While sugar and spice are among the ingredients little girls are allegedly made of, that apparently isn't the case for one Vermont family as a mom decided her two girls would be made of something different ... for at least one year of their lives.
Eve Schaub, a 43-year old mother of two girls (ages 6 and 11), decided to impose what she termed a "year of no sugar" rule. While she admits the experience was due, in part, to an idea she had for a book she wanted to write (and did) titled 'Year of No Sugar,' she said she had begun to view sugar as an addictive poison that could have deadly repercussions on her daughters if consumed in excess.
Then came along a 90-minute YouTube video that featured obesity researcher Dr. Robert Lustig, author of the best-selling book on the subject "Fat Chance," and it pushed her to implement the ban.
She said, "We had no problems that we were looking to solve. We didn't need to lose weight, and we were all pretty fit and healthy." Dr. Lustig's video tipped the scales, no pun intended, in favor of going ahead with the sugar ban.
The specifics of Schaub's ban included a list of 13 added sweeteners, including multiple types of sugar, along with high fructose corn syrup, agave, artificial sweeteners, honey, and fruit juice.
While the so-called evils of sugar intake are well documented, a recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals the increased risks for heart disease too much sugar can bring.
"The risk of cardiovascular disease death increases exponentially as you increase your consumption of added sugar," explains the study's lead author, Quanhe Yang, a senior scientist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
