“Fifty thousand years ago, the taste buds of Homo sapiens directed their bearers to the scarcest, most critical food resources—sugar and fat. Calories, in a word. Today, the context of a taste bud’s function has changed, but the taste buds themselves have not. Calories, far from being scarce (in First World countries), are actively harmful. Micronutrients that were reliably abundant in leaves and nuts are absent from bread, but our taste buds don’t complain. A scoop of ice cream is a superstimulus, containing more sugar, fat, and salt than anything in the ancestral environment.”
This contradicts with my personal experience, since last week I followed a diet consisting almost exclusively of pasta and sugar, and then came to long for vegetables while sugar became distasteful. Perhaps I am committing the typical mind fallacy, but I should at least try to verify Yudkowsky’s claim.
So, what about you? This site mentions that women should take no more than 24 grams a day of sugar, and men no more than 36 grams. The average American takes 88. Can you please:
-state how much sugar you usually take daily -state how you usually feel about eating sugar -change your habits today -report on how that influenced your feelings?
(I don’t have the means to organize a real study, am not aware of any done on the subject, and I hope anecdotal evidence might still be overwhelming enough to give a result.)
[Question] Do you like excessive sugar?
In “Adaptation-Executers, not Fitness-Maximisers”, Eliezer Yudkowsky writes:
“Fifty thousand years ago, the taste buds of Homo sapiens directed their bearers to the scarcest, most critical food resources—sugar and fat. Calories, in a word. Today, the context of a taste bud’s function has changed, but the taste buds themselves have not. Calories, far from being scarce (in First World countries), are actively harmful. Micronutrients that were reliably abundant in leaves and nuts are absent from bread, but our taste buds don’t complain. A scoop of ice cream is a superstimulus, containing more sugar, fat, and salt than anything in the ancestral environment.”
This contradicts with my personal experience, since last week I followed a diet consisting almost exclusively of pasta and sugar, and then came to long for vegetables while sugar became distasteful. Perhaps I am committing the typical mind fallacy, but I should at least try to verify Yudkowsky’s claim.
So, what about you? This site mentions that women should take no more than 24 grams a day of sugar, and men no more than 36 grams. The average American takes 88.
Can you please:
-state how much sugar you usually take daily
-state how you usually feel about eating sugar
-change your habits today
-report on how that influenced your feelings?
(I don’t have the means to organize a real study, am not aware of any done on the subject, and I hope anecdotal evidence might still be overwhelming enough to give a result.)