which is worse, fat or sugar?
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Your body isn't reacting to the sugar any differently. It is just breaking down a food source and partiioning the nutrients. The sugar is processed the same. If it's from a simple processed source, the partioning is less necessary or not necessary at all. The only possible benefit to "natural sugar" is that they are slightly more nutrient dense.
So, in your opinion, sugars "processed quickly" vs. "processed slowly" are equal reactions and have an equal affect on the body?
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The less processed sugar raises blood glucose more quickly. That is not a different reaction. It's the same reaction with a different time context. If you are not a diabetic, are eating in a calorie deficit and are appropriatly managing your macro nutrients, including carbs, it's immaterial.
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So, in your opinion, sugars "processed quickly" vs. "processed slowly" are equal reactions and have an equal affect on the body?
The less processed sugar raises blood glucose more quickly. That is not a different reaction. It's the same reaction with a different time context. If you are not a diabetic, are eating in a calorie deficit and are appropriatly managing your macro nutrients, including carbs, it's immaterial.
Again edited to reduce quotes
I think that makes sense. I could be wrong, but it seems to make sense to me.0 -
Your body isn't reacting to the sugar any differently. It is just breaking down a food source and partiioning the nutrients. The sugar is processed the same. If it's from a simple processed source, the partioning is less necessary or not necessary at all. The only possible benefit to "natural sugar" is that they are slightly more nutrient dense.
So, in your opinion, sugars "processed quickly" vs. "processed slowly" are equal reactions and have an equal affect on the body?
The less processed sugar raises blood glucose more quickly. That is not a different reaction. It's the same reaction with a different time context. If you are not a diabetic, are eating in a calorie deficit and are appropriatly managing your macro nutrients, including carbs, it's immaterial.
Again edited to reduce quotes
I guess we differ on the meaning of the word reaction. If I take a blood glucose monitor and check my BG levels shortly after eating sugar without fiber, protein or fat it will be different than if I take the same measurement after eating sugar with fiber, protein or fat. Action = eating. Reaction = affect on blood glucose. The difference is that my BG levels will likely never be as high with sugar eaten as part of a good 'package'.0 -
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.Your body also needs sugar for brain function. Your brain cannot run on fat, it MUST have sugar to function.
^^^ THIS! Refined & processed = BAD! Just remember that and you'll be ok.0 -
Your body isn't reacting to the sugar any differently. It is just breaking down a food source and partiioning the nutrients. The sugar is processed the same. If it's from a simple processed source, the partioning is less necessary or not necessary at all. The only possible benefit to "natural sugar" is that they are slightly more nutrient dense.
So, in your opinion, sugars "processed quickly" vs. "processed slowly" are equal reactions and have an equal affect on the body?
The less processed sugar raises blood glucose more quickly. That is not a different reaction. It's the same reaction with a different time context. If you are not a diabetic, are eating in a calorie deficit and are appropriatly managing your macro nutrients, including carbs, it's immaterial.
Again edited to reduce quotes
I guess we differ on the meaning of the word reaction. If I take a blood glucose monitor and check my BG levels shortly after eating sugar without fiber, protein or fat it will be different than if I take the same measurement after eating sugar with fiber, protein or fat. Action = eating. Reaction = affect on blood glucose. The difference is that my BG levels will likely never be as high with sugar eaten as part of a good 'package'.
Agreed. Sugar without protein/fiber/fat to slow it down will be a higher BG level.0 -
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.Your body also needs sugar for brain function. Your brain cannot run on fat, it MUST have sugar to function.
^^^ THIS! Refined & processed = BAD! Just remember that and you'll be ok.
Disagree. There's nothing wrong with simple carbs like fruit.0 -
if sugar was your mom and fat was your dad, which side would you choose in a divorce?
I choose joint custody because what about cake?
Well...the fat kid eats cake....so I'll agree with the divorce and go with Fat daddy!0 -
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.
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Fat is not the enemy!!!!
you eat too much fat then you get fat
you eat too much protein, you get fat
you eat too many carbs, you get fat
Fat has been given a bad name for no reason.
Sugar is far worse due to the hormonal effect it has on your body (unless you have it post workout)0 -
I say sugar for me only because it's empty calories and it always put me in full crave mode. I was the guy who could get a whole thing of Oreos. I love bacon but I could never eat a whole package of it or anything crazy like that.
My Soulmate! haha I knew I had a twin out there somewhere!! I always thought we'd look the same not eat the same though! hahaha0 -
As a diabetic I have to waqtch the fat content more so than the sugars, although I watch that too.0
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Neither. Next.Fat is not the enemy!!!!
you eat too much fat then you get fat
you eat too much protein, you get fat
you eat too many carbs, you get fat
Fat has been given a bad name for no reason.
Sugar is far worse due to the hormonal effect it has on your body (unless you have it post workout)
I was with you until the end. Not really true.0 -
Ok, now explain why acute blood glucose readings matter to people that are non diabetic? The human body is designed to regulate blood glucose, it doesn't need you to micromanage it, it's an automated system.Your body isn't reacting to the sugar any differently. It is just breaking down a food source and partiioning the nutrients. The sugar is processed the same. If it's from a simple processed source, the partioning is less necessary or not necessary at all. The only possible benefit to "natural sugar" is that they are slightly more nutrient dense.
So, in your opinion, sugars "processed quickly" vs. "processed slowly" are equal reactions and have an equal affect on the body?
The less processed sugar raises blood glucose more quickly. That is not a different reaction. It's the same reaction with a different time context. If you are not a diabetic, are eating in a calorie deficit and are appropriatly managing your macro nutrients, including carbs, it's immaterial.
Again edited to reduce quotes
I guess we differ on the meaning of the word reaction. If I take a blood glucose monitor and check my BG levels shortly after eating sugar without fiber, protein or fat it will be different than if I take the same measurement after eating sugar with fiber, protein or fat. Action = eating. Reaction = affect on blood glucose. The difference is that my BG levels will likely never be as high with sugar eaten as part of a good 'package'.0 -
TRANS FATS ARE THE WORSE FATS & SUGAR IS EXTREMELY BAD.
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Would you like to quantify that statement with, oh, I don't know... some facts? Context?TRANS FATS ARE THE WORSE FATS & SUGAR IS EXTREMELY BAD.0 -
Would you like to quantify that statement with, oh, I don't know... some facts? Context?TRANS FATS ARE THE WORSE FATS & SUGAR IS EXTREMELY BAD.
Donuts. They are made of fat and sugar. Are they good for you?
Lotsa anger going on here. Seems to me the "sugar defenders" are just taking things out of context. In your new lifestyle, this weightloss journey, do you eat cake? donuts? pies? doublestuff oreos? Hopefully not. Maybe you do if sugar is OK.. *shrugs*0 -
Would you like to quantify that statement with, oh, I don't know... some facts? Context?TRANS FATS ARE THE WORSE FATS & SUGAR IS EXTREMELY BAD.
Donuts. They are made of fat and sugar. Are they good for you?
Lotsa anger going on here. Seems to me the "sugar defenders" are just taking things out of context. In your new lifestyle, this weightloss journey, do you eat cake? donuts? pies? doublestuff oreos? Hopefully not. Maybe you do if sugar is OK.. *shrugs*
You can eat cake, pies, cookies, donuts and ice cream while losing weight and lose just fine0 -
Would you like to quantify that statement with, oh, I don't know... some facts? Context?TRANS FATS ARE THE WORSE FATS & SUGAR IS EXTREMELY BAD.
Donuts. They are made of fat and sugar. Are they good for you?
Lotsa anger going on here. Seems to me the "sugar defenders" are just taking things out of context. In your new lifestyle, this weightloss journey, do you eat cake? donuts? pies? doublestuff oreos? Hopefully not. Maybe you do if sugar is OK.. *shrugs*
I do......(well not oreos as I do not really like them) plus ice-cream0 -
Donuts. They are made of fat and sugar. Are they good for you?
But we are discussing whether or not something is harmful, not whether or not it's "good for you". These are two different questions.
As far as donuts, my answer is that any individual food item is meaningless without the context of the entire diet.Lotsa anger going on here. Seems to me the "sugar defenders" are just taking things out of context. In your new lifestyle, this weightloss journey, do you eat cake? donuts? pies? doublestuff oreos? Hopefully not. Maybe you do if sugar is OK.. *shrugs*
Yes, I eat all of the above items and continue to improve my body composition because I understand that the entire diet, as a unit, needs to be aligned with my goals. I can eat the above items and still fit them into my diet. Do I eat a box of donuts? No. Will I eat one donut? Occasionally.
Demonizing an individual food item, an ingredient, or an entire macronutrient is foolish and borders on orthorexic.0 -
You definitely need to watch the levels of both... but, for me, I think sugar would be worse. (This is coming from a diabetic though). There is good fat... so, let's hope that's what you're having. But, definitely do watch both.0
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Would you like to quantify that statement with, oh, I don't know... some facts? Context?TRANS FATS ARE THE WORSE FATS & SUGAR IS EXTREMELY BAD.
Donuts. They are made of fat and sugar. Are they good for you?
Lotsa anger going on here. Seems to me the "sugar defenders" are just taking things out of context. In your new lifestyle, this weightloss journey, do you eat cake? donuts? pies? doublestuff oreos? Hopefully not. Maybe you do if sugar is OK.. *shrugs*
I don't think there is anger. I do think there is frustration with demonizing of foods with no thought given to dose or context. Fats and sugars are not inherently bad. In fact there can be quite good physiologically in the right dose and context. Fats are essentially for funtioning. To answer you question, I do eat cake sometimes and pies. I'm not a fan of donuts or doublestuff oreos. I just make sure I stay within my calorie and carbohydrate goals for the day. If I'm over in fats, no biggie. Again, as long as I'm within my calorie goal.
Some love to blame some foods for their own ability to control their ingestion of them. Logical fallacy. False premise. Food are essentiially amoral. Not good or bad. It's all in how we use them.0 -
Donuts yes. Pies, no. I don't like pies. Doublestuff Oreos? No, I'll probably not want to touch another Oreo ever again after having Oreo cake prepared by my girlfriend's fine hand. That was sickly, though I enjoyed it at the time.
Would you like to quantify that statement with, oh, I don't know... some facts? Context?TRANS FATS ARE THE WORSE FATS & SUGAR IS EXTREMELY BAD.
Donuts. They are made of fat and sugar. Are they good for you?
Lotsa anger going on here. Seems to me the "sugar defenders" are just taking things out of context. In your new lifestyle, this weightloss journey, do you eat cake? donuts? pies? doublestuff oreos? Hopefully not. Maybe you do if sugar is OK.. *shrugs*
If you try to sustain yourself on such a diet, there will be nutritional deficiencies and other stuff to deal with. If you have things like the above once in a while, it doesn't do any harm.
Demonising sugar, I will never understand. Do you people not eat fruit?0 -
Sugar is worse for you. Obvious fruit has sugar but that is natural sugar not the processed crap in the 5 lb bags. Also when eating real whole fruit you get tons more vitamins and minerals that you do not get from the processed granulated sugar. Processed sugars (and processed foods that throw in tons of added sugars) bloat you.
Fat has gotten a bad wrap but your body needs fat. The difference here is SATURATED VS UNSATURATED. You want healthy fats in moderation (like nuts, Olive oil, etc) and the bad fats as very little as possible.
Whole fresh fruits and vegetables as well as whole grains, nuts, seeds are where you want to stick...stay away from boxed and bagged crap (unless YOU bag it in the produce dept.
It is not as hard as people make it out to be, however here on MFP as anywhere else in the food and exercise community there are differing opinions and camps on one side of the argument and another. Basically you have to try and see what works best for you.0 -
As a diabetic I have to waqtch the fat content more so than the sugars, although I watch that too.
As a Diabetic, I was trained to eat high fat and cut the sugar.
And guess what? I have the blood sugars and A1C of someone that is not diabetic. I am not on any medications either0 -
Sugar is the killer. Ask anyone who advocates eating clean. That is the first thing that has to go!
So, 'clean' eaters do not eat fruit?
we eat fruit in moderation, not too much, mostly more veggies, meats , eggs, nuts and berries. I may have 1 serving of fruit a day, thats about it though.
You better be careful as apparently the sugar in that fruit (and the veggies) is going to kill you.
Also, what about clean eating means you have to eat them in moderation. I thought clean was the type of food. Sounds like you are mixing up low carb with clean.
lol...I never said it would kill me, not sure where that came from....I clean eat and chose to eat 1 fruit a day...thats my choice...
whoa :noway:
Read the first post I quoted. That did. Oh, and you said 'we' eat fruit in moderation which implies you were talking about clean eaters.
ETA: makes sense now who the 'we' is - I see from another post of yours that you recently started eating paleo. Clean is not necessarily paleo btw.
Clean eating may not necessarily be Paleo............but Paleo is MOST certainly CLEAN eating. In fact, my whole lifestyle has drastically cleaned up since adopting this lifestyle.0 -
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
Um what?! I'm a microbiology graduate student and you use sugar for A LOT of things. Brain fiction, cellular respiration, replication, cellular metabolism. Jesus people please do some research before you try to advise people. I also have a bachelors in nutrition and we were always warned to not cut out sugars completely. But go ahead and hurt yourself. Jeez.0 -
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I like cake.0
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Sugar is the killer. Ask anyone who advocates eating clean. That is the first thing that has to go!
So, 'clean' eaters do not eat fruit?
we eat fruit in moderation, not too much, mostly more veggies, meats , eggs, nuts and berries. I may have 1 serving of fruit a day, thats about it though.
You better be careful as apparently the sugar in that fruit (and the veggies) is going to kill you.
Also, what about clean eating means you have to eat them in moderation. I thought clean was the type of food. Sounds like you are mixing up low carb with clean.
lol...I never said it would kill me, not sure where that came from....I clean eat and chose to eat 1 fruit a day...thats my choice...
whoa :noway:
Read the first post I quoted. That did. Oh, and you said 'we' eat fruit in moderation which implies you were talking about clean eaters.
ETA: makes sense now who the 'we' is - I see from another post of yours that you recently started eating paleo. Clean is not necessarily paleo btw.
Clean eating may not necessarily be Paleo............but Paleo is MOST certainly CLEAN eating. In fact, my whole lifestyle has drastically cleaned up since adopting this lifestyle.
Errrr,,,,OK then. Not the point but ok.0 -
Sugar is the killer. Ask anyone who advocates eating clean. That is the first thing that has to go!
So, 'clean' eaters do not eat fruit?
we eat fruit in moderation, not too much, mostly more veggies, meats , eggs, nuts and berries. I may have 1 serving of fruit a day, thats about it though.
You better be careful as apparently the sugar in that fruit (and the veggies) is going to kill you.
Also, what about clean eating means you have to eat them in moderation. I thought clean was the type of food. Sounds like you are mixing up low carb with clean.
lol...I never said it would kill me, not sure where that came from....I clean eat and chose to eat 1 fruit a day...thats my choice...
whoa :noway:
Read the first post I quoted. That did. Oh, and you said 'we' eat fruit in moderation which implies you were talking about clean eaters.
ETA: makes sense now who the 'we' is - I see from another post of yours that you recently started eating paleo. Clean is not necessarily paleo btw.
Clean eating may not necessarily be Paleo............but Paleo is MOST certainly CLEAN eating. In fact, my whole lifestyle has drastically cleaned up since adopting this lifestyle.
Errrr,,,,OK then. Not the point but ok.
What was your point, other than to just put down the Paleo way of eating????
From what I see on this site compared to people in REAL life that are clean eaters, this site advocates clean eating in a way that still allows processed foods.
That is NOT clean eating.0
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