hi lisa,
just to show you that i can find articles, here is one.

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/FENR/FENRv...enrv13n1p87.pdf

among other things, it states the following :

within the body, most dietary sugars are converted to glucose, a major fuel used by all cells and the primary fuel required by brain tissue for normal function. low levels of glucose in the blood will impair the brain and cause permanent mental impairment or worse - coma or death.

so "my opinions" are not just wild dreams i came up with when i was pondering the universe. they have some basis in fact. but until i put into practice any article, including this one, it had better pass the "gymeejet test" - whereby i test it on me and other people. it has been encouraging to me that whenever i get a result from something, most other people also get the same results, which allows me a greater confidence level that my body is behaving in the same fashion as the overwhelming majority.

in strenuous exercise, nothing can take the place of sugar. without it, you will do a lot more dropping than shopping - LOL.

again, sugar/carbs are important and are our best source of creating energy to do all the things our bodies do, both internally, and externally. SUGAR IS A WONDERFUL THING, in the correct amounts. we have evolved in tandem with all the other living things on this planet, and we had better darn well eat many of the foods that have evolved along with us, instead of the crap that we have manufactured in the past 100 years.

sugar is not bad - however many foods containing sugar are bad. fat is not bad - however many foods containing fat are bad. protein is not bad - however many foods containing protein are bad. iron is important. too much iron is toxic. etc. etc. etc.

once again, the correct amount of protein and essential fats are needed for most of our anabolic functions, and the good carbs for our catabolic functions.