Sugar Problems

helenanj

Hi All!

My name is Helena. This is my third time on Fitness Pal. I've been doing okay not tracking food/exercise for a while but not lately, as extra 11lbs are now showing.

I eat well, trying to stick to the 80/20 rule. My one problem seems to be the sugar intake. It's usually simple sugars from fruit but still. How do I eat my fruits and veggies without going over my sugar limits?

Whenever I track my food intake I am usually well under my calorie limit but over my sugars.

What am I doing wrong?
Do you have any ideas for veg/fruit/snack foods low in sugar?
Please help!


Thank you!

SideSteel

One thing you could do would be to track calories, protein, carbs, fat, and fiber, then from there make sure you come reasonably close to your goals, select about 80% whole and minimally refined foods, and stop tracking sugar entirely.

wkwebby

Unless you have a medical problem, you don't need to track sugars. By medical problem, I mean diabetes or pre-diabetes.

Hornsby

Since sugar is just a carb, just track carbs and don't worry about sugar.

GaleHawkins

Helena finally I just gave up fruit at this time and anything with added sugar. These notes on this book below finally helped me grasp that sugar is my heroin and that I had to let it go to live a fuller life. Best wishes. The sugar demon is a killer for me.

http://lowerthought.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/notes-to-good-calories-bad-calories.pdf

wamydia

I think it's almost impossible to eat a healthy amount of fruit/ veggies per day (assuming a balanced diet) and still stay under the MFP goal. I don't generally track sugar for that reason. If I do look at it, I always subtract the sugar from fruit/veg just to give myself a number for refined sugars. Overall, I've never had much use for it though.

lavendy17

I only observe added sugar. There is a lot of natural sugar in things like fruit, some vegetables, milk, plain yogurt. The 25g a day that is recommended, I believe is about added sugar, so the flavoring of the yogurts, sodas, sugar in baked goods, candy, granola bars, flavored oatmeal packet, stuff like that.

I myself know that if I over-do added sugar and excess white flour, I simply don't feel good- headaches and sluggish, so I make sure to keep this crap at bay. I don't completely abstain, but just make sure I don't take in more than I can handle.

wkwebby

wamydia wrote: »

I think it's almost impossible to eat a healthy amount of fruit/ veggies per day (assuming a balanced diet) and still stay under the MFP goal. I don't generally track sugar for that reason. If I do look at it, I always subtract the sugar from fruit/veg just to give myself a number for refined sugars. Overall, I've never had much use for it though.

I'm prediabetic and have been about or under my sugar goals for 75% of the time. The only time I will go over is if I eat more than 3 servings of fruit a day, and ones with lower sugar content at that. If you stick to veggies as your sugar source, you won't go over unless it is from something like sweet potato which tends to be higher in natural sugars or a rare sweet treat like dark chocolate. For someone like me, that is a problem, but if you don't have a problem, there is no real need to track your sugars.

Sabine_Stroehm

I only keep an eye on added sugars (refined, added sugars) and heavily refined carbs. I find that those affect my appetite and mood. An apple doesn't. A serving of peas doesn't.
YMMV of course.

jgnatca

I am a diabetic, and I know what your problem is! You are not eating enough protein! As your meals proportionally include more protein, the sugars will drop.

Sabine_Stroehm

jgnatca wrote: »

I am a diabetic, and I know what your problem is! You are not eating enough protein! As your meals proportionally include more protein, the sugars will drop.

Great catch. She only has part of one day logged, but yes, there's precious little protein in there.

helenanj

Thank you all for your advice!!!! I really appreciate it! I will definitely focus more on refined/added sugars and not worry as much about naturally occurring ones.

As for my protein intake, please rest assured I shall get some at dinner!

Thank you again!!!

lemurcat12

Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »

I only keep an eye on added sugars (refined, added sugars) and heavily refined carbs. I find that those affect my appetite and mood. An apple doesn't. A serving of peas doesn't.
YMMV of course.

I agree with this. I love summer fruits and so spent the summer going nuts on peaches and plums and melon and all the rest, and so went from never being over my sugar limit in the winter and spring to being over every day, and there were no negative effects at all. So I decided to track fiber instead.

With respect to added sugar (kind of off topic, I guess), if you think you might be eating more than you realize, that's a reason to log it, but I'm comfortable that I know what has lots of sugar and what doesn't out of the foods I eat, and have found that I can monitor mine as much as I care to by making sure that I get enough protein, eat within my calories, and get in all the vegetables that I should. After that, the "added" sugar I have room for is necessarily limited and not IMO a concern.

psuLemon

GaleHawkins wrote: »

Helena finally I just gave up fruit at this time and anything with added sugar. These notes on this book below finally helped me grasp that sugar is my heroin and that I had to let it go to live a fuller life. Best wishes. The sugar demon is a killer for me.

http://lowerthought.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/notes-to-good-calories-bad-calories.pdf

Gary Taubes "research" has been thoroughly debunked for quite some time. The only time I would worry about sugar is when its taking away from other nutrients. Eating candy or "empty calories" won't harm you if the rest of your diet is on par. In the end, total diet context is necessary because the only thing wrong with sugar is that it doesn't really have any nutritional value outside of some immediate energy.

Personally, I don't have a medical issue, so I don't worry about any type of sugars, but I concentrate on getting adequate nutrient dense food throughout my diet.

GaleHawkins

psulemon wrote: »

GaleHawkins wrote: »

Helena finally I just gave up fruit at this time and anything with added sugar. These notes on this book below finally helped me grasp that sugar is my heroin and that I had to let it go to live a fuller life. Best wishes. The sugar demon is a killer for me.

http://lowerthought.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/notes-to-good-calories-bad-calories.pdf

Gary Taubes "research" has been thoroughly debunked for quite some time. The only time I would worry about sugar is when its taking away from other nutrients. Eating candy or "empty calories" won't harm you if the rest of your diet is on par. In the end, total diet context is necessary because the only thing wrong with sugar is that it doesn't really have any nutritional value outside of some immediate energy.

Personally, I don't have a medical issue, so I don't worry about any type of sugars, but I concentrate on getting adequate nutrient dense food throughout my diet.

psulemom I am new to this subject (7 Aug 2014) and my research has been focused on managing my pain. Sugar makes my joints in my feet (well all over my body) very tender that makes walking painful. The coconut oil helps some but cutting out carbs (sugar especially) helps with pain manage even more.

It appears one who "debunked" Gary Taubes research has now stated that Gary was correct based on new studies and that he was wrong about sugar?

http://www.dietdoctor.com/i-was-wrong-you-were-right

I think all agree if one cuts out the carbs it could reduce the chance of high BP, cancer and other age related diseases.

One objective of cutting out my carbs (there will always be 'accidental' carbs) is to activate CMA or Chaperone Mediated Autophagy to see if it will help reverse my cataracts that started to form about 5 years ago and seem to be static since that time. Preventing macular degeneration would be a plus as well to clean up any being stage of cancer cancer cells. I hope to get new blood work soon to see if my numbers are better or worse from coconut oil/ketosis.

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/ketones-and-ketosis/ketosis-cleans-our-cells/

yarwell

All sugar is natural, and MFP's limit is in line with national guidance. EU and Aus suggest 90g/day for sugars from all sources as a limit.

psuLemon

GaleHawkins wrote: »

psulemom I am new to this subject (7 Aug 2014) and my research has been focused on managing my pain. Sugar makes my joints in my feet (well all over my body) very tender that makes walking painful. The coconut oil helps some but cutting out carbs (sugar especially) helps with pain manage even more.

It appears one who "debunked" Gary Taubes research has now stated that Gary was correct based on new studies and that he was wrong about sugar?

http://www.dietdoctor.com/i-was-wrong-you-were-right

I think all agree if one cuts out the carbs it could reduce the chance of high BP, cancer and other age related diseases.

One objective of cutting out my carbs (there will always be 'accidental' carbs) is to activate CMA or Chaperone Mediated Autophagy to see if it will help reverse my cataracts that started to form about 5 years ago and seem to be static since that time. Preventing macular degeneration would be a plus as well to clean up any being stage of cancer cancer cells. I hope to get new blood work soon to see if my numbers are better or worse from coconut oil/ketosis.

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/ketones-and-ketosis/ketosis-cleans-our-cells/

Keep in mind that your needs are quite different than a person who does not have a medical condition. And while there is no issue with cutting out carbs or sugars from one diet, it isn't necessary for those without medical conditions. I will caveat, that understanding ones total caloric intake is what truly matters. Should you be getting a large portion of your calories from "empty calories"? No. As i noted, it's suggested to get as much nutrient dense foods as possible to ensure your body is properly nourished. So for the OP, while it's not a bad idea to cut out "empty carbs", it isn't necessary for weight loss. I generally suggest increasing fruits because they are full of nutrients and have fiber.

Regarding the bold, I would not agree with that either. Cutting carbs, does not inherently lower your blood pressure, reduce cancer or other disease. What lowering carbs can do, is lower calories because fat and protein keeps you full longer, reducing the frequency of meals consumed or even the amount of calories consumed. Overall, weight loss will improve all those conditions (even if you did an 80/10/10 vegan diet. Also keep in mind those conditions can also have genetic components. For example, I have high LDL's because both my parents do. I also have certain types of cancers in my family which make me higher risk.

Below is a good article on taubes.

http://weightology.net/?p=251

crisb2

@helenanj
I'm not gonna bother reading all the other posts, i'm sure it's full of "facts" regarding added sugar vs. natural sugars.
But, if you want to eat less sugar in general (whatever type it may be as it's all processed as glucose when it enters your body), try eating fruits and veggies that are lower in sugars.

Fruits Lowest in Sugar
Small Amounts of Lemon or Lime
Rhubarb
Raspberries (more about berries on low carb diets)
Blackberries
Cranberries

Fruits Low to Medium in Sugar
Strawberries
Casaba Melon
Papaya
Watermelon
Peaches
Nectarines
Blueberries
Cantaloupes
Honeydew melons
Apples
Guavas
Apricots
Grapefruit

Fruits Fairly High in Sugar
Plums
Oranges
Kiwifruit
Pears
Pineapple

Fruits Very High in Sugar
Tangerines
Cherries
Grapes
Pomegranates
Mangos
Figs
Bananas
Dried Fruit, such as dates, raisins, dried apricots, and prunes

dopeysmelly

If you're worried about the effect of fruit or vegetable sugars on bloody sugar, maybe try googling glycemic index and low GI foods.

Unknown

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GaleHawkins

What I am learning is the human body is very complex. Even body fat sends messages to the brain by the way of hormones for example. A food that may be positive for one person may be harmful to another person. Studies on the same subject have outcomes that are all over the board. Much of the research used to support articles that I read is 30-50 years old.

Chaperoned Mediated Autophagy (CMA) is very interesting to me. Very much sugar/carbs seems to make CMA impossible. That does not make sugar evil unless one is wanting to experience the long term results of CMA.

Just like the subject of motor oil on Bobistheoilguy site I find dieting supporters can often turn it into a religious activity dumping all reason into a landfill. If 10% of what we know today is deemed factual 10 years from now I would be surprised.

Just like some are coming around to Gary Taubes point of view today there are others that are not. Gary's early work is often based on data research that was aging quickly until now. By spring we should read about the results of the $5 million Energy Balance Consortium Study.

http://www.wired.com/2014/08/what-makes-us-fat/

Energy Balance Consortium Study
Purpose: Monitoring energy expenditure and appetite
Time frame: September 2013 to December 2014
Participants: 17 overweight and obese males, ages 18 to 50
Question: Does altering carbs and fat in the diet affect calories burned or cause hormonal changes?
Procedure: After four weeks of a standard diet designed to maintain weight, subjects make a drastic switch to a ketogenic diet (5 percent carbs, 80 percent fat) with the same number of calories. If Taubes' hypothesis holds, the change in diet should reduce fat mass and be accompanied by increased energy output.
Cost: $5 million

Unknown

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GaleHawkins

MrM27 wrote: »

^^^Stopped reading at LoloLustig.

MrM27 was does that mean?

angelexperiment

wkwebby wrote: »

wamydia wrote: »

I think it's almost impossible to eat a healthy amount of fruit/ veggies per day (assuming a balanced diet) and still stay under the MFP goal. I don't generally track sugar for that reason. If I do look at it, I always subtract the sugar from fruit/veg just to give myself a number for refined sugars. Overall, I've never had much use for it though.

I'm prediabetic and have been about or under my sugar goals for 75% of the time. The only time I will go over is if I eat more than 3 servings of fruit a day, and ones with lower sugar content at that. If you stick to veggies as your sugar source, you won't go over unless it is from something like sweet potato which tends to be higher in natural sugars or a rare sweet treat like dark chocolate. For someone like me, that is a problem, but if you don't have a problem, there is no real need to track your sugars.

angelexperiment

Hi. Just avoid high sugar fruits and vegetables if you must. Eat berries. Avoid peas carrots . You can get a list if you google low carb fruits and veg

moleskined

SideSteel wrote: »

One thing you could do would be to track calories, protein, carbs, fat, and fiber, then from there make sure you come reasonably close to your goals, select about 80% whole and minimally refined foods, and stop tracking sugar entirely.

This. End thread.

GaleHawkins

psulemon from your above post you seemed to not be aware ketosis was being considered as a form of possible treatment for other medical conditions. This recent article on the subject may be of interest to you.

http://www.ascopost.com/issues/march-15,-2014/the-ketogenic-diet-in-cancer-control.aspx

"More recently, research provided preliminary evidence for the ketogenic diet’s therapeutic potential against diverse illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, polycystic ovary disease, and cancer."

psuLemon

GaleHawkins wrote: »

psulemon from your above post you seemed to not be aware ketosis was being considered as a form of possible treatment for other medical conditions. This recent article on the subject may be of interest to you.

http://www.ascopost.com/issues/march-15,-2014/the-ketogenic-diet-in-cancer-control.aspx

"More recently, research provided preliminary evidence for the ketogenic diet’s therapeutic potential against diverse illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, polycystic ovary disease, and cancer."

Most of those illnesses already have ties to low carb diets. I am fully aware of that. Keto is an extreme option as it's also a LCHF diet. But again, the OP does not have a medical condition, so most of your research does not apply. For weight loss, the OP only needs a calorie deficit. But it is recommend that should aim to get about .8g - 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass (with resistance training) it has been proven to be muscle sparring. Fats are generally recommend at .35g per lb of lean body mass to ensure adequate fatty acids intake. And the rest can be carbs (sugar is a carb). So unless the OP has PCOS or another medical problem a moderate approach could work.

Now since the OP is pretty close to her goal weight, I would question why her goal is 1200 calories, but I suspect that is because she might has chosen an aggressive goal. But the good news is she appears to be eating back exercise calories. And ideally, based on the one day, i would probably recommend adding a bit more protein to hit around 100g. But if the OP wants us to look at calories, she can ask.


And FYI, Taubes, Vokey, Lustig, etc.. are all highly biased and their research reflects that. In the fitness and wellness community, they are highly disregarded. Their extreme views and cherry picked research is constantly ripped apart by people with actual educations in the field. I am not saying that some of their research isn't valid, but the extremism automatically makes it invalid in my eyes and many others in the community.

lemurcat12

GaleHawkins wrote: »

psulemon from your above post you seemed to not be aware ketosis was being considered as a form of possible treatment for other medical conditions. This recent article on the subject may be of interest to you.

http://www.ascopost.com/issues/march-15,-2014/the-ketogenic-diet-in-cancer-control.aspx

"More recently, research provided preliminary evidence for the ketogenic diet’s therapeutic potential against diverse illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, polycystic ovary disease, and cancer."

The op did not express any desire to do keto, so I'm not sure why advise related to keto is being offered. She's essentially asking whether it's more healthy to avoid carrots, peaches, etc., and it seems perverse to tell her it is.

Scarecrowsama

helenanj wrote: »

I eat well, trying to stick to the 80/20 rule.

What do you mean with this? that you eat 80% "healthy" and cheat 20%?

helenanj wrote: »

My one problem seems to be the sugar intake. It's usually simple sugars from fruit but still. How do I eat my fruits and veggies without going over my sugar limits?

Sugar should always be eaten alone, prior or post meals, but not 5 minutes, but rather in between meals, and the more sugary fruits, the ones with more fructose content, will give you more trouble than benefit, limit fruit intake and consume it within meals, don't care about veggies.

helenanj wrote: »

Whenever I track my food intake I am usually well under my calorie limit but over my sugars.

Although this kind of websites help to track calories, don't take them as a God's rule.

helenanj wrote: »

What am I doing wrong?
Do you have any ideas for veg/fruit/snack foods low in sugar?

I don't know what you eat but I just wanted to point out that if you skip "healthy whole grains" or beans when you talk about sugars you are making yourself a big trouble.

Unknown

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