Tracking sugar: fructose vs. glucose

beckadaisy

Hey guys,

How closely should I be watching my sugar intake? I rarely eat things with added sugars or anything processed. Check out my diary if you want (just don't judge my "snack" from today... It was a birthday party!!). My main issue with MFP is that it counts the sugars in fruit. Because of my breakfast (smoothie - two bananas, lots of other random fruit, almond milk, chia seeds), I end up having only 20 grams of sugar left for the day. Do you guys think there is a difference, or is all sugar treated the same? I know with whole fruit you are getting the fiber and vitamins rather than just straight teaspoons of sugar cane or syrup... Should I just ignore the sugar category because of my fruit intake?

TL/DR, I wish MFP kept added sugars and natural sugars separate, although that would require re-adding all of the foods into the database AND most foods don't show the difference between the two, so it would basically be impossible anyways. Thoughts?

sijomial

Your digestion breaks down your food intake into its component parts so micro managing your intake and logging to try and differentiate between "this sugar is bad because it's on its own" or "this sugar is good because it comes in a package with fibre and vitamins" seems rather pointless to me.

IMHO better to focus on the quality of your diet as a whole.

Unless you have a medical condition I don't really see the point in recording sugar at all - it's just a sub-set of carbs after all. If it's causing you stress/annoyance or making you avoid fruit then would suggest not tracking it.

ReaderGirl3

I don't track sugar at all-you can go into your settings and remove the sugar tracking option (I only track calories in my food diary). Unless you have a medical condition like diabetes, there's really no reason for you to be tracking it. Keep things simple and just focus on staying within your calorie allotment.

MelaniaTrump

I would pay for MFP to separate added sugars, but the FDA would have to regulate labels first.
I don't track from fruits, veggies, skim milk in my coffee.
I limit to 20 added sugars daily.
I don't plan to do this forever. I'm just learning about some "sugar bomb" foods.
The stir fry sauce I was using was a big awakening. Reading labels really helps.

markrgeary1

Magic stuff these apps (programs) sadly they're pretty stupid. They can't do too much other than add/subtract and some logic functionally.

Since the data(nutrition information) doesn't have sucrose and other sugars segregated the app really can't tell you. Why? Cause it and every app are pretty stupid.

lemurcat12

beckadaisy wrote: »

Hey guys,

How closely should I be watching my sugar intake? I rarely eat things with added sugars or anything processed. Check out my diary if you want (just don't judge my "snack" from today... It was a birthday party!!). My main issue with MFP is that it counts the sugars in fruit. Because of my breakfast (smoothie - two bananas, lots of other random fruit, almond milk, chia seeds), I end up having only 20 grams of sugar left for the day. Do you guys think there is a difference, or is all sugar treated the same? I know with whole fruit you are getting the fiber and vitamins rather than just straight teaspoons of sugar cane or syrup... Should I just ignore the sugar category because of my fruit intake?

TL/DR, I wish MFP kept added sugars and natural sugars separate, although that would require re-adding all of the foods into the database AND most foods don't show the difference between the two, so it would basically be impossible anyways. Thoughts?

Fruit sugar is a mix of fructose and glucose (and sucrose, which itself is a mix). Table sugar is sucrose, which is a mix of fructose and glucose. So they aren't actually different in any meaningful way (there are differences in how your body treats fructose, both positive and negative, but since fructose is in both, eh).

It's impossible currently to track inherent sugars (as in fruit) vs. added sugars, and the reason to do so it NOT because there's a difference between fruit sugar and other sugar, but because typically (not always) you get added sugars in foods that don't have lots of fiber or other nutrients, so it's a quick way to see if you are getting lots of excess calories unrelated to foods with other beneficial things (ironically, many of the calories in these foods are actually from fat -- in a cupcake, for example).

Rather than worrying about tracking exactly, it seems to me it's easy enough to keep an eye on where your sugar is coming from. If mostly fruit and veg and dairy, with some from the occasional sweet (which you expected), I think no biggie. If you realize you are eating more sugary sweets than you'd acknowledged or are getting sugar from unexpected places, that's something to fix.

Ready2Rock206

I changed from tracking sugar to tracking fiber - much more useful for my goals.

lemurcat12

DancingDarl wrote: »

Sugar is in almost every processed food

No it's not. For a couple of really basic examples, dried pasta, canned beans, tofu, all major portions of the processed foods I eat. Many processed foods have sugar, some of which is inherent (as in plain greek yogurt), some of which is in quantities too small to care about (IMO), like smoked salmon. Others (many, protein powder is a common example) have fake sugar, which people may or may not care about (I don't). Others may indeed have excessive amounts of added sugar you would prefer to avoid. Simple way to know this -- read the ingredients and the nutrient label and understand the product.

extra_medium

markrgeary1 wrote: »

Since the data(nutrition information) doesn't have sucrose and other sugars segregated the app really can't tell you. Why? Cause it and every app are pretty stupid.

Also there's not really any point in separating them.

cmriverside

I don't track sugar on page one of the Food Diary because it's a default category on the page two (Printable Version/Web.) I see no reason to double track it, especially since it serves no purpose to me.

I track Potassium and Calcium in addition to the Carbs/Fat/Protein columns on my page one Food Diary. If I want to look at fiber or sugar or sodium, it's always there with one click. May as well get the most out of my nutrition tracking.

lemurcat12

nosajjao wrote: »

beckadaisy wrote: »

How closely should I be watching my sugar intake?

Closely. It matters as much as carb/fat/protein balance. Attempt to have all the sugars come from fruit, because the fiber that comes with it will help your body digest it. If all your sugars come from skittles or cake rather than bananas or apples, it would be bad calories for your body to glean energy from.

I don't limit myself to sugar from fruit. I also have sugars from dairy (plain greek yogurt) and vegetables -- should I be concerned?

More seriously (although that IS true, of course), the WHO and other recommendations are no more than 10% from added sugar, ideally less than 5%, NOT none. And of course added sugar could come with fiber -- what about people who like to add sugar to their oatmeal? Or adding it to rhubarb, which is something I did on Easter (and added some plums too, although then I ate it with gelato, oh dear). But then we had that after a dinner that included lots of fiber, and I don't know why that wouldn't count also -- IMO, makes more sense to think of one's overall food choices.

Oh, and the fiber has nothing to do with ease of digestion. Fiber is good for you, first, and, second, some people have issues with blood sugar/insulin resistance and need to worry about slowing down (not helping) the absorption. It also can help with satiety, but I don't find that something like ice cream leaves me hungry at all (and I don't eat sweet dessert type items when hungry anyway).

I can't imagine that ALL anyone's sugar comes from skittles or cake -- talk about strawmen.

DawnKidd1

I would love to see 2 categories of sugar listed separately, "naturally occurring" sugars in fruits and other whole foods, and then "added-in sugars" that are put in baked goods, putting sugar in one's coffee, sauces, processed foods, etc. There is a difference in how the body processes these types of sugar.

malibu927

DawnKidd1 wrote: »

I would love to see 2 categories of sugar listed separately, "naturally occurring" sugars in fruits and other whole foods, and then "added-in sugars" that are put in baked goods, putting sugar in one's coffee, sauces, processed foods, etc. There is a difference in how the body processes these types of sugar.

Food labels don't distinguish between the two, so MFP can't. Also your body processes them the same.

ndj1979

DawnKidd1 wrote: »

I would love to see 2 categories of sugar listed separately, "naturally occurring" sugars in fruits and other whole foods, and then "added-in sugars" that are put in baked goods, putting sugar in one's coffee, sauces, processed foods, etc. There is a difference in how the body processes these types of sugar.

there is not a difference in how your body processes natural and added sugar.