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Is Sugar Killing Us?

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Re: Is Sugar Killing Us?

#221

Post by overgard »

PepeGomez wrote: post #214
overgard wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh? I'm a liar for saying "sugar is bad and certain sugars are worse"?

So what is the evidence for fructose being bad for us?

Fructose can only be metabolized by the liver (whereas glucose is useful in the rest of the body) so in terms of generating energy it's not particularly useful, but your liver has to deal with it. If your liver gets more fructose than it can use, it turns it into fat which is stored on the liver, leading to fatty liver disease and insulin resistance (same thing with alcohol).

Re: Is Sugar Killing Us?

#222

Post by mastazi »

webkike wrote: post #11
mastazi wrote: post #7

Pro tip: you need a balanced diet. Despite all the recent conspiracy theories, getting rid of sugar while e.g. eating loads of fat is not going to do you good. Downvoters: show me academic papers. Not some tabloid mis-quoting some paper, but the actual paper or at least an abstract. Otherwise you're just being dietary fanboys "SV kids getting healthy thanks to one weird trick"

That's not actually true, depending on your definition of "doing good". If you eliminate carbohydrates and eat a high protein/fat diet you are more than likely to lose weight.

High protein, maybe, hi fat, not really sure. Sources?

Re: Is Sugar Killing Us?

#223

Post by chrismealy »

reactor wrote: post #68
chrismealy wrote: post #42

I quit sugar for two weeks and the runny nose and sinus headache I'd had my whole life went away. It wasn't hard. Everybody should try it.

Oh man, can you please shed more lights on this as I've exactly same problem, sinusitis and running nose (mostly because I'm allergic to cold and histamine is wreaking havoc). I'm trying all the possible way to control it, exercising regularly, taking lemon+honey everyday morning etc. But only an anti-histamine (xyzal or zyrtec) is working for me. It's interesting that to know if it has anything to do with Sugar, as…

No added sugar (or stevia or aspartame either). In the months after I quit I had a cookie or a chocolate croissant here and there and always woke up with a sinus headache the next day. I can eat berries and most fruit with no problems, but not bananas. I still have sinus trouble, a kind of a raw feeling in my nose most of the time, but without sugar in my diet I don't have constant mucus, congestion, and chronic sinus infections. I also take Allegra (fexofenadine) daily and use the Neilmed sinus irrigation when the raw sinus feeling is bad.

The other thing is my appetite decreased enormously and I lost about 25 pounds without trying. I actually decided to gain a little weight because I got too thin.

Re: Is Sugar Killing Us?

#224

Post by JamesBarney »

calvano915 wrote: post #190
overgard wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've read a book[1] -- by an actual doctor -- saying the exact opposite. If you think about it from an evolutionary standpoint, our ancestors would have had many times when food accessibility was scarce and they would have needed to maintain their strength through a long fast. An animal that burned muscle/protein over fat is an animal that wouldn't have survived long, that would be a terrible evolutionary disadvantag…

Fats do not become glucose (with the exception of the glycerol from triglycerides...a minute amount of the total kcals from one trig) but they do become energy. The majority of energy is in fatty acids which have no pathway to glucose. For example, it is believed that when we sleep our energy comes from fats. We are not doing anything exerting, so the process of (fat catabolism -> energy) >= energy needs. The brain n…

I think it's important to separate health and obesity when considering exercise. A large body of evidence shows us that exercise makes you healthy. A smaller body of evidence shows that exercise helps prevent obesity. But there is virtually no evidence that shows exercise has a large part to play in curing obesity.

Re: Is Sugar Killing Us?

#225

Post by TACIXAT »

jerf wrote: post #133
TACIXAT wrote: post #111

I'm celiac, so my body has some crazy responses to food. I get withdrawal symptoms from a couple of foods and have cut them out because of it. Sugar was the most recent. When I stop eating it I get a sinus headache, I get the shakes (like drinking too much caffeine), and if it's bad, I throw up. What blew my mind in giving up sugar was that I lost 5 lbs. I'm was lean at 155 lbs and 6'1, I dropped below 150 now. It re…

"caffeine (withdrawal symptoms)," Do you mean that the caffeine itself doesn't bother you (above its expected effect), but that the withdrawal is pretty rough? I'm curious, because I also have celiac, and I've also ended up dropping caffeine because it was getting to be too much of a pain to manage it whenever I had to do without for some reason (travel mostly). I've noticed I have no grace with it; if I drink a 20oz…

It's actually awesome to hear of someone with the same symptoms (also, I'm terribly sorry, it blows).

For me, I was drinking a ton of soda, like 4+ of those Mexican coca-colas a day. If I would sleep in I would 'miss' the dose and feel like garbage. I loved that stuff. I think the first time I cut it out was just to see if I could and I got very sick. Going back or forth a few more times I noticed that it was withdrawal. For me it's a sinus headache and pseudo-ephedrine (sudafed) really helps (wish I knew that a few years earlier).

I know other people have withdrawal symptoms, but I've never seen any reported as severe as what I get. Maybe people just aren't aware, idk. I started paying a lot of attention after I gave up gluten, to what I was eating and how it affected me. Maybe it's that increased awareness or maybe my body responds differently.

I don't drink at all, same thing about no appeal. That might just be because it's a bit of work to find drinks that are gluten free, and not high fructose (ciders / HFCS syrups) and I'm lazy. I also prefer programming and mental challenges, I really feel a night getting drunk is a bit of a waste. Hanging with the gf, programming, or gaming is more fulfilling to me. It's been long enough that I couldn't even tell you any effects, just that I'm a light weight.

I would happily induce these symptoms if anyone wants to study them. I'm so curious about the science behind it. I'm curious if I built up the reliance on it and if it will go away in time. In 10 years can I eat chocolate again? Drink tea? My diet is really strict now, pretty much meat, rice, and water. I eat chipotle bowls with chips (gotta avoid most the ingredients due to cross contamination though). I haven't seen much science on withdrawal either, though I haven't looked too hard.

There is some science that gluten can be treated as an opiate by certain individuals [1]. That link is for people with asymptomatic celiac disease, you also hear it come up in association with Autism [2].

1. https://jhpn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s41043-015-0...

2. http://www.autism-help.org/intervention-casein-gluten-free.h...

Re: Is Sugar Killing Us?

#226

Post by DanBC »

overgard wrote: post #221
PepeGomez wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what is the evidence for fructose being bad for us?

Fructose can only be metabolized by the liver (whereas glucose is useful in the rest of the body) so in terms of generating energy it's not particularly useful, but your liver has to deal with it. If your liver gets more fructose than it can use, it turns it into fat which is stored on the liver, leading to fatty liver disease and insulin resistance (same thing with alcohol).

You've stated all of that as fact, when there's some debate about some of it.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachm...

Page 209 onwards.

It's worth reading those few pages, but here are some snippets.

> Products sweetened with HFCS are not necessarily significantly higher in fructose than foods sweetened with sucrose as HFCS has a similar composition to sucrose, which is 50% glucose and 50% fructose.

> The body absorbs free fructose and glucose, or the same sugars derived from sucrose and HFCS, in exactly the same way. Therefore it appears unlikely that fructose, as consumed as a component of most HFCS or other glucose-fructose syrups, causes metabolic abnormalities or promotes weight gain more than other sugars consumed in an isocaloric diet (Klurfeld et al., 2013).

Especially this:

> A3.10 Therefore on balance, it is considered that there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate that fructose intake, at levels consumed in the normal UK diet, leads to adverse health outcomes independent of any effects related to its presence as a component of total and free sugars.

Re: Is Sugar Killing Us?

#227

Post by TACIXAT »

Periodic wrote: post #161
jerf wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"caffeine (withdrawal symptoms)," Do you mean that the caffeine itself doesn't bother you (above its expected effect), but that the withdrawal is pretty rough? I'm curious, because I also have celiac, and I've also ended up dropping caffeine because it was getting to be too much of a pain to manage it whenever I had to do without for some reason (travel mostly). I've noticed I have no grace with it; if I drink a 20oz…

Caffeine is known to have withdrawal symptoms. Those headaches, for me in the face and forehead, seem to be a common symptom. As I went through my 20s I experimented with abandoning coffee a few times. I had developed the habit in college and I wanted to ensure that I was continuing to drink coffee for the benefits and not simply because I was addicted to it. This meant that I did handful of experiments with not drin…

The first month without caffeine was absolute misery for me. After that it improved. I normally would come home from work and do work on personal projects. For that month I just couldn't, it was horribly depressing. If it had kept up for 6 months I would probably be drinking caffeine again.

Re: Is Sugar Killing Us?

#228

Post by TACIXAT »

csommers wrote: post #129
TACIXAT wrote: post #111

I'm celiac, so my body has some crazy responses to food. I get withdrawal symptoms from a couple of foods and have cut them out because of it. Sugar was the most recent. When I stop eating it I get a sinus headache, I get the shakes (like drinking too much caffeine), and if it's bad, I throw up. What blew my mind in giving up sugar was that I lost 5 lbs. I'm was lean at 155 lbs and 6'1, I dropped below 150 now. It re…

>What blew my mind in giving up sugar was that I lost 5 lbs. I'm was lean at 155 lbs and 6'1, I dropped below 150 now. It really opened my eyes to how much sugar is converted to fat. Pretty much all water weight.

Good to know. There wasn't a serious visible change, so that would make sense.

Re: Is Sugar Killing Us?

#229

Post by PepeGomez »

overgard wrote: post #221
PepeGomez wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what is the evidence for fructose being bad for us?

Fructose can only be metabolized by the liver (whereas glucose is useful in the rest of the body) so in terms of generating energy it's not particularly useful, but your liver has to deal with it. If your liver gets more fructose than it can use, it turns it into fat which is stored on the liver, leading to fatty liver disease and insulin resistance (same thing with alcohol).

I didn't ask you to repeat yourself, I asked for evidence confirming what you said.

Re: Is Sugar Killing Us?

#230

Post by IndianAstronaut »

jacamat wrote: post #157
amelius wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didnt' watch the video yet. But do you need to be "in ketosis" to benefit from this energy source? How difficult is it to incorporate this in your diet? And is it expensive?

I did Keto for a month in September. It requires a good deal of self-control to stick to it (you'll quickly realize that only about 1% of the grocery store is food you can eat on Keto - resisting that temptation constantly is a trial) but it's not particularly expensive. You do have to be "in ketosis" to get the full benefits of Keto, but I've also found that just sticking to a low carb diet (under 100 carbs p/d) is…

Keto was the only diet I could lose weight with. One thing a lot of other diet plans ignore is satiety. If you are hungry or crave food, it is basically an addiction. You will not stop till satieted. Sugars and starches spike glucose levels and thus trigger insulin responses which puts one back in a hungry state.
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