To think sugar is slowly killing us?

[Notcontent]

Ok, that may sound dramatic, but this is something I have been thinking about a lot...

The fact is that most of us are getting fetter. And I think it’s pretty easy to see why, but we are all in denial about it. Redently I have seen threads where people discuss their own typical diet or the diet of their DC, and lots of people will say “oh, that sounds really healthy”, “children need the extra calories”, etc. But the fact is that most people are losing sight of what normal food is and ar drinking and eating huge quantities of sugar without realising it.

I agree. I think it is a form of poison. Even so I still struggle to give it up.

Can you give examples? Surely if other posters are saying it's a healthy diet it's not high in sugar? Or, why don't you get involved and point out where you consider their diet too sugary?

Fucking everything seems to be killing me. Booze, cheese, bread, jam

I mean I do agree with you, I just wish it wasn't so

We've all got to die of something. My chosen method of execution is full sugar fizzy drinks.

No. It isn't.
I didn't eat any sugar for a year and it made absolutely no difference to my health. Sugar anxiety is just the latest thing. It will be something else next.

No. It isn't.
I didn't eat any sugar for a year and it made absolutely no difference to my health.

^Agreed. I gave it up for 6 months- did not lose any weight and I saw no benefits to it.

I disagree. I think the pace of modern life, the lack of time, lack of money for many, mean people don’t have either the time or funds, to shop and cook balanced healthy meals. So we resort to pre prepared, or fast foods. For example, this week I fully intended to go to the gym at lunchtime and take healthy lunches into work. But working long hours, getting home around 9pm meant firstly I ate crisps for dinner and secondly I had no time to make lunch for the next day.

Yes edwin. If anything is 'killing us' it is the stress of all that.
I had crisps for dinner too, after a 14 hour working day.

I think those people who gave up sugar and saw no difference, are not really people who have an issue with it in the first place...

I guess what I am talking about is people having sugary drinks with every meal, sugar cereals, Nutella on toast for breakfast, etc. People never used to eat like that. It’s not just a lack of time.

OP I agree. Where I am in Aus it’s frowned upon if your child has sultanas or flavoured yoghurt in their school lunches. Forget the muesli bars. White bread is a no-no, most cereals are unhealthy. Limit fruit intake and up the veggies. There are more and more sugar free options in the school bake sales. It’s how it’s been for years so it’s completely normal to me now.

Not just “sugar” necessarily, but processed food and the normalisation of processed food as core parts of our diet; particularly processed carbs which dress themselves up as ideal snack foods and are pushed by an industry which seems to have convinced us we all need to be snacking at regular intervals so that our blood sugar doesn’t fall dangerously low and make us faint

Nutella on toast for breakfast, etc. People never used to eat like that

Did people not have honey or jam on toast in the past? How is that any different to Nutella?

I agree we probably all eat too much sugar but I think it's when it's sneaked into savoury processes stuff that it's more of a problem

I think it’s our reliance on wheat (and possibly grains) that is making us fat and obese.
Even grass fed cows are given grains for a while just before slaughter to fatten them up.

Sugar is awful in the quantities we currently eat. But I don’t think it is bad in itself.
Portions sizes are ridiculous; we are too sendentary and just eat too much.
Having a sweet tooth doesn’t help matters.
Kids are being made dat by their parents behaviours and once the weight it on it is pretty difficult to get off.
I don’t think the association with weight and serious health conditions is made enough here in the UK. Stroke, diabetes, heart problems and knee, hip and joint problems are all exacerbated by weight.

Disagree. I'm 46, 8 stone and a total sugar fiend.
Portion size and lack of exercise is what I see as the problem.
I never over eat and walk everywhere.

When I was little I remember going to my Grandma's house and being given condensed milk and sliced banana sandwiches, which she ate each morning for breakfast (and she was stick-thin because despite the mad breakfasts she was the most active older person I ever met). I'm pretty sure it's not just our generation who abused sugar!

However, our lifestyles mean we drive everywhere rather than walk, we have less time for exercise and even less time to cook proper meals each day so we're reaching for processed fast-foods far more than previous generations did.

I don't believe that sugar is the enemy. Lack of time to care for yourself, to do the things that ensure our health, that's the enemy.

I love eating sugar. Not all the time but when I do, it's a proper cake, ice cream or chocolate. None of us are overweight.

I am prediabetic and this is partly due to sugar and a love of carbs. Its shocking what sugar does to you and the scary thing is probably 2 in 10 people reading this are prediabetic too. I dont eat sugar anymore.

But people did consume vast quantities of sugar years ago. Jam or honey on toast was the norm when I was a child and everyone I knew had 3 sugars in their tea!
The difference was we played out after school, walked everywhere and portions were significantly smaller at mealtimes.

The big difference is years ago people’s bread, dinner, tea, every item on their late throughout the day didn’t contain sugar. They also didn’t sit around 6 hrs a day on an Xbox.

Processed food is the problem. Deciding to have jam is fine. Inadvertently eating 20 spoons of sugar you didn’t know was in your food is not.

I agree. Hidden sugar is something people don't tend to see, for example high carb foods (over 50g carb per 100g eg pasta) and large portions of these which turn straight to sugar as soon as they hit your body. Drinks are a concern too - fruit juices and squash are not great, and so many fizzy drinks and energy drinks. Food seems to be high calorie for small amounts of processed sugar and salt loaded crap. Oh and don't get me started on sweets - they are everywhere - handed out at school, Brownies, pick and mix at gym.

It is become normal to eat this way and normal to be overweight - I say this as someone who is overweight and desperately trying to change habits of a lifetime and buck against habits of a society. Micheal Moseley's blood sugar diet has been enlightening and I feel so much better informed. I've always thought I ate healthily but I've only recently realised what is hidden

One of my twins has a slice of toast with my homemade blackcurrant jam for breakfast. When did jam become a retro evil?

It depends what you mean by “the past”. I grew up in the 70s and 80s, I ate a lot of processed food and a lot of sugar, far more than most modern children I know do. I was a skinny child, but I played out all the time, spending my pocket money on sweets while I was out. My teeth suffered horribly though, I had a mouthful of fillings by my teens.

I have never seen a single post on MN when someone has said 'children need the calories'

Crap diets exist in many forms. I don't think that one aspect (amount of sugar) is necessarily any worse than other crap diets.

What is more of a concern to me is that we have lost sight of what normal weight looks like. And that we still think we're in the 1980s and that a medium sized person is a size 12/14 - that association has persisted, when it hasn't been true for decades, and I think has helped collective denial.