Fruit and Milk - sugar content

awasson7
awasson7 Posts: 8 Member
in Food and Nutrition
If I eat more than one fruit or drink more than one milk I go over my sugar allowance - any thoughts? I try to stay away from soda, processed foods and other sugars, except when we have company or go out, which is not very often. I make almost everything from scratch - even grind my own wheat. I do allow myself one treat a day on normal days - my way of avoiding burn out. I am a stay at home, home school mom so a strict diet is very difficult. I am not too concerned with losing quickly, but have not had too much success so far. I have noticed on days that I do lose are days that I have gone over my calories by 100 or more - usually 200 or more. Any suggestions why that would be. I set my calories based on Scoobyworkshop.com. I try to ride my eliptical bike 2-3 times a week for 30 minutes each time and I work out in the yard once a week right now.

Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    If you don't have a medical reason to watch your sugar intake, don't worry about it. I don't even track it.
  • ahamm002
    ahamm002 Posts: 1,690 Member
    It's "added sugar" that you need to worry about, not total sugar (unless you're a diabetic). My suggestion would be to stop tracking sugar if the number is bothering you. It's much more important for you to worry about protein, fiber, adequate servings of fruits/veggies, and total calories.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    ahamm002 wrote: »
    It's "added sugar" that you need to worry about, not total sugar (unless you're a diabetic). My suggestion would be to stop tracking sugar if the number is bothering you. It's much more important for you to worry about protein, fiber, adequate servings of fruits/veggies, and total calories.

    Pending you don't have a medical condition, even added sugar isn't something you need to worry about.
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  • sympha01
    sympha01 Posts: 942 Member
    Also, if you are using MFP's defaults for nutritional goals be aware that MFP still sets sugar rather lower (at 16% of total calories) than the standard recommendations (Lucky us: last year the default was an absurdly low 8%!). If you don't have a medical reason to control sugar that intensely, you can just change the goal. 25% is perfectly reasonable, IMO.

    I eat dairy at least 2X a day and fruit 1-2X every day, but I don't each much processed food. And yet I seem to come in around MFP's 16% goal pretty consistently these days, so I think that goal might be a bit aspirational for a lot of people who can't cook and have to eat more convenience food than I do.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited November 2014
    awasson7 wrote: »
    If I eat more than one fruit or drink more than one milk I go over my sugar allowance - any thoughts?

    Track fiber instead? Seriously, if you know your sugar comes from dairy, fruit, and veggies, I see no reason to track it, barring a health issue. Although MFP includes all sugars, the usual recommendation re sugar limits is based on "added" sugar, and is due to concerns that eating lots of calories from added sugar will either result in a less nutrient dense diet or lots of extra calories, neither of which is a concern for you. The grams of sugar you eat won't have any effect on weight loss.
    I have noticed on days that I do lose are days that I have gone over my calories by 100 or more - usually 200 or more. Any suggestions why that would be.

    Probably just coincidence. What you ate the day before doesn't necessarily affect the weight the next day and there are all sorts of other things, like water retention (TOM, exercise, sodium all play a role in this) and whether or not you've finished digesting/gone to the bathroom, etc. that will affect daily fluctuations. I weigh daily just to get used to the fluctuations, but I'd focus more on weekly trends.

    How long have you been trying to lose using MFP and what do you mean by not much success so far? Sometimes people have unrealistic expectations, although I'm not at all assuming you do.
  • sympha01
    sympha01 Posts: 942 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    awasson7 wrote: »
    If I eat more than one fruit or drink more than one milk I go over my sugar allowance - any thoughts?

    Track fiber instead?

    This is actually great advice. If your fiber grams as a % of total carb grams is a nice high ratio (I think of 10% as a sort of minimum, and anything up to 25% is good if your system can handle it w/o distress!), you're doing it right, i.e., your carbs are primarily coming from healthy sources.
  • awasson7
    awasson7 Posts: 8 Member
    I weigh daily and only record when I lose. My weight does seem to fluctuate quite a bit during the week, so I am thinking about going back to a once a week weigh in. I don't think sodium is a problem - I am usually way under. Thanks for all the advice - I just have not been able to justify eliminating fruits and dairy from my diet as so many do because of the sugar content. I think my fiber intake is usually at or above 25% - no worries about overdoing causing distress here ;)
  • tiptoethruthetulips
    tiptoethruthetulips Posts: 3,371 Member
    If you are counting sugar grams..do not need to include milk sugars (lactose) into the total...
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    awasson7 wrote: »
    I just have not been able to justify eliminating fruits and dairy from my diet as so many do because of the sugar content.

    Yes, I think that would be silly. I eat lots more fruit in the summer (dairy all year 'round) and found that I was above my sugar limit frequently then whereas I never was in the winter. I did not lose any worse in the summer. Apart from that personal experience, I can't think of any scientific reason to eliminate or even reduce those foods if you are within your calories and eating a healthy diet overall (which those foods are of course part of).

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