promoting a healthier geek and nerd

[Umbran]

Are you saying that using high fructose corn (or agave) syrup as your your primary source of sweetener is OK? Because it certainly is NOT.

I am saying that this form of flat statement is not generally true. Whether you can safely use fructose (or any other sweetener) as your primary is entirely dependent on how much sweetener you use.

Feed one person enough HFCS that you clearly see the health problems people fear from HFCS, and feed another person the same number of calories in sucrose, and guess what? That second person will also have health issues! They may be slightly different health issues, but neither is healthy for you in such large amounts. Take those folks who are getting fat on HFCS sweetened sodas and candies, and swap out the HFCS for cane sugar, and they'd still get fat!!!

My point is that fingering HFCS is a dodge. It misses the real issue - people generally eat too many sweets for their activity level. Period. Full stop.

 

[IronWolf]

It isn't that HFCS is worse than other sugars, it's that the processed food industries have gotten ahold of it- it's cheaper to produce in mass quantities than other sugars- and have added it as a flavor enhancer to foods that once contained little or no sugar at all.

My point is that fingering HFCS is a dodge. It misses the real issue - people generally eat too many sweets for their activity level. Period. Full stop.

I think the issue is as Dannyalcatraz points out. HFCS is being included in processed food as a flavor enhancer. In foods that previously had no sugar or very little sugar.

 

[Scott DeWar]

Being type two diabetic i will flat out say this: I have eaten too much sugar in my life. that is why I am a diabetic. There is no doubt. The Idea that America consumes 140+ Pounds of sugar/sweeteners per year is astounding. I can see how I use to do that. It is gross-so is the fat on my mid section.

As for the op being a promotion of a healthier geek and nerd, I see how much the average American eats and I know that there is a good possibility that the number for gamers might be a bit higher.

Now-

Before this gets to be an edition war of the sweeteners, lets all step back and readdress the mentioned issue-as mentioned by several posters:

Excessive amounts of consumed sweeteners-any ideas on how to safely and with good health change that trend? Honey was mentioned. With the exception of the already mentioned glutinous amounts of sugars consumed already- how much is average safe vs how much is considered too much?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Excessive amounts of consumed sweeteners-any ideas on how to safely and with good health change that trend?

My issue isn't diabetes- I have certain food allergies, but more importantly, I'm the most sodium dependent hypertensive my previous MD had ever seen in 40 years of practice. But the survival skills you need are essentially the same for whatever ingredient you need to minimize or eliminate from your diet:

1) Read your food labels like your life depended on it...because it does.

2) Try to eat more fresh/frozen and minimally processed foods

3) Control your portion size

4) Learn how to cook, and do so often

(FWIW, #3 is my personal Waterloo.)

With sugars, try to buy more bakery-fresh breads as opposed to the stuff on your grocer's shelves. Generally speaking, it will be lower in sugars and higher in fiber, especially if you go to a free-standing bakery.

For candies & sweets, if you must indulge, limit your acceptable types. Instead of buying all the candies you like, buy your 1-3 favorites only. Look at more expensive, high quality versions of them (from boutique chocolatiers, for instance) to get candies that have a more intense flavor- you may eat less of it.

Don't bring sweets home. Make desserts & sweet snacks something you consume only outside of the house. That way, you won't be as able to get your hands on them late at night, or whenever the snack-bug strikes.

 

[catsclaw227]

You know, there is also a lot of research going on currently showing that inulin is actually good for you.

True, but this research is about inulin in its raw state, not the state it finds itself in after being processed by chemists to make it cheaper.

I am saying that this form of flat statement is not generally true. Whether you can safely use fructose (or any other sweetener) as your primary is entirely dependent on how much sweetener you use.

Feed one person enough HFCS that you clearly see the health problems people fear from HFCS, and feed another person the same number of calories in sucrose, and guess what? That second person will also have health issues! They may be slightly different health issues, but neither is healthy for you in such large amounts. Take those folks who are getting fat on HFCS sweetened sodas and candies, and swap out the HFCS for cane sugar, and they'd still get fat!!!

My point is that fingering HFCS is a dodge. It misses the real issue - people generally eat too many sweets for their activity level. Period. Full stop.

You see, I agree with you here.

But the main issue, as Dannyalcatraz and my first post pointed out, is that HFCS has found it's way into almost EVERYTHING. Ketchup, sweetened cereals, cakes, cookies, pasta sauces, barbeque sauces, salad dressings, etc. It is cheap to manufacture and conglomerates like Monsanto (don't get me started on them...) hardball other companies to put it in their products. Check the bottles of stuff in your fridge. Your BBQ sauce, and salad dressing (unless it is a healthy or organic dressing), and you'll see it. In BBQ sauce it's often the FIRST ingredient, and therefore the most predominant.

The USDA findings are crazy scary. You can have 1/4th of your calories come from HFCS, and you might never know it.

 

[catsclaw227]

1) Read your food labels like your life depended on it...because it does.

2) Try to eat more fresh/frozen and minimally processed foods

3) Control your portion size

4) Learn how to cook, and do so often

All good suggestions.

To add to #1, don't just look at the grams of sugar in the nutritional grid, look at the ingredient list. That list alone can get scary.

If you want to add some sweetener to iced tea or your cereal, again try stevia, no-calorie natural sweetener. I know you said it tasted bitter to you, but i think that was more the brand than the stevia itself.


Oh, like Danny's #1 above read the labels thoroughly.

Ground turkey is supposed to be a good healthy choice, right? uh-huh... Just make sure you read the labels...

This Jennie-O 85/15 ground turkey package may say 85% fat free, but they are talking about the turkey being 15 percent fat by weight (in grams) ie. 17g fat in a 4oz (112g) portion, but look closer and you will see that this example has 220 calories total, but 150 calories from fat! That means that this "healthy" ground turkey is 68% fat! Might as well get a greasy fast-food burger.

Even Perdue 93/7 lean ground turkey has 170 calories and 70 of them are from fat. That's 48% fat! (Note Perdue website doesn't show the actual real Nutrition Facts that must be printed on the label. False advertising at it's worse.)

That's why you should buy extra lean, all white meat, turkey. Out of 120 calories only 10 calories from fat, less than 10%. A much better choice.

(IMPORTANT: This data is not specific to the brands I am showing. Jennie-O also makes a nice 99/1 white meat turkey breast, and so does Perdue. Just showing variation in brands to help prove my point)

 

[Umbran]

1) Read your food labels like your life depended on it...because it does.

2) Try to eat more fresh/frozen and minimally processed foods

3) Control your portion size

4) Learn how to cook, and do so often

All good points.

Another that many American's don't get: eat when you're actually hungry.

Food holds such a prominent place in our psychology that we often deal with many other issues by eating. Food equals security, so you'll eat when you're nervous. Food equals entertainment, so you'll eat when you're bored. Food equals family, so you'll eat when you're lonely. Food is associated with meals, when we drink, so some folks will even eat when they should be drinking water. Food is a positive - so you may eat whenever you want that positive association: like gaming sessions! And so on.

If you aren't ill (like Mr. DeWar, a diabetic), skip a meal or two every once in a while. Remember what hunger feels like.

For gamers - consider having a healthy meal during or before a session, rather than indulging in chips and cookies so much.

 

[catsclaw227]

Another that many American's don't get: eat when you're actually hungry.

Yup. And put the fork down when you feel satisfied, not when you are full. Being full, especially that uncomfortable full, is not our regular state. You will also notice over time that you won't have as many false hunger cravings.

 

[Umbran]

Oh, and another, possibly important point: activity may be more important than diet. Watch what you eat all you want, if you're a couch potato, you're going to have issues.

When the human body is inactive for too much of the day, it slips into a state with a lower metabolic rate. Raise your activity level for part of the day, and the rest of the day you can be in a higher metabolic state - even when you're at rest, you'll burn more calories and have other things go "right" in your body (in terms of hormone levels, and the like).

This does not necessarily mean, "go to the gym". It can mean "walk the three miles to work rather than drive" or "walk up to the next floor to use the bathroom", "walk over to your coworker's cube and talk to them rather than write an e-mail", and so on. Just get up and move.

On a similar note: eat breakfast, for largely the same reason. If you don't eat breakfast, your body tends to slip to a lower metabolic rate - it doesn't know when food's coming, so it saves energy. Eating breakfast, even something small (say, a banana), tells your body that it isn't in any danger of running out of energy, and can burn what is available.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Oh, and another, possibly important point: activity may be more important than diet. Watch what you eat all you want, if you're a couch potato, you're going to have issues.

When the human body is inactive for too much of the day, it slips into a state with a lower metabolic rate. Raise your activity level for part of the day, and the rest of the day you can be in a higher metabolic state - even when you're at rest, you'll burn more calories and have other things go "right" in your body (in terms of hormone levels, and the like).

I couldn't agree more. I've been forced into an inactive lifestyle for the past five months or so, but leading up to that I was very active (regular running, workout routine, activities,etc). The difference is night and day. I actually lost weight rather than put it on, but most of what I lost was muscle (and I am not a big muscly kind of guy, but believe me, when they go away you realize just how much muscle even a lean 5'7" pounder like myself really has). It impacted stuff like digestion, mood, energy level; everything.

This does not necessarily mean, "go to the gym". It can mean "walk the three miles to work rather than drive" or "walk up to the next floor to use the bathroom", "walk over to your coworker's cube and talk to them rather than write an e-mail", and so on. Just get up and move.

One thing I always do, even now, is take the stairs instead of elevators and walk places I don't really need to drive to.

On a similar note: eat breakfast, for largely the same reason. If you don't eat breakfast, your body tends to slip to a lower metabolic rate - it doesn't know when food's coming, so it saves energy. Eating breakfast, even something small (say, a banana), tells your body that it isn't in any danger of running out of energy, and can burn what is available.

Breakfast is very important. I've found starting the day with 2 poached or boiled eggs (or some oatmeal) is a good way to go.