Fat vs Sugar (Healthy Eating Argument)
 

Ok, so I'm going through the grocery tonight, looking for "fat free" stuff, specifically "no salt added" veggies etc. I guess the easiest way to phrase this question is this:

Let's say I want to cook this for dinner:
1) Salad with Italian Dressing
2) Pasta, Chicken Breast w/ pasta sauce

Now, salad is easy, so is pasta and chicken...but something caught my eye when picking out the dressing and the pasta sauce. Both of them came in fat free versions, but both fat free versions had significantly more sugar then the non fat free

And obviously, the fat free versions had significantly lower fat then the regular version

So my question is, what is ACTUALLY better? The fat free stuff, the regular stuff, or say, do the fat free dressing, and regular pasta, or vice versa?

Or is this too difficult to answer because it depends on type of food/time of day its eaten/etc?

Re: Fat vs Sugar (Healthy Eating Argument)
 

Healthy fats are far better that processed sugars.

Re: Fat vs Sugar (Healthy Eating Argument)
 

Neither of them are inherently good for you or bad for you. If you made your entire diet consist of one of them, that would be bad. If you ate 5000 calories of the "healthiest" things you could find, that would be bad.

Honestly, I don't get the obsession. Its [censored] salad dressing. You will be eating 3 tablespoons of it. Try to worry less and enjoy life more.

Get the full fat, full calorie kind. It will taste better.

Re: Fat vs Sugar (Healthy Eating Argument)
 

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Neither of them are inherently good for you or bad for you.

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Well, except saturated (and specifically trans) fats, which ARE inherently bad for you. Other than that, you are totally right - try not to have too much sugars and bad fats, try to eat a lot of protein, and don't worry too much about the rest.

Re: Fat vs Sugar (Healthy Eating Argument)
 

Processed sugar is bad, moderate amounts of fat aren't, especially good fats like olive oil found in dressing which are actually good for your health in moderation.

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The reason why sugar has such a bad rap has to do with insulin. In the body, insulin has a very important job. It is secreted in response to elevated blood sugar levels, such as those that occur after a meal, and it pushes that sugar into storage. First to be filled are the tissues of the muscles and the liver where the sugar (which is what your meal has become) is converted to glycogen. Glycogen is the body's fuel of choice for high intensity aerobic activity because it is readily available and because it is quickly converted to ATP for energy.

The problem is that the body only has storage for about 2500 calories worth of glycogen providing your stores were totally empty (which is impossible). Most people only have room to store about 500 calories of glycogen from any given meal. After these storage areas become full, insulin pushes the remaining sugar into the other infinite storage area, FAT STORAGE.

The critical thing is not whether a food has sugar, but how quickly the sugar enters the blood stream. Food is actually categorized by this rate of entry. This is known as the glycemic index. On this scale sucrose (table sugar) is given a 100 rating. Foods like honey, cooked carrots, sweet potatoes and other starchy vegetables and fruits including bananas are even higher. Broccoli is rated 34 on the glycemic index. Things like pastas and breads are somewhere in the middle. Fructose or fruit sugar is rated a 20 on the glycemic index (GI). It is one of the lowest GI sugars known.

To reduce the impact of dietary carbohydrate you should strive to eat foods low on the glycemic scale. You can also reduce the GI of foods or meals by eating a combination of protein carbohydrates and fat each time you put food into your body. Monounsaturated fat (like avocados, almonds and olive oil) are especially good because they do not affect insulin or other hormones and they very effectively lower the GI of other foods by slowing absorption. Adding small amounts of fat to each meal also results in the release of certain hormones from your stomach that will help you feel satisfied and reduce the number of meals you need which will assist you in reaching your ideal weight.

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Re: Fat vs Sugar (Healthy Eating Argument)
 

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Neither of them are inherently good for you or bad for you.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, except saturated (and specifically trans) fats, which ARE inherently bad for you. Other than that, you are totally right - try not to have too much sugars and bad fats, try to eat a lot of protein, and don't worry too much about the rest.

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This is still heavily debated. There are a lot of proponents for natural saturated fats.

Re: Fat vs Sugar (Healthy Eating Argument)
 

OP,

The best diet is one based on moderation. Get some low-fat salad dressing and use just a half a tbs in your salad. Or, better yet, throw some balsamic vinaigrette or something on it. Just don't use too much.

That fat-free [censored] is overly processed, filled with chemicals. Just eat a diet based on mostly natural ingredients, eat moderately, exercise - then you won't have to worry about buying fat-free dressing.

Re: Fat vs Sugar (Healthy Eating Argument)
 

The key is moderation. "Healthy" people are all over the map and only agree on a few things.

Re: Fat vs Sugar (Healthy Eating Argument)
 

Sauces and dressings aren't going to be containing much in the way of healthy fats, but opting for the fat-free kind while increasing the sugar load is part of the reason people look the way they do today.

EDIT: Basically if your goal is health you should just have olive oil and vinegar. Dressings are garbage.

Re: Fat vs Sugar (Healthy Eating Argument)
 

Aren't dressings just olive oil and vinegar?