If I had to chagne my diet, which should I limit first. Fat or sugar? The problem is that I like BOTH of those things. I'd probably eat chicken skins if they sold them at a store. And as for sugar. Everything I like has it in it! Even the healthy stuff like organic yogart smoothies and Mango Tango.
Posted by docmagik (Member # 1131) on :
Are you trying to lose weight, or are you just trying to be healthier?
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Both. I really should lose some sort of weight and become more volumptuous and less *untypable sound*.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
It depends a lot on how sugar effects you.
For me, fat won't make me want more fat. I'll overeat in one setting because fat is more calorically dense so more calories fit in my stomach. But too much sugar will make me tend to over eat in an ongoing roller coaster of sugar highs and lows until I break it.
Do you know if this type of thing happens to you?
Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
I think focusing on either would be misleading. Calories are what put weight on, and limiting calories will take weight off. You could stop eating fat and sugar entirely, but if you're still managing to eat 4000 calories you're not going to see much improvement (and you'll be miserable too, which isn't a great motivator).
Everyone likes fat and sugar, we're designed that way. There's nothing wrong with liking it, or even eating it! Like they say though, everything in moderation.... don't eat huge meals followed by huge desserts, don't snack on chocolate bars all day... eat balanced meals in healthy portion sizes, and treat yourself to a reasonable amount of your favorite dessert. If you do this day in and day out (and you're honest with yourself about what 'reasonable' means), the weight will slowly but surely disappear. And you won't be miserable all the time because you're depriving yourself of your favorite foods. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Are you more prone to heart disease or diabetes?
And why not try to cut back (but not as severely) on both?
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
I don't think it does. I just like eating cookies sometimes, one or two with some milk. Or some of these Graham Bunnies which are rather low in sugar. I cut down on soda, but I still like to drink a lot of juice and the like. And I like to have about one square of this fundraising chocolate. And sometimes milkshake, but not as often as I used to because I really am trying to cut down, but I just want to be able to eat 3 cookies a day at least....
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
You eat Bunnies!?! Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dagonee: You eat Bunnies!?!
...you DON'T? Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Hehehe These little graham ones. It's oddly morbid because the rabbit they are shaped like is also called Bernie... An amusing way to punish him without knowing it when he does stuff like bite my cellphone chord.
Posted by docmagik (Member # 1131) on :
Warning! Overly long post ahead:
Weight loss is really calories in VS calories out. You want to eat less than you burn, right?
So the difference between fat and sugar could be measured as simply as this: One gram of fat has 9 calories, while one gram of sugar has 4 calories. So, say you ate 100 grams of fat and 100 grams of sugar. They'd both weigh you down about the same, but the sugar would only get you 400 calories, while the 100 grams of fat would give you 900 calories--more than double.
But it's more complicated than that. Because chances are you're not just going to "eat" 100 grams of sugar or fat--you're going to use something else to carry it into your body.
So where's the sugar coming from? Let's say it's coming from an orange--a 150 gram orange, a biggish size--only 17-18 grams of that's coming from sugar--the rest is fiber, vitamins and minerals and water. You're looking at about 70 calories.
Let's say, on the other hand, it's 50 grams of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. That's about 1 package. That would give us 21.2 grams of the sugar, plus 13.7 grams of fat--all told, that's 232 calories, with only 1/3 of the "food."
So in other words, for weight loss, I think the main thing is "caloric density." How much of the food is made from stuff that has calories (Fat, Carbs, Protien, and Alcohol) and how much is made from stuff that doesn't (Fiber, water, vitamins and minerals).
Of course, this is just if you're worrying about hunger while controling your eating. If you don't have a problem with that, you can almost eat anything as long as you stay in your right calorie range--low enough that you're losing, but not so low your body goes into "underdrive" to make up for the lack of nutrition.
That said, the real trick to a healthy diet isn't so much avoiding anything as it is having some of everything, but keeping it in balance.
In other words, the question isn't does this meal have fat, or does it have sugar, but does it have anything else? Like with the orange, a little fiber can counterbalance the effects of the sugar, keep your body from processing it as fast--fast metabolization and blood sugar spikes are the main problem with simple sugars.
Same with fats--they're not evil--they just need to be kept in the right proportions to the other kinds of things you can eat.
In fact, when people tell you that the trick to dieting is eliminating all of one type of food, they're usually peddling snake oil. Your body needs fats, carbs, and protiens to function, all for different reasons. The idea that if no fat crosses your lips, that no fat reaches your hips is just wrong. Your body is more than capable of converting carbs and protiens to fat.
Now, you've probably heard the warnings about TRANS fats--the hydrogenated oils that are all over the ingredients lists in most foods.
Without getting too technichal (too late!) the good fats are the "saturated" fats. The little molecules in fats and oils have a lot of sites that atoms can bond to. In a "saturated" fat or oil, all of these molecules are secured to hydrogen atoms. They're "full" or "saturated." This prevents two things. First, it prevents impurities--other stray molecules from attaching to the open sites. And it prevents "overlap"--the open sites bonding to other open sites. These "kinky" molecules are the ones that are bad for you. They lower your good cholesterol and raise your bad cholestorol.
I'm sure none of that helped. But I have to run through it, or I wouldn't be a fitness nerd.
Posted by Mrs.M (Member # 2943) on :
rivka asked a great question - heart disease or diabetes? If you have a family history of heart disease, limit fat. If you have a family history of diabetes (or PCOS), limit sugar. If you have a family history of both, limit both.
The key word here is limit - not eliminate. There's no reason you can't have 3 cookies each day, but if you also have a milkshake, chocolate squares, Graham Bunnies, and 64 ounces of juice that's a problem.
Are you drinking 100% fruit juice or juice drink? There's a huge difference in the sugar and sodium content. According to the food pyramid, you should have approximately 2 cups (16 ounces) of fruit per day. They also recommend that you get most of your fruit from actual fruit, not juice. Would you be able to replace a glass of orange juice with an actual orange, etc.? I don't like juice, so it's not a big deal for me, but Andrew loves juice, so it is for him. Of course, I do all the marketing, so he doesn't get much juice at all.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Both run in my family. On my mother's side! All I can hope is that my father's genes beat them in a duel. I'm not sure if my grandmother, his mother had those problems. In fact she often ate snickers and twix bars.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
Honestly I'm not trying to sell anything here, but I've read reports that Weight Watchers is the most successful commercial weight loss program, because it teaches you how to eat appropriately.
My wife lost about 80 pounds and has kept most of it off. The lessons she's learned in how to put together a meal have kind of spread through the family, so we're more aware of how big a meal should be, as opposed to how big a meal we've been taught to believe is normal, thanks to Burger King, et al.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
Portion control == weight loss.
Most people each too much at each sitting, as well as too much each day. Your stomach is the size of your closed fist -- chances are excellent that if you're overweight you're eating too much.
It really couldn't be simpler in most cases.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
For me, I have tried both, and cutting out sugar made the huge difference for me.
Probably because I'm somewhat hypoglycemic already (low blood sugar), but mainly because sugars seemed to give me more and more cravings. Made me want more sugars or more foods all the time.
Cutting out sugar from my diet (and other things with a high glycemic level) has really helped with my weight loss and appetite control.
FG
Posted by CaySedai (Member # 6459) on :
Try eating more things closer to their natural state. More fresh fruits and vegetables. (Fresh, then frozen, then canned in that order)
If you get your sugar from an apple instead of a candy bar, you'll be better off.
Pretty good post docmagik, except I think you have this part wrong:
quote:Without getting too technichal (too late!) the good fats are the "saturated" fats.
If you are trying to lose weight, or cut cholestrol, it is essential that you continue to eat fats. Like docmagik said, you need carbs, proteins, and fats.
I really really really suggest reading this Harvard Study if you want to understand fats better, but I'll go ahead and summarize some main points because people probably won't read it.
*There are two types of cholesterol: LDL (the so-called "bad") and HDL (good cholestrol) *Unsaturated fats are best because they lower LDL levels and raise HDL levels *Saturated fats will raise both levels *Transfats are the devil, because they lower HDL levels (the good) and raise LDL levels (the bad). These are generally the hydrogenated oils that come in our modern processed foods.
So if you can change the types of fats you eat from trans and saturated to unsaturated your body will be healthier.
As for sugars, they do have their own set of problems, particularly high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). It has been linked to increasing LDL cholesterol, so sugar can also be a factor in heart disease as well as bad fats. HFCS also kind of makes a mess of your bodies hormonal and insulin responses. It does not suppress ghrelin, a hormone that works to increase hunger (i.e. you don't feel full after you eat HFCS), which leads to overeating and weight gain. The sugars also trigger an insulin spike- however the chemical structure of HFCS is such that it doesn't need the insulin, so the insulin does a great job of converting other foods you eat into bodyfat (not a good thing).
Probably way more information than you wanted, but the short answer is that eliminating just trans fats and high fructose corn syrup will do wonders for your health and help you achieve weight loss if that's a goal.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
I'm already cutting down on HFCS and Transfat . I even bought those cookies OSC talked about, the ones with no transfat and no Corn Syrup. They taste good warmed with milk.
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
*stabs HFCS*
It's in practically everything. Even in mundane things like...bread. Bread!
/end bitter can't have fructose anymore rant
Posted by BaoQingTian (Member # 8775) on :
OSC did an anti-HFCS essay? I must have missed that one. What cookies did he recommend?
Also, good for you for cutting that stuff out. Why exactly does your diet have to change- are you ok?
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
quote:Originally posted by mackillian: *stabs HFCS*
It's in practically everything. Even in mundane things like...bread. Bread!
/end bitter can't have fructose anymore rant
It truly annoys me. It makes buying bread take longer than it should and who has time to clean so they can make their own bread?
He mentioned these Back to Nature cookies. They are not bad. A bit hard though... Not like the corn syrup free Hannaford brand dough which bakes out warm squishy cookies I can't resist.
I'm mostly just trying to avoid stuff with transfat, but I had those pot pies recently and they ALL have that. So it's harder than I think. Sometimes I am just off food. Annie's stuff is pretty good for not having any of the stuff I am trying to avoid, but it's still difficult to find healthy stuff I like to eat. Maybe i should eat more salmon and spinach or something like that.
Posted by Katarain (Member # 6659) on :
What I find annoying is that companies claim their products to be all natural when they use HFCS. They say, but it's Natural! It's completely from CORN! As if the processing has nothing to do whether something is Natural. With that reasoning, EVERYTHING is natural, since if you go back far enough, it came from something "natural."
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
psst! Natural =! healthy
Arsenic is natural.
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
Katarain, yes. I have the same frustration. Some days I come back from the grocery store Incredibly Grumpy because everything I thought I'd get had HFCS in it.
(I can't have fructose anymore. very sad. I miss apples.)
And rivka, I know. Sometimes you think that it might be something that wouldn't have HFCS in it. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Uh . . . why? And anyway, you can't have FRESH FRUIT! Natural ain't gonna help you, m'dear. Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
My thoughts on fat and sugar:
Sugar-wise, there are plenty of sugar substitutes. That might be a very easy switch to make. Splenda makes delicious Kool-aid.
When it comes to fat, there are also plenty of reduced fat/fat free products. I think it's easier to start by eating pretty much the same things, but in sugar free/low fat versions.
Then if you decide you need to restrict more, work from there. But if you start seeing results before you start completely cutting things out of your diet, you'll probably be more enthusiastic.
Also, fat is useful in making you feel full.
-pH
Posted by Adam_S (Member # 9695) on :
oooh I know the best bread to buy that's HFCS free, Trader Joe's no Flour Sprouted Grain bread. Wonderful texture, good for sandwiches, phenomenal toast, more satisfying than a bagel. Ezekiel 4:9 makes bread that's almost as good (especially the sesame) but it's more expensive if you buy it anywhere but Trader Joes, TJs sells it for 2.29 and most other places are 3.50 to 4.99.
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There's nothing wrong with liking it, or even eating it! Like they say though, everything in moderation.... don't eat huge meals followed by huge desserts, don't snack on chocolate bars all day... eat balanced meals in healthy portion sizes, and treat yourself to a reasonable amount of your favorite dessert. If you do this day in and day out (and you're honest with yourself about what 'reasonable' means), the weight will slowly but surely disappear. And you won't be miserable all the time because you're depriving yourself of your favorite foods. ![[Angst]](graemlins/angst.gif)
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