Understanding Our Three Deadly Food Sins and the Truth About Fat, Sugar, and Synthetic Foods
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
Honor Tremain is an award-winning longevity nutritionist, author, and journalist whose journey into nutrition began with a personal health crisis. Determined to reclaim her life, she completed qualifications in nutrition, eventually healing herself and going on to complete a Bachelor of Science degree.
In the modern battle against obesity and chronic disease, it’s worth asking an uncomfortable question: have we gotten it all completely wrong? Across the globe, rates of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mental health conditions continue to climb. According to the World Health Organization, global obesity has more than doubled since 1990, with nearly half of all adults now classified as overweight and hundreds of millions living with obesity. Even more alarming, childhood obesity is rising at an unprecedented pace, affecting tens of millions of children under the age of five.
At the same time, the economic burden is staggering, costing trillions annually and projected to rise sharply in the coming decade. Yet despite decades of dietary guidelines, public health campaigns, and a booming weight-loss industry, outcomes continue to worsen.
What’s going wrong? For over 40 years, we’ve largely followed the same advice: eat less fat, consume more carbohydrates, and rely on “light,” “low-fat,” or “fat-free” alternatives. Supermarket shelves reflect this philosophy, packed with products marketed as healthier simply because their fat content has been reduced.
Yet, during this exact period, obesity and chronic disease rates have skyrocketed. It raises a critical possibility: perhaps our understanding of food, and the way we’ve been guided to eat, has been fundamentally flawed.
The first sin: The fear of fat
Fat has long been cast as the villain in the story of modern nutrition. For decades, it has been blamed for weight gain, heart disease, and poor health outcomes. This fear drove widespread changes in food production, dietary guidelines, and consumer behaviour.
But in the process of removing fat, something important was lost. Fat is not just a source of calories, it is a vital structural and functional component of the human body. Every cell we have is built with a phospholipid membrane, meaning fat is literally part of our cellular architecture. This is especially true in the brain, nervous system, and hormone-producing tissues, where fat plays a critical role in communication, signalling, and overall function.
When we consume healthy fats, we are directly influencing the quality and performance of these cells. Whole, unprocessed fats, such as those found in raw nuts, chia & flax seeds, avocados, olive oil, and fatty fish, contain essential nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins. These nutrients support brain health, reduce inflammation, improve cardiovascular function, and even assist with lowering weight, chronic disease and mental health.
Some studies even show that people who regularly consume foods like raw almonds tend to have lower body weight than those who avoid them altogether.
In contrast, many low-fat products strip away these beneficial nutrients, leaving behind foods that are less satisfying, less nourishing, and often nutrient-void. The result? We eat more, feel less satisfied, and miss out on essential building blocks for health.
The second sin: Not fearing sugar enough
While fat was being removed from our diets, sugar quietly took centre stage. To maintain taste and texture in low-fat foods, manufacturers often replaced fat with sugar, particularly refined sugars and sweeteners. This shift dramatically increased overall sugar consumption, transforming what was once an occasional treat into a daily staple.
Unlike fat, sugar, especially in its refined forms, offers almost no nutritional value. It provides calories without essential nutrients, leading to what many describe as “empty calories.”
But the issue goes deeper.
Certain forms of sugar, particularly fructose and high-fructose corn syrup, which big manufacturers used in replace of glucose around the 80’s, behave very differently in the body compared to glucose. While glucose is biochemically regulated within the body to a degree and used efficiently for energy, fructose bypasses many of the body’s natural control systems.
This has several consequences:
Invisible to appetite regulators, satiety: Fructose does not trigger the hormones that signal fullness, meaning we can consume large amounts without ever feeling full or satisfied.
Increased fat production: When not immediately used for energy, fructose is readily converted into fat in the liver and body- creating inflamed & ‘trapped fat’. Which is very hard to lose.
Metabolic stress: Its metabolism can generate oxidative stress and inflammation, contributing to cellular damage and chronic disease.
Perhaps most concerning is sugar’s effect on the brain. It activates reward pathways similar to those triggered by addictive substances like cocaine, reinforcing cravings and habitual consumption.
This combination of low satiety, high palatability, addictive potential and cellular damage creates a perfect storm for overconsumption and chronic disease.
And yet, these same products that are high in fructose sugar are often marketed as healthier options because they hide under the banner of “fat-free.”
A bag of lollies labelled “zero fat” may appear like a healthy choice over a handful of raw nuts, despite being almost entirely composed of sugar. This shift in perception highlights how deeply ingrained our fear of fat has become and how it continues to mislead us and our governing bodies, who should be making us aware of these dangerous misunderstandings.
The third sin: The rise of synthetic substitutes
As awareness of sugar’s negative effects has grown, the food industry has responded with a new solution: artificial sweeteners and synthetic additives.
On the surface, they seem ideal, right? Providing sweetness without calories. But the reality is far more complex.
Artificial sweeteners can disrupt the body’s metabolic processes in unexpected ways. When the body tastes sweetness, it prepares for incoming energy. But when that energy never arrives, it creates confusion in metabolic signalling and adaptation.
Over time, this may lead to:
Slower metabolism
Increased sugar cravings
Altered insulin responses
Potential weight gain
In other words, replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners does not necessarily solve the problem, it may simply change its form.
Additionally, emerging research has raised concerns about links between certain synthetic additives and neurological issues, gut health disturbances, and other long-term health risks from rises in ADHD and autism to cancers.
We’ve effectively replaced one problem with another, without addressing the root cause: a diet dominated by highly processed, engineered foods is killing us.
The bigger picture: Food as biochemistry
One of the most misleading ideas in nutrition is the notion that all types of calories are equal, that weight and health are simply a matter of “calories in versus calories out.”
While energy balance does matter, this perspective needs addressing. The solution to our current health crisis is unlikely to come from this concept, or the next diet trend, miracle supplement, or reformulated processed product.
Instead, it may lie in unlearning some of the assumptions we’ve carried for decades and coming back to the basics of simply eating whole foods again.
We need to move beyond fear-based nutrition, where entire food groups are demonized, and toward a deeper understanding of how food actually interacts within the body.
Ultimately, the goal is awareness.
Food is not just fuel, it should be viewed as information, as a biochemical message. If every food we ingest were viewed as biochemical messages that could potentially design a whole series of health pathways, either beneficial or deleterious, we would be getting somewhere.
Yes, both glucose and fructose are sweet carbohydrates and contain calories, but they behave completely differently in the body, as we have seen.
Yes, brown rice and castor sugar are also both carbohydrates, but one is full of fibre, minerals, vitamins and some protein and can lessen chronic disease, the other is pure calories, which can lead to Alzheimer’s disease. It’s almost like comparing a salad to balloons.
Yes, sprayable cooking oil and extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil are both fats, and many Healthy Food guidelines group them in the same category. But one is full of trans fats and 100% calories, while the latter contains Vitamin E, other minerals and nutrients that are now linked with weight loss and improved heart health.
It seems problems arise when we don’t have the correct message, or when things are over-simplified into black and white, one being seen as ‘all bad’ and one being perceived as ‘all good’, missing the vast complexity of how truly amazing and intelligent the ‘in between’ is our body’s biochemistry, coupled with how extraordinary food can behave within the playground of it. It’s time for a change.
Read more from Honor Tremain
Honor Tremain, Nutritionist, Author, and Journalist
Honor Tremain is an award-winning longevity nutritionist, author, and journalist whose journey into health began with a personal crisis where, between the ages of 18 and 23, Honor was bedridden with multiple chronic illnesses & determined to reclaim her life, she completed a Diploma in Nutrition, eventually healing herself, and went on to complete a science degree. Honor opened a thriving nutrition practice in Sydney, Australia, became a columnist and feature journalist for national and international publications, and in 2015, Honor published her debut book, A Diet in Paradise. Most recently, she founded Daya Pet Food Co., a health-focused and sustainable dog food company that was proudly awarded Best Health-Conscious Dog Food Brand 2025.
