Maybe Sugar IS the Devil - US Goverment Diet Recommendations

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  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Not new. Also, I don't know any religion that buys into the devil and yet says just follow him, oh, about 10% of the time, no more. And I don't see anything in the new guidelines that says I need to confess and repent my sugar eating (not a euphemism).

    Also:
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/01/07/federal-dietary-guidelines/77151060/

    From the article:

    "The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting the amount of added sugars in our diet to no more than 10% of daily calories. That's about 12 teaspoons of sugar a day. To put that in perspective, a can of Coke contains nearly 10 teaspoons.

    Most of us would have to make big changes in our diets to follow the new guidelines.

    Not me. I normally aim for about 5% added sugar, although it might be over a week (more on some days, less on others). That's as part of a "no bad foods, moderation" kind of diet. If you actually focus on eating an overall healthful diet with plenty of protein and vegetables, it seems to me to come naturally.
    Nearly half of the added sugars in American diets come from sweetened beverages, such as sodas and sports drinks, according to the guidelines, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services."

    Lots of Americans don't consume any of this, so it's likely somewhat misleading, with the big consumers contributing a hugely disproportationate amount.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Packerjohn wrote: »
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/01/07/federal-dietary-guidelines/77151060/

    From the article:

    "The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting the amount of added sugars in our diet to no more than 10% of daily calories. That's about 12 teaspoons of sugar a day. To put that in perspective, a can of Coke contains nearly 10 teaspoons.

    Most of us would have to make big changes in our diets to follow the new guidelines.

    Americans on average get about 13% of daily calories from added sugars; teens get closer to 17% of calories from added sugars, according to the new report. The natural sugar in foods such as raisins, apples or milk are not considered added sugars.

    Nearly half of the added sugars in American diets come from sweetened beverages, such as sodas and sports drinks, according to the guidelines, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services."

    So I crunched some numbers...

    A tsp of sugar has ~15 calories. According to the article, 12 tsp of added sugar a day is the recommendation (ie - 180 calories). That's supposed to represent 10% of the diet; ergo the assumption is a diet of 1800 calories.

    I wonder what percent of people eating SAD limit themselves to 1800 calories? My guess is not many.

    Excellent point.

    When I was fat I did not.

    I also would not be surprised if my sugar was no more than 10% of my daily calories on average, especially since I never drank soda or sports drinks, etc.

    And most important, I still ate too darn much.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
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    Packerjohn wrote: »
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/01/07/federal-dietary-guidelines/77151060/

    From the article:

    "The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting the amount of added sugars in our diet to no more than 10% of daily calories. That's about 12 teaspoons of sugar a day. To put that in perspective, a can of Coke contains nearly 10 teaspoons.

    Most of us would have to make big changes in our diets to follow the new guidelines.

    Americans on average get about 13% of daily calories from added sugars; teens get closer to 17% of calories from added sugars, according to the new report. The natural sugar in foods such as raisins, apples or milk are not considered added sugars.

    Nearly half of the added sugars in American diets come from sweetened beverages, such as sodas and sports drinks, according to the guidelines, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services."

    So I crunched some numbers...

    A tsp of sugar has ~15 calories. According to the article, 12 tsp of added sugar a day is the recommendation (ie - 180 calories). That's supposed to represent 10% of the diet; ergo the assumption is a diet of 1800 calories.

    I wonder what percent of people eating SAD limit themselves to 1800 calories? My guess is not many.

    I wonder what percentage of Americans eat SAD? What is the definition of SAD?
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
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    Jruzer wrote: »
    If sugar was "the devil", shouldn't the recommendation be for 0% sugar in any form?

    We don't have to be saints all the time! 10% sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I doubt I exceed that very often.

    That's my point, though. I'm OK with people restricting added sugar if they wish, but if it were the embodiment of pure evil I don't think it would be recommended at all.

    It's not like the government recommends smoking no more than 1 pack of cigarettes a day, fr'instance. The recommendation is "do not smoke".
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    Packerjohn wrote: »
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/01/07/federal-dietary-guidelines/77151060/

    From the article:

    "The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting the amount of added sugars in our diet to no more than 10% of daily calories. That's about 12 teaspoons of sugar a day. To put that in perspective, a can of Coke contains nearly 10 teaspoons.

    Most of us would have to make big changes in our diets to follow the new guidelines.

    Americans on average get about 13% of daily calories from added sugars; teens get closer to 17% of calories from added sugars, according to the new report. The natural sugar in foods such as raisins, apples or milk are not considered added sugars.

    Nearly half of the added sugars in American diets come from sweetened beverages, such as sodas and sports drinks, according to the guidelines, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services."

    So by this logic, I've probably been within these guidelines all of my life except the summers I spent in Kentucky - sweet tea probably has twice the added sugar as Coke. Other than that, I've never been into sugar-sweetened drinks. My food-based vices tend to be dessert-oriented.

    Good for me, I guess?
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
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    brower47 wrote: »
    I like the devil. Ergo I like sugar.

    A friend of the devil is a friend of mine.

    The Federal Dietary Guidelines are absolute trash, though. Completely inactionable:

    1. Many guidelines are too vague. "Reduce" - to what level? How do I know when I've reduced enough?
    2. Way too many guidelines. A typical person is not capable of planning a diet that meets three dozen different criteria. It's a recipe for decision paralysis.
    3. No information about the relative importance of different recommendations.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
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    Jruzer wrote: »
    Jruzer wrote: »
    If sugar was "the devil", shouldn't the recommendation be for 0% sugar in any form?

    We don't have to be saints all the time! 10% sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I doubt I exceed that very often.

    That's my point, though. I'm OK with people restricting added sugar if they wish, but if it were the embodiment of pure evil I don't think it would be recommended at all.

    It's not like the government recommends smoking no more than 1 pack of cigarettes a day, fr'instance. The recommendation is "do not smoke".

    I doubt anyone saying sugar is the devil believes it is 'the embodiment of pure evil'. It's just a saying.

    I mean if they truly believed it was evil, who would eat it at all??
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited January 2016
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    If Americans on average get 13% of calories from added calories, and about half of those come from sodas and the like (which are items that some drink enormous amounts of and many do not consume at all -- see Sugar, Salt, Fat for some support for that statement), then we are really talking about two significant and separate groups, one WAY over 13% and another probably under the 10%.

    I suspect that an alarming percentage of those under the 10% are still overweight or obese given the average number of calories consumed by Americans plus the general stats on being overweight and obese in the US.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    Packerjohn wrote: »
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/01/07/federal-dietary-guidelines/77151060/

    From the article:

    "The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting the amount of added sugars in our diet to no more than 10% of daily calories. That's about 12 teaspoons of sugar a day. To put that in perspective, a can of Coke contains nearly 10 teaspoons.

    Most of us would have to make big changes in our diets to follow the new guidelines.

    Americans on average get about 13% of daily calories from added sugars; teens get closer to 17% of calories from added sugars, according to the new report. The natural sugar in foods such as raisins, apples or milk are not considered added sugars.

    Nearly half of the added sugars in American diets come from sweetened beverages, such as sodas and sports drinks, according to the guidelines, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services."

    So I crunched some numbers...

    A tsp of sugar has ~15 calories. According to the article, 12 tsp of added sugar a day is the recommendation (ie - 180 calories). That's supposed to represent 10% of the diet; ergo the assumption is a diet of 1800 calories.

    I wonder what percent of people eating SAD limit themselves to 1800 calories? My guess is not many.

    I wonder what percentage of Americans eat SAD? What is the definition of SAD?

    SAD = standard American diet
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    Jruzer wrote: »
    Jruzer wrote: »
    If sugar was "the devil", shouldn't the recommendation be for 0% sugar in any form?

    We don't have to be saints all the time! 10% sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I doubt I exceed that very often.

    That's my point, though. I'm OK with people restricting added sugar if they wish, but if it were the embodiment of pure evil I don't think it would be recommended at all.

    It's not like the government recommends smoking no more than 1 pack of cigarettes a day, fr'instance. The recommendation is "do not smoke".

    I doubt anyone saying sugar is the devil believes it is 'the embodiment of pure evil'. It's just a saying.

    I mean if they truly believed it was evil, who would eat it at all??

    People smoke.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    Jruzer wrote: »
    Jruzer wrote: »
    If sugar was "the devil", shouldn't the recommendation be for 0% sugar in any form?

    We don't have to be saints all the time! 10% sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I doubt I exceed that very often.

    That's my point, though. I'm OK with people restricting added sugar if they wish, but if it were the embodiment of pure evil I don't think it would be recommended at all.

    It's not like the government recommends smoking no more than 1 pack of cigarettes a day, fr'instance. The recommendation is "do not smoke".

    I doubt anyone saying sugar is the devil believes it is 'the embodiment of pure evil'. It's just a saying.

    I mean if they truly believed it was evil, who would eat it at all??

    because references to the devil never have anything to do with bad, evil, etc....



  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    The Rolling Stones recorded Brown Sugar AND Sympathy for the Devil. (Both made it to #1 in the US.)

    Just saying...
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
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    Jruzer wrote: »
    Jruzer wrote: »
    If sugar was "the devil", shouldn't the recommendation be for 0% sugar in any form?

    We don't have to be saints all the time! 10% sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I doubt I exceed that very often.

    That's my point, though. I'm OK with people restricting added sugar if they wish, but if it were the embodiment of pure evil I don't think it would be recommended at all.

    It's not like the government recommends smoking no more than 1 pack of cigarettes a day, fr'instance. The recommendation is "do not smoke".

    I doubt anyone saying sugar is the devil believes it is 'the embodiment of pure evil'. It's just a saying.

    I mean if they truly believed it was evil, who would eat it at all??

    People smoke.

    That they do. But I doubt any of them truly believe tobacco smoke is the embodiment of pure evil.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    edited January 2016
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    Packerjohn wrote: »
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/01/07/federal-dietary-guidelines/77151060/

    From the article:

    "The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting the amount of added sugars in our diet to no more than 10% of daily calories. That's about 12 teaspoons of sugar a day. To put that in perspective, a can of Coke contains nearly 10 teaspoons.

    Most of us would have to make big changes in our diets to follow the new guidelines.

    Americans on average get about 13% of daily calories from added sugars; teens get closer to 17% of calories from added sugars, according to the new report. The natural sugar in foods such as raisins, apples or milk are not considered added sugars.

    Nearly half of the added sugars in American diets come from sweetened beverages, such as sodas and sports drinks, according to the guidelines, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services."

    So I crunched some numbers...

    A tsp of sugar has ~15 calories. According to the article, 12 tsp of added sugar a day is the recommendation (ie - 180 calories). That's supposed to represent 10% of the diet; ergo the assumption is a diet of 1800 calories.

    I wonder what percent of people eating SAD limit themselves to 1800 calories? My guess is not many.

    I wonder what percentage of Americans eat SAD? What is the definition of SAD?

    SAD = standard American diet

    Sorry, I was not asking what the acronym meant. What is the definition of "Standard American Diet"?
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
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    Packerjohn wrote: »
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/01/07/federal-dietary-guidelines/77151060/

    From the article:

    "The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting the amount of added sugars in our diet to no more than 10% of daily calories. That's about 12 teaspoons of sugar a day. To put that in perspective, a can of Coke contains nearly 10 teaspoons.

    Most of us would have to make big changes in our diets to follow the new guidelines.

    Americans on average get about 13% of daily calories from added sugars; teens get closer to 17% of calories from added sugars, according to the new report. The natural sugar in foods such as raisins, apples or milk are not considered added sugars.

    Nearly half of the added sugars in American diets come from sweetened beverages, such as sodas and sports drinks, according to the guidelines, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services."

    So I crunched some numbers...

    A tsp of sugar has ~15 calories. According to the article, 12 tsp of added sugar a day is the recommendation (ie - 180 calories). That's supposed to represent 10% of the diet; ergo the assumption is a diet of 1800 calories.

    I wonder what percent of people eating SAD limit themselves to 1800 calories? My guess is not many.

    I wonder what percentage of Americans eat SAD? What is the definition of SAD?

    SAD = standard American diet

    Sorry, I was not asking what the acronym meant. What is the definition of "Standard American Diet"?

    Isn't it just pizza and diet coke?
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
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    ndj1979 wrote: »
    Jruzer wrote: »
    Jruzer wrote: »
    If sugar was "the devil", shouldn't the recommendation be for 0% sugar in any form?

    We don't have to be saints all the time! 10% sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I doubt I exceed that very often.

    That's my point, though. I'm OK with people restricting added sugar if they wish, but if it were the embodiment of pure evil I don't think it would be recommended at all.

    It's not like the government recommends smoking no more than 1 pack of cigarettes a day, fr'instance. The recommendation is "do not smoke".

    I doubt anyone saying sugar is the devil believes it is 'the embodiment of pure evil'. It's just a saying.

    I mean if they truly believed it was evil, who would eat it at all??

    because references to the devil never have anything to do with bad, evil, etc....

    are deviled eggs 'the embodiment of pure evil'?
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
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    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/01/07/federal-dietary-guidelines/77151060/

    From the article:

    "The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting the amount of added sugars in our diet to no more than 10% of daily calories. That's about 12 teaspoons of sugar a day. To put that in perspective, a can of Coke contains nearly 10 teaspoons.

    Most of us would have to make big changes in our diets to follow the new guidelines.

    Americans on average get about 13% of daily calories from added sugars; teens get closer to 17% of calories from added sugars, according to the new report. The natural sugar in foods such as raisins, apples or milk are not considered added sugars.

    Nearly half of the added sugars in American diets come from sweetened beverages, such as sodas and sports drinks, according to the guidelines, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services."

    So I crunched some numbers...

    A tsp of sugar has ~15 calories. According to the article, 12 tsp of added sugar a day is the recommendation (ie - 180 calories). That's supposed to represent 10% of the diet; ergo the assumption is a diet of 1800 calories.

    I wonder what percent of people eating SAD limit themselves to 1800 calories? My guess is not many.

    I wonder what percentage of Americans eat SAD? What is the definition of SAD?

    SAD = standard American diet

    Sorry, I was not asking what the acronym meant. What is the definition of "Standard American Diet"?

    Isn't it just pizza and diet coke?

    Not much sugar in that.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    ndj1979 wrote: »
    Jruzer wrote: »
    Jruzer wrote: »
    If sugar was "the devil", shouldn't the recommendation be for 0% sugar in any form?

    We don't have to be saints all the time! 10% sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I doubt I exceed that very often.

    That's my point, though. I'm OK with people restricting added sugar if they wish, but if it were the embodiment of pure evil I don't think it would be recommended at all.

    It's not like the government recommends smoking no more than 1 pack of cigarettes a day, fr'instance. The recommendation is "do not smoke".

    I doubt anyone saying sugar is the devil believes it is 'the embodiment of pure evil'. It's just a saying.

    I mean if they truly believed it was evil, who would eat it at all??

    because references to the devil never have anything to do with bad, evil, etc....

    are deviled eggs 'the embodiment of pure evil'?

    not sure how deviled = devil ...

    have you ever made a positive comparison that referenced the devil...?
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Packerjohn wrote: »
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/01/07/federal-dietary-guidelines/77151060/

    From the article:

    "The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting the amount of added sugars in our diet to no more than 10% of daily calories. That's about 12 teaspoons of sugar a day. To put that in perspective, a can of Coke contains nearly 10 teaspoons.

    Most of us would have to make big changes in our diets to follow the new guidelines.

    Americans on average get about 13% of daily calories from added sugars; teens get closer to 17% of calories from added sugars, according to the new report. The natural sugar in foods such as raisins, apples or milk are not considered added sugars.

    Nearly half of the added sugars in American diets come from sweetened beverages, such as sodas and sports drinks, according to the guidelines, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services."

    So I crunched some numbers...

    A tsp of sugar has ~15 calories. According to the article, 12 tsp of added sugar a day is the recommendation (ie - 180 calories). That's supposed to represent 10% of the diet; ergo the assumption is a diet of 1800 calories.

    I wonder what percent of people eating SAD limit themselves to 1800 calories? My guess is not many.

    I wonder what percentage of Americans eat SAD? What is the definition of SAD?

    SAD = standard American diet

    Sorry, I was not asking what the acronym meant. What is the definition of "Standard American Diet"?

    I've asked this a bunch, as well as tried to find how how it got defined, how many supposedly eat it, so on. It seems vague -- basically constructed from stats about how Americans spend food money.

    These are kind of interesting: http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2014/01/standard-american-diet-sad-charts. This would be too, I suspect, if I had more than the abstract: http://ncp.sagepub.com/content/25/6/603.short

    It used to puzzle me, since once upon a time I thought of the SAD as basically the stereotypical midwestern kind of eating we did when I was a kid -- meat, potatoes or some other starch, vegetables. Add to that either cereal or bacon and eggs for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch. NOT lots of soda or fast food or the like.
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    edited January 2016
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    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/01/07/federal-dietary-guidelines/77151060/

    From the article:

    "The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting the amount of added sugars in our diet to no more than 10% of daily calories. That's about 12 teaspoons of sugar a day. To put that in perspective, a can of Coke contains nearly 10 teaspoons.

    Most of us would have to make big changes in our diets to follow the new guidelines.

    Americans on average get about 13% of daily calories from added sugars; teens get closer to 17% of calories from added sugars, according to the new report. The natural sugar in foods such as raisins, apples or milk are not considered added sugars.

    Nearly half of the added sugars in American diets come from sweetened beverages, such as sodas and sports drinks, according to the guidelines, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services."

    So I crunched some numbers...

    A tsp of sugar has ~15 calories. According to the article, 12 tsp of added sugar a day is the recommendation (ie - 180 calories). That's supposed to represent 10% of the diet; ergo the assumption is a diet of 1800 calories.

    I wonder what percent of people eating SAD limit themselves to 1800 calories? My guess is not many.

    I wonder what percentage of Americans eat SAD? What is the definition of SAD?

    SAD = standard American diet

    Sorry, I was not asking what the acronym meant. What is the definition of "Standard American Diet"?

    Isn't it just pizza and diet coke?

    Not much sugar in that.

    oh. I forgot the ice cream and sour patch kids.