Exactly a year ago today, I watched a documentary (available on Amazon Prime) called That Sugar Film. The premise: What would happen if I ate only “diet” foods for 60 days? We watch a 30-something lean Australian man start the diet, then take us on a journey to explain what is happening internally. It’s done so creatively that I was entranced. He does some traveling to help us see what is happening because of sugar — to the indigenous lands of the Aborigines, and then to a few places in the U.S..

As I was saying, overweight for over 50 years, I struggled to lose weight nearly every day. But I’m a sugar addict, plain and simple. Long story short, I was blown away by the documentary. I watched it again the next day, Dec 31. And the day after that I started a reverse experiment: I vowed to eat no refined sugar for 60 days, then another 60, and another. I also used intermittent fasting. I exercised only a very little bit, mostly because I couldn’t walk much because of extreme pain before and after a knee replacement on April 1. I’ve lost 35 pounds. I’ve been lazy this last 90 days, so tomorrow I will watch the documentary again and start another 60 days on Jan. 1st. I have 35-40 pounds more to lose and I pray I am successful this year. The hardest part — because, remember, I’m a sugar addict — has been not allowing sugary foods into my home. I don’t have the ability to have just one . One cookie, one piece of pie, one snack size Snickers. And when sugar is out of my system it’s astounding how much the aching in my bones quiets down, how much less pain I experience over all.

You may wonder why I’m writing this when much of this is about cholesterol. Two years ago, I had two stents inserted into my right coronary artery, after learning I had a 98% blockage. The cardiologist wanted to prescribe a statin and I absolutely refused because I’d read enough about how “unhelpful” statins are. He was not happy, but I didn’t care. There are scientists who believe it’s sugar, not cholesterol, that destroys the heart. That argument — I read — started after President Eisenhower had a heart attack in 1952. The cholesterol “team” finally won the argument. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if the sugar team had won. What would our country look like? Would we be slimmer? Healthier? My final recommendation, if you’re still reading this: please go and watch the documentary (That Sugar Film). It was an absolute paradigm shift for me. I saw me toward the end of that film. Dozing off. Unable to concentrate. Drugged up by sugar.