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Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

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Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#211

Post by elil17 »

tomjen3 wrote: post #199
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…

Eating disorders can be some of the most dangerous things you can suffer from (anorexia has a mortality of 30% if I remember correctly); however on a population scale the damage is dwafted buy the damage from obesity because so many more people are seriously fat.

Right, so there needs to be solutions that work for everyone. That’s why I think food access is key (i.e. more grocery stores in low income neighborhoods). People who need more food can get it, and people who need healthier food will have access.

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#212

Post by jhrmnn »

dmoy wrote: post #90
retiredcoder wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that there is much more smoking (including indoor) and drinking in Denmark than most of any other place I lived, or maybe I am just older now and can’t the hangovers are much longer??

Maybe they meant Sweden/Norway only? I'm not sure. I think the alcohol tax in Sweden is like a full 7x higher than Denmark. I could be wrong there. This is second hand from an old co worker, and years out of date.

Yes, I had Iceland, Norway, and Sweden in mind. Iceland is very strict. Denmark is pretty continental in this regard.

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#213

Post by JumpCrisscross »

nv-vn wrote: post #93

How about we just let people choose what to do with their body? As a kid my parents didn't care too much about what I ate. I regularly had sweets of any kind as a kid. I certainly have no addiction to sugar because of that. I probably drink soda less than once a month and have cake/ice cream/chocolate/candy at about the same frequency. Meanwhile, people I grew up with who were never allowed sugar seem much more addic…

> How about we just let people choose what to do with their body?

Healthcare costs are a communal burden. With that shared responsibility to pay comes a shared responsibility to supervise.

Children, moreover, have always been seen as at least partly communally parented. Their sugar consumption is thus of public concern.

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#215

Post by Mirioron »

anchpop wrote: post #173
Mirioron wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people are afraid of a slippery slope. Legislation is almost always done in a slippery slope manner - at first you limit things a little and wait until people accept it. After a while you limit some more, then some more and then some more. You can do whatever you want with sugar, but it's not going to solve the obesity problem. Not only are carbs one of the few macro nutrients we can digest, they're also in p…

What do you think will solve the obesity problem? People weren't obese like they are now 100 years ago. Something must have changed

People stopped being poor. It's difficult to become obese when you simply don't have enough food. The solution to the problem isn't going to be in the past, because we want people to live a better life and not worse.

I think what will solve the obesity problem is education. The basic ideas of nutrition (in terms of physics and biology) should be taught to everyone. It should not be possible for someone to graduate high school and find the basics of a nutritional label difficult to understand.

This should also be coupled with a better cultural attitude. People should feel encouraged to try to lose weight when they're obese, rather than told some form of "healthy at every size" nonsense or be made fun of when they are at the gym. It should be seen as an ailment that can be improved rather than something shameful. If you have a broken arm, then you're not told that it's fine to have a broken arm, nor are you made fun of for trying to get your broken arm fixed.

I used to be overweight and I understood that it was bad, but it was difficult to try to improve it. The people around you notice that you're doing things differently and you'll hear snide remarks or encouragement, but this leads to expectations, so you try to hide it instead. That way nobody expects anything.

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#216

Post by amanaplanacanal »

llamathrowaway wrote: post #144
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).

Is obesity a sign of sugar addiction? I don’t think so. People addicted to substances like alcohol and heroin will go out of their way to obtain these substances breaking laws and ruining others’ lives if necessary. While obese people are just... obese, not crazy nor dangerous. Their mind don’t get wired by sugar to put sugar in front of decency and laws. Not to mention sugar is not the only cause of obesity anyway.…

If alcohol and heroin were as cheap as sugar you might be able to reasonably compare them, but they aren't.

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#217

Post by amanaplanacanal »

Creationer wrote: post #187
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).

I've lived in countries with extremely liberal alcohol laws: low taxes, liberal advertising, 24/7 availability, drinking allowed on the street. I've lived in others where Alcohol advertising is banned, availability is limited to Government-run stores at certain times, and the taxes are very high. Binge drinking and general abuse seemed to be much higher in the latter. Particularly people seemed to get drunk before le…

I don't think you can draw a cause and effect relationship here. Just as important are social attitudes towards alcohol.

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#218

Post by amanaplanacanal »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #148
pfortuny wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every edible thing comes from the excrement of others. Do you eat yoghourt?

Potatoes, corn, or wheat, where the field was not fertilized with animal excrement? How does that come from "the excrement of others"?

Where do you think the nitrogen came from in those fields? Everything is recycled, eventually. As they say "We are stardust"

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#219

Post by AnimalMuppet »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #218
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Potatoes, corn, or wheat, where the field was not fertilized with animal excrement? How does that come from "the excrement of others"?

Where do you think the nitrogen came from in those fields? Everything is recycled, eventually. As they say "We are stardust"

Dead plants/animals != excrement, though. "Excrement" was the claim.

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#220

Post by rtyuiop »

omnimus wrote: post #210
rtyuiop wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isnt it obvious, Keto in the cold months and carbs in the hot months. Eating seasonally is key and you cant chase much or do much exercise in the dead of winter with snow and ice lying around. Its also why the Inuits have a keto diet and can survive the extreme cold.

But healthy keto is lot of veggies no? So winter keto is harder wouldnt it make sense eat carbs in winter?

No, ketogenic diets are mainly fats and protein. Ketosis is the burning of fats which happens when you water only fast. You can live on a diet which is 100% fat, you cant live on a 100% protein diet or a 100% carb diet. Its also why the body stores excess energy in what ever form it was eaten in, as fat. Periodic water only fasting is also the balance to todays modern lifestyles where we have so much food to choose from. Water only fasting, not only starves bacterial colonies in the body, it also helps to starve viruses and parts of the immune system become more effective than during the times when we can eat. The main known risk of water only fasting is diabetic ketoacidosis.

The eight teaspoons of sugar in a can of coke can reduce the hormone Testosterone in young teenage males by 25% within 2hours. The study only concentrated on Testosterone, but it would be interesting to find any studies, if they exist in the public domain, that shows what other effects sugar has on hormone levels, besides insulin and its increased risk of diabetes.

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