Cutting Sugar?
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I am skeptical, well very skeptical of Lustig, but I think it more true to say that his ideas have not been proven because of methodological errors in his work.and please - avoid Lustig on you-tube the man has been debunked, over and over again
At this point he is a fad, and fads have a way of disappearing. He is not however at this time debunked.
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arditarose wrote: »Do you have a medical reason to reduce sugar? Otherwise it does not matter for weight loss. I have not tracked sugar in over a year.
Please stop suggesting that a medical reason is the only allowable or valid reason to minimize sugar. People need to discover through trial and error what dietary goals work best for their own body. Don't discourage perfectly valid experimentation.
OP clearly and explicitly said she was struggling reducing her sugars.
IT IS NOT A GOAL THAT WORKS BEST FOR HER.0 -
bright_fit wrote: »Took me years of dieting and mfp to pay attention to how sugar was making me gain weight - not just from the calorie side of things, but from a mental health cravings side of things.
No. Sugar does not make you gain weight. Eating in a caloric surplus makes you gain weight.
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ericGold15 wrote: »
I am skeptical, well very skeptical of Lustig, but I think it more true to say that his ideas have not been proven because of methodological errors in his work.and please - avoid Lustig on you-tube the man has been debunked, over and over again
At this point he is a fad, and fads have a way of disappearing. He is not however at this time debunked.
There is enough of what he has promoted that has been called in to question for me to happily consider him debunked, or at the very least an unreliable source of any information .. which to me is debunked
it might be a simplistic approach but I'm all for simplicity0 -
arditarose wrote: »Do you have a medical reason to reduce sugar? Otherwise it does not matter for weight loss. I have not tracked sugar in over a year.
Please stop suggesting that a medical reason is the only allowable or valid reason to minimize sugar. People need to discover through trial and error what dietary goals work best for their own body. Don't discourage perfectly valid experimentation.
Right, I have no medical reason to reduce sugar yet reducing baked goods and eating at about 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30 % fat makes it much easier for me to stay in a calorie deficit.
That said, @LittleRainbow123, are you talking about 10-15 grams of sugar per day? That seems really low.0 -
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Op- unless you have a medical condition there is no need to fear sugar.
I see a lot of bad info in this thread. Please don't believe the hype. Sugar doesn't cause one to gain weight , a calorie surplus does.
Lustig is a quack and laughable, its almost asinine to talk about because I thought that was clear already to most people .
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kshama2001 wrote: »arditarose wrote: »Do you have a medical reason to reduce sugar? Otherwise it does not matter for weight loss. I have not tracked sugar in over a year.
Please stop suggesting that a medical reason is the only allowable or valid reason to minimize sugar. People need to discover through trial and error what dietary goals work best for their own body. Don't discourage perfectly valid experimentation.
Right, I have no medical reason to reduce sugar yet reducing baked goods and eating at about 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30 % fat makes it much easier for me to stay in a calorie deficit.
That said, @LittleRainbow123, are you talking about 10-15 grams of sugar per day? That seems really low.
I thought perhaps she meant over by 10-15 g.
If someone has a low calorie level they will get a low sugar goal that can be easily exceeded without baked goods (or with only small amounts of them) if you also eat lots of fruit, veg, dairy, etc. Or even not that much if you are at 45 g.
OP seems to assume that exceeding her sugar is unhealthy (she says "not ideal") which is an assumption a lot of people make from the existence of the sugar goal or the unfortunate extremist rhetoric surrounding sugar ("it's a drug!") that seems to cause many new posters to worry even about consuming fruit. Therefore, I think it's important to put it in context. The WHO and other common recommendations are based on added sugar and are because it's easy to exceed calories if you eat lots of added sugar or avoid filling your diet with nutrient-rich foods. If someone eats a good balanced diet and gets enough of other things (like protein) and isn't hungry, sugar isn't a concern, and I personally think it's a really rare person who needs to worry about sugar from fruit (probably Freelee gets too much of it, in that her diet is otherwise unbalanced).
Now, sure, if you are hungry or regularly exceeding calories and see you are eating lots of low nutrient sweet treats, cutting those down some is a no-brainer, but since people usually get that I think it's rare that that's what they are referring to when they ask about how to cut sugar unless they indicate that they are having trouble with cravings or such.0 -
LittleRainbow123 wrote: »I seem to be struggling with cutting my sugar intake appropriately. I tend to be very close to on par or slightly above (with 10-15 grams) which of course, isn't ideal. Does anyone have any feasible, reasonable tricks for cutting it a bit? I've been trying to eat more fruit but that hasn't exactly been helping the sugar
LittleRainbow123, I snooped your profile and you mentioned that you are trying to lose some weight but you are also concerned about T2D. Are you currently dealing with insulin resistance that impacts your sugar/carb goal for the day, or are you just looking for ideas to help cut back on sugar-heavy foods you tend to overeat/which lead to overeating through cravings (or some combination of the two)?0 -
LittleRainbow123 wrote: »I seem to be struggling with cutting my sugar intake appropriately. I tend to be very close to on par or slightly above (with 10-15 grams) which of course, isn't ideal. Does anyone have any feasible, reasonable tricks for cutting it a bit? I've been trying to eat more fruit but that hasn't exactly been helping the sugar
My trick is that I stopped tracking sugar, so I didn't have to worry about it. I used the default MFP settings, and focused on making sure I hit the protein macro that it set as my goal. I reached goal weight just over 6 months later, and have been in maintenance for 9 months this way.0 -
I also watch my sugars. Except it is December so 11months out of the year I watch sugars. Lol. I was prediabetic 6/7 years ago which is what got me started on this journey. I was told to cut any sugar that was not in a food naturally. I am lot nearly that stringent anymore, but that is typically my goal. Fruit, veg, dairy and grains all have sugar. But if it is naturally occurring I don't worry about it anymore.0
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LittleRainbow123 wrote: »I seem to be struggling with cutting my sugar intake appropriately. I tend to be very close to on par or slightly above (with 10-15 grams) which of course, isn't ideal. Does anyone have any feasible, reasonable tricks for cutting it a bit? I've been trying to eat more fruit but that hasn't exactly been helping the sugar
If you opened your diary you might get specific advice on where you could make changes.
Where is your sugar coming from? Look at your diary and see where a lot of your sugar is coming from (things like drinks, baked goods, fruits or vegetables). Then you can see where YOU might need to make changes.
If you have a medical condition where it is important to limit your sugar intake maybe it would be worth it to consult your doctor and a dietitian with your food diary in hand.
http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/what-can-i-eat/making-healthy-food-choices/
I don't worry about my sugar intake but the majority of the time I am below MFP recommendation.
I've found that if I hit my protein goal and fiber, fat that everything else falls in line pretty well. Fill up on more protein foods and higher fiber foods like vegetables that tend to be lower in sugar.
I mostly drink water or unsweetened tea.
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LittleRainbow123 wrote: »I seem to be struggling with cutting my sugar intake appropriately. I tend to be very close to on par or slightly above (with 10-15 grams) which of course, isn't ideal. Does anyone have any feasible, reasonable tricks for cutting it a bit? I've been trying to eat more fruit but that hasn't exactly been helping the sugar
Yes I do. I found many places sugar sneaks in. Ketchup and salad dressing were the first places I cut. Look at all the names added sugars go by and read the list of ingredients to see if that foods had sugars added. I found many nearly identical foods have a big difference in the amount of added sugars.0 -
Honestly - sugar debating aside - if you're only over 10 to 15 grams per day, it's not enough to be alarmed about. As ninerbuff pointed out early on, that's only the equivalent of about 40-60 calories worth, so if you're not making weight loss goals, that is hardly likely to be the culprit.0
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LittleRainbow123 wrote: »I seem to be struggling with cutting my sugar intake appropriately. I tend to be very close to on par or slightly above (with 10-15 grams) which of course, isn't ideal. Does anyone have any feasible, reasonable tricks for cutting it a bit? I've been trying to eat more fruit but that hasn't exactly been helping the sugar
I too generally eat a very low sugar diet, usually well under 10g per day, and I have found it to help my health and aid in weight loss. I eat a very low carb high fat diet, so sugar intake tends to be low when limiting carbs.
To reduce sugars I avoid all foods with added sugars, except perhaps when a pepperoni has some added sugar. I will not eat what I consider to be sugary junk foods like candy (jelly beans, candy bars, etc) or pop; I avoid diet soda too because I don't need it, and I worry about the sweetness setting off cravings for me. I do not use table sugar, honey, syrup, agave or any other sugary sweeteners. When I want something sweeter I use stevia drops or use coconut. I tend to avoid most fruits except for some berries or a small mandarin orange. I've never been a fruit lover so this is not hard for me.
I also avoid starchy foods that almost immediately start being converted to glucose the moment you eat it. I am eating a ketogenic diet, and keeping my blood glucose low due to prediabetes, so starchy foods (baked goods, potatoes, rice, noodles, etc) don't fit my diet or medical needs very well.
I do eat a lot of healthy fats from cream, cheese, avocados, nuts, coconut, olives, and from animals. Most of my meals are centered around a meat or cheese or nuts. I eat veggies too, but not to the extent that those with a higher carbohydrate macro might eat, although I would guess that I'm not far behind most people.
So my tips? Eat whole foods that are processed as minimally as possible (Veggies, nuts, meats, cheese and cream). Don't eat foods with added sugars. Fruits from tropical regions (bananas, mangos, figs, and even grapes) tend to be higher in sugars than other fruits so you may want to minimize them. Fruits that pass as veggies are the lowest in sugar (cucumbers, tomatoes), and berries have a low sugar content. Apples, nectarines, oranges, and other more temperate fruits have a sugar content that isn't too high.
Basically, if it has a label read it because chances are sugar was added, and don't eat more than a couple of servings of low GI fruit per day. That will help keep sugar low.
You could always check the Low Carber Daily group for ideas. Because we are low carb, our diet is naturally low in sugar. It could give you some ideas. Good luck.
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juggernaut1974 wrote: »Honestly - sugar debating aside - if you're only over 10 to 15 grams per day, it's not enough to be alarmed about. As ninerbuff pointed out early on, that's only the equivalent of about 40-60 calories worth, so if you're not making weight loss goals, that is hardly likely to be the culprit.
Just wanted to +1 this so it doesn't get lost!
OP, I found that slightly increasing the protein in my diet helped me to feel full on less calories. And when I got good at structuring my eating that way (it took time and practice!) it naturally reduced the amount of sugar I was consuming because I was getting most of the "added" sugar from snacks and treats I ate when I was hungry, and I wasn't hungry anymore. So if you have a medical/health reason to reduce your sugar, that might help.
If you don't have a medical reason, don't sweat that little bit extra. As you get better and better at logging your food and planning ahead, it will be easier to get your numbers where you want them to be across the board. Just keep logging honestly and tweaking as you go. good luck!0 -
arditarose wrote: »Do you have a medical reason to reduce sugar? Otherwise it does not matter for weight loss. I have not tracked sugar in over a year.
Please stop suggesting that a medical reason is the only allowable or valid reason to minimize sugar. People need to discover through trial and error what dietary goals work best for their own body. Don't discourage perfectly valid experimentation.
she said "it does not matter" and it doesn't
whether it suits you is something different
people come to this site having believed the current hype and the current media hype is noooooo sugarrrrr baddddd
please stop suggesting that others have some kind of pro-sugar agenda because you have an anti-sugar one
I love sugar. I eat sugar every day. Small quantities. It is a valid to limit sugar. OP has personal goals and is not the 'anti sugar' cliche you are fighting.0 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »
It is worth remembering that refined white sugar is all calories and no nutrients, sugar in natural packages is accompanied by nutrients and other good substances in addition to calories. Calories packed with nice nutrients are the better choice.0 -
stevencloser wrote: »arditarose wrote: »Do you have a medical reason to reduce sugar? Otherwise it does not matter for weight loss. I have not tracked sugar in over a year.
Please stop suggesting that a medical reason is the only allowable or valid reason to minimize sugar. People need to discover through trial and error what dietary goals work best for their own body. Don't discourage perfectly valid experimentation.
OP clearly and explicitly said she was struggling reducing her sugars.
IT IS NOT A GOAL THAT WORKS BEST FOR HER.
Whoa, what if she was struggling at other goals, should goals be eliminated if they are a struggle?0 -
bright_fit wrote: »Keeping your sugar in check is super important!! When you eat starchy or sugary foods your blood sugar spikes and then drops quickly and your body wants to raise the blood sugar again hence the cravings. The less sugar you eat the less hungry you'll feel!
Took me years of dieting and mfp to pay attention to how sugar was making me gain weight - not just from the calorie side of things, but from a mental health cravings side of things. Of course I have been addicted to sugar (yes it is a DRUG) since I was a kid - family food was very sugary, packaged. Its a hard battle, really hard to control but the less sugar you invite in the less you'll crave food period.
If you're struggling with cravings read the labels and have a no sugar day or week and tell me you don't feel better!
This might be true for you, but it's certainly not true for everyone. I can eat sugar and not feel a bit hungry for hours on end. By the same token, I can have a well rounded meal and feel hungry a few hours later.
Sugar does not cause weight gain, too much food in general does that.
Sugar is not a drug, though I understand many people feel a compulsion toward eating a lot of sugary foods. By the way, sugar is sugar no matter whether it comes from fruit or baked goods.
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