fake sugar a sin?

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AnnaTherese said:
wabrams, you have done this with me before in a previous conversation, some time ago. You refute my claims but offer no evidence of your own. You also do not share your information with me at all. If you want me to read something, provide a link or some information so I can find it. Anyway, go on and consume all the sugar and fake sugar you want. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.
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If i’ve done it before it is because the claims were so outrageous that it is crazy to do a ton of research to refute the obvious.
 
AnnaTherese said:
That’s a good point, thistle, but I think there is difference there. People’s beliefs about this have a lot to do with ignorance of nutrition because there is so much conflicting information out there nowadays. It’s hard to know what’s good for you and what’s not. I think that going out of your house each day might technically be a risk, because you don’t know exactly what is going to happen to you each day. Risks are okay. You can’t live without taking at least some risks. The problem lies when you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that something is harmful and you do it anyway, and not for a valiant reason like to save someone else’s life, but only because you simply want what is bad for you. Eating fake sugar (or even real white sugar, for that matter) would be more like looking out your window, noticing that there is an axe murderer on your porch, and opening the door to let him in because you want to see his cute outfit. Bad idea, and most certainly sinful. There is no risk there. There is just plain danger. Fake sugar and white sugar and are always bad. They always do harm, though it may be imperceptible for a while. You don’t necessarily feel sick the first time you eat sugar but over time it weakens your body more and more. Eventually you get diabetes or cancer or heart disease or whatever. Granted, it’s not the same level of danger as the axe murderer because it isn’t immediate danger. But it’s danger in the distance. You are making yourself sick on purpose, and without a care in the world. I would call that at least venially sinful.
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Sugar (in the form of glucose) is needed for survival—that is scientific fact. We can dispute the proper way to get it all day long.
 
fix said:
If we are talking about biology and chemistry then I would think there can be a consensus reached that will change with time as more information becomes available. Groups that support a certain philosophy of life have a vested interested in only sharing information that proves their position.

Refined sugar or the artificial sweeteners may be problematic for folks with certain conditions or in very large amounts for healthy folks. My point was it is not accurate to say any amount of these products for healthy folks is always deleterious. That position requires proof which I have not seen.
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I’m not a scientist (and don’t really want to be), and I think there is a great deal of wisdom in the whole idea of faith and reason being used together. I respect science, so long as it is done honestly and not for the purpose of serving one’s own agenda. I definitely benefit from, I think honest scientists who are truly trying to serve the public good (and because they do that, they also serve their own good—that’s how God rewards their efforts). But I also rely on my own ability to use logic and intuition to reach a conclusion. If something feels really, really wrong, it probably is. That’s how the conscience works. When I said that even a small amount of fake sugar does harm, though it may not be noticed, that was my own intuition talking there. It must be so, because we know that eventually if we consume too much we end up with full-blown health problems like diabetes or cancer or what have you. Those are degenerative diseases that develop over time. You don’t just wake up one day and get cancer. It develops slowly over time until eventually someone, either you or your doctor, takes notice. And it’s the same with every other disease. Maybe (this is just speculation for the purpose of making a point) the fake sugar puts teeny amounts of stress on your liver each time you consume it and one day, after so much stress, it just gives out. That’s what I meant when I said that.
 
prv said:
Sugar (in the form of glucose) is needed for survival—that is scientific fact. We can dispute the proper way to get it all day long.
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I agree we need some sugar. I’m glad to see my suspicions confirmed! But where truth is found, the debate really, really should end, imo. Not saying I have all the truth, but I see no sense in talking about something just to talk about it.
 
wabrams said:
I call them urban legends becuase thats what they are. I got into a debate with a co-worker two years ago and presented him with a ton of scientific research showing all these claims that artificial sweetners are poison was a load of mule fritters. Feel free to look it up; I find it much more reliable than nutritionists and rogue doctors that are shooting off their mouths.
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Fine, go stuff your face… 😛

Don’t forget to let us know when you get a brain tumour! 👍
 
There is no covenantial relationship between man and God that involves eating (well, except eating the Eucharist).

In order to properly carry out sexual desires, a person must act in accordance with the covenant or out of respect for the covenant they have not been called to enter, right now at least. Because it is a covenant, the Church provides more specific guidance to help us be free from slavery to sexual sin.

In respecting our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit, we are called to eat reasonably. If the goal is to consume sugar- or calorie-free where possible in order to eat as much volume as possible, that would probably constitute the sin of gluttony. If, on the other hand, a person is trying to live a healthier lifestyle by cutting out refined sugars, or has a dietary restriction making that change necessary, I would applaud them for taking better care of their bodies than consuming enormous amounts of sugar.
 
if fake sugar is bad then does that make adding salt and pepper to your food a sin?
 
Unrefined sea salt has many trace minerals in it that your body needs. Refined white salt is poison. And black pepper is very good for you too, because it is full of antioxidants. But once again, it’s a matter of how it is prepared. Is it freshly ground and put directly into your food or is it full of preservatives and has it been sitting on the shelf at the grocery store for months, even years? It’s not just about sugar. It’s about eating real food versus eating convenience food. The writings of Dorothy Day are good for learning more about this, I’m told. She was very much a good Catholic, and through that, a back-to-the-land kind of gal. I’m looking up her writings as we speak.
 
The relative health benefits (or dangers) of sweetners is not the point of the thread. If you add fake sugar to food then you are making the food taste as if it has a higher caloric content than it has, same with spices to some degree as fats tend to taste ‘salty’. This could be a sin (according to the OP), as you are recieving the pleasure of eating what tastes like high calorie/high fat food, without actually receiving those calories.
 
cynic said:
The relative health benefits (or dangers) of sweetners is not the point of the thread. If you add fake sugar to food then you are making the food taste as if it has a higher caloric content than it has, same with spices to some degree as fats tend to taste ‘salty’. This could be a sin (according to the OP), as you are recieving the pleasure of eating what tastes like high calorie/high fat food, without actually receiving those calories.
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Well, my argument was that the dangers do make a difference in whether or not is sinful. Perhaps you recall that post.
 
…but that’s not the point of the topic, The OP wrote :

“You are gaining pleasure without nutrition… you are gaining pleasure without getting full or as full as you should?”

Adding spices or artificial sweeteners to food makes it taste like it has a higher caloric content. It fools the senses So you are getting pleasure without the consequences.
 
AnnaTherese said:
Unrefined sea salt has many trace minerals in it that your body needs. Refined white salt is poison. And black pepper is very good for you too, because it is full of antioxidants. But once again, it’s a matter of how it is prepared. Is it freshly ground and put directly into your food or is it full of preservatives and has it been sitting on the shelf at the grocery store for months, even years? It’s not just about sugar. It’s about eating real food versus eating convenience food. The writings of Dorothy Day are good for learning more about this, I’m told. She was very much a good Catholic, and through that, a back-to-the-land kind of gal. I’m looking up her writings as we speak.
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I have noticed that you refer to various foods as “poison”, such as refined sugar and salt. I think you are misusing the word “poison”. The word poison means, “a substance with an inherent property that tends to destroy life or impair health.” You should reserve that word for things that are really poisonous. Your calling refined salt and sugar “poison” and soda, chips, and cookies, “non-foods” is pure nonsense. I can certainly enjoy some chips with my sandwich occasionally and cookies, and even a soda with (gasp!) splenda. All this (in moderation of course), has neither destroyed my life, nor impaired my health, as my doctor tells me that I am pretty healthy. I think for some people an obsession with healthfood and a willing gullibility that causes one to accept the medical “advice” from quacks can prove far more damaging to one’s mental and physical health than indulging in the occasional twinkie. Good stuff.
 
ishii said:
The word poison means, “a substance with an inherent property that tends to destroy life or impair health.” .
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According to your definition, that is precisely what I meant. White flour and sugar and so on DO in fact destroy life and impair health. Much more than people realize, or they wouldn’t eat the stuff.
 
The pastors I made the Splenda carrot muffins for returned my tin with the comment that “there’s a hole in it – we could use more” 🙂
they’ll get 'em.
 
AnnaTherese said:
According to your definition, that is precisely what I meant. White flour and sugar and so on DO in fact destroy life and impair health. Much more than people realize, or they wouldn’t eat the stuff.
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I can understand where you are coming from, but I don’t believe that white flour and refined sugar are as bad as you think. Again, I am in pretty good health, and I have been eating white flour products and refined sugar products for years. Not to sound like a broken record but the key here is moderation. Just because something consumed in mass quantities over a long period of time might have adverse health effects doesn’t mean it is unhealthy to enjoy those things once in a while. Nor is it a sin to enjoy them once in a while! I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to my twinkie. Ishii
 
You could suggest that not only is the fake sugar a sin, so is the tea or coffee you put it in when the cost and effort of producing it. Come to think of it, milk was originally only put into the tea cup to prevent fine china from shattering when the hot tea was put in. Does that mean that putting milk in my cardboard cup from the take away is sinful? You soon spiral downwards to the water, which might be sinful to have hot, as hot water is little different down your neck to cold and only serves to add pleasure. Don’t get me started on the tap when you could have drawn it from the well and bypass the sin of plumbing!

Consider mana from Heaven, used to feed the Israelites. Do you think food supplied from God is bland and without taste or beyond your wildest dreams? Have your food how you like it, be grateful you have it and enjoy it.
 
I can’t believe this topic is still raging…:eek: geez louise…it’s not a sin…use your God given “common sense”.
 
Julianna said:
I can’t believe this topic is still raging…:eek: geez louise…it’s not a sin…use your God given “common sense”.
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I was thinking the same thing. Seems to me that there are far worse things to worry about than a little “fake” sugar.
Kathy
 
Thank you to all those who have participated in this discussion. This thread is now closed.
 
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