GayBoard

ALL sugars, whether from cane, corn, honey, beets, or others, promote overeating and obesity. Our physiology is designed to crave sweet things, as our ancestors until quite recently only rarely had anything particularly sweet, so it made biological sense to gorge oneself on a tree full of ripe figs, for example, both for one's own nourishment as well as to deny nourishment to competitors. This strategy doesn't work so well for modern homo sapiens, as most of us in the developed world have superabundant access to sweets (and candy/food manufacturers and distributors [fast food restaurants and grocery stores in particular] take full advantage of our biological cravings to maximize their profits). Artificial sweeteners are also biologically linked to obesity and have the added uncertainty of possibly being linked to cancer or other problems.

Soft drinks are one of the major sources of HFCS (high fructose corn syrup, the worst kind of sugar) in the American diet and are a huge part of the skyrocketing obesity problem in children. Soft drinks are full of other ingredients that are known to be bad for you, including carbonation and artificial colours and flavours. I know that Coke has phosphoric acid as a major ingredient (part of what gives it such an acidic "bite") and that is definitely very bad for tooth enamel and bones generally. American chemists have become very adept at using HFCS, such that it is now used in crayons and other non-food products. And yes, they've found ways to make it ever more cheaply, entrenching it as part of the Western diet, even in non-sweet things like breads.

I'm 53 and when I was a child, we mostly drank water, milk, tea, coffee, apple juice, and orange juice. Soft drinks were a rare luxury; IMHO, that should still be the case, along with dessert generally and sugary pastries with almost zero nutritional value in particular. Nowadays, many of us have access to stores locally (and almost all of us online) that sell waters that are lightly flavoured with fruit juices but have no added sugars. Plain water out of the tap ideally should be your go-to drink. If you are concerned about additives or impurities in your water, water filtration systems are relatively inexpensive. If you're craving something sweet, eat an apple or other unsweetened fruit (all of which contain fiber, vitamins, antioxidants, and other things that are good for you). Raisins, craisons, prunes, dried apples, and other dried fruits retain many of the same benefits, although beware that some--particularly craisins--are loaded with added sugar to make them palatable (you don't eat raw cranberries for a reason, as they are incredibly sour).

Most of us in the West eat WAY too much meat. Most of us require no more than 4 ozs of any kind of meat daily, which is about the size of a pack of playing cards (or the meat in 1 quarter-pounder hamburger). Fish should be a regular part of that protein diet, particularly sushi and baked fish; fried fish has too much added fat. Many or most of our meals should be vegan/vegetarian, with about half the plate being leafy green vegetables like spinach, collards, kale, etc., and food of various colours (which is a biological key to its nutrition) making up the rest of the plate: blueberries, red, orange, and yellow peppers, squash, pumpkin, hot peppers, purple grapes, etc. Beware of creamed vegetables, as you want to minimize your fat intake. You should regularly consume nuts, too, but not overindulge, as many of them are packed with fat. 1 glass for women and up to 2 glasses for men of red wine daily have positive nutritional value, but BE CAREFUL not to overdo it. As many as 1/3 of all LGBTQ adults are alcoholics or drug addicts (think of all that time spent in bars and the temptation to drown negative feelings from homophobes in a drink or six).

In the USA, 2/3 of all adults are overweight or obese, which is associated with diabetes, arthritis, colon-rectal cancers, and many other AVOIDABLE health problems. The average American diet is so bad that MOST adults (except Otis-T) will be at least overweight unless they have an undiagnosed health problem, are very athletic, or simply have very good genes.

And a last word on avoidable health problems. You can't control your biological sex, your ancestry, and other things that impact your health, but you CAN control your diet, exercise, and smoking/recreational drug use. Smoking cigarettes is the #1 preventable killer in the USA (and I suspect most of the world) with its association with COPD, lung cancer, heart disease, premature aging, and many other problems. Never pick it up! If you already have, quit immediately and for good! There is no such thing as a healthful recreational drug, whether it is natural or synthetic. ALL drugs have side effects, even the ones your doctor gives you, but most recreational drugs are illegal in part because of the many negative side effects they have on your health. Many of them cause brain damage, liver damage, heart damage, lung damage, skin infections, collapsed blood vessels, and more. Being drunk or high also makes you more liable to engage in unsafe sexual behaviours, like barebacking.

Papa Bear wants ALL of his LGBTQ (and straight ally) children to lead long, healthy lives and to give (sweet) hell to all the homophobes and other bigots out there!