“#1 culprit being sugar.”
I’d call it #2, with wheat, specifically today’s wheat being #1. Stay clear of wheat and 80% of the issues go away (and just to be clear, that includes “whole grain”). Stay clear of processed sugar too, it’s 95%.
I know cavemen didn't eat grains....but they lived in CAVES....
our diets have changed, and we are living longer....we live in buildings and drive cars and send people to the moon....
if the human diet has evolved, so has the human race, for the better....
its like pork....the use of pork as I understand it saved western civilization in Europe...now, in the world, which populations have prospered and grown, and which populations remain in the dark ages (mid east) and who eats pork and who doesn't...???