- Feb 14, 2004
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There's some excellent reading from a fellow pilot on the actual effects of sugar on flying. If you have a few minutes, read through the whole thing: (it's kind of in a TL;DR format, but it's worth finishing)
http://fatfat.us/
Pretty much boils down to this:
Passing your physical is a very serious thing for pilots because it's a make-or-break kind thing; if you're denied your medical certification, that cuts you off from a lot of classes of flying. This guy is interesting because he's over 80 years old and is still flying, which is fairly rare these days.
He also brought up something interesting I had never seen before, that people are addicted to the sugar in cigarettes and not the nicotine. I read a really interesting book called Potatoes, Not Prozac about the effects of sugar and how they found that sugar addiction showed itself as not only an addiction to sugar, but also to bread, pasta, and alcohol. They found that alcoholics were actually addicted to the sugar, not the alcohol itself, so the combination of sugar addiction and buzz created a vicious cycle. Very interesting. He also has this to say about salt:
Which is interesting, because CNN had an article a few years ago about how sugar, not just salt, was causing hypertension:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/07/01/glucose.blood.pressure/index.html
With the amount of sugar they're packing in literally everything these days, it's no wonder our diabetic & obesity rate has skyrocketed. It was really interesting reading a pilot's take on the effects of sugar. He has lots of interesting little tidbits in the article like this one:
I don't know of too many 80-year-old dudes who go diving then flying. Like, none at all. I have a friend who flies turboprops commercially and went off sugar completely (nothing, no sugar, cupcakes, brownies, donuts, anything) and said it's had an amazing effect on him, he has energy all day & just feels great and is in a great mood all the time. Pretty neat stuff :thumbsup:
http://fatfat.us/
Pretty much boils down to this:
Do you want your blood pressure to be normal? Then do what I say. Do you want to pass your flight physical? Then do what I say. GET THE SWEETS OUT OF YOUR DIET. Not just a few, ALL OF THEM!!!
Passing your physical is a very serious thing for pilots because it's a make-or-break kind thing; if you're denied your medical certification, that cuts you off from a lot of classes of flying. This guy is interesting because he's over 80 years old and is still flying, which is fairly rare these days.
He also brought up something interesting I had never seen before, that people are addicted to the sugar in cigarettes and not the nicotine. I read a really interesting book called Potatoes, Not Prozac about the effects of sugar and how they found that sugar addiction showed itself as not only an addiction to sugar, but also to bread, pasta, and alcohol. They found that alcoholics were actually addicted to the sugar, not the alcohol itself, so the combination of sugar addiction and buzz created a vicious cycle. Very interesting. He also has this to say about salt:
THEY say that salt causes high blood pressure. Well if you have 36 teaspoons of RCs saturating our blood then it may be true. But I am here to tell you that I have BP of 119.6 over 75. I'm now 81 years old. I salt my eggs, hash browns, tomatos, grapefruit, oatmeal, beer, meat and I use salted butter. Apparently if salt raises your blood pressure then it is my guess that it is because you have "SWEET BLOOD" eternally in your veins.
Which is interesting, because CNN had an article a few years ago about how sugar, not just salt, was causing hypertension:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/07/01/glucose.blood.pressure/index.html
With the amount of sugar they're packing in literally everything these days, it's no wonder our diabetic & obesity rate has skyrocketed. It was really interesting reading a pilot's take on the effects of sugar. He has lots of interesting little tidbits in the article like this one:
The same diet of sugars that causes pilots to have poor altitude tolerance also affects SCUBA divers. I have no medical proof of this, just some personal experience. I have a little retreat in Baja California, Mexico. On more than one occasion I have SCUBA dived to a depth of 80 feet in the morning and then get into my airplane and fly up to as high as 10,000. Ive never had any symptoms of the bends. (Nitrogen narcosis).
I don't know of too many 80-year-old dudes who go diving then flying. Like, none at all. I have a friend who flies turboprops commercially and went off sugar completely (nothing, no sugar, cupcakes, brownies, donuts, anything) and said it's had an amazing effect on him, he has energy all day & just feels great and is in a great mood all the time. Pretty neat stuff :thumbsup:
