Why is sugar bad?

I don’t read those they were first page google results on those subjects LOL

Oh and here is a pubmed article on sugar addiction by Christopher M. Olsen, Ph.D.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3139704/

“During repeated access to sugar, escalation of intake is observed (Colantuoni et al, 2001), a phenomenon previously associated with cocaine and heroin self-administration”
“This notion is supported by the fact that several examples of plasticity seen following repeated drug exposure”


Just read it.

I won’t be reading here much that’s for sure. My first post was a few random before bed thoughts on the actual subject, why sugar is bad. I now see why many refer to this forum as shertard. I like the striking and grappling subforums here. But I am trolling? Bus pass to beautiful Toledo Ohio?

captain-insano-laugh-o.gif
 
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It's an article on neural adaptions in response to natural rewards in general and their similarity to drug rewards, which is hardly surprising since they both have to use the same reward system - namely the one we have.

It also mentions video games, sexual conduct, shopping etc etc. They're all "addictive" because they reward you. No shit.

What it doesn't tell you is that sugar is a special case. in fact it mentions that most rats prefer sugar OR SACCHARIN to cocaine, And "following intermittent exposure to a high FAT diet, food-seeking was continued despite adverse consequence". So rats like calories. No shit.

To me this research is pretty lame. Rats are wild animals who naturally live in a low calorie availability environment. They are highly evolved to constantly seek food (unless stressed). I've had pet rats and I can can confirm this. Of course they love sugar, although I'd say they prefer peanut butter. Given that cocaine's popularity isn't just because it's addictive but more because of its social effects and that it actually makes you feel pretty crappy after a while, it's not that surprising that most rats prefer eating to coke. Again, so what? I would not be surprised if they only used sugar because it's easy to make into a solution and measure the volume.

All I get from this is that we're evolved to want calorie dense food. If it's available, we tend to eat it.
 
What it doesn't tell you is that sugar is a special case. in fact it mentions that most rats prefer sugar OR SACCHARIN to cocaine, And "following intermittent exposure to a high FAT diet, food-seeking was continued despite adverse consequence". So rats like calories. No shit.

Yep, but it is easy, fair, and accurate to label sugar as addictive when it hits our reward systems, blood sugars yo yo and a lot of people tend to 'chase the dragon' to keep their blood sugars elevated, ie having a sweet tooth
 
Yep, but it is easy, fair, and accurate to label sugar as addictive when it hits our reward systems, blood sugars yo yo and a lot of people tend to 'chase the dragon' to keep their blood sugars elevated, ie having a sweet tooth

Well sort of. If the article also regards shopping and video games as "addictive" and hitting your reward systems then we're dealing with a pretty broad definition aren't we? I.e. anything you enjoy is potentially "addictive".

Seeing as that article made the same case for fatty food, why are you focusing on sugar?
 
The thread is titled why is sugar bad. I agree it is a broad definition.

On page 9 seriously dead said pretty much everything I posted on a whim before bed was wrong, not sure what part specifically he wanted me to clarify so I just posted links pertaining to what I had posted.
 
It's about output. Athletes not doing extreme distances are better off with carb based energy sources. For those advocating no sugar, are you advocating no carbs? As in a ketogenic diet? In the case of endurance athletes, there is a case to be made for that depending on the duration and temp of the exercise.

If we're speaking strictly of athletes and not specific medical situations, carbs are fine. We're not talking people that sit on the couch all day and thrown down on sugar candy. I do like a high consumption of fats, especially from mct/coconut oil, but that's not to say that carbs are somehow evil.

Sugar can be great for athletes, depending on timing and the sport. Although, most do over consume carbs, even athletes. There is a belief that many endurance athletes in later years are turning pre diabetic due to the constant over consumption. I shake my head when I see people pounding sugar based sports drinks for activities in which they don't need them. VERY few people need to consume sugar during the first hour of training.
 
They've done studies and fed dogs water or refined sugar water, every single dog that drank the sugar water lived shorter life. Naturally occurring sugar is good for you, that you find in fruits or even from the sugar cane plant. I've always felt better eating whole foods and felt they passed through my body much easier. Your body knows what to do with the things in nature that you can eat, not that come out of a lab. This is why flour, sugar, and milk can cause so many people problems because they're taking in something that doesn't occur in nature.
 
I'm convinced this thread is really just sticky fly paper for morons.
 
Sugar is Bad- Too simple

Too Much sugar is Bad- Better

But this would be about the best way to say it:

Too much sugar is really, really bad, and in our society it is way, way too easy to get too much sugar.

The problem with refined sugar is that for the most part, people do not have the vaguest notion as to how much they are consuming.

This is a teaspoon of sugar, roughly what you might find in an apple (leaving out the refined vs unrefined discussion for the moment):

sugarspoon.JPG


Compare that of these very common beverages, which are the most frequently used vehicles of excessive sugar intake.

how-much-sugar-in-soda.jpg


I'm sorry, but that is just a fuck ton of sugar. People generally don't need that amount of sugar going into their body that fast unless they just expended a monumental amount of energy through exercise.
 
Sugar is Bad- Too simple

Too Much sugar is Bad- Better

But this would be about the best way to say it:

Too much sugar is really, really bad, and in our society it is way, way too easy to get too much sugar.

The problem with refined sugar is that for the most part, people do not have the vaguest notion as to how much they are consuming.

This is a teaspoon of sugar, roughly what you might find in an apple (leaving out the refined vs unrefined discussion for the moment):

sugarspoon.JPG


Compare that of these very common beverages, which are the most frequently used vehicles of excessive sugar intake.

how-much-sugar-in-soda.jpg


I'm sorry, but that is just a fuck ton of sugar. People generally don't need that amount of sugar going into their body that fast unless they just expended a monumental amount of energy through exercise.

That's the simplest explanation that does the job. You simply cannot demonize sugar if you have half a brain. Like anything, excess is a detriment. You don't blame the ingredient, you blame the habit.
 
There's also the problem of human perception. If anyone has actually worked in this field then you know the moment you make a recommendation to people you have to prove why typically, and you get questions like this thread. Oh I should avoid sugar? Why? I should not eat Chee-tohs or Big Mac's, but I like them...why should I not? In order to accept any such recommendation people NEED to put things in a "good" or "bad" category emotionally. That's just how people work. It's rarely about any actual science or data and even then, people are going to ignore the data they don't like or terminology they find troubling. Sugar exacerbates hyperinsulinemia, type II diabetes? Sugar has addictive properties that rival narcotics? Cancer cells have more insulin receptors on their surfaces than any other type of cell? Well nah, it's about excess. Which is true. Without a certain amount of glucose in our systems we die, just ask any hypoglycemic or type I diabetic what it feels like to not be able to uptake glucose properly in the other direction. What people need to know is HOW their body processes glucose, especially if you hear your Doc mention any of the above conditions. Then they need to understand what suggestions mean to them. Suggesting to a diabetic that "its all about moderation" is akin to suggesting the same thing to an alcoholic. Hey man, no one is saying don't have some drinks once in a while...just you know, don't be an alcoholic about it.

It's only in this area of health that it's fairly acceptable to blame the patient, even when we know they are uneducated.
 
Sugar is good for you! Excess Fat is bad for you. You need very little fat in your diet.

It compromises the body's ability to assimilate & excrete excess sugar.
Every cell in the human body is powered by glucose-derived ATP.
High-school textbook science, forgotten by almost everyone and NEVER addressed by those with a money agenda.

Eat a high-fructose (fruit, root, grains) greens-4-brotein, low in Oil and Sodium (both tasty!) diet. Drink plenty of water, get plenty of sleep and train in moderation.

Some well-thought out responses. A good thread :)

YouTube: DurianRider
 
I hate to bring the "paleo" card. But from my anthro courses I remember that humans have been eating quite a lot of fat via animals, fish and nuts. Are we going back to "low-fat" extreme again?
 
I hate to bring the "paleo" card. But from my anthro courses I remember that humans have been eating quite a lot of fat via animals, fish and nuts. Are we going back to "low-fat" extreme again?

The biggest issue with the "paleo" card is often the most overlooked in diet discussions as a whole. It is the flexibility and adapability of our species line. I think a great summation from a recent article by anthropologist Ken Sayers puts it best:
"The recent addition of pastoral and agricultural products to many modern human diets
 
^ while this is true, we also ate in biorhythms until agriculture and society took off after we became less tribal nomadic.

As for the durianrider post, i sincerely hope its sarcasm and facetiousness.
 
Not saying sugars are bad completely. They are beneficial as are fats ands proteins.
The problem seems to be how processed foods contain carbs in highly unusual amounts all in a relatively small package. MAc n cheese, twinkies, sodas, fruit roll ups etc. we are taking in obscene amounts of sugars as its easier , more convinient, and percieved cheaper than actually preparing meals from scratch which ten to go bad faster than preserved foods.

Its crazy how a lot of us munch on snacks like its the normal thing to do on the regular.
How many of us know the fat chick who starts to workout and claims she can drink that soda and munch down the snickers bar beacause she is going to burn it off, but remains fat.

On the other hand I have known obese coworkes who stopped pounding sodas and replaced them with water then proceeded to lose a significant amount of weight in approx a months time with out even thinking about working out. Another co worker who was married to a Mexican woman severly cut back on the tortillas and sodas and lost a respectable amount of weight and got his diabetes and blood pressure meds reduced.

Call it bro science if you want but im sticking to mainly natural sources of nutrients maybe 80% of the time and splurge on junk here and there. I am very happy with my composition and workout maybe 2 to 3 times a week.
 
I think everyone is different in how he/she is able to handle sugar/carbohydrates. Lately I've been reading about different theories on cancer. One idea is that most cancer growth is fueled by sugars. Researcher Otto Warburg won a noble prize for this discovery. Oncologist Dr. Champ has written some about this idea, of using low sugar diets along with treatment, on his sight.

http://www.cavemandoctor.com/category/cancer/
 
Sugar is good for you! Excess Fat is bad for you. You need very little fat in your diet.

It compromises the body's ability to assimilate & excrete excess sugar.
Every cell in the human body is powered by glucose-derived ATP.
High-school textbook science, forgotten by almost everyone and NEVER addressed by those with a money agenda.

Eat a high-fructose (fruit, root, grains) greens-4-brotein, low in Oil and Sodium (both tasty!) diet. Drink plenty of water, get plenty of sleep and train in moderation.

Some well-thought out responses. A good thread :)

YouTube: DurianRider

I hope this was a trolling post. Otherwise it may be the worst post on this board.
 
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