Which is worse for our bodies, sugar or fat?

[JimKiler]

I am sure you can differentiate between natural sugar in fruits and other foods versus added sugar. But which one is worse for our bodies?

 

[SlitheryDee]

General consensus seems to be sugar. I know that with the dietary options we have today, making a concerted effort to avoid it seems to net you more health benefits than trying to do it the other way around. Of couse if you take in both in the proper ratio and quantities you'll be better off than cutting either one out. The prevalence of sugars in our food options generally means that making an effort to avoid them only results in taking in slightly more than you should rather than grossly more, so I'd spend more time focusing on sugars than fat personally.

 

[msi1337]

All of the nutritional research lately has indicated that a higher fat moderate protein low carb diet is the best way to go. Sugar and insulin response are the primary cause for current obesity issues. Most fats are not bad for you, they have just gotten a bad rap.. thanks ADA!

Trans fats are still terrible, and balance is still the key.

 

[cbrunny]

All of the nutritional research lately has indicated that a higher fat moderate protein low carb diet is the best way to go. Sugar and insulin response are the primary cause for current obesity issues. Most fats are not bad for you, they have just gotten a bad rap.. thanks ADA!

Trans fats are still terrible, and balance is still the key.

can you link/source that claim? I've certainly not heard that.

 

[msi1337]

It's just my personal experience. I have had nutrition as a hobby for a while now and I have seen a shift in the beliefs of a lot of the research lately. More and more doctors are promoting a high fat diet as a combat for weight, disease, and many other ailments.. are they right? Who knows.. everyone is different.. what works for Tom certainly does not work for Mary. However, I truly believe Ketogenic diets are going to be a major thing soon when people realize how much better it is for the body.


http://www.mensjournal.com/health-f...ts-now-think-you-should-eat-more-fat-20141020

https://draxe.com/truth-about-the-controversial-ketogenic-diet/

 

[JimKiler]

thanks for the links, interesting.

 

[cbrunny]

I have such a hard time with stuff like this. Not that I'm second guessing experts, but Americans are just so freaking fat that even just thinking about their diets should force them to improve the quality of food that they eat and lead to numerous health benefits. Also, and also because most are so freaking fat, most are also just not active people. It stands to reason that an active person requires a different mix of macros than inactive, and every point inbetween.

I dunno. Moderation in all things. That's probably safest.

 

[Ventanni]

My wife goes on different diets, so I go with her just to try them out. We did Keto for a while, which worked very well for me, but not so much for her. We're doing vegan now, which I am absolutely loving. So with that said:

When you look at different people groups and look at what they eat, the individuals with the longest average lifespans and lowest rates of cancers and rare diseases are the non-dairy vegetarians with access to western medicine. This kind of diet is extremely high in carbohydrates, nutrients, and fiber, and carries with it tremendous health benefits for those who stick to it. Additionally, growing this type of food also has the least impact to the environment, and can be grown with great abundance with ease.

Keto also works very well, and it really showcases the versatility of the human body in its ability to adapt to different dietary environments. Personally, and this is just purely my opinion with no scientific research behind it, I think Keto is a dietary form we picked up from our hunter/gatherer days. Such a diet would be rich in fat, protein, and foraging foods and roots, which is basically what Keto is. It must be said though that the human body will always favor carbohydrates over fat as its primary energy source, and I think that's telling us something.

So, stick to the dietary adage. If it's made from a plant, eat it. If it's made in a plant, don't. If we really want to tackle the issue of high health care costs in this country, it's not going to come from a political solution. It's going to come from us going after the very things that we are eating.

 

[highland145]

I have such a hard time with stuff like this. Not that I'm second guessing experts, but Americans are just so freaking fat that even just thinking about their diets should force them to improve the quality of food that they eat and lead to numerous health benefits. Also, and also because most are so freaking fat, most are also just not active people. It stands to reason that an active person requires a different mix of macros than inactive, and every point inbetween.

I dunno. Moderation in all things. That's probably safest.

Sugar addiction. The brain wants it more than the person wants their health.

 

[mike8675309]

excess Dietary saturated fat and cholesterol are directly linked to our number 1 killer, Heart Disease. I'd say fat is our biggest problem.
A close second is going to be processed sugars. Not because processed sugars are inherently bad for you, but because of how much is in much of the standard American diet.
excess dietary fats along with excess processed sugar is the key to the prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes in the world. Excess dietary fat can result in intramuscular fat storage. Any sugar (whole food or processed) results in the pancreas beta cells generating insulin. Insulin is necessary to activate the storage of the glycogen (sugar) into the muscles and organs. Yet if fat is stored in the muscle it can block the insulin signal. This results in excess glycogen in the blood which triggers the pancreas to produce more insulin in response.
Over time this excess insulin response due to reduced glycogen uptake burns out the Beta cells in the pancreas resulting in Type 2 Diabetes.

So the question is , is the problem the sugar that caused the insulin response the problem? Or that fat that prevented the proper metabolic functioning of the muscle to take up the glycogen? I say Fat is the primary problem with the excess processed sugars making the problem worse.

 

[msi1337]

"excess Dietary saturated fat and cholesterol are directly linked to our number 1 killer, Heart Disease."

I suggest you read the book below:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005CVV2AE/

 

[mike8675309]

"excess Dietary saturated fat and cholesterol are directly linked to our number 1 killer, Heart Disease."

I suggest you read the book below:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005CVV2AE/

Low cab diets (outside of those where you actually put your body into Ketosis) have been dismissed by just about every doctor and nutritionist, but for those that are selling books promoting low carb. Repackaging the Atkins diet does not make it any different that the atkins diet.
http://www.atkinsexposed.org/index.html

 

[Pantlegz]

Low cab diets (outside of those where you actually put your body into Ketosis) have been dismissed by just about every doctor and nutritionist, but for those that are selling books promoting low carb. Repackaging the Atkins diet does not make it any different that the atkins diet.
http://www.atkinsexposed.org/index.html

Except eating lots of sugar (more than 50g in added or processed sugars daily) can lead to fatty liver disease and has been shown to have stronger correlation to heart disease than saturated fat. I tend to go with all things in moderation due to my lifestyle but if I wasn't concerned with recovery/performance I would tend to go with a higher fat and lower carb diet for weight loss/maintenance. There's also the phenomenon of ATP trapping in the liver when it get overloaded with sugars (HFCS has been proven to be worse here than table sugar) which also prevents you from feeling full because as the name suggest ATP gets trapped in the liver and your cells are still starving for energy and they continue to signal to the brain that you're still low on energy which in turn keeps you hungry and over a long period of time can lead to all sorts of metabolic dysfunction.

And last I looked the correlation (not causation) between cholesterol and heart disease was fairly weak, and only correlated with a few subsets of LDL, but it's also been a while since I really dug in so things may have changed. But it's important to look at studies that limit sugar intake and increased fat intake not just those that focus on and increased fat intake because the only thing worse for your heart than a high sugar diet is a high sugar and fat diet, it's more complex than I have time to delve into right now. Honestly I'd have to do a fair amount of digging to remember all the exact reasons behind it but basically you take the downsides listed above and consider that the liver can't properly process the saturated fat and it far more of it ends up in the blood stream as cholesterol (small dense LDL if I remember correctly).

 

[mike8675309]

...
So the question is , is the problem the sugar that caused the insulin response the problem? Or that fat that prevented the proper metabolic functioning of the muscle to take up the glycogen? I say Fat is the primary problem with the excess processed sugars making the problem worse.

Except eating lots of sugar (more than 50g in added or processed sugars daily) can lead to fatty liver disease and has been shown to have stronger correlation to heart disease than saturated fat. ...

Eating excess fat while consuming excess added sugar is the problem that today's american population have. Simply cutting out excess sugar does not resolve the issue of excess fat. And it is an issue.

 

[msi1337]

I was talking about living a ketogenic lifestyle.. and I don't care if doctors and nutritionists believe that ketogenics are optimal or not. Sugar is the problem..fat is not the problem, it has just been chastised for years due to heavy influence from people who make money off of our food.

 

[mike8675309]

I was talking about living a ketogenic lifestyle.. and I don't care if doctors and nutritionists believe that ketogenics are optimal or not. Sugar is the problem..fat is not the problem, it has just been chastised for years due to heavy influence from people who make money off of our food.

Unfortunately that isn't what Americans are doing. In fact living a ketogenic lifestyle in today's society could be considered even more difficult than living a vegan lifestyle. Adherence to ketogenic lifestyles is low, thus I generally don't see that as a viable option for Americans en mass.

Without a ketogenic lifestyle, dietary saturated fats are a primary contributor to heart disease in Americans. Excess dietary fats and excess processed sugar intake are primary contributors to type 2 diabetes in Americans.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Neither, micromanaging your diet with an incomplete understanding of how foods affect you is far worse.

 

[msi1337]

Neither, micromanaging your diet with an incomplete understanding of how foods affect you is far worse.

I think this is probably the best advice. I am not advocating that every way of dieting is right for everyone.. simply that for me, cutting carbs can help me control weight. Once I hit my weight loss goals, I will be reintroducing healthy carbs.

 

[mike8675309]

I think this is probably the best advice. I am not advocating that every way of dieting is right for everyone.. simply that for me, cutting carbs can help me control weight. Once I hit my weight loss goals, I will be reintroducing healthy carbs.

Please just recognize, if you are living a ketogenic lifestyle then you are doing much more than simply cutting carbs. You are essentially eliminating carbs from your diet. That isn't what people envision when someone says they are cutting carbs.

 

[msi1337]

yes, eliminating is a better description

 

[Mai72]

Sugar hands down.

This is something that I struggle with because I have such a sweet tooth. I'll look for sugar alternatives whenever I eat a protein bar or go for a fruit during like lemonade.

I also track my sugar intake via MyFitnessPal. It's not 100% but at least it gives me an idea on how many grams I'm consuming per day. I try to stay at 90 grams or below. That's a combination of natural sugar and added sugar. I stay away from HFCS. ALWAYS!

High fat diets are decent as long as most of the fat is coming from natural sources. That would be avacado, nuts, olive oil, etc. I've been eating hummus lately. Good stuff.

 

[Mai72]

Unfortunately that isn't what Americans are doing. In fact living a ketogenic lifestyle in today's society could be considered even more difficult than living a vegan lifestyle. Adherence to ketogenic lifestyles is low, thus I generally don't see that as a viable option for Americans en mass.

Without a ketogenic lifestyle, dietary saturated fats are a primary contributor to heart disease in Americans. Excess dietary fats and excess processed sugar intake are primary contributors to type 2 diabetes in Americans.

I hate diets. Most never work. Just eat clean for most of the day. Track calories with an app like MyFitnessPal. It's that simple. Make a green drink in the morning. Incorporate lots of veggies thru smoothies if you don't like eating them. So many options today.

Everyone wants a quick fix. There are no quick fixes. If you want results it's going to take time. Lots of time and being consistent day after day. People don't want to hear the truth.

 

[CalebRockeT]

Everyone wants a quick fix. There are no quick fixes. If you want results it's going to take time. Lots of time and being consistent day after day. People don't want to hear the truth.

This. I started making an effort to be more healthy last Thanksgiving. I tried to really cut down on eating pizza, fast food, processed snacks and drinking soda. That, by itself, isn't too much of a time sink. But after a month or two of it, I decided to get a bit more serious and made the commitment to logging everything on MFP, weighing everything with the scale and working out six days a week for about 45 minutes every evening.

On any given work/week night, I get home from work and start preparing lunch and snacks for the following day. During, or afterwards, I'll make or reheat my dinner for that evening. Afterwards, I clean up and do the dishes that require hand washing. Next, I workout. I alternate days between riding an exercise bike with moderate to high intensity and doing a calisthenics routine. Then pound down a protein shake and hit the shower. I've been trying contrast showers for a few weeks, so those take a couple extra minutes. By the time I'm finished with the whole process, I'll have an hour of time before bed, if everything went really well/quickly. It's not uncommon, though, that I should go straight to bed after the shower. I'll usually end up staying up a bit later instead, causing my rest and recovery time to suffer, because I dislike feeling as though I had no free time to unwind any given evening.

The point is, I've made a choice to sacrifice my time, which used to be heavily invested in seeking out entertainment, in exchange for success with weight loss and improved fitness. It's been a challenge for me, because I used to watch A LOT of television before starting with all this. I have over 80+ hours of TV backlogged at the moment. I don't think I'm ever going to get through it, and the more time passes, the more I feel like I don't want to spend what little free time I have watching television anyways. It doesn't offer any tangible reward or benefit to my life. There will be a few exceptions that I really can't ignore and make time for, but by and large, I think I really need to make the leap and drop TV viewing as a hobby.

Anyways, at around Thanksgiving last year, I was 275 lbs (I'm 6'2"). As of this morning I'm 208 lbs and I'm much stronger and more fit overall. I intend to continue cutting down to the mid-180s, at least, but depending on how I look when I get there, I may go to the mid-170s. Once I get there, if I feel like saying, "I lost 100 lbs since last Thanksgiving," I can do so without it being a lie. Heh. Ultimately, my intention is to lose fat until I achieve a super cut up aesthetic. I haven't ever been ripped or shredded up and I want to see how it looks on me. The lowest weight of my adult life was 205 in my sophomore year of high school, so I'm very close to completely uncharted territory. Exciting times.

 

[msi1337]

Awesome job CalebRockeT!

 

[LPCTech]

As for the original question. Sugar is WAAAAY worse for you than fat.

You are supposed to eat fat, you are evolved to eat "some" meat and that has fat. There are good fats and bad fats but overall the detrimental effect to a healthy person from frequent eating would be sugar.

Early Americans ate VERY high fat diets (as do the french and others) and were healthy. As soon as everything got stuffed with sugar and bleached flour it all went downhill.

Humans weren't designed to eat lots of pure sugar, so we store it as a fat called a triglyceride. This conversion causes inflammation. Sugar has also been shown to be as addictive as cocaine in certain studies.

Try eliminating sugar from your diet and watch how much better you feel.

ALSO, You can eliminate sugar from your diet and your doctor will say, that's good. If you tell your doctor you want to "eliminate" fat from your diet, he will tell you that is a bad idea.

Because sugar is unnecessary and fat is, and sugar is therefore far worse for you than fat.