Sugar goal question

Mersie1

MFP has my sugar goal set at 45 grams. That seems insanely low. I've been sticking to rely clean foods and watching my fruit intake. Any thoughts, suggestions.

RodaRose

Ignore. Change your goals to follow fiber.
BTW, your body does not care if the food is clean or not.
Eat foods that help you stay at your calories for the day. For example, I eat very little fruit, preferring to get my calories from zucchini and cauliflower and things like nuts.

malibu927

Unless you have a medical reason to watch your sugar intake, don't worry about it. I don't even track it.

Mersie1

Ok! Thanks!!! By clean I just meant I've not been eating things like candy or other foods that have lots of sugar added. Thankfully no medical issues so I will happily ignore this one and not worry about it!

lemurcat12

It's 15% of calories, but if you eat lots of fruit it might be too low. Someone eating 1200, I think is better off tracking just carbs and fiber.

Mersie1

Do you think carbs and fiber should be tracked more diligently than protein??? I'm trying hard to not just make this about calories. I want to not get too obsessed w any aspect, but be consistent w nourishing myself. I'm in recovery from an eating disorder, and well aware of how vigilant I need to be to not relapse. I appreciate all suggestions!

Ready2Rock206

Track fiber instead. More useful for me anyway.

yarwell

You want to get a minimum of protein and fat in your diet. Once that's done you can choose what to use the rest of the cals on. Open diaries help, 3 portions of fruit a day easily fit inside the 45 gram sugar floor here.

lemurcat12

No--it just depends on your goals and what you decide would be helpful to pay more attention to. I mentioned carbs and fiber because the sugar goal is basically a guideline to help people eat a balanced diet and tracking carbs/fat/protein + fiber does that. Sugar is within carbs, and if you have enough fiber it's unlikely a disproportionate amount of the carbs are from low-nutrient foods (vs. fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains, all of which have fiber).

I think it makes sense to use the other things you track as guidelines vs. worrying too much about the specific numbers or staying above and below them. I also like to track stuff like protein and fiber (or take note of how many vegetables I am eating), as there the goal is to eat more vs. not eat--it makes it about a positive improvement.

DaddieCat

For me, my main tracks are protein, fat and sodium... carbs fall where they may and the only reason I track sodium is a)I tend to go overboard as sodium makes food tasty and b) family history of heart issues.

Everything else is good to know, but I've got no reason to track it as neither I nor my doctor deems it important.

TeaBea

malibu927 wrote: »

Unless you have a medical reason to watch your sugar intake, don't worry about it. I don't even track it.

This^

I changed it, so I track fiber instead

Mersie1

Thanks for all the info! Makes sense. I've been hitting my protein goal and fiber is never a problem. I tend to go way over on fruits and veggies. The one I've been under on is fat. I think I need to bump that up via nuts, avocado, olive oil etc. Just trying to be smart, but not obsessive!!

dmkoenig

I went to a nutritionist last year and the first thing she did was cut back my fruit intake. Hormones especially insulin plays a big role in the way your body metabolizes fat. Calories are only one piece of the puzzle, albeit an important one. Understanding how certain foods can impact hormonal levels and weight management is another factor that should not be ignored.

RodaRose

Here is a guide to fat from U PENN:
http://www.pennmedicine.org/health_info/nutrition/how_much.html

Mersie1

Thanks so much!!! That makes sense although the numbers in the chart really surprised me. Much higher than I thought.