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Sugar Addiction Myths
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rheddmobile wrote: »The_Enginerd wrote: »Each person is unique and sugar (as well as other things) affects people differently. It (along with caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and some drugs) can / do affect the pleasure centers of the brain in some people, per these studies:
If I don't eat sweets I don't want them. But, if I eat one sweet thing, (like a slice of cake) - I can't stop eating it until it is completely gone. It's not a pleasure sensation I am seeking, for me, it's a starving hunger.
So, for me, eating sugar can be addictive.
The average cookie or cake gets as much, if not more, of it's calories from FAT than it does carbohydrates, and almost all have more calories from fat than from the sugar in them. But it's the sugar that the issue...
Would you also do the same with an apple, even though 80% of it's calories come from sugar? How about carrots, which are about 50% sugar calories?
It's a highly palatable, very pleasurable food to eat. It's hedonistic hunger (i.e. pleasure seeking), not "true" hunger. If you were truly that hungry, you'd be doing the same behavior (eating until it's gone) with just about any food in front of you. It's the same reason we can feel full after a meal, but feel "hungry" for a desert afterwards.
The point about fruit and carrots versus cookies isn't a valid one. I'm a type 2 diabetic and I have direct feedback when I eat different foods - I can tell exactly what they are doing to me. A cookie with 21 g carbs and an orange with 21 g carbs are metabolized totally differently, produce a different insulin response, and spike my blood sugar completely differently, despite being similar on paper. I'm not unique or even unusual in my responses - multiple studies have found that consuming fruit improves diabetes, while consuming added sugars worsens it.
do you know why the cookie spikes your insulin quicker than the orange/carrot? because most cookies have little to no fiber in them so the sugar is broken down quicker. oranges/carrots have fiber and therefore the fiber will cause the breakdown to be slower so the spike wont be as quick. protein can also spike insulin.5 -
CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »rheddmobile wrote: »The_Enginerd wrote: »Each person is unique and sugar (as well as other things) affects people differently. It (along with caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and some drugs) can / do affect the pleasure centers of the brain in some people, per these studies:
If I don't eat sweets I don't want them. But, if I eat one sweet thing, (like a slice of cake) - I can't stop eating it until it is completely gone. It's not a pleasure sensation I am seeking, for me, it's a starving hunger.
So, for me, eating sugar can be addictive.
The average cookie or cake gets as much, if not more, of it's calories from FAT than it does carbohydrates, and almost all have more calories from fat than from the sugar in them. But it's the sugar that the issue...
Would you also do the same with an apple, even though 80% of it's calories come from sugar? How about carrots, which are about 50% sugar calories?
It's a highly palatable, very pleasurable food to eat. It's hedonistic hunger (i.e. pleasure seeking), not "true" hunger. If you were truly that hungry, you'd be doing the same behavior (eating until it's gone) with just about any food in front of you. It's the same reason we can feel full after a meal, but feel "hungry" for a desert afterwards.
The point about fruit and carrots versus cookies isn't a valid one. I'm a type 2 diabetic and I have direct feedback when I eat different foods - I can tell exactly what they are doing to me. A cookie with 21 g carbs and an orange with 21 g carbs are metabolized totally differently, produce a different insulin response, and spike my blood sugar completely differently, despite being similar on paper. I'm not unique or even unusual in my responses - multiple studies have found that consuming fruit improves diabetes, while consuming added sugars worsens it.
do you know why the cookie spikes your insulin quicker than the orange/carrot? because most cookies have little to no fiber in them so the sugar is broken down quicker. oranges/carrots have fiber and therefore the fiber will cause the breakdown to be slower so the spike wont be as quick. protein can also spike insulin.
As do most foods with significant amounts of added sugar.1 -
Packerjohn wrote: »CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »rheddmobile wrote: »The_Enginerd wrote: »Each person is unique and sugar (as well as other things) affects people differently. It (along with caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and some drugs) can / do affect the pleasure centers of the brain in some people, per these studies:
If I don't eat sweets I don't want them. But, if I eat one sweet thing, (like a slice of cake) - I can't stop eating it until it is completely gone. It's not a pleasure sensation I am seeking, for me, it's a starving hunger.
So, for me, eating sugar can be addictive.
The average cookie or cake gets as much, if not more, of it's calories from FAT than it does carbohydrates, and almost all have more calories from fat than from the sugar in them. But it's the sugar that the issue...
Would you also do the same with an apple, even though 80% of it's calories come from sugar? How about carrots, which are about 50% sugar calories?
It's a highly palatable, very pleasurable food to eat. It's hedonistic hunger (i.e. pleasure seeking), not "true" hunger. If you were truly that hungry, you'd be doing the same behavior (eating until it's gone) with just about any food in front of you. It's the same reason we can feel full after a meal, but feel "hungry" for a desert afterwards.
The point about fruit and carrots versus cookies isn't a valid one. I'm a type 2 diabetic and I have direct feedback when I eat different foods - I can tell exactly what they are doing to me. A cookie with 21 g carbs and an orange with 21 g carbs are metabolized totally differently, produce a different insulin response, and spike my blood sugar completely differently, despite being similar on paper. I'm not unique or even unusual in my responses - multiple studies have found that consuming fruit improves diabetes, while consuming added sugars worsens it.
do you know why the cookie spikes your insulin quicker than the orange/carrot? because most cookies have little to no fiber in them so the sugar is broken down quicker. oranges/carrots have fiber and therefore the fiber will cause the breakdown to be slower so the spike wont be as quick. protein can also spike insulin.
As do most foods with significant amounts of added sugar.
exactly1 -
Packerjohn wrote: »CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »rheddmobile wrote: »The_Enginerd wrote: »Each person is unique and sugar (as well as other things) affects people differently. It (along with caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and some drugs) can / do affect the pleasure centers of the brain in some people, per these studies:
If I don't eat sweets I don't want them. But, if I eat one sweet thing, (like a slice of cake) - I can't stop eating it until it is completely gone. It's not a pleasure sensation I am seeking, for me, it's a starving hunger.
So, for me, eating sugar can be addictive.
The average cookie or cake gets as much, if not more, of it's calories from FAT than it does carbohydrates, and almost all have more calories from fat than from the sugar in them. But it's the sugar that the issue...
Would you also do the same with an apple, even though 80% of it's calories come from sugar? How about carrots, which are about 50% sugar calories?
It's a highly palatable, very pleasurable food to eat. It's hedonistic hunger (i.e. pleasure seeking), not "true" hunger. If you were truly that hungry, you'd be doing the same behavior (eating until it's gone) with just about any food in front of you. It's the same reason we can feel full after a meal, but feel "hungry" for a desert afterwards.
The point about fruit and carrots versus cookies isn't a valid one. I'm a type 2 diabetic and I have direct feedback when I eat different foods - I can tell exactly what they are doing to me. A cookie with 21 g carbs and an orange with 21 g carbs are metabolized totally differently, produce a different insulin response, and spike my blood sugar completely differently, despite being similar on paper. I'm not unique or even unusual in my responses - multiple studies have found that consuming fruit improves diabetes, while consuming added sugars worsens it.
do you know why the cookie spikes your insulin quicker than the orange/carrot? because most cookies have little to no fiber in them so the sugar is broken down quicker. oranges/carrots have fiber and therefore the fiber will cause the breakdown to be slower so the spike wont be as quick. protein can also spike insulin.
As do most foods with significant amounts of added sugar.
Significant amounts, yes. Any, no.1 -
CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »rheddmobile wrote: »The_Enginerd wrote: »Each person is unique and sugar (as well as other things) affects people differently. It (along with caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and some drugs) can / do affect the pleasure centers of the brain in some people, per these studies:
If I don't eat sweets I don't want them. But, if I eat one sweet thing, (like a slice of cake) - I can't stop eating it until it is completely gone. It's not a pleasure sensation I am seeking, for me, it's a starving hunger.
So, for me, eating sugar can be addictive.
The average cookie or cake gets as much, if not more, of it's calories from FAT than it does carbohydrates, and almost all have more calories from fat than from the sugar in them. But it's the sugar that the issue...
Would you also do the same with an apple, even though 80% of it's calories come from sugar? How about carrots, which are about 50% sugar calories?
It's a highly palatable, very pleasurable food to eat. It's hedonistic hunger (i.e. pleasure seeking), not "true" hunger. If you were truly that hungry, you'd be doing the same behavior (eating until it's gone) with just about any food in front of you. It's the same reason we can feel full after a meal, but feel "hungry" for a desert afterwards.
The point about fruit and carrots versus cookies isn't a valid one. I'm a type 2 diabetic and I have direct feedback when I eat different foods - I can tell exactly what they are doing to me. A cookie with 21 g carbs and an orange with 21 g carbs are metabolized totally differently, produce a different insulin response, and spike my blood sugar completely differently, despite being similar on paper. I'm not unique or even unusual in my responses - multiple studies have found that consuming fruit improves diabetes, while consuming added sugars worsens it.
do you know why the cookie spikes your insulin quicker than the orange/carrot? because most cookies have little to no fiber in them so the sugar is broken down quicker. oranges/carrots have fiber and therefore the fiber will cause the breakdown to be slower so the spike wont be as quick. protein can also spike insulin.
As do most foods with significant amounts of added sugar.
exactly
That could explain why fruit doesn't cause diabetics complications. But it wouldn't explain why fruit improves diabetes, as @rheddmobile posted.
Btw, scientific research backs up what @rheddmobile posted. Whatever the explanation, there is something else going on. It's not just macros like sugar and fiber.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/behindtheheadlines/news/2017-04-12-daily-diet-of-fresh-fruit-linked-to-lower-diabetes-risk/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/253770092 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »rheddmobile wrote: »The_Enginerd wrote: »Each person is unique and sugar (as well as other things) affects people differently. It (along with caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and some drugs) can / do affect the pleasure centers of the brain in some people, per these studies:
If I don't eat sweets I don't want them. But, if I eat one sweet thing, (like a slice of cake) - I can't stop eating it until it is completely gone. It's not a pleasure sensation I am seeking, for me, it's a starving hunger.
So, for me, eating sugar can be addictive.
The average cookie or cake gets as much, if not more, of it's calories from FAT than it does carbohydrates, and almost all have more calories from fat than from the sugar in them. But it's the sugar that the issue...
Would you also do the same with an apple, even though 80% of it's calories come from sugar? How about carrots, which are about 50% sugar calories?
It's a highly palatable, very pleasurable food to eat. It's hedonistic hunger (i.e. pleasure seeking), not "true" hunger. If you were truly that hungry, you'd be doing the same behavior (eating until it's gone) with just about any food in front of you. It's the same reason we can feel full after a meal, but feel "hungry" for a desert afterwards.
The point about fruit and carrots versus cookies isn't a valid one. I'm a type 2 diabetic and I have direct feedback when I eat different foods - I can tell exactly what they are doing to me. A cookie with 21 g carbs and an orange with 21 g carbs are metabolized totally differently, produce a different insulin response, and spike my blood sugar completely differently, despite being similar on paper. I'm not unique or even unusual in my responses - multiple studies have found that consuming fruit improves diabetes, while consuming added sugars worsens it.
The evidence is that different foods have different effects on blood sugar depending on the person, which is one reason the GI/GL isn't all that useful even if you actually ate the foods alone (which people don't do). Makes sense to check your own reactions -- if you are IR or T2D, certainly -- and choose accordingly. But that's also a reason not to make broad statements about what is the case for everyone. This is especially true since, of course, many of us are not IR.
A friend of mine is working on controlling his T2D, and I was talking to him about it, and he said pasta doesn't usually have that strong an effect, at least if it has vegetables and meat. That surprised me, since I think of pasta as a food that of course would be bad in that context (although it was great for me when I was losing weight, since I make lots of fast, easy, nutritious meals with it). He also said that many Chinese dishes (with lots of rice) are very bad for his blood sugar, and often having more fat makes it worse (although other studies have said fat tends to slow down the effect).
Important to figure out how it affects you, but I don't think this has anything to do with the addiction claim or the "pleasure center" one -- GI/GL isn't at all what determines how foods score on tests that look at so called "addictiveness" -- that's about taste and especially hitting multiple sources of taste pleasure (fat and sugar, fat and salt -- you are never going to convince me that the reason people enjoy pizza or fries is the tiny bit of sugar vs. the more apparent pleasures).
I think your point is valid, as far as pizza goes - but just because pizza is not a particularly sugary food doesn't mean there are no addictive sugary foods. I have been in the past, and my husband is now, strongly motivated by the "sugar rush" from foods. Does that go as far as addiction? There's pretty reasonable evidence that it operates by the same mechanisms as other addictions.
By the way, I'm the same as your friend re: rice versus pasta. Glucose response to particular foods does differ dramatically from person to person, which to me is a hint something we don't fully understand is going on here.4 -
rheddmobile wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »rheddmobile wrote: »The_Enginerd wrote: »Each person is unique and sugar (as well as other things) affects people differently. It (along with caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and some drugs) can / do affect the pleasure centers of the brain in some people, per these studies:
If I don't eat sweets I don't want them. But, if I eat one sweet thing, (like a slice of cake) - I can't stop eating it until it is completely gone. It's not a pleasure sensation I am seeking, for me, it's a starving hunger.
So, for me, eating sugar can be addictive.
The average cookie or cake gets as much, if not more, of it's calories from FAT than it does carbohydrates, and almost all have more calories from fat than from the sugar in them. But it's the sugar that the issue...
Would you also do the same with an apple, even though 80% of it's calories come from sugar? How about carrots, which are about 50% sugar calories?
It's a highly palatable, very pleasurable food to eat. It's hedonistic hunger (i.e. pleasure seeking), not "true" hunger. If you were truly that hungry, you'd be doing the same behavior (eating until it's gone) with just about any food in front of you. It's the same reason we can feel full after a meal, but feel "hungry" for a desert afterwards.
The point about fruit and carrots versus cookies isn't a valid one. I'm a type 2 diabetic and I have direct feedback when I eat different foods - I can tell exactly what they are doing to me. A cookie with 21 g carbs and an orange with 21 g carbs are metabolized totally differently, produce a different insulin response, and spike my blood sugar completely differently, despite being similar on paper. I'm not unique or even unusual in my responses - multiple studies have found that consuming fruit improves diabetes, while consuming added sugars worsens it.
The evidence is that different foods have different effects on blood sugar depending on the person, which is one reason the GI/GL isn't all that useful even if you actually ate the foods alone (which people don't do). Makes sense to check your own reactions -- if you are IR or T2D, certainly -- and choose accordingly. But that's also a reason not to make broad statements about what is the case for everyone. This is especially true since, of course, many of us are not IR.
A friend of mine is working on controlling his T2D, and I was talking to him about it, and he said pasta doesn't usually have that strong an effect, at least if it has vegetables and meat. That surprised me, since I think of pasta as a food that of course would be bad in that context (although it was great for me when I was losing weight, since I make lots of fast, easy, nutritious meals with it). He also said that many Chinese dishes (with lots of rice) are very bad for his blood sugar, and often having more fat makes it worse (although other studies have said fat tends to slow down the effect).
Important to figure out how it affects you, but I don't think this has anything to do with the addiction claim or the "pleasure center" one -- GI/GL isn't at all what determines how foods score on tests that look at so called "addictiveness" -- that's about taste and especially hitting multiple sources of taste pleasure (fat and sugar, fat and salt -- you are never going to convince me that the reason people enjoy pizza or fries is the tiny bit of sugar vs. the more apparent pleasures).
I think your point is valid, as far as pizza goes - but just because pizza is not a particularly sugary food doesn't mean there are no addictive sugary foods. I have been in the past, and my husband is now, strongly motivated by the "sugar rush" from foods. Does that go as far as addiction? There's pretty reasonable evidence that it operates by the same mechanisms as other addictions.
By the way, I'm the same as your friend re: rice versus pasta. Glucose response to particular foods does differ dramatically from person to person, which to me is a hint something we don't fully understand is going on here.
Links to this supposed evidence?
Glucose causes a release of dopamine and activates the "pleasure center" of the brain, yes. So does petting puppies, eating fat, kissing, getting a massage or anything else that is pleasurable.
Addictive drugs do not "operate by the same mechanisms." They hijack those mechanisms and wreck them.11 -
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rheddmobile wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »rheddmobile wrote: »The_Enginerd wrote: »Each person is unique and sugar (as well as other things) affects people differently. It (along with caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and some drugs) can / do affect the pleasure centers of the brain in some people, per these studies:
If I don't eat sweets I don't want them. But, if I eat one sweet thing, (like a slice of cake) - I can't stop eating it until it is completely gone. It's not a pleasure sensation I am seeking, for me, it's a starving hunger.
So, for me, eating sugar can be addictive.
The average cookie or cake gets as much, if not more, of it's calories from FAT than it does carbohydrates, and almost all have more calories from fat than from the sugar in them. But it's the sugar that the issue...
Would you also do the same with an apple, even though 80% of it's calories come from sugar? How about carrots, which are about 50% sugar calories?
It's a highly palatable, very pleasurable food to eat. It's hedonistic hunger (i.e. pleasure seeking), not "true" hunger. If you were truly that hungry, you'd be doing the same behavior (eating until it's gone) with just about any food in front of you. It's the same reason we can feel full after a meal, but feel "hungry" for a desert afterwards.
The point about fruit and carrots versus cookies isn't a valid one. I'm a type 2 diabetic and I have direct feedback when I eat different foods - I can tell exactly what they are doing to me. A cookie with 21 g carbs and an orange with 21 g carbs are metabolized totally differently, produce a different insulin response, and spike my blood sugar completely differently, despite being similar on paper. I'm not unique or even unusual in my responses - multiple studies have found that consuming fruit improves diabetes, while consuming added sugars worsens it.
The evidence is that different foods have different effects on blood sugar depending on the person, which is one reason the GI/GL isn't all that useful even if you actually ate the foods alone (which people don't do). Makes sense to check your own reactions -- if you are IR or T2D, certainly -- and choose accordingly. But that's also a reason not to make broad statements about what is the case for everyone. This is especially true since, of course, many of us are not IR.
A friend of mine is working on controlling his T2D, and I was talking to him about it, and he said pasta doesn't usually have that strong an effect, at least if it has vegetables and meat. That surprised me, since I think of pasta as a food that of course would be bad in that context (although it was great for me when I was losing weight, since I make lots of fast, easy, nutritious meals with it). He also said that many Chinese dishes (with lots of rice) are very bad for his blood sugar, and often having more fat makes it worse (although other studies have said fat tends to slow down the effect).
Important to figure out how it affects you, but I don't think this has anything to do with the addiction claim or the "pleasure center" one -- GI/GL isn't at all what determines how foods score on tests that look at so called "addictiveness" -- that's about taste and especially hitting multiple sources of taste pleasure (fat and sugar, fat and salt -- you are never going to convince me that the reason people enjoy pizza or fries is the tiny bit of sugar vs. the more apparent pleasures).
I think your point is valid, as far as pizza goes - but just because pizza is not a particularly sugary food doesn't mean there are no addictive sugary foods. I have been in the past, and my husband is now, strongly motivated by the "sugar rush" from foods. Does that go as far as addiction? There's pretty reasonable evidence that it operates by the same mechanisms as other addictions.
No, I think that's a combination of two things -- taste (the real reason people overconsume specific foods with lots of added sugar) and the fact that sugar (and all easily digested carbs) is a quick source of energy, so what your body may naturally seek if tired or low on energy.
I totally know that when I am short on sleep I'm more likely to crave fast carbs, and only part of it is weak willpower. Most of it is that it does wake you up in the short term. But that's not the same thing as an addiction. It's a real thing, and important to understand, and helpful to be aware of, but calling it addiction seems to me to misunderstand what addiction is, and not to add anything that is useful. (I do think, again, that there are ways of relating to food or, more likely, eating, that are addictive or akin to addiction.)By the way, I'm the same as your friend re: rice versus pasta. Glucose response to particular foods does differ dramatically from person to person, which to me is a hint something we don't fully understand is going on here.
I think what raises blood sugar (essentially, the GI effect) is somewhat individual. But I'm not sure why you would think this is related to addiction.4 -
Sugar may not be addictive to some people but it is for others. Personally I don't believe in sex addiction nor smoking as an addiction because I'm not addicted to them. Ditto alcohol, drugs or gambling. Therefore they don't exist as addictions right?8
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Sugar may not be addictive to some people but it is for others. Personally I don't believe in sex addiction nor smoking as an addiction because I'm not addicted to them. Ditto alcohol, drugs or gambling. Therefore they don't exist as addictions right?
The mechanisms of substance addiction are pretty clearly understood. We know how drugs make you addicted to them. Sugar does not work that way.7 -
Sugar may not be addictive to some people but it is for others. Personally I don't believe in sex addiction nor smoking as an addiction because I'm not addicted to them. Ditto alcohol, drugs or gambling. Therefore they don't exist as addictions right?
@stevencloser addressed the substance abuse, but additionally sex and gambling addictions are legitimate behavioral addictions - they are officially recognized.
Notice that you don't have a 'poker addiction' or a 'betting on the ponies addiction' - it's the action of taking the risk that is the problem, not the specific type of risk. In the same way, there will never be an 'eating sugar/sweets addiction' added to the list of behavioral addictions, but there is a possibility that 'eating addiction' will be added at some point. It was, and I believe still is, under consideration.5 -
I literally tried to climb up my husband last night to get some m&ms. If that is not the action of an addict, I don't know what is.
Long story short -- Hubby keeps a candy dish of m&ms. I am having a serious sugar craving. He sees my headed toward the dish because I want some. He holds the dish over my head so I couldn't get any. I tried to climb him to get it. He is not keeping me away from the M&Ms to make me skinny or anything like that. I have PCOS, and I have been counselled by my doctor to stay away from sugar and refined carbs.1 -
RAD_Fitness wrote: »
I take it you don't do any endurance sports?0 -
janejellyroll wrote: »RAD_Fitness wrote: »
I take it you don't do any endurance sports?
I take it you don't know what empty calories are.3 -
RAD_Fitness wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »RAD_Fitness wrote: »
I take it you don't do any endurance sports?
I take it you don't know what empty calories are.
I don't believe in the concept of any empty calorie (unless you're counting alcohol, a reasonable case can be made for that). Everything that I eat contains either carbohydrates, protein, or fat and my body can use all of those for energy.
Now is it possible to eat so much of something that it either gives you an excess of energy (resulting in weight gain) or crowds out something else that you need? Absolutely. But that can be true for just about any food. I've met people on raw diets who are eating too many raw fruits and vegetables, keeping them from meeting their other needs. It doesn't mean fruits and vegetables are therefore "empty" calories just because they can't be consumed in unlimited quantities.
There are certain circumstances where something like a sports drink, gummy bears, or a gel pack (things that would commonly be considered "empty calories") would be very useful.5 -
janejellyroll wrote: »RAD_Fitness wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »RAD_Fitness wrote: »
I take it you don't do any endurance sports?
I take it you don't know what empty calories are.
I don't believe in the concept of any empty calorie (unless you're counting alcohol, a reasonable case can be made for that). Everything that I eat contains either carbohydrates, protein, or fat and my body can use all of those for energy.
Now is it possible to eat so much of something that it either gives you an excess of energy (resulting in weight gain) or crowds out something else that you need? Absolutely. But that can be true for just about any food. I've met people on raw diets who are eating too many raw fruits and vegetables, keeping them from meeting their other needs. It doesn't mean fruits and vegetables are therefore "empty" calories just because they can't be consumed in unlimited quantities.
There are certain circumstances where something like a sports drink, gummy bears, or a gel pack (things that would commonly be considered "empty calories") would be very useful.
It doesn't matter if you "believe in it" whatever that means.
It is a phrase used to describe something with caloric content with little or no micronutrient value. Its not something you do or don't believe in, its a phrase that describes things. Just because you don't like the words used to describe it, doesn't change that.
By definition eating raw fruits and vegetables would never be empty calories, unless they were somehow stripped of their nutrients and still contained the calories.7 -
RAD_Fitness wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »RAD_Fitness wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »RAD_Fitness wrote: »
I take it you don't do any endurance sports?
I take it you don't know what empty calories are.
I don't believe in the concept of any empty calorie (unless you're counting alcohol, a reasonable case can be made for that). Everything that I eat contains either carbohydrates, protein, or fat and my body can use all of those for energy.
Now is it possible to eat so much of something that it either gives you an excess of energy (resulting in weight gain) or crowds out something else that you need? Absolutely. But that can be true for just about any food. I've met people on raw diets who are eating too many raw fruits and vegetables, keeping them from meeting their other needs. It doesn't mean fruits and vegetables are therefore "empty" calories just because they can't be consumed in unlimited quantities.
There are certain circumstances where something like a sports drink, gummy bears, or a gel pack (things that would commonly be considered "empty calories") would be very useful.
It doesn't matter if you "believe in it" whatever that means.
It is a phrase used to describe something with caloric content with little or no micronutrient value. Its not something you do or don't believe in, its a phrase that describes things. Just because you don't like the words used to describe it, doesn't change that.
By definition eating raw fruits and vegetables would never be empty calories, unless they were somehow stripped of their nutrients and still contained the calories.
I'm using "I don't believe in it" as a way of saying "I don't accept it." I apologize, I thought this usage would be familiar to most English-speakers. Foods stigmatized as "empty calories" still provide carbohydrates, protein, or fat. I'm unclear why foods must contain significant micronutrient content to be able to make a contribution to the diet. Macronutrients are nutrients too.
I sometimes eat foods that are high carbohydrate (but contain little to no micronutrients) while I'm racing or training. It's fairly common for people during endurance sports and I don't think anyone doing that considers the calories to be "empty."15
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