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Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

bbc.com

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Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#231

Post by ricardobeat »

josteink wrote: post #186

In my younger, smoking years, when the anti-smoking lobby grew stronger and managed to land more and more restrictions on smoking, to the degree that you almost felt like a leper... I remember telling my anti-smoking, chocolate-eating friends “you know one day they will come for you too, right?” That sure didn’t take long. Let’s see how they feel about it this time around.

Did you not eat chocolate? Did all of your anti-smoking friends had the urge to eat chocolate during breaks or social events? That’s a very odd characterization.

Smoking is banned for under 18 already, and affects others around you, while chocolate does not (an I really saying this?). As seen in the article, sugar is a bigger issue for the 4-18 age range. I’m sure your friends feel absolutely fine.

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#232

Post by rorykoehler »

rtyuiop wrote: post #207
JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After some back-and-forth, I've found that Keto is best for short periods of time, e.g., 1-3 month periods. Physical activity can feel quite strenuous, especially when you first start Keto, and your body isn't adapted to using fat as a fuel source. It's an incredibly effective tool to help you re-imagine the composition of your diet. For example, after my first time doing Keto, I seriously considered which carb sourc…

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.

What if you live in the tropics?

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#233

Post by rorykoehler »

nindalf wrote: post #188
jniedrauer wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I can echo this. I'm on keto right now and I have no trouble for most of the day. What troubles me is strenuous activity. I can still do it, but I take longer to recover. If I'm lifting, I rest twice as long between sets. I went for a run today that shouldn't normally give me trouble but I was knackered by the uphill stretches. I don't mind much. I feel healthy, I'm losing weight and my mind feels focused the entire…

That's temporary. It goes away during long term ketosis. I've been in ketosis for over a year and have found my endurance to be fine but my top end power to be decreased (cycling). I'm still competitive but I think if I was eating carbs I could add ~20% to my max power based on historical numbers.

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#234

Post by rorykoehler »

conceptme wrote: post #21
s33n wrote: post #13

Is there much difference between sugar and refined carbs like white bread?

No the body will convert all sugars / carbs the same. The only difference is how fast it will get in your blood.

That's only half the story. Simplest sugars (monosacchrides like fructose) get absorbed almost instantly in your stomach/instentine while more complex sugars/carbs (disacchrides and starches) get finally broken down and absorbed further down your intestine. This can have a dramatic impact on your biome.

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#235

Post by sizzle »

rorykoehler wrote: post #233
nindalf wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can echo this. I'm on keto right now and I have no trouble for most of the day. What troubles me is strenuous activity. I can still do it, but I take longer to recover. If I'm lifting, I rest twice as long between sets. I went for a run today that shouldn't normally give me trouble but I was knackered by the uphill stretches. I don't mind much. I feel healthy, I'm losing weight and my mind feels focused the entire…

That's temporary. It goes away during long term ketosis. I've been in ketosis for over a year and have found my endurance to be fine but my top end power to be decreased (cycling). I'm still competitive but I think if I was eating carbs I could add ~20% to my max power based on historical numbers.

Any tips on how to try keto as a mostly vegetarian individual? I am willing to eat eggs.

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#236

Post by kazinator »

kazinator wrote: post #195
lm28469 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What we should have is health insurance premiums based on risk factors such as obesity, even in public systems. Next thing we know we're all constantly monitored for every single health metrics and pay more for every one that is slightly off. "Bacon every morning ? Well sorry sir but that'll be $30 more per year. Oh and you drive to work instead of cycling, that's another $60. Our tracking system tells us that you…

To avoid these complexities, insurance companies use past claims history as an estimate of future claims and hence premiums. Of course, that apply very well for one-time items like life insurance.

^ that doesn't apply well ... to

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#237

Post by nv-vn »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #213
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.

There is at least some evidence that the root cause of sugar addiction is limiting sugar consumption [1], and this definitely reflects my childhood experience. Blindly taking a position of taking sugar away from children could actually cause an increase in sugar addiction in the long-term.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00394-016-1229-6

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#238

Post by richk449 »

solveit wrote: post #221
richk449 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I used to try to mostly eat "healthy", so I'd tend to buy the "low calorie" options. It amazes me how many people make this mistake.

I mean, the industry only spends hundreds of millions pushing this impression, so...

Sure, but nobody sees cigarette adds, and actually says "I smoke because it makes me look cool". Nobody sees beer ads and says "I drink because it makes pretty girls hang out with me". Yet many many people say "I buy the diet food because I am watching my weight".

Generally speaking, people are pretty good at rationally analyzing advertisements. The ads may still be effective, but almost nobody believes them at face value. Except for diet/low-fat/natural products. It's like people turn off their bullshit detectors for them. I just don't understand why.

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#239

Post by nv-vn »

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #202
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…

The problem with this approach is, the vast majority of people pick the default option when presented with it (e.g., states that, by default, mark you as an organ donor have proportionally more organ donors). Public policy has real, measurable implications. We don't need to treat sugar like smoking or alcohol, but when you find a way to move people away from it as their "default" setting, you will find, in aggregate…

I do agree with you that access to cheap/convenient healthy foods is certainly lacking. This is definitely a problem I think we can and should tackle. I think giving people more choices is a great thing and I would happily support this. The "default" also makes a lot of sense here. Really at the end of the day what I'm skeptical of is trying to force people's hands into cutting sugar out of their diet.
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