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this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2024
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I'm ready. Tell me. I already know I probably shouldn't eat it but give me the gut punch.
Sugar activates the same receptors as heroin. Which, isn't surprising since simple sugars are what fueled much of our earlier ancestors. I personally am not a fan of this fact and would rather frame it as heroin activates the same receptors as sugar.
That said, the sugar industry is a mess. A number of documentaries have been made about it, how they have bribed government officials, had the ear of presidents, and have killed journalists.
The problem with sugar is that it's in just about everything. Sugar, by itself, is not a bad thing so long as you don't overdue it but....a single coke is overdoing it.
I like sweet things. I totally confess that I eat way too many sweet things. 3 or 4 times in my life I've "challenged" myself to go 30 days without eating any sugar except what's in fruits and vegetables and food like that naturally, making sure to eat a very careful diet and no treats or processed food. Every time within a few days I was having awful cravings and mood swings, and by a week I felt like an emotional wreck who just wanted sugar. I completed my "challenges" but it was disturbing.
It also gave me a ton of empathy for addicts. If I can't not eat sugar without a massive struggle, I can only imagine trying to get clean from heroin or another drug.
I'm not a huge believer in just cutting things out but there are definitely better ways. If you do a lot of your own cooking, you can cut out a LOT of sugar this way.
Even home made chocolate chip cookies have less sugar than their store bought counterparts. And they taste much better.
I have a terrible sweet tooth but I'm much better about it now than I used to be. The key is finding what works for you may not be the same as what works for someone else.
Cooking my own food is practical for me but not practical for most Americans. Switch out sugar for healthy fats is also a good way to reduce your sugar intake.
If you can't do that, pairing sugar with a protein or a fiber will go a long way. So instead of a candy bar doing a protein bar or doing something like peanut butter and jelly will hit the sweet but also introduce savory, which will dull the desire for sugar.
And just like many other addictions, if you power through the first part, the cravings vanish.
Oh definitely. It just did give me sympathy. I'm much better than I used to be, although I definitely have days and weeks occasionally where I'm like wow, I just want something sweet, and I eat like crap and then have to eat super healthy for awhile to balance it out. But I'm only human, and sometimes I get stressed, depressed, or too broke/tired to eat the way I should. And that's ok. I've tried the ultra healthy lifestyle for awhile and I was honestly miserable and unhappy. I like good food, and everything in moderation and all.
Most of the US has replaced sugar with something even worse that causes sharper and faster glucose spikes than sugar. Corn syrup. Going back to sugar would actually slow the diabetes epidemic. Sugar actually takes longer to break down than corn syrup but the massively heavy corn subsidies in the US make corn syrup cheaper.
So do protein, exercise, meditation, getting a raise, spending time with family, and a million other things. I'm not saying sugar is good, but this statement is meaningless.
This article I single handedly blame for the obesity epidemic.
Published by Harvard (one of the many reasons I discredit them to date, including that their current patient care model is centered around making money not providing high quality care) and paid for by the sugar industry for a paltry $50k.
This spawned the era of "low fat diet" where companies cut the fat content of their products, which made it taste like shit, so dumped heaps of sugar into it.
That's not the only reason for the obesity epidemic (although it certainly didn't help). The major reason is rising financial inequality and the fact that unhealthy, sugar-loaded food is cheaper than healthy food.
Oh I'm quite aware that this is a highly complex issue that has evolved over decades and blaming it single handedly on one thing is disingenuous. Nonetheless, I still blame that article single handedly. (/s because tone doesn't convey well over text)
Also, fat acceptance. You can't blame only exterior motives and causes. Internal accountability is another piece of the puzzle.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/13/493739074/50-years-ago-sugar-industry-quietly-paid-scientists-to-point-blame-at-fat
The is a branch of research about the myelin sheath around brain cells showing deterioration due to lack of fat consumption when we shifted to 6-11 servings of bread and pasta a day for all that sugar.
Came about from Alzheimer’s research.
Wow. Thanks, that's scary!