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I suspect the bigger effect is that Americans are typically eating at least 3 meals a day plus snacks. The body doesn't get any breaks from food at all, no tim

• dorkwood 7y ago
  This is why I feel like the “sugar is killing us” stuff doesn’t apply to me. I eat two meals a day and drink a can of soda with each one, but I fast for 16 hours inbetween with no snacks. I don’t see any negative side effects from my sugar intake. Am I still going to get diabetes?
  • jeremyw 7y ago
    The best way to assess your reaction to meals with sugar is an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) _with insulin_ (most doctors don't do the latter), and see which Kraft curve you exhibit. The second best way is using a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), if only for a few weeks. Most people are shocked by the height and length of glucose excursions. And dismayed by the total area under the curve. These can be purchased yourself or by insurance. Your doctor can advise. Use Dexcom G6 if you have a choice, for accuracy. Finally, you can do spot checks at 1- and 2-hours post-prandial, with test strips, a finger prick, and a glucose meter you can purchase at your drug store, Amazon, etc.
  • rgbrenner 7y ago
    2 cans of coke is 72g sugar or about 18 teaspoons + the added sugar in your food -- it's everywhere: soups, cereals (even bran flakes), bread, yogurt, spaghetti sauce, ... Your body is awesome at surviving on whatever you give it. You can eat like crap, and you'll feel totally normal once you get used to it. That's why sugar is everywhere and yet people don't notice it. They consume it regularly and their body adjusts so they feel normal, even healthy. Yet, increase the sugar (or decrease the sugar, and then resume normal consumption) and you'll feel nauseous and sick.. for me personally, it feels like I'm getting the flu. (But if I do this several times, it'll go away and I'll feel the same as before but with a higher sugar intake.) You're probably consuming a lot of sugar. I try to avoid it, and I can tell you soda tastes like a disgusting syrup. If you're able to drink that, you've adjusted to a high sugar diet. It's unbearably sweet. But just because you've adjusted to it, doesn't mean it's not having an effect on your body. You might feel healthy right up until you get diagnosed with diabetes.
• 0xcde4c3db 7y ago
  I agree with the general thrust of your comment, but I think it's one slice of something broader and more subtle that we should be wary of. The sense I get is that we tend to obsess over purity. Then, having purified ourselves, we feel entitled to indulge. So we set up frameworks where some things are good and others are bad irrespective of the amount or context, and act as though we're doing well as long as we make some discernible effort to limit the bad things (as it happens, there's often an elitist streak through the pattern of what we brand bad and when). In this case, what I'm getting at is that we can't win by just declaring sugar the new bad thing. That would probably just lead to us finding a way to kill ourselves with fat and protein instead. I feel like we desperately need to, as a culture, develop an understanding of and appreciation for balance and synergy.
• jniedrauer 7y ago
  "The average American eats too much and doesn't work out" wouldn't make as compelling a headline.