Revelation about sugar

Barry7879 · July 2013

I went from 105kg to 80kg between March - Dec last year. I moved to Chamonix, France to live so I could enjoy the winter season snowboarding on my days off. I figured as I was doing high energy boarding at least 3-4 days a week, I could maintain weight and add back in some 'treats' like chocolate. My weight was pretty stable, but by the end of the season it had crept back up to 85kg and I had re-discovered my sugar addiction - it was time to take action again.

I found I didn't have as much motivation as the first time around and logging every single thing I ate again just felt a bit tedious - I wondered if I'd have to do that for the rest of my life if I wanted to keep the weight off.

For a few weeks I hovered between 85 and 82kg as I continued to treat myself to sweets and chocolate after successes.

I watched a documentary on You Tube called "The Men who Made us Fat" which contains a piece about how the low fat diet came about and how it was based on false assumptions - and how fat was substituted with sugar. I read the book Pure, White and Deadly about the dangers of sugar and I watch Prof Lustig's famous YouTube documentary about how sugar is not just calories - it's actual metabolism is dangerous to us in large quantities - causing diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cardio vascular disease.

I decided that the only thing that made sense to me in terms of what we 'should' be eating is the foods our biology is adapted to eat by evolution - which means going back at least 30,000 years - pretty much just meat and veg. Paleo diet in other words.

All I can say is that the fat is just melting off me now. I"ve lost about 3kg this week and I'm now very confident I will reach my goal BMI of 22 (middle of the green) at 75kg. I'm paying particular attention to eat only foods that used to be alive and make sure I don't eat any sugar at all except what's in an apple or the 1 piece of fruit I eat a day.

I never realised that, not only do we not need sugar to live (we make it ourselves as glucose from food) but that we are consuming in quantities that are killing us.

Seems we got the wrong guy in the 1980s - we should have eliminated the sugar, not the fat.

Some links for more info - good luck :-

http://happysugarhabits.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6nGlLUBkOQ - The Men Who made us Fat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxG3YiBMMZE - 60 Minutes - is Sugar dangerous?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM - Sugar: The Bitter Truth - Dr Robert Lustig

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0zD1gj0pXk&list=PL39F782316B425249&index=1 - The Skinny On Obesity - Lustig

jennygeo1 · July 2013

How interesting! So true. Once i switched to a paleo-style diet the weight held for a week or so but has since been just 'falling' off. I have terrible memories from the early 90's of consuming diet soda, fat-free rice cakes, and "fat-free" everything - so funny that back then we cut out the nutrient that is actually healthy for us and helps most all bodily functions and instead added stupid simple carbs and sugar. So much more healthy and natural now.

Thanks for all of the great reading material!

mp_deep · July 2013

I agree. I advice this video too:

High Sugar Diets and Disease

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AJka21yfyE
Sugar beverages is toxic.

nomeejerome · July 2013

:yawn: how many threads and in how many sections of the forum are you going to post this nonsense?

johnrossmckay · July 2013

I found that bit on sugar interesting. Any reason in particular you feel that there is some misrepresentation of the sugar issue?

I cut only sugar as much as I could and lost a lot of weight so I'm curious as to whether maybe I misunderstood the reason I lost weight given that I matched the lost sugar calories with other souces.

bcattoes · July 2013

Beans are a super food.

pcastagner · July 2013

This is just as nonsensical here as it is in the other spot you've posted it.

My experience is the EXACT OPPOSITE of yours.

WendyTerry420 · July 2013

:yawn: how many threads and in how many sections of the forum are you going to post this nonsense?

pcastagner · July 2013

I found that bit on sugar interesting. Any reason in particular you feel that there is some misrepresentation of the sugar issue?

I cut only sugar as much as I could and lost a lot of weight so I'm curious as to whether maybe I misunderstood the reason I lost weight given that I matched the lost sugar calories with other souces.

Gee it would be great to see data instead of an unsupported statement. Because rule #1 of how you got fat is: you have no idea what you eat.

sphomphak · July 2013

Thank you for sharing this information!! I have a hard time with sugar as well. I am good with the working out, but the sugar I think is killing all of my hard work. Best of luck to you

kitticus15 · July 2013

I found that bit on sugar interesting. Any reason in particular you feel that there is some misrepresentation of the sugar issue?

I cut only sugar as much as I could and lost a lot of weight so I'm curious as to whether maybe I misunderstood the reason I lost weight given that I matched the lost sugar calories with other souces.

Gee it would be great to see data instead of an unsupported statement. Because rule #1 of how you got fat is: you have no idea what you eat.

I have been reading a book called "the diet delusion" by Gary Taubes.
in it he goes through how Ancel Keys misrepresented data and lied to Eisenhower.

All data is open to interpretation and for each study that says sugar is bad you will find a study saying no its fine, my problem is that they know high fructose corn syrup causes problems with weight and weightloss yet they still use it as it is very cheap, there has been studies done on rats feeding them diets with this syrup and found the rats who consumed the syrup found it difficult shedding the excess pounds.

We all have the right to choose what we eat, just seems we are bombarded with marketing for the "bad choices", maybe one day we will realise what we are allowing food companies to get away with just cos it's cheap and tastes good.

elisa123gal · July 2013

seems to me you have a chocolate addiction...and you went over your calories eating it..that is why you gained weight. simple as that.

for sure, if sugar is your trigger food..eliminate it and you will lose weight. I think that is what has happened for you. LIke for many of us.... we eliminate a food that they can't control..and they can stay within their calories more easily.

for me it is olives. can't stop eating them if they're in the house. yet..olives are not evil.

hmoffatt · July 2013

I'm paying particular attention to eat only foods that used to be alive

Err, sugar comes from plants you know.

rachelwarner32 · July 2013

I've had a lot of success watching my sugar/carb intake. I personally was staying within my calories and not losing. Once I lowered sugar and carbs I've lost 10 pounds in 1 1/2 weeks. My husband has maintained his 45 pound loss for over a year following the Primal Blueprint written by Mark Sisson. Very similiar to Paleo, basically a hunter gatherer diet. I think I'll do what works for me and eating cakes and pies doesn't help me lose weight even if I eat at a deficit.

srslybritt · July 2013

I see things on YouTube, and this makes them sciency. And then post 89347593485743 threads to make myself credible.

:flowerforyou:

jdayer · July 2013

I agree, refined sugar is toxic. Getting natural sugars from fruit and honey isn't bad in moderation, but, the majority of sugar people in the west eat is refined sugar.