Sugar crash

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Sugar Crash" – Today, Explained (March 15, 2026)

---

Episode Overview

This episode of "Today, Explained," hosted by Jon Glerndhill (subbing for the regular hosts), dives into the complex relationship America has with sugar—its historical rise, political power, health effects, and the evolving cultural attitudes around it. Through interviews with historians, scientists, and nutritionists, the episode traces sugar's journey from luxury to ubiquity, explores why we crave it, and offers practical advice for navigating a world awash in sweetness.

---

Main Discussion Points & Insights

---

I. America's Complicated History with Sugar

• Historical Ubiquity & Impact

  • Sugar consumption in the US: currently about 120 lbs per person per year—down from a peak of 153 lbs in 1999, but much higher than historical levels (03:00–03:25).
  • Sugar's central role in colonial economies, especially via the transatlantic slave trade: “75 or 80% of the Africans who were enslaved and brought to the New World were brought to work on sugar plantations.” – David Singerman (04:14).
  • The federal government’s financial reliance on sugar tariffs in the 19th century; sugar as both a political and economic powerhouse post–Civil War (04:39–05:48).

• Big Sugar vs. Big Tobacco

  • Aggressive promotion, industry influence, and propaganda echo Big Tobacco tactics. Historical marketing touted sugar’s purported health benefits (06:00–06:27).
  • The Sugar Research Foundation’s efforts to shift blame for heart disease from sugar to fat/cholesterol by funding academic research in the 1960s–70s (07:03).

---

II. The Current Backlash Against Sugar

• Increasingly vocal opposition to sugar often unites unlikely allies—from progressive “granola moms” to rightwing skeptics—driven by health, cultural, and anti-corporate concerns (07:35–09:17).
• Contemporary wellness influencers and political figures like RFK Jr. campaign against sugar on health and moral grounds (02:19–02:35).

---

III. The Science of Sugar and Our Cravings

• Types of Sugar and Their Sources (13:24–14:27)

  • Glucose: Found in all plant foods, grains, and beans.
  • Fructose: Same chemical composition as glucose, differently shaped.
  • Sucrose: One glucose + one fructose molecule; common in fruits.

• Processed Sugars

  • Corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS): Created by breaking down corn starch; modern formulations can reach 90% fructose (14:33–15:28).

• How Sugar Affects the Body

  • Glucose can be metabolized broadly; excess fructose is handled by the liver, which turns the surplus into fat, raising risks for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and liver disease (17:16–18:08).

• Are We Addicted?

  • Sugar activates brain reward pathways similar to addictive drugs but isn’t addictive in the same physiological manner. Hyper-palatable foods override our natural satiety signals, leading to eating for pleasure (hedonics) rather than hunger (19:04–20:42).

---

IV. Breaking the Cycle: Changing Our Relationship with Sugar

• Cultural Shift & Morality

  • Current discourse “demonizes” sugar, encasing dietary choices in moral terms—unlike the 1980s, which promoted sugar-free diets without moral overlay (24:32–25:13).

• Behavioral Strategies

  • “Cold turkey” usually fails; gradual, sustainable reduction is best. Making treats occasional and special helps reframe our relationship (25:21, 30:22).
  • Shopping and portion hacks: Buying single servings, pairing treats with meals to blunt sugar absorption (26:37).

• Retraining Tastebuds

  • Gradual exposure to less sweet and more bitter foods can help recalibrate taste preferences over time. Assess both frequency and form (liquid vs. solid) of sugar intake, make incremental reductions, and customize to lifestyle (27:35–29:07).

• The Role of Sweets in Stress and Comfort

  • Sweets as occasional self-care are fine—context and duration matter more than outright avoidance: “I'm not gonna be the person to say like, no, you can't have that thing after you've done the whole thing of lifing.” – Maya Feller (29:31).

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Sugar's Scale in Society:

  • “Right now, it's about 120 pounds per person per year... it was about 80 pounds in 1910, and... 6 pounds in 1800.”
    — David Singerman (03:17)

• On Sugar’s Ties to Slavery:

  • “Sugar was the most important driver of enslavement. 75 or 80% of the Africans who were enslaved... were brought to work on sugar plantations.”
    — David Singerman (04:14)

• Industry Propaganda:

  • “The food value of sugar is surprisingly high per pound. It contains almost twice as many calories as beefsteak.”
    — Quoting a 1920s pamphlet (05:57)

• On Fructose Metabolism:

  • “86% of the fructose you consume in a big gulp drink is gonna end up in the liver, and that is way too much substrate for the liver to deal with. It gets turned into fat...”
    — Dr. Kimber Stanhope (17:16)

• On Sugar's Palatability:

  • “Our food has become so palatable, we are completely overriding the homeostatic controls on food intake.”
    — Dr. Kimber Stanhope (19:44)

• On Treats as Special:

  • “Once [a treat] becomes a staple, then it's a different story. But as a once in a while activity... savor that cookie and then it becomes special.”
    — Maya Feller (30:22)

---

Important Timestamps

• 01:10 | Personal accounts of sugar cravings
• 03:00–04:34 | America’s sugar consumption over time & ties to slavery
• 05:48–07:27 | Sugar industry tactics and comparison to Big Tobacco
• 13:24–14:27 | Types of sugars and their roles in the diet
• 15:44–18:08 | Sugar and fructose metabolism explained
• 19:04–20:42 | Discussion on the addictiveness of sugar
• 25:13–27:16 | Strategies for realistically reducing sugar
• 29:31–30:22 | Comfort eating and the importance of mindful enjoyment

---

Conclusion

"Sugar Crash" gives listeners a panoramic view of the role sugar plays in American life—from its dark historical roots and industrial might to its deep entwinement in our biochemistry and psyche. The lively, nuanced discussion points toward moderation and mindful strategies rather than deprivation or moral panic, empowering listeners to navigate a sugar-saturated world with compassion and curiosity.

---

Transcript

[Sponsor Announcer]

Support for the show today comes from the Guardian. If you listen to our show, my guess is that you value independent voices and perspectives on the news. You want real reporting on real stories, and you don't want to wonder if the news you're getting is being skewed by an unseen hand. The Guardian says they're fiercely independent too. They aspire to report the whole picture and their coverage goes beyond the news. They have new perspectives on culture, wellness, sports and more for U.S. and world news without compromise or a paywall. Read, watch and listen [e-mail] support for

[Jon Glendhill]

the show comes from Anthropic, the team behind Claude. There's a certain kind of question that seems simple until you try to answer it. What's the actual reason behind this policy? How do we end up here? The best explanations don't just give you facts, they help you understand the shape of the problem. Claude is the AI built for that kind of thinking. You bring in something you want to actually understand, not just get a quick summary of and Claude stays in the conversation. And Anthropic has committed to no ads in Claude, no sponsored responses, which means no third party influence on what you see. You can try Clawd for free@clawd AI/explain it to Me I crave sweet foods when I wake up.

[Dr. Kimber Stanhope]

I crave dessert after every meal, and

[Jon Glendhill]

I usually like sweet snacks instead of salty. I'm a server and I eat sugar packets throughout the shift. I'll reach for a sweet treat to

[Listener or Guest Speaker]

make me feel better emotionally, even if it physically makes me feel worse.

[Jon Glendhill]

I don't think I realized how much sugar was in my life until I gave up sweets for Lent. I go on a walk and outside the grocery store I see the Girl Scouts pushing their product. I go to a friend's birthday party and the cake just stares at me from across the room. I head to the coffee shop, but that matcha latte just doesn't hit the same Without a little simple syrup. Sugar is a boogeyman ready to leap out behind every corner. But is it really as bad for us as we've been led to believe? I'm Jaclyn Hill, and today on Explain It To Me from Vox, we're going to find out.

[David Singerman]

I'm David Singerman. I'm an assistant professor of history and American Studies at the University of Virginia, and I'm the author of a book, How Capitalism Reinvented Sugar.

[Jon Glendhill]

Lately, it seems like America has fallen out of love with sugar. I think of RFK Jr on his crusade against it.

[Sponsor Announcer]

Sugar is Poisonous. And Americans need to know that.

[Jon Glendhill]

And, you know, when I open up Instagram, I see all these influencers telling me to avoid it.

[Sponsor Announcer]

Two weeks, no sugar.

[David Singerman]

What would happen? The first thing is your mood would

[Sponsor Announcer]

get a lot better.

[David Singerman]

Why is excess sugar so bad for your heart? Well, let's break it down.

[Dr. Kimber Stanhope]

Do you know that if you're overweight or can't lose weight, it's the sugar. If you're addicted to food, it's the sugar.

[Jon Glendhill]

What happened? Have we always been so anti sugar?

[David Singerman]

Well, I think sugar consumers and even political leaders have been kind of conflicted about sugar for a long time. But it is pretty unusual for people in power to oppose sugar this publicly on these kinds of health grounds. I think it's probably worth acknowledging, or just starting off by acknowledging how much sugar American society consumes. So right now, it's about 120 pounds per person per year.

[Jon Glendhill]

Oh, wow.

[David Singerman]

And this is actually a decline from the turn of the century. In 1999, it peaked at £153 per person.

[Jon Glendhill]

Wow.

[David Singerman]

And to put that in some kind of perspective, it was about 80 pounds in 1910, and it was like 6 pounds in 1800.

[Jon Glendhill]

That is so wild. So how long has sugar been a big business? How far does this go back?

[David Singerman]

Sugar has been consumed for a very long time, for many thousands of years. But until about 500 years ago, it was largely, at least in European society, an expensive, rare product. And then the big trend that you can see over the last five or six centuries is that the price of sugar has gone down because it was such a valuable commodity that empires wanted to find places they could grow it and then sell it. And so this really drove European expansion into islands in the Atlantic, in the Caribbean, in Brazil, and to North America. You know, in America, I think in the United States, at least, when we think about African American slavery, we think about tobacco and cotton primarily. But if you look at it on a hemispheric scale, sugar was the most important driver of enslavement. Right. Something like 75 or 80% of the Africans who were enslaved and brought to the New World were brought to work on sugar plantations.

[Jon Glendhill]

Wow.

[David Singerman]

And it was the worst work.

[Jon Glendhill]

Yeah. It sounds like sugar is wrapped up in all this economic and political power.

[David Singerman]

Yeah. The sugar industry generated so much wealth for the people who owned plantations and the people who traded it that it was very politically influential in pretty much any sort of political system that we've been talking about in the West. I would say that the sugar industry's modern level of political Influence really begins after the Civil War due to American industrial expansion and economic growth and the way that America became, you know, richer in the decade, in the last part of the 19th century. But one thing that happened that was a little bit unexpected was sugar consumption went way up. And the federal government happened to have a sugar tariff at the time. Like sugar was. Sugar imports are one of the ways that the federal government made its money. And as the sugar imports kept going up and up and up, the government kind of got addicted to sugar tariffs in the same way that Americans got addicted to sugar. And so by the late 1870s, early 1880s, sugar revenues are accounting for a huge part of the federal budget. But also, the sugar industry is one of the. The sugar refining industry, I should say, is one of the largest employers in the big cities of the North. So it's very politically concentrated, and it's. It has its fingers in a lot of political questions.

[Jon Glendhill]

It reminds me a little bit of, like, big tobacco.

[David Singerman]

Yes.

[Jon Glendhill]

Like both of these crops just becoming so powerful and having such industry.

[David Singerman]

There's a pamphlet that the Philadelphia Sugar Company put out in the 1920s, and this is completely representative of the kind of marketing around sugar from for most of the 20th century. So if I can just read you a little quote from this, it says, the food value of sugar is surprisingly high per pound. It contains almost twice as many calories as beefsteak. The high dietary value of sugar is universally recognized by scientists and physicians.

[Jon Glendhill]

That is wild.

[David Singerman]

Like what it is by the 1950s and 60s. What you see in sugar industry propaganda is really pushing back on concerns about, like, dental health, diabetes. There's an outfit called the Sugar Research foundation, which is sort of like the pro industry PR shop.

[Sponsor Announcer]

Sugar turns into energy faster than any other food. Sugar helps keep your appetite down, your energy up, and helps you slip past the, quote, fat time of day. Sugar only 18 calories per teaspoon. And it's all energy. Time magazine, 1969.

[David Singerman]

In the 1960s and 70s, the sugar industry paid scientists at places like Harvard to publish studies blaming fat and cholesterol for coronary heart disease, while leaving sugar out of the picture. And we know this thanks to some work from researchers at UCSF who've dug into this in the same way that they dug into the tobacco industry. So you can see that the tobacco industry and the sugar industry are really, like, playing from the same book.

[Jon Glendhill]

Yeah. So, you know, we saw the downfall of big tobacco. What's caused this backlash to big sugar?

[David Singerman]

The concern about sugar now on health grounds, I think, comes out of the same opposition to sort of capitalist food systems that we see manifested in a lot of places. It's manifested in these whole foods bags that list everything that's not in your food, like artificial sweeteners all the way to whale oil. Comes from a concern about, like, trying to emphasize local food systems and eating healthier and eating more simple things and less refined stuff in general, not just refined sugar. There's the sort of like trad culture influencers.

[Jon Glendhill]

Right.

[David Singerman]

And the idea that there used to be a more pure, like, wholesome diet. And we need to get back to that. In the 1970s, you had people like, moving to Vermont and Maine to like to have maple syrup. Right. As a kind of like countercultural sweetener. And then you also have this right wing, you know, skepticism of like elite medical science that fed into sort of vaccine world. And it's weird that those have, like, come together in this modern Maha movement. It was really striking during the, during the super bowl, right, to see the juxtaposition of Bad Bunny's halftime show, which everybody in my life was texting me, because it began with, you know, the sugar cane field.

[Jon Glendhill]

Yeah, yeah.

[David Singerman]

And then that was followed up by this realfood.gov ad.

[Dr. Kimber Stanhope]

My sister's name was Denise.

[Jon Glendhill]

She died of obesity at 25. She had a heart attack.

[David Singerman]

Mike Tyson talking about obesity and how Americans need to take their health more seriously.

[Dr. Kimber Stanhope]

We're the most powerful country in the

[David Singerman]

world and we have the most obese, fudgy people. So that juxtaposition of like American empire and sugar cane and then this like right wing critique of capitalist food was a little jarring.

[Jon Glendhill]

Yeah. I'm curious. You know, you've got these, like this sort of like, I don't know, this odd group of people who probably would not be aligned in any other way. You know, you have RFK Jr. You got your granola moms, you got everyone all in alignment on sugar. But can they defeat big sugar? I mean, no one's taken it down yet.

[David Singerman]

No, I would say the sugar industry is, is doing all right. The sugar industry remains politically powerful and it's concentrated, you know, in a. The cane sugar growing industry in Florida has been powerful for a very long time. So I don't think sugar has that much to worry about. What they might have to worry about is the decline in sugar consumptions. Right. So as I said, Americans are eating 120 pounds per person per year, and that is going down. It's going to take a long time to get it back to something that seems like a humane or comprehensible number. But that is the trend that if you were the sugar industry, you might be concerned about.

[Jon Glendhill]

So we may be eating a little less sugar than we used to, but that doesn't change the fact that we love it. Coming up, the chemistry behind our cravings. Support for the show comes from Quince. A thoughtful wardrobe starts with quality over quantity. That means well made, versatile clothing that's made made to last throughout the years. You can find just that from Quince premium fabrics, thoughtful design and a price tag that actually makes sense. Quince makes high quality wardrobe staples using premium fabrics like 100% European linen, 100% silk and organic cotton poplin. And they say that by working directly with top factories they can cut out the cost of the middleman, which means you don't have to pay for a brand markup, just quality clothing. Our colleague Andrew Melnyzyk has tried Quintz. Here's what he thinks.

[Sponsor Announcer]

The clothing is super nice and the material feels great and it just looks nicer than sort of a junkie T shirt.

[David Singerman]

I'm excited to check out the rest

[Jon Glendhill]

of Quint's offerings right now, go to quinte.com explainit for free shipping and 365 day returns. That's a full year to build your wardrobe and love it and you will now available in Canada too. Don't keep settling. For clothes that don't last. Go to Q u I n c-e.com explainit for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.com explainit.

[Sponsor Announcer]

Support for the show comes from Rippling. If your company's all in one system has you jumping between a dozen different apps for a handful of tasks, then you ought to reconsider your definition of all in one. Rippling says their platform actually is all in one. They've already reconsidered. It's a unified platform for global hr, payroll, IT and finance. With Rippling, they say workflows that normally bounce across multiple tools and departments can just all happen in one place automatically. Say an employee gets promoted or moves. Rippling can update payroll taxes, manage new app permissions, ship a new laptop, can I get a new laptop? And assign any required training and more all in one place. So if you or your company want to run the backbone of your business on one unified platform with people at the center, you can go to rippling.com explained and sign up today. That's R-I P P L-I N G.com explained to sign up.

[Jon Glendhill]

I'm JQ back With more. Explain it to me. The sugar industry is huge in large part because they're able to tap into one of our most basic desire.

[Dr. Kimber Stanhope]

I'm Dr. Kimber Stanhope. I'm a research scientist at the University California, Davis.

[Jon Glendhill]

And she says the way our bodies react to sugar depends on what kind it is.

[Dr. Kimber Stanhope]

So let's start with the natural sugars first. The three important ones are glucose, fructose, and sucrose. Glucose is not only in fruits and vegetables and as a glucose molecule, but you put it together in chains, you get starch, and then you have glucose in every single grain and beans, every single plant food. So glucose is massively important. It has chemically the exact same chemical composition as fructose, however, the two are shaped different. And then we have sucrose, and sucrose is simply one glucose bonded to one fructose. Fruits have all three.

[Jon Glendhill]

Okay, so those are the sugars in fruits. How about the ones in, like, Oreos?

[Dr. Kimber Stanhope]

So let's move on to the processed sugars. It was probably around the early 1800s that scientists learned they could take the starch from corn and add enzymes to it and break the chains down into a glucose syrup, eat it with biscuit

[Sponsor Announcer]

or spread on bread, use it for a tea punch, hot or iced coffee. Cooling drinks are delicious, sweetened with karo.

[Dr. Kimber Stanhope]

They worked on that process and they learned to refine and extract that fructose. Until now they can make a fructose syrup that is 90% fructose. And they use this fructose syrup to make any formulation of high fructose corn syrup they want.

[David Singerman]

You know what they say about it?

[Jon Glendhill]

Like what?

[Listener or Guest Speaker]

That it's made from corn. It's natural.

[Jon Glendhill]

And like sugar, it's found in moderation. How do our bodies react to these different kinds of sugar? Like, what are they doing?

[Dr. Kimber Stanhope]

When sugar, any sugar leaves our intestine, it goes into the portal vein. And the first stop for the portal vein is now, big surprise based on the name the liver. Now, the liver can use whatever sugar is in that blood, pull it in and turn it into energy, or it can let it stay in the blood and get delivered to the rest of the body. Now, in the case of glucose, if the liver doesn't need that sugar because let's say at the very same time you're drinking the glucose, you are also consuming a Big Mac and french fries, the glucose in that beverage or whatever is going to go past the liver and go to the muscle, go to the fat cells, go to the brain, and the rest of the Body gets to use it up with fructose. Even in situations where the liver absolutely doesn't need the energy, all the fructose is pulled into the liver. 86% of the fructose you consume in a big gulp drink is gonna end up in the liver.

[Jon Glendhill]

Wow.

[Dr. Kimber Stanhope]

And that is way too much substrate for the liver to deal with. So it does the best it can. But the leftover gets turned into fat. And it's that extra fat making in the liver that mediates this chain of bad events that follows the consumption of fructose that increase liver fat. Some of it gets sent into the blood where you get more triglyceride and more cholesterol because they get sent out hand in hand. And the results are increased risk for cardiovascular disease, increased risk for diabetes, increase risk for liver disease.

[Jon Glendhill]

Okay, so the side effects of having too much of the wrong kind of sugar are clear. But we do need sugar for energy, right? I mean, what's the healthy way to get it?

[Dr. Kimber Stanhope]

Certainly we need fruit and vegetable for their incredible nutrient profile. And the amount in fruit and vegetable would cover any need we absolutely have for sugar. With regard to being an energy source. If you're eating a whole wheat grain, you're going to get lots and lots of glucose and that will provide your energy. Your whole grains are your safe source of carbs. And in my mind, your fruit and vegetable are your required source of carbs.

[Jon Glendhill]

Okay, I need to know for once and for all, is it true that sugar is addictive?

[Dr. Kimber Stanhope]

It's certainly not addictive in the way cocaine is addictive. However, they are similar in both. You eat it that first time, your reward center is going to be activated. But in the case of drugs, the award center is saying, oh, this is really bad for me. Let's not respond. Therefore, the drug addicted person keeps escalating their dose to get back to getting a reward out of their drug. Sugar isn't like that as much as, yes, the reward goes down when you consume, say, the donut the first time. But what we think is going on is our food has become so palatable, we are completely overriding the homeostatic controls on food intake. What's a homeostatic control? It is basically your appetite being shut off when you have consumed enough calories. But when you have hyper palatable food, you are getting reactions that we called hedonic reactions. You're eating for the pleasure of eating. You eating because the food is causing such a great sensation of reward.

[Jon Glendhill]

Is our food too tasty? Is this our problem? Our food is too Delicious.

[Dr. Kimber Stanhope]

Yes, absolutely. And it's not accidental. Our food processors do test after test after test to come up with the formulation of fat, sugar and salt that produces the most people taste testers saying this one's the best.

[Jon Glendhill]

Sugar has a powerful hold on it us. Up next, how to Break free.

[Listener or Guest Speaker]

The support for Today Explained comes from Talk Iatry. If you're dealing with anxiety, depression, ADHD therapy might just be part of the solution. Maybe you're stuck on a months long wait list to see a psychiatrist. Maybe you're bouncing between online platforms trying to find medication you may want to check out. Tochiatry says they're a 100% online psychiatry practice that provides evaluations, diagnoses and medication management for conditions including adhd, anxiety, depression, bipolar, ocd, ptsd, insomnia.

[Jon Glendhill]

So much more.

[Listener or Guest Speaker]

Unlike therapy only apps psychiatry is psychiatry. That means you're seeing a medical provider who can diagnose you with mental health health conditions and prescribe medication when that's appropriate. They say you'll be able to meet with an experienced licensed psychiatrist who takes the time to understand what's going on, build a treatment plan and can prescribe medication when that's right for you. And they say they can schedule your first visit in days, not months. You can head to tokchiatry.com explain to complete a short assessment to get matched with an in network psychiatrist in just a couple minutes. That's tochiatry.com explained to get matched in minutes.

[Jon Glendhill]

Support for the show comes from Anthropic, the team behind Claude. There's a difference between knowing something and understanding it. Knowing is having the information. Understanding is being able to trace why it works, where it came from, what happens when you change one of the assumptions. That second thing takes time. It takes someone or something willing to sit in the slow parts with you. That's what Claude does. When you hit a wall in an explanation. You don't have to start over or go looking for a better source. You just keep going. Claude meets you at the point where it stopped making sense and works forward from there. Claude can pull up research and synthesize it. Not just summarize, but actually connect the pieces and flag where sources disagree. You can upload a document, a paper, a report, even something dense and technical and ask Claude to walk you through it. And because Anthropic committed to keeping Claude AD free, there's no third party influence to take you out of that deep work. The conversation stays focused on what you actually came to understand. Try Claude for free at Claude AI explain it to Me and see why problem solvers choose Claude as their thinking partner. Hey, this is David.

[Sponsor Announcer]

I firmly believe in dessert.

[Jon Glendhill]

Safeguards are just life.

[Sponsor Announcer]

You know, it's what gives life meaning, I feel. I mean, have you ever met a grumpy baker?

[Jon Glendhill]

It's explained it to me. I'm jq. And, yeah, sugar is just so good, but it's also bad. So what do you do?

[Maya Feller]

My name is Maya Feller, and I'm a registered dietitian nutritionist based out of Brooklyn, New York.

[Jon Glendhill]

You've been a practicing nutritionist for quite some time. And is there a way that we're talking about sugar these days that's different from how it was in the beginning for you?

[Maya Feller]

So I would say the difference is the demonization. Currently, we are in, like, a battle of wits and morality around sugar. Back in the 80s, like, when, I mean, I was really, really young then, but that was like, oh, we're gonna go sugar free. It wasn't like, oh, you're a good person or you're a bad person. Now there's this whole kind of, you're having sugar. Well, do you know what it does to you? And then there is this question about whether or not you're actually making a good choice and what does that say about who you are as a person? So we fully entered into the morality that's associated with sugar.

[Jon Glendhill]

If someone is like, okay, I'm not gonna do the sugar thing anymore. It stops, do you recommend going cold turkey? Is that how you do it?

[Maya Feller]

Oh, no, absolutely not. I'm totally lying. I'm like, no, don't go curled jerky. So what I would say to folks is because any change that you make in your overall eating pattern, you kind of want to make sure that it's something that's sustainable and that you can replicate it over time. And for most of us, it's not realistic to say that we're not going to eat any added sugar. So I do say slowly reduce to a place that you feel like you can sustain the majority of the time. And then if there are days where you have no added sugar, then that's fine. But think of it in a way where it's like, it's not an all or nothing, because it really is everywhere.

[Jon Glendhill]

You know, One of the ways that I try to manage my sugar cravings because I definitely have a sweet tooth, is just to like, okay, I'm not gonna bring this in the house. But that doesn't stop me from wanting the sweets. We heard from a listener named river, who they Have a really bad sweet tooth. And I mostly manage it, I guess, just by trying to avoid keeping sweets in my house. But when I am faced with a cookie, I do not know what to do with myself, and I will eat it all. How would you help river handle this proverbial cookie?

[Maya Feller]

Here's the thing. The challenge is, when we're shopping, rarely do we purchase the one single cookie. Perhaps it's a bag of cookies. And so I would say to river, is there a way to change how the cookie comes into your home? Could you instead, is there a bakery close by? Could you bake a cookie? And then maybe it's just having the cookie after lunch or after dinner? I prefer to have it up against a meal just because you've had some protein and fiber, hopefully in the meal to help slow down the absorption of the sugar into the bloodstream. But I would say have the cookie be aware of it, enjoy it, and then move on.

[Jon Glendhill]

Is there a way to retrain our taste buds? You know, we heard from Anthony who

[Dr. Kimber Stanhope]

said, I love, love, love, love sweet things.

[Jon Glendhill]

Something that's been helping me is eating

[Dr. Kimber Stanhope]

and drinking more things that are bitter

[Jon Glendhill]

to kind of get used to it. Does that work? Is there a way to, like, make the sweet tooth stop?

[Maya Feller]

So, Anthony, here's the thing. I love that, and you absolutely can. It takes time. So what. When I'm working with folks, I like to figure out, like, how much sugar are you having on a regular basis and in what form is it coming? Is it a liquid sugar or is it a solid sugar? And the reason I ask about the liquid because, like, if someone's sitting down and they're having a 2 liter of a soda, that it's very like, we have a visual and we can say, okay, we're gonna, you know, cut it down by half a glass per day over X amount of days. And we can see. But if it's like, oh, I'm getting a sleeve of cookies or I'm getting cake, then we're gonna have to start about, okay, what are your sugar interactions that you're having over the course of the day? Is it possible that we could reduce it to two sugar interactions from three? Can we cut the portion size? Can we change when you're having it? Can we change some of your behaviors around what you do after you have it? And I really, with patients, we go through, through at that level of detail because food, when we eat by mouth, we eat multiple times per day. And these are questions and interactions that we have to constantly come up against. And So I want to make it applicable to work, relaxation, all of the things, so that when you're doing that step down, it's not like, oh, I'm on my sugar reduction journey now. But it doesn't apply to other parts of my life or other scenarios. Goes.

[Jon Glendhill]

We're living in really stressful times. And I think for a lot of people, a sweet treat at the end of the day is a reward for making it through. Here's a listener named Becca. Especially with the myriad horrors of life and politics happening every day, it's hard

[Listener or Guest Speaker]

to deny myself anything that will make me even a little bit happy.

[Jon Glendhill]

But is that a crutch? Like, are we ultimately doing ourselves more harm than good when we do that?

[Maya Feller]

So I don't actually think so, to be honest. I understand foods being comforting. And I'm not gonna be the person to say like, no, you can't have that thing after you've done the whole thing of lifing. You know, I'm not, I'm not gonna. I won't do it. But what I will say is, what's your current health? How can we create a space where you can really enjoy that sweet treat, let it be a moment and then move on from it so that it doesn't become a four hour activity?

[Jon Glendhill]

So I gave up sugar for Lent this year and, you know, in a few weeks, Lent will be over and I'll once again be staring down those cookies at my favorite bakery, trying to decide how this is gonna fit into my life. What should I do when that happens?

[Maya Feller]

I'm a huge believer of if you wanna have a cookie, it can be a once in a while activity. Once it becomes a staple, then it's a different story. But as a once in a while activity, is there a way that you can go to the bakery, get that cookie that you love and savor it when you have it? So not eating it, walking down the street, but you find a special place. If it's a park bench, if it's your home, if it's with a friend or whatever, savor that cookie and then it becomes special. There was a time when we used to, like, go out for ice cream and that was a special thing. And I'm not trying to put it down that we can eat it whenever, but we've lost the specialness of special moments. Like a treat is supposed to be special.

[Jon Glendhill]

That's it. This week, we want your help with a show we're working on about accents. We all have them, but sometimes they change. Have you lost your accent. Or maybe you absolutely love yours. Give us a call and tell us about it 1-800-618-8545 or email a voice memo to askvox.com if you like this show, you could help us make it by becoming a Vox member. VOX members get all kinds of cool perks like listening to this show and other Vox podcasts ad free. Head to Vox.com members to learn more. This episode was produced by Miles Bryan and Arianna Espuru. It was edited by Judy Lawton with fact checking by Melissa Hirsch and engineering by David Tadashore. Our executive producer is Miranda Kennedy and I'm your host Jon Glen Hill. Thank you so much for listening. I'll talk to you soon. Bye.

[Sponsor Announcer]

Support for the show today comes from Mint Mobile, our old friend. You probably like keeping your money. Unfortunately, lots of big wireless companies also like keeping your money. So much so that they're really good at squeezing more out of your phone bill each month. Mint Mobile says they do things differently. They offer a premium wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month. All of their plans come with high speed 5G data and unlimited talk and text. And you don't need to get a whole new phone or number. You can activate your ESIM in minutes and start saving immediately. You can ditch your overpriced wireless plan and get three months of premium wireless service from Mint mobile for just 15 bucks a month. If you like your money. And who are we kidding? Who doesn't? Mint Mobile is for you. Shop [e-mail] explained that's mintmobile.com explained upfront payment for $45 for 3 months 5 gigabyte plan required equivalent to $15 a month new customer offer for the first 3 months only. Then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. C Mint Mobile for details.

[David Singerman]

Atblinds.com it's not just about window treatments. It's about you. Your style, your space, your way. Whether you DIY or window want the pros to handle it all, you'll have the confidence of knowing it's done right. From free expert design help to our 100% satisfaction guarantee, everything we do is made to fit your life and your windows. [e-mail], the only thing we treat better than Windows is you. Visit blinds.com now for up to 50% off with minimum purchase plus a professional measure at no cost. Rules and restrictions apply.