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Comment by chrismealy | Hacker News Reader

Do people who don't eat sugar ever have a problem with being overweight? I stopped eating sugar 18 months ago to help my sinuses (it worked), and as a side effect lost about 30 pounds. Basically my appetite shrunk. I wasn't even trying to lose weight, it just happened.

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how do you "not eat sugar"? sugars are in every food...

Probably means added sugar...

He probably meant processed foods, refined sugar, high GI carbs, that sort of stuff.

If he/she is talking about added sugar its still not too meaningful. Drinking a glass of OJ has no added sugar but its still very similar to drinking soda.

Start by eating lots of fatty foots instead. Meat, vegetables, eggs, and nuts have very little to no sugar.

The keto (short for ketogenic) diet is a popular name for this. You only eat proteins and fats as your macronutrients (with room for 20g or less of net carbs per day). You have to consciously choose to avoid carbohydrates, which can be difficult. But the energy/mood stability and quick weight loss are undeniable positive results.

I keep hearing its adherents claim various benefits of "keto": is there any credible sources (i.e. research) that back these claims up?

For instance, what about glucose for mental performance?

No offence, but my current (admittedly limited) understanding of the subject leads me to mentally file it under "dubious", along with "no-fap" and such.

I don't want to flood you with a ton of studies (I have lots more bookmarked), but here are several:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15148063

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23155696

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23110922

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22673594

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20101008

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19099589

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17447017

As for glucose, it can be created by the liver as needed using a process called gluconeogenesis - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluconeogenesis

Thanks for the links!

I'll be sure to look into these.

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