[HN Gopher] A gut-derived hormone suppresses sugar appetite/regu...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       A gut-derived hormone suppresses sugar appetite/regulates food
       choice Drosophila
        
       Author : bilsbie
       Score  : 108 points
       Date   : 2022-11-13 13:57 UTC (9 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.nature.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.nature.com)
        
       | WhitneyLand wrote:
       | It seems like there's some interest here in what progress has
       | been made in appetite suppressants recently.
       | 
       | The drug mentioned in these links was just FDA approved this year
       | and some are calling it a legit breakthrough.
       | 
       | At first it looks like only a diabetes drug, but it's dual use,
       | prescribed for weight loss as well. It's expensive, but for those
       | with high blood sugar it is sometimes, covered by insurance.
       | 
       | https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/31/health/obesity-drugs-insu...
       | 
       | https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-appr...
        
       | drowsspa wrote:
       | I've been hitting the gym for a few months now, and one thing
       | that completely blew my mind was the existence of hypercalorics.
       | Imagine that, not being able to eat a lot (specially carbs) and
       | having to resort to these solutions.
       | 
       | Point being, people like to spew out CICO as if fat people just
       | don't understand thermodynamics. What I've found is that matters
       | is appetite: some people just get full way faster than others.
       | Beyond metabolism differences, NEAT, emotional responses, etc, I
       | think that's actually the major factor. So a hormone like that
       | can be game-changing
        
         | huntertwo wrote:
         | Hormones, appetite, metabolic diseases are all orthogonal to
         | CICO. These can have an effect on how many calories you burn or
         | how many calories you crave but at the end of the day, CICO is
         | still law.
        
           | klyrs wrote:
           | > CICO is still law.
           | 
           | Calories are a measure chemical energy, not mass. Our
           | digestive systems don't get anywhere near e=mc^2 in their
           | efficiency. The conservation law is MIMO; calories are _way_
           | more complicated. For example, people who extol CICO rarely
           | take into account the fact that poop has a variable amount of
           | chemical energy, which depends on a huge variety of factors
           | including gut flora, hydration and fiber intake, or that most
           | of our mass output is actually exhaled CO2.
        
             | AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
             | And yet Mark Haub[0] ate a diet of Twinkies (and other
             | convenience store garbage food) to a caloric deficit and
             | lost 27lbs in 10 weeks while all of his health metrics
             | improved.
             | 
             | Trying to be super precise about calories may be
             | complicated, but nobody has to do that to reach a caloric
             | deficit anyway so who cares. Eat less than you need by any
             | reasonable ball park metric and you will lose weight, it's
             | that simple.
             | 
             | The hard part is that for some reason a large percentage of
             | the population can't regulate their intake naturally
             | because what they require for calories to be a healthy
             | weight is misaligned with what they are compelled to
             | consume.
             | 
             | [0] http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.profe
             | ssor/...
        
               | klyrs wrote:
               | Sure, let's agree that CICO is a decent rule of thumb,
               | not a law. That's a fun anecdote, though.
        
             | huntertwo wrote:
             | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_thermodynamics
             | 
             | > The laws of thermodynamics define a group of physical
             | quantities, such as temperature, energy, and entropy, that
             | characterize thermodynamic systems in thermodynamic
             | equilibrium.
             | 
             | If you eat 2000 calories of food and burn 2000 calories
             | (taking into account inefficiencies in the metabolic
             | processes our bodies undertake to convert molecules to
             | other molecules), there is no source of energy for you to
             | accumulate fat, regardless of anything else.
             | 
             | Your metabolic rate and the chemical energy of your
             | excrement and the amount of co2 you exhale can be affected
             | by a myriad of factors, hormonal included. But they just
             | change the CO part of the equation, not the fact that CICO
             | is law.
        
           | maxk42 wrote:
           | A calorie measures the heat released by setting the food on
           | fire, which is not how your body metabolizes food. It's a
           | proxy. You should be measuring the ATP yielded by eating
           | food. For example, a molecule of glucose yields 32 ATP when
           | metabolized, yet a molecule of DHA yields 136 molecules of
           | ATP - nearly twice as many as predicted by the "calories"
           | proxy. However, in the absence of oxaloacetic acid (as when
           | the liver is using the majority of OAA for gluconeogenesis
           | during intense exercise or when limiting carbohydrate
           | consumption) your cells have to use a less efficient series
           | of metabolic steps to produce energy and only end up yielding
           | 22 ATP for DHA metabolism. I eat 3500 calories a day and
           | don't exercise yet I'm losing about 2 pounds of fat per week.
           | 
           | CICO was never law.
        
             | djmips wrote:
             | What are you eating at 3500 calories a day that allows
             | gluconeogenesis without intense exercise. From your comment
             | this seems to indicate you are limiting carbohydrates. What
             | does your diet consist of?
        
             | huntertwo wrote:
             | > You should be measuring the ATP yielded by eating food.
             | 
             | The closest practical approximation of this is the calorie
             | measurement we assign to foods. Sure our metabolic
             | processes are not equivalent to a calorimeter - but its
             | easier to measure calories than to account for the specific
             | metabolic process each gram of macronutrient you consume
             | goes through.
             | 
             | So for all practical purposes, and in the context of
             | hormonal effects, energy in vs energy out ie CICO is still
             | law.
        
               | maxk42 wrote:
               | You clearly didn't read the rest of my comment.
        
         | beebeepka wrote:
         | Uh huh. I've heard all the excuses. I am sure fat people
         | understand thermodynamics just fine. What they lack is
         | restraint. Never met a fat person with sane eating habits
        
           | vasco wrote:
           | There are no fat people during famines or in work camps,
           | that's all we need to know to know what is true.
        
         | bogota wrote:
         | Lol stop making life complex nothing about your comment says
         | CICO is wrong. Self control on the other hand is a problem that
         | a lot of people have. But im sure we will find the .1% of
         | random issues to talk about instead.
         | 
         | People love to say its easy for you or make up all kinds of
         | excuses. A person i dated in the pst liked to complain about
         | how she couldn't lose weight because of all these genetic
         | issues. Both of her parents were fat and she had recently
         | started to get a lot bigger. I said i would diet with her
         | eating the same amount of calories even though i work out 5
         | times a week and need 2200 calories just to maintain my weight
         | normally i am eating 2400 to 2600 since my goal is muscle gain.
         | She needed likely about 1800 based on sex, height, and activity
         | level. We both targeted 1600 calories a day.
         | 
         | I lost close to ten pounds (this is not at all healthy dont do
         | it) she lost 4 pounds. I stopped after a month and she was
         | unable to keep doing it alone without me doing all the meal
         | planning and just generally because she was lazy.
         | 
         | I never had to hear about how it was because i was lucky again
         | which was great. I had serious hunger cravings for the entire
         | month but guess what you can decide to not eat.
         | 
         | Prepared for my downvotes from all the people "stuck" at
         | unhealthy weight.
        
           | xctr94 wrote:
           | You're being downvoted for having a bad attitude, victim-
           | blaming in a system not designed for healthy weight, and for
           | generally not understanding this is a nice forum. This isn't
           | Reddit.
        
           | drowsspa wrote:
           | "It's a self-control issue" well, obviously? It's also a
           | completely useless and un-actionable observation, unless your
           | goal is to feel better by pointing fingers, in which case,
           | suit yourself.
        
         | 0x737368 wrote:
         | Has nothing to do with fat people not understanding
         | thermodynamics and has everything to do with not being able to
         | follow the simple principle and looking for shortcuts instead.
        
           | drowsspa wrote:
           | A diet that doesn't take into account the factors that lead
           | someone to overeat is useless by definition. If "most people
           | can't follow this simple principle" then evidently it's a
           | useless principle. Unless the goal is to point fingers to
           | feel better about yourself, in which case it's pretty useful.
        
             | 0x737368 wrote:
             | What are you talking about? If you eat a diet that has the
             | required number of calories and nutrients designed for a
             | healthy-weight person, your body weight will drop
             | accordingly.
             | 
             | The factors that lead someone to overeat is a totally
             | different question the answer to which should be figured
             | out by themselves or maybe their psychologist. In most
             | cases it's not that dire though, once their initial
             | withdrawal from fast food stops people stop having these
             | impulses to reach for a doughnut each time they're
             | inconvenienced. In any case, your problems in life should
             | be treated by dealing with the problems directly and not
             | making themselves feel better by stuffing their face.
        
               | drowsspa wrote:
               | > If you eat a diet that has the required number of
               | calories and nutrients designed for a healthy-weight
               | person, your body weight will drop accordingly.
               | 
               | Thanks for explaining thermodynamics to me, I guess?
               | 
               | > once their initial withdrawal from fast food stops
               | people stop having these impulses to reach for a doughnut
               | each time they're inconvenienced
               | 
               | Statistically, most people who try to eat less fail to do
               | it. Why do you think you don't you have the impulse to
               | reach for a donut each time you're inconvenienced?
               | 
               | I guess it's more comfortable to just call them lazy, but
               | it's utterly useless and un-actionable at a societal and
               | personal level. Diets have to be all about managing the
               | sensation of hunger while maintaining such a caloric
               | deficit. CICO amounts to "Just eat less lol"
        
               | 0x737368 wrote:
               | > Statistically, most people who try to eat less fail to
               | do it.
               | 
               | Yep, because the secret is simple, not easy. Whereas
               | people want to find some high-tech wunderwaffen arcane
               | diet that will be hyper complex but easy to follow and
               | will lead to effortless results.
               | 
               | There was this documentary on yt[0] where a fitness model
               | gained lots of weight on purpose to lose it, and even he
               | had mood swings and initially had problems with following
               | his diet regimen when it was time to lose the weight. But
               | point still stands, if you stick with the diet your
               | weight will drop.
               | 
               | [0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew7g7AqGqzo
        
               | drowsspa wrote:
               | I'm gonna ignore this whole "fitness model gaining weight
               | on purpose" because I don't even know how to respond to
               | you thinking this is somehow relevant. What it does show
               | me is that you're quite unwilling to imagine yourself in
               | others' shoes.
               | 
               | I'm not continuing this conversation, but let me just
               | tell you: if you don't feel a strong impulse, you don't
               | need that much self-control to not act upon it. So you
               | should think about what's actually so different about you
               | compared to all those fat people.
        
               | 0x737368 wrote:
               | Ok, best of luck to you on your journey
        
         | nonrandomstring wrote:
         | It seems surprising that almost no progress has been made in
         | appetite suppression since they used to prescribe amphetamines
         | as "diet pills" in the 1950s.
         | 
         | I found just a few spoons of stodgy porridge can keep hunger
         | away for 6 - 8 hours.
        
           | ChadNauseam wrote:
           | Tons of progress has been made actually. Semaglutide works
           | amazingly well at appetite suppression, and there are human
           | trials going on now for drugs that seem to be even better. I
           | wrote about it here [0].
           | 
           | [0]: https://chadnauseam.com/random/semaglutide-has-changed-
           | the-w...
        
             | nonrandomstring wrote:
             | That's very interesting thanks for sharing.
             | 
             | BTW I used to be exactly like you and could eat enough to
             | feed a regiment without gaining an ounce. My eating for
             | Britain stopped suddenly when I hit 40 and metabolism
             | changed. Hope you are blessed with lifelong good apetite
             | management, but for me I had to start working on it and
             | changing my lifestyle/willpower.
             | 
             | It's good to know that advances are happening for those who
             | truly need a helping hand though.
        
         | sigg3 wrote:
         | > What I've found is that matters is appetite: some people just
         | get full way faster than others.
         | 
         | This is a half truth. If you cut down portion size your stomach
         | will shrink over time. I eat a lot less before feeling full
         | now, and I only changed my life a year ago.
         | 
         | It's also important that you eat stuff that makes you feel
         | full, fibers and greens. Changing diet also changed my taste,
         | so I crave more healthy things now, while the food I used to
         | eat honestly don't appeal to me any longer or tastes empty.
         | 
         | OTOH if you push yourself to eat a little more every meal, your
         | stomach will grown, accommodating room for more before you feel
         | full.
        
           | adrian_b wrote:
           | For increased satiety, even when eating little, an additional
           | factor is that the food should not be too soft, like most of
           | the industrially made food is, but it should need some time
           | of vigorous chewing.
           | 
           | There are many vegetables, fruits and nuts that require a
           | decent amount of chewing. There are also some kinds of home-
           | made bread that require much more chewing than the industrial
           | soft bread, while also being much tastier than the commercial
           | bread (when eaten immediately after baking; the commercial
           | bread is optimized for long shelf life).
        
             | bin_bash wrote:
             | "Nature will castigate those who don't masticate." -
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Fletcher
        
             | bollu wrote:
             | Got any chewey bread recipes?
        
               | adrian_b wrote:
               | Another poster has already given a good recipe.
               | 
               | Besides such more elaborate recipes, after a little
               | experimentation it is also possible to make bread with
               | simplified recipes and preparation.
               | 
               | For example, in most days I make a bread to be eaten at
               | breakfast, which needs less than 20 minutes for making,
               | distributed over a duration of less than an hour.
               | 
               | It is baked in a microwave oven, which takes much less
               | time than in a conventional oven and which is perfectly
               | reproducible (the time depends on the microwave oven and
               | on the amount of dough, so it must be found by
               | experiments; in my oven @ 1000 W I use 13 minutes for
               | dough made of 500 g of wheat flour, in a glass vessel
               | covered by a lid).
               | 
               | Sometimes I add various spices, but even pure bread made
               | only of wheat flour and water can be very good. I make
               | the dough from wheat floor (with 12% proteins) + water
               | having 75% of the mass of the floor. The dough is kneaded
               | for a few minutes in a glass bowl, until becoming
               | homogeneous and elastic. Then it is left 30 minutes, to
               | become cohesive.
               | 
               | Then I wash for a few minutes the dough while kneading
               | it, to remove a part of the starch, because I want to
               | obtain a bread with high protein content, which causes
               | more satiety than conventional bread, both due to the
               | high protein content and by being more chewy. Then I bake
               | it and I eat it after it cools enough. Of course, washing
               | the dough is optional.
               | 
               | For softer bread, a leavening agent can be used.
               | Nevertheless, when the dough is baked in a microwave
               | oven, due to the internal heating, even the unleavened
               | dough grows about 30% to 40% of what it would grow when
               | leavened, due to the expansion of the incorporated air
               | and water.
        
               | ljf wrote:
               | My homemade sour dough is always chewy and tough, but I
               | love it!
               | 
               | [ ] Thursday
               | 
               | [ ] 8am - if starter hasn't been used for 4 weeks or
               | more; feed starter 30g flour and 30g of water
               | 
               | [ ] Thursday evening weigh out flour and salt as below
               | into two bowls, and cover. Get water jug, yeast and
               | teaspoon ready. Keep starter in the fridge until needed
               | 
               | [ ] Friday:
               | 
               | [ ] 1. (8am) Mix 100g of Starter, 200g white flour, 50g
               | wholemeal flour, 200g warm water. Mix and cover. This is
               | the Levain, set aside somewhere room temperature - if you
               | house is very cold you can use extra starter.
               | 
               | [ ] 2. (1pm) Five hours later, in a big bowl mix 100 of
               | white flour, 300g of wholemeal flour, 10g of salt and
               | 330g warm water. Stand for 20 minutes, uncovered.
               | 
               | [ ] 3. (1.20pm) Add a quarter tea spoon of instant yeast
               | and 300g of the levain made this morning to the big bowl,
               | mix all together (leftover levain add to starter you have
               | in the fridge - save for next time or mix and give half
               | to someone else).
               | 
               | [ ] 4.1 (2.30pm) 1st fold. Over the next 2 hours, fold
               | the dough 3 times with wet hands. Roughly mix and blend
               | the dough, no need to kneed.
               | 
               | [ ] 4.2 (3.30pm) 2nd fold
               | 
               | [ ] 4.3 (4.30pm) 3rd fold
               | 
               | [ ] 5. (6pm, approx 5 hours after step 2.) Shape into a
               | ball and place on greaseproof paper in a large bowl. Put
               | in fridge till tomorrow morning.
               | 
               | [ ] Saturday:
               | 
               | [ ] 6. (8am) Remove from fridge. Preheat oven and a cast-
               | iron pot to 245 deg C
               | 
               | [ ] 7. Score top of loaf and place with greaseproof paper
               | in the heated pot and bake for 20 minutes. Remove lid and
               | cook for 25 mins more. Will sound hollow(ish) when tapped
               | once baked. Crust should be a dark brown.
               | 
               | [ ] 8. Remove from pot, take off greaseproof paper and
               | place on a rack. Cool for 20 minutes.
        
           | guerrilla wrote:
           | That's only half the adaptation though. You can decrease the
           | volume, but also decrease the frequency by sticking to a
           | strict schedule. Don't _ever_ eat outside of the normal times
           | that you should eat and your appetite at all other times will
           | decrease. Your body learns.
           | 
           | The next part is just my own made-up opinion but: I think
           | this is also why you shouldn't under-eat because then maybe
           | your body _won 't_ learn because it actually thinks its
           | starving and so it _won 't_ adapt to the smaller volume and
           | lower frequency.
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | thelittleone wrote:
           | I believe it goes beyond merely stomach size. How much
           | someone eats is also influenced by their threshold of
           | appetite / hunger before triggering the response to eat. I go
           | through phases where I make a decision to eat less (and feel
           | a bit hungry) and after some days it becomes normal to the
           | point it no longer triggers me to eat. My appetite is
           | recalibrated and I doubt my stomach has shrunk that fast. So
           | I feel there is a substantial mental aspect to it beyond the
           | shrinking and enlarging of the gut.
           | 
           | And or course then there's the cultural habit / ritual of
           | eating 3 times a day.
        
           | kif wrote:
           | AFAIK the stomach remains the same size, but what changes is
           | how your body processes hunger. I've noticed while fasting
           | that after a while, my body gets used to reduced food intake.
           | Then I can get full by eating considerably less than what I'd
           | call a normal sized meal.
        
           | kaibee wrote:
           | > It's also important that you eat stuff that makes you feel
           | full, fibers and greens. Changing diet also changed my taste,
           | so I crave more healthy things now, while the food I used to
           | eat honestly don't appeal to me any longer or tastes empty.
           | 
           | Having tried this, by basically eating a lot of carrots, its
           | uh, not the same as being full/satiated. Feeling like your
           | stomach is full is just a completely different feeling from
           | feeling like you ate a satiating meal.
        
             | jjtheblunt wrote:
             | I wonder if the satiated feeling isn't from volume but from
             | some nutrient showing up in blood or in intestinal
             | detectors for something signaled as in short supply.
        
               | newsclues wrote:
               | I think the satiated feeling is from your body having
               | enough fat. Rich, heavy meals will trigger it.
               | 
               | Carbs cause the opposite, they trigger the need to eat
               | more (carbs).
        
             | rojobuffalo wrote:
             | not to get down in the weeds but carrots aren't that
             | fibrous, but their *available fiber content goes up 2.5x
             | when you cook them, from about 2g per stick to 5g. leafy
             | greens, especially kale, are better for filling up. and you
             | still need protein and fat on top of that.
        
               | Tagbert wrote:
               | How does boiling increase the fiber content of carrots?
               | Where does the extra fiber come from?
        
               | rojobuffalo wrote:
               | boiling breaks down cell walls which makes nutrients more
               | available. i'm not an expert but i read about it
               | somewhere.
        
               | kaibee wrote:
               | I will try this.
        
         | lob_it wrote:
         | Being on prescription meds is almost like the junkie
         | paraphernalia with shooting up insulin and popping high
         | bloodpressure meds.
         | 
         | Doesn't is sound like a biological crutch for low-quality
         | habits (fake food, cascading health issues, unhealthy
         | environments,etc)?
         | 
         | Hormone treatments appear to be guinea pig experiments with
         | lifelong consequences.
        
           | xctr94 wrote:
           | Sadly, it's quite hard to fix the environment, since we're
           | communally invested into the current system.
        
             | lob_it wrote:
             | Happily, individuals always have a choice :)
             | 
             | I've laughed several times already at "culture clumping"
             | and "lifestyle clumping".
             | 
             | Being a technology native, I had good timing and got to
             | grow up with the "golden library" that was the information
             | superhighway.
             | 
             | The kids nowadays have to filter more tabloid
             | info/illiteracy in a day than I had to in the course of
             | years. I got to skip late-stage television too :p
             | 
             | Innovation in the 21st century is soooooooo much better
             | than anything fiction has to offer.
        
         | jjtheblunt wrote:
         | NEAT?
        
           | drowsspa wrote:
           | Non-exercise activity thermogenesis:
           | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12468415/
        
         | spacemannoslen wrote:
         | Over experimenting with my own body with diet through about 20
         | years I'm always amazed at how big a role habit plays in
         | appetite.
         | 
         | When I did intermittent fasting I got into the habit of never
         | needing food until around 4pm.
         | 
         | The body adapts fairly quickly to whatever inputs you feed it,
         | and it's amazing how little of diet advice focuses on that, to
         | me
        
         | User23 wrote:
         | Gym bro science gets a bad rap here for whatever reason, but
         | I'd bet dollars to donuts that you're better off following a
         | 1970s bodybuilder diet (scaled appropriately) than whatever the
         | latest garbage the FDA and USDA are pushing. Sure plenty of it
         | is nonsense, like eating 6 meals a day, but it's mostly
         | harmless nonsense. That's in stark contrast to the food pyramid
         | recommendation to eat a couple loafs of bread each day which is
         | harmful nonsense that has probably played a role in the type 2
         | diabetes epidemic.
         | 
         | Also it's entirely plausible that various small molecules like
         | artificial sweeteners, preservatives, solvents, and whatever
         | else goes in the process chemistry products called processed
         | food is in some way or another bioactive and alters
         | homeostasis, perhaps by disrupting the endocrine system or
         | perhaps through other pathways.
        
           | hombre_fatal wrote:
           | People hate on the dietary guidelines a lot but adherence is
           | only 50-60% in the US.
           | 
           | A slight overconsumption of grains, large overconsumption of
           | meat, and massive _under_ consumption of vegetables and
           | fruits and dairy.
           | 
           | I looked this up recently. On my phone but googling
           | "adherence of us population to dietary guidelines" may help.
        
         | newaccount74 wrote:
         | I agree that appetite is the most important factor.
         | 
         | But I think CICO is still helpful. It's not a panacea, lots of
         | people struggle to just eat the right amount (see appetite).
         | 
         | But you can use CICO as a check to make sure you aren't
         | bullshitting yourself. If you try a diet (eg. cut sugar,
         | intermittent fasting, low carbs, etc), you will only lose
         | weight if you have a caloric deficit. Eg. if you cut sugar from
         | your diet but eat huge portions of whole grain pasta instead
         | you aren't going to lose any weight.
        
           | matthewdgreen wrote:
           | Other measures are also helpful but we don't generally think
           | about them. For example, carefully counting "water-in, water-
           | out" (WIWO) seems like it'd be necessary to avoid
           | dehydration. However in normal circumstances (i.e., when
           | you're not running marathons or exerting yourself in the
           | desert) we don't need to think about this very much. Your
           | body will manage its own hydration levels by making you
           | thirsty only at the appropriate times. WIWO is still a thing
           | but we don't obsess about it.
           | 
           | Now imagine your body _couldn 't_ manage its own hydration
           | properly, perhaps because we contaminated our water supplies
           | with something that disregulates the thirst response. Then
           | you'd have a society that spends a lot of time talking about
           | WIWO and it'd be a pretty sick place to live. It's much
           | healthier to treat the underlying disregulation than to force
           | people to constantly be thirsty.
        
           | dwaite wrote:
           | counting calories gives you knowledge of what you are putting
           | in.
           | 
           | The problem with people who pitch it as the answer (rather
           | than one line on four full whiteboards) is that calories out
           | is very difficult to control or measure, and will tend to
           | reduce in proportion to calories in.
           | 
           | On the flip side, many people find that their base metabolic
           | rate increases when they switch to a very low carb diet -
           | this is both because using the nutrients in their food takes
           | more energy, and because they are no longer suppressing their
           | body's use of energy with overabundant insulin.
           | 
           | Low carb aka Atkins are typically hormonally-focused diets,
           | not a caloric deficit diets.
           | 
           | Paleo is an autoimmune-friendly diet, not a caloric deficit
           | diet.
        
         | AnonCoward42 wrote:
         | CICO as an assumption is important. It certainly doesn't solve
         | obesity, but it makes the problem measurable.
         | 
         | For me it is mostly about the amount of sweet stuff, however in
         | general it is about the appetite/calorie ratio. You can eat
         | "unhealthy" food and still lose weight. My body wants sugar
         | once a week or so, however that's still fine.
         | 
         | It's probably obvious, but avoid eating food you don't like,
         | just because it is less calorie/supposedly healthy. This leads
         | to enormous frustration. Experimenting however is a good idea,
         | the more alternatives one has the better.
        
         | dabbledash wrote:
         | Appetite differences are almost certainly the primary factor in
         | why some people get heavy and others don't, but that isn't
         | inconsistent with CICO at all.
        
           | adrian_b wrote:
           | In my opinion, the differences in appetite are caused mostly
           | by the differences in the type of food eaten, and not by the
           | differences between humans.
           | 
           | In my search for a diet that would allow me to avoid gaining
           | weight, the main successes were achieved by replacing various
           | kinds of food that were tasty, but which did not satiate me
           | before eating huge amounts of them, with other kinds of food
           | that are also tasty, but which satiate me after eating a
           | moderate amount of them.
        
             | drowsspa wrote:
             | But that right there is a difference between you and other
             | humans. The idea of "searching for a diet that allows you
             | to gain weight" is absolutely alien to me. I can easily get
             | to 5000 calories a day without even thinking about it,
             | while you have to make a conscious effort to reach (I
             | assume) much less than that.
             | 
             | My sister and I grew up with the same diet. We didn't
             | starve, but neither of us had lots of access to junk food.
             | Yet she could be hungry once she got home and after half a
             | plate to be already satiated.
             | 
             | Today she has tons of junk food in her house yet she
             | doesn't feel the compulsion to eat more than a few bytes.
             | I'm down to 71 kg from 83 kg back in June, but I still
             | can't have a single cookie package in my house.
        
               | adrian_b wrote:
               | I think that you have misread my comment.
               | 
               | I have said "a diet to avoid gaining weight", not "a diet
               | that allows gaining weight".
               | 
               | If I eat more than 1900 ... 2000 kcal per day, I gain
               | weight rapidly, so the problem was reducing the amount of
               | energy intake so much, while ensuring an adequate daily
               | intake of proteins and of any other essential nutrients,
               | and without feeling that I am starving.
               | 
               | I agree that there are differences between people and
               | there are also differences for a single human depending
               | on circumstances, e.g. in many cases when you are ill you
               | lose your appetite.
               | 
               | Nevertheless, for the same human, different foods
               | containing the same amount of energy can behave extremely
               | differently from the point of view of causing satiety,
               | both immediately after the meal and some hours later.
               | 
               | For remaining satiated many hours after the meal, at
               | equal energy content food with higher content of proteins
               | and/or fat and/or fiber is more effective.
               | 
               | For being satiated immediately after the meal, at equal
               | nutrient composition food that is more consistent and
               | requires prolonged chewing causes satiety much faster
               | than soft food such as creams, mashed potatoes, ground
               | meat and the like.
        
               | drowsspa wrote:
               | Yeah, sorry, I misread that. I guess the gist of what I
               | mean is that it's a much easier choice for some than it
               | is for others.
        
             | antiterra wrote:
             | I have known plenty of people who ate very small amounts of
             | garbage food (eg only candy & hot pockets) and didn't gain
             | weight.
             | 
             | Some instances this seemed due to an incredibly fast
             | metabolism, others were due to GERD/IBS or some other
             | factor that limits the craving.
             | 
             | The differences are real, even if it's just something like
             | gut biome.
        
           | ethanbond wrote:
           | It's not inconsistent (obviously, because thermodynamics),
           | but it does make CICO a pretty useless contribution to the
           | conversation. Not the silver bullet that proponents position
           | it as.
           | 
           | Successful dieting is about managing the _sensation_ of
           | hunger. That's it.
        
             | garbanz0 wrote:
             | I've noticed a lot of overweight people using food as a
             | crutch to manage emotional discomfort or distress, even
             | when they might not be all that hungry. So there is
             | something else going on.
        
               | drowsspa wrote:
               | I'm down to 71 kg from 83 kg in June, and yeah, that was
               | a major factor to my overeating.
               | 
               | Yet, some people have a different appetite, or a
               | different reward system wiring for food, and they just
               | don't feel the same impulse to do it even when they're
               | stressed out.
        
               | PuppyTailWags wrote:
               | I have a theory but I'm not entirely sure that food to
               | manage emotional distress goes through a different
               | pathway or structure than other kinds of distress
               | management. Like, exercise, meditation, etc. we know tend
               | to be healthier, longer-term alternatives. However
               | there's something breaking in the brain reward system
               | where food is actually working as a reward in a way
               | exercise and meditation are not.
        
         | bugfix-66 wrote:
         | We have an old, safe, cheap drug for humans already: Metformin.
         | 
         | Most people can get an off-label metformin prescription for
         | anti-aging or appetite suppression.
         | 
         | Your interest in food will be reduced to the point you have
         | trouble keeping weight on.
         | 
         | Sugar will be repulsive to you. Sweet food tastes "sickly
         | sweet", nauseating.
         | 
         | Metformin also interferes with the absorption of carbohydrates
         | in your gut.
        
           | CharlesW wrote:
           | > _Most people can get an off-label metformin prescription
           | for anti-aging._
           | 
           | Dumb question: How? I'm reasonably certain my GP would not be
           | amenable to being asked to prescribe drugs for off-label use.
        
             | gruez wrote:
             | Off label use is fine. I'd be more worried about the fact
             | that a patient is bring it up out of the blue (ie. "give me
             | drugs plz"), and the evidence for life extension is shaky
             | 
             | >There is some evidence metformin may be helpful in
             | extending lifespan, even in otherwise healthy people. It
             | has received substantial interest as an agent that delays
             | aging, possibly through similar mechanisms as its treatment
             | of diabetes (insulin and carbohydrate regulation). This is
             | controversial, and an area of active research.[61][62]
        
             | bugfix-66 wrote:
             | Just ask your doctor for it. Say: "Please prescribe me
             | Metformin, 2 grams daily."
             | 
             | If you're overweight, tell your doctor you want help with
             | your appetite. Otherwise, say you want metformin for its
             | cancer prevention and anti-aging effects.
             | 
             | Metformin is safe and it almost universally improves health
             | and well-being.
             | 
             | Your doctor knows this, and she'll gladly prescribe it.
        
               | dylan604 wrote:
               | > Your doctor knows this, and she'll gladly prescribe it.
               | 
               | If your doctor gladly prescribes anything you just walk
               | in and ask for by name and dosage and doesn't have a
               | green cross symbol outside their office, then I'd highly
               | suggest seeking out a new doctor.
        
               | bugfix-66 wrote:
               | We're talking about a particular drug here (metformin)
               | not just "anything".
               | 
               | I'm saying it's likely your doctor will be willing to
               | prescribe METFORMIN (that drug, in particular) for off-
               | label use if you ask.
        
           | drowsspa wrote:
           | I once heard about one drug that basically works by making
           | you nauseous to food. Is it the one?
           | 
           | > Metformin is generally safe, but common side effects do
           | include vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea. Those experiencing
           | these unpleasant side effects might consume less food,
           | resulting in modest weight reductions.
        
             | bugfix-66 wrote:
             | Many foods you used to like (e.g., sweets) will be
             | nauseating.
             | 
             | Other foods remain delicious. For example, eggs and cheese
             | and meat.
             | 
             | But basically, your interest in food will be drastically
             | reduced, and you will eat just enough.
             | 
             | This is an important part of metformin's beneficial effect
             | on lifespan and health.
        
               | TylerE wrote:
               | Admittedly, I'm on a fairly low dose (500mg x 2), but I
               | can still kill a bag of Haribo when the mood hits. It
               | doesn't , quite as often, but I've noticed no changes in
               | flavor.
        
               | bugfix-66 wrote:
               | Thanks for the anecdote. Biological variation, we're all
               | different!
        
               | dwaite wrote:
               | Can you point to any studies around this?
               | 
               | I've never heard of this effect (let alone experienced
               | it).
               | 
               | I do know that Diabetes itself can reduce the efficiency
               | of taste receptors, and metformin will sometimes cause
               | people to have a metallic taste in their mouth (due to
               | metformin in produced saliva)
        
               | bugfix-66 wrote:
               | It's easy to find studies connecting metformin to weight
               | loss and loss of appetite. I'll leave that to you, just
               | use Google and you'll be swamped with evidence.
               | 
               | You say you've never heard of metformin affecting food
               | palatability and taste? Did you search the web at all?
               | Just use Google if you want anecdotal examples. For
               | example:
               | 
               | https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/loss-of-
               | appetit...
               | 
               |  _I joined as after 18 months on metformin, my appetite
               | and enjoyment of food is constantly declining. I've lost
               | about 10 kg over that time, which is not a problem. But
               | I've lost my appetite and, as a keen cook and someone who
               | has always enjoyed good food, I no longer look forward to
               | meals and get little pleasure from food._
               | 
               | or
               | 
               | https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/anyone-
               | experience-l...
               | 
               |  _Metformin changed the taste of food slowly during the
               | time I took it. It finally got to the point where all
               | vegetables tasted like burnt plastic. This meant that I
               | didn 't want to eat them._
               | 
               | And so on. Now you've heard of it! All it took was a web
               | search.
        
             | empiricus wrote:
             | You should not feel anything when you take Metformin. Its
             | effects are subtle and very long term.
        
           | anaisbetts wrote:
           | A more appropriate drug for this is probably Ozempic/Wegovy
           | (Semaglutide), or an even more effective version available in
           | the US, Tirzepatide. I've personally been on the former and
           | after 4.5 months, I've lost ~20% of my body weight
        
             | bilsbie wrote:
             | Aren't those hard to get and then super expensive if you do
             | quality?
        
               | anaisbetts wrote:
               | No idea, in the EU I pay ~85 EUR/mo
        
             | bugfix-66 wrote:
             | Metformin is well-understood, old, safe, and has various
             | health benefits.
             | 
             | Surprisingly, metformin seems to be almost a pure win, even
             | for healthy people: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/is-
             | metformin-a-wonder-dr...
             | 
             | In contrast, GIP analogues like semaglutaide present real
             | risks and are less well understood. For some people, with
             | serious health problems, GIP analogues make sense. But
             | generally you don't want to be taking them if you're
             | healthy.
        
           | DontchaKnowit wrote:
           | Yeah tell that to my stress eating family members who all
           | have metformin prescriptions.
           | 
           | This may be true for some people but definitely not a
           | universal
        
             | bugfix-66 wrote:
             | Here's a question to consider: How much worse would the
             | situation be if they weren't on metformin?
        
           | tacitusarc wrote:
           | > Because the vast majority of research regarding metformin
           | included only people with diabetes or prediabetes, it's
           | unclear whether these potential benefits are limited to
           | people with those conditions, or whether people without
           | diabetes may derive benefit as well.
           | 
           | https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/is-metformin-a-wonder-
           | dr...
        
           | smhoff256 wrote:
           | I think those kinds of blanket statements about metformin are
           | a little misleading and a bit dangerous. For instance I
           | myself have been on metformin now for almost 2 years and I
           | can assure you I have no repulsion to sugar.
        
             | bugfix-66 wrote:
             | Yes, I see three responses along these lines, already. Some
             | people don't lose weight. Some people's appetite isn't
             | affected. Some people retain their taste for sweets. And so
             | on.
             | 
             | But "misleading and a bit dangerous"? Really?
             | 
             | Readers can find a summary of metformin's typical effects
             | on Wikipedia, here:
             | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metformin
             | 
             | YMMV: "your mileage may vary"
        
         | flamebreath447 wrote:
         | What doesn't make sense about your statement is that CICO
         | evangelists don't claim that appetite or that satiation isn't a
         | problem.
         | 
         | One of the best examples I know of is Greg Doucette. He
         | specifically preaches CICO because for 95-99% of people it is
         | about putting the fork down. It's a generalization because,
         | more often than not you aren't controlling your intake if you
         | are overweight. There will always be the minority that truly
         | have hormonal imbalances and need assistance losing weight.
         | 
         | If you have a higher appetite you should have learned about low
         | calorie dense foods, and if you're serious about losing or
         | maintaining a healthy weight you have to find sustainable foods
         | you like that fill you but are lower in calories.
         | 
         | There's a heirarchy in terms of trouble shooting your weight
         | problems and proper jumping to NEAT and hormonal imbalances is
         | really just trying to take a shortcut for instant
         | gratification.
         | 
         | Long term you can lose 1 pound a month, slowly, and keep it off
         | the rest of your life via CICO.
         | 
         | Sorry for the rant but I can't stand people who skip CICO cause
         | they don't like to hear it and haven't done research on how to
         | keep themselves full.
        
           | guerrilla wrote:
           | > It's a generalization because, more often than not you
           | aren't controlling your intake if you are overweight. There
           | will always be the minority that truly have hormonal
           | imbalances and need assistance losing weight.
           | 
           | But we know it's _not_ a minority. _Most_ people who try to
           | eat less fail, repeatedly, for all of their lives.
        
             | flamebreath447 wrote:
             | But it is.
             | 
             | It's because people who 'try' their whole lives yo-yo diet
             | or crash diet and that's
             | 
             | 1) unsustainable 2) extremely likely to result in more long
             | term weight gain 3) very unhealthy for your body to
             | constantly be fluctuating in weight so rapidly
             | 
             | If you are eating right (let me be very clear here, right
             | doesn't mean whole 30 or some vegan diet: it means calories
             | within the means to not add or lose weight which is called
             | maintenance) you are not going to fluctuate in weight very
             | much.
             | 
             | The majority of people in America are overweight because
             | they lack basic understanding of nutrition, don't exercise
             | enough (still you cannot outwork a bad diet), self-control
             | thus overeat or some permutation of all three.
             | 
             | It's straight up a bold face lie to say that the majority
             | of people have hormonal problems otherwise we would have a
             | national crisis on our hands with something that we should
             | drop our jobs for right now and study because our water or
             | air or food is heavily impacting our hormones to cause
             | every single person on earth to gain weight.
             | 
             | If losing and maintaining a healthy weight was easy, we
             | would have put it into a pill already.
             | 
             | Not to mention you don't need to be in a caloric deficit
             | your whole life. Hell you could even be 15% BF and maintain
             | that for 40+ years.
             | 
             | Most people adopt those fad diets and realize how much they
             | hate it because it's so restrictive.
             | 
             | The main goal of a good and healthy caloric intake is to
             | basically eat the right foods you want to eat within the
             | portion that allows you to maintain.
             | 
             | It's pretty simple if you look at all the diets today -
             | keto - intermittent fasting - vegan/ vegetarian - whole 30
             | - carnivore
             | 
             | It's all an aim to put guard rails on your diet by making
             | some foods 'off limits'. CICO literally calorie restriction
             | by cutting out entire groups of food.
             | 
             | It's not sustainable because everyone eventually runs out
             | of will power and wants a donut.
             | 
             | The key is, track your caloric intake. Micro-adjust to get
             | to a healthy weight. Maintain.
             | 
             | You should be able to eat the foods you wanna eat the rest
             | of your life on a good diet, just less of them and you need
             | to find foods that satiate you personally well to
             | counteract overeating.
        
             | BeetleB wrote:
             | About a decade ago I read an interview with an applied
             | mathematician about how he applied his knowledge of math to
             | practical applications. I don't recall if he was working
             | for the NSF or the NIH at the time, but his work for the
             | past few years had to do with this.
             | 
             | He said that of all the contributing factors to being
             | overweight, the factor that was clearly the most
             | significant by a margin was food production per capita. If
             | you produce a lot more food, people will consume a lot more
             | as well.
             | 
             | Putting down the fork may not be an effective solution, but
             | the problem _definitely_ is eating too much. Other factors
             | like how our bodies absorb more from the same food than
             | they did 40 years ago pale in comparison.
        
               | guerrilla wrote:
               | > but the problem definitely is eating too much
               | 
               | Not necessarily. Eating too much may be the _result_ of
               | whatever the actual problem may be. People know they 're
               | eating too much already. They still, very reliably, can't
               | do anything about it.
        
               | BeetleB wrote:
               | > People know they're eating too much already. They
               | still, very reliably, can't do anything about it.
               | 
               | Consistent with my comment. That they can't cut down
               | eating doesn't mean the problem isn't overproduction.
        
             | brongondwana wrote:
             | The thing that worked for me was time restriction. I can't
             | reliably count calories but I can quite easily look at the
             | clock and decide whether it's feeding hours or fasting
             | hours. Doesn't make it easy, but made it possible.
             | 
             | (lost 20ish kg first time with fitness and diet change, put
             | most of it back on over many years due largely to buffet
             | lunch in the office followed by bad habits, lost it again
             | by using time restriction and that seems to have stuck so
             | far)
        
       | badrabbit wrote:
       | I have gained and lost a ton of weight several times in my life.
       | While I did also notice and make use of the hormone imbalances
       | that affect me (depending on where your fat is you can estimate
       | what hormone is acting up), in my experience it has been that
       | food appetite or enjoyment is maybe 10% of the struggle with
       | another 10% being environmental factors but 80% comes down to the
       | answer to a simple question: Is the advantage or profit of weight
       | loss worth the discomfort and hard work? We all know objectively
       | speaking it is, but as an individual, do I care enough? What do I
       | get out if it in the end that is worth it, _for me_?
        
       | Beaver117 wrote:
       | People weren't fat 100 years ago so what happened? We didn't just
       | evolve to have lower self control. Something was introduced in
       | the food/water supply that causes obesity, particularly high
       | appetite. What can it be? HFCS? Antibiotics? PFAS? Canola oil?
       | Some mystery chemical?
       | 
       | The CICO cult are a hindrance to society, obviously everyone
       | would count calories if it didn't make them feel like they're
       | dying. The fact is we don't know CO. And we don't know each how
       | each persons appetite is influenced. So talking about CICO is
       | meaningless.
        
         | oblak wrote:
         | You haven't heard of fat Romans?
         | 
         | The environment, pesticides, plastics, skinny robot aliens from
         | the future. We just don't know!
         | 
         | Anything but indulgence.
        
       | sedeki wrote:
       | I read a lot of good things about intermittent fasting. Is there
       | a good canonical resource if I want to try it?
       | 
       | Note that I am lifting weighs 3 times per week. Is IF still a
       | good idea...?
       | 
       | I don't feel confident that this is something that I can lift
       | with my GP, as it is not part of their standard set of guidelines
       | (?)
        
         | polishdude20 wrote:
         | IF seems to be one of many techniques to restrict your overall
         | calorie consumption. Each technique is suited to a different
         | person's schedule, personality, vices etc. It's less about the
         | chemistry happening in the body and more about the matching of
         | diet to personality choices.
         | 
         | As for IF while lifting? Depends on your goals.
        
           | sedeki wrote:
           | OK! I was under the impression that it had tangible health
           | benefits like better cardio-vascular health regardless of
           | diet, better well-being/mood.
           | 
           | In other words, I assumed that IF is not just good for
           | weight-loss or weight maintenance.
        
             | xctr94 wrote:
             | The evangelists will sell IF/TRE has having every benefit
             | under the sun. I do 16:8 for weight maintenance, but I also
             | appreciate the morning work that I do on ketones. It's a
             | simple regiment that has made me more aware of what I eat;
             | but I don't think it's a panacea.
             | 
             | When you look at sources of compiled research such as
             | Examine [1] or meta-analysis [2], the science on IF/TRE
             | isn't yet solid enough to back more than the weight-loss
             | aspect.
             | 
             | [1]: https://examine.com/diets/16-8-intermittent-fasting/
             | 
             | [2]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4516560/
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | socialismisok wrote:
       | I'd love to have some help with this. I was able to drop meat,
       | most dairy, and salty junk food without problem. I eat plenty of
       | green leafy vegetables.
       | 
       | But sugar. Fuuuck I cannot walk past sweets. Sugar has claws in
       | me I cannot shake. I hope we someday understand that mechanism
       | better, maybe enough to give me a little help.
        
         | huntertwo wrote:
         | Maybe eat dairy and meat instead? These foods are less harmful
         | to you and less likely to leave you hungry than sugar and
         | processed foods.
        
           | socialismisok wrote:
           | Meat is tricky. I won't support industrial meat production,
           | that's a hard line for me. Finding local farmers to supply
           | meat takes time. But yes, that's an approach I could take.
        
         | ddorian43 wrote:
         | > I was able to drop meat, most dairy, and salty junk food
         | without problem.
         | 
         | You are doing this completely in reverse. You need to drop
         | sugar & carbs. And eat fatty-meat/low-carb.
        
           | socialismisok wrote:
           | No. I will not eat industrially produced meat. I dropped that
           | a long time ago. Meat from local farmers with ethical
           | practices is a sometimes food.
           | 
           | Dairy is sugar... I'll have some cottage cheese or other
           | cheeses. And salty junk food (chips, cheese crackers, etc) is
           | almost always high carb.
        
             | ddorian43 wrote:
             | Like Eminem said: Be smart, don't be a retard.
             | 
             | See keto diet. (I do it and carnivore).
        
         | csours wrote:
         | I hear you. Controlling your food environment is so important.
         | It's candy on desks season again. I can usually walk past the
         | candy, but not always.
        
           | drowsspa wrote:
           | Willpower is a finite resource indeed, you can't rely on
           | that.
        
             | pstuart wrote:
             | True, but it can be trained to a degree.
             | 
             | If one can make it through the sugar detox phase then it's
             | pretty easy because the cravings do go away.
             | 
             | The other part is stress management; when something bad
             | happens it's so tempting to say "fuck it, I deserve this
             | <insert bad thing>". That's the harder part.
        
             | freddie_mercury wrote:
             | Current research suggests that willpower is not a finite
             | research and "ego depletion" was a spurious finding.
             | 
             | https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-do-you-
             | know/2020...
        
               | drowsspa wrote:
               | Psychology research is all over the place. If they mean
               | willpower as this general concept, then probably it's not
               | a thing.
               | 
               | But if you have junk food in your home some people (like
               | myself) will eat it compulsively at some point.
        
               | csours wrote:
               | I think willpower is a description of the human
               | experience. I don't know if it's a good mechanistic
               | description or not. It does not seem to be taken
               | seriously as a cause by many psychologists.
               | 
               | Whatever you think of willpower, I think controlling the
               | food environment (don't bring it home from the store,
               | don't eat at restaurants with mainly junk food, etc) is
               | the most effective intervention. After that, things like
               | substitution, delay, smallest possible portion, and
               | putting the tempting food in an inconvenient location may
               | help.
        
         | asciimov wrote:
         | Advice from a T2 Diabetic and regular Keto dieter.
         | 
         | If you have never given up sugar before, it will take at least
         | 6-8 weeks of non-use before the cravings go away. These will be
         | some of the hardest weeks too.
         | 
         | 1) everything has sugar in it, and you have to absolutely avoid
         | it, not just sweets, fruits, juices, I'd even tell you diet
         | drinks and artificial sweeteners too. That means no ketchup,
         | sauces, breads, and most processed and store bought foods.
         | 
         | 2) your body will do everything to remind you about those easy
         | access sugars. During your detox, you will have cravings,
         | dreams about sweets, even the overwhelming urge to eat stuff
         | you might not even thing about "oh god, i could really go for
         | some prunes right now" sort of thing.
         | 
         | After your body gets it figured out that your no longer getting
         | access to easy glucose it calms the hell down. You'll notice
         | one day that sweets just don't seem that appealing. You'll get
         | better at detecting sweetness in things you would have never
         | considered sweet, like lettuce.
         | 
         | I warn you sugar is insidious and everywhere. One day, you will
         | sit down to some mundane meal, nothing special about it. After
         | a few bites, you will say, wow this is wonderful, its the best
         | thing I have ever tasted, I absolutely must have more of this
         | very mundane thing, I'll need seconds, thirds, more if
         | available. That meal you were eating was loaded down with
         | sugar, it probably didn't taste sweet but it will taste like
         | the best thing ever. That's how sugar gets you.
        
           | k__ wrote:
           | I remember doing Keto for 3 months. Stayed under 50g carbs
           | per day.
           | 
           | Lost 10kg.
           | 
           | But it was hard.
           | 
           | My "trick" was buying a Pepsi Max Cherry and a >80%
           | chocolate, when I got cravings.
        
           | oifjsidjf wrote:
           | I had the same experience when I tried keto.
           | 
           | The first ~12 days were hell, as if the devil possesed me,
           | that is how strong sugar addiction is.
           | 
           | But then all of the sudden it was as if cravings reduced by
           | 95% in just 24 hours around day ~12.
        
           | dataflow wrote:
           | > everything has sugar in it, and you have to absolutely
           | avoid it, not just sweets, fruits, juices, I'd even tell you
           | diet drinks and artificial sweeteners too. That means no
           | ketchup, sauces, breads, and most processed and store bought
           | foods.
           | 
           | Realistically how do you avoid sugar like this? Soft drinks,
           | candy, and other artificial stuff are easy enough to avoid,
           | but most bread? Fruits? What _are_ you supposed to eat and
           | how are you supposed to obtain it without involving sugar?
           | Are you suggesting people eat pure meat and lettuce and eggs
           | for 6-8 weeks? It would be so much more helpful to give some
           | examples of sample diets people could actually follow.
           | 
           | (What specifically are you saying needs to be avoided btw?
           | Sucrose and fructose and artificial sweeteners I assume, but
           | not glucose?)
        
             | asciimov wrote:
             | > What specifically are you saying needs to be avoided btw?
             | 
             | Carbs, all of them, as much as you can.
             | 
             | Gotta think on the lines of what did human bodies evolve to
             | process and use. Since sugar sources weren't always
             | available, our bodies make all the glucose we need to live.
             | We don't need sugar or carbs at all. Sure our body's do
             | like them because it's easier for our bodies to process
             | carbs to glucose than to make it from fats and other amino
             | acids. This means our brain signals to eat more of the
             | sugary stuff because its "free" energy.
             | 
             | > Are you suggesting people eat pure meat and lettuce and
             | eggs for 6-8 weeks?
             | 
             | Kinda. It's scary yes, but as your body switches over to
             | eating less carbs, it has to work harder to convert non
             | carbs into things it can use. This levels out your blood
             | sugar levels which in turn makes you less hungry.
             | 
             | > It would be so much more helpful to give some examples of
             | sample diets people could actually follow.
             | 
             | My diet when I'm in the zone so to speak (Keto +
             | intermittent fasting), looks like the following.
             | 
             | First meal around 1pm. Salad - a store bought green mix,
             | might have a little carrot with it, various lettuce (not
             | iceberg or just romaine), I might throw in an egg, a
             | serving of a protein (anything from steak, lunch meat, tuna
             | or salmon), some cheese, maybe something salty (olives or
             | peppers) and some kind of non-sugary dressing (ranch, blue
             | cheese, oil and vinegar), water or unsweet tea.
             | 
             | About 3pm - 5pm is a mixed bag and might be a snack or
             | meal, and depends on hunger levels. This can be some nuts
             | (almonds typically), cheese, lunch meat, protein shake, or
             | just left overs.
             | 
             | 7-8pm I'll have dinner. Bunless burgers are common, or just
             | some source of protein and a veggie side. I like chicken,
             | beef, pork, fish. You can make all kinds of stuff with
             | them. Bake it, grill it, fry it (without breading).
             | Meatloaf is good. Lots of good recipe sites, maybe you like
             | tacos, so you can have them with low carb tortillas. Asian
             | dishes work out too, as long as you modify them.
             | Cauliflower can be subbed for rice.
             | 
             | 8-9pm I'm likely to have another snack.
             | 
             | 9pm-1pm - Water. I'll eat if my blood sugar levels demand
             | it. But on a typical day, I avoid anything that needs to be
             | digested.
        
             | count wrote:
             | An easy way to get most of the way there:
             | 
             | - Minimal to no fruit (that includes tomato).
             | 
             | - Don't eat anything that comes in a package or that has an
             | ingredients list more than 1 item long (so, frozen broccoli
             | is fine, as long as there's no extra stuff in the bag).
             | 
             | - Don't eat anything that your great grandparents wouldn't
             | have had access to.
             | 
             | Some things, like bell peppers, will start tasting like
             | candy after a few weeks of this.
        
               | socialismisok wrote:
               | But bell peppers have sugar, they are berries. I've done
               | keto and had success holding sugar under, say, 10 to 12
               | grams. But getting to absolute zero and eating plenty of
               | fibrous veggies is tricky.
        
           | zemvpferreira wrote:
           | As someone who's done every eating regimen under the sun, one
           | top tip to get over the habit hump much quicker: water
           | fasting.
           | 
           | After ingesting nothing but water, coffee and electrolytes
           | for 3-5 days your eating compulsions will be immediately
           | reset. It's incredible how quick the effect is when you go
           | extreme. It's not magic but it is pretty close.
        
             | tsol wrote:
             | I love water fasting and do it often. But it also is highly
             | dependent on weight. If you're a lower weight already, it
             | can be really hard to do a 3 day water fast. I used to be
             | able to do them pretty easy, but after cutting weight it's
             | become much harder. I do modified fasts where I take
             | protein and fat both.
        
             | scarecrowbob wrote:
             | I have had similar experiences; I did a lot of water
             | fasting, lost a lot of weight (50lbs over 18mos), and then
             | after all that fasting the sugary things just were not as
             | appealing.
             | 
             | On top of that, I find it easier to go into water fasting
             | if I've been in ketosis for a bit, which is difficult in
             | itself.
             | 
             | But for that, I've found it helpful to remove other dietary
             | restrictions; I don't typically eat dairy, and the stuff I
             | do like to eat in keto is often much more expensive than
             | the beans and rice / peanuts/ fruit that are the staples of
             | my diet when I'm not trying to force ketosis or fast.
             | Eating nicer food (usually meats, lots of eggs, dairy)
             | makes being that process easier.
        
             | bin_bash wrote:
             | Yep. I had an unbelievable sweet tooth since I was a
             | teenager. I was having 10+ cans of coke per day on top of
             | multiple king size candy bars. When I was ~30 I did a 36
             | hour fast and afterwards has 0 desire to have anything
             | sweet for the very first time in my adult life.
             | 
             | It came back a few weeks later, but over a few years I
             | tried fasting again and it would go away every single time.
             | Now I try to avoid sweets as much as I can but when old
             | habits creep back in I just have a fast and it goes away.
             | 
             | I don't really fast for any reason other than knowing it
             | will take the sweet tooth away--and generally make me want
             | to eat healthier.
        
           | omgwtf1000 wrote:
           | I so want to do this, but I have such a sweet tooth I don't
           | think I can succeed. I can go a few days without sweets but
           | then the urge is just overwhelming. I want to try weaning, by
           | just eating fruit instead of processed treats. Will that have
           | any effect at all, make it harder overall, or is the only way
           | to just cut sugar completely?
        
             | bityard wrote:
             | As a long-term keto dieter (10+ years), my advice is never
             | be afraid to experiment with your diet. Every time you try
             | something new and the results were not what you were hoping
             | for, treat it as a learning experience, not a failure. What
             | constitutes a healthy diet (both mentally and physically)
             | is different for everyone.
             | 
             | As an example, cutting out candy and donuts for apples and
             | pears isn't keto, but is objectively a step in the right
             | direction. If you want to give it a try, just go for it and
             | see what happens!
        
             | maxk42 wrote:
             | Merely tasting sweetness causes an anticipatory rise in
             | insulin which shuts down fat metabolism. Best to go cold
             | turkey, unfortunately. You can control cravings, however,
             | by raising your fat intake to the point where you're too
             | full to find eating more appetizing. You will still lose
             | weight like this on a ketogenic diet.
        
               | djmips wrote:
               | It makes you wonder if artificial sweeteners can also do
               | this. Has that been studied?
        
               | asciimov wrote:
               | They can and do. On the keto boards, there are numerous
               | people that have a hard time with artificial sweeteners,
               | often it causes a weight loss stall or gain while the
               | rest of their numbers seem good.
        
               | socialismisok wrote:
               | It's a bit inconclusive, I believe.
        
             | asciimov wrote:
             | Think of it this way, if a drug addict said they wanted to
             | stop, would you tell them they would be going good if they
             | only used every 3rd day?
             | 
             | To get the benefits of keto, you have to get the body
             | adapted to burning fat. Depending on the body, this can
             | take a week or so. All those cravings are the body crying
             | out for a fix of easy sugar, because it really doesn't want
             | to have to switch over and burn fat for fuel as its harder
             | for it to do.
             | 
             | If you just had sugar every 3rd day, you're body would
             | never adjust.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | formerly_proven wrote:
         | Sugar is unreasonably instantly addictive and harmful in
         | relation to its abundant availability. More so than alcohol or
         | tobacco.
        
         | leidenfrost wrote:
         | Curiously I tried something similar yet opposite: I stopped
         | eating junk food and I started eating more leafy vegetables,
         | but also I stopped eating seed oils (except for olive oil and
         | chia oil which is rich in omega3), and gave myself green light
         | to eat whatever amount I want of foods rich in proteins and
         | fats, as long as it's not ultra processed.
         | 
         | To my surprise, my weight hasn't skyrocketed, I feel full way
         | faster without having to exert loads of willpower to stop
         | eating and my sugar cravings have reduced by a lot. Only from
         | time to time I want to taste something sweet and even then I'm
         | happy with just a green apple.
         | 
         | Sugar is a drug and it messes with our satety hormones. No
         | matter how much you eat, you end up always wanting more
        
           | tsol wrote:
           | Having had a drug problem at one point and having learned
           | well out to titrate off of drugs, I feel it's helped me a lot
           | with sugar. They function basically the same. You don't need
           | it, but if you take it you feel nice. You also will then
           | crave more, and feel sick if you don't take it in. The key
           | isn't to stop all at once but to slowly lower the amount you
           | take in over time and let your body slowly adjust.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | verisimi wrote:
         | Don't drop salt, imo.
         | 
         | It is essential for strong stomach acid (a whole system
         | benefit), your body always ensures the salt level in the blood
         | (and will even extract it from bones). Ask yourself - 'what is
         | the most common medical intervention' and you will see it is a
         | saline drip. And farmers ensure that salt is available to the
         | their cattle for their health. And Japanese have a highly salty
         | diet and live long, with fewer bone breaks. And, and....
         | 
         | Salt is essential, and a low salt diet is terrible.
         | 
         | Then ask, why is a low salt diet recommended to people, if it
         | is so good? The answer, sadly, is that the 'health' industry
         | actually requires ill people - they make money treating
         | disease, not from keeping people healthy. It is in the big
         | pharma's interests to encourage poor behaviour, and, yes, they
         | will even lobby governments to mandate behaviour that creates
         | disease.
        
           | lr4444lr wrote:
           | The evidence behind the salt/hypertension link is very well
           | established, with direct experimentation. I wish it weren't,
           | and I realize it's highly individualized, and the average
           | safe daily consumption might be higher than the current RDA,
           | but let's not pretend that we can safely eat as much sodium
           | as we want with no consequences.
        
           | InCityDreams wrote:
           | Don't drop sugar imo
           | 
           | For all the similar reasons you gave, except - no sugar, no
           | energy. You may wonder why a skinny af cyclist will happily
           | consume 6k+ calories a day, as well as shovelling glucose
           | gels down. Endurance athletes get it best: long distance
           | cycling is just an all-day eating competition.
        
             | adrian_b wrote:
             | The analogy between salt and sugar does not really work.
             | 
             | Sugar is not an essential nutrient. You can eat absolutely
             | no sugar without any ill effect. If you eat some starchy
             | vegetables, that provides all the carbohydrates you need.
             | 
             | Even if you want to eat 6000 kcal as carbohydrates, you can
             | eat that easily from rice/maize/bread/potatoes etc., with
             | no sugar. In fact it is much easier to eat a huge amount of
             | food when it does not contain sugar, because even if sugar
             | is addictive and makes you crave for it, when you eat too
             | much sugar during a short time, it becomes disgusting when
             | you try to eat more.
             | 
             | On the other hand, if you stop eating salt, or even if you
             | just eat too little salt, you will die soon, and not in a
             | pleasant way (e.g. one of the symptoms of hyponatremia
             | caused by eating too little salt is severe constipation,
             | because various muscles, including the muscles that are
             | used for the peristalsis of the intestines, lose their
             | strength).
             | 
             | Like for any essential nutrient, both eating too little
             | salt and eating to much salt is bad. The recommended daily
             | intake of salt is between 4 and 5 grams of salt.
             | 
             | In order to be able to control precisely the daily intake
             | of salt, I prefer to not add any salt to food during
             | cooking (and I do not buy industrially made food). Instead
             | of that, I add the salt only immediately prior to eating,
             | so I can know exactly the amount added during a day.
        
               | dropofwill wrote:
               | For cycling, sugar (really a mix of glucose and fructose,
               | which sucrose or sugar is an even mix of) is a necessary
               | component to a fueling strategy because even a marginally
               | fit individual will burn more in an hour than can be
               | processed by the glucose pathway alone. The goal isn't to
               | meet some daily allotment, but to get as much high GI
               | carbs into the bloodstream as your gut can take, as fast
               | as possible. This has been linked to higher performance
               | and reduced fatigue in the literature, not to mention
               | this is what 100% of pros do (there are no keto pros).
               | 
               | One benefit of this, like you say, is you develop a
               | general disgust for sweets and have no interest in them
               | outside of training.
        
               | adrian_b wrote:
               | You are right, but this is a very specific circumstance
               | when the required power output is so high that it exceeds
               | the capacity of the intestine for glucose absorption.
               | 
               | As you say, in order to achieve the maximum power output
               | that can be sustained for a long time, i.e. in aerobic
               | effort, you also need fructose, i.e. sugar, besides
               | glucose, to reach the maximum rate of carbohydrate
               | absorption in the intestine.
               | 
               | However the vast majority of the humans may never
               | encounter during their entire lives a circumstance when
               | they need to produce a sustained power output so high
               | that it is limited by the intestinal absorption (and
               | without an appropriate training their muscles would not
               | be able to sustain so much power anyway), so they never
               | _need_ to eat sugar. They eat it only because it tastes
               | good.
        
             | bluescrn wrote:
             | Most people on here are probably spending 10hrs/day in
             | front of a screen, though. And in that case, more calories
             | is unlikely to be the answer to a lack of energy/focus.
        
             | Telemakhos wrote:
             | Endurance athletes are getting frequent and strenuous
             | exercise. Most people don't. There's a lot of concern and
             | advice in this thread about diet, but exercising more is
             | the step that's missing. We live in the hydrocarbon era of
             | easy transport, which means cheap food and little exercise.
             | Both of those have to be addressed for good health, not
             | just the food.
        
         | beebeepka wrote:
         | Fruits and nuts.
         | 
         | I used to consume about 1.5 litres of ice cream every day. I
         | still get the cravings but less and less. Good thing my wife is
         | making fruit salads for me.
        
         | hanniabu wrote:
         | > But sugar. Fuuuck I cannot walk past sweets. Sugar has claws
         | in me I cannot shake.
         | 
         | Do you know how many calories you're getting from the healthy
         | food? It's actually tough to maintain 2k calories while eating
         | very healthy so your body will get cravings for candy which it
         | knows is calorie dense.
        
           | socialismisok wrote:
           | So, when I switched to keto and tracked _everything_ I ate,
           | you are absolutely correct. It 's hard to eat enough calories
           | some days.
           | 
           | But when I'm not _totally_ focused on eating clean, I will
           | eat as much sugar as I can reach.
           | 
           | Keto helps, but it's anything but automatic. (Especially
           | around the holidays.)
        
       | pojzon wrote:
       | Just a related topic. FMT seems to cure a lot of things.
       | 
       | I had a really really bad body odor. Doctors did not help much.
       | 
       | It seems that during one episode in life my gut biome became
       | really bad (heavy deinking).
       | 
       | Years passed and nothing helped me recover from that. Various
       | health issues also depression due to that.
       | 
       | Latest doctor asked me to try FMT.. I was sceptic but at that
       | point thought to myself - hell why not.
       | 
       | And after few months stuff started to fix by itself.
       | 
       | We dont understand yet how much our health depends on a healthy
       | gut biome..
        
         | JKCalhoun wrote:
         | Had to google FMT:
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fecal_microbiota_transplant
        
           | manmal wrote:
           | Related discussion on HN yesterday:
           | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33574568#33575598
        
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