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Keep you glycogen stores mostly depleted and greatly improve your chances of living a slim and healthy life.

Fructose in soft drinks and processed foods, regardless of calorie content, is the primary cause of obesity. Aspartame in diet drinks is even worse.
There is nothing harmful in consuming real cane sugar, but don't expect a doctor to acknowledge it.

I wouldn't expect a doctor to acknowledge something false

For the most part, yoir body doesn't differentiate between sugars. A sugar is a sugar, be it fructose, lactose, pure cane sugar whatever

I just stay away from HFCS, I know it's harmless but Soda wasn't always a dehydrating tranquilizer. Especially when it's loaded with caffeine.
Pepsi is now making a version with real sugar again. I had some Saturday at my Brothers Halloween pumpkin carving contest/party he threw for all of the kids of friends and family.

I haven't drank a soda in years because of the HFCS, though I did have a couple throwbacks a few years ago.
Yup, with real sugar it's the real deal and does what soda used to do. Quench your thirst and refresh your mouth.
No syrupy lingering throat fleghm, no additional dehydration. In fact they came in just 8 oz cans, But that's all you needed, because they ease your thirst instead invigorating it.

Sugar is mostly harmful if an excess of calories are eaten. There are plenty of very healthy people eating the vast majority of their calories from fruit. But it's pretty hard to overeat on fruit, so they don't suffer.

That said, people on all sides of the diet spectrum vegan as well as paleo discourage eating sugar. Most Americans overeat on everything. They drink calories, which does nothing to cut down on hunger, and they usually consume sugar in a little high caloric density package with a bunch of fat. Cane sugar is substantially the same thing as HFCS, and they are both bad for you when you overeat.

The thing I like about Lustig is that he differentiates between starch and table sugar at times. Some people like Taubes seem to think they are about equal. Others even think a potato is worse than sugar, because it has more than twice the glycemic index. That's just plain ridiculous. This is where Lustig is inconsistent. He has sweet potatoes on his eat whenever you want list, and white potatoes are on his don't eat or limit list. Now, the biggest nutritional difference between the two (other than beta carotene in sweet potatoes) is that sweet potatoes have a lot more fructose. That's why they are sweet. It's also why they have a lower glycemic index than white potatoes. If Lustig were consistent, he would rate the white potato higher than the sweet potato. But, it seems that he doesn't want to give advice that is counter to the current diet trend of rating things based on the GI.

I have nothing against sweet potatoes. They are the primary food of another blue zone region (Okinowans), and are perfectly fine when you are not overeating on calories. If you are eating primarily potatoes and vegetables like the Okinowans, you will find it physically hard to stuff enough food into your belly to eat too many calories.

YesYNot says

Sugar is mostly harmful if an excess of calories are eaten. There are plenty of very healthy people eating the vast majority of their calories from fruit. But it's pretty hard to overeat on fruit, so they don't suffer.

That's not accurate in the sense that fructose does not suppress hunger in the way Glucose does. Fructose is not a good way to curb appetite. It also gets absorbed very fast. However with whole fruits you almost always have a fiber component which makes for slower absorption and gives the body more work. That's why whole fruits are much preferable to fruit juices which besides the vitamins/antioxidants are not healthy at all.There's nothing wrong with potatoes as a great source of nutrients in moderation. I prefer them over grains. Getting the majority of your calories from carbs is never a good idea, but if of those the majority are from complex, slow-digesting carbs it's not as big of an issue. Rice has a lot of nutrients as well but it is not consumed at huge levels (smaller portions) in the east like it is consumed in the western world and starches and grains have been traditionally used as a fast source of energy for people who work in the field every day. With the advent of office jobs the need for this has been vastly reduced. and there's no doubt that sugar promotes chronic diseases far more than protein (may promote a little) and fat (which doesn't at all).

I agree that fruits are better than straight sugar. Hardly anyone is going around promoting sugar as anything but a condiment.

I eat the vast majority of my calories from grains, potatoes, legumes, etc. It works out to be about 80% carbs, 10% fat, 10% protein. There is a lot of evidence suggesting this is a very healthy eating pattern. I'm not aware of any evidence showing that it isn't. For many people, it is hard to get enough calories eating this way. When I'm active, I have to supplement with some fats like avocado and nuts. Otherwise, I get too thin.

You can also eat all the white rice you want without getting fat if you don't eat a bunch of fat at the same time. No field work or exercise is necessary. I tried an elimination diet once, eating nothing but white rice and spinach for a few weeks while adding one other ingredient at a time. Despite eating 4 heaping 12 inch plate fulls a day and not being hungry, I went from a bmi of 22.4 to a bmi of 21 in a few weeks. The Chinese have never gotten fat eating loads of rice, even while not doing much more if any more work than people in the West. When I've been to China, they were eating crap loads of white rice and veggies with no added sugar. It's the major calories source of all meals including breakfast. It was the same in Japan when they weren't treating us to exorbitant feasts. That's how it was for my co-workers who grew up in China in the 70s and 80s as well. The only change is that lately, they are adding more Western food.

The primary problem with trying to separate fat and protein, is that they generally are eaten together in the form of animal products. Some people have been elevating fat as the best food lately. The problem is that it is rarely eaten in isolation, and it's pretty disgusting when that is done. It's also very calorie dense, has no nutrients, and is easily stored by the body as fat.

Someone who wants to know what to eat just needs to look for a whole dietary pattern that is proven to be healthy and that they can follow. Trying to eat a cookie and figure out if it is the fat or sugar that caused a problem is useless. Same goes for eating bacon and trying to figure out if it is the fat, protein, or nitrates that is causing the problem.