Will you change your sugar consumption after watching the 60

slimmergalpal

I did not see the show, but my Nutritionist told me last week ( my first visit) to start paying more attention to the sugar I am eating without me even knowing about it. I have done that now for almost a week and my plateau is finally broken. Yep, the starches I was eating (potatoes were a biggie) were turning into sugar in my body , too. So now I am watching good carbs/ bad carbs, & ingredient listings. So much to learn !

lorenzoinlr

I realize there are studies du jour and alarmists out for attention but I should probably chime in here. I have medical researchers, oncologists and heart specialists in my family. I'm not and so sit idly by during conversations about medical research. The two studies aren't the only ones, a lot more will start reaching publication and they are corroborative.

Sugar and corn syrup aren't the only things, the issues concern those plus simple carbs such as white rice and processed flour. In short, I'll just say when these family members became aware of some of the not yet published findings of other researchers, they put down the sugar. And these aren't health mavens when it comes to their personal lifestyle. We're talking burgers, fries, candy and even smoking.

So when I saw their level of alarm around October, I joined them and cut out almost all processed foods and sugar. I just checked my diary and found actually I've done great, except for Coffee Mate and dried plums (prunes). The plums are in a grey area, as fruit which come with fiber and so digest more slowly.

Anyways, the evidence on this is about to explode with research so get ready, particularly wrt heart disease.

FWIW, I will say we all feel so much better without the sugar we no longer feel deprived.

Are these studies all along the line of all the research that was done that proved all these claims now being blamed on sugar were originally blamed on fat? Also, processed flour and white bread are both starches, they are complex carbs, not simple carbs. An apple is a simple carb, as it's all monosaccharides and disaccharides.

I'm a witness, I can't speak further for them, other than to say they considered processed flour to be almost the dietary equivalent of sugar.

I will say I find the level of resistance based on agenda in this thread to be surprising given why we're all here.

bethanylaugh

I hadn't seen this so I'm glad you posted this. I had decreased my sugar goal to 20grams or less a day about a year ago - and try to use those grams for fruit and luna bars only... but I know I cheat and don't add in the 2 hershey kisses I snuck after lunch! True or not, there's no bad result that comes from removing sugars from your diet! And now i'll be more diligent about it :-)

Things like this always seem to have initial knee-jerk reactions but in 10 years end up being true :-)

secretlobster

"a lot" = eating so much that you either 1) eat too many calories, or 2) compromise macro or micro nutrition. Take care of the big picture, and the details tend to work themselves out.

I agree with you. Yes, "a lot" is relative and if you think you might be consuming too much refined sugar, you probably are. I know people who eat dessert every day (at least), have muffins for breakfast, sugar in their coffee, and some treats throughout the day. those people eat "a lot" of sugar.

If you eat healthy foods as a way of life, then having sugar doesn't really have an impact. When processed foods/sugar/trans fats/etc. make up a significant portion of your diet, you're the kind of person who needs to stop focusing on specifics like sugar or carbs, and start looking at how to overhaul your everyday eating habits.

Acg67

Here is the full text of the study they reference in the article

Consumption of Fructose and High Fructose Corn Syrup Increase Postprandial Triglycerides, LDL-Cholesterol, and Apolipoprotein-B in Young Men and Women. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism August 17, 2011 jc.2011-1251

http://goo.gl/jfmxn 

My main takeaway from the study was maybe it's not that great of an idea to consume 25% of your daily cals in HFCS if you're sedentary and eating at maintenance or above. However there is a huge confounder in that in the outpatient phase of the study when they were consuming 25% of their cals in sugar, they ate ad lib, so it's possible they were chowing down on foods with lots of trans fats or stuff like that that could have lead to the elevated blood markers.

If we look at studies such as this one, which had intake much more controlled, subjects ate 43% of their daily cals in sucrose which is basically the same as HFCS and LDL decreased, however they were also eating in a deficit.

Metabolic and behavioral effects of a high-sucrose diet during weight loss. Am J Clin Nutr. 1997 Apr;65(4):908-15.

www.ajcn.org/content/65/4/908.full.pdf

grinch031

"a lot" = eating so much that you either 1) eat too many calories, or 2) compromise macro or micro nutrition. Take care of the big picture, and the details tend to work themselves out.

I agree with you. Yes, "a lot" is relative and if you think you might be consuming too much refined sugar, you probably are. I know people who eat dessert every day (at least), have muffins for breakfast, sugar in their coffee, and some treats throughout the day. those people eat "a lot" of sugar.

The problem is that sugar is NOT acutely toxic, therefore it can be very difficult to 1) prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it is in fact toxic, or 2) that it has some kind of cumulative effect after years of chronic over-consumption. We don't know that over-consumption is based on grams or based on overall calorie balance.

I know when I was a child/teen I consumed a terribly high amount of sugar and I was thin up until my early 20s. Suddenly I started gaining weight and found the only way to stop the weight gain and manage appetite at the same time was to severely cut down on sugar and refined carbs. My exercise levels were always high from teenage years all the way to my early 30s. So I am left wondering if my sugar consumption as a teen had a cumulative effect or not.

So the question is, is it a good idea to believe sugar might be bad when the science is still up for debate, or should we pretend that it doesn't matter as long as we are capable of maintaining energy balance?

saragato

If I thought the information and statistics were valid I might consider altering my intake volume. That being said I changed my sugar intake drastically years ago when I was in high school after I lost the presence of the one who instigated my consumption and, strangely enough, when I began making jewelry from candy. My perception changed from "ooh I want to try that" to "ooh I wonder how this will look as earrings?"

That aside, my father was a big consumer of sweets, always had been. He got juvenile diabetes from it and when he never altered his intake (which often was a whole pint of ice cream within an hour's time, a whole thing of oreos over a few hours, lots of bagged candy that was all over the house and in the car, and dessert with every meal) he ended up constantly hospitalized. For roughly 3 years he spent 75% of his time in the hospital because he wouldn't stop. He ended up losing sight and hearing on his left side from a stroke, had multiple heart surgeries, and then had to be in rehab after he got addicted to Vicodin and had a bad detox episode. The man died at 57, basically killed himself even though it was a heart attack.

My point with that was, in that excess it is deadly, especially if you have conditions that ask you to restrict your intake for health reasons.

beckajw

If I thought the information and statistics were valid I might consider altering my intake volume. That being said I changed my sugar intake drastically years ago when I was in high school after I lost the presence of the one who instigated my consumption and, strangely enough, when I began making jewelry from candy. My perception changed from "ooh I want to try that" to "ooh I wonder how this will look as earrings?"

That aside, my father was a big consumer of sweets, always had been. He got juvenile diabetes from it and when he never altered his intake (which often was a whole pint of ice cream within an hour's time, a whole thing of oreos over a few hours, lots of bagged candy that was all over the house and in the car, and dessert with every meal) he ended up constantly hospitalized. For roughly 3 years he spent 75% of his time in the hospital because he wouldn't stop. He ended up losing sight and hearing on his left side from a stroke, had multiple heart surgeries, and then had to be in rehab after he got addicted to Vicodin and had a bad detox episode. The man died at 57, basically killed himself even though it was a heart attack.

My point with that was, in that excess it is deadly, especially if you have conditions that ask you to restrict your intake for health reasons.

Your father did NOT get juvenile diabetes from sugar. Juvenile diabetes is caused by an immune deficiency and not by eating sugar. Diabetes is a terrible disease and if a person has it they do need to watch their carbohydrate (not sugar) intake. I'm sorry that happened to your father. But sugar is not the cause.

samf36

60 minuets is still on? I thought they got in trouble fro making up facts?

nehauck

Changed to a low sugar diet many years ago hoping to lose some weight. No weight change, however, for decades I'd undergone tests for gastrointestinal problems w/ first colonoscopy at 18. Around 30 yrs old a trusted specialist diagnosed it as Chron's Disease and put me on daily meds. Fast forward, around 45 yrs old and Sugar Buster's book came out and changed my life! Not one pound dropped but NO meds, Specialist took away diagnosis and discharged me, and NO PROBLEMS... it was all an intolerance to sugar!

So, my husband of 30 years knew how much it helped me but didn't really buy into it as good for everyone until the 60 Minutes segment confirmed what I'd experienced.

katysmelly

Maybe instead of doing a study on sugar (which is natural), maybe they should do a study on all the artificial crap they put in food these days. Yes, keep sugar to a minimum, I think we all know that. But what about all the manmade sugar substitutes, preservatives and artificial flavorings that are in food. I'm much more aware of putting that type of stuff in my body than natural sugar. Like I said, obviously you need to keep it to a minimum, but I agree with the comment that said the study was a little on the alarmist side. They're always coming out with new studies, and most of it goes way overboard one way or the other. In my mind, the more natural I can eat the better.

They do. They study those things (artificial sweeteners and additives) out the yin-yang.

I prefer sugar to aspartame, myself, but I think there's a real problem with sugar. It may explain the obesity epidemic. Only a couple hundred years ago, sugar was too expensive for anybody but the rich.

BreakingOath

After watching the segment, all I have to say is they didn't say anything that people didn't already know. Too much added sugar is bad for you....duh.

jenniejengin

Bump

saragato

If I thought the information and statistics were valid I might consider altering my intake volume. That being said I changed my sugar intake drastically years ago when I was in high school after I lost the presence of the one who instigated my consumption and, strangely enough, when I began making jewelry from candy. My perception changed from "ooh I want to try that" to "ooh I wonder how this will look as earrings?"

That aside, my father was a big consumer of sweets, always had been. He got juvenile diabetes from it and when he never altered his intake (which often was a whole pint of ice cream within an hour's time, a whole thing of oreos over a few hours, lots of bagged candy that was all over the house and in the car, and dessert with every meal) he ended up constantly hospitalized. For roughly 3 years he spent 75% of his time in the hospital because he wouldn't stop. He ended up losing sight and hearing on his left side from a stroke, had multiple heart surgeries, and then had to be in rehab after he got addicted to Vicodin and had a bad detox episode. The man died at 57, basically killed himself even though it was a heart attack.

My point with that was, in that excess it is deadly, especially if you have conditions that ask you to restrict your intake for health reasons.

Your father did NOT get juvenile diabetes from sugar. Juvenile diabetes is caused by an immune deficiency and not by eating sugar. Diabetes is a terrible disease and if a person has it they do need to watch their carbohydrate (not sugar) intake. I'm sorry that happened to your father. But sugar is not the cause.

My father had many other medical issues wrong with him so I realize that sugar intake or unhealthy diets were not the main cause for the disease or perhaps not even a factor at all, but they very much were after he had it and refused to take his doctor's advice on how to eat properly for his diabetes. Aside from the sugar my father ate large quantities of fatty, fried, unhealthy food and was constantly gaining and losing large amounts of weight depending on when he was in or out of the hospital. My point with my initial post was to say that it is indeed a bad thing to consume excess amounts of sugar in the amounts he did, which were really over what I've known others who say they gorge on similar things consume within a single day. Add in things like Diabetes, Mutliple Sclerosis, and other disorders that are not physical but can affect you physically and it's basically a waiting game for either something like loss of a limb, loss of mobility, or death. And no I'm not some sugar extremist, I'm just aware how stupid my dad was.

And don't be sorry, the man deserved it. He was a sociopathic pedophile and earned his pain through his narrow, selfish vision.

tigersword

I did not see the show, but my Nutritionist told me last week ( my first visit) to start paying more attention to the sugar I am eating without me even knowing about it. I have done that now for almost a week and my plateau is finally broken. Yep, the starches I was eating (potatoes were a biggie) were turning into sugar in my body , too. So now I am watching good carbs/ bad carbs, & ingredient listings. So much to learn !

ALL carbs, and in some cases protein as well, will turn to sugar in your body. The body runs on glucose, which is a sugar. So yes, starches do get converted to sugar in the human body, after all, technically, they are sugars in the first place. Even fiber is technically sugar, the thing with fiber, is the human body does not always possess the proper enzymes to break it down into glucose, so it just passes through the small intestine and into the colon, where it's broken down and eliminated.

Dragonwolf

I will say I find the level of resistance based on agenda in this thread to be surprising given why we're all here.

Not all of us are here because we ate too much sugar. Most of us are here because we ate too much, period.

That said, the skepticism doesn't surprise me, given the number of other things we've been told are "deadly," "causing the obesity epidemic," or are otherwise "bad," including, but not limited to:

Dairy
Meat (any)
Grains
Sugar
Fat (any)
Eggs
Nuts
Carbs (in general)
Sodium (any amount)

What does that leave? Um... maybe Iceberg Lettuce? Vegetables have carbs, nuts have fats, fruits have sugar, most protein sources in general also come with a certain amount of fat.

But wait! The things that were fed to us as gospel last decade has since been debunked (the whole "all fats are bad!" thing, the eggs-cholesterol "link", the entire 90s food pyramid if you subscribe to the Atkins/Paleo stuff, etc)! So now, eggs, nuts, avocado, maybe even full-fat milk are back on the menu.

In my opinion, the issue isn't just "fats" or just "sugar" or even just "meat." It's the fact that most of our food is grown on factory farms, where animals are confined in spaces so tight they can barely move and the crops are genetically modified and soaked down with petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides. Even simple concepts like crop rotation seem to be alien to these kinds of farms ("bah, who needs that when this new formula of fertilizer makes our stuff grow with twice the volume!"). It's the combination of the low quality commodities we call "food," the stuffing of sugar (be it sucrose or HFCS or any other variation of calorie sweetener) into *everything,* stuffing salt into *everything,* and pawning off man-made chemical concoctions as "food," combined with our increasingly sedentary lifestyles (from its own myriad of causes, not the least of which being an abundance of technology, coupled with perceived fears of a world more dangerous than what it really is) and possibly even political agendas (see NYT's 2002 article on Atkins and sugar - http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/magazine/what-if-it-s-all-been-a-big-fat-lie.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm ) that's killing us.

To try to lay the blame for the "obesity epidemic" on *any* one thing completely misses the *rest* of the picture and keeps us in this rat race of fear (in part thanks to sensationalist media hype) instead of actually *fixing* the problem. Unfortunately, the scientific method, while great at most things, nearly completely falls apart in situations such as this, because no one single factor can be isolated and definitively said to be the cause of our problems. No one thing is the sole cause of our problems. If it was, then we would have found it a decade (or three...or four) ago *and* it would have been accepted.

But biology...and politics....is more complicated than that, and the rest of us are stuck doing what we feel is best for ourselves, based on the information we have and how our diet makes us feel.

bcattoes

I didn't watch the segment you are talking about but I drastically cut my sugar consumption decades ago because I believe eating too much sugar, specifically added sugar, is harmful. I still eat sweets on occasions, but on a day to day basis I don't even think about it anymore.

beckylawrence70

No.

mes1119

Didn't watch it, but I think you are fine as long as your stick to fresh unprocessed foods.

Limiting the amount of processed and added sugars is what matters, and that is easy to do if you watch how much processed foods you eat.

Processed foods are the enemy.

pandsmomCheryl

I don't believe in giving something up entirely as far as diet is concerned - no carbs, no fat, no sugar, no gluten, no fructose corn syrup, etc. BUT - I'm always trying to eat better and I should cut back my sugar intake, as should my kids. Everything in moderation, and just try and do better - little by little. My husband took two waters instead of two gatorade's to work this a.m. But he's still going to come home and have a coke. :-)