Re:How accurate are Americans at estimating calories?
by lrm242 on Tuesday December 18, 2012 @01:16PM
(#4938716)
Diabetics have to manage insulin levels. They manage their carb intake because of this. It has nothing to do with managing their weight.
With respect to obesity you might consider what you just said: carbs are abundant and cheap. Therefore, people tend to eat a lot of them. Significantly more than they should. Carbs also do not tend to induce a level of lasting satiety that protein or fat does (note, 1g carb = 4kcal, 1g protein = 4kcal, 1g fat = 9kcal). So not only do people tend to eat a lot of carbs but they also tend to eat them more often because they don't feel full for very long.
Re:How accurate are Americans at estimating calories?
by DanBC on Tuesday December 18, 2012 @04:11PM
(#4939615)
Simple carbs will be converted to sugar quicker than complex carbs, and quicker than protein or fat.
But if you eat calories - in any form - that you don't need then you're going to store those calories.
And you're incorrect when you say that diabetics are only concerned with carbs. Diabetics cannot eat as much fat as they like, and are warned to eat a "healthy diet".
I'm highly simplifying, but carbohydrates are converted to blood sugar which insulin converts to energy at a cellular level. Insulin is needed so your cells can feed off the blood sugar. The blood sugar that isn't used is stored as fat. Carbs are quickly and easily converted to fat. Other forms of food can eventually get converted to blood sugar, but not as easily and quickly as carbs. You absorb protein, minerals, vitamins, fibers, etc. very differently than pure Carbs. So a Carb rich diet will make you fat. Diabetics are only concerned with Carbs because they have the highest impact on their blood sugar level.
Further, America has proved this. Few cultures consume as much carbohydrate rich food as America, and as a result, they have the biggest issue with diabetes, obesity, etc. Carbohydrates are the cheapest food to buy (fast food and junk food are very heavy in carbohydrates), so a disproportionate number of low income people have obesity problems
Dude, its the carbs.