The Game of Tag

A short video summary on the book, The Case Against Sugar, by Gary Taubes. If you are interested in what sugar does to your health I highly recommend this book.

We all grew up playing tag. Running away from the friend who was ‘it’ or desperately chasing your friends to make them ‘it’. A simple game filled with excitement, screaming and laughing. However, we never really considered that the game was never fair. The fastest kid could always avoid being ‘it’. If he decided he wanted to take a chance and risk being ‘it’ he could. He had the confidence to know that he would not need to be ‘it’ for long. The game is very different for the slower kid. He is always at risk for being ‘it’. Once he becomes ‘it’ he could be ‘it’ for a long time. If the other players are kind they will take lots of chances and may even let themselves get tagged. Despite the differences in the players speed, there is one place where everyone is equal, where everyone is safe. No one can be tagged when they are at the base. Base makes the game somewhat fair. The slower players can take fewer chances, wander close to base, still enjoy the thrill of narrowly escaping being caught without spending the whole game being ‘it’.

For children, speed is usually based on genetics. They are typically too young to have been trained or coached. Now, genetics are not fair. Just like some kids are born with a tendency to be faster, others are born with tendency to be unhealthy. Some have a family history of Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and cardiac disease. However, we don’t necessarily have to live with the genes that we were born with. Epigenetics is a fascinating subset of genetics that examines how our environment and behavior can change how our genes work. That is to say that changes to your behaviors could make your genes work for you. You may be slow, but if you practice, train and maybe even get some coaching you can become faster. The same rules apply to our health. You may be destined for obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, but you can modify your genes to combat these ailments. You can practice, train, and even get some coaching. Formulate a nutrition plan followed by an exercise plan and over time you could control your genes to your benefit. Be aware that the obstacles in your path will be everywhere. You will have challenges to your will power, people who do not support you, temptations everywhere. Remember, once you regain good health, cling to it. It will be the accomplishment you can always enjoy and be proud of. To gain or maintain health, stack the deck in your favor. Give yourself a place where you are safe. Make a base; a place where you can not be tagged.

Make home your base. Eliminate all the highly processed foods from your cabinets. If you desire health, stop sabotaging yourself. If you are aware you may be heading towards an unhealthy future and you likely are; get the cause of harm out of your home. Cookies, cakes, crackers, chips, breads, pastas, candies, cereals and sugary drinks are everywhere in the real world. They are hard to avoid. Why put them in your house? They will sabotage the best intentions. If you're out of healthy options you may revert back to the unhealthy foods until the next time you get to the market. You may grab one cookie before going to bed, but it becomes 5. You grab them when you are sad or anxious only because they are close by. Maybe worst of all you grab them because you are bored. In the battle of will power versus sugar, sugar will win. Remember sugar is not only in sweets and candies. Breads, pastas, muffins, cereals and more are packed with sugar. Even deli meats can have sugar added. You need to improve your chances of success. Get the crap out of your house. There is nothing wrong with cookies on Friday night. No one has to be perfect. The problem is that it is followed by pancakes and syrup on Saturday, followed by pizza and ice cream on Sunday followed by too much candy and desserts at Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Eventually you may find yourself being overweight and hypertensive by your 30s and 40s, followed by obesity, heart disease and cancer in your 50s and 60s, followed by chronic joint failure, and a fading mind. Before you know it, you can not even play a simple game of tag.

I know a family who dealt with childhood cancer when their children were young. They did everything possible to improve their health to protect their child, their other children, and themselves. Eating a healthy diet was normal for them. No processed foods. Nothing that would increase their risk of disease. After years, it seems to be second nature. The food we crave does not even seem to be on their radar. They all look healthy, happy and fit. Many of us wonder if they are over the top. Did the cancer cause so much trauma that they can’t even enjoy a bacon double cheeseburger? What’s wrong with a hot dog when they go to a cookout or a bag of skittles when they go to a birthday party? A Gatorade after sports can’t hurt, can it? It may seem weird. Aren’t they forcing this lifestyle on their other children who were never sick? It seems so strict. How can a child not have treats?

We all love our kids and do so much for them, yet the family who eats plants, seeds and nuts seems strange to us. Feeding our children foods that will lead to disease seems like the norm. We feel good about giving them candy and other treats almost every day. Filling our cabinets with crackers, chips, cereals, cookies and breads so they can always snack. Special breakfasts today, a special dinner tomorrow both with highly processed food. Another celebration with highly processed food. We pass on our genes, but worse we pass on our epigenetics. We pass on the bad habits. We pass on our bias that healthy eating is somehow weird. For many of us, our childrens’ diet is likely far greater than 50%  highly processed food. They will struggle to maintain health and they will pass this on to their own children. The saddest part is we could change this. Make our home a base. A safe place with only healthy options. A place to learn to enjoy healthy foods. A place to learn to prepare healthy foods. A place to learn addiction to highly processed foods can be overcome. The type of home they will try to recreate as adults. The family who was fighting cancer shows us it can be done. The goal is improvement not perfection. Even this family pointed out they try to adhere to the 90/10 philosophy. This means eating whole, healthy foods 90% of the time and give yourself some extra freedom 10% of the time. This approach will certainly improve your health while possibly decreasing some of the stress related to 100% strict adherence. But should it really take something as dire as cancer to force us to change our way? I certainly hope not. The starting point is your home. Do it for yourself and your loved ones. Make everyone a base. In the game of life just like the game of tag you need somewhere that is fair and safe.

A good summary on how your body processes sugar and processed carbs and how they affect your health.