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Addicted to sugar DEBATE

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  • MichelleSilverleaf
    MichelleSilverleaf Posts: 2,028 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »
    monicapiazza wrote: »
    Not reading every reply... Table sugar is probably best to be minimized for sure. Same with high fructose corn syrup and any other overly processed sweetener.. but fruit is healthy. For years I would avoid eating fruit in fear of weight gain
    or diabetes ect (runs rampant through my family) but with some research and experience, I know, for myself and my body that fruit is incredibly healthy. Not sure of the validity of my tactic but I try to eat fruit in the morning or earlier in the day, to give myself time throughout the day to burn it off.

    From what I understand (and someone can correct me if I'm wrong) the sugar in fruits is absorbed slower than other sources, so you're less likely to get a spike than if you have say candy of some kind.

    No, as explained above, the sugar is the same. Fruit does not have different, slower absorbing sugar (sucrose = fructose and glucose and gets broken down into the two; fruit has sucrose, fructose, and glucose).

    To get more nerdy, so called sugar spikes -- which are not a problem for most people -- are caused by glucose (which you get from starches too) and not fructose, but the worst effects of sugar is from an overload in your liver which is from fructose. In moderate amounts, no sugar is a problem and this distinction doesn't matter.

    Some fruit and other foods (like oats, which some add sugar to) will have fiber and fiber slows down the digestion of the food, including the sugar in it. Many fruits are not that high in fiber, though, which is why a banana is good pre or during race fuel for many.

    Some candies are basically just sugar (IMO the least appealing ones I would never overconsume, but people's tastes are different) and those are like consuming just sugar, sure (same with pop or juice). Other so called candies -- chocolate, for example, or my favorite, chocolate covered nuts, have a slower sugar "hit" than most fruits, I expect. Yet, that does not mean chocolate covered nuts are less "addictive" (trust me, they can be impossible to stop eating).

    Now foods are different, and fruit has not that many calories and lots of micronutrients, so I think it would be silly to stop eating it if you like it (I love it), and the time of day doesn't matter a bit, that's another diet myth. But that fruit is different from a cookie has nothing to do with the sugar, it's that the fruit has different micros and essentially no fat, and the cookie is much higher cal due to the fat and has fewer micros, usually. Not that a cookie can't fit into a decent diet is one likes cookies.

    The bolded is what I was trying to say (albeit very poorly), not to insinuate that sugar in fruit was somehow different.

    Got it. It's just a pet peeve that some seem to think that the sugar is actually different, so for example that in a banana is slow digesting and sugar added to steel cut oats would be fast digesting, when the latter has more fiber. If it weren't misunderstood so often I wouldn't feel the need to be so darned pedantic! ;-)

    No worries, I appreciate the explanation you provided. My mom was just officially diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and is trying to figure out the sugar since our current doc is less-than-helpful explaining anything, so been trying to do all the proper research and learning.
  • lucerorojo
    lucerorojo Posts: 790 Member
    Chocolate is a complete different issue--it has caffeine, along with sugar and fat. Caffeine is addictive--many people who stop drinking/eating caffeine and are used to eating/drinking it, will get a headache (withdrawal symptom).
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    I doubt many people are consuming that much chocolate and no other sources of caffeine.
  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,565 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    I doubt many people are consuming that much chocolate and no other sources of caffeine.

    Yeah, I was going to say that you'd have to be consuming an awful lot of chocolate to become dependent on the caffeine it provides.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    mph323 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    I doubt many people are consuming that much chocolate and no other sources of caffeine.

    Yeah, I was going to say that you'd have to be consuming an awful lot of chocolate to become dependent on the caffeine it provides.

    I never even knew it had any. But yeah, 200 grams of chcocolate have about as much as a cup of coffee. That's a lot of chocolate.
  • lucerorojo
    lucerorojo Posts: 790 Member
    mph323 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    I doubt many people are consuming that much chocolate and no other sources of caffeine.

    Yeah, I was going to say that you'd have to be consuming an awful lot of chocolate to become dependent on the caffeine it provides.

    That wasn't my point. If you are going to get specific about the fructose, glucose, sucrose, that sugar isn't the cause it's the "other things" in the food, being reasons why people overeat or abuse them, you need to consider that there is an additional substance in chocolate and that is CAFFEINE. If also causes a high/buzz/spike. Coupled with the sugar and fat, it is a powerful mouthful. There is not that much in chocolate compared to other substances, true. However, there is none in an apple, and none in baked goods not made of chocolate.

    I personally consume very little caffeine and for about 6 months this year consumed NONE in any other source, except for an occasional chocolate kiss. Now I'm drinking decaf coffee again and it has some caffeine in it. I am extremely sensitive to caffeine. A cup of regular coffee will keep me awake for 48 hours. I won't sleep if I drink it. Even a few chocolate kisses, or a piece of dark chocolate affects my sleep, although just a couple of hours.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,728 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Momepro wrote: »
    Highly patatable and sugar are definitely two different categories, but if the cravings are specifically towards high sugar items, rather than greasy, salty, or just tasty, than the addiction is the sugar. I can easily eat myself sick with pixie sticks and sugar cubes, but though I absolutely love pizza, I'm not going to go out of my way to pigout on it, especially if I don't feel great.
    Someone else may be addicted to the highly palatable, or high carb, or spicy or salty items. Just like someone can be addicted to heroin AND cocaine, but not necessarily Vicodine or alchohol. Another might be addicted to more than one category. In my case, it is the sugar.

    If it was sugar then people could and would also get their "fix" eating an apple...but I don't see that happening.
    Momepro wrote: »

    You CAN be addicted to beer and not whiskey.

    Not really...I've seen alcoholics...they may have a preference, but if they're an alcoholic they will go for anything. When I was in boot camp I saw guys drink Listerine to get their fix...

    LOL, yup!! had 3 or 4 guys who went through a bottle every 3 days.

    Some time later(2000ish) they stopped stocking the high test Listerine at the Trainee BX/PXs.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,728 Member
    monicapiazza wrote: »
    Not reading every reply... Table sugar is probably best to be minimized for sure. Same with high fructose corn syrup and any other overly processed sweetener.. but fruit is healthy. For years I would avoid eating fruit in fear of weight gain
    or diabetes ect (runs rampant through my family) but with some research and experience, I know, for myself and my body that fruit is incredibly healthy. Not sure of the validity of my tactic but I try to eat fruit in the morning or earlier in the day, to give myself time throughout the day to burn it off.

    Tangent warning.

    FOR ME: the physiological and psychological effects of HFCS are different than Table sugar or fruit.

    For lack of a better description, sugars tend to make me "weird" at certain dosages... HFCS does it much faster and at much lower dosages.
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 5,948 Member
    lucerorojo wrote: »
    A cup of regular coffee will keep me awake for 48 hours.

    ???
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,488 Member
    maggibailey wrote: »
    My experience with addicts is that they are chasing the high, the altering of their mood and emotions. Not the taste of their drug of choice. The feeling of the whiskey hitting their stomach, the moment of euphoria when the heroine hits the blood stream. Makes sense to me that people who are “addicted” to sugar may be experiencing some of those same key things on an emotional level. The mood altering effects the escape. Most people I know get into addictions because they blunt some uncomfortable part of reality. We all know food can be used to blunt discomfort so why would that not become an addiction?
    Because fruit and vegetables have sugar in them, but people aren't complaining that they are addicted to fruits and vegetables.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,488 Member
    lucerorojo wrote: »
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Momepro wrote: »
    Highly patatable and sugar are definitely two different categories, but if the cravings are specifically towards high sugar items, rather than greasy, salty, or just tasty, than the addiction is the sugar. I can easily eat myself sick with pixie sticks and sugar cubes, but though I absolutely love pizza, I'm not going to go out of my way to pigout on it, especially if I don't feel great.
    Someone else may be addicted to the highly palatable, or high carb, or spicy or salty items. Just like someone can be addicted to heroin AND cocaine, but not necessarily Vicodine or alchohol. Another might be addicted to more than one category. In my case, it is the sugar.

    To call it a sugar addiction because you eat too much candy but not too much fruit is like saying an alcoholic is addicted to beer but not whiskey. If the issue is sugar, you'd go for bananas as fast as you'd go for a twinkie because the substance is in both, just like alcohol is in both wine and whiskey.
    Does your "addiction" cause you to overeat fruit or does fruit satisfy your cravings for sweets? If no to either question, you are not addicted to sugar. You just eat too much of the foods you like because you like them.

    I'm not a scientist, so you can "woo" this if you want, but the difference between fruit and and refined/processed sweets, is the type of sugar and also that the fruit has fiber and other things in it to mediate the sugar use/transport in the body.
    Uh, no. Sugar whether from fruits or processed is absorbed the SAME EXACT WAY. Broken down to simplest form and absorbed.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png
  • missblondi2u
    missblondi2u Posts: 851 Member
    I don't have anything terribly useful to add, but since I read this whole thread I'm just going to put in my two cents--

    I personally don't think sugar is addictive, but if someone wants to treat it that way to help control overeating sweets I have no issue with it. I was personally having trouble moderating my sweet-tooth, and decided to eliminate as much added sugar as I comfortably could. It was much easier than I expected, which makes me think that if many people who say they are addicted to sugar start cutting it out, they will find they were never truly addicted in the first place. YMMV

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