Why I am cutting back on sugar

FitnessTim

In moderate amounts, sugar is relatively harmless. So what is a moderate, or safe amount of sugar? The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that an adult consume less than 10% of their calorie intake or about 25 grams. To put it in perspective, below are a few foods and their sugar content:

Coke, 12 oz can = 25 grams
Yoplait Original Yogurt 6 oz = 26 grams
Orange juice raw 12 oz = 31 grams
Ragu Marinara Sauce 1/2 cup = 12 grams
Fruit Loops 1 cup = 12 grams
Wonder Bread small 2 slices = 4 grams
Cliff Bar 1 serving = 22 grams
Grapes 3.5 oz serving = 15 grams

With numbers like those in common foods, even someone who tries to avoid "sweets" still has the potential to go way over the recommended amount.

Can we trust the recommendation of the World Health Organization? Despite it being an internationally respected organization, I won't blindly follow the recommendation of any one group or person. I did some research and purposefully tried to find any evidence the counters the recommendation. While it was easy to find people on discussion boards who will still argue for sugar, I have yet to find a single nutrition authority who will claim that sugar is safe to consume in the quantities that people typically consume.

I'm not going into the science behind why sugar is bad. Just search on the web, "Is sugar bad" and read for yourself. The main problem is that sugar appears to be the main cause of obesity.

I was under the assumption that we needed some sugar in our diets, but I have yet to find any recommendation for a minimum amount. There are people who suffer from hypoglycemia that can experience blood sugar emergencies and need to consume sugar quickly, but as for the average person, I don't know.

To be clear, I don't intend to cut out sugar completely so my interest in minimum amounts is purely academic. I won't go completely sugar-free because, as the WHO recommendation suggest, I believe a moderate amounts of sugar is safe. I will avoid foods with added sugars as much as possible. By tracking in MyFitnessPal, I want to keep my sugar intake between 12 and 25g.

Some may consider this extreme but it is the average person's diet that is really extreme. The average person's intake of sugar is double the recommended maximum amount.

What is your take on sugar? Is it something you try to restrict or do you just concern yourself with calories.

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt

Meh, I firmly believe that if you are regulating your calorie intake and hitting your macronutrient goals (fat and protein), you are lowering your "sugar" intake by default.

All carbohydrates are turned into sugar during digestion - I don't understand what this sudden fixation on added sugar is.

wizzybeth

Well.....since you asked...

I've lost 30 lbs since the end of January of this year.

And almost every day, I have gone OVER my "sugar goal" - usually WAY over, by as much as double...or more. Some of it is what's naturally occurring, but most of it is added sugar in foods I eat....




Sugar is not the cause of obesity. Eating too many calories is.

wizzybeth

So please, explain how my eating all this sugar is contributing to my obesity, since I've lost 30 lbs in about 3 months time?

Chrysalid2014

Well, 25 grams would be 100 calories (i.e. 10% of 1000 calories), so you're probably looking at more around 50g to comply with the WHO recommendation.

I've been deliberately cutting back on carbs and particularly sugar for the past few weeks as my cravings and overconsumption had gotten way out of control. My daily intake is around 35g and I feel much better and the cravings are slowly losing their grip. I intend to make this a lifelong habit.

{edit: incidentally, all of my sugar comes from non-starchy vegetables, dairy products and a maximum of 100g of berries per day (no other fruits)}

SideSteel

FitnessTim wrote: »

In moderate amounts, sugar is relatively harmless. So what is a moderate, or safe amount of sugar? The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that an adult consume less than 10% of their calorie intake or about 25 grams. To put it in perspective, below are a few foods and their sugar content:

Coke, 12 oz can = 25 grams
Yoplait Original Yogurt 6 oz = 26 grams
Orange juice raw 12 oz = 31 grams
Ragu Marinara Sauce 1/2 cup = 12 grams
Fruit Loops 1 cup = 12 grams
Wonder Bread small 2 slices = 4 grams
Cliff Bar 1 serving = 22 grams
Grapes 3.5 oz serving = 15 grams

The recommendation is not for all sugar, it's for "added sugar". The specific concerns regarding sugar are primarily due to how sugar intake influences total energy intake and how sugar intake can push other needed nutrients off the table if it occupies too great a portion of the diet.

Can we trust the recommendation of the World Health Organization? Despite it being an internationally respected organization, I won't blindly follow the recommendation of any one group or person. I did some research and purposefully tried to find any evidence the counters the recommendation. While it was easy to find people on discussion boards who will still argue for sugar, I have yet to find a single nutrition authority who will claim that sugar is safe to consume in the quantities that people typically consume.

I think it's wise to research on your own but the big exception here is whether or not you (I mean "you" in a general sense here so I am not directing this statement at you specifically) understand how to differentiate between alarmist blog posts and actual research and if you DO, are you able to look at the collection of available evidence and evaluate where it points rather than looking at a single study.

I'm not going into the science behind why sugar is bad. Just search on the web, "Is sugar bad" and read for yourself. The main problem is that sugar appears to be the main cause of obesity.

Just searching the web isn't sufficient for reasons stated in my previous paragraph. Sugar is not the "main cause of obesity" but it's certainly a contributing factor. The only thing we can say with relative certainty is that people are consuming too many calories and/or moving too little and it's likely a combination of both given that (at least in the US) calorie intake has risen and activity has dropped.

A good question to ask would be "why is that happening?". Sugar is probably a portion of that in that it's easy to overconsume calories if you're eating relatively high amounts of sugar.

But you can't really point at a singular factor as being the cause of obesity. It's a multifactorial issue.

I was under the assumption that we needed some sugar in our diets, but I have yet to find any recommendation for a minimum amount. There are people who suffer from hypoglycemia that can experience blood sugar emergencies and need to consume sugar quickly, but as for the average person, I don't know.

Your body converts carbohydrates to glucose. And when you don't consume carbohydrates or you consume very little carbohydrates you can convert non carbohydrates to glucose through a process called gluconeogenesis.

You probably don't need to consume any ADDED sugar in your diet, but this brings about an important point that I believe to be true: Whether or not something is "necessary" shouldn't be a deciding factor on whether or not we should consume it. Carbohydrates are non essential but it's foolish to entirely eliminate them.

To be clear, I don't intend to cut out sugar completely so my interest in minimum amounts is purely academic. I won't go completely sugar-free because, as the WHO recommendation suggest, I believe a moderate amounts of sugar is safe. I will avoid foods with added sugars as much as possible. By tracking in MyFitnessPal, I want to keep my sugar intake between 12 and 25g.

Some may consider this extreme but it is the average person's diet that is really extreme. The average person's intake of sugar is double the recommended maximum amount.

What is your take on sugar? Is it something you try to restrict or do you just concern yourself with calories.

I think that "most" people probably would benefit by reducing the added sugar in their diet. When I say "most" people I'm largely referring to people who are not fitness conscious and who are eating a rather poor diet in total.

But I also think that sugar is largely demonized in the media as being this cocaine like addictive substance that is going to give you all kinds of diseases, and I think that's taking things too far.

Regarding your sugar intake goals, I think that's very low and I would take a guess that your going to have to restrict your diet a great deal, and that's probably not going to be good for long term adherence. I'd also add that you should differentiate between added sugar so that you're not eliminating nutrient dense things like fruit from your diet for fear of sugar.

Chrysalid2014

FitnessTim wrote: »

I was under the assumption that we needed some sugar in our diets, but I have yet to find any recommendation for a minimum amount...

We don't need sugar in our diets, hence there is no 'minimum amount'. There are people in the keto group on zero carb diets.

Sabine_Stroehm

The WHO guidelines refer primarily to "free" sugars". Not a bad idea at all to take a look at, and limit free sugars. People, in general, get far too much added sugars in their diet, usually at the expense of more nutrient dense foods. So limiting it isn't a bad Idea at all.

The WHO says:

4 MARCH 2015 ¦ GENEVA - A new WHO guideline recommends adults and children reduce their daily intake of free sugars to less than 10% of their total energy intake. A further reduction to below 5% or roughly 25 grams (6 teaspoons) per day would provide additional health benefits.
Free sugars refer to monosaccharides (such as glucose, fructose) and disaccharides (such as sucrose or table sugar) added to foods and drinks by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, and sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates.

Six teaspoons of added sugars a day seems like plenty to me.

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt

SideSteel wrote: »

FitnessTim wrote: »

In moderate amounts, sugar is relatively harmless. So what is a moderate, or safe amount of sugar? The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that an adult consume less than 10% of their calorie intake or about 25 grams. To put it in perspective, below are a few foods and their sugar content:

Coke, 12 oz can = 25 grams
Yoplait Original Yogurt 6 oz = 26 grams
Orange juice raw 12 oz = 31 grams
Ragu Marinara Sauce 1/2 cup = 12 grams
Fruit Loops 1 cup = 12 grams
Wonder Bread small 2 slices = 4 grams
Cliff Bar 1 serving = 22 grams
Grapes 3.5 oz serving = 15 grams

The recommendation is not for all sugar, it's for "added sugar". The specific concerns regarding sugar are primarily due to how sugar intake influences total energy intake and how sugar intake can push other needed nutrients off the table if it occupies too great a portion of the diet.

Can we trust the recommendation of the World Health Organization? Despite it being an internationally respected organization, I won't blindly follow the recommendation of any one group or person. I did some research and purposefully tried to find any evidence the counters the recommendation. While it was easy to find people on discussion boards who will still argue for sugar, I have yet to find a single nutrition authority who will claim that sugar is safe to consume in the quantities that people typically consume.

I think it's wise to research on your own but the big exception here is whether or not you (I mean "you" in a general sense here so I am not directing this statement at you specifically) understand how to differentiate between alarmist blog posts and actual research and if you DO, are you able to look at the collection of available evidence and evaluate where it points rather than looking at a single study.

I'm not going into the science behind why sugar is bad. Just search on the web, "Is sugar bad" and read for yourself. The main problem is that sugar appears to be the main cause of obesity.

Just searching the web isn't sufficient for reasons stated in my previous paragraph. Sugar is not the "main cause of obesity" but it's certainly a contributing factor. The only thing we can say with relative certainty is that people are consuming too many calories and/or moving too little and it's likely a combination of both given that (at least in the US) calorie intake has risen and activity has dropped.

A good question to ask would be "why is that happening?". Sugar is probably a portion of that in that it's easy to overconsume calories if you're eating relatively high amounts of sugar.

But you can't really point at a singular factor as being the cause of obesity. It's a multifactorial issue.

I was under the assumption that we needed some sugar in our diets, but I have yet to find any recommendation for a minimum amount. There are people who suffer from hypoglycemia that can experience blood sugar emergencies and need to consume sugar quickly, but as for the average person, I don't know.

Your body converts carbohydrates to glucose. And when you don't consume carbohydrates or you consume very little carbohydrates you can convert non carbohydrates to glucose through a process called gluconeogenesis.

You probably don't need to consume any ADDED sugar in your diet, but this brings about an important point that I believe to be true: Whether or not something is "necessary" shouldn't be a deciding factor on whether or not we should consume it. Carbohydrates are non essential but it's foolish to entirely eliminate them.

To be clear, I don't intend to cut out sugar completely so my interest in minimum amounts is purely academic. I won't go completely sugar-free because, as the WHO recommendation suggest, I believe a moderate amounts of sugar is safe. I will avoid foods with added sugars as much as possible. By tracking in MyFitnessPal, I want to keep my sugar intake between 12 and 25g.

Some may consider this extreme but it is the average person's diet that is really extreme. The average person's intake of sugar is double the recommended maximum amount.

What is your take on sugar? Is it something you try to restrict or do you just concern yourself with calories.

I think that "most" people probably would benefit by reducing the added sugar in their diet. When I say "most" people I'm largely referring to people who are not fitness conscious and who are eating a rather poor diet in total.

But I also think that sugar is largely demonized in the media as being this cocaine like addictive substance that is going to give you all kinds of diseases, and I think that's taking things too far.

Regarding your sugar intake goals, I think that's very low and I would take a guess that your going to have to restrict your diet a great deal, and that's probably not going to be good for long term adherence. I'd also add that you should differentiate between added sugar so that you're not eliminating nutrient dense things like fruit from your diet for fear of sugar.

This is awesome. +1000.

Chrysalid2014

Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »

The WHO guidelines refer primarily to "free" sugars". Not a bad idea at all to take a look at, and limit free sugars. People, in general, get far too much added sugars in their diet, usually at the expense of more nutrient dense foods. So limiting it isn't a bad Idea at all.

The WHO says:

4 MARCH 2015 ¦ GENEVA - A new WHO guideline recommends adults and children reduce their daily intake of free sugars to less than 10% of their total energy intake. A further reduction to below 5% or roughly 25 grams (6 teaspoons) per day would provide additional health benefits.
Free sugars refer to monosaccharides (such as glucose, fructose) and disaccharides (such as sucrose or table sugar) added to foods and drinks by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, and sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates.

Six teaspoons of added sugars a day seems like plenty to me.

Ah... free sugars?! That puts a different slant on it. Six teaspoons does seem like a lot, especially considering that's their 'further reduction'.

kristalasimpson

Refined sugars are the ones we should avoid wherever we can. They do us no favours. MFP measures all sugar on your diary - natural and refined. They do not separate healthy sugars found in fruit from white sugar you add in you coffee or found in your breads and sauces and really any processed food.

The food companies have it down to a science on how much salt, sugar and fat is needed to be added to food and how to make us addicted to it.

There is an excellent book on this. Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss
It really if anything opened my mind on what is put in our grocery bought foods and helps me make more informed decisions.

I have lost 8 lbs just from modifying what I eat since January thanks to this book. I am not perfect and still slip up, but it is more of an emotional battle for me now.

RGv2

kristalasimpson wrote: »

Refined sugars are the ones we should avoid wherever we can. They do us no favours. MFP measures all sugar on your diary - natural and refined. They do not separate healthy sugars found in fruit from white sugar you add in you coffee or found in your breads and sauces and really any processed food.

The food companies have it down to a science on how much salt, sugar and fat is needed to be added to food and how to make us addicted to it.

There is an excellent book on this. Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss
It really if anything opened my mind on what is put in our grocery bought foods and helps me make more informed decisions.

I have lost 8 lbs just from modifying what I eat since January thanks to this book. I am not perfect and still slip up, but it is more of an emotional battle for me now.

You know why, right? It's because sugar is sugar....whether in a candy bar, bread, or an apple. You may want to scroll back up and read side steel's post.

FitnessTim

wizzybeth wrote: »

So please, explain how my eating all this sugar is contributing to my obesity, since I've lost 30 lbs in about 3 months time?

That's easy to answer. You are amazing. You current level of focus and dedication to your weight loss is why you are losing weight despite consuming more sugar than the recommended amount. Even if you do okay with a high sugar diet, that doesn't mean it will work for others.

In addition, even if a person had no problem with a high sugar diet now they may have to cut back later on in life as their metabolism changes. For me, I'd rather get rid of my sugar craving now rather than wait until I am forced to when I'm older.

Also, what I said about the WHO recommendation was misleading. Chrysalid's clarification of 10% of calories is the maximum. The 5% is a suggestion for further health benefits.

I know we've been warned before about other foods that turned out not to be as bad for us as experts stated. The whole low-fat diet craze is what actually turned me towards a high sugar/ high carb diet. In that case, the low fat diet was based on faulty data. With sugar there has been a lot more research. Still, nothing is certain.

3bambi3

FitnessTim wrote: »

wizzybeth wrote: »

So please, explain how my eating all this sugar is contributing to my obesity, since I've lost 30 lbs in about 3 months time?

That's easy to answer. You are amazing. You current level of focus and dedication to your weight loss is why you are losing weight despite consuming more sugar than the recommended amount. Even if you do okay with a high sugar diet, that doesn't mean it will work for others.

In addition, even if a person had no problem with a high sugar diet now they may have to cut back later on in life as their metabolism changes. For me, I'd rather get rid of my sugar craving now rather than wait until I am forced to when I'm older.

Also, what I said about the WHO recommendation was misleading. Chrysalid's clarification of 10% of calories is the maximum. The 5% is a suggestion for further health benefits.

I know we've been warned before about other foods that turned out not to be as bad for us as experts stated. The whole low-fat diet craze is what actually turned me towards a high sugar/ high carb diet. In that case, the low fat diet was based on faulty data. With sugar there has been a lot more research. Still, nothing is certain.

No, it's because she ate fewer calories than she burned. That's it. That's all there is to weight loss.

Also, what's a "high sugar" diet? Anything over what the WHO recommends?

The WHO also says:

The fundamental cause of obesity and overweight is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended.

So, not sugar.

lemurcat12

FitnessTim wrote: »

In moderate amounts, sugar is relatively harmless. So what is a moderate, or safe amount of sugar? The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that an adult consume less than 10% of their calorie intake or about 25 grams.

You don't say this, but the WHO recommendation of 25 grams applies to "free" sugars--not veggies, fruit, or dairy sugars (other than sugars in fruit juice).

The WHO also explains its reasoning as follows:

Free sugars contribute to the overall energy density of diets. Ensuring energy balance is critical to maintaining healthy body weight and ensuring optimal nutrient intake.

There is increasing concern that consumption of free sugars, particularly in the form of sugar-sweetened beverages, may result in both reduced intake of foods containing more nutritionally adequate calories and an increase in total caloric intake, leading to an unhealthy diet, weight gain and increased risk of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).

Significantly, this is about total calories, and the nutrient density of the foods consumed overall, NOT some special toxic role of sugar. It's also worth noting that many or most of the calories in many higher "free sugar" products (like a baked good) are from fat (butter, for example) or non sugar processed carbs (flour). So I tend to see the focus on sugar as somewhat misplaced.

As for what I do personally:

(1) I don't drink sugary beverages, including fruit juice. This is easy for me, since I never really did, but I am generally in agreement with the WHO that these beverages tend to increase calories consumed for many without being satisfying, and thus without reducing calories consumed in other foods.

(2) I limit my consumption of sweets (which is really what this is talking about). Not dramatically, but under 25 seems perfectly reasonable to me, although I don't worry if I go over one day and under on another. For me the number seems less significant than the role in overall diet, so rather than worry about the numbers I worry about getting adequate protein, fiber, veggies and fruit, quality starches, so on, just generally a healthy diet. And then if I also want to have a serving of ice cream, it doesn't bust my sugar limit OR change the overall nutrient density of my diet at all.

(3) I don't overstress about it--I think that's not helpful either.

(4) I don't have to worry much about other possible sources of "added sugar" because I eat very little of the types of processed foods that have it. On rare occasion (including yesterday) I will find it convenient to get some flavored yogurt, but I usually like yogurt plain with fruit added by me. I do eat protein bars and powder which sometimes have a few grams of sugar (I don't care about fake sugar, personally). There's a bit in one thing or another, like a minimal amount in smoked salmon, but on the whole I try to eat from whole foods and make my own pasta sauce and dressing, etc., so it's not an issue. (My reasoning for this isn't actually about sugar--it's something I've generally done.)

(5) When I add sugar to a rhubarb or cranberry sauce or when someone else adds it to oatmeal (I don't care for sugar in oatmeal), I think it's basically the same as sugar in fruit--it's a small amount added to something nutrient dense--so I personally wouldn't worry about this any more than fruit. IMO, to do so is assuming there's something "bad" about added sugar that the WHO reasoning does not support.

As for tracking in MFP, it includes intrinsic sugar and I've found I can easily hit 45 grams with just fruit, veggies, and dairy, and I don't really eat huge amounts of fruit (the USDA would probably recommend more). I do eat lots of veggies and some root vegetables, like beets and sweet potatoes, that also have sugar. So for me a limit lower than MFP's 15% of calories (which is high enough given my current calorie level) for ALL sugars seems unnecessary and rather than worrying about the actual number I just like to make sure I'm not fooling myself about the added sugar I eat on occasion. (So far I've been completely aware without the need for tracking when that's been out of whack.)

Hornsby

So is it 10% or 25 grams? That's a big discrepancy. 25 grams would be 10% of a 1000 calorie diet, no? 10% would be 90 grams per day for me...

lemurcat12

It's 10% but with a further recommendation of 5%, I think. 5% is 25 grams given a calorie limit of 2000, which is obviously not applicable to MANY (it is for me, but I'm a 5'3, 45 year old woman).

lemurcat12

Also, if you look at the reasoning, it shouldn't be one size fits all. Someone doing lots of endurance exercise might need more sugar, and the WHO hasn't said that's bad (assuming adequate dental hygiene, of course). It's more about the general population, not someone who is already quite thoughtful about his or her diet.

Hornsby

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Also, if you look at the reasoning, it shouldn't be one size fits all. Someone doing lots of endurance exercise might need more sugar, and the WHO hasn't said that's bad (assuming adequate dental hygiene, of course). It's more about the general population, not someone who is already quite thoughtful about his or her diet.

That's my issue is the one size fits all. Hell, I did a bike ride Saturday morning and had 175 grams of added sugar in 4 hours during that race. I was also burning 600-700 calories per hour at that point.

FitnessTim

I just read SideSteel's post and I agree. His input is why I posted to begin with.

I also agree that my sugar intake goal may be too restrictive. However, I'm not simply cutting out sugars just for health benefits but to also to get my taste buds under control. Right now it takes a lot of sugar to satisfy my sweet tooth. If would be great if I could have an iced tea with just a single teaspoon of sugar and be satisfied.

PeachyCarol

I'm currently limiting my intake of everything in appropriate ratios to meet my goals/nutritional needs.

I sometimes go over sugar, but I get a lot of natural sugar from plain dairy and vegetables.

One of the issues with your post, OP was that some of the sugar in the products you listed was from natural sources (tomatoes, lactose in the yogurt), and the WHO recommendations are for added sugars.

I don't have too much to add to the discussion, because Side Steel said everything best that I'd like to say, particularly in terms of general population vs. health conscious eaters.

Oh, except this. I got 20 grams of sugar one day... almost half my daily allowance from MFP... from cauliflower. I consumed no added "free" sugars that day and ended up over my goals.

Bottom line? You do you, I'll do me. I'm not overly worried about me and my small serving of evening gelato.