Sugar. I consume too much sugar. Help!

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  • LilacLion
    LilacLion Posts: 579 Member
    edited December 2016
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    It's really difficult to know what a person needs or doesn't--that goes for a person sitting across from you or a stranger that's a thousand miles away. I think the best advice is as follows for everyone: Take what you need and leave the rest.

    If what someone is saying inspires an emotional reaction (like fear, anger etc), It might be something to investigate.

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited December 2016
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    WinoGelato wrote: »
    Oh dear. The demonization has begun.

    Look I don't think OP needs this thread to turn into a debate about whether or not sugar is toxic or addictive, and whether Big Processed Food is manipulating us all.

    This OP mentioned knowing she needs to eat more "real food". I truly think the most helpful advice for her is to provide recommendations about how to build a sensible diet around primarily nutrient dense foods and leave the fearmongering out. Once she starts eating more "real food" then she can determine if there is a place in her diet for added sugar or not.

    Yes, this.

    It doesn't sound like OP has tried eating a balanced healthful diet that meets her nutrition needs, so figuring out how to do that is a good start. If that seems like a huge change, why make it harder?
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    OP, for advice on that, do you ever eat regular meals? Nutrition isn't complicated, it's pretty much how most of us understood how to eat as a kid -- main course, sides, make sure you eat your veg.

    How I recommend building a diet is:

    (1) Decide how many calories and meals you want. I'll base this on three because it's what I like, but it doesn't matter. Figure out how you want to divide your day, roughly -- I split mine into 3 equal meals and usually have some calories left over which I use after dinner.

    (2) Pick a meal to get down first. Breakfast can be easiest and I find it easy to have a standard breakfast or two (or three or four, but start simply). If you are eating a donut or some such for breakfast, think about what you might like that would be less sugar-based. I like a main source of protein or two (usually eggs and dairy, but it depends), and then some vegetables (I like vegetables at all meals), but many will enjoy fruit at breakfast or yogurt or bread -- really, it's about what will be filling and sustainable for you and your lifestyle.

    (3) Then move on to another meal.

    (4) For planning dinner (and lunch), I think of it as (a) get a protein source, (b) get my vegetables, and (c) everything else is personal preference or an extra, but I normally have some sort of starch (like potato, pasta) or else fruit. I have other goals, but that's probably enough. If cooking or planning is an issue, that might be something to ask for more help on. I also always make sure my food is tasty.

    That's probably plenty for now, but here's a good nutrition site if you are interested: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/

    As for sugar, like I said, I usually have some extra calories and use them (usually) after dinner. Sometimes it's something not sweet, like cheese, but often it's some fruit or some ice cream.
  • kuftae
    kuftae Posts: 299 Member
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    I know that if I ate a cupcake or sweet then I would just crave more and more. It's kind of a hunger, but better described as a craving for mouth pleasure instead of real hunger.

    If you are trying to lose then it is hard to sustain a deficit while eating lots of sugar. I could do it for a month, 2 months... but it would be mentally taxing on me and I would not be as effective in my work, personal life or workouts. BUT, I'm probably on one extreme of the spectrum. Some people can manage having some sugar.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,986 Member
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    lovetolose20 wrote: »
    I know that I eat too many sweets. I love sweets, but I know it can't be good for me to eat as much as I do. Can you please give me some advice as to why too much sugar is a bad thing. I don't get many fruits/veggies or even real food into my diet, it's mostly filled with cookies, chocolate, breads, it's not good.
    Advice please

    I love baking, and eating baked goods, but have found it's easier to maintain a calorie deficit when I satisfy my sweet tooth with fruit, which is lower calorie. I also now focus on protein, which I find more filling than carbs.

    I used to snack all the time - turned out I just needed to find what foods satiate me and focus on them instead, and no more snacking.

    If someone said they would pay you $10,000 to eat more fruits and veggies, what would your plan to accomplish this look like?
  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
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    LilacLion wrote: »
    It's really difficult to know what a person needs or doesn't--that goes for a person sitting across from you or a stranger that's a thousand miles away. I think the best advice is as follows for everyone: Take what you need and leave the rest.

    If what someone is saying inspires an emotional reaction (like fear, anger etc), It might be something to investigate.

    Your previous post made me laugh, thank you for that :D

  • GloworminWA
    GloworminWA Posts: 704 Member
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    Don't bring it home! What you don't have in the house can't tempt you. I started out no sugar, no white anything and lost a lot of weight. Slowly I let things back into my diet. For me planning my meals in advance is key. I don't have to think about food all the time because I've already made those decisions about what I'm going to eat. If something comes up that doesn't make it possible to stick with my plan for the day then I just readjust the plan. I've lost 90 lbs by doing this. I've also learned to portion bags of things when I get them or buy foods that are already portion like ice cream bars instead of a half gallon. This helps me stay in control. You took a great first step - asking for help!
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    crzycatlady1 wrote: »
    LilacLion wrote: »
    It's really difficult to know what a person needs or doesn't--that goes for a person sitting across from you or a stranger that's a thousand miles away. I think the best advice is as follows for everyone: Take what you need and leave the rest.

    If what someone is saying inspires an emotional reaction (like fear, anger etc), It might be something to investigate.

    Your previous post made me laugh, thank you for that :D

    I know, I wasn't sure who that was directed at or what it was in reference to...
  • birdtobe
    birdtobe Posts: 105 Member
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    I also consumed too much sugar--in soda, pastries, cakes, cookies, coffee drinks. I honestly think I was addicted. I had to cut it out entirely for awhile to understand how much it ruled my cravings and my life. I stopped eating it about 6 weeks ago and have lost 15 pounds and feel great. I know that many people here are able to consume sugar in moderation and have great success, but, for me, sugar wasn't something I was able to do in moderation. During the holidays, I allowed myself a couple of really sugary treats and definitely felt it for the rest of the day. I just wanted to more as soon as the sugar high subsided. I know cutting it out entirely sounds extreme, but it has worked well for many. Something to consider....
  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
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    lovetolose20 wrote: »
    I know that I eat too many sweets. I love sweets, but I know it can't be good for me to eat as much as I do. Can you please give me some advice as to why too much sugar is a bad thing. I don't get many fruits/veggies or even real food into my diet, it's mostly filled with cookies, chocolate, breads, it's not good.
    Advice please

    You seem to have assessed your situation clearly. My advice would be to figure out why you don't get much "real food", and do something to change that. It looks like you're mainly living on snacks now, so you need to start planning "normal" daily meals instead.

    Use the MFP food and activity chart so you can see the numbers for what you're doing each day. Then make adjustments regarding any foods which may be contributing unusually high numbers to your calories.
  • Sloth2016
    Sloth2016 Posts: 846 Member
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    ILiftHeavyAcrylics wrote: »
    Personally I believe in more of an "opt in" rather than "opt out" approach to diet. So instead of thinking about how much sugar you can't have, think about how many servings of veggies/fruit you should have, how much protein, how much fat, etc. Once you have all of those nutritional requirements met, whatever's left is okay to use for sweets. It's really 6 of one, half a dozen of the other I guess, but it helps me to think about what I'm including instead of what I'm excluding.

    It's the same as planning a budget. You start with the amount of money you have, and then you deduct the bills you have to pay first. Mortgage, car payment, student loans (groan), etc. Whatever's left is okay to use to go to the movies.

    ^^^ Awesome advice is awesome!
  • starryphoenix
    starryphoenix Posts: 381 Member
    edited December 2016
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    Sugar saps nutrients from the body. You need SOME sugar of course. Naturally occurring sugars are the best like in fruit. I personally feel awful the morning after consuming too much sugar. Usually it is refined processed sugar that makes me feel like that.

    I have done 2 sugar detoxes in my lifetime and both times when I broke it and consumed sugar I felt drained and sick the next day. Stuff like that makes you think.
  • Docbanana2002
    Docbanana2002 Posts: 357 Member
    edited December 2016
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    Sugar isn't inherently bad or harmful, but it is high in calories and doesn't have much nutritional value. Other than a lot of carbohydrate, that is, and unless you are a marathon runner closing in on mile 20, you are not likely to have any ill effects from not having enough carbs. :) However, a lot of people DO suffer ill effects from deficiency of the things that sugar might be crowding out of their diet due to their filling up on cookies but not their veggies. I mention the part about marathon runners partly as a joke, but as a distance runner myself there seriously are runs when I take in a steady diet of sugar because I need a quick source of fuel that is light to carry and quickly eaten/digested. I'm out there for a long run burning a ton more calories than I am ingesting, then going home to eat a nutritious meal, so I'm not too worried about any ill effects from sports gels. There are also people trying to gain weight for various reasons (not me....never me....) who might be able to help themselves pack in some extra calories for their gain by adding sweet treats into their diet IN ADDITION to eating food that meets their macro/micronutrient needs.

    But in everyday life for people who struggle with either weight gain or nutritional deficiencies, it is really easy to take in a ton of calories worth of fuel we don't need, fuel that gets stored as fat on our body, when we ingest a lot of sugar. The biggest problem isn't with the sugar you might find naturally in an apple, but with with extra sugar that is added to things like cookies. The sugar in apples and cookies is the same substance when it hits your bloodstream, but the big difference between the two is that the sugar in the apple is contained in a nutritious package....the apple has fiber to fill you up, plus a ton of vitamins, and so most people aren't going to eat so many apples on a consistent basis that they gain weight from it. A piece of cake, however, is a more concentrated source of sugar, not likely to be filling, not typically containing any nutrition that you need, so people tend to overeat the cake and are with left ingesting lots of calories but not much else.

    I don't see a problem with having a sweet treat as part of an overall healthy diet that fits with a calorie budget and meets nutritional needs, the issue is when the sugar crowds out nutrition or adds calories that are stored as unwanted fat gain.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    starryphoenix wrote: »
    Sugar saps nutrients from the body. You need SOME sugar of course. Naturally occurring sugars are the best like in fruit. I personally feel awful the morning after consuming too much sugar. Usually it is refined processed sugar that makes me feel like that.

    I have done 2 sugar detoxes in my lifetime and both times when I broke it and consumed sugar I felt drained and sick the next day. Stuff like that makes you think.

    You actually don't need to consume any sugar. At all. The body can meet all of its needs using gluconeogenesis.
  • janicelo1971
    janicelo1971 Posts: 823 Member
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    ditto!
    Spliner1969 wrote: »
    I choose no sugar added foods if possible, and use stevia for sweetener in drinks when available. I also drink mostly water, or diet soda if I want soda. I will eat sugar in foods, or in deserts, if there is no other choice, I simply limit how much if possible. Try moderation instead of quitting it cold turkey, you'll find that when you do use sugar after doing without it as often as possible, that it takes much less to satisfy your cravings.

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