which is worse, fat or sugar?

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  • angiechimpanzee
    angiechimpanzee Posts: 536 Member
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    Your body also needs sugar for brain function. Your brain cannot run on fat, it MUST have sugar to function.
    Complex carbohydrates = the "sugars" the body needs, & those can be provided by whole grains. Added sugars - the type they put in yogurts & things to make them sweet, are completely unnecessary to the body.
  • Kyrosh
    Kyrosh Posts: 238
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    On the yogurt subject:
    Take yogurt and mix some sweet chilli sauce in with it :) Speeds up your metabolism as well!
  • kabarnes45
    kabarnes45 Posts: 89 Member
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    I'd go with whichever one is yummier to you unless you have trouble staying under your macro limits in one area or the other.
  • Qskim
    Qskim Posts: 1,145 Member
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    1. Your body doesn't know difference between sugars in fruit or a donut. Eat too much of either /or and the body will not be happy. Although fruit twice a day maximum is great added fibre and viitamins.
    2. The body was only designed to handle so much sugar intake not the quantities we eat today.I don't understand why people don't see that and insist smugly that they can lose xyz while eating cake..yeh big deal but your health can still suffer even if you are thin.
    3. Good fats are better but you can still have too much of those too. Trans fat big no no.
    4. Read about low/low load and high GI foods, simple/complex carbs, thermal dynamics and leptin.
  • susanm160
    susanm160 Posts: 24
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    Hi there,
    It depends on your age and activity levels somewhat. Also generics plays a part. Over all it is better to have the fat be over than the sugar as long as the fat content is from monosaturated fats and polyosaturated fats. That is avoid transfat and saturated fats. The body needs omega 3 fatty acids from brain function and other aspects. Higher sugar intakes causes the body to store fat and can lead to health problems down the road - tooth decay, diabetes and some cancers. When a body is functioning at optimal levels it is breaking down fats consumed from foods and converting it into energy needed - hence metabolizing the nutrients in the foods. Hope this helps. For me personally, high sugar contents makes me feel nausous. Then again too much fat in one day makes me sluggish. I try to find a healthy balance for I eat a lot of fruit which is high in sugar. However, these are natural sugars that break down easier in the body, but I still have to watch because of my family history with diabetes.
  • nikilis
    nikilis Posts: 2,305 Member
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    if sugar was your mom and fat was your dad, which side would you choose in a divorce?
  • endureandpersist
    endureandpersist Posts: 59 Member
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    For losing weight? You don't want to eat sugar!
  • Chadomaniac
    Chadomaniac Posts: 1,785 Member
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    SUGAR
  • lyndalpn
    lyndalpn Posts: 151 Member
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    1. Your body doesn't know difference between sugars in fruit or a donut. Eat too much of either /or and the body will not be happy. Although fruit twice a day maximum is great added fibre and viitamins.
    2. The body was only designed to handle so much sugar intake not the quantities we eat today.I don't understand why people don't see that and insist smugly that they can lose xyz while eating cake..yeh big deal but your health can still suffer even if you are thin.
    3. Good fats are better but you can still have too much of those too. Trans fat big no no.
    4. Read about low/low load and high GI foods, simple/complex carbs, thermal dynamics and leptin.

    This. Well said.
  • Contrarian
    Contrarian Posts: 8,138 Member
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    if sugar was your mom and fat was your dad, which side would you choose in a divorce?

    Don`t make me choose! :sad:
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    tigerpalm.jpg

    So much misinformation in this thread, it's like Gary Taubes and Robert Listig are having an orgy...

    Neither is worse. Neither is better. They both have their places in a diet.

    And tracking sugar while tracking carbs also is silly. Do you also track every single type of fatty acid you eat? Or every amino? Or every oligosaccharide? Sugar is a carb. If carbs are in check , then sugar is in check.

    Keep it simple.

    As for the whole "your body doesn't need sugar" silliness, your brain and your muscles run on glucose. Most of what you eat is NOT converted to glucose. It's difficult for the body to create hormones out of fatty acids if it turns them into glucose first... Or to build muscle and create enzymes out of amino acids if it converts those into glucose first... What does that leave? Carbs getting turned into glucose, of course, the way we evolved to function. Humans evolved eating a high carb (50%) diet. While there is the rare exception (Inuits,) high carb holds true across all civilizations, through all time periods.

    This whole "carbs are bad" fad is just as silly as the "fat is bad" fad from the 80's and 90's.
  • Delicate
    Delicate Posts: 625 Member
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    I'd eat the fat before the sugar, because if you eat the sugar, you will probably eat the fat after it cause you'll be hungry soon after!

    Then again their is bad fats like hydrogeniated

    its a minefield!

    Or just go eat a vegetable
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    Sugar is much worse.

    Your body needs fat for brain function, cell renewal, and satiety. As long as the majority of fats that you're eating are the healthy ones :).

    Your body doesn't need sugar for anything. Most of what you eat is converted into glucose, and sugar is already glucose, hence why it makes your blood sugar spike; your body doesn't need much energy to digest it.

    Also, if you're prone to binges, healthy fats tends to help ward off the urge :)
    This. Sugar < anything. Lol.

    Lollercoaster, Sugar in any quantity is worse than synthetic trans fat in any quantity
  • PetulantOne
    PetulantOne Posts: 2,131 Member
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    tigerpalm.jpg

    So much misinformation in this thread, it's like Gary Taubes and Robert Listig are having an orgy...

    Neither is worse. Neither is better. They both have their places in a diet.

    And tracking sugar while tracking carbs also is silly. Do you also track every single type of fatty acid you eat? Or every amino? Or every oligosaccharide? Sugar is a carb. If carbs are in check , then sugar is in check.

    Keep it simple.

    As for the whole "your body doesn't need sugar" silliness, your brain and your muscles run on glucose. Most of what you eat is NOT converted to glucose. It's difficult for the body to create hormones out of fatty acids if it turns them into glucose first... Or to build muscle and create enzymes out of amino acids if it converts those into glucose first... What does that leave? Carbs getting turned into glucose, of course, the way we evolved to function. Humans evolved eating a high carb (50%) diet. While there is the rare exception (Inuits,) high carb holds true across all civilizations, through all time periods.

    This whole "carbs are bad" fad is just as silly as the "fat is bad" fad from the 80's and 90's.

    +1
  • PaleoPath4Lyfe
    PaleoPath4Lyfe Posts: 3,161 Member
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    So I am always over on my sugar and I have been trying to work on it. Today I noticed that my protein shake that I love has no sugar but has like 6 grams of fat, and the greek yogurt I like is fat free but has 17 grams of sugar. I just wondered what you guys think, I'm not sure which is worse.

    Fat is necessary, sugar is not necessary to the human body.

    Fat and protein helps to keep blood sugar stable so even if you don't have known blood sugar issues, there are no ups and downs.

    Sugar sends your body on an insulin producing rollercoaster.

    Small amounts of sugar are all we need.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    So I am always over on my sugar and I have been trying to work on it. Today I noticed that my protein shake that I love has no sugar but has like 6 grams of fat, and the greek yogurt I like is fat free but has 17 grams of sugar. I just wondered what you guys think, I'm not sure which is worse.

    Fat is necessary, sugar is not necessary to the human body.

    Fat and protein helps to keep blood sugar stable so even if you don't have known blood sugar issues, there are no ups and downs.

    Sugar sends your body on an insulin producing rollercoaster.

    Small amounts of sugar are all we need.

    Pls explain the bold as they contradict each other
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    So I am always over on my sugar and I have been trying to work on it. Today I noticed that my protein shake that I love has no sugar but has like 6 grams of fat, and the greek yogurt I like is fat free but has 17 grams of sugar. I just wondered what you guys think, I'm not sure which is worse.

    Fat is necessary, sugar is not necessary to the human body.

    Fat and protein helps to keep blood sugar stable so even if you don't have known blood sugar issues, there are no ups and downs.

    Sugar sends your body on an insulin producing rollercoaster.

    Small amounts of sugar are all we need.
    An "insulin producing roller coaster" only happens in the case of disease. A healthy individual will never notice fluctuations in insulin. Heck, protein causes insulin spikes, and with no carbs coming in, would actually lead to a hypoglycemic crash if the scenario you're talking about was the norm. I don't see people eating protein and then passing out due to all the excess insulin in their system pulling out the glucose that isn't being replaced, do you?
  • PaleoPath4Lyfe
    PaleoPath4Lyfe Posts: 3,161 Member
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    So I am always over on my sugar and I have been trying to work on it. Today I noticed that my protein shake that I love has no sugar but has like 6 grams of fat, and the greek yogurt I like is fat free but has 17 grams of sugar. I just wondered what you guys think, I'm not sure which is worse.

    Fat is necessary, sugar is not necessary to the human body.

    Fat and protein helps to keep blood sugar stable so even if you don't have known blood sugar issues, there are no ups and downs.

    Sugar sends your body on an insulin producing rollercoaster.

    Small amounts of sugar are all we need.
    An "insulin producing roller coaster" only happens in the case of disease. A healthy individual will never notice fluctuations in insulin. Heck, protein causes insulin spikes, and with no carbs coming in, would actually lead to a hypoglycemic crash if the scenario you're talking about was the norm. I don't see people eating protein and then passing out due to all the excess insulin in their system pulling out the glucose that isn't being replaced, do you?

    No, the insulin producing roller coaster does NOT happen in only the case of disease. It happens to EVERY SINGLE PERSON.

    When sugar is introduced into the body, the brain signals the pancreas to produce insulin, which aids in the digestive process in its own way. That is why people eat breads, sugar, etc and end up hungry right away, signalling to eat more.

    And it takes an excessive amount of protein to spike insulin like that to cause any real issues.

    My husband has NO blood sugar issues at all. I had him to check his blood sugar before, right after and 2 hours after eating pasta and he was amazed at how high his blood sugar levels really were.

    Insulin has to be produced to bring the blood sugar level back to normal, as a normal body process, so as I mentioned, EVERONE has insulin spikes when sugar and starches are introduced into the body. That is all part of trying to keep homeostatis in the body.
  • PaleoPath4Lyfe
    PaleoPath4Lyfe Posts: 3,161 Member
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    So I am always over on my sugar and I have been trying to work on it. Today I noticed that my protein shake that I love has no sugar but has like 6 grams of fat, and the greek yogurt I like is fat free but has 17 grams of sugar. I just wondered what you guys think, I'm not sure which is worse.

    Fat is necessary, sugar is not necessary to the human body.

    Fat and protein helps to keep blood sugar stable so even if you don't have known blood sugar issues, there are no ups and downs.

    Sugar sends your body on an insulin producing rollercoaster.

    Small amounts of sugar are all we need.

    Pls explain the bold as they contradict each other

    We don't technically need ANY sugar as the human body is amazing at being able to produce exactly what it needs.

    I should have stated that small amounts of glucose is all we really need and we don't need sugar in the body to produce the glucose that the body needs to function properly.

    I should have stated it this way, was in a hurry to respond to go take a shower to get ready for work.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    Options
    So I am always over on my sugar and I have been trying to work on it. Today I noticed that my protein shake that I love has no sugar but has like 6 grams of fat, and the greek yogurt I like is fat free but has 17 grams of sugar. I just wondered what you guys think, I'm not sure which is worse.

    Fat is necessary, sugar is not necessary to the human body.

    Fat and protein helps to keep blood sugar stable so even if you don't have known blood sugar issues, there are no ups and downs.

    Sugar sends your body on an insulin producing rollercoaster.

    Small amounts of sugar are all we need.

    Pls explain the bold as they contradict each other

    We don't technically need ANY sugar as the human body is amazing at being able to produce exactly what it needs.

    I should have stated that small amounts of glucose is all we really need and we don't need sugar in the body to produce the glucose that the body needs to function properly.

    I should have stated it this way, was in a hurry to respond to go take a shower to get ready for work.

    What is glucose?

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