The Sugar Industry

[jkelley9]

5 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

The issue is that sugar in high quantities mess up the body in terms of insulin resistance. Also, the sugar industry has been blaming fat as bad for decades to help them sell more low fat items. To make low fat tasteful you need to add sugar. 

Also high quantities of sugar activate areas in the brain similar to drugs. People have found that they go into withdrawal when they try to give up high sugar foods. 

Just think of this. A single Apple has about 20 grams of sugar. A single can of soda has 40+ grams. Apples were originally seasonal only. Modernization of the food industry has amplified sugar consumption and increases accessibility. It's much harder today to eat how nature made us to do so. 

That modernization of the food industry correlates to the increase in heart disease. 

 

I'm not disagreeing with what you're saying from a biological/anatomical stand-point. 

The issue I have is that this is "pointing" at "sugar" itself as a primary driver of "heart disease."

You just said it yourself: high sugar (high consumption) -> blood sugar problems -> diabetes -> heart disease/complications. 

However, "saturated fats" can (and WILL) affect the heart in an alternate way; it's a PHYSICAL manifestation in your blood vessels that leads to heart disease. It blocks stuff. Hearts don't like blockage... Sugars do not cause blockages by themselves. 

This is why I find this comical and at the same time, infuriating. A properly broken down saturated fat will turn into a freaking "sugar" just like the one in your apple. Except it has the ADDED complication of being a physical nuisance to your blood pathways. 

So how is "sugar" worse than "fats?"

[saevel25]

5 hours ago, jkelley9 said:

However, "saturated fats" can (and WILL) affect the heart in an alternate way; it's a PHYSICAL manifestation in your blood vessels that leads to heart disease. It blocks stuff. Hearts don't like blockage... Sugars do not cause blockages by themselves. 

This is why I find this comical and at the same time, infuriating. A properly broken down saturated fat will turn into a freaking "sugar" just like the one in your apple. Except it has the ADDED complication of being a physical nuisance to your blood pathways. 

So how is "sugar" worse than "fats?"

Saturated fat isn't nearly as bad as it has been made out to be. 

Actually how cholesterol forms in your blood is way more complicated than just saying its a red meat problem.

Heck, eggs have saturated fats and is high in cholesterol, but has been found to raise good cholesterol and lower bad cholesterol. This flies 180 from what the old myths on how people should eat. 

[jkelley9]

On 9/16/2016 at 5:32 PM, saevel25 said:

Saturated fat isn't nearly as bad as it has been made out to be. 

Actually how cholesterol forms in your blood is way more complicated than just saying its a red meat problem.

Heck, eggs have saturated fats and is high in cholesterol, but has been found to raise good cholesterol and lower bad cholesterol. This flies 180 from what the old myths on how people should eat. 

Saturated fat is not just a red meat problem. It's found in a lot of other foods. The issue is that a saturated hydrocarbon (saturated "fat") has a higher melting point than an unsaturated fat. This is why a higher percentage of saturated fats are able to "build up" in your arteries/veins and lead to blood pressure issues, blockage, and high LDL values. This are killer.

[nevets88]

As sugar content increases in cereal, marketing starts to look more unhinged. 

 

[Zeph]

The biggest problem with sugar in my opionion is the amounts in prefabricated food. Food produced in massive amounts at a low cost, pumped with sugar and fats to make it taste "better" and in my opinion blander. If people aren't aware of the sugar contents of what they buy, they won't know what they are eating. Adding sugar is a great way to make food taste better without having to add proper ingredients. Less nutrional value for us, more money for the corporates. The main goal for most corporates is to make money, as much as possible. Sure we can blame them for it, but in the end it's our decision as consumers to buy their products.

I've seen some documentaries on sugar and have no reason to doubt many of the allegations. The business world is all about money.

On the bright side, I've seen more products in recent years without sugar added. Most have replaced it with artifical sweeteners (aspartame etc.), which of course has been claimed by many to be something negative, but I've yet to come across serious research that supports any of it. In some products sugar is replaced with other natural sweeteners (stevia etc.).

I make almost all my food from scratch and use very little sugar besides what comes naturally in the ingredients.

[TomFalater]

I couldn't agree more. Sugar, processed foods and carbs are the reasons for so much obesity and heart disease. My daughter started going to medical school and through talking to the doctors there, they told me about Atkins diet and cutting out all sugar. That was a year ago, I've now lost 45 pounds and am off one of my high blood pressure meds. Eating foods high in saturated fats (animal fats) does not make you fat or clog your arteries. In fact, the body has no mechanism for turning the saturated fat you eat into stored fat. The way your body accumulates fat is from insulin turning excess glucose (sugar) into fat. Great thread. Tom Falater

[WUTiger]

38 minutes ago, TomFalater said:

... they told me about Atkins diet and cutting out all sugar. That was a year ago, I've now lost 45 pounds and am off one of my high blood pressure meds. ...

Back in 2004, I went on the Atkins diet and lost about 15 pounds. My doctor at the time was a big proponent of it, and he cut out most heart-related meds. About nine months later, during when I was working out about three times a week, I started getting shortness of breath and tightness in the chest. I went to a cardiologist for a stress test, and was getting quad-bypass surgery within 24 hours. (Fortunately it was preventive surgery, I didn't go through heart attack).

What they found: I had terrible blockage, despite the weight loss and Atkins. I'm one of those persons who manufactures a lot of cholesterol.

So, TF, congrats on your dietary and health success. But, make sure you keep in touch with your doctor in case anything else pops up. 

[Rach978]

I'm no expert but I'm personally very skeptical about no-carb, no-fat and other "no this and that" diets. I think there is no need to cut anything from the diet as long as everything is in moderation. In excess, even water is apparently harmful. Also, I believe that it's very important to properly distribute meals during the day - starting the day with a big breakfast and end the day with a light dinner, and not the other way around like most people usually do (including myself). 

[dennyjones]

How not to die

 

This is a good read.   Worth your time.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2016 by dennyjones

[JCrane]

On 9/13/2016 at 2:30 PM, Abu3baid said:

Aren't all industries trying to get us to buy junk that we don't need?  Heck, the golf mfgs are working day and night to get us to buy drivers that we don't need.

Families make choices every day on what to put on the table each day, And the evil food industry doesn't deserve all the blame.  They like everyone else just want to make money..  people continue to make the wrong choices, I just hope they aren't drinking Pepsi because they saw Cindy Crawford do it.  :)

over the years I have divided food into three categories. 1. Food for Fuel 2. Food for entertainment 3. Food for addiction. 

Most of us are a mixture of the 3, but the people who spend too much time in the # 3 category will have the tendency to move away from #1. Why ? because your stomach is only so big and because you are addicted to #3. you will want to save that space. 

#3 contains addictive substances such as refined white Sugar, Hydrogenated corn syrup etc.

If we focus on #1, we will look for nutrient dense food. This if you have not guessed is more about plant based natural foods. Once we commit to food for fuel, we start to change our taste buds and enjoy the taste of real food. I will do more posts on this info in other posts, but this is the basic challenge we face every day. Spend less time in the Super Market and more time in the Farmers Market

[JCrane]

On 9/13/2016 at 9:07 AM, saevel25 said:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-industry-shifted-blame-to-fat.html

"The sugar industry paid scientists in the 1960s to play down the link between sugar and heart disease and promote saturated fat as the culprit instead, newly released historical documents show."

 

Good comments here on a subject that needs to be discussed. In fact I have become so frustrated with the food industry packaging, I have moved to making my own food as a larger percentage of my diet. This beats reading labels full of small print with words I can not pronounce and have to google when I get home. Sugar used to mean sugar, now sugar is disguised with terms that are not clear, like High Fructose corn syrup and many others.