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How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat

nytimes.com

441–450 of 623 posts

Re: How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat

#441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Of course eat whole fruits those are ok. Why's that any different from eating say table sugar + celery? I just had a slice of a lovely honey dew melon. It was like drinking sugar syrup. I'm pretty sure it was bad for me. Surely the advice should be to not eat too many sugary fruits either, especially not the modern breeds that are much sweeter than more traditional varieties.

> Why's that any different from eating say table sugar + celery? In principle it's not, except perhaps for a glass of water. Most sweet fruits tend to have much more moisture than celery. An unstated assumption that may come with your question is that just like eating fruit is equivalent to eating sugar + celery, it would also be the same to eat sugar, then celery. This is not the case. The fiber and water in the fru…

>Then there is the issue that most people, left to their own devices, will eat too much of sugar and too little of the other two.

Yep. I'm pretty sure the reason low carb diets work is because they eliminate most of the processed junk that people like to binge on. It doesn't really have anything to do with carbs.

Re: How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat

#442
post #248
post #126

Honey is a strange alternative to sugar. For the past 2 decades, I have used honey as the sole sweetener, though the rest of the family continues to patronize sugar :( The trouble with honey is that it's seriously pricey, and the community is a something of a cult - you have to know a lot of the terminology, otherwise you'll walk out with sugar-water. I take an empty 1 gallon jar to the honey store in Sac, and pay $1…

1 gallon of honey lasts you three months? I have a 12 oz jar that has lasted me almost a year, and I use honey closely to exclusively.

1 gallon honey over 3 months is about 11 teaspoons of sugar equivalent.

It's about 184 calories of honey/day.

Re: How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat

#443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A really smart guy said to me once something like, “if you are smart and have money and you don't eat well then you are not smart”. I can't remember the exact quote but the sentiment really stuck with me. Look I'm no expert but I'm telling you the results are outrageous. Please do your own research as I only really have a school boy understanding of how this affects the body. My skin cleared up, my ailments all disap…

I really like this response and I do truly believe that cutting out or minimizing sugar is a truly beneficial thing. But when I got to this: > I can't even drink a soda, I spit it out as the most disgusting thing imaginable I had a hard time taking the rest of your comment seriously. I can understand it being too sweet to your now adjusted taste buds, but calling it the most disgusting thing imaginable is just plain…

It seems like an exaggeration, but it's not. Your taste buds really do adjust over time.

I used to drink soda like water. That's just how we were raised(badly). A two liter a day of coke or mt dew. Tasted awesome to me. I loved it. In high school I decided I was tired of being sick and quit drinking soda.

I drank some of my boyfriend's coke recently just to see how it was. Just one sip. It was utterly disgusting. The weird thing is I can still clearly recall how I used to like it and think it was refreshing. In memory, it tastes good. But now that my taste buds have adjusted, ughhhh. Nasty.

Re: How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat

#444
post #426

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Orange flesh is about 3% fibre. 97% juice. There is no significant difference between eating an orange and drinking a small glass of juice, except the work involved. I don't think that changes "very easy" to "very very hard".

Even time to chew it all is a big difference. It takes several oranges to make a glass of orange juice, which I can down in about a minute. It takes me quite a while to eat an entire orange. Since it also takes time for people to realize they're full, this also helps not to eat so much. Scooby's workshop, a very popular bodybuilding & fitness website covers this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAFdWifkt0E

i stopped drinking oj when I moved to San Francisco and saw one of those novelty juicing machines with the orange hopper and exposed internals. it was like 6 or 7 oranges in a single glass!

also made me realize why fresh oj is insanely expensive at restaurants.

Re: How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat

#445

I rarely say anything is black and white in this world but sugar is in my opinion. Without any doubt in my mind. Recently in the last 3 months I gave up sugar, hard core, it's hard but the benefits are out of this world. I was healthy and active. I ate healthy, or so I thought. Boy was I wrong and mis informed. I had heard theories so I decided to check them out. I went all out to avoid sugar for a couple of weeks ju…

I agree, especially industrial sugar is bad food, and artificial sweeteners and sugar substitutes are even worse. Sugar and its derivatives are massively overused in todays cheaply processed food chains.

Re: How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat

#446
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sugar does have some nutritional value, and is a hallmark of primate diet. Tobacco is an addictive insecticide that won't even get you high.

> Tobacco is an addictive insecticide that won't even get you high. Nicotine is an addictive substance which suppresses appetite and increases focus; as found in tobacco leaves, it has a pleasant smell and taste.

It's worth mentioning, since most people don't know, that nicotine on it's own is not as addictive as tobacco. AFAIK the MAOIs in tobacco smoke contribute more to its addictiveness than nicotine [1]

I've been chewing nicotine gum semi-regularly for a few months to improve my focus at work, and have not found it addictive so far. (I've never smoked).

(Still, I wouldn't recommend people in general do this without carefully considering the risks.)

[1] https://www.gwern.net/Nicotine

Re: How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat

#447
post #299

On the other hand, I think the low carb/keto people have taken the pendulum too far in the other direction. A lot of research seems to suggest that a plant based diet heavy on whole fruits, vegetables, grains, and nuts is healthier than one consisting of animal fats and protein. It makes sense when you look at the diets of the healthiest people on Earth. Just because excess processed sugar is bad for you doe not mean…

A diet of animal parts (i.e. ALL of the animal, not just muscle) and leafy, non-starchy plants, is perfectly keto-compliant. Who says that a low-carb diet excludes plants?

I'm pretty sure that's why low carb/keto diets work: they force you to avoid most processed junk food. However I don't think it has to do with carbs. I'm pretty sure you could get the same results eating potatoes, corn, beans, rice, etc.

Re: How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat

#448
post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A really smart guy said to me once something like, “if you are smart and have money and you don't eat well then you are not smart”. I can't remember the exact quote but the sentiment really stuck with me. Look I'm no expert but I'm telling you the results are outrageous. Please do your own research as I only really have a school boy understanding of how this affects the body. My skin cleared up, my ailments all disap…

> I can't even drink a soda Given that you call it 'soda', you're probably American... in which case, American sodas are disgusting, because they're made with HFCS instead of sugar. :) It's still 'sugars', but it's not 'sugar' as the public calls it. I'm someone who eats too much sweet, sweet sugar, and I can't drink an American soda.

You can buy a sugar soda here, though yes most of them are HFCS.

I still can't stand the sugar ones either.

Re: How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat

#449
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tobacco is an addictive insecticide that won't even get you high. Nicotine is an addictive substance which suppresses appetite and increases focus; as found in tobacco leaves, it has a pleasant smell and taste.

Loss of focus is a well known symptom of nicotine withdrawal. It goes away after a few days.

I'm confused, what is your point?

Often you get the opposite effect of a drug in withdrawal, e.g. caffeine reduces headache pain, causes headaches in withdrawal.

Re: How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat

#450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why's that any different from eating say table sugar + celery? In principle it's not, except perhaps for a glass of water. Most sweet fruits tend to have much more moisture than celery. An unstated assumption that may come with your question is that just like eating fruit is equivalent to eating sugar + celery, it would also be the same to eat sugar, then celery. This is not the case. The fiber and water in the fru…

I've had type 1 diabetes since I was 12, I'm 21 now. Food with identical glycemic indexes do cause different responses. Bread and food with fibers keep the blood sugar levels sustained. When I have to skip a meal, I've learned that it's best to eat oatmeal crackers. They keep you full and you don't experience hypoglysemia. When I eat candy-bars/chocolate as a substitute for a meal, my blood sugar drops immensely afte…

Sorry about your condition. Please do take care of yourself.

I am not going to pontificate about morals, but perhaps you should address sugar as if it was a drug (legal or otherwise). It is very easy to advocate for a "just say no" position, specially for the people that do not face themselves with the problem on a day to day basis. But once you have found that this is not an option for you, it'd be a good idea to manage your habit in such a way that it minimizes associated risks. i.e. Alcohol != Driving-under-influence.

So, definitively not skipping meals. And limit your dessert indulgences to occasions where you will expect to remain in a safe environment for a reasonable time.

Best regards

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