What’s worse for us: sugar or fat?

To answer the hottest question in nutrition, twin doctors Chris and Xand Van Tulleken go on month long high-fat and high-sugar diets. The effects on their bodies are shocking and surprising.

But they also discover that in the debate about fat and sugar, the real enemy might have been hiding in plain sight.

fat good sugar bad, saved watching it, im off for cream cake

I heard the guys in Radio 5 this afternoon and one said there’s no food in nature that has fat and sugar.

Coconut? Milk? (Lactose is a sugar) Those were 2 I thought within about half a second, so I decided it wasn’t worth watching.

iDiet FTW.

What’s the betting a balanced diet will prove to be best?

Watched it for about 5 mins and yup, that’s about it.

Oscar was right all along 🙄

Recording as wife has got 24Hrs Back at Work on.

heard the guys in Radio 5 this afternoon and one said there’s no food in nature that has fat and sugar.

Honey and errr Sugar.

Eat Less Move More.

/Thread*

* 😀

I heard the guys in Radio 5 this afternoon and one said there’s no food in nature that has fat and sugar.

Coconut? Milk? (Lactose is a sugar) Those were 2 I thought within about half a second

…. or any animal made of meat (so only the edible animals) will have fat and glycogen in them

If you watch the programme, they are referring to processed foods where the sugar:fat ratio is around 50:50 which, I bet, is hard to find in nature.

No surprises in the conclusion of the programme, though.

You beat me to it mikey74!

It’s a specific 50/50 combination of fat and sugar they are on about.

Upshot is to avoid processed foods, doughnuts, cheesecake, etc.

Who’d have thought?!

interesting enough i though, basically eat what you like bar the 50:50 mix and exercise and you should do alright. Hardly revolutionary, but interesting all the same.

I would’ve liked more info about saturated fat and whether it’s still considered the enemy with regards blocking your pipes.

There have been noises that sugar causes inflammation of the arteries and it’s this that’s the issue not the fat. Didn’t go there though.

Horizon’s mean well but never seem to deliver on the excitement of the topic. So in that respect no surprises.

The program is too short to go into everything, and it is a pretty complex topic. There is a lot of really interesting research being done into dietary composition, and the role of sugars/fats at the moment.

The Eat Less, Move More brigade are oversimplifying too I think – my partner is eating around 1400kcal/day and goes to various classes/training sessions 5 days a week, plus running and is stalled with the weight loss. I eat a “traditional” healthy diet and do a pretty active outdoors job and am also stalled.

So we are willing to try something else – not as extreme as this – but probably a slightly higher fat/lower carb centered on low GI stuff, and see how we go!

I thought the program was quite poor. The conclusion seemed to be that if we make really nice food, it’s really hard not to eat more of it.

I thought the program was quite poor. The conclusion seemed to be that if we make really nice food, it’s really hard not to eat more of it.

For many, that is probably a deeper message than you give it credit for.

Some scary implications for the 4 hour / iDave diet though re high fat diet and insulin maintenance.

trans fats and highly refined sugars ftmfw.

Some scary implications for the 4 hour / iDave diet though re high fat diet and insulin maintenance.

Very true. Hopefully it helps put to bed those diets that focus on eating one type of food over all others. A balanced diet really does appear to be the way to go.

Isn’t a balanced diet exactly 50% fat & 50% carbs. 🙂

Some scary implications for the 4 hour / iDave diet though re high fat diet and insulin maintenance.

not really, because those diets AREN’T hi fat/lo carb. (In fact iDiet promotes lean meats & plenty of lo GI carbs). Some paleo diets are though, although AFAIK exercise (especially hi intensity) is supposed to help a lot with the body’s response to insulin. I don’t think the doctors on Horizon did much/any exercise? As was pointed out the study was too limited to draw any real conclusions.

watching it now but balanced diet will be the answer. Any idiot could tell you this (and I’m that idiot). People telling us calories matter have been ripping us off for years. I was saying this years ago on here. Did anyone listen? Nope.

Eating one type of thing all the time will cause problems. No shit.

I watched it, not surprised in the slightest that they chose two of the most annoying people on the planet to present it.

What was the content?

Oh yeah, the 50:50 ratio. 🙄

I’ve not seen the programme yet, but I’ve read the thread. I have one question.

Vegetables?

one of them was allowed veg, the sugar guy.

The guy on the fat only diet couldn’t eat any whereas the guy on the carbs diet could eat as much as he wanted.

Eating one type of thing all the time will cause problems. No shit.

That’s one possible outcome.

Especially chocolate.

They’re on exercise bikes now.Oh look, the sugar guy is out of steam, fat guy is going along quite happily. WHAT A SURPRISE!!!!!

I recognise that hill! I’ve only been up it once too.

So no transfat (not found naturally I think) but both saturated and unsaturated are ok.
Sugar ok.

But don’t eat sugar and fat 50:50 at the same time cause you’ll over eat.

And eating too much makes you fat. So cut out donuts and say thank you to your wife when she eats your chocolate- it’s her way of saying she likes you trim 8)

P.S. exercise is good for you

Fair summary?

The guy on the fat only diet couldn’t eat any whereas the guy on the carbs diet could eat as much as he wanted.

well that is just ridiculous. Even the hi-fat/lo-carb paleo diets involve eating LOADS of veg. Sounds like these blokes just decided to eat 2 equally unhealthy restrictive diets, for no real reason.

I missed this.. Although I know everyone in the office is going to be banging on about it to me tomorrow

I noticed idave ranting about it on twitter calling some team sky guy an idiot for not realising you can turn fat into sugar

You still at the top then Samuri?

You still at the top then Samuri?

Wahey!

Did you see me stood there as they passed?
I’ve been hunting hedgehogs for 2 years. Spikey bastards. Good diet though.

Didn’t I hear the Swedish government is the first western government to recommend a high fat/ low carb diet

As was pointed out the study was too limited to draw any real conclusions.

It was for TV, therefore more journalism, rather than a “study”.
Same with the 5:2 “fasting” thing a year or so back.
Same with the exercise like heck for 10 minutes until you collapse programme too.
They know the “conclusion” before they start, but make the programme in a way that makes it looks like it’s trying to find something out, and use people with a Dr. prenominal to portray a level of authority.

60mins dedicated to say… too much ice cream is bad for you, and many “diets” / “fads” probably are too.

To be fair I don’t think the programme was aimed at people like us, people that already get the thing about exercise and a healthy balanced diet – even if we don’t stick to it all the time. But there would have been plenty of Dorito scoffing blobs sat on their sofas with plates of cheesecake and donuts lined up for pudding to whom (who?) this programme just might have been a revelation!