# sugar, obesity, and health



## Dr. Feelgood (Aug 25, 2014)

For years, I've been reading debates on dims about whether weight loss works, why, or why not. Read the scientific basis here.


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## Green Eyed Fairy (Aug 25, 2014)

After entering the land of diabetes a couple of years ago, I tend to believe him (also based upon other things read/seen).

There is a documentary called "Fat Head" that can be seen on Netflix. Interesting concepts of the government forcing grain products on the population with the old food pyramid to support the farming industry.

http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/2011/02/21/fat-head-on-netflix/

I found his hypothesis/opinions/humor intriguing and tend to concur.


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## Jah (Aug 26, 2014)

I do agree that sugar is like poison because my husband is diabetic and he became diabetic from being addicted to sugar and eating way too much of it. I think governments should do something about how unhealthy food is becoming. They could put laws and taxes in place to stop this as well enforce healthy eating education in schools (with a focus on what a balanced diet is and how to cook healthy food). But all they seem to care about instead, is dealing with it by fat shaming.


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## Tracyarts (Aug 26, 2014)

You really don't realize how much added sugar and starch is out there in the food supply until you start having to avoid it. Once you start reading every package label and researching every restaurant's nutritional information, you quickly learn that this is a serious problem. 

Trips to the supermarket involve putting more items back on the shelf than into my basket. Restaurant visits involve navigating a minefield of sugar-based glazes, sauces, and dressings and usually settling for a grilled chicken salad with whatever dressing has the least sugar in it. 

At least the endocrinologist has an arsenal of pills and injections to help minimize the damage. Otherwise a lot of people would well and truly fucked.


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## agouderia (Aug 26, 2014)

Tracyarts said:


> You really don't realize how much added sugar and starch is out there in the food supply until you start having to avoid it. Once you start reading every package label and researching every restaurant's nutritional information, you quickly learn that this is a serious problem.



This.

What the whole 'sugar is the devil' debate in essence boils down to is neither news nor rocket science: Processed food is what is bad for you. Make your own food as far as possible from scratch. Then even cake is okay for you, because a home made cake with a good recipe contains only a fraction of the sugar an industrial cake does.

Anybody who knows anything about cooking will know: 
In processed food you have 2 options as flavor carriers that at the same time stabilize the product and increase shelf life - fat or sugar.

After fat was outlawed in the 70's/80's in the cholestrol/heart disease/weight gain craze, food producers turned to sugar. Which for them had the agreeable side effect, that sugar was the even cheaper ingredient.

I don't believe in the option of banning sugar/starch in products by law, because food producers who want to make a profit will look for another cheap 'filler' in their processed food - with who knows which harmful effects that will have. 

The only thing that helps is education, teaching people from childhood on about ingredients and nutrition, using consumer power to outlaw the worst offenders in processed foods. 
It works for all sort of PC causes - why not for the actual product?


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## loopytheone (Aug 26, 2014)

I think the type of sugar and the context of the food/drink is really important as well. This is just a hypothesis, I don't have any science-journal standard evidence to back it up but I honestly don't think eating fruit and eating chocolate has the same effect on the body. The human body is better designed to digest and process certain foods, we are still mysterious in terms of digestion and food processing inside the body and I hope in time that will be better understood.

Also, I feel your pain about putting things back all the time. I am dairy intolerant, intolerant to something in grains (wheat, corn, barley etc) and vegetarian. I eat a lot of vegetables and do quite a bit of home baking but it can be very frustrating trying to find things to eat as even 'free from' foods are often full of corn starch and whey powder and they like.


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## Dr. Feelgood (Aug 26, 2014)

loopytheone said:


> I think the type of sugar and the context of the food/drink is really important as well.



You're quite right. There are a lot of sugars out there, and a lot _more_ things that break down into sugars when they're digested. The problem is not so much the sugar/starch as how quickly it breaks down into glucose: if it breaks down slowly, your body has time to deal with it, but if it breaks down quickly, it calls for your body to produce a whole lot of insulin fast. My doctor told me that repeating these alternating jolts of sugar and insulin can lead to insulin intolerance and, eventually, diabetes. As agouderia pointed out, refined flours and sugars present a problem because they've been stripped of various nutrients that can slow down the process of breaking down the complex carbohydrates into sugar. Eating whole grain breads and cereals gives your body more time to digest these sugars and starches.


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## Rojodi (Sep 2, 2014)

On the other hand, eating more protein isn't healthy either. Some people can't digest protein well, whether animal or vegetable. 

High Fructose Corn Syrup is the major contributor to my diabetes, genetics and a small case of pancreatitis due to some prescribed steroids the others.


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## Paul (Sep 2, 2014)

Not everyone agrees with Robert Lustg's research and his conclusions. Here is a review of Lustg's book _Fat Chance:_

SCIENTIFIC REVIEW OF ROBERT LUSTGS FAT CHANCE
by Mark Kern, Phd, RD CSSD
Professor of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences at San Diego State University

http://sweetenerstudies.com/sites/d...s/Scientific-Review-of-Lustigs-Fat-Chance.pdf

Dr. Kern concludes his review with this summary:


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## Jah (Sep 2, 2014)

I disagree with that review. I think it is possible to limit refined flours and sugars. I think it would be very hard to cut them out completely but certainly not hard to limit them to small amounts. I know people who have done it due to health problems. I've also hugely reduced my intake of them for years.


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## Rojodi (Sep 3, 2014)

Most of all, read labels.

A serving of whole wheat bread is ONE slice
A serving of white bread is TWO slices


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## Dr. Feelgood (Sep 3, 2014)

I've heard of a number of scientific authorities, but the 'Academy for Nutrition and Dietetics' is a new one on me. I couldn't find them online, but there's an Academy OF Nutrition and Dietetics (same people? different group?) that publishes a bunch of online articles about eating right and is touting a book about how the key to health is eating only alkaline foods (or else never eating them; one or the other, anyway), which seems at odds with the citation from them in the review. It all feels a little odd, and I can't help wondering if there's money (maybe sugar industry money?) involved...


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## loopytheone (Sep 4, 2014)

I think both the article and the review of it are valid. In the original article the guy is stating his opinons/theories based on evidence available to him but as the review points out this is just his opinion on things. Nutrition tends to have a lot of contradictory studies, not least because studies in this area are often funded by food or diet/health companies who are trying to find something to show what they want to hear rather than objective evidence. I think everybody's opinion on healthy eating is valid and up to them as we really don't know a great deal about what is good for the body and if it is good for every person or not.

(for instance, I have food intolerances and possible IBS, as do my family, and nothing makes us more sick than whole grain foods despite them being considered healthier for most people.)


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## supersizebbw (Sep 10, 2014)

This is a great thread OP and a great article too. Having gone off sugar for just over 3 weeks now for health reasons (the only sugar i get is from fruit now).....I am AMAZED at the benefits i've experienced....no headaches whatsoever, no debilitating PMS migraine which i've had for years, joint pain almost completely gone, alert and focussed throughout the day and the list goes on.

In all my life i cannot think of a single day i went without sugar till I quit it 3 weeks ago and my life and health has dramatically changed for the better.

I completely agree with that article, sugar really is poison.


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## seaturtle71 (Nov 3, 2015)

agouderia said:


> This.
> 
> What the whole 'sugar is the devil' debate in essence boils down to is neither news nor rocket science: Processed food is what is bad for you. Make your own food as far as possible from scratch. Then even cake is okay for you, because a home made cake with a good recipe contains only a fraction of the sugar an industrial cake does.
> 
> ...




I totally agree with making your own food. THIS IS THE KEY. I had to learn how to cook and now am somewhat good. I used to love processed foods like frozen pizza and such but it all has a chemical taste now. Once you get used to real ingredients the processed stuff tastes like shit.


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## seaturtle71 (Mar 28, 2016)

I think it depends on your genetics. I have always eaten sugar. Every day of my life. When I was a kid I used to eat boxes of sugar cubes. My sugar levels have always been normal.


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## danbsc29630 (Jun 11, 2016)

0 sugar and less than 20 carbs per day. Been doing this for 11 months so far. My brain functions now.


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