Installment #36 in Monolisticle's Ongoing Campaign Against the "Internet of Endless Listicles."
It’s not going to happen. No way, no how, never. The likelihood of most people giving up sugar is pretty much nil.
The Surgeon General could slap a big warning label on every sugar and high-fructose-corn-syrup-crammed food product sold in America (which is pretty much everything on the shelf at grocery stores), and most people would still buy it by the pound. And gallon. It’s simply too addictive.
But if Morgan Spurlock’s documentary Supersize Me scared you straight enough to start cutting back on eating at fast food joints, then That Sugar Film will make you cut back on sugar (and high fructose corn syrup and all the other words used to disguise it). At least some. But it may even go so far as to transform the way you think about food.
As with Spurlock, That Sugar Film director Damon Gameau proves his point in the most engaging way possible—by experimenting on himself. A human guinea pig documentary is always a fascinating watch, and Gameau is a particularly fascinating human.
His self-experimentation premise is simple. After years of living an impressively healthy and low-sugar lifestyle, Gameau starts adding foods to his diet that contain sugar—with a compelling twist: the foods he adds are not the desserts, candy, and sugary snacks one might think. But instead, he only adds so-called "healthy" foods. Like juices. Yogurt. And other things most people generally consider to be healthy.
The effect it all has on Gameau’s health is, well, shocking (how shocking it is depends on what you already know about sugar going into the film).
I, personally, was shocked by the addictively-stimulating effect sugar has on the brain. Apparently, it's right up there with crack cocaine (geez, is it really?). Not to mention the devastating effect sugar has on the human immune system and its ability to fight diseases. Like cancer. There are also studies popping up these days suggesting that sugar accelerates aging. The Fountain of Youth, my friend, is sugar-free.
Gameau backs up his case against sugar with doctor checkups, CAT scans, blood tests, interviews with medical and food experts, and even a trip to ground zero of the sugar crisis: deep-rural America.
That Sugar Film is not some dry documentary. It's docu-tainment at its best. Gameau is not only a talented filmmaker and creative storyteller, he is also an extremely entertaining, funny, and handsome young Australian bloke. The voice, the face, the charisma—none of it hurts his cause as he serves up a potentially dry subject, in an incredibly entertaining way.
If you enjoyed this article, please click the Facebook or Twitter icons at the bottom of this page and share it with others. You'll be helping to support our work, and the work of the artists, restaurants, cultural institutions, and experiences we write about. And we all certainly need the support right now. Thank you!
Subscribe to monolisticle for free weekly articles sent to your inbox, everything from art, culture and music to food, film, and travel. Not all the things. Only the best things.
To unsubscribe, email monolisticle@monolisticle.com
@damongameau
@damon.gameau
@thatsugarmovement
Comments