cutting sugar

245

Replies

  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    edited January 2015
    Sugar give us instant energy, but has no nutritional value. It can surge blood sugars very quickly and then drop very quickly.
    Best way to cut down on your sugar is by reducing it gradually. For example if you have 2 teaspoons of sugar in your beverage, drop it by a half teaspoon or 1 teaspoon until you are OK with no sugar with your tea and coffee. This way, you will be able to train your taste buds to less sugar.

    You can have a small treat occasionally, that is fine. I find not having any bought cakes and biscuits in the cupboard stops the temptation to eat them. Have nuts, fruit, carrots, celery with peanut butter.

    Contrary to belief, sugar actually IS the enemy. The type of sugar that you need to avoid is the one in cakes, biscuits, fizzy drinks, fruit juices (OK in moderation) and squashes, sweets, chocolates. The sugars you should try and have less of are sucrose, glucose.

    The sugar in fruit is called fructose and is fine as long as you eat the whole fruit which also gives you vitamins and fibre. Milk sugar is called lactose and some people have an intolerance to this.

    When you go for yogurts, go for the ones with no sugar or ones with 3% or less. Because foods say low fat, this does not mean that it is healthy. Low fat products tend to have too much sugar added to them. Like one of the previous posters mentioned, make your own sauces as most of the ready made meals and sauces are laden with added sugar. You will also know exactly what goes into your meal if you use fresh produce.

    The body does need the right type of fat to keep healthy. Vitamins D, K, E are fat soluble vitamins and require the right type of fat to be absorbed into the body for optimal health. The good fats are in nuts, fish, coconut oil.

    Hope this helps.


    you can't believe that fruit only contains fructose.

    BTW sugar is essential to human life
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    edited January 2015
    Acg67 wrote: »
    Sugar give us instant energy, but has no nutritional value. It can surge blood sugars very quickly and then drop very quickly.
    Best way to cut down on your sugar is by reducing it gradually. For example if you have 2 teaspoons of sugar in your beverage, drop it by a half teaspoon or 1 teaspoon until you are OK with no sugar with your tea and coffee. This way, you will be able to train your taste buds to less sugar.

    You can have a small treat occasionally, that is fine. I find not having any bought cakes and biscuits in the cupboard stops the temptation to eat them. Have nuts, fruit, carrots, celery with peanut butter.

    Contrary to belief, sugar actually IS the enemy. The type of sugar that you need to avoid is the one in cakes, biscuits, fizzy drinks, fruit juices (OK in moderation) and squashes, sweets, chocolates. The sugars you should try and have less of are sucrose, glucose.

    The sugar in fruit is called fructose and is fine as long as you eat the whole fruit which also gives you vitamins and fibre. Milk sugar is called lactose and some people have an intolerance to this.

    When you go for yogurts, go for the ones with no sugar or ones with 3% or less. Because foods say low fat, this does not mean that it is healthy. Low fat products tend to have too much sugar added to them. Like one of the previous posters mentioned, make your own sauces as most of the ready made meals and sauces are laden with added sugar. You will also know exactly what goes into your meal if you use fresh produce.

    The body does need the right type of fat to keep healthy. Vitamins D, K, E are fat soluble vitamins and require the right type of fat to be absorbed into the body for optimal health. The good fats are in nuts, fish, coconut oil.

    Hope this helps.


    you can't believe that fruit only contains fructose.

    BTW sugar is essential to human life

    BTW - Dietary sugar isn't!
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    Acg67 wrote: »
    BTW sugar is essential to human life

    But not dietary sugar.

    http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/DRI/DRI_Energy/265-338.pdf "The lower limit of dietary carbohydrate compatible with life apparently is zero, provided that adequate amounts of protein and fat are con-sumed. "
  • This content has been removed.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    Drop sugary sodas. Limit juices. Limit or cut ice cream, cake, cookies, candy. That's a good way to start. :) I think this a nice start: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates/added-sugar-in-the-diet/

    If you have some special health concern and don't remember what you were told, call the doctor up and ask! If you don't, but just want some idea of what would be a great plan just for you, see if you can get a referral to a dieititan.

    Good luck!
  • LeenaGee
    LeenaGee Posts: 749 Member
    herrspoons wrote: »
    psulemon wrote: »
    Come on guys, lets try not to turn this into a war like usual.

    We need more data from the OP to understand the context of her question.

    Well, fair enough, but you might want to ask who the agent provocateurs are here.

    Well, on a thread where someone is asking for help and suggestions on cutting back on sugar - a decision they have obviously made, maybe the 'agent provocateurs' are the ones hijacking the thread and turning it into a - you don't need to cut out sugar - argument.

    How about for once trying to keep a sugar thread on track!

    I agree totally, we should keep the sugar thread on track and answer OP's original question. She wants to cut sugar and has made that decision.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    If OP has read some anti sugar propaganda on the internet and is thus freaking out about being a bit over her sugar goal--perhaps due to some fruit, as is common enough--discussing WHY she's worried about cutting sugar is reasonable.

    We don't have nearly enough information. If the deal is just that she's eating lots of cookies (which she did not say) obviously the answer is eat fewer cookies.

    Generally, the answer, as was covered fully upthread, is that you log, see where your sugar is coming from, and decide if those are foods that you would do better off eating less of. But not everyone, even those who want to lose weight, drink lots of soda or the like.

    Also, presumably she knows the answer is eat less sugar to cut sugar, so there's more to the question that has not been explained. Without that, there's not really any more advice we can give her.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    edited January 2015
    Acg67 wrote: »
    Sugar give us instant energy, but has no nutritional value. It can surge blood sugars very quickly and then drop very quickly.
    Best way to cut down on your sugar is by reducing it gradually. For example if you have 2 teaspoons of sugar in your beverage, drop it by a half teaspoon or 1 teaspoon until you are OK with no sugar with your tea and coffee. This way, you will be able to train your taste buds to less sugar.

    You can have a small treat occasionally, that is fine. I find not having any bought cakes and biscuits in the cupboard stops the temptation to eat them. Have nuts, fruit, carrots, celery with peanut butter.

    Contrary to belief, sugar actually IS the enemy. The type of sugar that you need to avoid is the one in cakes, biscuits, fizzy drinks, fruit juices (OK in moderation) and squashes, sweets, chocolates. The sugars you should try and have less of are sucrose, glucose.

    The sugar in fruit is called fructose and is fine as long as you eat the whole fruit which also gives you vitamins and fibre. Milk sugar is called lactose and some people have an intolerance to this.

    When you go for yogurts, go for the ones with no sugar or ones with 3% or less. Because foods say low fat, this does not mean that it is healthy. Low fat products tend to have too much sugar added to them. Like one of the previous posters mentioned, make your own sauces as most of the ready made meals and sauces are laden with added sugar. You will also know exactly what goes into your meal if you use fresh produce.

    The body does need the right type of fat to keep healthy. Vitamins D, K, E are fat soluble vitamins and require the right type of fat to be absorbed into the body for optimal health. The good fats are in nuts, fish, coconut oil.

    Hope this helps.


    you can't believe that fruit only contains fructose.

    BTW sugar is essential to human life

    Acg67 six months ago I like you were under the false impression that sugar is essential to human life. Medical science clearly shows today that sugar or any other version of carbs are optional for human life vs being required.

    It seems per some research from a NZ conference fructose is a cue that it will soon be winter so the hormones slows down the metabolism, raises the hormone Insulin which is needed to gain weight, increases the appetite so as much fat is gained as possible to make it through the long winter OK.

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=F1afyKN18S0

    Starting at about 23:00 he covers this over the next few minutes. I found the entire video interesting that he presented to a group of his peers.

    In short if we are consuming fructose and it does trigger fat storage and saps our energy so we just want to sleep it makes sense why some of us may be fat. It is outside of the box for sure. We already understand we do not get fat because we eat too much and move to little. It it more like we have low energy so we eat more to gain energy but hormonally being in fat storage mode we can only gain weight for the winter so we just gain more weight and feel more tired since today we never have to face "winter" and the risk of starving like even 100 years ago in some parts of the world.
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
    edited January 2015
    Acg67 wrote: »
    Sugar give us instant energy, but has no nutritional value. It can surge blood sugars very quickly and then drop very quickly.
    Best way to cut down on your sugar is by reducing it gradually. For example if you have 2 teaspoons of sugar in your beverage, drop it by a half teaspoon or 1 teaspoon until you are OK with no sugar with your tea and coffee. This way, you will be able to train your taste buds to less sugar.

    You can have a small treat occasionally, that is fine. I find not having any bought cakes and biscuits in the cupboard stops the temptation to eat them. Have nuts, fruit, carrots, celery with peanut butter.

    Contrary to belief, sugar actually IS the enemy. The type of sugar that you need to avoid is the one in cakes, biscuits, fizzy drinks, fruit juices (OK in moderation) and squashes, sweets, chocolates. The sugars you should try and have less of are sucrose, glucose.

    The sugar in fruit is called fructose and is fine as long as you eat the whole fruit which also gives you vitamins and fibre. Milk sugar is called lactose and some people have an intolerance to this.

    When you go for yogurts, go for the ones with no sugar or ones with 3% or less. Because foods say low fat, this does not mean that it is healthy. Low fat products tend to have too much sugar added to them. Like one of the previous posters mentioned, make your own sauces as most of the ready made meals and sauces are laden with added sugar. You will also know exactly what goes into your meal if you use fresh produce.

    The body does need the right type of fat to keep healthy. Vitamins D, K, E are fat soluble vitamins and require the right type of fat to be absorbed into the body for optimal health. The good fats are in nuts, fish, coconut oil.

    Hope this helps.


    you can't believe that fruit only contains fructose.

    BTW sugar is essential to human life

    Acg67 six months ago I like you were under the false impression that sugar is essential to human life. Medical science clearly shows today that sugar or any other version of carbs are optional for human life vs being required.

    It seems per some research from a NZ conference fructose is a cue that it will soon be winter so the hormones slows down the metabolism, raises the hormone Insulin which is needed to gain weight, increases the appetite so as much fat is gained as possible to make it through the long winter OK.

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=F1afyKN18S0

    Starting at about 23:00 he covers this over the next few minutes. I found the entire video interesting that he presented to a group of his peers.

    In short if we are consuming fructose and it does trigger fat storage and saps our energy so we just want to sleep it makes sense why some of us may be fat. It is outside of the box for sure. We already understand we do not get fat because we eat too much and move to little. It it more like we have low energy so we eat more to gain energy but hormonally being in fat storage mode we can only gain weight for the winter so we just gain more weight and feel more tired since today we never have to face "winter" and the risk of starving like even 100 years ago in some parts of the world.

    It seems as if you are saying we're getting ready for hibernation.
  • elphie754
    elphie754 Posts: 7,574 Member
    herrspoons wrote: »
    psulemon wrote: »
    Come on guys, lets try not to turn this into a war like usual.

    We need more data from the OP to understand the context of her question.

    Well, fair enough, but you might want to ask who the agent provocateurs are here.

    Well, on a thread where someone is asking for help and suggestions on cutting back on sugar - a decision they have obviously made, maybe the 'agent provocateurs' are the ones hijacking the thread and turning it into a - you don't need to cut out sugar - argument.

    How about for once trying to keep a sugar thread on track!

    How about for once not making a nutrient evil and cutting things out that don't need to be cut out (unless you have a medical condition)?
  • elphie754
    elphie754 Posts: 7,574 Member
    Kalikel wrote: »
    Drop sugary sodas. Limit juices. Limit or cut ice cream, cake, cookies, candy. That's a good way to start. :) I think this a nice start: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates/added-sugar-in-the-diet/

    If you have some special health concern and don't remember what you were told, call the doctor up and ask! If you don't, but just want some idea of what would be a great plan just for you, see if you can get a referral to a dieititan.

    Good luck!

    Wow! Everyone needs to see their doctor huh?
  • elphie754
    elphie754 Posts: 7,574 Member
    edited January 2015
    Acg67 wrote: »
    Sugar give us instant energy, but has no nutritional value. It can surge blood sugars very quickly and then drop very quickly.
    Best way to cut down on your sugar is by reducing it gradually. For example if you have 2 teaspoons of sugar in your beverage, drop it by a half teaspoon or 1 teaspoon until you are OK with no sugar with your tea and coffee. This way, you will be able to train your taste buds to less sugar.

    You can have a small treat occasionally, that is fine. I find not having any bought cakes and biscuits in the cupboard stops the temptation to eat them. Have nuts, fruit, carrots, celery with peanut butter.

    Contrary to belief, sugar actually IS the enemy. The type of sugar that you need to avoid is the one in cakes, biscuits, fizzy drinks, fruit juices (OK in moderation) and squashes, sweets, chocolates. The sugars you should try and have less of are sucrose, glucose.

    The sugar in fruit is called fructose and is fine as long as you eat the whole fruit which also gives you vitamins and fibre. Milk sugar is called lactose and some people have an intolerance to this.

    When you go for yogurts, go for the ones with no sugar or ones with 3% or less. Because foods say low fat, this does not mean that it is healthy. Low fat products tend to have too much sugar added to them. Like one of the previous posters mentioned, make your own sauces as most of the ready made meals and sauces are laden with added sugar. You will also know exactly what goes into your meal if you use fresh produce.

    The body does need the right type of fat to keep healthy. Vitamins D, K, E are fat soluble vitamins and require the right type of fat to be absorbed into the body for optimal health. The good fats are in nuts, fish, coconut oil.

    Hope this helps.


    you can't believe that fruit only contains fructose.

    BTW sugar is essential to human life

    Acg67 six months ago I like you were under the false impression that sugar is essential to human life. Medical science clearly shows today that sugar or any other version of carbs are optional for human life vs being required.

    It seems per some research from a NZ conference fructose is a cue that it will soon be winter so the hormones slows down the metabolism, raises the hormone Insulin which is needed to gain weight, increases the appetite so as much fat is gained as possible to make it through the long winter OK.

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=F1afyKN18S0

    Starting at about 23:00 he covers this over the next few minutes. I found the entire video interesting that he presented to a group of his peers.

    In short if we are consuming fructose and it does trigger fat storage and saps our energy so we just want to sleep it makes sense why some of us may be fat. It is outside of the box for sure. We already understand we do not get fat because we eat too much and move to little. It it more like we have low energy so we eat more to gain energy but hormonally being in fat storage mode we can only gain weight for the winter so we just gain more weight and feel more tired since today we never have to face "winter" and the risk of starving like even 100 years ago in some parts of the world.

    This coming from someone who is pretending to be a CEO. Yeah... Seems legit.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    FredDoyle wrote: »
    Acg67 wrote: »
    Sugar give us instant energy, but has no nutritional value. It can surge blood sugars very quickly and then drop very quickly.
    Best way to cut down on your sugar is by reducing it gradually. For example if you have 2 teaspoons of sugar in your beverage, drop it by a half teaspoon or 1 teaspoon until you are OK with no sugar with your tea and coffee. This way, you will be able to train your taste buds to less sugar.

    You can have a small treat occasionally, that is fine. I find not having any bought cakes and biscuits in the cupboard stops the temptation to eat them. Have nuts, fruit, carrots, celery with peanut butter.

    Contrary to belief, sugar actually IS the enemy. The type of sugar that you need to avoid is the one in cakes, biscuits, fizzy drinks, fruit juices (OK in moderation) and squashes, sweets, chocolates. The sugars you should try and have less of are sucrose, glucose.

    The sugar in fruit is called fructose and is fine as long as you eat the whole fruit which also gives you vitamins and fibre. Milk sugar is called lactose and some people have an intolerance to this.

    When you go for yogurts, go for the ones with no sugar or ones with 3% or less. Because foods say low fat, this does not mean that it is healthy. Low fat products tend to have too much sugar added to them. Like one of the previous posters mentioned, make your own sauces as most of the ready made meals and sauces are laden with added sugar. You will also know exactly what goes into your meal if you use fresh produce.

    The body does need the right type of fat to keep healthy. Vitamins D, K, E are fat soluble vitamins and require the right type of fat to be absorbed into the body for optimal health. The good fats are in nuts, fish, coconut oil.

    Hope this helps.


    Hahahahaha you can't be that ignorant to think fruit only contains fructose.

    BTW sugar is essential to human life

    Acg67 six months ago I like you were under the false impression that sugar is essential to human life. Medical science clearly shows today that sugar or any other version of carbs are optional for human life vs being required.

    It seems per some research from a NZ conference fructose is a cue that it will soon be winter so the hormones slows down the metabolism, raises the hormone Insulin which is needed to gain weight, increases the appetite so as much fat is gained as possible to make it through the long winter OK.

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=F1afyKN18S0

    Starting at about 23:00 he covers this over the next few minutes. I found the entire video interesting that he presented to a group of his peers.

    In short if we are consuming fructose and it does trigger fat storage and saps our energy so we just want to sleep it makes sense why some of us may be fat. It is outside of the box for sure. We already understand we do not get fat because we eat too much and move to little. It it more like we have low energy so we eat more to gain energy but hormonally being in fat storage mode we can only gain weight for the winter so we just gain more weight and feel more tired since today we never have to face "winter" and the risk of starving like even 100 years ago in some parts of the world.

    It seems as if you are saying we're getting ready for hibernation.

    I was just posting stuff from the medical convention so I am not saying anything because I just heard this less than 24 hours ago. We know most fat people are not that way because it was their lifelong objective to be fat. We know it is not because people are just lazy per posts on MFP talking about how active they were then something happened. We know it was not a worldwide problem even 50 years ago when Type 2 diabetes was seldom an issue. There is one or more true causes of this now worldwide problem. Once we learn one or more of the root causes we can start to address the cause(s) before medical costs bankrupt the countries of the world.
  • elphie754
    elphie754 Posts: 7,574 Member
    FredDoyle wrote: »
    Acg67 wrote: »
    Sugar give us instant energy, but has no nutritional value. It can surge blood sugars very quickly and then drop very quickly.
    Best way to cut down on your sugar is by reducing it gradually. For example if you have 2 teaspoons of sugar in your beverage, drop it by a half teaspoon or 1 teaspoon until you are OK with no sugar with your tea and coffee. This way, you will be able to train your taste buds to less sugar.

    You can have a small treat occasionally, that is fine. I find not having any bought cakes and biscuits in the cupboard stops the temptation to eat them. Have nuts, fruit, carrots, celery with peanut butter.

    Contrary to belief, sugar actually IS the enemy. The type of sugar that you need to avoid is the one in cakes, biscuits, fizzy drinks, fruit juices (OK in moderation) and squashes, sweets, chocolates. The sugars you should try and have less of are sucrose, glucose.

    The sugar in fruit is called fructose and is fine as long as you eat the whole fruit which also gives you vitamins and fibre. Milk sugar is called lactose and some people have an intolerance to this.

    When you go for yogurts, go for the ones with no sugar or ones with 3% or less. Because foods say low fat, this does not mean that it is healthy. Low fat products tend to have too much sugar added to them. Like one of the previous posters mentioned, make your own sauces as most of the ready made meals and sauces are laden with added sugar. You will also know exactly what goes into your meal if you use fresh produce.

    The body does need the right type of fat to keep healthy. Vitamins D, K, E are fat soluble vitamins and require the right type of fat to be absorbed into the body for optimal health. The good fats are in nuts, fish, coconut oil.

    Hope this helps.


    Hahahahaha you can't be that ignorant to think fruit only contains fructose.

    BTW sugar is essential to human life

    Acg67 six months ago I like you were under the false impression that sugar is essential to human life. Medical science clearly shows today that sugar or any other version of carbs are optional for human life vs being required.

    It seems per some research from a NZ conference fructose is a cue that it will soon be winter so the hormones slows down the metabolism, raises the hormone Insulin which is needed to gain weight, increases the appetite so as much fat is gained as possible to make it through the long winter OK.

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=F1afyKN18S0

    Starting at about 23:00 he covers this over the next few minutes. I found the entire video interesting that he presented to a group of his peers.

    In short if we are consuming fructose and it does trigger fat storage and saps our energy so we just want to sleep it makes sense why some of us may be fat. It is outside of the box for sure. We already understand we do not get fat because we eat too much and move to little. It it more like we have low energy so we eat more to gain energy but hormonally being in fat storage mode we can only gain weight for the winter so we just gain more weight and feel more tired since today we never have to face "winter" and the risk of starving like even 100 years ago in some parts of the world.

    It seems as if you are saying we're getting ready for hibernation.

    I was just posting stuff from the medical convention so I am not saying anything because I just heard this less than 24 hours ago. We know most fat people are not that way because it was their lifelong objective to be fat. We know it is not because people are just lazy per posts on MFP talking about how active they were then something happened. We know it was not a worldwide problem even 50 years ago when Type 2 diabetes was seldom an issue. There is one or more true causes of this now worldwide problem. Once we learn one or more of the root causes we can start to address the cause(s) before medical costs bankrupt the countries of the world.

    Your medical convention? Hahaha
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  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2014/04/25/can-humans-hibernate-ask-the-dwarf-lemur/

    "Preceding hibernation, dwarf lemurs get fat. Excessively fat. As fat as they can manage given the food resources available, sometimes more than doubling their body weight all in a matter of little over a month. And they store this fat in their tails."

    Some human can double their weight we know.

    "During the rainy season, their habitat is replete with food and the animals are gorging themselves on fruit and insects—normal carbohydrate metabolism chugging away. Those genes that drive carbohydrate metabolism are flipped on. Then the extreme dry season hits and resources disappear. Dwarf lemurs enter hibernation and since they can only rely on stored fat in their tails to keep the critical physiological processes running, the combination of genes that govern fat metabolism flip on. This leads to a breakdown of fat reserves, which fuels the body during a time of fasting."

    "Dissecting how animals in hibernation can rely solely on stored fat as fuel will indeed have immediate benefits for understanding obesity and other metabolic disorders."
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  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    elphie754 wrote: »
    Kalikel wrote: »
    Drop sugary sodas. Limit juices. Limit or cut ice cream, cake, cookies, candy. That's a good way to start. :) I think this a nice start: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates/added-sugar-in-the-diet/

    If you have some special health concern and don't remember what you were told, call the doctor up and ask! If you don't, but just want some idea of what would be a great plan just for you, see if you can get a referral to a dieititan.

    Good luck!

    Wow! Everyone needs to see their doctor huh?
    Yes, of course. Everyone beginning a weight loss journey should see a doctor. There are a variety of good reasons to do that, which is why MFP, every expert and semi-expert will recommend doing so. And Yes, if the OP has a special health concern, they should call and ask.

    It makes sense and is the smart thing to do.
  • obscuremusicreference
    obscuremusicreference Posts: 1,320 Member
    blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2014/04/25/can-humans-hibernate-ask-the-dwarf-lemur/

    "Preceding hibernation, dwarf lemurs get fat. Excessively fat. As fat as they can manage given the food resources available, sometimes more than doubling their body weight all in a matter of little over a month. And they store this fat in their tails."

    Some human can double their weight we know.

    "During the rainy season, their habitat is replete with food and the animals are gorging themselves on fruit and insects—normal carbohydrate metabolism chugging away. Those genes that drive carbohydrate metabolism are flipped on. Then the extreme dry season hits and resources disappear. Dwarf lemurs enter hibernation and since they can only rely on stored fat in their tails to keep the critical physiological processes running, the combination of genes that govern fat metabolism flip on. This leads to a breakdown of fat reserves, which fuels the body during a time of fasting."

    "Dissecting how animals in hibernation can rely solely on stored fat as fuel will indeed have immediate benefits for understanding obesity and other metabolic disorders."

    What I got from that blog post is that I am now even less likely to be considered for a deep space mission. It never says how lemur hibernation is even hypothesized to translate to human metabolic disorders. If I'm missing the key piece to put it together, please spell it out.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    edited January 2015
    I just realized that my second one and this post was off the sugar subject.

    If I find more on how fructose triggers weight gains in humans I will post it perhaps.


  • This content has been removed.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    I eat way more than 2.7 servings of veggies most days, but quite often with the dreaded meat and potatoes, oh, dear. I was even going to have chicken, potatoes, and veggies tonight. Who knew that would doom me to obesity.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    I eat way more than 2.7 servings of veggies most days, but quite often with the dreaded meat and potatoes, oh, dear. I was even going to have chicken, potatoes, and veggies tonight. Who knew that would doom me to obesity.

    I hope I don't gain weight from my homemade meatloaf I've had for the last few days. >:)o:)
  • obscuremusicreference
    obscuremusicreference Posts: 1,320 Member
    edited January 2015
    fitbie.com/lose-weight/tips/7-surprising-reasons-winter-weight-gain/tip/1

    7 Surprising Reasons for Winter Weight Gain (full article above)

    "Columbia University researchers found that people who get less than 5 hours of sleep are 50 percent more likely to be obese than those who sleep 7 to 9 hours a night."

    "A 2009 review in the journal Medical Hypotheses found that catching a cold may triple your weight gain." "Evidence suggests that the bug increases the number of glucose receptors on your fat cells, causing them to grow bigger in size and number and saddling you with up to 35 extra pounds."

    "Women who ate in a room kept at a toasty 81 degrees rated themselves as 20 percent less hungry and ate 10 percent less than those who sat down in a room kept at 72 degrees."

    "Research shows that seasonal affective disorder can trigger cravings for pasta, potatoes, rice, and that people with SAD can eat an additional 800 calories a day from carbs alone."

    " An oft-cited New England Journal of Medicine study found that you’re 57 percent more likely to be obese if you have a friend who’s fat, and 37 percent more likely if your spouse is chubby. That’s particularly bad news right now, since Americans gain about a pound a year during the winter that they don’t lose later in the year. To make matters worse, researchers fear that the bigger our friends, the lower our motivation to stay in shape. A 2010 study in the journal Obesity found that people are less likely to consider themselves overweight when surrounded by other people who are bigger. "

    "And when your cortisol levels start to skyrocket, your weight tends to follow. Harvard Medical School researchers found that people who stressed over work, paying off bills, and relationships gained more weight over 9 years than those who kept their cool."

    " Your favorite fresh produce—berries, tomatoes, zucchini—may not be in season for another few months, but that does not mean you should feed on meat and potatoes until spring. An American Journal of Public Health study found that people who ate 2.7 servings of veggies a day were more likely to have a lower BMI 10 years later, so it’s important to get your greens year-round."


    1. This is very much the opposite of hibernation, no?
    2. Do you have this study?
    3. I realize it's anecdotal, but let me assure you that there are many overweight people in the South and they don't all have air conditioning.
    4. I haven't seen this research but I would call those comfort foods and I can see it, but I am still unclear on its relationship to lemur hibernation.
    5. Yeah, and people stick together with their race/interest/religious/socioeconomic peers, which has been borne out by other studies. Not relevant to hibernation.
    6. Indeed, although I'm not sure how stressed out you get when you're zonked out and living off your tail fat for months on end.
    7. Wouldn't eating more produce, at its most base level, be more relevant to questions about the effectiveness of CICO? Again, not a lot of mashed bananas making their way from the freezer to your mouth while you're hibernating.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    Acg67 wrote: »
    Sugar give us instant energy, but has no nutritional value. It can surge blood sugars very quickly and then drop very quickly.
    Best way to cut down on your sugar is by reducing it gradually. For example if you have 2 teaspoons of sugar in your beverage, drop it by a half teaspoon or 1 teaspoon until you are OK with no sugar with your tea and coffee. This way, you will be able to train your taste buds to less sugar.

    You can have a small treat occasionally, that is fine. I find not having any bought cakes and biscuits in the cupboard stops the temptation to eat them. Have nuts, fruit, carrots, celery with peanut butter.

    Contrary to belief, sugar actually IS the enemy. The type of sugar that you need to avoid is the one in cakes, biscuits, fizzy drinks, fruit juices (OK in moderation) and squashes, sweets, chocolates. The sugars you should try and have less of are sucrose, glucose.

    The sugar in fruit is called fructose and is fine as long as you eat the whole fruit which also gives you vitamins and fibre. Milk sugar is called lactose and some people have an intolerance to this.

    When you go for yogurts, go for the ones with no sugar or ones with 3% or less. Because foods say low fat, this does not mean that it is healthy. Low fat products tend to have too much sugar added to them. Like one of the previous posters mentioned, make your own sauces as most of the ready made meals and sauces are laden with added sugar. You will also know exactly what goes into your meal if you use fresh produce.

    The body does need the right type of fat to keep healthy. Vitamins D, K, E are fat soluble vitamins and require the right type of fat to be absorbed into the body for optimal health. The good fats are in nuts, fish, coconut oil.

    Hope this helps.


    Hahahahaha you can't be that ignorant to think fruit only contains fructose.

    BTW sugar is essential to human life

    Acg67 six months ago I like you were under the false impression that sugar is essential to human life. Medical science clearly shows today that sugar or any other version of carbs are optional for human life vs being required.

    It seems per some research from a NZ conference fructose is a cue that it will soon be winter so the hormones slows down the metabolism, raises the hormone Insulin which is needed to gain weight, increases the appetite so as much fat is gained as possible to make it through the long winter OK.

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=F1afyKN18S0

    Starting at about 23:00 he covers this over the next few minutes. I found the entire video interesting that he presented to a group of his peers.

    In short if we are consuming fructose and it does trigger fat storage and saps our energy so we just want to sleep it makes sense why some of us may be fat. It is outside of the box for sure. We already understand we do not get fat because we eat too much and move to little. It it more like we have low energy so we eat more to gain energy but hormonally being in fat storage mode we can only gain weight for the winter so we just gain more weight and feel more tired since today we never have to face "winter" and the risk of starving like even 100 years ago in some parts of the world.

    Lol. So a blood glucose reading of zero would be perfectly fine and hypoglycemia isn't dangerous

    But please show me said science.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    Obscure since humans do not hibernate in the same way as does a bear or lemur the article is not one for one with humans for sure. The one about the lemurs had more to do with how they use fructose/carbs to survive the dry period.

    If in fact (as the video from the medical conference in NZ indicated may be the case) when we eat fructose it triggers a fat storing hormone process then limiting sugar/carbs in our eating lifestyle perhaps could play a key role in not being obese.

    Cutting sugar was never a natural desire to my uninformed brain. It was only after my health was a wreck did I get to researching the reason(s). Cutting sugar was required on my part in my case to lower the pain level to make losing weight more possible.

    If any or all sugar is a trigger in obesity it would be nice to know and to under the "why" making it a fact. There is a lot of research out there and I am open to any research on the subject. With the cost of medical care for these issues on the rise the governments will put more effort into learning how to cut healthcare costs by helping people to learn how to have less sickness. Some are calling for sugar studies at national levels.
  • elphie754
    elphie754 Posts: 7,574 Member
    blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2014/04/25/can-humans-hibernate-ask-the-dwarf-lemur/

    "Preceding hibernation, dwarf lemurs get fat. Excessively fat. As fat as they can manage given the food resources available, sometimes more than doubling their body weight all in a matter of little over a month. And they store this fat in their tails."

    Some human can double their weight we know.

    "During the rainy season, their habitat is replete with food and the animals are gorging themselves on fruit and insects—normal carbohydrate metabolism chugging away. Those genes that drive carbohydrate metabolism are flipped on. Then the extreme dry season hits and resources disappear. Dwarf lemurs enter hibernation and since they can only rely on stored fat in their tails to keep the critical physiological processes running, the combination of genes that govern fat metabolism flip on. This leads to a breakdown of fat reserves, which fuels the body during a time of fasting."

    "Dissecting how animals in hibernation can rely solely on stored fat as fuel will indeed have immediate benefits for understanding obesity and other metabolic disorders."

    What the hell do lemurs have to do with humans?
    Kalikel wrote: »
    elphie754 wrote: »
    Kalikel wrote: »
    Drop sugary sodas. Limit juices. Limit or cut ice cream, cake, cookies, candy. That's a good way to start. :) I think this a nice start: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates/added-sugar-in-the-diet/

    If you have some special health concern and don't remember what you were told, call the doctor up and ask! If you don't, but just want some idea of what would be a great plan just for you, see if you can get a referral to a dieititan.

    Good luck!

    Wow! Everyone needs to see their doctor huh?
    Yes, of course. Everyone beginning a weight loss journey should see a doctor. There are a variety of good reasons to do that, which is why MFP, every expert and semi-expert will recommend doing so. And Yes, if the OP has a special health concern, they should call and ask.

    It makes sense and is the smart thing to do.

    Except going to everyone's post and telling them to see their doctor gets old. That is about all you say (other than bash sugar).
    Obscure since humans do not hibernate in the same way as does a bear or lemur the article is not one for one with humans for sure. The one about the lemurs had more to do with how they use fructose/carbs to survive the dry period.

    If in fact (as the video from the medical conference in NZ indicated may be the case) when we eat fructose it triggers a fat storing hormone process then limiting sugar/carbs in our eating lifestyle perhaps could play a key role in not being obese.

    Cutting sugar was never a natural desire to my uninformed brain. It was only after my health was a wreck did I get to researching the reason(s). [B{Cutting sugar was required on my part in my case to lower the pain level to make losing weight more possible. [/b]

    If any or all sugar is a trigger in obesity it would be nice to know and to under the "why" making it a fact. There is a lot of research out there and I am open to any research on the subject. With the cost of medical care for these issues on the rise the governments will put more effort into learning how to cut healthcare costs by helping people to learn how to have less sickness. Some are calling for sugar studies at national levels.

    Please explain how sugar was causing you pain.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    Nat Geo had an interesting article on hibernation a year or two ago. Some animals go ridiculous amounts of time without eating! It's crazy!

    Maybe they'll learn something from those animals. I don't think it'll help us much. People really need food. Even if we get fed all the nutrients we require, but it goes into our veins, it's just not enough. It'll sustain life, but not a healthy life. We need food - physical food that we eat and digest - and activity to be our healthiest.

    But no knowledge is ever wasted, so if they can learn something from the animals, yay that. :)
  • elphie754
    elphie754 Posts: 7,574 Member
    Kalikel wrote: »
    Nat Geo had an interesting article on hibernation a year or two ago. Some animals go ridiculous amounts of time without eating! It's crazy!

    Maybe they'll learn something from those animals. I don't think it'll help us much. People really need food. Even if we get fed all the nutrients we require, but it goes into our veins, it's just not enough. It'll sustain life, but not a healthy life. We need food - physical food that we eat and digest - and activity to be our healthiest.

    But no knowledge is ever wasted, so if they can learn something from the animals, yay that. :)

    Except humans don't hibernate.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    elphie754 wrote: »
    Kalikel wrote: »
    Nat Geo had an interesting article on hibernation a year or two ago. Some animals go ridiculous amounts of time without eating! It's crazy!

    Maybe they'll learn something from those animals. I don't think it'll help us much. People really need food. Even if we get fed all the nutrients we require, but it goes into our veins, it's just not enough. It'll sustain life, but not a healthy life. We need food - physical food that we eat and digest - and activity to be our healthiest.

    But no knowledge is ever wasted, so if they can learn something from the animals, yay that. :)

    Except humans don't hibernate.

    Could you possibly turn that into a sentence? I don't understand your point.
This discussion has been closed.