'That Sugar Film'

KrisJ125

I recently saw That Sugar Film, which is a documentary following a guy who tracks what happens to his health while eating quite a lot of added sugar per day for 2 months. It was kind of like the documentary 'Supersize Me.'
Have any others seen this? What did you think? Was the daily sugar intake really representative of the 'western diet' or was it very excessive? Any nutrition experts or RD's out there want to give me a professional opinion?

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt

It is a biased propaganda piece with no real basis in science.

It has also been discussed ad nauseum in the forums.

MissusMoon

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt wrote: »

It is a biased propaganda piece with no real basis in science.

It has also been discussed ad nauseum in the forums.

KrisJ125

Well I was interested in seeing the film due to the (fairly) recent AHA recommendation that women should have no more than 25g (6 tsp) of added sugar per day.

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt

There is a pretty good discussion going on about this film and the claims made in it here:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10479881/thoughts-on-sugar/p1

vingogly

I checked my diary -- I've averaged just under 50g sugar per day for the past 90 days (some days more, some less). Three days ago, MFP says I had 47g sugar; of that, 39g were added sugar (all from packaged foods). The AHA recommendation for men is 36g of sugar, so I wasn't that far off. If I had eaten only food I'd prepared rather than packaged foods, I wouldn't have had much of a problem staying below the 36g. 25g would however be a real challenge for me.

I try to limit prepackaged foods (and read labels when I shop), I tend not to buy sweetened things (my soy milk and yogurt and frozen fruits have no added sugar), and I use stevia or monk fruit for added sweetener.

I haven't seen the film but a review on The Guardian's site says: '[he] ... only ate foods perceived to be healthy. This includes cereal, smoothies, muesli bars and low-fat yoghurt. ..." Excuse me? I don't know what cereal he chose, but the other things are (or can be) notoriously high in added sugar. If he was eating that kind of stuff, I have a hard time believing he was only eating 40g of added sugar (and I'll point out that's only 4g more than the AHA's recommendations -- does he know better than the AHA?).

My take on this is: moderation in all things, and each of us has to decide how much discomfort or unhappiness we're willing to put up with to meet a nutritional goal. I'm happy with the steps I've taken, and I'm not willing to take more drastic steps to reduce my added sugar intake below the AHA's recommendation because Damon Gameau sez so.

lemurcat12

KrisJ125 wrote: »

I recently saw That Sugar Film, which is a documentary following a guy who tracks what happens to his health while eating quite a lot of added sugar per day for 2 months. It was kind of like the documentary 'Supersize Me.'
Have any others seen this? What did you think? Was the daily sugar intake really representative of the 'western diet' or was it very excessive? Any nutrition experts or RD's out there want to give me a professional opinion?

From what I've read about it, it was certainly ridiculously excessive compared to what I've ever eaten, or people whom I know eat, even back when I was getting fat. Also, his claim that people think eating that way is "healthy" is IMO obviously false. I further don't believe for one second that he properly controlled for calories and gained weight without eating more -- like others said, it's a propaganda piece.

Is eating a diet filled mostly with high sugar processed foods not that great for you? I'd tend to agree, but I don't need some movie that insults my intelligence to figure that out.

Hornsby

KrisJ125 wrote: »

Well I was interested in seeing the film due to the (fairly) recent AHA recommendation that women should have no more than 25g (6 tsp) of added sugar per day.

To be clear, the recommendation is as stated above but also has the "OR half of your discretionary calories" recommendation which makes the actual recommendation a very broad number.

KrisJ125

@ vingogly: I believe he ate 40 tsp/day not 40 g/day. That's about 160g. But i take your point--I also try to limit the added sugar, just because I prefer foods that I prepare and I know what's in them.

SLLRunner

KrisJ125 wrote: »

I recently saw That Sugar Film, which is a documentary following a guy who tracks what happens to his health while eating quite a lot of added sugar per day for 2 months. It was kind of like the documentary 'Supersize Me.'
Have any others seen this? What did you think? Was the daily sugar intake really representative of the 'western diet' or was it very excessive? Any nutrition experts or RD's out there want to give me a professional opinion?

Rubbish and propaganda.

If something happens to your health from eating sugar (not sure what too much is, because it's different for everyone) then you need to go to the doctor and be checked out.

I agree with moderating for myself because I would rather spend my calories at the protein and/or fat market. However, for me it's moderation while staying within my calorie goals.

TR0berts

Considering "Supersize Me" was utter nonsense - of course you put on weight, if you eat the biggest and most Calorie-laden foods offered nearly all the time - if this is like it (which it basically is), it's nonsense, too.