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Sugar

Raggamuffin

Raggamuffin

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
After listening to and reading Dr Robert Lustig and his information and patient studies about the toxicity of sugar, I did a little bit of research, and what I found was a little bit odd:

500ml of Coke contains 53g of sugar which they claim is 59% of your RDA of sugar.

Then I went on the NHS website and they advise that: "Adults should have no more than 30g of free sugars a day." Free sugar being added sugar.

Unless I'm missing something, the company making the Coke drink is saying our RDA of sugar is 3 times higher than the NHS recommended amount? This mistake seems glaringly obvious, so I can only assume there's some way that they can claim only X amount of the total sugar in the drink is "added sugar" and the rest is naturally existing already?

I guess it would look very bad if they were to sell a 500ml drink and have it labelled as containing nearly 180% of your RDA of sugar. Perhaps this is why they try and claim a 500ml bottle of Coke is "2 servings".

From an article I read on Healthline, according to a 2008 study the average American was consuming 76.7 grams per day.

Ed
 
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Sugar remains one of my unsolved addictions. It is a glaringly obvious problem for me now, having removed some of the more obvious ones over the last few months. Fortunately, I don’t think I am too lost in the sugar bowl to really get out of it, but it is a pernicious and evil beast, disguised with sweetness.
 
I'm about 6 weeks into no added sugar. So no cakes, sweets, pastries etc. Quit this along with weed.

Relapsed with the weed. I guess I also technically quit another addiction - shopping, impulse buying. As from now until June I have literally £0 spare outside of food, bills and all the rest goes to my parents to pay off the van.

Ed
 
Raggamuffin said:
After listening to and reading Dr Robert Lustig and his information and patient studies about the toxicity of sugar, I did a little bit of research, and what I found was a little bit odd:

500ml of Coke contains 53g of sugar which they claim is 59% of your RDA of sugar.

Then I went on the NHS website and they advise that: "Adults should have no more than 30g of free sugars a day." Free sugar being added sugar.

Unless I'm missing something, the company making the Coke drink is saying our RDA of sugar is 3 times higher than the NHS recommended amount? This mistake seems glaringly obvious, so I can only assume there's some way that they can claim only X amount of the total sugar in the drink is "added sugar" and the rest is naturally existing already?

I guess it would look very bad if they were to sell a 500ml drink and have it labelled as containing nearly 180% of your RDA of sugar. Perhaps this is why they try and claim a 500ml bottle of Coke is "2 servings".

From an article I read on Healthline, according to a 2008 study the average American was consuming 76.7 grams per day.

Ed
Click to expand...
There really isn't any such thing as an "RDA of sugar", per se. Rather, one might think of it as more of a "healthy limit". Whether "naturally occurring" or "added", companies like Coke are required to label the "total". So, they may claim "no added sugars" on the label, but they still have to label the total amount of sugar/serving on the label.
As far as what "a serving" is, is totally arbitrary and up to the company. If you have a bag of potato chips/crisps and the label says 1 serving = 6 chips/crisps, that really isn't a serving, per se, as most people could do that in a few bites and is just a "teaser".

Getting back to the RDA of sugar, keep in mind the body literally does not need dietary sugar at all, as even if you were able to totally remove sugar from your diet (not likely), relying only upon fats and proteins, the body would convert what it needs into glucose (gluconeogenesis) and ketones (ketogenesis). Having said that, even if you are into "hardcore" ketogenic diets and prolonged fasting regimens, the lack of carbohydrates in the diet can have negative effects upon the intestinal microbiome and overall health. So for all practical purposes, even in these situations, some carbohydrates and/or breaking your fast every 3-4 days may have some benefits.

The bottom line is that the manufacturers of these sugary drinks, at least in the US per FDA regulations, must label the nutritional contents of their product. Some of these values (like sugar, carbohydrates, etc.) are on there for "reference". Also consider that this is based upon "the average person", whatever that is, and upon a 2000 calorie/day diet. Most of the time the RDA values are only a reflection of that specific context. For example, a 50lb/23kg child's "healthy" dietary requirements and caloric intake would be significantly different than a 200lb/91kg adult. The medical establishment has a great understanding of all of this, because, in practice, most of our medications and nutritional concentrations and administration rates are based upon infant, pediatric, and adult context, further broken down to the person's "ideal body weight" or "weight for calculations", and then dosed in milliliters, micrograms, milligrams, per hour and/or per kilogram of body weight. In other words, most of the nutritional labels really don't give an accurate representation of "RDA %", as for all practical purposes, to figure all of that out would be far too cumbersome for the average "label reader".
 
When I moved to evolutionary diet, I found really difficult to eat enougth to fill my 2k cal/day.

All fast absorbed carbs work quite like sugar. Alcohol, sugar, bread, rice... I removed them all and sustituded them with vegetables and fruits (some fruits are also rich in sugar).

But you have to eat lots of veggies to match the callories of bread or rice. They are almost water.

I would say that diet is more about what you DO eat than about what you stop eating. So focusing on removing sugar is fine, but focusing on eating way more veggies even in you keep eating sugar is better and also healthier.

As you start eating more quality food your body will naturally ask you less junk food. So you can do a easier transition.

An 80/20 rule works great for me. 80% Healthy food 20% of junk when I feel like doing it. Last time it was a salad with fried potatoes bathed with all kind of cheeses sauces... Mmmm.

Same with doing exercice. Some exercice that you do enjoy doing is better on the long run than forcing yourself to do the perfect hours of the perfect exercice.

So for those of you who may want to start but your goals are too high, just start doing a small step. It works.
 
When I think of all the sugars I used to consume when I downed a case of beer on a Friday night, it is quite frightening.

I am slowly losing weight, but I am no longer drinking either soda or beer.
 
As a type 1 diabetic I have been researching, testing and measuring the biology of sugar for most of my life. I won't go into what I have learned as it would create a firestorm, but I will say that RDA is created by corporate marketing and lobbying. It is not what popular opinion considers to be a given.
 
To me, sugar is just another drug abused not by merely those who consume and are addicted to it (including me) , but by those who continue to refine and introduce it into foods that don't need it in the first place.
 
I have been a sugar junky from childhood until now. The fact that I am still not diabetic is a marvel to me, as both my father and sister were type two for years before they passed away. My blood sugar continues to ping pong back and forth between normal and pre-diabetic, without any change on my part.

At my age, I do not see eliminating sugars from my diet. Whatever life extension it might bring is not worth it, as the quality of that life is already severely diminished and eliminating sugars from my diet is not going to improve things enough to make it worth my while. (and my daily intake of sugar is well above anyone's estimate of average)
 
I love sugary foods because I love sweet things but I always try to eat that stuff in moderation and only splurge on special occasions (like my birthday).

Like I only have soda once every week or two and that's it. I usually just drink water or, if I'm really craving something carbonated and flavoried., this flavored sparkling water that costs like 70 cents for a 1 litre bottle.
 
I don’t eat sugar often .

But on occasion when I see Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, or Dark Chocolate, I buy some .

As soon as I see it this song instantly plays in my head .

 
Just like Richelle-H, I've been a sugar junky all my life, I'm a sucker for the hard boiled lollies. I like to crunch them, I've always liked really crunchy things. Now I'm nearly 60 all my teeth are broken. I've never been tested for diabetes although it runs in the family, I think if I had any problems along those lines I'd know it by now.

I'm also a real sucker for chocolate coated ginger.

DSCN2596.jpg
 
I admit to being a sugar freak. Chocolate, cake, pudding, ice cream, and fruits. I don't like things like frosting or meringue. And I rarely drink soda or juice.

My blood sugar levels have always trended toward hypoglycemia which we now know is due to GI involvement of EDS.

I'm also a texture leary eater. While I may like the taste of something, I won't eat it because I don't like the textures. This issue limit my food intake and selections. I am a major problem eater, always have been.

It is also one of the battles we have never forced because my default mode is : Nothing I like, I just won't bother with food. And some of that is linked directly to my interoception issues.

I don't eat much, but I do know what full feels like, I just can't identify hunger. I know my blood sugar is low when I read a number correctly, but invert it when I say it. This intense presentation of my dyscalculia goes away after a quick snack. Weird, but it is a cognitive tell that has always been consistent.
 
The posts on this thread help me to realize that one of my main issues with sugar is that sweet foods are by far the most palatable to me. Other than sweets, it is bread and cheese.

There are lots of sensory challenges with eating. Mostly all the smells, but also the textures and the combination of foods. Definitely difficult to eat around others.

I’ve been known to sacrifice healthy calories for empty ones because sweet and sugary things are just so much easier to eat.

I have finally gotten used to eating lots of vegetables… I buy them frozen and then just heat them up and I always eat as quick as I can before I get grossed out. It’s more like a chore. But absolutely, substituting real food with sugary things is not good for me and my body is letting me know that I am doing it again.
 
Interesting thread. I’ve always eaten sugar as a kid and even now I still do. I remember when I was in high school I would buy skittles from the vending machine at lunch sometimes and if I still had any money, sometimes I would even buy a chocolate bar for myself to have at home. Then when it was the very beginning of the pandemic I used to stockpile on candy/sweet foods and then I ate so much sweets in one day that my mom got concerned for me at one point

I’m also a really picky eater. I think sugar is one of the few foods I will eat without much issue. Although I do have some sensory issues with sugar depending on how it tastes. I remember having some extremely sugary icing on cupcakes before and I hated it. Even then sugar is one of the few things I can eat without much issue. But at some point I realized I was consuming too much sugar so I started trying to keep a limit to sugar consumption

Also ever since I turned 20, I noticed I don’t eat sugar as heavily. What I mean is if I eat too much sugar, I start feeling sluggish so I think I’m starting to develop a limit for sugar in my 20s now
 
Dang it. Sugar definitely won the battle today. This really is going to be like quitting drugs again.
 
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