What's a 'normal' amount of sugar in a snack?

mattkdawson

I know there's probably a complex answer to this, but what do you guys look for as far as grams of sugar in snacks.

Example: I really like clif bars and eat one almost every day. They have about 21g of sugar in them. I have no idea if that's good or bad or average.

Just trying to educate myself a little bit on what a healthy choice is

tillerstouch

Everything is relative so you can't really answer that. I mean a cup of pineapple has like 16g, a cup of icecream, on the other hand, has 34g (depending on brand flavor etc). So compared to pineapple (a very sweet fruit it's pretty high) compared to icecream it's low.

For most people sugar isn't something you need to worry about that much for weight loss, within reason. That being said if you're trying to watch your sugar intake if you love cliff bars eat them.

For me I try to watch how much added sugar I take in (this means suagr I get from sources other then fruit). I wouldn't eat any bar that has that much sugar in it. I'd rather have my quest bar with almost no sugar in it and enjoy getting my sugar from another place.

mattkdawson

tillerstouch wrote: »

Everything is relative so you can't really answer that. I mean a cup of pineapple has like 16g, a cup of icecream, on the other hand, has 34g (depending on brand flavor etc). So compared to pineapple (a very sweet fruit it's pretty high) compared to icecream it's low.

For most people sugar isn't something you need to worry about that much for weight loss, within reason. That being said if you're trying to watch your sugar intake if you love cliff bars eat them.

For me I try to watch how much added sugar I take in (this means suagr I get from sources other then fruit). I wouldn't eat any bar that has that much sugar in it. I'd rather have my quest bar with almost no sugar in it and enjoy getting my sugar from another place.

that's good advice. yes i'm particularly trying to watch my sugar intake. I don't add sugar to anything (like coffee, etc) but am fine with eating fruits.

but, do you think 21g is high for a granola bar? I know quest bars have way less, but those things are expensive

stealthq

It's going to depend on why you're watching sugars - just want to cut back? Then eat lower sugar items the rest of the day and you should be fine. For a medical reason? That'll need more info to determine.

tillerstouch

Personally I think 21g is high the bars I used before quest had 12. That being said it's like @stealthq said, if you're just trying to cut back then keep eating your cliff bars and eat lower suagr foods the rest of the day.

peaceout_aly

mattkdawson wrote: »

I know there's probably a complex answer to this, but what do you guys look for as far as grams of sugar in snacks.

Example: I really like clif bars and eat one almost every day. They have about 21g of sugar in them. I have no idea if that's good or bad or average.

Just trying to educate myself a little bit on what a healthy choice is

My trainer suggested a normal amount of daily sugar intake to be between 25-40 grams.

holdenmonty

I was kind of wondering this as well because I had a muffin for breakfast which had 15 grams of sugar in it and with eating a bunch of baby carrot sticks, celery, and sweet peas for a morning snack it pushed me past the recommended sugar intake but it seems like since it's sugar from vegetables wouldn't that mean its more of a healthy sugar then a processed sugar. It seems like it all comes down to food science.

mbcieslak87

I wouldn't look at a single item as an issue but at your daily total. Cliff bars are yummy, but if you're comparing them to quest bars, well quest bars are more expensive for a reason - they are typically less calories, and less sugar and more protein and fiber. If those are non-issues for you and you love your daily cliff bar, then go for it! 21 grams is not over your daily total... just keep an eye on that.

stealthq

holdenmonty wrote: »

I was kind of wondering this as well because I had a muffin for breakfast which had 15 grams of sugar in it and with eating a bunch of baby carrot sticks, celery, and sweet peas for a morning snack it pushed me past the recommended sugar intake but it seems like since it's sugar from vegetables wouldn't that mean its more of a healthy sugar then a processed sugar. It seems like it all comes down to food science.

No, sugar in vegetables is not more healthy than processed sugar. However, the vegetables probably fit better in a balanced diet than the muffin.

Just keep in mind that the recommended intake is for added sugar only and the recommendation is for the calories from added sugar to be < 10% of your total calories. Therefore, the muffin did not put you above the recommendation unless 15g * 4 cals is more than 10% of your total calories.

Still, keep in mind that the recommendation is basically a tool to get people to cut back on snack-y and dessert-y type foods that would normally have sugar added and to pass on items with sugar added unnecessarily. It does not mean that chewing on a piece of sugar cane is any better or worse than eating a marshmallow.

steph2strong

So in a lot of the fitness magazine's I read when they do articles on good and bad supplement bars the criteria they usually look at is how natural the ingredients are, fibre content, and sugar content. They consider Cliff bars to essentially be the equivalent or worse than chocolate bars.

Here is the ingredient list of a snicker's bar: Sugar, Roasted Peanuts, Glucose Syrup (Sources include Wheat), Milk Solids, Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter, Vegetable Fat, Salt, Emulsifier (Soy Lecithin), Egg White, Natural Flavour (Vanilla Extract). Calories for 36 gm bar 177, fat 8.8, carbs 20.5, sugar 17.9, fibre 1.3, protein 3.1.

Here is the ingredient list of a Cliff bar: Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Clifpro (Soy Rice Crisps [Soy Protein Isolate, Rice Lfour, Malt Extract], Organic Roasted Soybeans, Organic Soy Flour), Organic Rolled Oats, Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Peanut Butter (Organic Peanuts, Aslt), Peanut Flour, Peanuts, Clif Crunch (Apple Fiber, Organic Oat Fiber, Organic Milled Flaxseed, Inulin [Chicory Extract], Psyllium), Organic Date Paste, Natural Flavors, Sea Salt. Calories for a 68 gm bar 250, fat 6, carbs 42, sugar 20, fibre 5, protein 11 gm.

Both have sugar as the first ingredient, never a good sign in a healthy snack (brown rice syrup and evaporated cane juice are just forms of sugar, no better no worse, but it sounds healthier on a label right). The fact that the ingredients in the cliff bar are mostly organic really means nothing nutritionally in a processed bar.

So you be the judge. If it's worth it to you than eat it, but it's a treat.

I personally like SimplyWhey Bars for a snack, high fibre, high protein, low sugar, very few ingredients, all natural.

kshama2001

mattkdawson wrote: »

tillerstouch wrote: »

Everything is relative so you can't really answer that. I mean a cup of pineapple has like 16g, a cup of icecream, on the other hand, has 34g (depending on brand flavor etc). So compared to pineapple (a very sweet fruit it's pretty high) compared to icecream it's low.

For most people sugar isn't something you need to worry about that much for weight loss, within reason. That being said if you're trying to watch your sugar intake if you love cliff bars eat them.

For me I try to watch how much added sugar I take in (this means suagr I get from sources other then fruit). I wouldn't eat any bar that has that much sugar in it. I'd rather have my quest bar with almost no sugar in it and enjoy getting my sugar from another place.

that's good advice. yes i'm particularly trying to watch my sugar intake. I don't add sugar to anything (like coffee, etc) but am fine with eating fruits.

but, do you think 21g is high for a granola bar? I know quest bars have way less, but those things are expensive

I don't look at sugar alone - I also look at this in relationship to protein and fat. (I actually don't look at sugar at all, but look at carbs.) If my snack had 21 g of carbs, I'd look for it to have at least 10 g of protein, and preferably more. I like to shoot for around 40%, 30%, 30% C, F, P.

However, I do take higher carb snacks with me while on long walks, and have higher carb pre-bed snacks.