7 ms·

What's so wrong with a biscuit?

will_pseudonym 6y ago
the ingredients.
jonplackett 6y ago
Like I said, I was going for the nuclear option and biscuits have sugar in. Sugar makes you fat. Fat belly means less testosterone. This is part of the anti-western diet thing.
- dalbasal 6y ago
  Also.. it's probably made of whichever processed grain/seed is worst and dosed with additives: preservatives, flavour, colour, texture. If something in food is bad for whatever reason, it's probably in the biscuit. I find it quite poetic that modern man needs to go live by a lake, foraging naked for a few months to regain our reproductive viability.
- jules 6y ago
  What were the things you did? Did it improve testosterone levels too? If that is the mechanism, could you raise sperm count with artificial testosterone? Or would that be counterproductive?
  - VectorLock 6y ago
    You'd probably hit diminishing returns when testicle shrinkage starts.
  - noahatwi 6y ago
    If you take testosterone, your pituitary will tell your testicles that there is enough testosterone, and that they can chill out, so the testicles will produce less testosterone and less sperm. This is why anabolic steroid users can develop shrunken (atrophied) testicles. In addition, through enzymatic equilibrium, you will also produce more estrogen (excess testosterone is converted to estrogen and vice versa), which will further decrease male reproductive ability, and in sufficient quantities will stimulate breast gland growth. In short, administering exogenous testosterone will have counterproductive reproductive consequences.
    - jules 6y ago
      Interesting! Thanks for the explanation.
- driverdan 6y ago
  > Sugar makes you fat. Nonsense. Overeating makes you fat, not a specific carb. Having a biscuit with a few grams of sugar is not going to impact your health in a meaningful way if you're not overeating.
  - kodt 6y ago
    One biscuit no, but perhaps it was easier for him to always say no instead of occasionally saying yes, which could easily turn into saying yes too often.
    - jonplackett 6y ago
      That was exactly it. The difficulty of dieting (and life in general!) is decisions. By being so absolutist it made it easier to just do it automatically rather than constantly weight up whether I should eat well. That’s in hindsight. At the time in my mind I was really convinced that that one biscuit might make the difference.
  - wonder_er 6y ago
    > Overeating makes you fat, not a specific carb. Eating sugar creates a cascade of hormonal knock-on effects that can make you fat. I beg of you (especially if you're struggling with your weight!) to consider the alternatives to Calories-In/Calories-Out eating. My dad is a doctor, he's _convinced_ it's all CICO (which is what was taught to physicians in the 70s, and today), he struggles with his weight, constantly, and is super unhealthy. He eats low-fat everything, and is in miserable physical shape. He's blind to alternatives. It is unbecoming of a man of science to be so tied to a possibly-incorrect view of such an important topic. Consider: https://josh.works/notes-gary-taubes-case-against-sugar https://josh.works/notes-gary-taubes-case-against-sugar
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - driverdan 6y ago
      I'm well aware of Gary Taube. His over emphasis of the effects of simple carbs is not entirely supported by science. There is an effect but it's not as strong as he presents it. If you find avoiding sugar helps you maintain a healthy diet than great, go for it. Do whatever works for you. But if your overall diet is a healthy balance then having a biscuit with tea is not going to negatively impact your health.
- willismichael 6y ago
  > less testosterone That's it, no more donuts for me.
war1025 6y ago
I may be off here, but I'm guessing based on the tea comment, that he may be British, which means a biscuit is actually a cookie in American terms.
- jonplackett 6y ago
  Correct! What the hell is an American biscuit then?
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    > What the hell is an American biscuit then? Basically, a chemically (as opposed to yeast) leavened bread roll.
    - dllthomas 6y ago
      Typically richer and flakier than a soda bread, though.
  - war1025 6y ago
    Via Wikipedia [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscuit_(bread) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscuit_(bread)

the ingredients.

Like I said, I was going for the nuclear option and biscuits have sugar in. Sugar makes you fat. Fat belly means less testosterone. This is part of the anti-western diet thing.

dalbasal 6y ago
Also.. it's probably made of whichever processed grain/seed is worst and dosed with additives: preservatives, flavour, colour, texture. If something in food is bad for whatever reason, it's probably in the biscuit. I find it quite poetic that modern man needs to go live by a lake, foraging naked for a few months to regain our reproductive viability.
jules 6y ago
What were the things you did? Did it improve testosterone levels too? If that is the mechanism, could you raise sperm count with artificial testosterone? Or would that be counterproductive?
- VectorLock 6y ago
  You'd probably hit diminishing returns when testicle shrinkage starts.
- noahatwi 6y ago
  If you take testosterone, your pituitary will tell your testicles that there is enough testosterone, and that they can chill out, so the testicles will produce less testosterone and less sperm. This is why anabolic steroid users can develop shrunken (atrophied) testicles. In addition, through enzymatic equilibrium, you will also produce more estrogen (excess testosterone is converted to estrogen and vice versa), which will further decrease male reproductive ability, and in sufficient quantities will stimulate breast gland growth. In short, administering exogenous testosterone will have counterproductive reproductive consequences.
  - jules 6y ago
    Interesting! Thanks for the explanation.
driverdan 6y ago
> Sugar makes you fat. Nonsense. Overeating makes you fat, not a specific carb. Having a biscuit with a few grams of sugar is not going to impact your health in a meaningful way if you're not overeating.
- kodt 6y ago
  One biscuit no, but perhaps it was easier for him to always say no instead of occasionally saying yes, which could easily turn into saying yes too often.
  - jonplackett 6y ago
    That was exactly it. The difficulty of dieting (and life in general!) is decisions. By being so absolutist it made it easier to just do it automatically rather than constantly weight up whether I should eat well. That’s in hindsight. At the time in my mind I was really convinced that that one biscuit might make the difference.
- wonder_er 6y ago
  > Overeating makes you fat, not a specific carb. Eating sugar creates a cascade of hormonal knock-on effects that can make you fat. I beg of you (especially if you're struggling with your weight!) to consider the alternatives to Calories-In/Calories-Out eating. My dad is a doctor, he's _convinced_ it's all CICO (which is what was taught to physicians in the 70s, and today), he struggles with his weight, constantly, and is super unhealthy. He eats low-fat everything, and is in miserable physical shape. He's blind to alternatives. It is unbecoming of a man of science to be so tied to a possibly-incorrect view of such an important topic. Consider: https://josh.works/notes-gary-taubes-case-against-sugar https://josh.works/notes-gary-taubes-case-against-sugar
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - driverdan 6y ago
    I'm well aware of Gary Taube. His over emphasis of the effects of simple carbs is not entirely supported by science. There is an effect but it's not as strong as he presents it. If you find avoiding sugar helps you maintain a healthy diet than great, go for it. Do whatever works for you. But if your overall diet is a healthy balance then having a biscuit with tea is not going to negatively impact your health.
willismichael 6y ago
> less testosterone That's it, no more donuts for me.

war1025 6y ago

I may be off here, but I'm guessing based on the tea comment, that he may be British, which means a biscuit is actually a cookie in American terms.

jonplackett 6y ago
Correct! What the hell is an American biscuit then?
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > What the hell is an American biscuit then? Basically, a chemically (as opposed to yeast) leavened bread roll.
  - dllthomas 6y ago
    Typically richer and flakier than a soda bread, though.
- war1025 6y ago
  Via Wikipedia [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscuit_(bread) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscuit_(bread)