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sugar
So in recent years the main culprit behind all the major western diseases has been sugar. People like Gary Taubes et al have made a very strong case against sugar.
However, taking into consideration the vit-a theory.
Could that mean that we can eat sugar again?
Maybe the reason sugar was bad for you was because it is metabolized in the liver. So it takes away some of the livers processing power that it could be using to process vitamin-a.
Or maybe sugar was just a red herring.
Just about every 'expert' is against sugar.
I think the worst about sugar is its effect regarding insulin, but this applies to all carbs.
From reading PEO solution (see omega 3 thread), I'm thinking that sugar/carbs are ok if you are active. If you're sedentary you need to learn your limit to prevent crashing. If you're hungry all the time, you're probably having too much carbs, or need refeeding.
I also believe the reason we are so smart is because of an abundance of sugars. I don't have anything to back this up at the moment, but I remember reading that babies from mothers who consumed more sugars were smarter.
I can tell you from observing my healthiest ancestors that all lived past 90 with very few issues and no major diseases. All used cane sugar in their coffees. They must have had much more 5 tsp a day. But they didn't abuse the soda pops and the processed foods. I think limited non junk food sources of sugar shouldn't be a problem at all. Make sure to at least walk daily and you will be fine.
I am not convinced sugar itself is the issue, but what comes with the sugar.
Soda = (often) coloring and additives, aluminum from can, plastics. Candy = coloring and additives, maybe even industrial/trans fat. Chocolate = milk powder, can also have additives and industrial/trans fat. "baked" goods from shelf = industrial/trans fat, additives, probably addes vitamins, milk powder, coloring. Also add roundup to the list of non-organic products. And probably a lot more I have not thought of.
Is the sugar really the issue, or something else? I believe, when people feel the "need" to eat a lot of candy, soda, whatnot and stuff themselves with it (more or less), something is not right. But I do not believe that is sugar's fault. Else everyone on the planet more or less would have sugar issues but they dont. There are plenty who consume sugar daily without being obese or sick. But it is trendy now to blame sugar for everything. Not too long ago saturated fats (and fats overall) was the devil. After sugar they will find something else.
The less fat I eat the better I handle sugar. Unsaturated fats are especially bad. If I eat very low fat I get no sugar "crashes".
It's the opposite for me. My mood and energy are more stable with more fats.
When you say unsaturated fats make it worse, do you mean processed foods and restaurant meals?
I certainly get bad responses from those, but homemade meals/snacks with unsaturated fats feel pretty darn good.
It would have to do with the quality of unsaturated fats, see Omega 3 thread.
Since being low Vitamin A I don't care about any of these dietary guidelines promoted by the so called health experts any more, especially when it comes to sugar. I drink 3 liters of apple juice a day, put maple syrup and coconut sugars very liberally on my oatmeals, have sugary cocktails when I go out, enjoy (soy) ice cream, combine dark chocolate with tons of honey.... and while I do all of that, I feel great and I am eliminating all of my fungal issues.
I thought a lot about durianrider the last few days. This guy basically lives off bananas, white rice, pasta, refined sugars, sodas and cereals (which are all low VA but high carb) and he does great the last time I looked. He's thin because he does tons of sports and he refuses to eat more proteins, but he appears to be a very healthy person.
@who_am_i I would be very careful with fructose intake especially if you eat saturated fats with it like chocolate, ice cream etc.. 3L of apple juice is A LOT OF FRUCTOSE. I realized why durianrider doesn't have any issues with fatty liver etc.. Because yes he is eating a lot of sugar, but due to his vegan low fat diet + his aerobic exercise. His calorie intake is rather low.. I would say less than 3000kcal. if you add some exercise that burns some calories. I can see why he doesn't have issues with non alcoholic fatty liver etc.. But I know good amount of bodybuilders that were bulking. So they were eating a lot of calories of mixed diet. A lot of meat, rice, potatoes etc.. Once they added high fructose foods like orange juice, applesauce etc. for extra calories they started to have issues with fatty liver.. I think high carb is good especially for active people who do sports or have hard manual labor jobs. But still I would eat most carbs from starches that are better for replenishing muscle glycogen than sugar which is 50% fructose that needs to be processed in the liver first.. Simple sugar are good fuel while you are active. So drinking sugary drinks during exercise, hard manual labor job, snacking fruits.. That's ideal.. But I wouldn't just watch TV and drink 3L of apple juice..
Yeah fructose isn't great in large amounts. Avoiding sugar isn't necessary or likely to be beneficial for most but consuming lots of fructose increases LDL and has other negative effects. Excessive amounts will feed SIBO too.
3 litres of apple juice per day is unhealthy, it would also give most people diarrhea. Not only would you be getting an overdose of fructose but you would be getting a lot of pectin and methanol as well. Commercial juice is often high in mycotoxins too because it always contains some rotten fruit. If it isn't organic it will contain pesticides as well...
I think people may tend to binge on sugar when they aren't getting enough calories from both starch and from fat. Most of our energy requirements should come from starch (mostly from grain but also legumes and potatoes) and from low PUFA fat like palm, olive, coconut, lard and beef tallow. If one has enough starch and fat in the diet it is still normal to desire some sweet foods but I think one is less likely to overdo them.