deakin

Not long after my first novel was published, I was invited to a writers’ symposium at UEA in Norwich. The campus is just outside the town and overlooks a lake they call the Broad, where I spent much of my time. I swam under the spell of two books: Charles Sprawson’s Haunts of the Black Masseur and Roger Deakin’s Waterlog, each of which made swimming feel like an expression of the liberated self, a declaration of existential intent. During those strange days in Norfolk, I also stumbled into the university library, where I…

Humans have an evolutionary preference for sweetness. Sweet foods, like fruit and honey, were an important energy source for our ancestors.However, in the modern world, sweetened foods are readily available, very cheap, and advertised extensively. Now, we are consuming too much sugar in foods and drinks – the kind that is added rather than sugar that is naturally occurring.  Consuming too much added sugar is bad news for health. It is linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and tooth decay.Because of these health concerns,…