Sugar and Carbs

[Lark]

I was watching a TV show the other night which was a kind of celebrity reality TV idea and one of them talked about some advice they had about diet and that they used periodically when aiming to lose weight, I dont necessarily put much stead in the opinion of celebrities so I thought I'd throw it out there for discussion.

They said that to lose weight you had to cut out sugar and carbs, sure, fine, that makes sense but they also stated that this included natural sugars, including all fruit and some sorts of veg, that was pretty new to me.

They had a friend who was eating fruit in order to lose weight and she was saying that she didnt believe that and that she was eating fruit, ie strawberries it was, in order to avoid eating Malteasers. To which he said how does your body tell the difference between fruit sugar and other sugars, that its all sugar.

That is correct, now I know there is difference between fast and slow releasing sugars, they dont all convert to glucose at the same speeds and influence blood glucose and metabolism at the same paces, processed sugar cane is still the devil but I do wonder if there isnt some truth in what the guy was saying. It would certainly stop me trying to eat my 5 a day of fruit and veg.

 

[Norrsken]

Westerners are definitely eating way too much carbs and sugars, both simple/refined and complex, and may be the reason why our weight and waist lines are growing upward steadily over the decades. I'm not saying we should forgo these two things for the rest of our lives, but we do need to cut that shit down quite a ton. These days, Americans think a typical day of eating should be like the following below.

Breakfast: Pancakes. Or toast. Or cereal. Coffee with sweet n' low or another sugar variant. Maybe eggs, but don't be so indulgent, because cholesterol and witchcraft!
Lunch: Sandwich. Or a wrap or burrito. Or soup of some kind with noodles in it. Diet soda. Iceberg salad with those shit-tier croutons in it.
Snack: Potato chips or pretzels.
Dinner: Pasta. Or some kind of rice dish from a Chinese takeout service. Or hamburgers with fries. Or spaghetti. Diet soda or lots of alcohol like beer.
Dessert: You don't wanna know.

Of course, not everyone's typical diet is like the above, but it is painfully comment that even I would notice the trends. Truthfully, the whole zero carb/keto thing is something I'm only going to follow until I hit my goals and then do a more moderate diet so that I can allow more carbs in it, but not too much like I used to live like before. There's a place for veggies and fruits and hell, even a small bowl of white rice is not going to kill you. It's a balancing act.

 

[cascadeco]

I mean, I imagine fad diets will always be around, and it certainly is a fad right now to try to eliminate almost all natural sugars - including as OP says, fruits, honey, and so on, and yes, those people who are on those fad diets of eliminating all carbs will also try to rid themselves of a lot of veggies as well.

My thought -- -- there is a lot of garbage and bad science out there when it comes to the marketing of diets, but people buy into them. Too, many people going on these 'diets' are not in them for the long haul --- I mean the reality is if you want to lose weight and *keep it off*, you have to accept it's a permanent lifestyle/diet change. But I think a lot of people don't really get that.

I've always felt a healthy lifestyle, which includes diet, is in the end about balance - don't overindulge in any one thing. With that, though -- yes, what the western diet had become by the 80's/90's was mega carbs, mega processed sugars (corn syrup is a big culprit), mega processed foods -- none of which I'd say is really natural, particularly healthy, or, well, balanced. And there are definitely foods that do our bodies virtually no good whatsoever.

I've lost weight -- without even wanting to -- by virtue of having to go gluten free about two years ago. Thus my carb intake is less than it had been, and also I end up eating a lot less processed sugars as well, since many of the quick and easy carbs I used to eat had a lot of sugar content as well.

 

[Zhaylin]

Corn Syrup and a lessening of activity have been the primary culprits of my weight gain over the years.
There for a while, I couldn't even tell you what water tasted like, lol. All I drank was Coke.

I come from a family of diabetics. They've always lamented that sugar is sugar (except for the fake stuff). Be it in candy or fruit form, they always had to be very careful. And then there's the stuff that turns into sugar (pastas etc), which they complained about too.

My body is weird and hates me. I can't eat fiber (gastroparesis). I can't eat most fruit (reflux). I can't eat chocolate and many sweets (reflux AND gastroparesis). What I CAN eat is most processed garbage. Unless I can pop it into the microwave, I haven't cooked anything in about a decade. I have very little problems with fast food, which have made up most of my dinners for years.

My typical diet:
Breakfast: Yogurt
Snack: handful of chips or crackers
Lunch: Nothing
Dinner: Burger King Meal deal- 2 jr. Chicken sandwiches, large fries, large frozen coke (I eat the fries, and one sandwich, drink the drink)
c. 4 hours later, I eat the other sandwich. OR, I give the sandwich away and have a yogurt drink at bedtime.

I'm starting my liquid diet again, though, on Monday. I trust cane sugar, so I'll drink and eat stuff with that as an ingredient. No corn syrup though. Read soup can labels some time. It's scary how many of them are loaded with sweeteners and corn syrup.

 

[Maou]

I was watching a TV show the other night which was a kind of celebrity reality TV idea and one of them talked about some advice they had about diet and that they used periodically when aiming to lose weight, I dont necessarily put much stead in the opinion of celebrities so I thought I'd throw it out there for discussion.

They said that to lose weight you had to cut out sugar and carbs, sure, fine, that makes sense but they also stated that this included natural sugars, including all fruit and some sorts of veg, that was pretty new to me.

They had a friend who was eating fruit in order to lose weight and she was saying that she didnt believe that and that she was eating fruit, ie strawberries it was, in order to avoid eating Malteasers. To which he said how does your body tell the difference between fruit sugar and other sugars, that its all sugar.

That is correct, now I know there is difference between fast and slow releasing sugars, they dont all convert to glucose at the same speeds and influence blood glucose and metabolism at the same paces, processed sugar cane is still the devil but I do wonder if there isnt some truth in what the guy was saying. It would certainly stop me trying to eat my 5 a day of fruit and veg.

Oh yes, things like juice have more sugar in it than a soda. You don't really need "sugar", as you get your energy from other things. You shouldn't eat that many carbs either, but you have to eat some form of fiber. My BF's mom (who is a personal trainer) suggests only eating carbs in the morning to kick start your metabolism. Then eat healthy things like fish, veggies, and some dairy like greek yogurt or whole milk etc throughout the day. Dinner should be the smallest meal, and should contain lots of protein. Protein is slow burning, and will get you through the night. Because if you eat carbs at night, your body doesn't need it and stores it as fat.(its why they say never immediately go to sleep after eating) Some fruits are very good for you, like cranberries and blueberries. Just make sure they are fresh, never processed. The low carb/sugar diet is Keto. There is a reason they were entertaining it for mandatory military diet. It does work for weight loss.

 

[Yuurei]

Sugar is sugar. Fruit is preferable because it has other good things with the sugar, unlike things like soda and fruit juice which are JUST sugar.

I'm fortunate in that I have just never been a fan of sweet in general. I'm never a fan of extreme dieting. I don't think it's ever necessary to completely cut out anything ( aside from things like poisons) even a little saturated fat here and there wont kill you.

For a while I tried cutting back ( way back, but not entirely) on carbs. Lost about 20 lbs in 3 months. Could probably lose more if I did that again but trying to cook for myself and a very picky husband sans carbs requires too much effort and imagination. I'm happy with where I'm at anyway.

 

[Agent Washington]

Sugar is sugar - carb is carb. At the end of the day carbs will convert into fat if you don't expand the calories. But there certainly is a qualitative difference in snacking on strawberries instead of maltesers... For one, it's probably going to have less calories per cup. Second, strawberries have antioxidants, which I assume maltesers don't.

Stuff like bananas are going to be high in calories and sugar, too, so the type of fruit/veggie that should be snacked on is obviously well, something less calorie-heavy.

I've quit smoking and started taking medication for other problems, which led to weight gain... Ughhhhhh... ... Definitely need to cut down on bread and other things that are just pure carbs. But yeah, fruits in general are expensive compared to processed sugar and I'll go nuts eating the same one or two kinds of fruits every day.

I really need a cheapskate's guide to eating healthy... With ten ways to cook the same things so that you fool your brain into thinking it's eating something new everyday.

 

[Luminous]

Sugar is sugar - carb is carb. At the end of the day carbs will convert into fat if you don't expand the calories. But there certainly is a qualitative difference in snacking on strawberries instead of maltesers... For one, it's probably going to have less calories per cup. Second, strawberries have antioxidants, which I assume maltesers don't.

Stuff like bananas are going to be high in calories and sugar, too, so the type of fruit/veggie that should be snacked on is obviously well, something less calorie-heavy.

I've quit smoking and started taking medication for other problems, which led to weight gain... Ughhhhhh... ... Definitely need to cut down on bread and other things that are just pure carbs. But yeah, fruits in general are expensive compared to processed sugar and I'll go nuts eating the same one or two kinds of fruits every day.

I really need a cheapskate's guide to eating healthy... With ten ways to cook the same things so that you fool your brain into thinking it's eating something new everyday.

Dark chocolate has tons of antioxidants. And bananas only have a little over 100 calories. In my opinion, it's stuff like white rice and wonder bread that are the worst, with little nutritional value.

 

[Lexicon]

For those trying to incorporate whole grains into their diets, but hate the taste of dark wheat, might I suggest:

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/king-arthur-white-whole-wheat-flour-5-lb

 

[Agent Washington]

Dark chocolate has tons of antioxidants. And bananas only have a little over 100 calories. In my opinion, it's stuff like white rice and wonder bread that are the worst, with little nutritional value.

Unfortunately, rice and bread are the cheapest...

But that should leave me to eat bananas without guilt

 

[Virtual ghost]

I can only share my two cents. I was never fat, I never became obsessed with diets and never bought a single gym term or equipment. Which is because I do the calorie math and stick to my local wisdom, completely ignoring everything trendy.


If your metabolism is at least generally healthy you can eat everything but the key is in dosage and more importantly the calories actually have to be spent at the end of day. As long as you are spending energy you can to some degree eat high calorie food. So for me the logic of "diet cults" is fundamentally wrong since they all want to cut calories instead of spending more. What is fundamental mistake on many levels since body needs physical activity to function properly regardless of diet and sunlight is needed to drive certain chemical processes in the body. Therefore if you cut so many types of food completely out, reduce calories to minimum and stay inside the only thing you can really expect is slowing down of metabolism and then you will get depressed ... and you will become static and eat carbs out of depression.


Therefore if you want out I suggest long walks, camping/hiking or manual labor of fixing something. Since spending calories must not feel like a chore and it has to be a side-effect of your life style. I personally go for few hour walks on very regular basis, go to mountains or islands (and roam there) or I am fixing some family property ... and through that I maintain my weight/satisfaction. Although I don't consume anything in fast food restaurants, plus I drink minimal quantity of juice, soda and beer. Since those have so much calories/sugar that you can't really be none fat if you consume plenty of those and have a 21th century lifestyle.

 

[Yuurei]

For those trying to incorporate whole grains into their diets, but hate the taste of dark wheat, might I suggest:

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/king-arthur-white-whole-wheat-flour-5-lb

I’m suprised at how much I like quinoa. I actually preo rice.

 

[Lexicon]

I’m suprised at how much I like quinoa. I actually preo rice.

Quinoa is awesome. It soaks up seasonings really well. One of those things I always forget to buy. I first tried it in some Kashi frozen dinner. Nice change up from brown rice, sometimes.

 

[Yuurei]

Quinoa is awesome. It soaks up seasonings really well. One of those things I always forget to buy. I first tried it in some Kashi frozen dinner. Nice change up from brown rice, sometimes.

I use it in Paella a lot. My favorite simple side is quinoa with Parmesan and mushrooms.

 

[rav3n]

The joke about keto is that most who adopt keto, never go into keto since their consumption rarely drops below 20 gms of starch/sugar. If you're going to attempt it, make sure you consume a liberal amount of fat in your diet, which includes fatty meat, etc. since it's key to cognition.

Low carb and keto diets work better for males than females. I personally wouldn't cut fruit because of the vitamins/antioxidents.