A Question About Sugar
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....lower on the glycemic index (less sugar)....
I see others have effectively demolished the post that contained this tidbit of misinformation. A low GI food and a high GI food may have the same amount of sugar, but the low GI food will be absorbed more slowly because of the addition of fiber.
For the most part GI is foolish because its index is done in isolation and no one eats that way. And even if someone has diabetes, their overall carb intake is more important that the GI rating.
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....lower on the glycemic index (less sugar)....
I see others have effectively demolished the post that contained this tidbit of misinformation. A low GI food and a high GI food may have the same amount of sugar, but the low GI food will be absorbed more slowly because of the addition of fiber.
But what if you eat a separate food with fiber at the same time as a higher gi food?0 -
Why is it when I have a low carb day I'm totally ravenous the next day?? And I undo all my hard work!0
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How people react to different macro mixes seems to vary. I think it is probably quite common to find protein and fat more satiating than carbs and higher fiber carbs more satiating than refined or lower fiber carbs, even when the refined carbs have far more calories, but it's hardly universal. I personally tend to find volume and protein/fat more satiating but even for me there are exceptions not explained by these rules or the GI/GL stuff--for example, I find potatoes quite satiating, even when compared with higher fiber green veggies.
That's the problem when people insist upon rules (like sugar will make you crave or be starving later or won't be satiating) that simply don't apply for everyone. Along the same lines I probably would find sugar or refined carbs to be likely to lead to a blood sugar spike and crash if I ate them in isolation, but so long as I eat them with plenty of fat and protein too there's no issue (same as if I eat fruit that also has fiber). I wish people wouldn't insist that everyone must have the same experiences they do.0 -
I found that I no longer get nighttime leg cramps since I reduced my carbs (per doctor's orders). I am eating reduced carb, not low carb (35% of my total), and the couple of times I really loaded up on carbs I have had the cramps in the middle of the night. This is me and how they affect my body. I would never try to tell someone that they need to reduce carbs. I leave that to their doctor if the MD feels it is necessary.
My husband works long hard days and suffers badly from leg cramps and I used to get them back in the days when I was working long hours.
A friend told us about salt tablets and in desperation we tried them. Why they work for both of us is a mystery to me. My husband loves salt and uses it often but I am low salt. They work within minutes for both of us. So we keep them handy and gobble them down as soon as possible. Works every time no matter how severe the cramp is
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christinev297 wrote: »Why is it when I have a low carb day I'm totally ravenous the next day?? And I undo all my hard work!
Because it takes about a month to break a sugar addiction perhaps?
Well that was in my case. The funny part if one can go 30 days without sugar/carbs and not have cravings then they did not have a sugar addiction to begin with I expect.
Seriously christinev297 you should be very hungry the next day after a low carb day. It really took me a month (at least two weeks were really bad) to break my sugar addiction.
I filled the missing carbs with Fats.
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My husband works long hard days and suffers badly from leg cramps and I used to get them back in the days when I was working long hours.
A friend told us about salt tablets and in desperation we tried them. Why they work for both of us is a mystery to me. My husband loves salt and uses it often but I am low salt. They work within minutes for both of us. So we keep them handy and gobble them down as soon as possible. Works every time no matter how severe the cramp is
I had to add salt because of leg cramps when I went very low carb. All the junk food in our break room is loaded with salt for example. Now I eat my boiled egg each morning coated with salt and my legs are fine.
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I though grahm crackers were a way to prevent sex drives? they were part of the abstinence plan or something?
Yup, because no one has gotten wily after a stellar slice of the cheesecake.0 -
herrspoons wrote: »
It's because you don't get enough sodium, plus you're probably dehydrated.
^ This.
If you don't have the ol salt tabs... quinine does well. What is quinine in? Gin and Tonic. Granted, it's just in the tonic, but the gin is a synergist, and blocks the standard quinine receptors, so the quinine is free to bind to our potassium receptors resulting in immediate cessation of cramping.
Only in instances of legitimate cramping though.0 -
To be fair, the modern graham cracker only shares the name with Graham's original recipe. I believe it was originally just Graham flour and water. No honey or sugar or any kind of sweetener or seasoning.
Graham crackers are delicious, indeed.
I though grahm crackers were a way to prevent sex drives? they were part of the abstinence plan or something?
Graham crackers were just one part of Graham's diet. It was a diet of bland food (no seasoning, spices, or condiments) intended to "calm" people down, to prevent lust, sin, and disease.0 -
For the record, I have an excellent diet - plenty of fish, meat, chicken, eggs, fruit, lots of different vegetables as we have our own garden. I just don't eat wheat. However, I do feel my salt intake is too low. My husband also eats the same as me but he eats a lot of salt.
He eats bread and grains and is a Type 1 diabetic.
So two people, one person high salt, diabetic who eats grains and one person low salt who doesn't eat grains. Both get cramps. We take magnesium and eat bananas. At times my water intake could be better.
dbmata said If you don't have the ol salt tabs... quinine does well. What is quinine in? Gin and Tonic. Granted, it's just in the tonic, but the gin is a synergist, and blocks the standard quinine receptors, so the quinine is free to bind to our potassium receptors resulting in immediate cessation of cramping.
Only in instances of legitimate cramping though.
What is a "legitimate cramp"? Both have cramps that are extremely painful to the extent you feel you are going to past out. The pain in the muscle can still be felt for a couple of days later. Is that legitimate enough for you?0 -
Everyone play nice or strikes will be handed out for violating rule 1.
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Leena, generally cramping is a good indication or dehydration and/or an electrolyte issue. If common, i would get a blood test to see where your blood work comes out.0
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Thank you Psulemon, I will certainly look into the electrolyte issue and try and drink a lot more water and see if that helps.
Merry Christmas to you and I promise to be good. 0 -
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tigersword wrote: »
Opinion piece. Factually, sugar is not addictive, so we can just ignore that blog altogether.
These recent empirical articles suggest that sugar is indeed addictive.
Ahmed, S. H., Guillem, K., & Vandaele, Y. (2013). Sugar addiction: pushing the drug-sugar analogy to the limit. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care, 16(4), 434-439.
Colantuoni, C., Rada, P., McCarthy, J., Patten, C., Avena, N. M., Chadeayne, A., & Hoebel, B. G. (2002). Evidence that intermittent, excessive sugar intake causes endogenous opioid dependence. Obesity Research, 10(6), 478-488.
Fortuna, J. L. (2010). Sweet preference, sugar addiction and the familial history of alcohol dependence: shared neural pathways and genes. Journal of psychoactive drugs, 42(2), 147-151.
Several years ago, the only evidence of sugar addiction was shown within rats; however, more and more empirical evidence is coming to the forefront over the past several months that suggest that sugar addiction is in fact existent. Much like alcohol and drug addictions, it will vary from person to person; however, especially in that first article, much of the neurological research is hard to argue against.
Think about it like alcohol. Just because you personally are able to have a beer or two without having a dependence on it doesn't mean it's not an addictive substance. Other people can be addicted depending on their hardwiring and use of said substance.-1 -
ryanhorn thanks for the links. My research of articles like these and others about what happens at the cellular level drives home how much we have to learn about the ways the human body works.
I had to cold turkey sugar in Oct to break free from it. All of my uncles on my dad's side suffered at one level or another from alcohol abuse which helped me escape that trap but I ended up abusing carbs for 40 years that was bad for me.
Growing up we did not keep sodas, candy and ice cream in the house due to $$$ issues. We grew our own food and killed our own hogs and beef. Jello was our go to desert.
I think our hardwiring is a fact that is real and should be factored into all health concerns like diet.0 -
herrspoons wrote: »
No it isn't. The latest large scale studies showed that there was no evidence of physiological or psychological addiction to sugar or any other food stuff, and that the issue is behavioural.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763414002140
This is a very interesting literature review.
I think the main point to be taken from their interpretation of past literature (I wouldn't necessarily call this article a study though. Maybe more of a meta analysis without the data?) is the fact that yes indeed the brain does indeed responds to sugar in the same way that the brain responds to many other addictive substances; HOWEVER, their argument which I believe is consistent with your argument is the idea that there are other external stimuli (such as memory, boredom, shame, guilt, habit, impulsivity, restraint, depression and anxiety) that may activate these neurological responses, not necessarily just the sugar itself.
Did I summarize your thoughts correctly?0 -
This is a very interesting literature review.
I think the main point to be taken from their interpretation of past literature (I wouldn't necessarily call this article a study though. Maybe more of a meta analysis without the data?) is the fact that yes indeed the brain does indeed responds to sugar in the same way that the brain responds to many other addictive substances; HOWEVER, their argument which I believe is consistent with your argument is the idea that there are other external stimuli (such as memory, boredom, shame, guilt, habit, impulsivity, restraint, depression and anxiety) that may activate these neurological responses, not necessarily just the sugar itself.
Did I summarize your thoughts correctly?
The brain responds to sugar in the exact same way it responds to every other food or pleasurable activity. Sex, exercise, sports, painting, listening to music, playing music, playing with a pet, all lead to a blast of endorphins by the brain, including dopamine. Sugar is really no different from anything else.0 -
tigersword wrote: »
The brain responds to sugar in the exact same way it responds to every other food or pleasurable activity. Sex, exercise, sports, painting, listening to music, playing music, playing with a pet, all lead to a blast of endorphins by the brain, including dopamine. Sugar is really no different from anything else.
I know not all agree with you but I too think sugar can be addicting if sex can be addicting as many claim.
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Isn't rule 1 "Never talk about fight club"?
Isn't one of the rules something about making accounts to impersonate others, like Gale?
I think if someone's threatening to hand out strikes, that should be included in said threat.
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From a nutrition aspect, I try to limit my intake of added sugars from processed foods and such. I don't count sugars from fruits and other natural sources. I watched a really interesting documentary yeaterday though called Fed Up. According to that, sugar calories (all sugars, natural or processed) aren't treated by your body the same way and are more readily stored as fat instead of used as energy. It is worth watching if you would like to learn more about sugar in your diet.0
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herrspoons wrote: »
The main point is that while sugar's effect on some aspects of neurological function is similar - but not the same - as that of substances which are known to be addictive, there is no evidence to suggest that it or any other food substance is addictive in humans.
There is, however, strong evidence that overeating, whether sugar based or not, is driven by behavioural factors.
Or, in other words, if we somehow banned sugar tomorrow, it would make little if any difference to the current obesity rates, as people would merely substitute other foods for the sugary ones they eat now.
This is an interesting way of looking at it. Thank you for sharing 0 -
While there seems to be much debate here about whether or not sugar is addictive or not, I think we can all agree that too much of anything isn't a good thing whether that be sugar, protein, alcohol, or anything else.
A former nutritionist shared an awesome quote with me (which I don't agree entirely with, but I think it makes a good point): "There's no such things as unhealthy foods, just unhealthy quantities."
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I am not sure if sugar is clinically or chemically addicting, but I do know that once I stopped eating simple carbs (and therefore sugar) for a few weeks, my cravings for and evening binge-like behavior on carby snacks (crackers, tortilla chips, Goldfish crackers) completed disappeared. I feel more even-keeled during the day and am not always thinking about my next meal.
It has changed my behavior in a major way. And I've lost 20# because I feel more satiated on protein and fats, so it's easier to sustain a caloric deficit.
Just my personal experience. YMMV.
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Thank you for sharing this article! Christopher Wanjek, the author, has had some very interesting stuff since graduating from Harvard.0 -
What he's done is promote a lot of woo woo woo fakey fake shizz.
Just like the mockumentary, Fed Up. I just wish Christopher Guest had directed it.0
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