Fed Up Movie - hidden sugars
Girlheidi
Posts: 60 Member
Having read a Reddit about obesity in various countries, someone up thread referenced the movie Fed Up - so we watched it yesterday. It's about sugar in processed food and the food industry. That was a bit of an eye opener.
Ever wondered why there is no recommended daily intake for sugar on packaging like there is for every other food group? All to do with politics. I even googled what is the RDA for sugar and struggled to get an answer.
Worth watching for sure.
Ever wondered why there is no recommended daily intake for sugar on packaging like there is for every other food group? All to do with politics. I even googled what is the RDA for sugar and struggled to get an answer.
Worth watching for sure.
8
Replies
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FDA recommendations:
Most Americans exceed the recommended limits for added sugars in the diet.
On average, Americans consume more than 13% of total calories (or almost
270 calories) per day from added sugars, with intakes particularly high among
children, adolescents, and young adults. The main sources of added sugars
in U.S. diet are sugar-sweetened beverages, desserts, and sweets.
• Diets lower in added sugars and higher in nutrient-dense foods and
beverages can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
• The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends consuming less than
10% of calories per day from added sugars. The guidelines also note
that many foods and beverages that contain added sugars also tend to be
high in calories and provide few or no important nutrients or dietary fiber.
• Diets higher in both added and naturally occurring sugars can increase
the risk of developing cavities (also known as “dental caries”).18 -
Having read a Reddit about obesity in various countries, someone up thread referenced the movie Fed Up - so we watched it yesterday. It's about sugar in processed food and the food industry. That was a bit of an eye opener.
Ever wondered why there is no recommended daily intake for sugar on packaging like there is for every other food group? All to do with politics. I even googled what is the RDA for sugar and struggled to get an answer.
Worth watching for sure.
if you are interested in facts and science-based information, you should not be getting your info from advocacy documentaries...Fed Up especially is known as having a lot of BS...here are a few reasons why...
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/does-the-movie-fed-up-make-sense/
here is just a snippet from the website above:
This webpage lists per capita sugar consumption by country, and it clearly does not correlate with rates of obesity in those countries. Countries with higher per capita sugar consumption than the US include Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, UK, and Venezuela. According to this source there are 17 countries with higher rates of obesity than the US. Not a single one of those countries has a higher per capita sugar consumption than the US.
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Having read a Reddit about obesity in various countries, someone up thread referenced the movie Fed Up - so we watched it yesterday. It's about sugar in processed food and the food industry. That was a bit of an eye opener.
Ever wondered why there is no recommended daily intake for sugar on packaging like there is for every other food group? All to do with politics. I even googled what is the RDA for sugar and struggled to get an answer.
Worth watching for sure.
New label changes are being phased in now.
https://www.fda.gov/food/food-labeling-nutrition/changes-nutrition-facts-label
The new label is already appearing on packages even before it is required to be used. Manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual sales must switch to the new label by January 1, 2020; manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales have until January 1, 2021 to comply. Manufacturers of most single-ingredient sugars such as honey and maple syrup and certain cranberry products have until July 1, 2021 to make the changes. Manufacturers of certain flavored dried cranberries have until July 1, 2020 to make the changes.
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Do you think that example is for a real product? If yes, what do you think it is?
My guess would be some type of granola cereal.2 -
Read the posted critique from Muscleflex.
Non scientific sample of 1...if I am trying to hit a net calorie number its 10x harder if I eat high calorie sugary stuff because I get hungry again faster.
I suspect sugar is correlated with obesity. But its probably also related to not getting cals from vegetables, protein and healthy fat which keep you full longer.
There's an argument that the 80s, 90s low fat craze was actually very counter productive because people amped sugar to make stuff taste better with less fat. But ultimately upped calories as a result.
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jhanleybrown wrote: »Read the posted critique from Muscleflex.
Non scientific sample of 1...if I am trying to hit a net calorie number its 10x harder if I eat high calorie sugary stuff because I get hungry again faster.
I suspect sugar is correlated with obesity. But its probably also related to not getting cals from vegetables, protein and healthy fat which keep you full longer.
There's an argument that the 80s, 90s low fat craze was actually very counter productive because people amped sugar to make stuff taste better with less fat. But ultimately upped calories as a result.
People did not actually eat low fat in the '80s and '90s. The amount of cals from fat that people ate continued to increase.
For me "high calorie sugary stuff" typically would have about half its cals from fat, also. That they have fat doesn't cause those foods to be particularly satiating for me, but I can include them in moderation without being hungry if my overall diet is sensible.11 -
I get kind of fed up with these sugar conspiracies. If you want to point a finger at beverages with sugar you might have a valid point. They can easily add a lot of calories to a day and be little better than water for keeping a person sated. Otherwise unless a person is hitting the cotton candy or some similar pure sugar food all day I think it is fair to say that multiple macros are making us fat if we consume too many of them. I personally and often consumed way too many "healthy" foods. Should we start looking for foods with hidden almonds in them?34
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Oh my god hidden almonds are the worst!19
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My favorite food movie had to to with liver, fava beans. and a nice chianti.
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Humans aren't fattening!2
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Sugar, so vilified. I think of sugar and butter (fat) as the ultimate fraternal twins working together to do a delightful job of making the world fat/obese if not eaten in moderation. But the issue is of course on people not the sugar and or butter.
Yet the amount of sugar in various forms that are in soda, pop, cola whatever one calls it depending on where one is from is startling. And the average amount that many people drink of it per day. This is a true situation, back in 1997 we moved from IL to Florida. And I was totally surprised by the fact at that time, both by where I worked and in many grocery stores there was many choices of soda to drink. Unless you were looking for any that were diet of any sort. After about two months of bugging the cafeteria manager they finally started buying diet coke and diet pepsi. And I think it was about a year before they had in fountains. Trying to find brewed unsweetened ice tea while out to eat was slow to happen as well.3 -
maureenkhilde wrote: »Sugar, so vilified. I think of sugar and butter (fat) as the ultimate fraternal twins working together to do a delightful job of making the world fat/obese if not eaten in moderation. But the issue is of course on people not the sugar and or butter.
Yet the amount of sugar in various forms that are in soda, pop, cola whatever one calls it depending on where one is from is startling. And the average amount that many people drink of it per day. This is a true situation, back in 1997 we moved from IL to Florida. And I was totally surprised by the fact at that time, both by where I worked and in many grocery stores there was many choices of soda to drink. Unless you were looking for any that were diet of any sort. After about two months of bugging the cafeteria manager they finally started buying diet coke and diet pepsi. And I think it was about a year before they had in fountains. Trying to find brewed unsweetened ice tea while out to eat was slow to happen as well.
This is actually why I think the sugar numbers for the population as a whole are misleading.
The biggest source of added sugar in the US diet is sweetened drinks, people who consume sugary soda tend to have a pattern where the biggest consumers consume a huge, crazy amount, a larger amount of users consume moderate amounts, and many people consume none.
So if the numbers are 13% on average (with under 10% recommended), I bet if one excluded the people who drink a lot of sugary beverages, the numbers would be a lot less, perhaps even within the 10%.
Granted, sugar or no, the US diet is too caloric on average, but if you look at the sources of that and which ones have been increasing, the focus on sugar is misplaced, it's a lot more wide-ranging in the cause (including, for example, added fat as a significant source).
This is one reason all the "documentaries" that try to pinpoint one food scapegoat are so misleading and unhelpful.10 -
There is something eerily creepy about the way that you worded this that makes me believe you have done this before...12 -
There is something eerily creepy about the way that you worded this that makes me believe you have done this before...
9 -
I just really amuses me about how people want to demonize sugar as the devil... I don't drink soft drinks regularly (I might have 1 or 2 a year and those more often than not will be diet drinks), I don't drink sweet tea and I rarely eat dessert - yet I was obese! Where's all that sugar that made me fat?!?!?!?13
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I just really amuses me about how people want to demonize sugar as the devil... I don't drink soft drinks regularly (I might have 1 or 2 a year and those more often than not will be diet drinks), I don't drink sweet tea and I rarely eat dessert - yet I was obese! Where's all that sugar that made me fat?!?!?!?
Because if it's not sugar....it's them.2 -
I just really amuses me about how people want to demonize sugar as the devil... I don't drink soft drinks regularly (I might have 1 or 2 a year and those more often than not will be diet drinks), I don't drink sweet tea and I rarely eat dessert - yet I was obese! Where's all that sugar that made me fat?!?!?!?
It's hidden sugar! Probably disguised as vegetables or something, it's so sneaky. 😉15 -
I just really amuses me about how people want to demonize sugar as the devil... I don't drink soft drinks regularly (I might have 1 or 2 a year and those more often than not will be diet drinks), I don't drink sweet tea and I rarely eat dessert - yet I was obese! Where's all that sugar that made me fat?!?!?!?
I also don't demonize sugar, but did you eat in restaurants? Because many restaurant meals that look like regular food contain the equivalent sugar of several candy bars (60-80 grams). Most of this is not from fruits and veggies but rather from sugar laden sauces and dressings. Even a whole day of my diet where I eat a generous amount of fruits and veggies doesn't top 40 g of sugar. So, the " hidden" or "added" sugar issue is not a hoax.
Of course, these meals also contain huge amounts of fat and salt and calories. It's no mystery on how to make food highly palatable - just add in lots of sugar and fat and salt. That's the main "secret" that chefs and food designers know.5 -
I just really amuses me about how people want to demonize sugar as the devil... I don't drink soft drinks regularly (I might have 1 or 2 a year and those more often than not will be diet drinks), I don't drink sweet tea and I rarely eat dessert - yet I was obese! Where's all that sugar that made me fat?!?!?!?
I also don't demonize sugar, but did you eat in restaurants? Because many restaurant meals that look like regular food contain the equivalent sugar of several candy bars (60-80 grams). Most of this is not from fruits and veggies but rather from sugar laden sauces and dressings. Even a whole day of my diet where I eat a generous amount of fruits and veggies doesn't top 40 g of sugar. So, the " hidden" or "added" sugar issue is not a hoax.
Of course, these meals also contain huge amounts of fat and salt and calories. It's no mystery on how to make food highly palatable - just add in lots of sugar and fat and salt. That's the main "secret" that chefs and food designers know.
I don't get how restaurant food that contains sugar is irregular.
Also, it's not hidden if you know how to read an ingredients list. If there's THAT much sugar in something it has to be listed.
ALSO, added is not the same as hidden.10 -
I just really amuses me about how people want to demonize sugar as the devil... I don't drink soft drinks regularly (I might have 1 or 2 a year and those more often than not will be diet drinks), I don't drink sweet tea and I rarely eat dessert - yet I was obese! Where's all that sugar that made me fat?!?!?!?
I also don't demonize sugar, but did you eat in restaurants? Because many restaurant meals that look like regular food contain the equivalent sugar of several candy bars (60-80 grams). Most of this is not from fruits and veggies but rather from sugar laden sauces and dressings. Even a whole day of my diet where I eat a generous amount of fruits and veggies doesn't top 40 g of sugar. So, the " hidden" or "added" sugar issue is not a hoax.
Of course, these meals also contain huge amounts of fat and salt and calories. It's no mystery on how to make food highly palatable - just add in lots of sugar and fat and salt. That's the main "secret" that chefs and food designers know.
I don't get how restaurant food that contains sugar is irregular.
Also, it's not hidden if you know how to read an ingredients list. If there's THAT much sugar in something it has to be listed.
ALSO, added is not the same as hidden.
I don't know how old the referenced documentary is, but restaurants didn't used to provide nutritional info like they do now, so " hidden" was a more correct term at one time.1 -
I just really amuses me about how people want to demonize sugar as the devil... I don't drink soft drinks regularly (I might have 1 or 2 a year and those more often than not will be diet drinks), I don't drink sweet tea and I rarely eat dessert - yet I was obese! Where's all that sugar that made me fat?!?!?!?
I also don't demonize sugar, but did you eat in restaurants? Because many restaurant meals that look like regular food contain the equivalent sugar of several candy bars (60-80 grams). Most of this is not from fruits and veggies but rather from sugar laden sauces and dressings. Even a whole day of my diet where I eat a generous amount of fruits and veggies doesn't top 40 g of sugar. So, the " hidden" or "added" sugar issue is not a hoax.
Of course, these meals also contain huge amounts of fat and salt and calories. It's no mystery on how to make food highly palatable - just add in lots of sugar and fat and salt. That's the main "secret" that chefs and food designers know.
How many examples can you give of meals intended to be savory that have 60-80 grams of sugar? Stay away from anything with the word honey because those are expected to have a higher sugar content.
I had Logan Roadhouse on the brain because I just met someone there for lunch and it was mentioned in another post I was reading. This national chain has NO entree food with that much sugar and to get even close you have to look at the beverages.
ETA: I just checked Famous Dave because BBQ is well known for having a lot of brown sugar in it. Once again not one single serve entree had that much sugar. Certainly more sugar than you get from other types of food but not 60-80.
ETAA: It occurs to me that breakfast food will have more sugar but I believe that is not really a shock to anyone.16 -
jhanleybrown wrote: »Read the posted critique from Muscleflex.
Non scientific sample of 1...if I am trying to hit a net calorie number its 10x harder if I eat high calorie sugary stuff because I get hungry again faster.
I suspect sugar is correlated with obesity. But its probably also related to not getting cals from vegetables, protein and healthy fat which keep you full longer.
There's an argument that the 80s, 90s low fat craze was actually very counter productive because people amped sugar to make stuff taste better with less fat. But ultimately upped calories as a result.
People did not actually eat low fat in the '80s and '90s. The amount of cals from fat that people ate continued to increase.
For me "high calorie sugary stuff" typically would have about half its cals from fat, also. That they have fat doesn't cause those foods to be particularly satiating for me, but I can include them in moderation without being hungry if my overall diet is sensible.
Yes ma'am. The overall caloric intake from fat has continued to rise, the intake of sugar has fallen. Yet obesity rates rose and are still rising, given at a lower rate. To quote a hero of mine, "If people had followed the USDA guidelines in spirit and use. We would probably be leaner now!"9 -
I just really amuses me about how people want to demonize sugar as the devil... I don't drink soft drinks regularly (I might have 1 or 2 a year and those more often than not will be diet drinks), I don't drink sweet tea and I rarely eat dessert - yet I was obese! Where's all that sugar that made me fat?!?!?!?
I also don't demonize sugar, but did you eat in restaurants? Because many restaurant meals that look like regular food contain the equivalent sugar of several candy bars (60-80 grams). Most of this is not from fruits and veggies but rather from sugar laden sauces and dressings. Even a whole day of my diet where I eat a generous amount of fruits and veggies doesn't top 40 g of sugar. So, the " hidden" or "added" sugar issue is not a hoax.
Of course, these meals also contain huge amounts of fat and salt and calories. It's no mystery on how to make food highly palatable - just add in lots of sugar and fat and salt. That's the main "secret" that chefs and food designers know.
How many examples can you give of meals intended to be savory that have 60-80 grams of sugar? Stay away from anything with the word honey because those are expected to have a higher sugar content.
I had Logan Roadhouse on the brain because I just met someone there for lunch and it was mentioned in another post I was reading. This national chain has NO entree food with that much sugar and to get even close you have to look at the beverages.
ETA: I just checked Famous Dave because BBQ is well known for having a lot of brown sugar in it. Once again not one single serve entree had that much sugar. Certainly more sugar than you get from other types of food but not 60-80.
ETAA: It occurs to me that breakfast food will have more sugar but I believe that is not really a shock to anyone.
The article I found online was a few years old. Most of the meals were salads (from the dressing), breakfast as you mentioned, BBQ, or Asian. It's possible that the recent requirement to list nutrition info has actually had the effect that restaurants have reduced some of the sugar in their entrees.
As I said, I didn't see the movie. I don't demonize sugar. However, I don't deny that people often don't realize that sugar is in a lot of foods that don't seem like dessert and it is possible to get a lot of added sugar without drinking much soda or eating much dessert.
Remember that the vast majority of people are incredibly ignorant about nutrition. Perhaps the real cause of obesity is our hatred of knowledge. 😁1 -
I just really amuses me about how people want to demonize sugar as the devil... I don't drink soft drinks regularly (I might have 1 or 2 a year and those more often than not will be diet drinks), I don't drink sweet tea and I rarely eat dessert - yet I was obese! Where's all that sugar that made me fat?!?!?!?
I also don't demonize sugar, but did you eat in restaurants? Because many restaurant meals that look like regular food contain the equivalent sugar of several candy bars (60-80 grams). Most of this is not from fruits and veggies but rather from sugar laden sauces and dressings. Even a whole day of my diet where I eat a generous amount of fruits and veggies doesn't top 40 g of sugar. So, the " hidden" or "added" sugar issue is not a hoax.
Of course, these meals also contain huge amounts of fat and salt and calories. It's no mystery on how to make food highly palatable - just add in lots of sugar and fat and salt. That's the main "secret" that chefs and food designers know.
How many examples can you give of meals intended to be savory that have 60-80 grams of sugar? Stay away from anything with the word honey because those are expected to have a higher sugar content.
I had Logan Roadhouse on the brain because I just met someone there for lunch and it was mentioned in another post I was reading. This national chain has NO entree food with that much sugar and to get even close you have to look at the beverages.
ETA: I just checked Famous Dave because BBQ is well known for having a lot of brown sugar in it. Once again not one single serve entree had that much sugar. Certainly more sugar than you get from other types of food but not 60-80.
ETAA: It occurs to me that breakfast food will have more sugar but I believe that is not really a shock to anyone.
The article I found online was a few years old. Most of the meals were salads (from the dressing), breakfast as you mentioned, BBQ, or Asian. It's possible that the recent requirement to list nutrition info has actually had the effect that restaurants have reduced some of the sugar in their entrees.
As I said, I didn't see the movie. I don't demonize sugar. However, I don't deny that people often don't realize that sugar is in a lot of foods that don't seem like dessert and it is possible to get a lot of added sugar without drinking much soda or eating much dessert.
Remember that the vast majority of people are incredibly ignorant about nutrition. Perhaps the real cause of obesity is our hatred of knowledge. 😁
Well... that's the price people pay when they outsource food preparation to the "industry"....4 -
I just really amuses me about how people want to demonize sugar as the devil... I don't drink soft drinks regularly (I might have 1 or 2 a year and those more often than not will be diet drinks), I don't drink sweet tea and I rarely eat dessert - yet I was obese! Where's all that sugar that made me fat?!?!?!?
I also don't demonize sugar, but did you eat in restaurants? Because many restaurant meals that look like regular food contain the equivalent sugar of several candy bars (60-80 grams). Most of this is not from fruits and veggies but rather from sugar laden sauces and dressings. Even a whole day of my diet where I eat a generous amount of fruits and veggies doesn't top 40 g of sugar. So, the " hidden" or "added" sugar issue is not a hoax.
Of course, these meals also contain huge amounts of fat and salt and calories. It's no mystery on how to make food highly palatable - just add in lots of sugar and fat and salt. That's the main "secret" that chefs and food designers know.
How many examples can you give of meals intended to be savory that have 60-80 grams of sugar? Stay away from anything with the word honey because those are expected to have a higher sugar content.
I had Logan Roadhouse on the brain because I just met someone there for lunch and it was mentioned in another post I was reading. This national chain has NO entree food with that much sugar and to get even close you have to look at the beverages.
ETA: I just checked Famous Dave because BBQ is well known for having a lot of brown sugar in it. Once again not one single serve entree had that much sugar. Certainly more sugar than you get from other types of food but not 60-80.
ETAA: It occurs to me that breakfast food will have more sugar but I believe that is not really a shock to anyone.
The article I found online was a few years old. Most of the meals were salads (from the dressing), breakfast as you mentioned, BBQ, or Asian. It's possible that the recent requirement to list nutrition info has actually had the effect that restaurants have reduced some of the sugar in their entrees.
As I said, I didn't see the movie. I don't demonize sugar. However, I don't deny that people often don't realize that sugar is in a lot of foods that don't seem like dessert and it is possible to get a lot of added sugar without drinking much soda or eating much dessert.
Remember that the vast majority of people are incredibly ignorant about nutrition. Perhaps the real cause of obesity is our hatred of knowledge. 😁
It is more likely that the article was using sensationalism to sell clicks. You cannot mask that much sugar in savory food. Some salad dressings are sweet like 1000 Island and French but I have never been to a restaurant that put 8 or more ounces of salad dressing on their salad to get to that sugar level.
There are ways of getting more sugar into a salad like candied nuts but there again you should not be surprised you are getting sugar.
Even breakfast food without syrup is going to be high but not several candy bars high unless you eat a large volume. Things with syrup already added or powdered sugar are not exactly "hidden".
This is not a new change it is just another example of bad information on the internet. The only way I can think of to mask or hide that much sugar would be to make the dish so spicy hot you couldn't taste anything else and I am not even sure that would work.
This is not a chef's secret in savory dishes. Fat and salt, yes. 60-80 grams of sugar... nope. Everyone would be sending their food back.15 -
As I said, I didn't see the movie. I don't demonize sugar. However, I don't deny that people often don't realize that sugar is in a lot of foods that don't seem like dessert and it is possible to get a lot of added sugar without drinking much soda or eating much dessert.
Remember that the vast majority of people are incredibly ignorant about nutrition. Perhaps the real cause of obesity is our hatred of knowledge. 😁
I think I've seen that claim in a food-doc, and it was in connection with some other questionable ones (like a way of talking about pasta sauce that was exaggerated).
I also don't think the average person eats out at such restaurants frequently enough for it to matter (fast food is probably more common and the heaviest sugar sources there are mainly soda and desserts).
I don't disagree that most people are kind of clueless about what's in what (mostly because the average person wants to eat what they want and not think about it too much), but I think the hidden sugar thing is really trumped up to try and blame everyone but the consumer. If you look at the actual breakdowns of the main sources of sugar in the diet, it's not savory sauces or salad dressing, it's soda and other sugary drinks, sugary cereal, dessert foods of various types, and to some degree flavored yogurts, stuff that's pretty obvious.
I admit my pet peeve is people refusing to use common sense and then blaming others (I HATE the taste of salad dressings with sweetness, so find it hard to believe one could get lots of sugar from a dressing and not notice, and this is from someone who does believe many people think salads are the low cal choice when so many are calorie bombs). In either the same doc or some other, some person was presented as a victim because she'd been assuming Hot Pocket Leans were some nutritional powerhouse and also assumed you couldn't gain weight eating them, or some such.7 -
Hidden sugars:
I eat mostly, though not entirely, what most people would call "whole foods" (which I think is a mostly pointless term). Pretty much every day, I exceed my MFP default sugar goal (depending on exercise calories, that goal is usually in the low 70s of grams; I usually eat something in the 80s to 100g or so of sugars (that's the equivalent of several candy bars!!!)).
Many of those days, the only added sugars I eat are a little bit of added sweetening in my commercial fruit-flavored kefir, and a tablespoon of blackstrap molasses. The added sugars in those amount to around 16g. Everything else is inherent sugars in no-sugar-added dairy foods, fruit, or vegetables.
I think I found the "hidden sugars": "Hidden sugars" (which are not in the ingredients list) = "Inherent sugars", not "added sugars" (which are clearly listed in the ingredients list under various names).
(When I'm not joking around, I agree with lemurcat2.)7
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