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Why do people keep defending sugar?
Replies
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ladyreva78 wrote: »nighthawk584 wrote: »have you tried Oreo's dunked in coffee?!
Oreo's and coffee should never be used in the same sentence together. (and yes, that disagree was from me)
#Iamacoffeesnob
I'm a simple man, chocolate, creme, and coffee works well together!5 -
NorthCascades wrote: »Honey isn't a natural sugar? I thought bees were part of nature.
He didn't say honey is unnatural. He said it is processed. Bees do indeed do a kind of processing when making honey. He also clarifies that the issue is when sugar is uncoupled from fiber. It becomes easier to over consume sugar when it isn't with fiber, and it doesn't really matter to your taste buds if the fiber is removed by industrial processes or via bee gut rumination - the fiber's gone, reduced to atoms.3 -
Every carnivore that pays attention knows about glucose and vitamin c fighting for absorption. You didn’t have to say no because it is because of the sugar making or increasing more glucose. There are other vitamins that get depleted like most of the b vitamins, zinc, and magnesium to name a few. I don’t think sugar in moderation is bad but when you go overboard, you may want to take a multivitamin and eat more nutrient dense foods then or the next day. The sugar bunch have struck the disagree button. I’m not sure why I posted in the main forums again. Haha.TheDevastator wrote: »Sugar was terrible after antibiotics for me. The GAPS diet helped me to eat sugar again. Now I’m carnivore and have mostly only milk sugar. A high sugar diet can make the body need more vitamins and minerals.
No, the body will not need more because of the sugar, but you may have to take in more to get the amount the body needs because of competing metabolic pathways. Vitamin C is a good example of this - vitamin C and glucose share the same metabolic pathway for absorption and the body will prioritize glucose over vitamin C, so it takes more intake of vitamin C to absorb the amount that the body actually needs.
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ladyreva78 wrote: »nighthawk584 wrote: »have you tried Oreo's dunked in coffee?!
Oreo's and coffee should never be used in the same sentence together. (and yes, that disagree was from me)
#Iamacoffeesnob
I am totally with you on this. Oreos = blurgh. Now, a couple of squares of good quality (like 75% cocoa) dark chocolate, something like Lindt Seasalt - that is the perfect accompaniment to coffee 😀5 -
I need sugar when I lift: two hours training means I deplete my energy stores (medical issue) and quick sugar in the form of dextrose tablets or in something like a sport drink means I can complete my session. Then I’ll go and have a balanced meal. Absolutely nothing wrong with it in moderation. I am also addicted to pineapple - tonnes of sugar in that.0
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In answer to your subject heading question: two reasons 1. They enjoy it 2. They can't stop having it.0
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janejellyroll wrote: »
Some of the time, yes. I see people here on myfitnesspal message boards saying how they have sugar every day. I also see how infrequently people reach their goal weight here. Are the two related? Maybe.1 -
janejellyroll wrote: »
Some of the time, yes. I see people here on myfitnesspal message boards saying how they have sugar every day. I also see how infrequently people reach their goal weight here. Are the two related? Maybe.
Some of the people who claim to be eating sugar every day are at goal and have been there for years. The last comment I saw about regular sugar consumption was someone saying they have it daily as a pre-workout snack and this is someone whose physique is fantastic. So I'm not as sure as you are that the two are related.
The tinge of your comments is that it's somehow wrong and weak to eat foods that you enjoy, that it is related to an inability to stop. But what if part of the problem with weight management -- why so many people do fail -- is that so many have been convinced that we can't somehow enjoy the foods we like AND meet our weight management goals, so that we waste all the time flipping between "diet mode" and "real life"? If I like to have a bit of sugar and do that in the context of meeting my calorie goals, what's the problem?12 -
Also, I just need to point out that fruits and vegetables have sugar.
Re added sugar, I was losing and within my goal range (my "goal" was 120, but I felt good and fine at 125 and fit into all my old 120 clothes, so eh) when having ice cream (200 cals or so) a few times a week. (Ice cream is my favorite dessert.) For some reason I have basically lost my sweet tooth, so haven't had much added sugar in a couple of years. Yet I've regained a little (I know why, and will lose it again soon) during the coronavirus shutdown (which has coincided with my work being incredibly stressful). No sugar was involved unless you want to warn me off fruits and veg.
I also find that most of the longtime and successful posters tend to eat added sugar (such as desserts) in moderation, and to be within their goal ranges. The people I see repeatedly quitting and coming back more often seem to be those who think they must do something drastic or be incredibly strict or cut out all the foods they love.16 -
speaking of ice cream...
(yes - I do, in fact, have a google maps Saved list devoted solely to ice cream stands - aqua pins. - for ease of adding them into my riding routes. ~10 miles for a baby cone
) 15 -
*peeks in*
I never stopped eating sugary stuff when I was losing weight and I'm not talking fruits and vegetables either.
There were cookies. LOTS of cookies.
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janejellyroll wrote: »
Some of the time, yes. I see people here on myfitnesspal message boards saying how they have sugar every day. I also see how infrequently people reach their goal weight here. Are the two related? Maybe.
Well, I have sugar every day - not sugar in fruits and veg but added sugar products like chocolate, Icecream, cookies, cake, sweetened yoghurt, sometimes table sugar on cereal.
Not all of them every day, of course - but certainly did not cut them out of my diet.
Probably at least one of the above most days
Reached my goal weight at end of 2013 and stayed there ever since, on BMI of 23.
Of course I could be the exception to the rule - but I doubt it.
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janejellyroll wrote: »
Some of the time, yes. I see people here on myfitnesspal message boards saying how they have sugar every day. I also see how infrequently people reach their goal weight here. Are the two related? Maybe.
Wow. I eat sugar every day. I am 120 pounds, 20% body fat and a masters oly weightlifter. I’ve survived cancer, been at this weight for years (give or take a few pounds) and am pretty strong for a petite middle aged woman. I am definitely not addicted to sugar (even though I jokingly said I was addicted to pineapple!) and happy to have a varied diet. You made a bit of a generalisation there!!19 -
I don't have a big sugar bug, but I eat added sugar every day, and routinely exceed my MFP default sugar goal nearly every day, too (most of that inherent, not added, sugar).
This, in a context of getting a sensible amount of protein (around 1g per pound LBM), adequate fats, at least 5 and usually many more daily veggie/fruit servings - overall, what I see as good, well-rounded nutrition. About 5 years ago, I was eating this way to lose nearly 1/3 of my bodyweight, and I've been doing it for 4+ years of successful maintenance at a healthy weight since. I literally don't think about sugar: I think about getting the nutrients I need into my eating, at calories that sustain a healthy weight (BMI 20.5 now), and let sugar/carbs fall where they may.
I feel like I could just as well ask why people who are trying to lose weight seem so obsessed with sugar, and why so many of them fail at losing, and fail at maintaining? (But I won't, because I think that would be stupid and disingenuous . . . but it does make me wonder how the heck people can stand there with their teeth in their mouth and ask why people defend sugar, or imply that eating sugar is why we can't reach goal. WTHeck?)
If eating sugar makes you crave more sugar, and you can and want to stop eating sugar, please do so. If you eat so much sugar that you can't stay within calories and get good nutrition at the same time, then yes, you should eat less sugar. If you find that eating X amount of sugar makes you feel bad in some way, then it would be a good plan not to eat X amount of sugar. Sugar per se, let alone added sugar, is not an essential nutrient. Eat it, don't eat it.
But say unscientific things about it, or claim that it's universally irresistable in inappropriate quantities, or completely evil for everyone? I'm going to argue with that.16 -
I don't have a big sugar bug, but I eat added sugar every day, and routinely exceed my MFP default sugar goal nearly every day, too (most of that inherent, not added, sugar).
This, in a context of getting a sensible amount of protein (around 1g per pound LBM), adequate fats, at least 5 and usually many more daily veggie/fruit servings - overall, what I see as good, well-rounded nutrition. About 5 years ago, I was eating this way to lose nearly 1/3 of my bodyweight, and I've been doing it for 4+ years of successful maintenance at a healthy weight since. I literally don't think about sugar: I think about getting the nutrients I need into my eating, at calories that sustain a healthy weight (BMI 20.5 now), and let sugar/carbs fall where they may.
I feel like I could just as well ask why people who are trying to lose weight seem so obsessed with sugar, and why so many of them fail at losing, and fail at maintaining? (But I won't, because I think that would be stupid and disingenuous . . . but it does make me wonder how the heck people can stand there with their teeth in their mouth and ask why people defend sugar, or imply that eating sugar is why we can't reach goal. WTHeck?)
If eating sugar makes you crave more sugar, and you can and want to stop eating sugar, please do so. If you eat so much sugar that you can't stay within calories and get good nutrition at the same time, then yes, you should eat less sugar. If you find that eating X amount of sugar makes you feel bad in some way, then it would be a good plan not to eat X amount of sugar. Sugar per se, let alone added sugar, is not an essential nutrient. Eat it, don't eat it.
But say unscientific things about it, or claim that it's universally irresistable in inappropriate quantities, or completely evil for everyone? I'm going to argue with that.
That's nutrition and weight management in a nutshell. Replace sugar with any other ingredient and it still applies. I wish people were more flexible and used common sense. Rules without reason and common sense are blind, and blind rules rarely give lasting results.7 -
People defend sugar because they don’t have sufficient willpower to never eat sugar.
Personally, I live by the motto “anything in moderation is ok”.
So, it’s ok to have sugar once in awhile. Like, yesterday I ate three cookies and today is my husbands birthday and we will have birthday cake. But will we have refined sugar everyday? No. We don’t eat it everyday. We eat it in moderation in combination with a nutritious well balanced diet.4 -
tgillies003 wrote: »People defend sugar because they don’t have sufficient willpower to never eat sugar.
Personally, I live by the motto “anything in moderation is ok”.
So, it’s ok to have sugar once in awhile. Like, yesterday I ate three cookies and today is my husbands birthday and we will have birthday cake. But will we have refined sugar everyday? No. We don’t eat it everyday. We eat it in moderation in combination with a nutritious well balanced diet.
More accurately people defend sugar because some people continue to say utterly stupid things about it.29 -
tgillies003 wrote: »People defend sugar because they don’t have sufficient willpower to never eat sugar.
Personally, I live by the motto “anything in moderation is ok”.
So, it’s ok to have sugar once in awhile. Like, yesterday I ate three cookies and today is my husbands birthday and we will have birthday cake. But will we have refined sugar everyday? No. We don’t eat it everyday. We eat it in moderation in combination with a nutritious well balanced diet.
Heh.
I love it when people make ridiculous assumptions about others.
Like, yesterday - a pretty typical day - I had 12.5g of added sugar. That's it. 1g of it was refined cane sugar, in some crispy broad beans. The rest was the tablespoon of blackstrap molasses I put in my daily oatmeal, because I like it just a touch sweeter than the unsweetened mixed berries make it, and the molasses makes a meaningful contribution to my needs for iron (23%), potassium (839.5mg), and iron (23%).
Pretty sure it wouldn't require titanic willpower to drop that sugar out of my day, every day. I doubt that it would be practical to cut refined sugar 100% out of my eating permanently, but the obstacle wouldn't be willpower.
And why would I try? I have no reason to obsess about sugar.
No one has a reason to obsess about it, IMO. Some people have a reason(s) to eat less of it. I encourage them to do so.
Still gonna argue against nonsense claims about it. For one reason, like so many of the "good/bad food" rules, it takes people's eyes off at least two much more important things: Good well-rounded overall nutrition, and appropriate calories. Focus on getting those, and sugar will pretty much take care of itself.9 -
tgillies003 wrote: »People defend sugar because they don’t have sufficient willpower to never eat sugar.
Personally, I live by the motto “anything in moderation is ok”.
So, it’s ok to have sugar once in awhile. Like, yesterday I ate three cookies and today is my husbands birthday and we will have birthday cake. But will we have refined sugar everyday? No. We don’t eat it everyday. We eat it in moderation in combination with a nutritious well balanced diet.
I agree with you on moderation, which can take several forms, be it eating something less often or more often in smaller quantities (this includes every day). I do not agree with you on the willpower part. Do I eat tomatoes every day because I don't have the willpower to never eat tomatoes? Who knows, I never tried to never eat tomatoes. The way I see it, I eat tomatoes every day because I like them and eating them every day does not hurt my weight management efforts or my ability to get proper nutrition, so why would I want to impose such a rule on myself? The same can be said for sugar or any other ingredient on the planet.12 -
BTW, thinking things over:
You know one thing I think is really great about refined white sugar? That *baby-feline* keeps forever.
Once in a rare while, I want to make dessert, I may use a little cane sugar. Most recently (May 16), sweetened dessert was a (not hyper-sweet) whole-wheat rhubarb upside down cake. (It which was tasty, BTW - no way I'm eating rhubarb without sweetening it. Most of the cake is still in the freezer, portioned out.)
I have a tight-lid gallon glass jar in the back of my cupboard with refined white sugar in it. When it gets ultra-low, I buy a 5-pound bag, and dump it in there. That bag will last literally years, never have to think about it, doesn't degrade, tastes fine indefinitely, probably all the way to the zombie apocalypse.
I'd say I can't remember when I bought white sugar last, since it's probably been 5+ years since I refilled the jar and it's still got many cups of sugar in it, but I did buy a small fresh bag of vegan refined white sugar last fall, to make some pickled grapes, plus a slightly-sweet vinaigrette for some roasted root veggies, to take to a potluck I knew was going to include a strict vegan, in amongst a crowd of omnivores.
Affirmative defense of refined white sugar: Excellent choice to keep in your survival bunker.
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I love sweet foods but rarely overeat them. I can have a weighed out serving of ice cream or two cookies or a small brownie as an evening snack and be completely satisfied. No cravings, no rebound hunger, within my calories, no willpower required.
It's when I get a salty/fatty craving that I'm screwed. Potato chips, pretzels, cheese curls - I have to be very careful with because I want far more than a serving and can easily overeat them without physically limiting myself and using some willpower.
I once ate an entire jar of garlic pickles while stressed out and mindlessly watching TV!
The problem isn't sugar. "Problem foods" are unique to individuals. And most foods that people consider problem foods are actually some combo of fatty and either salty or sweet.9 -
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tgillies003 wrote: »People defend sugar because they don’t have sufficient willpower
I was vegetarian for 14 years. Teetotal for 10. Exercise in some form every day and have won gold medals in national martial arts completions. I taught myself to swim at a competitive level despite my terror of water, and was a speleologicist despite my fear of enclosed spaces. I am now learning the specialist sport of Olympic weightlifting. I survived cancer partly because I’m mentally strong, stubborn and incredibly determined (and benefited from the amazing NHS) - yet you think I eat sugar because I have no willpower???23 -
janejellyroll wrote: »
Some of the time, yes. I see people here on myfitnesspal message boards saying how they have sugar every day. I also see how infrequently people reach their goal weight here. Are the two related? Maybe.
I'd take $5 bets on of the population of maintainers (2+ years) more will say sugar is acceptable or acceptable in moderation than say abstaince is necessary.
I'd even place $5 on it being more tightly correlated than the correlation between drop outs and saying sugar is acceptable.
Though I think I never myself made it to my goal weight since I eventually realized it would probably involve losing muscle.12 -
@threewins, will 10 yr maintenance do you?
I love sweets, cake with fresh cream especially, but can moderate them when needed to if my nutritional goals require a different set of macros for me to be satisfied with my day.
I have never, both losing 30lbs and while maintaining, focused on sugar,or even looked at it, in fruit or added.
I exercise daily, meet my nutritional goals, have no medical problems, a good bone density and musculature, and maintain at the lower end of the BMI scale.
Why would I worry or limit my sugar intake?
What would I benefit from cutting it out?
People fail for all kinds of reasons.
Cheers, h.
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BTW, thinking things over:
You know one thing I think is really great about refined white sugar? That *baby-feline* keeps forever.
Once in a rare while, I want to make dessert, I may use a little cane sugar. Most recently (May 16), sweetened dessert was a (not hyper-sweet) whole-wheat rhubarb upside down cake. (It which was tasty, BTW - no way I'm eating rhubarb without sweetening it. Most of the cake is still in the freezer, portioned out.)
I have a tight-lid gallon glass jar in the back of my cupboard with refined white sugar in it. When it gets ultra-low, I buy a 5-pound bag, and dump it in there. That bag will last literally years, never have to think about it, doesn't degrade, tastes fine indefinitely, probably all the way to the zombie apocalypse.
I'd say I can't remember when I bought white sugar last, since it's probably been 5+ years since I refilled the jar and it's still got many cups of sugar in it, but I did buy a small fresh bag of vegan refined white sugar last fall, to make some pickled grapes, plus a slightly-sweet vinaigrette for some roasted root veggies, to take to a potluck I knew was going to include a strict vegan, in amongst a crowd of omnivores.
Affirmative defense of refined white sugar: Excellent choice to keep in your survival bunker.
Yup, same here. I haven't bought sugar in ages, since I rarely use it, so nice that it keeps.
My sister's SO brought an apple pie to our 4th get together (grilling outside in my backyard) today. I was looking forward to it, but we ate too much other food (none involving added sugar) and plus it was hot (which tends to kill my appetite), so I didn't end up having any. I did have a bunch of sugar earlier since I enjoy smoothies for breakfast when it's hot, and made one that was more fruity than usual (again, craving icy fruit due to the weather, after doing a bunch of outside chores). No added sugar in that, all the sugar was from fruit and veg.
Anyway, I have some of the pie now, to eat later. Will likely have a piece tomorrow and Monday, but it really doesn't take that much willpower to resist, and I like apple pie. My weaknesses are just more for savory foods. So willpower has nothing to do with why I defend sugar. I defend it because there's simply nothing wrong with it in moderation in the context of a healthful and calorie-appropriate diet.4 -
A packet of table sugar ( 1/2 kg) lasts my household probably a year. I have 1/2 teaspoon on my breakfast cereal and visitors. sometimes have it in their tea/ coffee, and I use a little bit sometimes in cooking. But I don't cook many sweet things.
However I do eat many products with sugar already in them - bought cakes,cookies, chocolate, sweetened yoghurt, jam etc.
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tgillies003 wrote: »People defend sugar because they don’t have sufficient willpower to never eat sugar.
Personally, I live by the motto “anything in moderation is ok”.
So, it’s ok to have sugar once in awhile. Like, yesterday I ate three cookies and today is my husbands birthday and we will have birthday cake. But will we have refined sugar everyday? No. We don’t eat it everyday. We eat it in moderation in combination with a nutritious well balanced diet.
That really is a silly statement.
I defend the inclusion of any food product in sensible portion amounts ( whether I myself eat it or not) and any food product can be part of a nutritious well balanced diet on an everyday basis, in sensible portion amounts.
Be that sugar, tomatoes, tofu, whatever.
I don't have a willpower issue when it comes to food and if I had a medical reason to cut out any food, I would do so. - but I also don't try to excercise will power on futile missions.
Like never eating sugar
I like many sweet products and I have no issue fitting them into my diet in sensible amounts - why would I bother exercising will power to change something that isn't broken???
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