Not all “sugar” is the same. Honey has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and testosterone levels. I don’t think we would have evolved to enjoy these natural foods if they were bad for us.
https://video.nostr.build/3362ce9d1e7d7d550c3c5fd23da742875b3e39a1477d269f2bde1bc67c74cb08.mp4
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All sugar is biochemically identical. Complex carbohydrates get fairly easily broken down into monosaccharides. It all metabolizes into glucose which is metabolized in most tissue due to insulin activity; except fructose, which is only metabolized in the liver directly into fat, which leads to fatty liver disease (and also gout indirectly), which is the second leading cause of liver cirrhosis and liver transplantation in the US and the EU.
There is no biochemical pathway relating sex hormone synthesis and glucose. Honey does not improve insulin sensitivity, that is utter nonsense which makes no logical sense and I don't care what studies are made about it.
Fruit today is completely different to prehistoric fruit, which was smaller, more fibrous and only available for a brief period of time of the year (ice age and all). Honey was available if you were willing to risk injury to obtain it, which people would do on occasion since sugar is addictive and hyperpalatable. You can also consume alcohol with joy, but it is still poison to the body.
We're also descended from omnivorous apes and there simply was no negative evolutionary pressure to knock out molars or an entire metabolic pathway dedicated to metabolizing carbs. Humans were very opportunistic eaters, but they would always prefer to eat meat compared to plant food, as shown by anthropologic studies.
The argument that all fruit and honey eventually gets metabolized into glucose isn’t very helpful because fat gets metabolized into glucose too. Glucose isn’t bad for you unless you’re metabolically unhealthy or diabetic. Even if you are diabetic, your body will make glucose on a carnivore diet right? So I don’t think refined sugar and honey are identical at all. Honey has a lot more nutrients that are beneficial to you than just sugar. Same can be said with fruit. You’re getting sugar but also things like vitamin c which you can’t really get from meat. I’ve tried pure carnivore and it was horrible for me in the gym. I felt much stronger with fruit and honey. Insulin is a signaling hormone for growth. Insulin spikes after a good workout will signal muscle cells to grow, not fat cells. I would easily lose 6 pounds or more if I cut out all carbs. And yeah you can say it’s water weight but your muscles are mostly made up of water so that water weight matters for strength. All the pure carnivores I know are extremely skinny. Saladino is very active and he was getting cramps and heart palpitations on pure carnivore. I don’t think carnivore is sustainable for athletes. If a carnivore athlete uses up all his glucose in his blood (that he got from fat) then his body has to start eating away at his muscles because converting fat to glucose is too slow while engaging in a sport or workout. Your body can use glucose from fruit much more efficiently for energy than fat. I don’t think there is a silver bullet solution for everyone. It depends on the individuals body and activity levels. You make some great points about fruit being artificially selected and how abundant it is though.
For most people I think both of these diets are still great because it cuts out processed junk and seed oils. And some people have a hard enough time cutting out things like ice cream and candy so fruit and honey are not a terrible compromise. Let’s agree to disagree 🤝
So, glancing at the second study, the honey group lost 2kg, but their A1C jumped from 7.1 to 7.7
Blood lipid changes are meaningless
Sugar is sugar (outside of HFCS), but carbs can be used strategically depending on your condition.
