Why Cutting Carbs Is So Tough • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Cutting Carbs Is So Tough

#241

Post by ensiferum » Thu, Jul 20, 2017, 6:20 PM UTC

philipkglass wrote: post #43

FussyZeus wrote: post #10

And none of this even goes into how much modern food is designed and engineered to be as addictive as possible. Every snack food is built practically from the molecule up to hit as many of the addiction-causing transmitters as possible, from the texture of the food, to the shape of the salt they use, to the size of the serving, all of it is designed to make you want more, perpetually, and as much more as possible. Th…

When I was in graduate school many foreign students noted that American food was too sweet and put in extra effort to find food that more resembled that from their home countries. This seems at odds with humans "naturally" loving sweetness-everywhere. The other thing that makes the "carbs are fattening us" story seem incomplete (though not necessarily wrong ) is that a generation or two ago obesity rates were much lo…

The answer is in the cornsyryp which is now used extensively in many products. The other thing is the increase in soda consumption.

Re: Why Cutting Carbs Is So Tough

#242

Post by pandaman » Thu, Jul 20, 2017, 6:24 PM UTC

the_af wrote: post #239

pandaman wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you skip a meal without going through a withdrawal? A spike in blood sugar from a carb-heavy meal causes an insulin spike and, in turn, it drops the blood sugar below the healthy level, which is experienced as a feeling of hunger and a need to have the next meal or a snack (which in turn spikes sugar again, causing another insulin burst etc. etc.)

If I skip a meal I get hungry, but beyond extraordinary circumstances (like being extremely busy or fasting before a blood analysis), why would I want to do that? > which is experienced as a feeling of hunger and a need to have the next meal or a snack Why is this bad or surprising? Isn't this how things work? You don't eat ==> you get hungry. Similarly with water and thirst. I'm not being flippant, I genuinely want…

I am not dispensing life-style advise here but merely describing the effect of sugar/insulin rollercoaster.

Personally I don't like feeling of hunger so I don't do that. Getting hungry just a few hours after a meal is surprising when you got more than enough energy to last you several days already and your body has stored several months worth of energy in fat.

If you're limiting your calorie intake and have no weight issues then it is not, of course. You have used up all the energy from the food you have -> you will starve if you won't get more.

Re: Why Cutting Carbs Is So Tough

#243

Post by gitlabuser » Thu, Jul 20, 2017, 6:24 PM UTC

hashable wrote: post #34

nathan-wailes wrote: post #24

Preface: Over the past 12+ years I have spent a fair amount of time learning about foods/diets, at first to try to get rid of my acne (which I was successful at), but then later to stay lean and stop any diet-related dips in my mood (which I was also successful at). What I want to say: Cutting carbs is difficult for most people because of two things: 1) withdrawal from the sugar-high that you get from eating high-gly…

> your body needs a fair amount of carbs every day, I think you're mistaken. Carb is the only macronutrient that is not required. The body can make glucose via gluconeogenesis. Take someone who has not eaten a single carb for a month and measure their blood glucose level and you will find a stable 90mg/dL. This is why Type-1 diabetics still need insulin (although much much lesser than otherwise) in spite of being on…

You don't eat vegetables?

Re: Why Cutting Carbs Is So Tough

#244

Post by Ixiaus » Thu, Jul 20, 2017, 6:25 PM UTC

sn9 wrote: post #209

Ixiaus wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no essential carbohydrate, the body can derive any glucose it needs from essential fats and proteins. That said, I'm keto and find it difficult to stay under 30 grams of carbohydrates per-day simply because carbs are in so many foods. I've, a few times, gone "strict" keto i.e 10g< of total carbs per day which includes indigestible fiber and I (anecdata coming at you) felt great.

Surely that should be "anecadatum"?

Hehe, I like that, I'll use it.

Re: Why Cutting Carbs Is So Tough

#245

Post by defen » Thu, Jul 20, 2017, 6:38 PM UTC

roel_v wrote: post #114

What is so annoying about articles like this is that they start out saying 'calorie intake has nothing to do with obesity! lol all you idiots! look at how enlightened I am!' and then go on to say that carbs mess with insulin levels so that it becomes hard to not eat more calories. Duh, that's what all those others say too, but just not highlighting that aspect as much. In the end, it's still calories. I get it, these…

Simply saying "Eat fewer calories" is technically correct and completely useless in practice. People simply can't do it no matter how hard they try. You could as well tell C programmers to solve their security problems by not putting memory access errors in their code. Framing it as a moral failure does not actually help solve the problem.

Re: Why Cutting Carbs Is So Tough

#246

Post by hossbeast » Thu, Jul 20, 2017, 6:53 PM UTC

E6300 wrote: post #72

khuey wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That diets like paleo and keto work is pretty strong counter evidence to this position.

The only diet that works is caloric restriction. You can follow any fad diet you want, but if you don't expend more calories than you ingest you're not going to lose weight. Replace all the carbs in your equilibrium diet with the same amount of fat per mass and you're going to start gaining weight. It's as simple as that.

This position is specifically addressed in the article. The author believes it's hormonal, instead.

Re: Why Cutting Carbs Is So Tough

#247

Post by abtinf » Thu, Jul 20, 2017, 6:58 PM UTC

ue_ wrote: post #137

abtinf wrote: post #46

I've posted these numbers before, but I'll post them again because they are so low as to be totally unintuitive: Normal human blood sugar [1]: 70-100 milligrams per deciliter of blood. Blood volume of average human [2]: 5.5 liters Thus, total blood sugar in non-diabetic human: 3.85 to 5.5 grams Density of glucose: 1.54 grams per cubic centimeter Thus, total volume of sugar in average human: 2.5 to 3.6 milliliters Vol…

That's interesting. I regularly drink soft drinks, and written on the can is the government-mandated notice of how much of my "daily recommended intake" is in the can. For sugar, it says 40%. How does that figure relate to your one-half teaspoon metric? Does it mean that one of the figures is wrong?

Government recommended intakes are notoriously political and not science-based.

The current World Health Organization recommendation is less than 6 teaspoons of sugar per day. One softdrink essentially hits that limit all in one shot.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/sugar-guid...

Re: Why Cutting Carbs Is So Tough

#248

Post by bonniemuffin » Thu, Jul 20, 2017, 6:59 PM UTC

nicky0 wrote: post #175

bonniemuffin wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a life without pasta isn't worth living, then I'd rather die than get back on the blood sugar roller coaster that pasta puts me on. This is like telling an alcoholic that life isn't worth living without tequila. You know what? Turns out you can live a meaningful life without it if you have to.

What were the effects of this "blood sugar rollercoaster"? I eat 55% carbs and don't experience this... What am I missing?

When I ate carbs (bread, sugar, pasta, etc) I used to get hypoglycemic between meals, which made me dizzy and sleepy. Without carbs in my diet, my blood sugar stays more constant and I don't get those hypoglycemic blood sugar drops.

Obviously I can only speak about my own case; it seems like there's a lot of variation in how different people's bodies process and respond to carbs in their diet.

Re: Why Cutting Carbs Is So Tough

#249

Post by panglott » Thu, Jul 20, 2017, 7:05 PM UTC

hacktothefuture wrote: post #226

panglott wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point is how this is communicated to the public. It's nice that you have spend dozens or hundreds of hours reading ketogenic diet books, and have a clear idea about the limitations, tradeoffs, and risks of this. Ordinary members of the public get the message "only eat chicken thighs, and don't eat lettuce". That's a long way from a diet that's healthy for ordinary people.

Come on. I've never heard (no one has) the phrase, "don't eat lettuce". I've heard don't eat processed carbs, don't eat bread, don't eat pasta, don't eat simple sugars, don't eat potatoes.

Maybe he was doing one of those "try a ketogenic diets for 30 days", or stumbled upon one of those keto advocates who only eats meat and lard.

If all you read about low-carb diets is the first paragraph about any popular news story about them, then what you know is that low-carb diets are the ones where you can eat lots of meat and you should shun any foods with sugar or starches.

Re: Why Cutting Carbs Is So Tough

#250

Post by throwaway8800 » Thu, Jul 20, 2017, 7:23 PM UTC

I am underweight by about 10 - 20lbs and I have a lot of trouble reconciling some of the advice around healthy eating with my attempts to gain weight. It seems all but impossible for me to gain weight without heavy reliance on carbs. I think it's creating a bit of a dissonance because I feel damned if I do, damned if I don't. Either stay underweight (unhealthy) or rely on carbs to gain weight (also unhealthy?)

I have actually been drinking a lot of Soylent lately which seems very carb heavy, but people also report success with it in terms of overall health and ability to lose weight when used to control the total number of calories consumed.