Originally Posted by xStarlitex

An orange is a healthy food with vit C and nutrients and fiber. A whole orange is high in carbs coming in at 12 net carbs but it provides nutrients and fiber so the orange is better than sugar which is processed from sugar cane and has zero nutritional value. Oranges might trigger people who are carb sensitive but you could have 1 orange and be under your carb intake for the day even at 20 g carbs a day. One teaspoon of sugar has less calories and no nutrient value. It is an empty food. There is no benefit of eating sugar. None whatsoever. The orange has benefit. And cranberries are healthy as well until you add the sugar. But as for juices, I was not speaking of juices. Juices, I personally believe, are generally a poor choice as they generally have additives and sugar is often among them. So I personally think you are better off having neither of the options you presented but having a whole orange or a handful of cranberries but it also depends for you personally if they are items you are sensitive to. The average person may not be. Most natural foods aren't a problem for most people until they become the bulk of their diet where the diet is high carbs. They've also begun to measure how much sugar is released into the body upon eating the food. I can't for the life of me remember what it's called but some foods are high and others are mid range and others are low. The low are ones that are considered safe and healthy and the high and even moderate ones are a bit riskier. I think it's slow release carbs they are looking at but I can't remember the name of the diet.

While LC is a healthy way to live it's not the only way to live and people can eat more than low carbs as long as they aren't in high carbs and do just fine. Naturally occurring sugar isn't a problem for most people. A cup of papaya or an orange isn't going to be an issue for many but for those who are more sensitive to it or who have weight gain issues it might present an issue. But again, I'm talking whole foods and not juices which are two entirely different things. An orange is a healthy food that happens to be higher in carbs but still it is a healthy food. The juice is a different story.

Originally Posted by Nancy LC

The issue with juice is that the sugar is concentrated. You're not eating the sugar out of one orange, you're getting it from a whole bunch of them. Sucrose is sucrose, whether it comes directly from an orange or from sugar cane. It is the same disaccharide.

Originally Posted by deirdra

xStarlitex, Carbs are cheap if cooked at home, but the mark-up in fast-food joints on campus, where the commuter students and others eat, is horrendous. The coffee and cooked foods cost up to 6 times what they would cost to make at home. And if you are going to prepare foods at home, it is much cheaper to make healthy real foods rather than eat fastfood crap.

Originally Posted by aj_cohn

In my own experience, my 5x/week exercise routines (weightlifting, stability ball core work, cardio), enabled me to (a) lose my most recent 13 lbs and 5% BF after a 2-mo. stall, (b) vastly improve my glucose regulation mechanisms, so that I don't crave the crap that I did earlier in my weight loss (months 3–7), and (c) greatly reduce my appetite, so that I fill up quickly.