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A comment on John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar. Parent comment

Re:John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar by eclipxe on Tuesday February 11, 2014 @11:57PM (#7222586)
We can go back and forth on this, but HN isn't the place. I've had this debate many times and it ends nowhere. Bottom line, calories-in vs calories-out is a fine and dandy statement, but tells us nothing of value about the cause of increased calorie consumption. I agree with you that for weight gain to occur, there must be a greater energy intake than burn, but what causes more caloric intake?
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Re:John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar by joering2 on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @12:07AM (#7222623)
Right on, and thats why they brand sugar as deadly poison -- it affects your brain and tricks it into wanting more of it because its a drug of pleasure. Then it makes you never full so you eat more of other stuff that eventually gets you sick.

Like with anything else, including alcohol or even heroine (altho that one very limited) - nothing in reasonable limitations will kill you. If you have strong will then you keep your brain on leech and treat it as a pleasure you consume time to time in limitations. If you eat it daily in large quanitities, then you helping yourself to get sick.

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Re:John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar by matwood on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @12:03AM (#7222605)
Eating? I'm only partially joking. Calories don't just magically appear.
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Re:John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar by mixmastamyk on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @12:31AM (#7222693)
Sugar makes you feel like you're starving. You get sleepy at the peak, "starving" at the trough... like a repeating sine wave. Leads to overeating.
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Re:John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar by matwood on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @02:05PM (#7226496)
It causes people to lack discipline in what they eat. That's really the issue here. Sugar isn't some poison and it is not a magical 10x the normal calorie. People who eat a lot of sugar are usually still eating a lot of everything else. All those calories add up and lead to weight problems.

The first thing to losing weight is to get serious about how much you are eating. Write it all down. People tell me all the time they don't understand why they are gaining weight, and then we go through a day of eating. It's not just sugar or fat or some other thing someone has said trying to sell a book, it is simply eating too much. Oftentimes people don't even realize it.

I had the opposite problem with I started weight lifting years ago. I simply couldn't gain weight, and thought it was impossible based on how much I thought I ate. When I started writing things down I realized I was barely breaking 2k calories/day if I was lucky. It took concerted effort to eat more, and results quickly followed. Now I'm older and am not as active, so I simply don't eat as much. My weight has stayed the same for a long time.

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Re:John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar by digisign on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @02:39PM (#7226743)
It's not really about discipline. If you're "starving" (low blood sugar), you eat big to stop that feeling. There's few people who can will themselves to suffer instead, and really why should they?

Better to avoid the problem entirely in the first place. If you don't feel hungry (stable blood sugar) eating becomes a moot point/routine task.

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Re:John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar by StavrosK on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @03:55AM (#7223259)
But who eats sugar to get full? I (and everyone I know) eat sweets after a meal, or because I see them, not because I expect to sate my hunger with it.
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Re:John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar by pierreio on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @05:29AM (#7223548)
Lustig's point is that you don't know you're eating sugar when you actually are. Up to 10% corn syrup in white breads, sauces, any precooked meal, sausages. If you eat BBQ sauce, you're eating sugar.

Salt and sugar save low aroma food (>80% processed food). Their combined power on the human body is vicious.

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Re:John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar by StavrosK on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @06:38AM (#7223776)
As the other commenter said, this is pretty much just the US, I just didn't realize the article wasn't talking globally.
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Re:John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar by threeseed on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @06:03AM (#7223661)
Ask anyone who isn't American what the first thing they notice about the food when they visit the US.

How sweet everything is.

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Re:John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar by hfsktr on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @10:02AM (#7224628)
My friend is from England and the few times she's been to America the primary thing she's said is that the portions here are ridiculously large.

At places like Chili's or Applebees she ended up ordering appetizers and eating half of that as a meal. I got a regular meal but I knew in advance I would be taking it to go halfway through, as I usually do.

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Re:John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar by DanBC on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @10:49AM (#7224905)
Yes, the problem with coke isn't that it's got a lot of sugar in it. The problem with coke is that people drink litres of it each day.
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Re:John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar by hfsktr on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @10:55AM (#7224964)
I can't tell if you are being sarcastic or agreeing or not.

Usually your comments are good so I am going to believe you are sincere here.

Somewhat related I am one of those people who needs to make a change as I get >1000 calories from soda a day. I did quit years ago (just cold turkey) and after the initial headaches and tiredness the biggest change I saw was that I was constantly hungry. Much like quitting smoking made me for quite a while.

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Re:John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar by DanBC on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @10:59AM (#7225000)
Coke has a lot of sugar in it. Some people drink a small amount of coke, and get pleasure from it, and are not fat.

Increasing portion sizes (see for example the increasing sizes of servings in McDonalds menus) mean that people now drink huge quantities of this sugary drink.

The volume of drink, the quantity of the sugar, is the problem.

Two cookies are not a problem. Two packets of cookies are a problem.

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Re:John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar by matwood on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @01:56PM (#7226439)
I'm not sure why you would think the response was sarcastic. Coke having sugar is NOT the issue. Drinking literally liters of it each day is certainly the issue. On top of a normal diet all those extra calories are bound to be a problem.
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Re:John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar by hfsktr on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @02:33PM (#7226688)
Now it seems silly but while I was going through the thread many responses had something worded similarly. After reading so many of those comments I was probably primed to see negativity everywhere.

eg. It's not THIS it's THAT. (It's not sugar, it's sugar in excess.)

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Re:John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar by matwood on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @08:46PM (#7228812)
More generally, it is calories in excess.
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Re:John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar by StavrosK on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @06:37AM (#7223771)
That's me, and you're right, everything's very sweet and buttery. I guess I was thinking the article applied to me, when the answer to my question was "Americans".
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Re:John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar by digisign on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @02:42PM (#7226762)
As mentioned, there is a lot of sugar hidden in processed foods. Also, a plate of pasta is about the same as far as the body is concerned, just a bit slower on the uptake.
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