Before we took off on one of our bus drives last week, our 9 year old daughter asked me if she could read That Sugar Book (the book from the amazing movie That Sugar Film) and do a book review of it for my website. Ah, let me take all of 3 seconds to think about that – why yes angel, that would be awesome. So here it is folks, a book review That Sugar Book from a 9 year old’s perspective.
Hi guys! A couple of days ago I saw That Sugar Book lying on the table. I was really excited because I started reading this book a while ago and never finished the book. I asked mum, ‘Can I read that, mama?’ Let’s say it was a resounding YES! I truly believe you should read this book. It is a fun and colourful book, with the hints of Damon Gameau and his bent and twisted humour. What I got out of this book was that too many Aussies are having TOO MUCH SUGAR! I am absolutely appalled at the statistics that came out of this book and I am writing this book for you and your child ( ren ) ‘s health.
First up, it starts with a foreword from David Gillespie, author of Sweet Poison ( a brilliant book, as I hear ). He tells us that That Sugar Book is a great read. He also says that when Damon first met with him, he thought Damon was ‘One sandwich short of a picnic’ but is proven wrong when he sees the film and what Damon does.
Damon himself wrote a start to the book, introducing you to this book and explaining what he was going to do. He was having 40 teaspoons of sugar for 60 days. You might think him stupid, ridiculous, an idiot even. But the scary fact is the average Australian is having that amount each day.The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommend 6 teaspoons a day for adults. Scary!
That Sugar Book/Film is about how Damon Gameau found out, using his body, what is happening to you and your children’s generation of people. In 60 days, Damon Gameau had 40 teaspoons of sugar per day! His health was affected terribly just by eating so called healthy foods. This book will change the way you think about packaged ‘healthy’ foods.
Damon Gameau has ensured this book is beautifully illustrated, interesting enough to get youths (including me) to understand. The drawn illustrations are good enough for me, my brother and mum, so they should be for you. Along with the illustrations, the words are brilliantly written as well. They are bright and colourful, full of imagination. These words are the highlights of the book, telling the story in a way that inspires and interests the reader.
Another highlight of the book was the real life photos! Oh, the photos! They were from the film and created such a picture in your head! One of the photos that had the biggest impact on me was one that showed how FAT he had got throughout the 60 days and how TIRED he looked. There was photo in this book, explaining that Damon himself thought the sugar clouded his brain and made him feel ‘crap’ in comparison to what he feels when he eats healthy food.
Another scary/amazing part of the book was what Damon called ‘The Bliss Point’. He had got told about this by a man who worked with some major companies, helping with them create flavouring for processed food (or as mum calls it, pretend food). The man told Damon the bliss point was someone’s sugar tolerance. For instance, a ten year old, as Damon explains, could be like this: 1 teaspoon of sugar ‘ More, please ‘, 1 1/2 teaspoons ‘I said, MORE please ‘, 3 teaspoons of sugar ‘ WOW! Thanks, Dad!’, 4 teaspoons ‘ Bleaurgh! *vomit* ‘. I really liked reading this bit as the illustration was amazing.
What I felt about this book was that the colourful pages and beautiful words were very persuading and allowed me to REALLY understand what the message was. I also think that the brightness of the book had a close hold to my brother – he would look at the pictures in spare moments.
I found that at the end of the book, they had a wide variety of recipes to fit your family and help you ‘transition out of sugar’.
As Damon Gameau said ‘It’s harder to break up with sugar than a person – sugar doesn’t send you drunk and abusive texts at 3am. It just sits in the cupboard, waiting for you to go back to it’. This is why most of the smoothies have natural sweeteners in it to give it that ‘sugary’ taste.
The book is very interesting, I must say. A great splash of humour, with a cup full of fact and a sprinkle of colour, brilliantly whisked together and finished with a binding stickiness of recipes, to make the pitch perfect book.This is hands down, an amazing book and I REALLY recommend you read it. This book and film are a definite must-see! I personally enjoyed seeing this film and reading the book and I would recommend you and your family to either see the movie and/or read the book.
Indrani xo