With the abundant array of fad diets out there, you’ve most likely heard that sugar is the root of all evil. Atkins and South Beach even go as far to tell you not to consume fruits in the first stages of initiation. But wait…isn’t fruit supposed to be good for you? Was I the only one who was taught about the essential food groups as a kid? Aren’t fruits supposed to have a palate of nutrients that make us stronger, smarter, and happier? So why would we want to eliminate them from our diet?

If you were living in a cave or under a rock for the last 24 hours, you may have missed one of the biggest public health uprisings in recent memory. And no, I’m not talking about Susan G. Komen cutting grants to Planned Parenthood (though that was pretty big news too). I’m referring to the position paper just published in Nature by three prominent obesity researchers from the University of California-San Francisco.

Let’s face it, sugar is everywhere you look. It’s in the soda you drink to continue your state of consciousness, it’s in the banana you gave your daughter for her lunch, and it’s in that cookie you snuck in between meetings. We love it, we crave it, and we even drive out of our way to get it; but unfortunately, it doesn’t provide much in the way of nutrition. Sugar has never really been considered a healthy part of the diet, and now a new research study has even more bad news for us!