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[Davey Cakes]

Reading through these types of thread topics on GAF always make me want to scream. This country desperately needs an nutrition education system that isn't funded by companies out to make a quick buck.

"Sugar is poison" lol.

I love sugar. I have a huge sweet tooth. And I recognize that it makes a lot of things taste better.

That said, I think I'm reasonable for enjoying food items that don't have added sugar when added sugar would be entirely unnecessary.

This is a good start. At least calling for people to pay attention to sugar and not just calories is a step in the right direction.

I agree.

I guess I'll go to the yogurt/smoothie example again:

Think of single cups of yogurt, like Chobani. They have a 100 calorie version called "Simply 100." The regular kind actually only has 120 calories, and 20 calories is not a huge difference.

However, there are also 10 grams more of sugar in the 120 calorie version.

Another example of making something extra sweet and loading it with sugar for the sake of it. This is why I'd rather mix my own plain yogurt and fruit together. Just because something has a sweet element doesn't mean that sweetness has to be cranked to 11.

 

[RM8]

Why on earth is diet soda not the only soda available, or at least the norm? Those pics are ridiculous. I'm so glad I don't drink that stuff.

 

[0.1.1.2.3.5.8.13.21.34.55]

not that it's good for me, but the only time/way I drink pop is as follows:

 

[Rebel Leader]

& think of soda like this

I prefer cirucs peanuts

 

[Ray Wonder]

not that it's good for me, but the only time/way I drink pop is as follows:

Oh yeah I forgot that sometimes I'll have an entire 2L of coca cola with rum.

 

[Arials]

The WHO recommends 50g of sugar per day as an absolute maximum and 25g a day as a target. Researchers from University College London took a look at that recommendation and concluded that less than 14g per day should be the target and 25g should be set as a pragmatic absolute maximum (pragmatic because people would have to change their habits so much to even get down to 25g). ref

Why on earth is diet soda not the only soda available, or at least the norm?

Water should be the norm, high sugar foods/drinks should be seen as very occasional treats.

 

[Cloyster]

Why on earth is diet soda not the only soda available, or at least the norm? Those pics are ridiculous. I'm so glad I don't drink that stuff.

Because diet soda is disgusting.

 

[Vicetrailia]

Decent Video that's not long:

Why People Get Fat

So for the US diet, sugar and carbs need to be controlled. For the U.S. diet sugar is killing us, it's not a joke. Balanced diets are where we should be at, but first we gotta know what we're eating.

 

[Aiustis]

Why on earth is diet soda not the only soda available, or at least the norm? Those pics are ridiculous. I'm so glad I don't drink that stuff.

Because it's nasty.

 

[RM8]

Because diet soda is disgusting.

Because it's nasty.

As opposed to regular soda, lol.

 

[FStop7]

I searched the NYT article for the word "exercise" and it returned zero results.

 

[Messofanego]

so no soda ever basically

I mean, it's pretty easy to manage. I drink soda like just a few times in a year only on special occassions.

 

[DasRaven]

I searched the NYT article for the word "exercise" and it returned zero results.

You'll also find that most recipes don't include the terms "kettlebell" and "muscle-up" for the same reason.

 

[McDougles]

I searched the NYT article for the word "exercise" and it returned zero results.

Would be a weird topic for the FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION to cover.

 

[Vicetrailia]

I searched the NYT article for the word "exercise" and it returned zero results.

Exercising has other important benefits, but it won't fix obesity.

“In the past 30 years, as obesity has rocketed, there has been little change in physical activity levels in the western population. This places the blame for our expanding waistlines directly on the type and amount of calories consumed.”

“Members of the public are drowned by an unhelpful message about maintaining a ‘healthy weight’ through calorie counting, and many still wrongly believe that obesity is entirely due to lack of exercise.”

Given the worsening scale of obesity “let us bust the myth of physical activity and obesity. You cannot outrun a bad diet”

Exercising won't make you thin, but it'll make you fit. If you mitigate excess sugar and carbs you'll lose weight.

 

[RedSparc]

Well, going for cheaper foods makes more difficult to avoid garbage like HFCS, but that doesn't mean you are only left with Protein Cheerios.

Legumes are dirty cheap and easy to cook. Frozen vegetables can easily substitute fresh ones. Chicken is also very affordable. There's just a HUGE problem in the western world when it comes to food and education. Fast food being so readily available exacerbates it and makes poor people more at risk.

I don't spend more that 30 minutes per day in the kitchen and I cook most of my meals daily. All my meals are low on carbs, filling and very, very cheap. I also cook huge batches on the weekends (and they very rarely take more than a couple of hours) so I can keep a significant number of rations in the freezer for those days when I can't cook because of work. While I'm sure that some people don't even have the time for that, I belive the average citizen could greatly improve their health following some very basic guidelines.

It's cool that you have it figured out, but it's still naïve to speak as such that it denigrats those who don't, especially those less fortunate then you and I.

And it has less to do with food education by the individual and more to do with food production and supply. Things are changing and large corporations who control most of the food production in the states are feeling the pressure to change the kind of food they are providing. Largely due to the evidence over the last few decades on how bad low income food is to the health of individuals.

But a problem of food deserts exists, fresh food is not readily available to poor people. There are no trader joe's in the tenderloin.

It starts at big farm subsidies and the politicians who continue to fund the production of corn and soybean at the expense of the taxpayer all the while using a characature of a person like you to portray the judgement of rich liberals onto those less fortunate, albeit more gullible populous to get reelected.

 

[Funky Papa]

It's cool that you have it figured out, but it's still naïve to speak as such that it denigrats those who don't, especially those less fortunate then you and I.

....

It starts at big farm subsidies and the politicians who continue to fund the production of corn and soybean at the expense of the taxpayer all the while using a characature of a person like you to portray the judgement of rich liberals onto those less fortunate, albeit more gullible populous to get reelected.

Stop projecting.

I already recognized that some people may not be able to follow a healthy diet due to work or infrastructure problems such as food deserts, but education (or the lack of it) is by far the biggest culprit when it comes to obesity in the western world. The rest adds to it. Just dropping soft drinks altogether would have a tremendous impact in the public's health.

 

[Dusk Soldier]

Do you disagree in that 50 grams of sugar not coming from vegetables or fruits, per day, is way too much for the average adult? If so, I'd love to hear your reasons and why I need better nutrition education. Because the WHO goes further than that:

I can agree that people in general consume too much sugar, but 5 years ago it was too much carbs, 5 years before that it was too much fat, 5 years before that it was too much cholesterol, etc. etc.

Even though we keep finding and eliminating the "bad" foods from our diet people continue to get fatter and fatter.

People are literally posting things like sugar is poisonous to your body. Sugar! One of the most important nutrients and your bodies preferred source of energy is poison.

This is a good start. At least calling for people to pay attention to sugar and not just calories is a step in the right direction.

Have at it. Us folks avoiding sugar will continue to enjoy the myriad of health benefits while you scream your head off.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

It's cool that you have it figured out, but it's still naïve to speak as such that it denigrats those who don't, especially those less fortunate then you and I.

And it has less to do with food education by the individual and more to do with food production and supply. Things are changing and large corporations who control most of the food production in the states are feeling the pressure to change the kind of food they are providing. Largely due to the evidence over the last few decades on how bad low income food is to the health of individuals.

But a problem of food deserts exists, fresh food is not readily available to poor people. There are no trader joe's in the tenderloin.

It starts at big farm subsidies and the politicians who continue to fund the production of corn and soybean at the expense of the taxpayer all the while using a characature of a person like you to portray the judgement of rich liberals onto those less fortunate, albeit more gullible populous to get reelected.

Food deserts and existing farm subsidies are certainly a problem, but I think you're not recognizing how important food education is. It won't work for everyone--some people just don't care even if they have the knowledge that what they are doing is extremely harmful, but there's not much anyone can reasonably do without knowledge.

People are literally posting things like sugar is poisonous to your body. Sugar! One of the most important nutrients and your bodies preferred source of energy is poison.

The recommendation and accompanying article is talking about added sugar, like table sugar (sucrose) and high-fructose corn syrup, not carbohydrates in general, although a dramatic reduction in carbohydrates overall would do a great deal of good to most people. Anyway, your body can (and preferentially does so for a variety of reasons) use glucose for its energy needs. It can get it from carbohydrate sources and also synthesize it from protein. It also turns out that your body does just fine, and some parts of it even excel on non-glucose energy sources, but that's a more detailed discussion.

Either way, cutting out table sugar and HFCS is only going to benefit you.

 

[MiamiWesker]

Can someone translate this into cookies or chocolate ice cream?

How many chocolate chip cookies or ice cream scoops can I eat a day?

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

Lol you were mighty adamant on getting it in my head with your first reply saying "Daily wise. It absolutely is" Seems less like semantics and more like you're just wrong.

I'm just gonna throw out a super easy way to hit 50g without being monumentally lazy or eating like shit.

Breakfast
Apple: 23g
Walnuts:1g

Snack
2 coffees with 1 tsps sugar: 8g

Lunch
small orange: 13g
tuna sandwich: 4g

Dinner

Garden salad with grilled chicken: 8g
light italian dressing: 2g

Total sugar: 59 grams.

And that's with having like the most healthy dinner imaginable.

The goal is for Americans to limit added sugar to no more than 10 percent of daily calories, according to the proposed guidelines.

So, with rec'd for 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, it's probably means processed foods. I can't eat healthy if I have to eliminate whole fruits and vegetables.

 

[Ray Wonder]

So, with rec'd for 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, it's probably means processed foods. I can't eat healthy if I have to eliminate whole fruits and vegetables.

Yeah, I've already discussed my reasoning for including fruits in there. Also, I still haven't found out what the limit is for "real sugar" because there has to be one.

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

I searched the NYT article for the word "exercise" and it returned zero results.

For good reason. It takes 5 miles to run off a bottle of soda. You get abs in the kitchen.

 

[Funky Papa]

Yeah, I've already discussed my reasoning for including fruits in there. Also, I still haven't found out what the limit is for "real sugar" because there has to be one.

It seems a bit nebulous. Per Mashable:

The proposal, first proposed in July and currently under review, recommends that nutrition labels on packaged food include the amount of added sugars they contain. That’s any extra sugar that’s added to the ingredients in the food.

While the proposal, itself, doesn’t include a hard definition, other FDA guidelines identify an “added sugar” as a sugar or sugar-containing ingredient that’s added to a product during processing.

So it probably means any sugars that were not present pre-processing or developed during cooking.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

So it probably means any sugars that were not present pre-processing or developed during cooking.

Seems like a fair definition. You're not going to find a ton of sugar in whole foods that aren't accompanied by a good bit of fiber.

If you blanket avoid processed foods (yes, yes, I know some people say stuff like "cutting up and cooking meat and vegetables is a process!" but let's ignore them for now), you'll be doing yourself a world of good.

That's not to say that all processed foods are inherently bad (or all whole foods are inherently good), but it's a decent place to start.

 

[BoboBrazil]

US companies put sugar in everything. It's disgusting. Just go look at any label in a store. It's even in shit like potato chips. Stuff that shouldn't have it lime raisin bran also has it with most major brands. I couldn't find a cereal without added sugar in Target.

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

Yeah, I've already discussed my reasoning for including fruits in there. Also, I still haven't found out what the limit is for "real sugar" because there has to be one.

Can anyone give you a hard limit? No, most American's are averaging 78 years of life with a very shitty diet. You won't die tomorrow because of 100 gm of sugar. But do that everyday for a decade and you may hit prediabetes.

Main takeaway from all of this is less processed foods and more whole foods; fruits and vegetables. I actually limited my intake of country fried steak and rice today by eating 3 oranges. Small, little ones. Fruits are better because the fiber slows down the digestion whereas high fructose corn syrup will get absorbed quickly. I'm sure there will be some other study in 100 years about whether fruits are better than vegetables but for now, the FDA just needs to wean people off of fries and milkshakes and onto whole fruits. I'll take that anyday.

Seems like a fair definition. You're not going to find a ton of sugar in whole foods that aren't accompanied by a good bit of fiber.

If you blanket avoid processed foods (yes, yes, I know some people say stuff like "cutting up and cooking meat and vegetables is a process!" but let's ignore them for now), you'll be doing yourself a world of good.

That's not to say that all processed foods are inherently bad (or all whole foods are inherently good), but it's a decent place to start.

And it's a huge rabbit hole. Many will start with shit in a box or bag but will raise a pitch fork at their fried foods. Not to say it makes logical sense but people like fried foods. Process, to the average person, mean box, cheap and lots of preservatives.

 

[Funky Papa]

Seems like a fair definition. You're not going to find a ton of sugar in whole foods that aren't accompanied by a good bit of fiber.

Yeah. There's not a lot of sense in making people believe that a slice of melon is as bad as a package of Chips Ahoy or something crazy like that. I wonder about bottled fruit juices, though. Those are a bit of a mess.

 

[Metalmarc]

Drokk

 

[Deleted member 80556]

The F.D.A. has said it wants to change the labels to help consumers distinguish between the amount of naturally occurring sugar and the amount of added sugar.

The F.D.A. has said it wants to change

wants

Not sure if that's gonna be enough. There's probably going to be a strong lobbying to prevent this.

 

[Vicetrailia]

I can agree that people in general consume too much sugar, but 5 years ago it was too much carbs, 5 years before that it was too much fat, 5 years before that it was too much cholesterol, etc. etc.

Even though we keep finding and eliminating the "bad" foods from our diet people continue to get fatter and fatter.

People are literally posting things like sugar is poisonous to your body. Sugar! One of the most important nutrients and your bodies preferred source of energy is poison.

They were not right about fat. Interestingly enough, they told us that sugar should be used to supplement the lost taste from a lack of fat. In the modern diet, sugar and carbs are a massive problem and it's poisonous because we consume way too much of it. Pure and simple. We should be more balanced (so don't go overboard on fat).

 

[pbsapeer]

Not just down to individuals. Companies need incentives to stop using. HFCS and sugar in foods!

 

[Deleted member 17706]

They were not right about fat. Interestingly enough, they told us that sugar should be used to supplement the lost taste from a lack of fat. In the modern diet, sugar and carbs are a massive problem. Pure and simple. We should be more balanced (so don't go overboard on fat).

There's no evidence to suggest that even a diet that is comprised almost entirely of fat (and completely absent of carbohydrate) is at all harmful to human longevity. It's been studied and used clinically for a very long time, particularly with people who have drug-resistant seizure issues such as epilepsy. It's a perfectly legitimate way to eat with many theorized health benefits and protective properties, but I can see why it would be tough for many people to follow.

Any theories about possible negative effects of fat and cholesterol in the diet come in the context of mixed diets that are largely comprised of carbohydrates.

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

It's hilarious how many people are confused by sugar vs added sugar. Our nutrition education is garbage.

People seriously asking if fruit is bad for you, lol.

 

[SolarPowered]

This is a good thing. It should have been done years ago. The real struggle will be getting people to accept protein and fat rich foods back into their lives. The US diet is about to get a lot more nutty (in a good way) too.

 

[igordennis]

Reading through these types of thread topics on GAF always make me want to scream. This country desperately needs an nutrition education system that isn't funded by companies out to make a quick buck.

"Sugar is poison" lol.

It literally is though. Watch this: https://youtu.be/dBnniua6-oM

Edit: the corn syrup one i mean.

 

[Shogmaster]

Using the term "sugar" is too damn confusing and lots of room for shenanigans by the processed food manufacturers. They should have narrowed it down to fructose.

50 grams of sugar (sucrose) = 25 grams of glucose (harmless) + 25 grams of fructose (deadly).

50 grams of High Fructose Corn Syrup = 25~35 grams of fructose (yeesh!)

- AVOID FRUIT JUICE!
- AVOID ANYTHING SWEETENED WITH HFCS
- AVOID ANYTHING THAT HAS MORE THAN 10 GRAMS OF "SUGAR" UNDER CARBOHYDRATES IN LABELS
- ALWAYS EAT FRUIT WHOLE WITH FIBER!
- AVOID HIGH FRUCTOSE FRUITS LIKE ORANGES AND APPLES!

 

[Vicetrailia]

Using the term "sugar" is too damn confusing and lots of room for shenanigans by the processed food manufacturers. They should have narrowed it down to fructose.

50 grams of sugar (sucrose) = 25 grams of glucose (harmless) + 25 grams of fructose (deadly).

50 grams of High Fructose Corn Syrup = 25~35 grams of fructose (yeesh!)

- AVOID FRUIT JUICE!
- AVOID ANYTHING SWEETENED WITH HFCS
- AVOID ANYTHING THAT HAS MORE THAN 10 GRAMS OF "SUGAR" UNDER CARBOHYDRATES IN LABELS
- ALWAYS EAT FRUIT WHOLE WITH FIBER!
- AVOID HIGH FRUCTOSE FRUITS LIKE ORANGES AND APPLES!

This vid is pretty good on it: Carbs and Sugar

There's no evidence to suggest that even a diet that is comprised almost entirely of fat (and completely absent of carbohydrate) is at all harmful to human longevity. It's been studied and used clinically for a very long time, particularly with people who have drug-resistant seizure issues such as epilepsy. It's a perfectly legitimate way to eat with many theorized health benefits and protective properties, but I can see why it would be tough for many people to follow.

Any theories about possible negative effects of fat and cholesterol in the diet come in the context of mixed diets that are largely comprised of carbohydrates.

Indeed.

 

[Dreamwriter]

People are literally posting things like sugar is poisonous to your body. Sugar! One of the most important nutrients and your bodies preferred source of energy is poison.

The recommendation and accompanying article is talking about added sugar, like table sugar (sucrose) and high-fructose corn syrup, not carbohydrates in general, although a dramatic reduction in carbohydrates overall would do a great deal of good to most people.

He was talking about this very thread, where someone said that sugar was a poison.

Suger is poison, so it's a good thing people get better information. 50g is still a lot, but I imagine with us size meals it is still quite a task to stay under that amount.
And there isn't much difference between natural sugars and added sugar, both are bad, the form (liquid or solid) has also a lot to do with how your body reacts to it.

 

[grumble]

You can't really overeat fruits. Those things have a lot more fiber and water in them that you'll be bloated to before reaching an equivalent amount of calories compared to a liter of Coke.

Sure you can. Just juice them.

Also look up stripped grape juice.

 

[KTallguy]

Decent Video that's not long:

Why People Get Fat

So for the US diet, sugar and carbs need to be controlled. For the U.S. diet sugar is killing us, it's not a joke. Balanced diets are where we should be at, but first we gotta know what we're eating.

Just want to quote this, very informative video. There were quite a few things I didn't know, especially about "food comas" and what they actually mean.

 

[rbanke]

12.5 teaspoon still seems like a lot.

V a calorie is a calorie to a certain extent but other studies have shown that the type of calorie you consume can also affect your metabolism.

It's a start. Cigarette bans started with smoking sections. Trends in the right direction can be just as important as outright change.

 

[Bebpo]

Damn, that is tough. A small size carmael brulee latte at starbucks has 53g sugar. Even a regular no sugar syrups small latte is 18g of sugar.

I eat somewhat healthy, and am in fairly good shape and exercise regularly. But adding up sugar calories I probably have about 75-100g of sugar a day and that's with having already cut out soda.

Used to drink a regular coke with lunch and then a flavored latte in the afternoon every day and right there that's almost 100g. Add in fruits and food throughout the day + sauces and stuff, and it's probably 125-150g of sugar/day. Yikes.

 

[vpance]

It's hilarious how many people are confused by sugar vs added sugar. Our nutrition education is garbage.

People seriously asking if fruit is bad for you, lol.

Too much trace pesticides in fruit = no bueno.

I barely eat much fruit anymore, I can get my fibers and vitamins elsewhere.

 

[EdwardTeach]

But it's kind of a myth that 'natural' sugar in the form of fruits and honey is inherently better than sugar that's added to foods. Fruits have both fructose and sucrose, just like table sugar.

You are slightly confused. Table sugar IS sucrose. Sucrose is a disacchride formed of glucose and fructose.

 

[EdwardTeach]

Added sugar is usually fructose, which is toxic, so if people can see how much sugar was added, they can have a better idea for how much fructose is added to their food. Maybe that's why. I don't know.

Really ignorant statement. Fructose is not "toxic".

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

50 gram is too much, but it's a start. 35 gram should be the recommended daily cap.

 

[SFenton]

Isn't sugar sugar? I mean, a calorie is a calorie, right?

I don't have the research to back me up at the moment, but no, a calorie of broccoli is going to be different than a calorie of sugar.

 

[ILoveBish]

I have 9g of carbs a day. It shouldn't be so amazing to me how little gaf knows about nutrition, but these threads always blow my mind.

 

[rjc571]

I had more than that in the soda I just drank