Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

Post by therein » Sun, Jun 09, 2019, 7:31 PM UTC

Mirioron wrote: post #136

ardit33 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The number of "Obese People" far outweighs the number of chronic alcoholics... we are talking about almost 1/3rd of the population being obese (i.e. not just a bit fat, or chubby, just straight out obese).

Sugar isn't the cause of obesity though. I think people that try to blame it all on sugar are simply looking for a scapegoat. It's easier to actually over eat on fat than on sugar because of a higher caloric density. Carbs are just cheaper so they get added to everything as bulk.

Post by DanBC » Sun, Jun 09, 2019, 7:32 PM UTC

elil17 wrote: post #160

Should we trust the government to decide what food is “healthy”? Absolutely not. Just look at how many times the “recommenced diet” has changed in the past few decades. There’s no reason to expect that the current evidence against sugar is more correct than previous (now debunked) evidence against fat. What’s more, what’s healthy depends on who you are. People with eating disorders, for example, need easy access to c…

Post by buboard » Sun, Jun 09, 2019, 7:33 PM UTC

Alex3917 wrote: post #29

umvi wrote: post #2

How about we start treating alcohol like smoking? For example ban alcohol advertising like we have with tobacco and I bet society would improve in a lot of unforeseen ways (besides the obvious reduction in alcohol related deaths and diseases and family issues).

For most people, alcohol isn’t addictive in the same way that smoking or sugar is. If you eat stuff with a lot of sugar it makes things without sugar actually taste worse. Whereas drinking alcohol doesn’t make water taste worse or whatever. Also alcohol only kills 80k or so Americans per year, way less than smoking or sugar.

Post by 1123581321 » Sun, Jun 09, 2019, 7:35 PM UTC

jniedrauer wrote: post #128

gregmac wrote: post #60

I started eating keto over a year ago, and found that I totally lost my appetite for sugary and other carb-based foods, so have just kept it up. One thing that was eye opening to me was from paying close attention to food labels. I used to try to mostly eat "healthy", so I'd tend to buy the "low calorie" options. What surprised me was how basically they just substitute fat for sugar. Ceasar dressing normal has 1g car…

I think it should be made clear that we simply don't know enough about keto yet to call it "healthy." More healthy than sugar over-consumption? Almost certainly. I will say that it allowed me to cut to under 10% bodyfat with almost no effort, so for that I think it is a valuable tool. But I also found that I was not making progress in my athletic hobbies until I stopped eating keto. My progress visibly accelerated af…

Post by kazinator » Sun, Jun 09, 2019, 7:37 PM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #132

kazinator wrote: post #107

I'm not harmed if I'm sitting next to a someone who is consuming sugar. What we should have is health insurance premiums based on risk factors such as obesity, even in public systems.

That could get exciting. Think of all the factors we could base health insurance on. Risky outdoor activities? Higher premiums. Biking to work? Higher premiums. Alternatively, we could work to help everyone become healthier, and then use as large a risk pool as possible to leverage the benefits of insurance.