Which do you think is worse: sugar or caffeine?

A

AndreaL

Cathlete
I've been reading a lot here on nutrition. Many have or are working on giving up sugar or caffeine.

I am always so afraid of getting hooked on caffeine. Thankfully coffee makes me gag, but I love Pepsi. I allow myself one a day, and don't always want one. So, I'm doing good staying away from caffeine.

Sweets, I love. I have something sweet everyday, whether it's my Pepsi or a treat. I don't like diet Pepsi, and I don't like the caffeine free kind. I thought of switching to a passionfruit iced tea that I love, but it has caffeine! How does iced tea compare to soda in the caffeine area?

I'm looking for your opinions. I am very much a moderation gal, but am also always trying to improve in the area of nutrition!

Andrea
 
In my opinion sugar is a million times worse than caffeine, but that is my opinion. I think a little caffeine is fine. I have a moderate amount and I love it, and I am not giving it up. It is my "drug of choice".

I am not a nutritionist but the experts can't make up their mind if caffeine is good or bad. Coffee is so enjoyable for me, life is short. I will not give up coffee!

I probably didn't help much. I hope you get some good advice.

Lori:)
 
Sugar is much worse than caffeine, in my opinion.

Somewhere I think I read that tea has a lot less caffeine than soft drinks and coffee. Also something in green tea conteracts the wake up effect of the caffeine in it....read that in a fitness book somewhere.
 
For me it's sugar!! Hands down. I recently got off of it and haven't had any for about 4 weeks. I don't have problems with caffeine like I do sugar. Besides feeling better in the afternoons, it's made a big difference in my skin, at least that's where I notice it the most.

For caffeine, I only have one cup of coffee in the morning and then drink water all day so it's not an issue.

Jo
 
sugar is much worse for me. The low point after the high is much worse with sugar than caffeine IMHO. Not to mention the empty calories and the tooth decay....
Judy
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Caffeine actually has health benefits; I am unaware of any for table sugar. Caffeine is an antioxidant, plenty of peer reviewed scientific articles demonstrate this. If you choose to take your caffeine via drinking tea, you also get the added antioxidant benefits associated with the tea itself. A study has also demonstrated that moderate coffeee drinkers with moderate liver disease due to hepatitis actually have a slower progression rate of disease compared to non-coffee drinkers. The study couldn't distinguish if its a caffeine related benefit or something else in coffee. In fact the Hepatitis B Foundation has provided this information for patients. Caffeine prior to a workout has also been demonstrated to improve workout performance.
Caffeine in in small to moderate doses, is therefore probably actually good for you. I can't think of anything that sugar is actually good for except for Toll House Cookies!!! (and we all know that the chocolate counteracts the sugar LOL..hahaha)
 
I think it depends.I think sugar is ALOT harder in your waistline but to much caffeine is probably worse.
Sad to say...I am addicted to both:-( But I could go longer without sugar then caffeine.
I just went through a 2 day power outage and I didn't have any coffee.By 4 o'clock Sunday evening I had a pounding headache.Yesterday I felt o.k but when I started to feel lazy and a headache comming on again...I got my cup of java.My friend was visiting the same place and she had a headsche from not getting her tea.
If you only allow yourself 1 glass of pepsi a day then I say go for it.Unless you are trying to lose weight.When I cut back a few years ago (I use to drink 2-3 cans a day) that was one of the things I gave up and I really haven't gotten back into it.
I am a firm beleiver in "everything in moderation".Unless you are in competitons and things like that, a burger every now and then won't kill you(and you actaully get to eat the bun:) ) a ice cream cone,a piece of cheesecake etc.....i could go on forever.
Lori:)
 
No contest. Sugar is MUCH worse than caffeine.

My nutritionist says its okay to have a cup of coffee. Don't try to be perfect. Lose the sugar, and enjoy your caffeine, I say (while sipping my black coffee, no sugar.....) :9
 
Another vote for sugar being worse than caffeine.

Caffeine, for some unknown reason, has been one of the real Judas Goats of the nutritional landscape for decades. It is consumed worldwide in many forms (coffee, tea, chocolate, and in other ways) and the vast majority of people enjoy it safely in dosages they can handle. But researchers routinely cook up new studies to try to find a link between caffeine consumption and heart disease or obesity or cancer or Chinese crotch crickets or what have you. And almost studies establishing a link between caffeine consumption and whatever-the-hell are debunked within 5 years or so, long after people have panicked.

I have a book about coffee and there was a great chapter on how caffeine has been unfairly lambasted. I read that chapter at least once a month - with my coffee infused with a double shot of espresso.

A-Jock
 
Thanks everyone!

I learned a lot just from your posts. I think I'll go with my iced passionfruit green tea in place of Pepsi and see how it goes. I forgot about the health benefits of green tea. Now, don't tell me they go away when it's iced!

I doubt I'd ever give sugar up completely, but I would like to cut back quite a bit.

Hope I don't get Chinese crotch crickets:7

Andrea
 
RE: Thanks everyone!

I'm trying to avoid those crickets as well.}( I also think that sugar is worse, simply b/c there are mixed opinions concerning caffeine, but I've never heard of a positive about simple sugars. (unless you're a diabetic in distress, of course!!!) I have heard of some people having negative affects from caffeine when trying to see definition so I assumed that most athletes eliminated it from the diet. But then yesterday I was browsing around bodybuilding.com and found that quite a few of the articles had writers that used caffeine supplements as part of their daily diet. They said that it helped to keep their energy level up (especially when going lower carb in the diet) and they also took large doses of it. Of course, this could be hard on the heart. I've never had a problem w/drinking regular soft drinks---If I'm going to consume that much sugar at once, I'm going to eat a cookie or something!!!! So I would definitely cut out the daily pepsi and just have one every few days as a treat for doing well!!!!!! Just my op!:D
 
RE: Thanks everyone!

Sugar is absolutely worse than caffeine! Sugar causes overproduction of glucose which can be stored as fat. Caffeine in moderation is actually good for you. You really should cut sugar out completely.
 
I agree that sugar is worse than caffeine, but that doesn't mean that coffee is good, IMO. My accupuncturist claims that coffee, soft drinks, alcohol and chocolate all contain some kind of acid that irritates the digestive tract, and thus interferes with healing, because much of our immune system is tied to our digestive tract. I had no trouble giving up coffee, alcohol or soft drinks (didn't use them anyway ;-) ), but chocolate has been a hard one! And I never noticed how MANY things have chocolate in them until I started avoiding it.

I didn't have to give up my green, white, black and red (rooibos) teas.
 
I've enjoyed reading your thread. I agree between coffee and sugar, the greater of the two evils is sugar. My big question is sugar vs fake sugar(ie. nutrasweet, splenda, sweet&low.) I know sugar is terrible, but if I replace it with the other stuff am I commiting a greater sin? Am I choosing between thyroid cancer and a little extra cushion on my hips? The sad thing is I actually have to think it over.
Heather
 
Another vote for sugar. I don't add extra sugar to anything but I sure am not going to kill myself trying to eat zero sugar. Everything in moderation.....life is too short for a bunch of headaches over stuff that wouldn't make much difference in my life anyway...
As for caffeine, I drink 3 or 4 cups of coffee a day. It helps raise my metabolism so what the hell.
T. :)
 
Caffeine has health benefits - WOO HOO!! LOL!! Music to my hears, Cathy!! Music to my ears!! LOL!!

Carol
:) :) :) :) :) :)
 
I second your #### double post and raise you $$%^^&&** !!!!!

Carol
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I actually fantasize about my morning cup of coffee the night before, how pathetic is that? I'm down to one tsp of sugar but I can't seem to go no sugar, I'm trying though.

I don't know if anyone is fan of "Ellen" but she tried to quit coffee a few months ago and she was so funny about it, I think she lasted a week.

A tidbit of info that I recently learned: 1oz of chocolate has less caffiene than 1cup of decaffinated tea...but then there's the sugar...
 
I'd take a bit of real sugar over any of those chemical sweeteners anyday. Though I'd take stevia or agave nectar over sugar!
 
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