Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have a bit of a sweet tooth and I’m wondering how much damage I’m actually doing by eating these things.
I would say that my typical meals each week are a decent balance of proteins, starches and vegetables, and my snacks are mostly healthy as well. I’ll stick to things like tortilla chips and hummus, granola, bananas and peanut butter, and nuts. However, I do admit that I eat a lot of unhealthy things on top of this.
Just a few of the unhealthy things I eat would include the following. Now that the weather is getting warmer, I’ll occasionally treat myself to a Dunkin iced coffee with cream and sugar, usually once or twice a week. Sometimes, I’ll get a flavor swirl and cream and omit the sugar if I’m really craving a sweet drink that tastes nothing like actual coffee. I hang out with my local friend once or twice a week, and every single time we hang out, we go to Dairy Queen and I’ll get a small M&M Blizzard. So I usually have one Blizzard per week, occasionally two. At home, I’d say I either have an after-dinner snack or dessert on an additional one or two nights. This will usually be a Chipwich or 5-6 Oreos.
In addition to all the sweets, I drink regular soda, mostly Coke or Dr. Pepper, three times per week. This is always with a meal at a restaurant or if I get takeout at home. I don’t keep soda in the house, nor do I get it as an afternoon snack the way I do with iced coffee. It’s strictly with food to minimize tooth decay.
I always thought I was doing okay and my diet was balanced, but when I spoke to my nutritionist friend about this, he said he was surprised I haven’t developed Type 2 diabetes, destroyed my stomach lining, or gotten heart disease yet from “all the toxic poison” I’ve been putting into my body. I really try and be balanced, but I enjoy these things, and I don’t understand people whose lives revolve around drinking only plain water and never touching soda or even juice, and avoiding the occasional ice cream like the plague. But then I wonder if he’s right. Am I just asking to die early, become a diabetic or have stomach issues the rest of my life by consuming the things I listed on top of healthy things? I do exercise 3 or 4 times a week as well and generally stay active, so I always thought I didn’t need to torture myself and live in fear by never eating or drinking anything unhealthy. But then the health nuts say I’m 100% going to get cancer, heart disease, diabetes, liver damage, etc, if I even dare to touch anything that’s not nutritious.
According to the USDA Dietary Guidelines, the average person’s diet should be comprised of 45 to 65 percent of daily caloric intake from carbohydrates.
For example, a moderately active adult who needs 2,000 calories per day to sustain their body weight should eat nearly 900-1300 calories from carbohydrates (or 225-325 grams of carbohydrates) per day.
In other words the govt guidelines say a healthy person shouldnt really eat more than 300 gram of carbs per day. You can figure how many you are eating and thus know if you are greatly exceeding this amount. Most Americans on SAD diet seem to eat multiples of this, especially with all the scare about dietary fat the past few decades.
I am type2 diabetic and limit my carbs to 100 to 150 grams per day.
If you are at a healthy weight and your bloodwork comes back normal, I would say there is no problem at all with your treats.
My grandmother had a small glass of wine with dinner and a dish of ice cream afterwards, almost every single night. Other than that she ate a very healthy diet and walked a lot. She lived to 97 and never had any chronic diseases. My dad, her son, was the same. He developed chronic bronchitis from having smoked for about 10 years as a young man (like most WWII vets), but the sweets didn't do him a single bit of harm. He lived to 94.
Maybe with no sugar they would have each lived a couple of years longer, they just wouldn't have enjoyed life as much.
t when I spoke to my nutritionist friend about this, he said he was surprised I haven’t developed Type 2 diabetes, destroyed my stomach lining, or gotten heart disease yet from “all the toxic poison” I’ve been putting into my body.
Just to be clear, sugar is NOT a toxic poison, it's not toxic, and it's not a poison, period. To hear a nutritionist (does he have any real certifications or is that just what he calls himself?) talk that way would have me running in the other direction. Food doesn't cause ulcers and sugar is food. As for the rest, I doubt he or anyone knows exactly the limit on how much sugar you can imbibe before experiencing negative impacts and there are certainly individual differences.
If you want to eat less sugar and few carbs, go right ahead - but tell your nutritionist friend that fruits also contain sugar so he should be dead if that counts as a toxic poison. Don't let him tell you that you must follow a zero carb diet or even zero sugar - use some common sense and find someone who is actually qualified to give medical advice.
Living a long life is meaningless if you are sick for the last 10 years of it, or disabled for the last 30 of it.
As long as your blood glucose level is healthy, you can eat sugar and not be concerned. You didn't mention how old you are, what your fitness level is, what your physical activity level is. I can tell you for absolute sure though, your diet is NOT healthy and balanced. No matter how many salads and nuts and healthy foods you eat, the SECOND you add a chipwich, an artificially-flavored, artificially-lightened coffee "drink," or a DQ Blizzard to it on a weekly basis, it is no longer "healthy and balanced." So just chuck that right out the window and start over.
What you want, is to APPROACH your menu from a healthy and balanced perspective. That doesn't mean the end result has to be perfect! It just means that's the overall goal.
So sure you can have a Blizzard one day, and a super-sweet coffee another day, and 6 cookies a third day. But maybe instead of a second blizzard, try just a single scoop of hard ice cream instead of that low-fat artificial gassy crap that comes out of a machine for your second day. And instead of 4-6 cookies twice a week, have 4 cookies once a week, and for your substitute, have some fresh strawberries and pineapple and half a banana in a blender with some ice. You actually consume more sugar, but MUCH more nutrition. Or heck have a big huge hunk of fresh watermelon. That's actually LESS sugar than those cookies and much more satisfying.
Instead of having those super-sweet iced coffee swirly things - just - stop. Seriously. Just stop drinking that stuff. It's nasty. Carry 2 Wurthers' Originals with you and eat those crave the carmelized-coffee flavor so much.
Three sodas a week? How big are these sodas? If it's a 10-oz glass with a few ice cubes in it, you're good. If it's a super-sized extra jumbo 20-oz light on the ice? Get the kiddie size instead, and sip from the edge of the cup instead of the straw.
Living a long life is meaningless if you are sick for the last 10 years of it, or disabled for the last 30 of it.
As long as your blood glucose level is healthy, you can eat sugar and not be concerned. You didn't mention how old you are, what your fitness level is, what your physical activity level is. I can tell you for absolute sure though, your diet is NOT healthy and balanced. No matter how many salads and nuts and healthy foods you eat, the SECOND you add a chipwich, an artificially-flavored, artificially-lightened coffee "drink," or a DQ Blizzard to it on a weekly basis, it is no longer "healthy and balanced." So just chuck that right out the window and start over.
What you want, is to APPROACH your menu from a healthy and balanced perspective. That doesn't mean the end result has to be perfect! It just means that's the overall goal.
So sure you can have a Blizzard one day, and a super-sweet coffee another day, and 6 cookies a third day. But maybe instead of a second blizzard, try just a single scoop of hard ice cream instead of that low-fat artificial gassy crap that comes out of a machine for your second day. And instead of 4-6 cookies twice a week, have 4 cookies once a week, and for your substitute, have some fresh strawberries and pineapple and half a banana in a blender with some ice. You actually consume more sugar, but MUCH more nutrition. Or heck have a big huge hunk of fresh watermelon. That's actually LESS sugar than those cookies and much more satisfying.
Instead of having those super-sweet iced coffee swirly things - just - stop. Seriously. Just stop drinking that stuff. It's nasty. Carry 2 Wurthers' Originals with you and eat those crave the carmelized-coffee flavor so much.
Three sodas a week? How big are these sodas? If it's a 10-oz glass with a few ice cubes in it, you're good. If it's a super-sized extra jumbo 20-oz light on the ice? Get the kiddie size instead, and sip from the edge of the cup instead of the straw.
I am 23. I am 5’11” and about 130 lbs, and I work out (chest, legs or back) 3 times a week. I also get out for walks on most warm days.
The sodas are usually either a 20-oz bottle or 12-oz can, and at least one 24-oz restaurant-sized glass with ice.
Last edited by xxblue100; 03-28-2021 at 05:40 PM..
I am 23. I am 5’11” and about 130 lbs, and I work out (chest, legs or back) 3 times a week. I also get out for walks on most warm days.
You're 23, thin, and active, and someone was surprised that you hadn't developed diabetes from this fairly moderate amount of sugar?? I think you should talk to a different nutritionist.
You're 23, thin, and active, and someone was surprised that you hadn't developed diabetes from this fairly moderate amount of sugar?? I think you should talk to a different nutritionist.
It didn’t seem like a moderate amount to me or him. I know the occasional person who eats a bowl of ice cream every night after dinner and is fine, but 3 sodas a week, plus a decent amount of dessert, seemed worrisome to me and I’m afraid of doing some serious damage to my body. I don’t feel like the average healthy person consumes even close to that amount of sugar in a week. If this does seem moderate though, and I’m wrong, that’s great! Lol
It didn’t seem like a moderate amount to me or him. I know the occasional person who eats a bowl of ice cream every night after dinner and is fine, but 3 sodas a week, plus a decent amount of dessert, seemed worrisome to me and I’m afraid of doing some serious damage to my body. I don’t feel like the average healthy person consumes even close to that amount of sugar in a week. If this does seem moderate though, and I’m wrong, that’s great! Lol
I probably eat that much sugar. I'm a 51-year-old woman, 5'6" and 120 and have no health conditions.
But by all means, if you think it's too much, cut back! You don't need anyone's permission to do that.
It didn’t seem like a moderate amount to me or him. I know the occasional person who eats a bowl of ice cream every night after dinner and is fine, but 3 sodas a week, plus a decent amount of dessert, seemed worrisome to me and I’m afraid of doing some serious damage to my body. I don’t feel like the average healthy person consumes even close to that amount of sugar in a week. If this does seem moderate though, and I’m wrong, that’s great! Lol
It's unclear how much you consume. You only listed "just a few" of the things and admitted to eating a lot of unhealthy things.
You could know for sure if you kept a food journal and diligent about writing down everything you eat and drink. All of us overestimate the amount of good things and underestimate the bad. Every single one of us.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm a 51-year-old woman, 5'6" and 120 and have no health conditions. 
