Aragon, SB. STS SugarFilm

ARAGON, Shaina B.
B127
STS May 15, 2020
Sugar Film 2015
That Sugar Film is a documentary about the effects of consuming high amounts of hidden
sugar in our food supply. It is a vibrant, highly engaging documentation of a 60 day sugar binge
that will leave you questioning many aspects of the way you view food and its role in our body
and our health. An Australian actor, Damon, can only eat foods with hidden sugar. These are
typically low fat products and foods commonly thought of as healthy. This includes food like
commercial breakfast cereals, flavored yoghurts, muesli bars, dried fruit, fruit juice, jarred sauces
and other packaged food or meal replacement style drinks.
The message of this film is that we need to be wary of foods that claim to be healthy as
they can be packed full of sugar and may be the reason why you’re struggling to lose weight or
manage your health. Limiting your sugar intake could be the answer to your health woes. It also
makes some valid points that as a culture, we eat far too much processed food and as a result our
overall sugar intake is too high. We could all do with being smarter about our food choices and
eat foods closer to nature and less manufactured. A lot of the sugar we do eat is ‘hidden’ in foods
and a lot of the time we don’t realize it’s there. For example, one tablespoon of tomato sauce
contains one teaspoon of sugar. If you look at the ingredients of many processed foods, sugar is
often one of the top three ingredients. And high sugar foods are easy to overeat and often leave
us wanting more. The food industry has done a good job of making our food taste amazing. We
need to be much more mindful with our food choices and strike a better balance with our foods.
Seeking professional help from a nutritionist or dietitian is the best way forward.
I think people should watch the film and I hope is stirs in them some thoughts and
questions about their own diet, and is a catalyst to change for the better.
Regardless of whether Damon’s experimental diet mimics the Australian diet or not, I am
100% certain that we could all make some improvements to our diet from a sugar and processed
food perspective.
I would not blame all of Damon’s health declines purely on sugar. Yes, he ate a stack
load and it was definitely too much. Without an accurate food diary we can’t make exact
conclusions, but based on the information he provided, his experimental diet was much higher in
processed foods, lower in fresh vegetables, lower in healthy fats and subsequently lower in
dietary fiber and nutrition.
My one critique of the film is that I disagree with the approach of focusing on individual
nutrients, like sugar, rather than a focus on food as a whole and overall diet quality. We don’t eat
nutrients in isolation, we eat food and food is a mixture of nutrients in varying proportions.
Focusing on individual nutrients can be counter-productive and confusing.
Sugar is a naturally occurring nutrient to ‘quit’ it have left many people unnecessarily
worried, often limiting foods such as fruit, some vegetables and dairy all because they naturally
contain sugar. Over the many years I’ve been with my grandparents and their siblings, I’ve had
countless them confused about quitting sugar and severely lacking in the knowledge of what to
eat instead. With a message such as: ‘eliminate sugar’, it’s important that the type of sugars that
need eliminating are clearly articulated. If you have to go to that much detail to deliver your
message, it easily gets lost on the masses.

Recommending that someone reduce their sugar intake has a number of limitations. It
doesn’t address their fiber intake, their fat intake, their vegetable intake or their overall diet
quality. Like any dietary that involves cutting out foods or nutrients you can have a healthy
version of this eating pattern or an unhealthy version.
A better recommendation, in my opinion, that has less technicality would be to encourage
people to eat five serves of vegetables a day, two serves of fruit per day and aim for the majority
of their diet come from foods that are unprocessed.
When we start looking at sugar or fat, or any other nutrient for that matter, we have to
specifically indicate that some types are ‘good’ and some are ‘bad’, when in reality, good
nutrition is about overall diet quality and foods or what foods you eat regularly rather than
individual nutrients being the culprit. Some foods are just more nutritious than others and the
best evidence for long term good health is a diet rich in whole, fresh vegetables and fruits.
In conclusion, sugar consumption is not a “journey towards a good life”. Instead it is a
journey into getting heart attacks, strokes, Alzheimer’s disease and even the development of
cancer. Curtail your overall sugar consumption by cutting out processed food (which has loads of
extra sugar in it) and reducing your starchy food intake (starch is digested into sugar).

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ARAGON, Shaina B.

Sugar Film 2015

and other packaged food or meal replacement style drinks.

dietary fiber and nutrition.

Focusing on individual nutrients can be counter-productive and confusing.

message, it easily gets lost on the masses.

version of this eating pattern or an unhealthy version.

A better recommendation, in my opinion, that has less technicality would be to encourage

of their diet come from foods that are unprocessed.

In conclusion, sugar consumption is not a “journey towards a good life”. Instead it is a

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