Hey Doctor Scott ...

I was going to do a piece about what healthy Halloween candy looks like and something about pumpkin pie too but once I started looking for information and seeing candy, I started thinking I should go out to the coffee stand and get a cookie or start walking around trolling for food. And I think that's probably a better thing to talk about.  We're getting into that time of year where people are going to bring in leftover candy and pumpkin bread and all sorts of treats and they're going to be everywhere.  Maybe it's always that time of year.  But realizing the difference between a food craving and hunger is important. A food craving is what happens when I walk by In-N-Out - that smell is amazing, especially at lunch when I'm out for a walk.  But that food is terrible - I know you Californians love it but it's awful (I'm more of a Whataburger guy, which is convenient for my diet because the closest one is in Peoria, AZ).  And I know I don't like it.  ...

Very sweet, but not much substance  (no I'm not talking about your Valentine's Card) The only non-real thing that's more endemic in our society than FAKE NEWS is fake sugar.  It's everywhere and it's been there for a while.  "Diet", "Sugar free", "Zero" - chock full of Stevia, Truvia, Naturlose, Erythritol, Xylitol, Equal, Nutrasweet, Sweet'n'Low - the list goes on and on. Are they good, bad, or something in between?  I think overall they don't really serve the purpose they were designed for. They are sweet - usually much sweeter gram for gram than natural sweeteners.  Many people switch to them to help with weight loss.  But do they work?  Sure you end up taking in fewer calories in theory but what is the effect on the rest of your body of taking in something sweet without the sugar? We don't really know.  The early concerns were about cancers but those have mostly been pushed aside as the amount of sugar s...

A great suggestion I got from one of you was to talk a little bit about sugars.  Basically we have come far from the way we were naturally intended to be with our sugar intake.  It is crammed in everywhere and takes a lot of effort to avoid.  I've met nobody who hasn't felt better with reducing their sugar intake.  People with diabetes who take glipizide or use insulin need to be cognizant of their sugars while making changes, but everyone else should be completely safe because it is otherwise impossible for your body to get "hypoglycemic" - it has spent millions of years developing defenses to that. Here is a good book review  about Gary Taubes "Case Against Sugar" as well as guidelines for a sugar free challenge program  and if you have some time to kill here's a very long talk about it .