Is Sugar Bad For You? Not Really.

[Drck]

Article: "If sugars and carbohydrates would make us all fat, why in the World are almost all bodybuilders for the last hundred of years eaten high-carb diets while getting chiseled to the bone? "

We need to understand the relativity of articles like this, it is way more complex than this. There are more contributing factors, for example, there are differences between:


* Man who doesn't exercise at all and lead sedentary lifestyle >> Huge amount of any foods (calories) and especially simple carbohydrates (sugar) will result in excessive weight gain, and down the road his obesity may contribute to elevated blood pressure and diabetes. Due to obesity his testosterone will be converted to female hormone estrogen, which will result in more fat gain and lower testosterone levels...

* Short distance sprinter >> Calories including from carbohydrates will be converted to muscles. He may gain weight but most of it will be muscles. He will be lean and muscular, his testosterone levels will be elevated

* Long distance runner (marathon) >> Calories including from carbohydrates will be burned, he will be skinny and his bones will be brittle. Longer cardio such as running (45 minutes+) lead to elevated cortisol levels. Cortisol is a stress hormone and it breaks down muscles and decreases testosterone levels. He will be able to run long distances with ease, but he will be weak and will have low(er) testosterone levels

* Body builder/heavy weight lifter >> Assuming that he eats correctly, he will gain weight but mostly muscles. He will also have heavier/stronger bones than average man. Heavy or heavier lifting in short period of time (45 mins or less) will also result in elevated testosterone levels, assuming that the person consumes appropriate diet including cholesterol (meat, eggs,...) and carbohydrates (sugar). Carbohydrates are beneficial in heavy/heavier weight lifting as they quickly replenish glycogen stores in muscles, it is similar to short distance sprinters...


A good way to look at sugar is to compare it to highly flammable fuel for the body. If a trained guy dead lifts or squats several thousands of pounds within 45 minutes, this fuel will be utilized much differently than in persons who consume the same amount yet doesn't do any activity at all. The excess calories will be used to build muscles and replenish glycogen stores in weight lifter, while they will be simply converted and stored as fat in person who doesn't exercise at all

...We also have different body types, ectomorph, endomorph and mesomorph. Ectomorph is usually skinny and having difficulties gaining weight and muscles, especially if he is taller one. Endomorph is usually more robust, can gain weight and fat fairly easily. Mesomorph is usually the 'blessed one', he can eat what he wants and he still appear athletic even with average exertion. Even though it is only a rough categorization, assuming that each of them consumes the same amounts of calories and same amounts of sugar, the resulting weight gain may be much different in each category while exerting the same amount of energy during exercise...

Another thing, our body is built to utilize all three categories: Proteins, fats and carbohydrates. It is not about avoiding carbohydrates (or fat) to remain lean, rather about correct ratio of these categories. For example, protein and carbohydrates have the same amounts of calories per gram (4 cal per gram)... So does it mean that consuming 1 pound of proteins (meat) is the same as consuming one pound of simple carbohydrates (chocolate)? It doesn't. Simple carbohydrates such as sugar or chocolate will go to your blood stream virtually immediately and they will cause spike in insulin levels. Our body doesn't have to do much work to utilize this carbohydrate energy, it has immediate effect. On the other hand, your body has to work much harder to utilize the energy from the same amount of proteins - chew it mechanically (which burns additional calories), break it down to amino acids, and re-build the amino acids into e.g. muscle, which all requires additional energy... During this process excess heat (which is energy/calories) is also released, e.g. you simply feel warmer after eating meat vs eating carbohydrates. Hence consuming 10 pounds of proteins will actually make you much leaner in comparison to person who consumes 10 pounds of carbohydrates, especially if we are talking about simple carbohydrates (sugar)...

So a weight lifter who consumes 30% of calories from simple carbohydrates, 40% from proteins and 30% from fat may be much leaner than a person who consumes the same amounts but doesn't exercise at all... He will be simply getting fatter and fatter...

 

[Drck]

There are many many variables to consider, human body is not a simple machine, there are millions of chemical reactions happening each second in our body... These chemical reactions have some effect on DNA, e.g. it can influence DNA to produce more (or less) of certain proteins (proteins in biological sense are building blocks of body).

We have to take the modern science with little bit of reserve. We know a lot, we have a great knowledge, but IMO it is still not enough to put everything together in concise matter. What today's science does many times is that it takes only a certain part of some process and attempts to build a knowledge on it, or in more sarcastic way: Sell better product. Because of this approach many conclusions were wrong in the past several decades, for example eggs were demonized, cholesterol was demonized, fat was demonized...

People were living decades under impression that fat is bad for the body, so they avoided fat - while it was replaced with sugar... See for example "low fat yogurt", it has low fat but at the same time little yogurt has 9 g, 27 g or perhaps even more grams of sugar in it, and it is still being sold as "healthy food". Really? Replacing fat with sugar has probably contribute much to current obesity epidemics, especially in USA...

Check this link out: http://time.com/4087775/sugar-is-defini ... tudy-says/
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All the below is only SIMPLIFIED, there is much more to it:

I believe that US diet is very unhealthy, all the processed foods, artificial modifications and hormonal changes cause much of the sickness of today's population. Move to Europe for some time. You will lose weight easily without even trying, simply by just eating better quality foods... It is very easy to gain weight in USA, a person blows up like a balloon in no time, while the same person in Europe would remain fairly within normal limits...

We also have to consider the whole commercial machine, the whole US system... Work hard, eat as much as you can, produce as much as you can, spent lots of money on healthcare, and eventually drop dead... I don't believe in overall conspiracy theories, however at the same time there is lots of corruption, lots of greed, lots of brain washing by media and so forth... Who said that you have to work 40 hours a week? Who said that you need retirement plan? Who said that you have to be rich in order to be happy? Who said that you have to have a great car and big house to be happy? It's the industry that forces you to do so, the industry and the media sort of brainwash all of us every single day...

In simple view, we are just slaves of the entire industry. Each of us can be happy without having much material possessions. We can be happy in simple house. We can be happy while having simple jobs. We can be happy without college degrees, we can be happy without having top notch jobs, without computers, iPhones, even internet... These things make us very much comfortable, true, but at the same time they make us very lazy... Laziness is then associated with overall lower level of testosterone. Low testosterone results in low attraction, in low male dominance, in low male power... Low male dominance results in increased feminism... All this results in us seeking help through sites like GC... See that vicious circle? There is no end to it, once you are hooked on society and its "benefits" you are basically screwed... You have to work very hard to get out of that circle, you have to swim against the main stream day after day...

So what does sugar has to do with it? Sugar is just another processed nutrition. It may be poison, it may not, I don't know. I tent to believe that it is a poison, and I am convinced that simple sugar is much to blamed on obesity. Do I have some scientific fact to support my claims? Probably not, just common sense based on current knowledge...

For example, a healthy person eats chocolate. What happens in body is, the sugar is pretty much melted in his mouth right away and it enters blood stream. Our body likes this kind of fuel, our brain suddenly have high amount of energy to work with. A person on sugar gets sort of high, sugar creates pleasurable experience... But, the body recognizes elevated level of sugar, and it releases insulin. Insulin draws the sugar to the cells, the sugar is utilized very quickly. Now we have body that is low on sugar yet high on insulin... The brain now doesn't have any fuel to work with, so it falls to depression... Because brain is depressed, it will ask for more sugar. You consume more sugar, and the excess amount is drawn to the cells again, and the cells are becoming fatter and fatter...

It is a vicious cycle, people get used to eating high amounts of sugar in order to "feel better", however after some while all they are doing is getting fatter and fatter. A person who is fat can't breath properly, his heart has to work harder and harder while having difficulties getting enough oxygen, the person can't sleep properly because of the extra weight, his body develops resistance to insulin, and he may be getting more and more depressed because he doesn't like being overweight...

Don't make me wrong, the same person may gain weight with excess of other nutrition/calories as well (proteins and fats), but not in such a fast rate as with sugar...

There is also a difference in how the person consumes the calories. If you consume the whole chocolate within 5 minutes, your blood sugar level will skyrocket, and insulin levels will skyrocket. The uptake of sugar to the cells will be high. But, if you consume the same chocolate in small pieces say over the next 6 hours, the blood sugar will remain relatively low and insulin levels will remain low as well... I've never tested it nor read about testing it, but in theory, if you eat the whole chocolate throughout the day you may remain lean, while if you eat it within several minutes you will gain lots of weight... So time and amount also matters...

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How can you say that when you don't know how many calories he's taking in though? Your diet can be 100% carbs and still lose weight if you're in a deficit. Will you be healthy? Hell no.
>>>> That's what I'm saying, everything is just relative. It is relative even in weight lifters. Example:

* A guy who lifts only very heavy weights and does low number of repetitions, e.g. dead lifts 5-3-1: He will be gaining lots of weight including fat (assuming that he is not starving). See power-lifters

* A guy who lifts lighter weighs and does higher number of exercises, e.g. he does 10-12 repetitions in 4 series: He will be gaining more muscles and he will be burning fat. See bodybuilders

But again, even this is relative, we also have to consider hormonal levels of that particular person. In general, lifting weights within the first 45 minutes or so will result in increased testosterone and decreased cortisol levels. Testosterone is Anabolic (building muscles) while cortisol is catabolic (breaking down muscles). Once we hit the 45 minutes or so, the roles of these hormones will start reversing, e.g. by 60 minutes of exercise the same person will have more cortisol and less testosterone...

So what does that mean? It means that he is working very hard in fitness, the first 45 minutes he is stimulating building muscles through elevated levels of testosterone, but if he stays in fitness another 20-30 minutes or even longer, he is being counter-productive because his elevated levels of cortisol will actually result in more muscle breakdown... Overall he will probably still be building some muscles and strenght, however he is no longer being efficient with his activity as his body is producing too much cortisol... He might be much better off to exercise 35 minutes in the morning and 35 minutes in the evening vs doing the whole 70 minutes at once...

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"I know proteins are digested slowly and carbs are digested very quickly, but how about fat? I read somewhere that too much fat leaves you hungry. "
>>>> Fat has too many calories and is tasty. One gram of proteins or sugar contains 4 calories of energy. One gram of fat contains 8 calories. Take nuts, they contain huge amount of calories. You can probably eat the whole bag and still feel hunger. So what's going on?

There are other hormones in the body, one important one is Leptin. In healthy person Leptin signals the brain that the body consumed enough food. Leptin regulates the feeling of hunger. We eat, leptin is released and it signals the brain that we are full, so we stop eating. But, in people who consume too much fat, especially saturated fat found in red meat, the body (resp brain) develops resistance to leptin. So we eat, we have elevated levels of leptin but our brain doesn't recognize the higher levels of leptin and is still feeling hungry... Which makes us want to eat even more... So higher amount of fat has high caloric content and at the same time it still make us feel hungry...

"I read somewhere a long time ago that when you consume carbs with fat your body blocks the fat from being used as energy and it goes directly into storage. Any truth?"
>>>> It's the same like above. You consume too many calories (sugar + fat) but the brain doesn't recognize that you are full because it developed resistance to leptin. So you have consumed lots of calories but are still hungry... you still want to eat more, you have too many calories circulating in your system... So what does body do with all the excess of calories? It stores them as fat, especially if insulin levels are high (and they are high because you consumed too much sugar)... Sugar is very easy to store as fat, and fat has just so many calories that the excess has to be stored somewhere...

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" I heard that working out for longer periods of time lowers your cortisol levels. Is there any truth to this? What does the higher cortisol levels affect during/after workout? I'm doing full body 3x a week. Or is this just some bullshit people site so they feel better about not putting in that much work?"

>>>> As above, cortisol is catabolic hormone. A person who is constantly stressed have high levels of cortisol. If you walk at night and meet a bear on the street, your cortisol levels (along with other hormones) will shoot up as you get stressed. Cortisol will release quickly storage of sugar so you have lots of energy to run (or fight LOL). High levels of sugar will increase insulin, which will start moving the excess energy into storage (fat), especially if it is not used by physical exertion.

Take a person who is constantly stressed out, at work, home, school... He has persistently elevated levels of cortisol... thus he has higher levels of sugar, and high levels of insulin... He or she is only getting fat, just because of the constant and chronic stress...

What does long distance running do? It also releases cortisol. Cortisol breaks down muscles, it decreases bone density, it stresses the entire system, it stresses our body... There is extra energy released, true, but this energy is burned by physical movement...

So your body needs to rest, when you rest cortisol levels go down... If you exercise intensively 7 days a week, especially doing things like long distance running or so, your body is in constant stress... If you exercise 3 times per week your body has plenty of time to rest.

But again, it is also all relative, your body is different when you are 20 years old vs when you are 40 or 50 years old, e.g. your body has different levels of testosterone... So if you are young(er) it is easier to exercise longer and more vigorously as your body can rejuvenate fairly fast. If you are in your 20's or early 30's, I wouldn't worry much about exercising too much. 3-5 days per week, around one hour or so is not bad at all. You can't go wrong with weight lifting, and if you need to add some cardio to it, let it be, even though you don't really need it... As long as you rest enough and consume well balanced diet you should be fine...

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"it seems like you're an adviser of the 45 minute workout or less. It's impossible to do that with full body though."

>>>> I like simple and efficient things. Check out 5x5 system, it is simple, effective, fast and efficient. 5 repetitions in 5 series, each week you add little bit of weight... You pretty much exercise the whole body, squats, dead lift, bench or overhead, rows... Add some biceps/pull ups here and there and you are all set, you can easily finish within 45 minutes... You can easily modify the system, e.g. 6x6, 7x5 or so depending on how you are feeling... Build lots of muscles and build lots of strength in 45 minutes per day, 3 days per week... What else is needed? You will leave all the guys who "exercise" 1.5 - 2 hours a day, 5 days a week far behind... You will be stronger and more muscular then they are, with much less effort and much less time...

 

[The Tool]

Didnt want to comment at all. But lifting is a passion of mine. And this TRIGGERS me.

1.5 - 2 hours a day, 5 days a week far behind... You will be stronger and more muscular then they are, with much less effort and much less time...
Drck

Correct on the 1.5 -2 hours a day thing. You do not want to be engaged in weight lifting for longer than an hour. Like you talked about.

But if you are only doing 5x5 3 days a week full body. Then you are a gym noob who doesn't know what hes talking about or doing. I used to be like that for a couple years. But then I grew up and decided I wanted more strength and mass. What did I do? I looked at all of the successful Bodybuilders and Power lifters, I got my certification in Personal Training, And started training HARD. 5 days a week. Not no namy pamy 3 days a week, full body, middle of the road, ignorant lifting.

I scoff and laugh at the thought you think you will become stronger than myself doing full body 3 days a week. I have my workout outlined in one of slays posts. I am not going to spell out and explain a 10 page hoopla on why Arnolds, Jay Cutlers, Lou Feregnos, or on the natural side Ty Dinh or Nathan Partridge Or any other BODY BUILDERS workout plan is successful. Because it speaks for ittself.

Full body + 3 days a week = NOOB GAINS

5 days a week with what I have outlined. = HOlY YOKED.

wanna get bigger, stronger than me only on 3 days of full body. I have a meme for you.

Workout as hard as you want to look.

 

[Drck]

"About that leptin thing. Is that why when I eat something sugary, which is like 1 a month, my stomach starts hurting. Or is it from insulin sensitivity?"
>>>> Most likely you are talking about reflux (heart burn)

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"But if you are only doing 5x5 3 days a week full body. Then you are a gym noob who doesn't know what hes talking about or doing. I used to be like that for a couple years. But then I grew up and decided I wanted more strength and mass. "

>>>> Again, it is all relative, it also all depends on what you want to achieve, how much time you want to spent in fitness and what are your overall goals...

* Are you a guy who wants to be a body builder or power lifter champion, a guy who wants to beat Arnold? Well, yeah, 5x5 will help you a bit but it will not do it. You need way more advanced training

* Are you a guy who really love weight lifting, strength and big muscles? 5x5 will give you a good base, I believe Arnold started like that. Think about it, if you add just one pound per week to say squats. You start with 150 pounds and in 2-3 years you can easily squat with 300 pounds on your back, without much effort... If you put more effort to it you can squat way more... Either way, you will most likely explore different programs and styles as you would get bored fairly fast... If you work out honestly and keep adding weights each week, after 4-5 months of persistent training 5x5 will give you great workout in 45 minutes, you won't even be able to finish it as the overall weights will be just too much... You will most likely hit a plateau anyway...

* Are you a guy who just wants decent muscles and strength but is not really concerned about breaking records or being the most muscular guy around? 5x5 and it's modifications are good enough. Simple, easy, effortless, you'll gain plenty of strength and plenty of muscles with relatively low amount of time spent in the gym.

I have no desire to be a bodybuilder or power lifter, but I can tell you, I can dead lift 300 pounds with ease multiple times in a row and without warming up. With little focus I could do 400 pounds in no time, maybe couple of weeks of preparation. I consider this only as a maintenance exercise as I am not really adding more weights to it, I am not looking for progress, I just simply want to keep current strength... If I tell you that I don't even spent more than 5 minutes per week on dead lift, most guys wouldn't probably believe it either. Good enough, I could be wrong but I believe that I am stronger than 90+ percent guys out there, some go to fitness for years and they can't even lift 200 pounds off the ground... Wussies! (talking about guys who have 190 pounds or more)

 

[Drck]

Hey Tool, I see that you are fitness enthusiast, how much do you dead lift (with your 160 pounds) if you don't mind me asking? Do you do pull ups, any personal record? Just curious...

 

[The Tool]

DRCK

I deadlift 405. I squat 315 (for reps). When I do pullups (both wide grip, lat and regular pull ups) (No kipping allowed) I wear a chain belt, and strap a 45 lb plate to it. When I do dips I also strap 45-60 lbs to it.

-Also. If you are ever passionate or interested in anything. You should strive to be the best you can be within it. So in my opinion. Saying one does not care to be "that big" or "that strong" just does not compute. I strive to be the best and to have everyone turn around and say. There he is. The best. I strive to be the best in everything I care about in life. The best husband. The best Lover. The best Lifter. The best Psychologist. Just who I am.

And Slay. I am not big on typing alot of shit. So i will put it in layman's terms.

Sure you are working out the different muscle groups 3 times a week to "build them bigger and stronger" to take advantage of the recovery. Or whatever. This is a Gym noob ideology. Trust me. Ive been there. Weve all been there. But its when you jump from Brotege to Brofessor that you realize this-------

With your cute little 5 different full body exercises. Probably only hitting each muscle group once (w/o compound lifts). So sure. You are benching 3 times a week. But that is the only main chest exercise you are doing. Sure you are breaking the muscle down. But not NEARLY as much as you could be. That is why alot of Bodybuilders, Powerlifters, and people who know what they are doing. Lift 4, or better 5 times a week hitting different muscle groups (like i have outlined in your other post). During the week you are; lifting more, tearing down those muscles harder, and specializing on the groups which you are not doing on your "full body days". This makes it so you need longer recovery which is why you do the groups only twice a week each.

Also. Deadlift is one of the best mass building exercises. It is one of the largest compound lifts there is.

When you switch to this (if you do) you will get bigger, badder, and stronger. Trust that.

 

[Inbocca]

The Tool,

You mentioned you went from 3 days to 5 days per week. Before my accident, I was going to the gym every day for at least an hour. Almost done with recovery, about to go back - just wondering, is it better to give yourself those couple of days off or is it just a preference/schedule thing?

 

[The Tool]

Hey Inbocca. Rest days are undoubtedly important. Your body needs time to rest and repair.

Going 7 days a week for many could lead to "over training". Since I am a man of small words ill leave an excellent article about it here. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/behar2.htm

Essentially how often you go to the gym is largely dependent on what you do, and your genetics. Recovery time varies for each individual.

Example, My IRL friend who competes in Body Building (natural) is a freaking TANK and he goes 6 days a week. His Training is crazy intense but his nutrition is also directly on point.

I myself go 5 days a week because throughout all of my lifting career I have found 5 days to be my sweet spot. Gives me the strength I crave as well as the aesthetics.

IMO it goes like this. If you want middle of the road, semi noticeable fitness go 3 days a week. (I call this "work fitness" because usually this amount of days is for working men who feel they "do not have enough time" and who also truly are not passionate of achieving anything significant with fitness.)

Going 4-5 days a week is that sweet spot where people will look at you and say "DAMN!"

6+ a little excessive but largely dependent on genetics.

 

[Drck]

Tool: I deadlift 405. I squat 315 (for reps). When I do pullups (both wide grip, lat and regular pull ups) (No kipping allowed) I wear a chain belt, and strap a 45 lb plate to it. When I do dips I also strap 45-60 lbs to it.
>>>> Great job!

"-Also. If you are ever passionate or interested in anything. You should strive to be the best you can be within it. So in my opinion. Saying one does not care to be "that big" or "that strong" just does not compute. I strive to be the best and to have everyone turn around and say. There he is. The best"
>>>> I'm sort of past that point. I have no desire to be "the best", I am no longer seeking approval or admiratiton of others... I just see weight lifting as a good sport that gives me strenght, muscles and testosterone, it is just a part of healthy life style...


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Slay: I did 5x5 about 2 years ago for 2 months before I got injured and quit until 2 months ago. My squat started at 135, in 2 months it went to 245, so how in the hell would it take 2-3 years to hit 300?

..."2 months before I got injured and quit until 2 months ago"

>>>> Ha! Exactly. You added too much weight and too quickly, that is why you got injured and quit... What's the point adding too much weight too quickly? You will get stuck very soon and you are risking injuries, and that is exactly what happened...

...Say you add one pound per squat session, and you should do squat session 3x per week.... That's added weight 3 pounds per week... 30 pounds in 10 weeks and and 150 pounds in 50 weeks (one year).... So if you start with 135, you would be squatting 285 pounds in one year - without injuries and without quitting... Also, you never have to go to failure, in contrary, you stop 1-2 repetitions BEFORE failure... which means you go home rested... You are leaving fitness while wanting to do more, while having lots of energy left...

The thing is, that many guys do reps till exhaustion. They beat themselves up in fitness, they stay there too long... It is good, the guy has lots of great gains at first, but then he quits after couple of months because it is just too much... So what's the point of going to exhaustion? Exhaustion is too much effort, you are going home from fitness tired... It may not matter to you if you are 18 years or so, but getting tired and exhausted after couple of years of weight lifting will develop resistance to fitness... Exhaustion and tiredness are reasons why most people don't go to fitness at first place...

Again, it all depends on your overall motivations and goal, if you want to be a champion, don't follow 5x5, it is designed to exercise 3x per week only... If you just want to add weight lifting to your lifestyle, gains some strenght and muscles in short period of time, 5x5 is a great system...

You of course don't have to follow this system literally, e.g. you could add fairly fast weight till you hit say 200 pounds, then you slow down to 3-5 pounds per week... Go to to 230, then take a couple of weeks off (as you get tired).... Restart again at lower weight, go to 220 fast and then start adding 1-3 pound per week or so... You hit 260, take a break, re-start at lower weights and so on...

It is just one of many a systems, I don't believe that if you follow it the right way you wouldn't gain any strength of muscles. That is impossible, it doesn't make much sense.... if you are squatting 300 or dead lifting 300 with ease, there is just no way you are weak, by dead lifting and squatting you are exercising most muscles in your body while testosterone levels remain high as you are doing only low(er) number of repetitions within short period of time... This is exercise 3x 45 minutes per week, which is not even 2.5 hours per week in fitness... fast, efficient, powerful... Some guys do 2.5 hours in one day, with much less gains and more injuries...

Another thing, once you hit higher weights and you get tired of going to fitness all the time, there is no need to even exercise 45 minutes per day... Say you do 350 dead lift as your top and you get really tired ... So simply lower the weight little bit, lift 300 pounds for couple reps, just 2-3 times per week... It takes each time not even a minute to do 5-10 reps like that... you keep most of your strenght and most of your muscles in not even 5 mins per week of exercise... I call that maintnance exercise...

...Also remember, exhaustion means stress on your body, stress means high cortisol levels, cortisol decreases productivity as it counteracts testosterone....