OT: Since when do Austrailians eat more sugar than Americans??? de

OT: Since when do Austrailians eat more sugar than Americans???

So last night I Tivo'd Modern Marvels on the History Channel, best show ever might I add, and the episode was on sugar. Well, one little tidbit I saw was that Americans eat, on average, 43 pounds of sugars each year, while Austrailians eat 65 pounds of sugar a year...now...can someone please explain this and remove the confused look off my face?:shocked:

 

Quote from Army Of Darkness:

"Gimme some sugar, baby."

 

I love your avatar lol mr. donuts.

I really haven't a clue on why Australians would eat more sugar. All I know off the top of my head is that sugar is on the American government's list of foods to limit...but that doesn't mean anything, it's probably on any government's list of foods to limit.

 

Still...When it came to pigging out on junk food...I thought we were supreme:embarassed:

Oh, thanks for the avatar compliment lol:wink2:

 

Hehe I was thinknig of making an avatar with a vampire necro from trang-oul's set saying "boo!" to that wounded guy, but I don't have a full trangs set lol! Or maybe like "say no to drugs" or "pick a sorc next time."

 

Sugar doesn't necessarily mean any type of junk food. Just imagine how much natural sugar there is in fruit juice, fruit and health bars, for instance. Simply confining something "unhealthy" like sugar to doughnuts, soft drink and lollies is a bit short sighted.

 

Most junk foods are loaded with saturated fats, carbs and salt - not necessarily sugar! I would guess that Americans tend to eat more savoury junk food than sweet, therefore, perhaps it shows that Ozzies have a sweeter tooth!

I recently saw an interesting article that compared French and American eating habits and it showed that actually, French consumption of fats etc was relatively higher.... but that on average a portion of food in a restaurant or home in France was *one quarter* that of an average portion in the states!!! The extra calories - no matter even if they are "healthy" calories makes ALL the difference to levels of obesity.

 

65 pounds of sugar a year ...thats a lot of sugar.Well I know us aussies like a beer or 4 :grin:maybe that would explain it.. but im guessing americans like beer also:laugh:

 

I just pointed out this thread to my Aussie friend.
He brought up the fact that American soda is made with high fructose corn syrup while Aussie soda is made with sucrose. Were they talking about a certain type of sugar or just all "sugars"? I'm not sure if that matters, but it's something to think about.

-Crux

 

No idea...

Anyways, I'm cutting out all of the junky stuff, getting fit, all of that good stuff. My next 'grail' is losing 80 pounds! No sugar for me! Well... maybe a little bit now and then...

 

*shudder* it's in everything over here. I looked at the ingredients list of a loaf of 100% Whole Wheat bread the other day, and HFCS was the second ingredient. The name of the brand: HealthNut (which seems somewhat like a misnomer). So I had a look, and all of the 'healthy/expensive' brands that are mass-produced seem to have it.

Fortunately the local bakery has good, homemade, flour and water-based bread (just not wholewheat - I have to make that myself, but bread takes hours to rise at our altitude. :cry.


@neumein, good luck with the weight loss; 80 pounds is a lot. I hope you mix some exercise into your plans, it'll help you keep the weight off in the future, and it also will improve your sleep cycle.

 

Thanks dude,

Exercise is top priority at the moment. I'm going for walks every day, usually around an hour or so each, and really controlling my eating. What I ate was usually healthy enough, but I ate too much. And then there was the 10pm watching TV snacking. All that was doing was going to waist (pun).

The walks are starting to pay off, the first time I went walking, my ankles were screaming at the end, and my face was red. Now, I can do my entire 'course' without stopping, my ankles have that 'good' burn at the end, and I'm not puffing like made.

Go me!

 

Hmmm, I was able to find 9 monosaccharides and 6 disaccharides. All of them are sugars but only some of them are edible. Formaldehyde, for instance, is a sugar but I wouldn't recommend eating it. In the bakeries here in the states we use sugar (as table sugar) and simple sugars as dextrose, maltose, fructose, et. al. Corn sugar, for example, is a simple sugar and is used quite a lot in bakeries.

Sugar is used in bread for this: first, as food for the yeast, second, for browning when in the oven, and third, for taste. Lack of sugar is why those simple breads, which lack sugar, don't brown well in the toaster.

:soapbox: after nine years as a baker. rop:

 

In Australia, there are government subsidies for sugar production.

Hence junk food with craploads of sugar in it is really cheap in Australia.

I've recently switched to a low sugar diet (actually it is a variation on calorie counting), and it has roughly tripled my food budget.

Also, the 'Health Foods' section of the supermarket contains some of the most expensive and bad for you food in the whole place. All the fat is removed, and replaced by sugar... but they slap a 'Healthy' label on it and sell it for twice as much. So you end up with a tiny muesli bar which isn't particularly filling, and contains as much calories as a normal meal.

I can give suggestions if you want (so far I've lost 11 pounds).

Or you could google 'The Hackers Diet' by the guy at fourmilab I think.

Note: some of the stuff I eat isn't traditionally viewed as healthy food - I can eat a chocolate bar for instance. But I just have to find a way to fit it into the calorie budget. Also, to count calories I will go for the known quantity every time. Eg a known quantity of Coco Pops is better than an unknown quantity of Sultana Bran. Instead of milk on my cereal I just use a small potle of yoghurt. The milk might (or might not)* be theoretically better than the yoghurt, but the yoghurt is a known quantity of calories. For the same reason, I'm happy to grab a six inch (or even two) from Subway after going to the gym.

*After I started looking on the calories associated with various foods I realised that in a lot of cases there is stuff all difference between the calories in say chocolate flavoured milk and ultra reduced fat 'skinny' milk. Likewise, many boring cereals that advertise as 'healthy' have more calories than their delicious and 'funner' equivalents.

 

Good luck neumein, I'm sure you'll have no problem losing the weight. My only suggestion is patience. Between the ages of 11-15, I tried for ever to lose weight and get my body to a point where I was comfortable, but I always failed, but last summer, I decided that enough was enough. I had dieted and exercised every day for 5 or 6 straight monthes. I think my patience really paid off. A lot of people I think just quit after a few weeks because of not seeing any results. Just stick at it and never quit and you should love your results.

 

have you tried the new fruity cherrios? They do have less sugar than say fruit loops.

Don't forget the soruce of calories! Fiber for instace will produce a good bit of heat (calories are purly the amount of heat they add to water when burned) but your body can't use all of it and it not only helps prevent things like colon cancer, it's can reduce the actual amount of energy your body can get from the food as compared to the exact same number of calories from pure sugar. (ps, there are websites with the caloritic contet of every ingredient you can possibly use should you desire to make your own food.)

Personally, I prefer baking with honey, dextrose is a bit eaiser on the body (I have a very diabetic cousin) and it helps retain moisture (important in my dry climate.) Plus since it has a sweeter flavor, you can get away with much less. Just be sure not to feed raw honey to babies under 1 year! It can make them very sick!

That said, here's a recipie for my Oatmeal apple cookies (the dried apple has a good deal less sugar than rasins and still taste yummie!) the fiber in the oats is good for your heart and your tummy and they make a good treat when you just gotta have something.

 

I assure you, patience is not a problem, I'm currently running D2 on a 300 mhz computer. *lag dance* It's only temporary, as my laptop is developing schizophrenia or something. I used to dual boot linux and windows on it, but ever since I formatted the hard disk, and installed windows, it keeps trying to boot linux! Frustration +1! I just have to reset the MBR, but I keep forgetting...

Back on topic, I'm not really one for outward appearances, so to me it doesn't really matter if I can see the difference, but as long as I _feel_ the difference, it's fine.

 

Well the two are one in the same really. After I lost my weight, I therefore really "felt" a difference:thumbsup:

 

It sounds like your computer is trying to do the right thing...

 

Good luck, neumein. I can't stress enough the difference exercise makes. When I started playing football in 10th grade, I weighed 225 lbs. The exercise was so intense that I lost 25 lbs in the first week and moved down to a different weight class. My position on the offensive line changed because my speed and energy level were so much higher. Continued exercise helped build muscle, and now I'm about 200 lbs after meals. My metabolism skyrocketed, and the doctor said the only thing left is to cut off an inch or two. Consistent exercise is hard to maintain, but the benefits of success are huge.