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Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

aeon.co

71–80 of 221 posts

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#71
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, butter makes the other stuff more delicious, making you eat just a little more each time.

I don't know why @gras's comment in this thread is marked as dead, but I agree with them. Reposting the question from the comment: > Doesn't fat make food more satisfying, making you feel fulfilled sooner?

You can click the comment permalink (the age indicator) and on that page you have the option to vouch for the person /comment if it seems appropriate. I did so and they appear to be visible again. I've seen it take two vouch operations before though.

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#72
post #10

I would like to share an anecdote. In March 2016, I was weighing 96 kilograms (211.64 pounds). I made just one change during that time which is to stop having anything with sugar. I continued to take other natural sweeteners like jaggery and honey. The rest of my diet remained the same and my activity level remained the same ( I work in IT as a network engineer in a desk job) In October 2016, I was weighing 72 kilos…

More anecdata:

* I did the same at the beginning of the summer, cutting out most processed sugar (glucose) and corn syrup while increasing fruit intake (but not by much).

* I also starting skipping meals/moving meal times around, and eating less at dinner, but otherwise did not change the things that I ate.

* I am exercising a lot less than before, owing to a foot injury in the middle of the summer.

I've dropped nearly 20 pounds, from a starting point of just above 200 pounds to between 182 and 185 (varies by day). I think a decline in daily caloric intake owing to fewer sugary foods and smaller meal portions can explain the weight loss. I hope I can keep it up, because I do like sugar and because we have kids there is a lot around the house.

I mentioned this to a relative who is a GI doctor and researcher and he says it's easier for men to lose weight than women through diet.

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#73
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is he bashing vegetables and fruits? The average US citizen does not eat the recommended minimum amount for fiber. Is he bashing the 3500kcal diet of average US citizen or is he purposefully demonizing a single macronutrient group?

If you read his writings you'll quickly understand he's chiefly against refined carbohydrates. Fruit and vegetables contain carbohydrates, but their impact is completely different from refined carbs.

What I get out of it is, the problem with refined carbs is both how fast it gets absorbed in you gut/stomach thus spiking your blood sugar and the sheer amount you can eat. I think those two play off each other. With unprocessed vegetables generally you get a lot of bulk fiber and water along with the carbs. If your gut is full of fiber you tend to not be hungry. If it's mostly empty then you tend to be hungry.

Also one thing I've read more recently is the gut has it's own nervous system and hormonal signaling. It's high;y away of what is going on in it's world. However mostly that information isn't available to your brain. But what it can do is control your feeding behavior. If your gut is full and busing extracting nutrients, then it signals your brain to stop feeding. Ever wonder why if you eat a good meal you can got for hours without wanting to eat anything? That's why.

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#74
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Calories count, no matter where they are from." This is the exact point the article is proving wrong.

It doesn't really prove it wrong. If you eat 3000 calories of butter every day, you're gonna get fat. In that sense, a calorie is a calorie.

"a calorie is a calorie"

This is the exact point the article is... arguing against in a very convincing fashion

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#75
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oddly enough, I can share an anecdote too. After a health scare, I decided to change my diet. I didn't think that I was self disciplined enough to count calories, so I arbitrarily eliminated certain things from my diet, most notably butter. My exercise didn't change much: Cycling to work every day. I got a new bike, but it didn't make me go that much faster. Within a few months, I went from 175 to 150 pounds (about 7…

If butter is the only thing you removed from your diet, you must have been eating an incredible amount of it?!

Imagine somebody whose favourite snack is a nice slice of baguette with butter slathered on it.

By cutting butter, he's also effectively cut an unnecessary carb-heavy between-meal snack, since he doesn't want the baguette without the butter.

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#76
post #52
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is be a cliff, over which the damage is permanent. If you change habits soon enough, then we know many avoid it the permanent damage altogether. This is due to the beta cells in the pancreas; destroy to many, and go below a critical threshhold, then they don't seem to be repaired/regenerated enough forever more.

Thanks for your reply, that gives me something to take action for as currently I consume a lot of sugar in my day to day live.

After I ran into Dr Lustig's stuff which I found was also backed up by other pediatric endocrinologist, I cut out as much sugar and processed carbs as possible. Not as hard for me as I'm a meat and vegi kinda guy anyways. My thought was worst case avoiding sugar, processed carbs, and beer isn't going to be bad for you. Best case, avoid Type II diabetes.

Also following Lustig's advice on sugar and alcohol, make it count.

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't really prove it wrong. If you eat 3000 calories of butter every day, you're gonna get fat. In that sense, a calorie is a calorie.

"a calorie is a calorie" This is the exact point the article is... arguing against in a very convincing fashion

No, the article is saying that people are getting obese and diabetic because of sugar.

Its further pointing out that there are calories ("sugars") which make it much easier to gain weight. I didn't disagree there either.

The article never claims that you can eat any amount of calories as long as you leave carbs from the table. And thats the only thing i pointed out. Because thats just plain wrong. If you eat too many calories, you will gain weight. And if you're predisposed to obesity, you will eat more calories when you're flavouring stuff with sugar. This will, as the author pointed out, cause you to get even more obese and eventually get diabetes.

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#78
post #10

I would like to share an anecdote. In March 2016, I was weighing 96 kilograms (211.64 pounds). I made just one change during that time which is to stop having anything with sugar. I continued to take other natural sweeteners like jaggery and honey. The rest of my diet remained the same and my activity level remained the same ( I work in IT as a network engineer in a desk job) In October 2016, I was weighing 72 kilos…

You must mean "stop having anything with added sugar" because humans need sugars to survive, nearly all food has natural sugars in it, and if you ate 0 grams of sugar for more than a couple of weeks you would die.

I'm being a bit pedantic because it's important to understand that moderation is the key, not trying to completely eliminate one family of molecules from your diet.

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#79

How Big Business Got Brazil Hooked on Junk Food [1]. "As their growth slows in the wealthiest countries, multinational food companies like Nestlé, PepsiCo and General Mills have been aggressively expanding their presence in developing nations, unleashing a marketing juggernaut that is upending traditional diets from Brazil to Ghana to India." "a growing number of people are both overweight and undernourished." "The d…

I have been through countless dirt-street towns from Guatemala to Mali where the local store has a few moldy potatoes, coke and Doritos.

All the kids are eating the coke and Doritos as a meal, and of course there is nobody telling them not to, or that they should be brushing their teeth or anything like that. It's a massive, massive disaster.

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#80
Gary Taubes is a well known meat and dairy industry propagandist who stands to gain everything through the sale of his carbophobic books and lectures. His villification of an oversimplified sugar Boogeyman just detracts from the animal fat and protein which has and continues to wreck the health of hundreds of millions of people.
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