Why the hate on Sugar?

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emily_stew wrote: »

Wheelhouse15 wrote: »

healthiermeep wrote: »

Hmm is there a popcorn scare oh with hell IDC gets it anyways this is interesting

Don't worry, these threads are a daily occurrence but most get mod nuked eventually. Wait till the GIFs start showing up then you know it won't be long.

Gifs, you say??



I could go on, but I won't.
Google image searching for that gif also yielded an picture of a lady wearing a bikini made of cookies though...I wonder what would happen if I posted that.

Wont bother me none. So go ahead

I wanna see the cookie girl

ndj1979 wrote: »

for real ..

walk in to AA and say hi my name is so and so and I am addicted to sugar ….and see what the reaction is...

Just had a flash back to Bob Saget in Half Baked

Lol

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tedboosalis7 wrote: »

rcottonrph1 wrote: »

Watch "Fed Up". Sugar is considered a major culprit behind the obesity epidemic. It is also highly inflammatory in the body, and inflammation promotes disease. It isn't an either/or. It is a good idea to avoid both artificial sweeteners and limit added sugar that doesn't come naturally from fruits and vegetables.

Why would anyone flag this comment? It's dead spot-on accurate. So are several others that discuss the issue from a technical perspective.

When I quit eating processed foods and sucrose, I lost 50 pounds. I've said it a number of times (actually now it's 52 pounds as of this morning). I don't miss it at all. No cravings. I have sweets two cubicles away from me and I look at them and laugh. Then I laugh at all the poor saps gravitating to those foods. Then I shake my head when I see their body shapes - all of them are overweight. I was one of them at one time. No more.

There's no use for it. Doesn't mean it should be banned, far from it. Up to people to decide - but fructose with fiber metabolizes much differently than sucrose or anything that's a processed food. I know people who eat processed "diet" foods and they never lose weight. Gotta wonder why? It's not CICO - it's the issue of processed sugar.

Maniacal workplace laughter aside, why do you think people struggling with their weight is funny? It makes me sad when I see people coming on here with weight to lose and no real idea of how to do that, because I was one of them once.

FYI, "it's not CICO it's sugar" actually contributes to a lot of weight gain. Making people think that if they just avoid certain foods they can eat what they like is a recipe for binges.

emily_stew wrote: »

obscuremusicreference wrote: »

tedboosalis7 wrote: »

rcottonrph1 wrote: »

Watch "Fed Up". Sugar is considered a major culprit behind the obesity epidemic. It is also highly inflammatory in the body, and inflammation promotes disease. It isn't an either/or. It is a good idea to avoid both artificial sweeteners and limit added sugar that doesn't come naturally from fruits and vegetables.

Why would anyone flag this comment? It's dead spot-on accurate. So are several others that discuss the issue from a technical perspective.

When I quit eating processed foods and sucrose, I lost 50 pounds. I've said it a number of times (actually now it's 52 pounds as of this morning). I don't miss it at all. No cravings. I have sweets two cubicles away from me and I look at them and laugh. Then I laugh at all the poor saps gravitating to those foods. Then I shake my head when I see their body shapes - all of them are overweight. I was one of them at one time. No more.

There's no use for it. Doesn't mean it should be banned, far from it. Up to people to decide - but fructose with fiber metabolizes much differently than sucrose or anything that's a processed food. I know people who eat processed "diet" foods and they never lose weight. Gotta wonder why? It's not CICO - it's the issue of processed sugar.

Maniacal workplace laughter aside, why do you think people struggling with their weight is funny? It makes me sad when I see people coming on here with weight to lose and no real idea of how to do that, because I was one of them once.

FYI, "it's not CICO it's sugar" actually contributes to a lot of weight gain. Making people think that if they just avoid certain foods they can eat what they like is a recipe for binges.

I agree...I know I already called the guy out on this insane post before, but man, what a dickish thing to say, and to think about your coworkers.

I saw the call-outs as I went down but man oh man, does it bear repeating.

tedboosalis7 wrote: »

When I quit eating processed foods and sucrose, I lost 50 pounds.

You know what works even better, at least in America?

Keep strict kosher.

*Any* plan that eliminates large sources of calories can get you to a deficit - which means its not the thing that's being eliminated that makes the difference - it's the act of elimination that causes the "magic".

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ndj1979 wrote: »

FoCoAlphaNerd wrote: »

The idea of "addiction to sugar" always drives me nuts. As cute as those little puff pieces on the today show are, sugar is not more addictive than [insert scare drug here]. Watch someone with a real addiction go through detox and then tell me again how you're a "choco-holic."

for real ..

walk in to AA and say hi my name is so and so and I am addicted to sugar ….and see what the reaction is...

Maybe the same thing that would happen if you walked into an OA meeting and said hi my name is so and so and I am addicted to alcohol??

Or into a cardiologist and said my toe hurts.

neanderthin wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

zyxst wrote: »

awasko1218 wrote: »

I wonder if it is because when you eat sugar, you want to eat more sugar....and then more sugar to feel like you got your fix...and then MORE, coupled with the fact that the average american eats a lot of processed food, and hidden in processed foods is sugar? So it isn't necessarily the SUGAR that makes people unable to lose weight, but the processed sugar hidden in food that you don't think should even contain sugar that makes you crave more of it, which ruins your willpower, and then you just give up and eat the whole box of chex mix? Er, I mean, not that that's ever happened to me.... Just saying.

Am I the only person on these boards that can eat sugar and not go off on a Oreo cookie bender? I ate 16 grams of white, granulated sugar in my plain oatmeal and I'm not scarfing all the cookies and chocolate in the container right next to me.

No, you are not. I've never binged on anything. But, you also have to be aware that there are a high number of people, on MFP and not, that do have a problem with binge eating. And that sugar is a common trigger for those binges.

That is only one reason to make a general recommendation for cutting sugar though. Most people eat too much sugar and obesity has become epidemic in many parts of the world. That alone is reason enough to suggest cutting back. Too much is bad.

Is it sugar though? I suspect that someone that binges from sugar would be consuming copious amounts of fruit all day long or just plain sugar, but do they? I'm inclined to think it's the highly palatable foods that have a combination of sugar/fat/salt/refined carbs that people find appealing.

As a binger, it doesn't even have to be highly palatable foods. Carbs are easy to snack on, and it's a lot of what I will binge on because it's around the house. Trying to not keep food in the house leads to strange binges - a can of corn with stir fry sauce, rice with soy sauce, a can of soup (straight from the can, no need to heat), etc. True binging isn't about the food at all, it's a mental compulsion.

It's much easier to rack up the calories with highly palatable foods, and if I have a lot of them around, I seem to fall into binges easier.

neanderthin wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

zyxst wrote: »

awasko1218 wrote: »

I wonder if it is because when you eat sugar, you want to eat more sugar....and then more sugar to feel like you got your fix...and then MORE, coupled with the fact that the average american eats a lot of processed food, and hidden in processed foods is sugar? So it isn't necessarily the SUGAR that makes people unable to lose weight, but the processed sugar hidden in food that you don't think should even contain sugar that makes you crave more of it, which ruins your willpower, and then you just give up and eat the whole box of chex mix? Er, I mean, not that that's ever happened to me.... Just saying.

Am I the only person on these boards that can eat sugar and not go off on a Oreo cookie bender? I ate 16 grams of white, granulated sugar in my plain oatmeal and I'm not scarfing all the cookies and chocolate in the container right next to me.

No, you are not. I've never binged on anything. But, you also have to be aware that there are a high number of people, on MFP and not, that do have a problem with binge eating. And that sugar is a common trigger for those binges.

That is only one reason to make a general recommendation for cutting sugar though. Most people eat too much sugar and obesity has become epidemic in many parts of the world. That alone is reason enough to suggest cutting back. Too much is bad.

Is it sugar though? I suspect that someone that binges from sugar would be consuming copious amounts of fruit all day long or just plain sugar, but do they? I'm inclined to think it's the highly palatable foods that have a combination of sugar/fat/salt/refined carbs that people find appealing.

But if you cut sugar, you would likely cut these foods, correct?

neanderthin wrote: »

auddii wrote: »

neanderthin wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

zyxst wrote: »

awasko1218 wrote: »

I wonder if it is because when you eat sugar, you want to eat more sugar....and then more sugar to feel like you got your fix...and then MORE, coupled with the fact that the average american eats a lot of processed food, and hidden in processed foods is sugar? So it isn't necessarily the SUGAR that makes people unable to lose weight, but the processed sugar hidden in food that you don't think should even contain sugar that makes you crave more of it, which ruins your willpower, and then you just give up and eat the whole box of chex mix? Er, I mean, not that that's ever happened to me.... Just saying.

Am I the only person on these boards that can eat sugar and not go off on a Oreo cookie bender? I ate 16 grams of white, granulated sugar in my plain oatmeal and I'm not scarfing all the cookies and chocolate in the container right next to me.

No, you are not. I've never binged on anything. But, you also have to be aware that there are a high number of people, on MFP and not, that do have a problem with binge eating. And that sugar is a common trigger for those binges.

That is only one reason to make a general recommendation for cutting sugar though. Most people eat too much sugar and obesity has become epidemic in many parts of the world. That alone is reason enough to suggest cutting back. Too much is bad.

Is it sugar though? I suspect that someone that binges from sugar would be consuming copious amounts of fruit all day long or just plain sugar, but do they? I'm inclined to think it's the highly palatable foods that have a combination of sugar/fat/salt/refined carbs that people find appealing.

As a binger, it doesn't even have to be highly palatable foods. Carbs are easy to snack on, and it's a lot of what I will binge on because it's around the house. Trying to not keep food in the house leads to strange binges - a can of corn with stir fry sauce, rice with soy sauce, a can of soup (straight from the can, no need to heat), etc. True binging isn't about the food at all, it's a mental compulsion.

It's much easier to rack up the calories with highly palatable foods, and if I have a lot of them around, I seem to fall into binges easier.

gottcha. No doubt it's psychosomatic by nature.

And that said, I've been trying to work on keeping moderate amounts of trigger foods in my diet to try and limit the mental effects. I've been doing a lot better with ice cream for the most part.

Another reason for the hate on sugar is because of the way food manufacturers handle the stuff. Food scientists came up with this great substitute for cane sugar years ago, it is called high fructose corn syrup. It is cheap and it takes less of the stuff to sweeten foods than cane sugar requires.

There are two problems with it, the first is that while it may start out as corn syrup as the name implies, chemically it looks nothing like corn syrup, unless you consider the hydrogen and carbon atoms that make it up. The second is that it does not metabolize in the body the same way sugar does. Regular sugar, sucrose or glucose can be metabolized by any cell in the body, the only place the fructose from high fructose corn syrup can be metabolized is in the liver. This may be a cause of the increase in problems such as high triglycerides and fatty liver disease issues.

A few years ago, the corn industry ran a series of ads where they tried to have people believe that "sugar is sugar". This is not necessarily the case.

In moderation, almost all foods have a place in your diet, the things that I would stay away from are the over processed foods that come in packages.

Since most baked goods contain the high fructose corn syrup in them, I would stay away from them. If you have a sweet tooth, find a local bakery that still bakes in house, or learn how to bake from scratch. Other than decorations, there is no real secret to baking, it is just a chemistry formula and a set of directions. Anyone that has a kitchen with an oven and can follow directions can learn how to bake.

Lastly, you don't want to confuse high fructose corn syrup with corn syrup, they are two very different things.