Theory: Sugar Is A Metabolic 'activator', Works Well If Body Has Enough Nutrients

[Hildy]

Whenever there are two diametrically opposed ideas, and anecdotes on both sides, I find it interesting to try and come up with an underlying theory that unifies the seeming contradictions.

And a big one is SUGAR!

For a lot of people, sugar makes them fat, creates mental fog, and obviously is a popular mainstream punching bag. But it's not just some conspiracy or uninformed collective amnesia, I've seen sugar (and higher carbs) work terribly for people. And probably so have you.

For some people (though it seems markedly less), sugar (and higher carb) is the missing piece of the puzzle. Temperatures go up, mood improves, and even weight loss happens.

So what's with the big discrepancy?

I believe it has to do with nutritional state. Here's my current rough model of the human body: we store micronutrients - minerals and vitamins, some for longer than others, while others need constant replenishment - and then different types of macronutrients are activated differently depending on micronutrient status (as well as genetic variations).

Since sugar is so easily digested and turned into energy, I view it kind of like applying a gas pedal to the body. Energy is created, and uses up micronutrients. If we have sufficient micronutrients, then with the energy we can make the right hormones and things. If not, perhaps our bodies have mechanisms for 'not using' the sugar and they get stored into fat, and other poor responses.

With this model, it makes sense how a lot of people could respond poorly to sugar, given our hypothesis that (Western/modern) societies are nutrient depleted. We have poor soils, the animals are fed garbage, pesticides and GMOs aren't helping, etc.

What do you guys think of this theory?

As a testing point for anyone who responds badly to sugar, maybe you could see if taking a few multivitamins along with any sugar helps out. I know not all multis are that great, so just as a short-term experiment it could be a good shotgun approach to testing this theory. Alternatively, see if Orange Juice (very nutritionally dense) does you better than just sugar water. I'm starting to really think micronutrients are a massive component of health and that the body has many mechanisms for adapting to their lack or excess.

Alrighty, I really think there is something to this sugar thing.

I woke up with a 97.0 morning temp.

Only got to 97.6 at noon.

But then I decided to eat some gummy bears. A whole bag 4oz. Bag.

Decided "what the heck" I'll take my temperature. 98.6

Then an hour later . STILL 98.6.

Then decided to eat some more gummy bears. About half the 4oz. Bag. Still 98.6.

So now thinking, yes, more sugar is good. Peat is right again.

And I HAVE been upping the B vitamins as of late, so there is something to this sugar thing

Pure energy methinks.

 

[Hildy]

Alrighty, I really think there is something to this sugar thing.

I woke up with a 97.0 morning temp.

Only got to 97.6 at noon.

But then I decided to eat some gummy bears. A whole bag 4oz. Bag.

Decided "what the heck" I'll take my temperature. 98.6

Then an hour later . STILL 98.6.

Then decided to eat some more gummy bears. About half the 4oz. Bag. Still 98.6.

So now thinking, yes, more sugar is good. Peat is right again.

And I HAVE been upping the B vitamins as of late, so there is something to this sugar thing

Pure energy methinks.

Oh, and I even got hot too. It was a cool today and I had to remove my jacket.

 

[SOMO]

My guess is that most people have very poor glucose oxidation due to a lifetime of stress/high PUFA, so eating sugar drastically lowers ATP, which makes them feel bad, since they are reliant on glycolysis to produce energy from sugar.

And I also think even full on glucose oxidation produces less ATP than fat oxidation, but the vastly increased CO2 from glucose oxidation as opposed to fat oxidation has numerous other benefits that the pure ATP increase of fat oxidation doesn't have.

This is incorrect.

Fat oxidation does not produce more ATP.

 

[RealNeat]

I see a lot of comments about consistent base or abundant calorie intake here. But have we considered that the bodies main mechanism may just be the consistent availability of food aka eating every few hours? Maybe the calories don't really matter, rather just eating without ever making the body ask for it is what the key signal to maintain weight homeostasis is.

 

[Tristan Loscha]

Reminder of excess Sugar intake Syndrome.
Proceed with extreme caution.Lots of Thiamine-deficiency isnt reversible,and the Body has no meaningful amounts stored.
Eating plain Sugar for Energy is dangerous.


Causes of Thiamine Deficiency
Excessive intake of carbohydrate-rich foods that are low in thiamine e.g. white rice, sugar, glucose including IV glucose or feeding given to patients in hospital
Clinical Picture of Deficiency in Adults

There are several distinct clinical pictures that can result from thiamine deficiency. They include:

Muscle pain – typically in the calves due to rapid accumulation of lactic acid after slight physical activity
Congestive cardiac failure – shortness of breath, fluid retention and a rapid and sometimes bounding pulse
Peripheral neuropathy – loss of sensation and sometimes strength in the hands or lower limbs
Wernicke’s Encephalopathy – ataxia (unsteadiness), impaired consciousness and problems of eye movement
Korsakoff’s Psychosis – loss of memory for both new (anterograde) and past (retrograde) events together with confabulation, making up a version of events to cover for the loss of memory
Other features – hypothermia, hypotension (low blood pressure) and autonomic neuropathy

 

[Kelj]

Reminder of excess Sugar intake Syndrome.
Proceed with extreme caution.Lots of Thiamine-deficiency isnt reversible,and the Body has no meaningful amounts stored.
Eating plain Sugar for Energy is dangerous.


Causes of Thiamine Deficiency
Excessive intake of carbohydrate-rich foods that are low in thiamine e.g. white rice, sugar, glucose including IV glucose or feeding given to patients in hospital
Clinical Picture of Deficiency in Adults

There are several distinct clinical pictures that can result from thiamine deficiency. They include:

Muscle pain – typically in the calves due to rapid accumulation of lactic acid after slight physical activity
Congestive cardiac failure – shortness of breath, fluid retention and a rapid and sometimes bounding pulse
Peripheral neuropathy – loss of sensation and sometimes strength in the hands or lower limbs
Wernicke’s Encephalopathy – ataxia (unsteadiness), impaired consciousness and problems of eye movement
Korsakoff’s Psychosis – loss of memory for both new (anterograde) and past (retrograde) events together with confabulation, making up a version of events to cover for the loss of memory
Other features – hypothermia, hypotension (low blood pressure) and autonomic neuropathy

Thanks, Tristan. This is a great reminder. Those following a Peat inspired way of eating will often avoid thiamine containing foods. One of the symptoms of thiamine deficiency is lack of appetite which can lead to anorexia. This has been good for me to see again.