DO SPORTS STARS ENDORSE OBESITY?

ARE SPORTS STARS MAJOR PLAYERS IN OUR NATION'S OBESITY EPIDEMIC?

Most of you will not welcome and appreciate the message in this post.

However, many of you are not happy with your health;  and when you examine yourself in a full length mirror, you are dismayed to view an expanding waistline and other body parts in spite of efforts to exercise and watch your diet.  

Your only consolation is that you are not alone.  Wherever you go in our country, you will see a growing majority of people also fighting a losing battle with excess fat and unaware of why it is happening!

As a nation, the latest research reveals that 21st Century Americans, of every age, are bigger, fatter and sicker than at any other time in the history of humankind.  

According the to the CDC, the Center for Disease Control, obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, heart disease and cancer are out of control epidemics in our society.  "Sixty Percent of our population is obese and overweight with Thirty Percent being medically obese."

The state of health in our nation is rapidly deteriorating; and although there are other significant factors such as sedentary lifestyles and lack of exercise, the MAJOR PROBLEM IS OUR FOOD SUPPLY, which is mostly MANUFACTURED FOODS AND BEVERAGES containing TOXIC ingredients destroying our health.

These toxins include preservatives, pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics, steroids, artificial sweeteners, gluten and GMO crops, etc. 

But this post will focus on the worst and most damaging, which is the silent and sneaky invasion of large amounts of sugar into almost everything we eat and drink purchased at grocery stores and served at fast food places.
  

Maria Sharapova

Serena Williams

LeBron James

Derrick Rose

The above sports icons are only four of hundreds of athletes and celebrities who receive millions of dollars, yearly, to promote the sales of foods and beverages loaded with SUGAR that are destroying the health of millions of their fans, especially the children and adolescents who idolize them.

We would like to believe that these four athletes are not really aware that their endorsements of  highly sugared products are so destructive to the health of their fans, since it was only three years ago that sugar's profound dangers were publicly presented to the mainstream of America.

THE SUGAR ENLIGHTENMENT OF 2012

Like most Americans, we were aware that large amounts of sugar in out diets was not really good, but we had no idea it was so ubiquitous and destructive until three years ago:

In April of 2012, CBS' 60 MINUTES aired a special report on "SUGAR" hosted by CNN's Sanjay Gupta, MD.

Sanjay Gupta, MD.

This Special featured Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist

at the University of California, who had earlier shocked the world with his  U TUBE lecture entitled "Sugar: The Bitter Truth."

His videos have been viewed millions of times and subsequent research have only reinforced his alarming news that the large amounts of ADDED SUGAR IN OUR NATION'S MANUFACTURED FOODS AND BEVERAGES has been found to be an ADDICTIVE TOXIN THAT IS SIGNIFICANTLY CAUSING OUR COUNTRY'S EPIDEMIC INCREASES IN OBESITY, TYPE 2 DIABETES, HEART DISEASE AND CANCER.

The average person in our society unknowingly consumes in the neighborhood of 130 to 150  pounds of sugar per year, more than one third of a pound daily, which is largely stored as fat, according to Dr. Lustig.

Dr Lustig identified SUGAR as an ADDICTIVE SUBSTANCE in the same category as COCAINE.

During the Special, Dr. Gupta inserted himself self into an MRI Scanner and sipped drops of a cola through a straw resulting in an immediate response of the pleasure centers of the brain in the same way as a response to cocaine.

Dr. Gupta getting into the scanner

Dr. Gupta's brain lighting up on sugar

Also, like cocaine, the more sugar consumed, the more it is craved and the more it takes to make us happy.  A donut, chocolate chip cookie, a Snickers, a Coke or Pepsi are happy moments in a stressful or boring day, and we become addicted to sugar highs for pleasure and happiness in our daily lives.  

When asked why our physicians are not warning the public, Dr. Lustig replied that his conclusions reflected new research unknown by most physicians and health professionals!

Dr. Robert Lustig

Meanwhile, many sports celebrities collect millions yearly to encourage their millions of fans to consume sugar dominated foods and beverages that will destroy their health and future dreams.

Derrick Rose

 I recently became incensed and motivated to research and write this post after viewing a commercial starring Derrick Rose, star guard for the NBA's Chicago Bulls.  The video shows the streets of impoverished Engelwood, U.S.A, a Chicago community of Derrick's origin, as he offers hope and inspiration to rise above these harsh conditions.

The commercial shows Derrick packing a bottle of Powerade as he leaves home for a tour of Engelwood with the final scene being a close up of Derrick drinking from the large bottle of Powerade. 

      

The not so subtle, but powerfully subliminal, message is that Powerade is a key to rising to success from adverse social environments and encourages all, especially youth, to freely imbibe. 

The amount of sugar in this Powerade bottle is 13 teaspoons!

The harsh reality is that daily consumption of Powerade and other sugar laden beverages will keep most residents stuck in Engelwood, Illinois as they struggle with obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, heart disease, cancer and premature death.

Our nation's tremendous thirst for flavored beverages range from colas to sweet teas to energy and vitamin drinks.  The list of choices is steadily increasing, but almost all contain large amounts of sugar in the range of 32 to 48 grams (8 to 12 teaspoons) of sugar

per serving.

Rethink your Drink!

This coke can looks innocent enough, but...

There is nearly 10 teaspoons in every serving in this large bottle of coke!

The packaging looks healthy, but...

But there is nearly 8 teaspoons of sugar in this "healthy" drink!

Healthy?? There are 8 teaspoons in every serving!

Mer's former favorite:  it has 8 teaspoons of sugar in each serving--2 teaspoons more than her daily recommended allowance!

Newsweek reports that, "while adults consume more than three times the daily recommended intake of six teaspoons, American children are nearly quadrupling that number.  An astounding 33 percent of all that added sugar comes from soft drinks." 

Samantha Olson, of medicaldaily, writes about the beverage companies spending over 3 billion dollars yearly "in an effort to tempt consumers to pick up a liter of brown bubbly sugar with their pizza, or a case of cans for their child's next birthday party.  Those little children have an 80 per cent increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes if they become regular soda drinkers.  Their future will become one full of kidney problems, reproductive issues, osteoporosis, asthma and bad teeth with dissolved tooth enamel."     

LeBron James loves his sodas!

LeBron James, king of the basketball court and king of colas has even named a cola after himself:

He obviously never received the "memo" that his endorsed beverages (Coca Cola/Sprite), donuts (Dunkin), and fast foods (McDonald's) directly lead to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer for his millions of fans.

LeBron James at McDonald's--pregame meal??

LeBron appears to be more focused on his proclaimed goal to become a billionaire, and his endorsements provide double the income received for playing professional basketball.  He has earned over 145 million for playing basketball and over an estimated 350 million in endorsements! 

LeBron is a good bet to join the billionaire club.  He has befriended multibillionaire (64 billion) William Buffet, and they have dined and played golf together.  Already, he has heeded Buffet's advice for making some wise investments.  

LeBron's greedy ambitions apparently overwhelm any concerns about promoting unhealthy food stuffs and beverages to his millions of youthful fans. 

In his recent KIA automobile commercial, he was viewed eating Fruity Pebbles for breakfast (added money from Post Foods). Really, LeBron, do you eat this for breakfast regularly???

Here is a box of Fruity Pebbles and its ingredients--note the sugar content!

12 teaspoons of sugar in this box of Fruity Pebbles!

Forbes contributor, Peter Ubel, wrote an article entitled, "Is LeBron James Fattening his Wallet by Fattening our Kids?"  

LeBron James if he consumed what he endorses!

Ubel writes about his 13 year old son, a huge LeBron fan.  "My 
son would probably never admit that he thinks Powerade is cool because LeBron drinks it.  He might not even recognize how his attitudes about that product have been influenced by LeBron's endorsements.  But you can bet that the advertising has worked its magic on him, and hundreds of thousands of other 13- year olds."

He concludes that, "LeBron James should be ashamed to make money endorsing such unhealthy products" and he recommends "encouraging famous athletes - who, like it or not, are role models for our children - to put their greed aside long enough to do what is right."

Actually, leading athletes should be warning their youthful fans to avoid the sugar packed foods and beverages that they are endorsing.

Serena and her oreos

Serena Williams, arguably the greatest woman tennis player ever, and tremendous inspiration for millions of children, adolescents and young women around the globe, receives large sums of money for promoting sugar filled foods and beverages.  

In an article entitled "Top Athletes Catch Flak for Endorsements Promoting Junk Foods to Kids", Gitte Laasby identifies Serena as the third leading sports celebrity for endorsing unhealthy food and  drink products. Only football star, Peyton Manning and basketball great, LeBron James beat her out.

Maria Sharapova with her sugar products

Tennis star, Maria Sharapova, was recently recognized by Forbes as the highest paid female athlete for the 11th consecutive year. 
The second highest paid female athlete, Serena Williams, would have challenged Maria for Number 1 IF she had won the U.S. Open and completed a calendar Grand Slam. 

Tennis star, Caroline Wozniacki was the third highest paid and in fourth place was race car driver, Danica Patrick.  

Over a 12 month period, Maria earned nearly 30 million dollars of which 23 million were endorsement monies from such companies as Nike, Avon, Evian, Porsche and Tag Heuer.

Unlike Derrick, LeBron and Serena,  Maria Sharapova does not appear to endorse unhealthy food and drink products, although she has certainly been offered considerable funds to do so.  Her only endorsed beverage is Evian waters. 

However, Maria Sharapova takes the cake for directly endorsing SUGAR when she introduced her Sugarpova Candy Lounge at the 2012 Wimbledon Championships:

Her candies include sours, licorice and tennis ball shaped gum with the promise to "serve yourself some fruit flavored gum balls and chew them up on court.  Winning sure is sweet."

  

Maria was very excited about her new business and had even considered changing her surname to Sugarpova to promote her "premium candy line".

However,  her timing was not so sweet since the health risks of sugar had just recently been publicized resulting in
significant resistance from scientists and nutritionists, who viewed Maria's promotion of sugar as being comparable to Martina Navratilova promoting cigarettes in 1982.

Despite the criticism, the Sugarpova Candy Lounge continues to thrive at the 2015 Wimbledon Championships...

...and prosperous beverage and food manufacturers such as Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, Nabisco and MacDonalds continue to pay famous people billions of dollars to promote their products...

...and our nation continues down the road to be the fattest and sickest people ever!

  

MEET YOUR ENEMY   

The sugar invasion began early in the 20th Century as our population shifted from the farms to the cities resulting in large food factories that collected, processed, packaged, canned and bottled foods and drinks to be distributed and sold to the masses. 

Product popularity and sales were dependent upon taste, and sugar and salt were major ingredients.  

In the beginning, sugar was derived and refined from sugar cane and sugar beets, which is known as table sugar.     

HIROSHIMA REVENGE   

HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP (HFCS) was invented by a Japanese scientist in 1966 and introduced to the American market in the mid 1970s.  It was a great bargain for food and beverage manufacturers because it was much sweeter! at about half the price of table sugars.  

By the 1980s, the Japanese's HFCS had become the major sweetener in  U.S. manufactured foods and drinks.  The word "fructose" even sounded healthier than "sugar".  However, it was just the opposite, as this quiet invasion of HFCS accelerated epidemics of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease in our country.

The problem with HFCS is its high amount of FRUCTOSE, which constitutes 55 to 80 per cent of the processed corn syrup in comparison to table sugar (derived from cane and beets) which is 50% FRUCTOSE and 50% GLUCOSE.

The GLUCOSE part of sugar, also known as "blood sugar, is essential to life; we will quickly die without it.  It provides fuel for all of our bodies' movements and functions.  

This fueling of cells is made possible by insulin, a hormone released from the pancreas, that transports glucose to all the cells and to the liver for storage as glycogen for future use.

GLUCOSE is best provided by the digestion of vegetables, fruits and other unprocessed natural foods. Excessive added sugar demands emergency productions of insulin, and if this is a frequent, daily occurrence, the pancreas will steadily begin to wear out resulting in Type 2 Diabetes.

The FRUCTOSE part of sugar has been deservedly identified as a toxin and a poison.  Our bodies have no need or use for it and does not recognize it as food.  It does not trigger the pancreas to provide insulin and significantly interferes with the functions  of  two crucial hormones involved in regulating our body's energy via our appetite:  ghrelin and leptin.

GHRELIN AND LEPTIN

These two hormones regulate our appetites.  Ghrelin notifies us that we are hungry and desire nourishment.  Leptin notifies us that we are full and no longer need or desire food.  

The highly caloric Fructose does not register as needing the involvement of insulin and the appetite controlling hormones. Consequently, fructose will not turn off the hunger hormone, Ghrelin, or stimulate Leptin, the feeling full hormone.  (Studies have shown that teenagers drinking a soda (over a hundred calories) before a meal actually eat more, not less).       

Consequently and ultimately, obese individuals' appetite control hormones are disabled and they are constantly hungry no matter how much and often they eat.

HEART DISEASE AND CANCER

The high amounts of fructose, especially found in High Fructose Corn Syrup, flood the liver, which reacts by metabolizing fructose into a fat whose LDL is the kind that sticks to the walls of blood vessels, which is the HEART DISEASE CONNECTION.

The CANCER CONNECTION is that sugar is very tasty and desirable for cancer cell growth.

INTO THE BELLY AND BEYOND

Over time and continuous excessive consumption, the fructose derived fat spills out of the fat filled liver into the belly and beyond resulting in obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer, etc. 

The repercussions of being overweight and obese

SUGAR ORIGINS   

Although it is argued that certain sugar sources, such as honey and maple syrup, have nutritional benefits, sugar is still the major ingredient and should be limited to small amounts and special occasions. 

Mid-morning crash...too much maple syrup on the morning waffle?

   

SUGAR DISGUISES        

In 1965, the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act was passed, which required food and beverage manufacturers to reveal the contents of their products.  Concerned with how their customers might be alarmed about the large amounts of sugar in their products, the industries developed a new terminology for listing their sugar ingredients.

To name a few...

BECOME AWARE     

Most of us do not have a clue on how to evaluate how much sugar is in our foods and drinks.  The ingredients are supposedly listed in the order of their amounts, and  it's not unusual to find sugar to be at or near the top of the list, which is not a good sign.

The best and quickest way to determine the amount of sugar in your manufactured foods and beverages is to find the number of grams of sugar listed in the ingredients and do some simple math:

4 GRAMS EQUALS 1 TEASPOON OF SUGAR

Be aware that the number of grams is listed for a Single Serving, not necessarily the entire container.

Sprite provides nearly 10 teaspoons of sugar per 12 oz.  This large bottle contains 57 teaspoons of sugar.

Fanta contains 12 teaspoons of sugar per 12oz serving; that's a total of 72 teaspoons of sugar within this bottle!

SUGAR IN YOUR FOODS

There is nearly a teaspoon of sugar in every serving of 2 tablespoons of peanut butter with a total of 26 teaspoons of sugar in each container.

There are 2 teaspoons of sugar per serving totaling 26 teaspoons of sugar in this box.

There is 1 teaspoon of sugar in every tablespoon of ketchup!  That makes a total of 53 teaspoons of sugar in this container.

Pasta sauce? 15 teaspoons of sugar in this jar!!

CONCLUSIONS 

The purpose of this post is to alert you about the very real health destroying dangers of the added sugar lurking in most of our grocery store foods and drinks.      

SUGAR is HUGE in our culture.  Most of us possess a greedy, insanely addicted sweet tooth.  Sugar is interwoven into the very fabric of our society and is an essential and large component in everything we eat and drink to celebrate all the festive events from birthdays to national holidays from Thanksgiving to Christmas and especially Valentine's Day and Halloween.

Our love affair with sugar is seductively promoted in flashy, happy TV commercials plus the endorsements of celebrities and sports icons, such as the ones illuminated in this post, whose promotions of sugar packed products ranging from colas and candies to breakfast cereals and fast foods, are primarily aimed at children and adolescents to guarantee future generations of obese and diabetic

Americans.

PADDLING UPSTREAM  

Fortunately, the word is out and an increasing minority is trying to reduce their sugar consumption, which entails nearly total abstinence of manufactured food and beverages plus an avoidance of fast foods from McDonald's, Wendy's, KFC, etc., and almost all restaurants.

It is a major challenge, which was experienced by and eloquently written about by a family in New Hampshire who strived to live without sugar for a year:

 

The destructive impact of sugar dominant foods and drinks upon our nation's health and the progression of terminal diseases is an undeniable reality, and we have just scratched the surface of a problem that is very complicated and deserving of a second post.   

In part 2, "the Insidious Sugar Invasion", we will focus on how this toxic invasion happened, which is a fascinating history of corporate lies and deceptions and government bribes and corruption with profits being more important than nutrition and health.

We will explore the world of artificial sweeteners, which also pose frightening health repercussions.

Most importantly, we will offer strategies for overcoming and coping with sugar addiction to put the brakes on unwanted weight gain and poor health.

If you believe that you can live as long and healthily as possible without restricting your sugar consumption, you are floating to a premature death on de river in Egypt:  de Nile.

TAKING THE FIRST STEP

You can take a major step in reducing your sugar intake by reducing and eliminating sodas and all the other sugar packed beverages, which are major providers of sugar in the form of excessive high fructose corn syrup.

Verner's is loaded with 9.5 teaspoons of sugar in every serving. This bottle contains 57 teaspoons of sugar! 

Yes, even Tonic Water is loaded with sugar...there is 24 teaspoons in this bottle.

REFLECTIONS

The research and writing of this post monopolized much more time than I had anticipated, but it has been a tremendous educational experience and important to my goal of growing young.  

I am now much more aware of any sugar I might be ingesting and staying well below the recommended limit of 9 teaspoons daily for men.  The recommended limit for women is 6 teaspoons.

I do enjoy honey in cups of coffee and tea, but have restricted myself to one teaspoon per cup. Occasionally, I will yield to temptation and share a dessert at a restaurant, but will limit myself to 1 or 2 bites depending upon the bite size.

I also plan to go off the deep end now and then by celebrating a birthday or some other special event at a nearby restaurant, the Quilted Mermaid, which offers an orgasmic, worth dying for, chocolate fondue.

But I'm not in any hurry; my sugar cravings have largely disappeared and I can now even easily pass right on by plates of chocolate chip cookies and assorted miniature chocolate bars with barely a glance.  

I have learned that by significantly reducing and/or eliminating added processed sugar from my diet, my sugar cravings have mostly faded and disappeared.   

Best of all, my health has never been better.  My current weight is about the same as when I was a sophomore in high school and my stomach is even as flat as back then!


Just last week, a health practitioner from my health insurance company made his annual home visit.  He remembered me from his visit last year because I was the only senior in his 70s that he visits who does not take any pharmaceutical medications!!  My health examination revealed improvements over last year, such as a lower blood pressure and a higher level of fitness, especially in regards to increased mobility and stamina.

Life is good... and healthy! as we continue on our quest to be forever growing young.  HipHipWho? Ray...and Merrilee of course!


P.S.  If this is your first visit to our blog, we recommend reading our other two posts, "The Mighty Mystery Muscle" and "Primal Posture," which, in our opinion, are life-changers as well!! 

SOURCES and CREDITS

 

cdcgov  Childhood Obesity Facts.                                               CBS 60 Minutes "Sugar" April 2012.   
UTUBE  Sugar  "The Bitter Truth" by Dr. Robert H. Lustig.             probioticamerica.com   Quote by Dr. Mark Hyman.                derrick rose endorsements and takeapart.com  photos of Rose          fieldsofgreen.com  Derrick Rose Powerade commercial.   NEWSWEEK'S SPECIAL ISSUE 2014 "Your Amazing Body" pg. 157.  medicaldaily,com  Pulse  "Soft Drink Dangers: 8 Ways Soda Negatively Affects Your Health" by Samantha Olson.   endorsements lebron James, gannet-cdn and wtsp.com   Photos.  forbes.com  "LeBron James' Endorsements:  Breakdown by the Numbers" by Kurt Badenhausen  1/22/14.                         heavy.com  LeBron James' Net Worth:  5 Fast Facts You Need to Know"                                                                       sporteology.com  and  therichest.com    Lebron's net worth.   moneycnn.com   "LeBron's Road to Becoming a Billionaire" July/ 11, 2014.   
fool.com   LeBron James:  The Next Warren Buffett?       forbes.com  Pharma and Health Care "Is LeBron James Fattening His Wallet by Fattening Our Kids?"  by Peter Ubel 1/6/14.     serena williams endorsements and  trbimg   Photos.   theglobeandmail.com   "From LeBron James to Serena Williams, Study Slams Athletes Promoting Junk Food" by David Andreatta 10/7/13.      
sugarpova  and  c1.staticflickr   Photos.                                     si.com  TENNIS   "Forbes:  Sharapova  is Highest-paid Female Athlete for 11th Straight Year." by Scooby Axson 8/12/15.               therichest.com    Sharapova's net worth.                     dailymail.co.uk  Femail  "Sugarpova rush.  Russian tennis ace slammed for selling sweets with 84g of sugar per bag (that's 21 teaspoons, or more than TWO cans of Coke)". by Martha De Lacy.  8/30/15.                                                                       independent.co.uk  "Should Maria Sharapova Serve Sugar?"  By Chris Green/Gregory McGann  6/28/14.           tobacco.stanford.educ   Martina Navratilova.                           images of obesity   photos.                                                           Best Documentary 2015-The Secrets of Sugar-Science Channel National Geographic.   graph.                               huffingtonpost.com   HUFFPOST HEALTHY LIVING  "Why You Should Never Eat High Fructose Corn Syrup" by Mark Hyman, MD.  1/23/14.     UTUBE  "Sugar...the truth"  An American Perspective on Sugar  3/12/14.