Thoughts on natural sugar?

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futurehealthfreak
futurehealthfreak Posts: 13 Member
in Food and Nutrition
What do you think is a healthy intake of sugar coming from whole, natural sources? Not talking about that added sugar crap, but fruit, natural plan yogurt, natural raisins/dates, sweet potatoes, etc. I do my best to buy whole foods or foods consisting of mostly whole ingredients but I'm often times over on my suggested sugar intake. I don't usually eat fruit often anyway, or things too high in sugar, it just accumulates easily I guess. I read somewhere that MFP's sugar intake is meant for added/processed sugars only. If that's true, what's the AI for natural sugars then?

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  • gfroniewski
    gfroniewski Posts: 168
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    MFP's sugar and sodium are pretty low by default. If you are eating natural sugars you are fine, and I wouldn't stress about it. The sugar that gets you is all the processed junk and sweets you get with unhealthy food you should be avoiding for weight loss anyway. I don't have an exact, "recommended" amount for natural sugars, but I would venture to say that you would be hard pressed to eat too much sugar from fruit.
  • Pearsquared
    Pearsquared Posts: 1,656 Member
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    If you don't have blood sugar problems, just count your natural sugars as part of you carbs (MFP already adds it in, but also provides a separate category for sugar). There's no real reason to track them closely otherwise.
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
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    Over on sugar copypasta

    Sugar is just a carb. As long as you're eating enough fats and protein, your carbs/sugar aren't particularly important unless you have a medical issue that requires carbs/sugar to be monitored.

    However, it should be noted that fructose and sucrose can only be stored as liver glycogen and not muscle glycogen. The liver can hold 100-120g glycogen so anything more than that will be converted to triglycerides. As long as you still have a calorie deficit this will even out. Just try to make most of your carbs glucose and not sucrose or fructose. Fructose in particular has been shown to decrease exercise performance, increased likelihood of gastrointestinal distress, and increase perception of exertion.

    Here are some studies:
    http://www.setantacollege.com/wp-content/uploads/Journal_db/the effects of glucose....pdf

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3592616


    As long as you're under your calorie goal, you'll lose weight. Some people find that sugar (even from fruit) causes them to have more sugar/carb cravings so keep that in mind.

    For information on setting your macro target, read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/911011-calculating-calorie-macronutrient-needs?page=1#posts-13821336
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
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    The American Heart Association's guidelines are limited to "added sugars." This is basically table sugar, honey, HFCS and other syrups. There is absolutely no reason to worry about the sugars in milk, fruit, etc.

    To be honest, I don't worry about sugar at all. I have a calorie limit that I follow the majority of the time. I hit my protein and fat needs and that only leaves a modest about for carbs. Because I need fiber and micronutrients, the majority of those carbs need to come from vegetables, fruits and fiber rich grains. Hence, when I do have ice cream or a donut, I don't care. It fits my macros. There is also the fact that if you are healthy (i.e. not diabetic) then sugar is simply a carb and you don't need to worry yourself with it. Sugar isn't special and it isn't going to kill you.

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