that keeps refilling itself as soon as its empty – until you say the magic word for STOP. But I can’t stop now. I’ve got about 10 more days to go. Only 100 more Diets to go, in a little more than a week.

Ugh. Tired of drinking so much Diet Coke. It’s five o’clock and I’m choking down #10. A full day’s work. On the other hand, my health still seems to be under control. Saw a minor weight gain over the weekend of two pounds, but that’s probably a normal variation for me, and also maybe related to eating a bunch of Mexican food, margaritas, and breaded seafood.

We’ll see tomorrow, when the first three weeks are completed.

Three more diet Cokes to go today. Whatever – it’s still early afternoon. I start the day with ten cans lined up across the desk and just work my way through.

Took my blood pressure in the morning, and then again this afternoon, and in spike of the 7 Diet Cokes, it is only marginally higher. 127/79 this morning, and 130/83 at 2 pm. And my BP is typically higher in the afternoon than morning, so the rise doesn’t mean much. I’m just glad it’s down in a reasonable range.

The excellent doctor who examined me before the experiment and will examine me afterwards, and look at the results of our blood tests, also wanted me to make sure and take my BP readings at the same time all day, so I’m measuring in the a.m.