Can i eat sugar ?
RelentlessWyll
Posts: 13 Member
Hello guys
Sorry for asking this silly question I imagine it must be redundant for those of you who've been here for a while, but I'm fairly new to all this and although I've gathered some very useful information thanks to the work of nutritionist experts like Lyle McDonald or Alan aragon, I haven't still figured the reason why sugar is cristallizing so much fear attention or focus among the people who try to lose weight.
I'm currently on a cut following the IIFYM "diet" although I don't really consider to be a real diet since I can theoretically eat what I want as long as it fits my macros, but of course I don't do it and I'm quite picky in the type of nutrients I chose to eat largely prefering organic non transformed products since it provides more overall macros, micros and are generally health wise a much better option than their synthetic behalf.
Still the question of sugar in all this remains, as a newb dieter I suspect it to be an "enemy" that I should avoid but since I'm taking this whole thing more rationnally and looking only at it's caloric and macros input, some spoons of white sugar throughout the day doesn't seem to pose that much of a trouble.
Is it tho ? Need your advices !
Sorry for asking this silly question I imagine it must be redundant for those of you who've been here for a while, but I'm fairly new to all this and although I've gathered some very useful information thanks to the work of nutritionist experts like Lyle McDonald or Alan aragon, I haven't still figured the reason why sugar is cristallizing so much fear attention or focus among the people who try to lose weight.
I'm currently on a cut following the IIFYM "diet" although I don't really consider to be a real diet since I can theoretically eat what I want as long as it fits my macros, but of course I don't do it and I'm quite picky in the type of nutrients I chose to eat largely prefering organic non transformed products since it provides more overall macros, micros and are generally health wise a much better option than their synthetic behalf.
Still the question of sugar in all this remains, as a newb dieter I suspect it to be an "enemy" that I should avoid but since I'm taking this whole thing more rationnally and looking only at it's caloric and macros input, some spoons of white sugar throughout the day doesn't seem to pose that much of a trouble.
Is it tho ? Need your advices !
2
Replies
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Unless you have a medical reason to avoid sugar (diabetes or some such issue), there is no reason to fear sugar. Sugar is just the current boogeyman in the diet world, just like fat was in the 80's.13
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I think everything in moderation. Refined sugar provides no nutrients whatsoever, but if most of your diet is coming from nutrient dense, whole foods then then a bit of refined sugar won’t derail you.3
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Sugar is not recommended in a low carb lifestyle, so I don't use it unless I'm determined to make a recipe where sugar plays a role that can't be fulfilled by erythritol, sucralose, stevia or xylitol. The substitutes don't affect my blood sugar. Some recipes require sugar to provide a sticky consistency; it also provides moisture and improves browning. But just adding sugar because I want a sweet taste... no. I think your dentist would say, "no."17
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There is nothing inherently bad about sugar during your diet. In fact many dieters (like myself), find sugar filled fruits to be a great part of their diet. It keeps me feeling more full than eating a comparable amount of calories in fat or protein, and fruits are filled with nutrients. You are fine to have as much or as little of it as fits your goal.
Even with added sugar, it is okay as long as you take into consideration a couple of things to watch out for. The first is nutrient crowding. Meaning that if you eat a ton of added sugar, you are likely getting it from foods that don't have a lot of nutrients, and are also not getting your other macros of fat and protein. But in general, too much of anything can have this issue. So moderation is a good idea to a certain extent.
The other thing is that sometimes foods with added sugar can be calorie dense and not very filling, so you may find that by eating a lot of added sugar, you are still hungry and it makes you prone to overeating. But this is also a preference thing that varies from person to person. So if you are finding added sugar makes you hungrier, maybe it is not the best fit for you. But if it does not make you hungrier, then there is no issues with it.
I am an if it fits your macros guy. I worry first off about my calorie goal, then second about hitting close to my macro targets. Third is trying to get a good source of nutrition. I don't worry about sugar. I don't even bother to track it. I don't eat a ton of sweets, but I do eat other things than some people would consider "junk." But I've lost over 30 pounds this way, and am getting more nutrients than ever.8 -
unless you have a medical issue requiring restritive sugar intake - yes you can eat sugar.
best to eat a balanced diet which should lead to not OVER eating sugar but few people are eating THAT badly.4 -
Again I wanna thank you all guys for your quick support, really feels great to have this kind of backup around !
So I'm definitely tracking sugar since it can add up to your total calories quite quickly considering that with only 2tbsp I'm already looking at 90 kcal so yeah better keep that in check.
I've used it today for my mashed natural strawverry juice with water, really made it better.
Overall I don't think I have a problem with sugar health wise, although there are predispositions to diabetes in regard to my relatives (uncles mostly), I don't think that using it wisely like that would ever pose a problem.
Again thank you guys and best of luck
- 2.7 kg since I've started using this app btw
) 2 -
So once I start on a item that has sugar, I can't put it down or away.
Oreo cookies
Cookies
Ice Cream
Milk shake
They all have sugar, but for me, once I start, I can't stop..
If you can't stop that's great5 -
Commander_Keen wrote: »So once I start on a item that has sugar, I can't put it down or away.
Oreo cookies
Cookies
Ice Cream
Milk shake
They all have sugar, but for me, once I start, I can't stop..
If you can't stop that's great
Every one of those items also contains fat, so you'd be just as easily describing the list if you said "on a[n] item that has fat".
Now a piece of fruit would be a decent pattern discerner as it is fair amounts of sugar but low in fat: can you stop eating fruit? If so, the best next hypothesis would require testing if you can put down vegetable oil or lard...8 -
magnusthenerd wrote: »Commander_Keen wrote: »So once I start on a item that has sugar, I can't put it down or away.
Oreo cookies
Cookies
Ice Cream
Milk shake
They all have sugar, but for me, once I start, I can't stop..
If you can't stop that's great
Every one of those items also contains fat, so you'd be just as easily describing the list if you said "on a[n] item that has fat".
Now a piece of fruit would be a decent pattern discerner as it is fair amounts of sugar but low in fat: can you stop eating fruit? If so, the best next hypothesis would require testing if you can put down vegetable oil or lard...
I can stop eating/drinking
Milk
Yogurt
chicken
Beef
Those have fat...4 -
For dieting, with the exception of having a reasonable calorie deficit, any question that may come to your mind that begins with "can I" usually has the answer of "yes". There is this baggage most dieters carry from previous attempts to control their weight, there is misinformation and a lot of noise. You don't need to ask for permission to do anything, and you don't need to fear anything (be it sugar, foods that aren't organic, fast food, processed food, or anything else). Feared foods tend to be more attractive, but once you normalize them, moderating them becomes easier, even if you still overeat them sometimes. After the 3rd ice cream yesterday it's out of my system, I doubt I will be craving another ice cream cone for a good while because it's just something I wanted, and now I don't. If it was something I felt was forbidden, I would obsess about it daily and the 3 ice cream cones in one day scenario would happen several times a week.
It's a major change of mindset to teach yourself to just do the things you want and throw away the idea that if it's not miserable it won't be effective, but it's will contribute to the longevity of your results because you're not consistently trying to reach the bar you set for yourself and failing. Have goals, not a set of limiting requirements.3 -
Commander_Keen wrote: »magnusthenerd wrote: »Commander_Keen wrote: »So once I start on a item that has sugar, I can't put it down or away.
Oreo cookies
Cookies
Ice Cream
Milk shake
They all have sugar, but for me, once I start, I can't stop..
If you can't stop that's great
Every one of those items also contains fat, so you'd be just as easily describing the list if you said "on a[n] item that has fat".
Now a piece of fruit would be a decent pattern discerner as it is fair amounts of sugar but low in fat: can you stop eating fruit? If so, the best next hypothesis would require testing if you can put down vegetable oil or lard...
I can stop eating/drinking
Milk
Yogurt
chicken
Beef
Those have fat...
OK, but you didn't answer the question about fruit. Many of the items that many people can't stop eating or can't moderate contain the hyperpalatable combination of fats and sugar. All of the ones you mentioned not being able to moderate have this combination, as magnusthenerd pointed out.
These kinds of foods can be a problem for many people. They are for me. But, I can moderate fruit just fine. And I really love fruit.4 -
Commander_Keen wrote: »magnusthenerd wrote: »Commander_Keen wrote: »So once I start on a item that has sugar, I can't put it down or away.
Oreo cookies
Cookies
Ice Cream
Milk shake
They all have sugar, but for me, once I start, I can't stop..
If you can't stop that's great
Every one of those items also contains fat, so you'd be just as easily describing the list if you said "on a[n] item that has fat".
Now a piece of fruit would be a decent pattern discerner as it is fair amounts of sugar but low in fat: can you stop eating fruit? If so, the best next hypothesis would require testing if you can put down vegetable oil or lard...
I can stop eating/drinking
Milk
Yogurt
chicken
Beef
Those have fat...
Milk and yogurt have sugar... So your first two items are going against your own criteria. I think you've established sugar simpliciter isn't the issue without answering the fruit question.6 -
Commander_Keen wrote: »magnusthenerd wrote: »Commander_Keen wrote: »So once I start on a item that has sugar, I can't put it down or away.
Oreo cookies
Cookies
Ice Cream
Milk shake
They all have sugar, but for me, once I start, I can't stop..
If you can't stop that's great
Every one of those items also contains fat, so you'd be just as easily describing the list if you said "on a[n] item that has fat".
Now a piece of fruit would be a decent pattern discerner as it is fair amounts of sugar but low in fat: can you stop eating fruit? If so, the best next hypothesis would require testing if you can put down vegetable oil or lard...
I can stop eating/drinking
Milk
Yogurt
chicken
Beef
Those have fat...
OK, but you didn't answer the question about fruit. Many of the items that many people can't stop eating or can't moderate contain the hyperpalatable combination of fats and sugar. All of the ones you mentioned not being able to moderate have this combination, as magnusthenerd pointed out.
These kinds of foods can be a problem for many people. They are for me. But, I can moderate fruit just fine. And I really love fruit.
Apples no problem.
Water Melon - Problem
Pine Apple - Problem
5 -
Commander_Keen wrote: »magnusthenerd wrote: »Commander_Keen wrote: »So once I start on a item that has sugar, I can't put it down or away.
Oreo cookies
Cookies
Ice Cream
Milk shake
They all have sugar, but for me, once I start, I can't stop..
If you can't stop that's great
Every one of those items also contains fat, so you'd be just as easily describing the list if you said "on a[n] item that has fat".
Now a piece of fruit would be a decent pattern discerner as it is fair amounts of sugar but low in fat: can you stop eating fruit? If so, the best next hypothesis would require testing if you can put down vegetable oil or lard...
I can stop eating/drinking
Milk
Yogurt
chicken
Beef
Those have fat...
Yogurt has sugar naturally. Humans tend to want to find patterns, but they're not always good at it. A simpler explanation would be: you have certain foods that you like, developed a habit of overeating them, and the anxiety you have around them helped cement your beliefs about them.6 -
RelentlessWyll wrote: »Hello guys
Sorry for asking this silly question I imagine it must be redundant for those of you who've been here for a while, but I'm fairly new to all this and although I've gathered some very useful information thanks to the work of nutritionist experts like Lyle McDonald or Alan aragon, I haven't still figured the reason why sugar is cristallizing so much fear attention or focus among the people who try to lose weight.
I'm currently on a cut following the IIFYM "diet" although I don't really consider to be a real diet since I can theoretically eat what I want as long as it fits my macros, but of course I don't do it and I'm quite picky in the type of nutrients I chose to eat largely prefering organic non transformed products since it provides more overall macros, micros and are generally health wise a much better option than their synthetic behalf.
Still the question of sugar in all this remains, as a newb dieter I suspect it to be an "enemy" that I should avoid but since I'm taking this whole thing more rationnally and looking only at it's caloric and macros input, some spoons of white sugar throughout the day doesn't seem to pose that much of a trouble.
Is it tho ? Need your advices !
No individual food or macro is "the enemy" unless it's poisonous or you're allergic to it (except maybe artificial trans fats?).
It's useful and important to get well-rounded overall nutrition, with adequate amounts of the essential macro- and micro-nutrients. In that context, an overall way of eating can be good or bad . . . but individual foods pretty much only fit your needs at a particular time by rounding out your diet . . . or they don't. Some of those nutrients can even come from non-organic transformed products, and it won't be deadly.
4 -
I put a teaspoon of sugar in my coffee every morning and eat a little bit of chocolate every day. Still lost 15-20 lb on MFP3
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RelentlessWyll wrote: »Hello guys
Sorry for asking this silly question I imagine it must be redundant for those of you who've been here for a while, but I'm fairly new to all this and although I've gathered some very useful information thanks to the work of nutritionist experts like Lyle McDonald or Alan aragon, I haven't still figured the reason why sugar is cristallizing so much fear attention or focus among the people who try to lose weight.
I'm currently on a cut following the IIFYM "diet" although I don't really consider to be a real diet since I can theoretically eat what I want as long as it fits my macros, but of course I don't do it and I'm quite picky in the type of nutrients I chose to eat largely prefering organic non transformed products since it provides more overall macros, micros and are generally health wise a much better option than their synthetic behalf.
Still the question of sugar in all this remains, as a newb dieter I suspect it to be an "enemy" that I should avoid but since I'm taking this whole thing more rationnally and looking only at it's caloric and macros input, some spoons of white sugar throughout the day doesn't seem to pose that much of a trouble.
Is it tho ? Need your advices !
@RelentlessWyll of course you can eat sugar but only you will be able to tell us where sugar is right for you or not when you do your own n=1 trials with and without sugar in your diet. Our weight and total health is a factor of our gut microbiome/microbiota make up. The kinds of calories we eat can to some degree can control the trillions of microbes living in our gut today. Without them we would get sick and die. With the wrong mix of gut microbes we can die prematurely. Their ratios seem to be for the most part is base on what we eat and that also can greatly vary from person to person and why you do not want to get eating advice off the web but from people that are looking at you, your lab work, family history, etc.
The link is for Info only and I will post the entire abstract so you do not even need to open the link. If any of the text that I made bold is of interest you then you go from there. One does not have to know the science behind what macros work best for weight management but I find it helpful personally.
https://journals.lww.com/co-clinicalnutrition/Abstract/2013/07000/Carbohydrates_and_the_human_gut_microbiota.14.aspx
"Purpose of review: Due to its scale and its important role in maintaining health, the gut microbiota can be considered as a ‘new organ’ inside the human body. Many complex carbohydrates are degraded and fermented by the human gut microbiota in the large intestine to both yield basic energy salvage and impact gut health through produced metabolites.
Recent findings: This review will focus on the gut microbes and microbial mechanisms responsible for polysaccharides degradation and fermentation in the large intestine. Gut microbes and bacterial metabolites impact the host at many levels, including modulation of inflammation, and glucose and lipid metabolisms.
Summary: A complex relationship occurs in the intestine between the human gut microbiota, diet and the host. Research on carbohydrates and gut microbiota composition and functionality is fast developing and will open opportunities for prevention and treatment of obesity, diabetes and other related metabolic disorders through manipulation of the gut ecosystem."
Different Ways Of Eating gives us a different gut microbiota composition. The work is so new it is not filtered down to the medical practices much yet but that does not stop one from following the research. I now understand there was no magic in my health improvements and the small reversing of my Ankylosing Spondylitis. I got off of all sugars and their substitutes as well as all forms of all grains in 2014 hoping for pain manage that was well underway in 30 days well before I lost the first pound of weight.
I now understand my new WOE that I started in 2014 is working so well because it lead to changes in my gut microbiome both quickly and long term. My 40 years of serious IBS went away by the sixth month on my current WOE and today at 68 I have better health and health markers than I did at 38.
While no one here can tell you what you can or cannot eat with validity yet over time you can figure it out through the process of elimination. Best of success.4
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