Sugar is bad for you

[original mungerville]

Just waiting for that special hard core reader to come in here and brag they don't eat any sugar and subsist on rocks and dirt, but pure rocks and diet, none of that processed crap.

 

Anything in excess is bad, food in moderation is fine. But what is moderation?

 

Years ago I lived the classic unhealthy life. I ate too much, sat too much, ate out for lunch and felt like crap even thought I didn't know it at the time. I had a switch in my job where I could work at home. I started to eat less and work out, suddenly I was losing weight. Took about a year and lost 45 lbs that I've kept off. I was skinny and athletic up until I entered an office. I have a natural athletic inclination, I look at my overweight period as the anomaly.

 

Co-workers asked me what my secret was. There is no secret, hundreds of small life changes compounded over a year is the secret. It sucked, but it worked. I went from being hungry at first to being satisfied. I eat a lot less now and am fine. I eat better too, I love veggies and fruit. If I have some desire to pig out I will do it on that. I figure after a run if I eat a bag of radishes or two apples and a head of broccoli that I'm not doing my body much harm. 

 

A weird thing happened though. As my body reverted to normal I will now feel terrible if I don't eat properly. If we go out of town for a few days and the host only eats out or has junk in their house I feel miserable by the end of the weekend. My body will get kicked out of line by unhealthy food or too much of it. I still enjoy sweets but after more than a handful of Starburst or some other candy I will have a stomach ache. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, just self regulation at work.

 

+1!  I can tell you exactly why I'm fat and overweight.  It has nothing to do with sugar, gluten, etc, but the fact that I do not eat a balanced diet and do not get enough exercise.  You eat too many calories and don't exercise at least three times a week, your body will slowly, if not over years, become unbalanced and your health will deteriorate.  It's as simple as that! 

 

Not that sugar is toxic, or whatever smoke people are blowing up your ass these days.  Anything in a large enough dose will kill you...even water!  Your body is self-regulating and a prime piece of technology...to call it a marvel of engineering is an understatement.

 

Yes, processed foods over the years have increased the amount of sugar and sodium levels in them.  But it all still comes down to a balanced diet, watching your total caloric intake and a moderate amount of exercise.  Those three things will take care of a whole host of other ills.

 

15 years ago, scientists and doctors said you shouldn't consume more than a few eggs a week.  Now, doctors and scientists are saying that eating a couple of eggs a day isn't an issue.  Red meat, coffee, sugar, salt, butter, alcohol, and whatever else go in and out of favour every decade.

 

The real problem isn't sugar or fat, but the sheer size of the portions we get these days.  It all started with Big Gulps and Supersized...7/11, Costco and McDonalds should all get the same amount of blame!  If you went to a restaurant 20-30 years ago, their dinner plate is today's appetizer plate, and today's dinner plate can hold twice as much food as back then.  A Big Mac used to be the biggest burger you could eat when I was a teenager...today it's about the same size as a fully-loaded "L'il Buddy Burger" at Five Guys!  That's the little burger at Five Guys...the one children order these days!

 

Even if you order something healthy at a restaurant, the portion size is huge.  So while you may be eating a nice salad, the total caloric value of that salad may be well over 1,000 calories.  A 7 oz steak, with vegetables and mashed potatoes is healthier and less than 2/3rds of the calories.  You could add a Coke and still come in under the salad.

 

And then you have all of the food porn that people love!  Inundated with food culture, and the fact that acquiring food gets easier and easier, while lifestyles are more and more sedentary, you can easily see why the world is becoming fat...and it isn't due to the sugar, salt, fat or gluten.  Cheers!       

 

Sorry Sanjeev, but I disagree with you here.  I have a desk job, spend an hour in my car, and don't exercise, yet I am no longer fat, no longer have typeII diabetes, no longer have fatty liver disease, no longer have high cholesterol, no longer have low HDL, no longer have high triglycerides, and I weight about what I did when I graduated high school after being obese for almost 20 years.  I lost 65 lbs in 2010-2011 and kept it off simply by changing what I was eating.  I haven't yet tried rocks or dirt, but I switched from an atrocious SAD (Standard American Diet) to a lowish carb paleo type diet.  I eat organic vegetables, quality meats (grass fed beef, local heritage breed pork, free range chicken, etc), my own free range eggs from my chickens, good fats (grass fed butter, MCT oil, non-hydrogenated lard, coconut oil, palm oil, olive oil), very little fruits, nuts, seeds, and legumes,  and no grains.  I drink only unsweetened coffee/tea or water.

 

If you change your diet without exercising you can get healthy, if you exercise without changing your diet you can't.

 

EDIT:  Of course it is probably better to do both.

 

I agree, I have always exercised. A lot when I was younger and I could eat anything. But, only since I started watching what and how much I eat, did I take the pounds off. You just don't burn that many calories when you exercise, if you eat shit, you put those back on in the first 45 minutes after exercise with your first bad meal. (Unless of course you are swimming where you get the double whammy of calories from exercise plus calories from thermo-dynamic loss of body heat into the water - there you burn a shit load of calories.)

[shalab]

Anyone has opinions on fasting? I have heard fasting has many benefits, the wikipedia article covers it:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasting

 

[original mungerville]

I'm generally eating the same as rkbabang.

 

The exception is 30 minutes after a very intense resistance workout (about 3 times a week) I eat pretty much any type of carbs I feel like - cereal, pizza, etc. - as the body can handle the overload of those bad carbs at that point without them being converted to fat. And once a week, I'll have a cheat day.

 

Between the 3 X 30 minute cheats, and the once a week cheat day, its actually quite easy to maintain - which I have for the better part of the past 3 years. I feel like I can eat pretty much anything, just have to watch the timing - and obviously the overall quantity of bad food taken in is a fraction of what it was.

 

After a while, I dropped the cheat day as I no longer needed it.

[nodnub]

Thank you twacowfca!

 

My experience is that, since I have stoped eating pasta, bread, and desserts, I can shape my body much more easily and effectively, and I can run faster and longer than ever before! ;)

 

Gio

 

Gio, Now you have made me sad because those are some of the foods that are best to eat in Italy!  Well, a little bit sad. I also  stopped eating pasta and gelato... but I make a lot of exceptions when I am in Italy.  I think it would be hard for me if I was living there!

[giofranchi]

Gio, Now you have made me sad because those are some of the foods that are best to eat in Italy!  Well, a little bit sad. I also  stopped eating pasta and gelato... but I make a lot of exceptions when I am in Italy.  I think it would be hard for me if I was living there!

 

Ahahah!! You are right!! Bread and pasta and gelato in Italy are truly delicious! And I love them very much! And the great majority of people actually cannot stop form eating them!

 

But you know what I am realizing more and more as time passes? I have still to find something my will cannot control. I don’t know why for me it is so easy, while most other people seem to have such an hard time controlling themselves… But the fact still remains: when I set myself on doing something, I just do it… when I set myself on quitting something, I just quit it…

 

Boring?… Maybe!… It has its advantages too. ;)

 

Gio

 

[rkbabang]

For anyone who can't get enough of this topic be sure to read through all of these threads too:  :)

 

Seduced by Food: Obesity and the Human Brain

 

Losing weight - resurrecting the old thread

 

Do You Really Need This?

[KinAlberta]

Time magazine had this piece last year on fat.

 

Ending the War on Fat

June 12, 2014

 

 

http://time.com/2863227/ending-the-war-on-fat/

[twacowfca]

Wow! Thank you very much, twacowfca!... That study on the effect of resveratrol in mice is alarming indeed!... Guess I have to quit supplements (with the exception of vitamin D!).

 

And thank you for the recommendation of Blue Zones by Dan Beutner, I am ordering it on Amazon right now! :)

 

Cheers,

 

Gio

 

I came across that gem about resveratrol when I tapped into the messaging back and forth of the scientists who conducted the study. The study rests showed a modest benefit when the rats were given a relatively small amount if resveratrol. That benefit disappeared when a somewhat larger amount was given. The response to those predetermined amounts were reported in the peer review journal.

 

Apparently, the researchers, who may have been interested in the possibility of developing a prescription drug based on resveratrol, were surprised at the adverse results after increasing the dose. They decided to do a side experiment with an even larger dose. That's when all the rats experienced premature death, all from cancer.

[EdWatchesBoxing]

Just to counter to the SuperSize Me results. There was an Iowa Teacher who conducted his own experiment with McDonald's. He had different rules, since he limited his daily caloric intake and started exercising, but the results are very interesting.

 

http://youtu.be/wST4NxoiDcc

 

Keeping it simple may be the best approach at first: calories in/calories out. You burn more than you take in, you're definitely going to lose weight. Of course, exercising will also help with the weight loss, but there are many other benefits to exercise as well. I also believe that the emphasis on low carb, high fat or protein isn't necessary, but does help people limit their caloric intake. I've heard people around me swear off sugar because the paleo diet worked so well for them. I think that's good for them, but you do not have to follow that type of diet to succeed in losing weight and maintaining your health.

 

I think that the different opinions in this thread can all be correct, because there are many successful ways to tackle this challenge.

 

I exercise a lot. I've been doing bodyweight exercise, running, heavy bag work, and swimming. Currently training for a half-marathon and I also cross-train. So I'm exercising 6 days a week. I try to eat good natural food, lots of veggies and fruit. However, I also throw in some sweets, a lot of carbs (love rice and bread) for an energy boost the night before a run. On my rest day I am mindful of not overeating because I don't want my next workout to be very difficult. My thoughts: screw motivation, routine creates habit and this all requires discipline. So, I think discipline is the most important thing. I feel much stronger now, nearing 40, than I did when I was 20. My main concern now is to avoid injury by not overdoing my training!

 

I rarely post here because I've been spending a lot of time lurking reddit fitness, running, and swimming. Check it out if you're interested. Lot's of interesting stuff to read.

[Cageyone]

Dr. Mark Hyman, MD has written a number of recent books including "The UltraMind Solution" documenting a lot of the science behind how relatively simple changes in diet, supplementation (and the negating of a variety of environmental factors) can have an absolutely profound impact in controlling a wide variety of chronic diseases, including even autism and dementia.

 

We have had relevant first hand experience in that 17 years ago my wife was suddenly and almost entirely immobilized by rheumatoid arthritis. The first "traditional" rheumatologist we saw said that her symptoms were so advanced that she would be in a wheelchair within 5 years.  Yet today we just spent 4 hours hiking a mountain trail in southern Arizona!

 

We had the incredible good fortune of finding an MD in 1998 who, like Dr. Hyman, had had personal experience with the incredible power of diet, supplementation etc. to reverse their own serious chronic disease issues.  The doctor immediately took my wife off all sugar, all wheat products and all dairy for a period of several months. A wide variety of vitamin and mineral deficiencies were identified and corrected.  Chelation therapy using the amino acid EDTA was used to eliminate an overload of both mercury and lead, and intravenous hydrogen chloride was used to help control the general level of inflammation.  My wife still needs to watch her diet to stay away from gluten and she continues on a vitamin and supplement regimen. But she has more energy than I do and was setting the pace on today's hike that had a cumulative altitude gain of over 1,200 feet starting at an elevation of around 4,000!

[Cageyone]

Slight correction to my last post!  It was Hydrogen Peroxide (not hydrogen chloride) is the natural anti inflammatory agent that my wife's doctor used intravenously to help control inflammation.

[txlaw]

Here's Dr. Lustig's latest mini medical school talk:

 

It's long, but it's worth watching.