Sugar - the bitter truth
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Maybe all the sugar and processed defenders should just create their own sugar and junk food only diet to sell to the unwashed masses as the next greatest thing. Then you can follow your sugar/junk only diet for the next year or so and come back here and tell us how great you feel and how healthy you are.
Nobody "defending sugar" is advocating a diet entirely composed of sugar. This is a false dilemma.
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/excluding-the-middle.htmlOf course when you are youngster in your teens and 20s, you can get away with junk food diets and frequent alcohol binges but when you reach 40 and 50, things are a bit different.
Age can effect your total daily energy requirements. So it might effect the overall quantity of junk you can get away with in your diet, but since nobody is advocating a diet entirely composed of junk food this is also irrelevant to the discussion.0 -
My little pet theory is this: People have been vilifying different food groups because they observe the overconsumption of them by people.
So, in the 70s and 80s, someone observed that people were eating a lot of dietary fat. So they said, "ah, there's the problem; it's the fat." When that didn't work, they observed that people were eating a lot of carbohydrates. Therefore, that must be the real culprit. Get rid of carbs! Then they observed that they were eating a lot of a specific carb: Sugar in the form of HFCS and other compounds. Ah ha, that's the true cause of the obesity. Then vegans and vegetarians chimed in to say, "Hey, we also eat a lot of animal protein dammit; that is the real problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Then the tin foil hats blamed the evil chemicals (and corporations!!!). Dairy was to blame. Pork was next, followed by soy, Monsanto, aspartame, beef, wheat, gluten, "non-primal" foods, and so on, and so forth.
So, what is the common denominator here? It’s overconsumption...of ALL foods. Also, it’s over consuming in an unbalanced way because we are so scared of the evil food of the month. (I should note that people sometimes do lose weight when they cut out a whole food group, but this is likely due to just eating less calories as a side effect of cutting out (aka vilifying) a bunch of food. There are studies that back this up.)
So, what am I saying? We can eat McDonalds and Twinkies, and drink Coke all day and lose weight and be healthy? Not really, that will most likely make your diet unbalanced. I just think a lot of people look at eating right completely backwards. We start out blaming specific foods and ingredients before we even entertain that we are just simply eating too many Calories. What we should be doing is addressing the Calories part first. Then work on balancing your macronutrients. Followed by making sure you get enough micronutrients and fiber. Then, after you get all that down pat, you can start cutting out specific foods for whatever personal reason. Of course, medical issues (diagnosed by a trained professional) should take precedence over all of this.
Finally, pick things up and put dem down, and move yo *kitten*!
Is it really that difficult??
(Yeah, I know…TL;DR!)0 -
Changing my diet and my relationship with food has actually made me realise that sugar is not a big scary booggie monster, and that eating it in sane and well-planned portions is perfectly healthy. It was actually a pretty awesome discovery.
I agree with you but the problem is that Big Food has turned everything into candy, there's so much sugar in it. Yogurt, granola bars, cereal.. it may be sugar, it may be high fructose corn syrup, it may be "evaporated cane juice", but it's all sugar. There's a brand of granola bar called "Pure Protein" that comes in chocolate and marshmallow flavors. Umm, how much protein is there in chocolate and marshmallow? I see they sell cereal with "less sugar" now but it's got artificial sweetener in it instead. Why??? How about you just cut back the sugar, period?
My tactic is to pretty much avoid processed food so that I can sweeten things when or if I want, but that's not what 99% of the population does.0 -
Changing my diet and my relationship with food has actually made me realise that sugar is not a big scary booggie monster, and that eating it in sane and well-planned portions is perfectly healthy. It was actually a pretty awesome discovery.
This.
Dr. Lustig's ideas have been debunked numerous times.
He has no credibility what so ever but people still swallow his kind of koolaid.0 -
Maybe all the sugar and processed defenders should just create their own sugar and junk food only diet to sell to the unwashed masses as the next greatest thing. Then you can follow your sugar/junk only diet for the next year or so and come back here and tell us how great you feel and how healthy you are.
Of course when you are youngster in your teens and 20s, you can get away with junk food diets and frequent alcohol binges but when you reach 40 and 50, things are a bit different.
But hey you know it all already so proceed.
WOW, Nobody is advocating a diet of all sugar and junk food... If that is what you got out of this tread, you should really work on reading compression.0 -
Maybe all the sugar and processed defenders should just create their own sugar and junk food only diet to sell to the unwashed masses as the next greatest thing. Then you can follow your sugar/junk only diet for the next year or so and come back here and tell us how great you feel and how healthy you are.
Of course when you are youngster in your teens and 20s, you can get away with junk food diets and frequent alcohol binges but when you reach 40 and 50, things are a bit different.
But hey you know it all already so proceed.
Yes, because everyone who is providing counter arguments is advocating a sugar and junk food diet...strawman much?
Also, the reason you can 'get away' with more in your teens and 20s is that you are generally more active and therefore can eat more - food in general.
Other than women when they hit menopause who do better from a weight loss perspective limiting carbs (not just sugar), what exactly is different when you hit your 40s and 50s?0 -
That is why diet soda is very bad because of the aspartame which takes a huge bad toll on the body.
Just so you know, there is not one bit of credible evidence which links to aspartame damaging humans.
Just so you know, that is totally wrong. Check out the Aspartame trials. Aspartame caused grand mal seizures in 9 out of the 10 apes it was tested on and it killed the 10th. On the rats that it was tested on it was shown to cause holes in the brain.
Human trials have shown it to be linked to epilepsy, memory loss and mood swings, especially in children. The FDA refused to approve it.
It was only approved when Donald Rumsfeld (who was previously on the board of Monsanto who produced Aspartame) got into government and pushed it through ignoring the scientific evidence and instead citing much less credible data. So the reason that aspartame is out there in out foodstuffs, despite not being safe is because Donald Rumsfeld pushed it through and doubtless made a **** load of money doing so.
People really should read up on these subjects... I have at great depth. It is not safe to consume.
Could you provide a link that shows detrimental effects to humans (or even animals) when ingested in even vaguely reasonable quanities (people suffering from PKU aside), rather that say 60% of body weight.0 -
Thank you for the link that was very interesting0
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It's hard to talk moderation with someone who deals in extremes. I don't have a sweet tooth, so I'm really not concerned with how "scary" sugar consumption is or any real need to say I'm never eating it again. I have a friend who attributes her 50lb weight loss to cutting sugar out of her diet. That wouldn't make me lose much of anything.
I had frozen custard the other day. I'm pretty sure my blood sugar is fine. I didn't go home and binge on an entire bag of skittles. I didn't gain 10 pounds. No guilt, no problem. I'm going out for Greek food tonight and I'm sure I'll be ordering baklava!0 -
My little pet theory is this: People have been vilifying different food groups because they observe the overconsumption of them by people.
So, in the 70s and 80s, someone observed that people were eating a lot of dietary fat. So they said, "ah, there's the problem; it's the fat." When that didn't work, they observed that people were eating a lot of carbohydrates. Therefore, that must be the real culprit. Get rid of carbs! Then they observed that they were eating a lot of a specific carb: Sugar in the form of HFCS and other compounds. Ah ha, that's the true cause of the obesity. Then vegans and vegetarians chimed in to say, "Hey, we also eat a lot of animal protein dammit; that is the real problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Then the tin foil hats blamed the evil chemicals (and corporations!!!). Dairy was to blame. Pork was next, followed by soy, Monsanto, aspartame, beef, wheat, gluten, "non-primal" foods, and so on, and so forth.
So, what is the common denominator here? It’s overconsumption...of ALL foods. Also, it’s over consuming in an unbalanced way because we are so scared of the evil food of the month. (I should note that people sometimes do lose weight when they cut out a whole food group, but this is likely due to just eating less calories as a side effect of cutting out (aka vilifying) a bunch of food. There are studies that back this up.)
So, what am I saying? We can eat McDonalds and Twinkies, and drink Coke all day and lose weight and be healthy? Not really, that will most likely make your diet unbalanced. I just think a lot of people look at eating right completely backwards. We start out blaming specific foods and ingredients before we even entertain that we are just simply eating too many Calories. What we should be doing is addressing the Calories part first. Then work on balancing your macronutrients. Followed by making sure you get enough micronutrients and fiber. Then, after you get all that down pat, you can start cutting out specific foods for whatever personal reason. Of course, medical issues (diagnosed by a trained professional) should take precedence over all of this.
Finally, pick things up and put dem down, and move yo *kitten*!
Is it really that difficult??
(Yeah, I know…TL;DR!)
That is very reasonable and a sane way to eat.. if you are going to consume the evil aspartame, dont over do it.
and i agree - that may be why people are having trouble with their weight - because people keep on making claims that this is bad that is bad etc.. and people are following those trends and its not helping.
Thats why i think basically what we are doing on MFP is sane. keep calories lower than your body uses and exercise.
I have one more thing to say about aspartame - if it is so good for you why does it have that bitter aftertaste? You may have been consuming it so long that your body gets uses to it, so it might taste sweet to you, but please, when you first taste it it is like nasty medicine. I think the taste of it is an indication of something - maybe not deadly, but something nasty like dont eat this. I prefer real sugar if i were to have sugar, than to this bitter chemical. I guess I am saying - does the bitter taste have any indication that its a negative aspect of it? I'm not trying to sound all "you must eat clean" however, why eat the stuff if it is a nasty chemical taste?0 -
Swithers, S. (2013). Artificial sweeteners produce the counterintuitive effect of inducing metabolic derangements.
Not a study, but a review of evidence.0 -
That is why diet soda is very bad because of the aspartame which takes a huge bad toll on the body.
Just so you know, there is not one bit of credible evidence which links to aspartame damaging humans.
NPR is pretty credible at reporting scientific research:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/07/11/200488420/do-diet-drinks-mess-up-metabolisms0 -
That is why diet soda is very bad because of the aspartame which takes a huge bad toll on the body.
Just so you know, there is not one bit of credible evidence which links to aspartame damaging humans.
Aspartame is a chemical, and like i said im not a scientist, but i have read where it is not a good thing to ingest. however, you may disagree, especially if you feel another person wrote an opposing view that you do agree with
All food is made up of chemicals. Your entire diet is made up of chemicals.
Yes, true. However, some chemicals are better for the body than others. Some are rather dangerous. I will choose the ones that are better for me,, i.e. that which is in real food, not substitutes.
As for aspartame, etc.... to me it has that chemical aftertaste which i never could quite enjoy. Have you tried Stevia in coffee? to me it tastes bitter, (not sure if its mixing with the hot water)... it was worse than Jaegermeister.
I would rather if i had the choice to eat real sugar, rather than fake sugar, or else how about not eating sugar at all or not much of it?
I would rather eat a strawberry than to eat a fake strawberry, both have chemicals, but which one is better for you - tastewise, nutritionalwise, naturalwise,
I think the strawberry would win, even though you COULD exist on the fake strawberry. but which is more appetizing? the real strawberry is my choice.
How come after a certain chemical element comes out on the market, after a few years of research and using people as guinea pigs, (they really dont know the full effect till people actually start using it) and then the experts tell us such and such a thing is causing cancer.
but you never hear about a real strawberry or banana causing cancer, do you?
Stevia is natural...just so you're aware if you aren't.0 -
bump for later, this is really interesting thank you0
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That is why diet soda is very bad because of the aspartame which takes a huge bad toll on the body.
Just so you know, there is not one bit of credible evidence which links to aspartame damaging humans.
NPR is pretty credible at reporting scientific research:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/07/11/200488420/do-diet-drinks-mess-up-metabolisms
There is no evidence there - just correlation, and correlation that goes both ways for that matter.0 -
That is why diet soda is very bad because of the aspartame which takes a huge bad toll on the body.
Just so you know, there is not one bit of credible evidence which links to aspartame damaging humans.
NPR is pretty credible at reporting scientific research:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/07/11/200488420/do-diet-drinks-mess-up-metabolisms
yeah not credible at all and lots of nonsense0 -
Don't know what I am eating that it would be in?
I do drink it in sodas sometimes, but.....I won't be counting on that stuff being OK.That is why diet soda is very bad because of the aspartame which takes a huge bad toll on the body.
Just so you know, there is not one bit of credible evidence which links to aspartame damaging humans.
Aspartame is in nearly everything we eat - everything being processed, prepackaged foods and beverages. Found that out when trying to find items without it so that I could cut down on it as much as possible. I'd bet you have been consuming it a lot more than you think. Do some research. You'll be surprised. I was.
Energy in < energy out = You'll be fine.
We get much of our groceries from Trader Joes, I like the way they steer away from refined sugar and other ingredients.
I don't think the chemicals are "okay." I don't think refined sugar is the best choice. But I'm not going to get paralyzed by the difficulty of having the most perfect possible diet. I just do the best I can.0 -
Don't know what I am eating that it would be in?
I do drink it in sodas sometimes, but.....I won't be counting on that stuff being OK.That is why diet soda is very bad because of the aspartame which takes a huge bad toll on the body.
Just so you know, there is not one bit of credible evidence which links to aspartame damaging humans.
Aspartame is in nearly everything we eat - everything being processed, prepackaged foods and beverages. Found that out when trying to find items without it so that I could cut down on it as much as possible. I'd bet you have been consuming it a lot more than you think. Do some research. You'll be surprised. I was.
Energy in < energy out = You'll be fine.
We get much of our groceries from Trader Joes, I like the way they steer away from refined sugar and other ingredients.
I don't think the chemicals are "okay." I don't think refined sugar is the best choice. But I'm not going to get paralyzed by the difficulty of having the most perfect possible diet. I just do the best I can.
I was agreeing with you, just pointing out its everywhere.
Additional info here if interested.
http://www.aspartame.org/about/consumer-products/#.Uga8Zj8pjpg
Here's a glimpse of what's in that link.Currently, aspartame is consumed by over 200 million people around the world and is found in more than 6,000 products including carbonated soft drinks, powdered soft drinks, chewing gum, confections, gelatins, dessert mixes, puddings and fillings, frozen desserts, yogurt, tabletop sweeteners, and some pharmaceuticals such as vitamins and sugar-free cough drops.0 -
That is why diet soda is very bad because of the aspartame which takes a huge bad toll on the body.
Just so you know, there is not one bit of credible evidence which links to aspartame damaging humans.
Aspartame is a chemical, and like i said im not a scientist, but i have read where it is not a good thing to ingest. however, you may disagree, especially if you feel another person wrote an opposing view that you do agree with
All food is made up of chemicals. Your entire diet is made up of chemicals.
Yes, true. However, some chemicals are better for the body than others. Some are rather dangerous. I will choose the ones that are better for me,, i.e. that which is in real food, not substitutes.
As for aspartame, etc.... to me it has that chemical aftertaste which i never could quite enjoy. Have you tried Stevia in coffee? to me it tastes bitter, (not sure if its mixing with the hot water)... it was worse than Jaegermeister.
I would rather if i had the choice to eat real sugar, rather than fake sugar, or else how about not eating sugar at all or not much of it?
I would rather eat a strawberry than to eat a fake strawberry, both have chemicals, but which one is better for you - tastewise, nutritionalwise, naturalwise,
I think the strawberry would win, even though you COULD exist on the fake strawberry. but which is more appetizing? the real strawberry is my choice.
How come after a certain chemical element comes out on the market, after a few years of research and using people as guinea pigs, (they really dont know the full effect till people actually start using it) and then the experts tell us such and such a thing is causing cancer.
but you never hear about a real strawberry or banana causing cancer, do you?
Stevia is natural...just so you're aware if you aren't.
Thats what they say but why does it have a bitter aftertaste?0 -
Don't know what I am eating that it would be in?
I do drink it in sodas sometimes, but.....I won't be counting on that stuff being OK.That is why diet soda is very bad because of the aspartame which takes a huge bad toll on the body.
Just so you know, there is not one bit of credible evidence which links to aspartame damaging humans.
Aspartame is in nearly everything we eat - everything being processed, prepackaged foods and beverages. Found that out when trying to find items without it so that I could cut down on it as much as possible. I'd bet you have been consuming it a lot more than you think. Do some research. You'll be surprised. I was.
Energy in < energy out = You'll be fine.
We get much of our groceries from Trader Joes, I like the way they steer away from refined sugar and other ingredients.
I don't think the chemicals are "okay." I don't think refined sugar is the best choice. But I'm not going to get paralyzed by the difficulty of having the most perfect possible diet. I just do the best I can.
I was agreeing with you, just pointing out its everywhere.
Additional info here if interested.
http://www.aspartame.org/about/consumer-products/#.Uga8Zj8pjpg
Here's a glimpse of what's in that link.Currently, aspartame is consumed by over 200 million people around the world and is found in more than 6,000 products including carbonated soft drinks, powdered soft drinks, chewing gum, confections, gelatins, dessert mixes, puddings and fillings, frozen desserts, yogurt, tabletop sweeteners, and some pharmaceuticals such as vitamins and sugar-free cough drops.
Thats why some people advise dieters NOT to eat the processed food such as you listed above.0
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