How to cut sugar?

Options
2»

Replies

  • miacat2
    miacat2 Posts: 3 Member
    edited January 2017
    Options
    health.harvard.edu/blog/eating-too-much-added-sugar-increases-the-risk-of-dying-with-heart-disease-201402067021

  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    Options
    OP welcome to MFP. It's great you are interested in reading and understanding what your body needs in order to optimize your success. Others have already provided good information about the difference b/w added and natural sugar (chemically really nothing and biochemically in your body no difference at all). Many people here on MFP don't even track sugar, finding fiber or other measures more helpful, absent a medical condition.

    It might be helpful for you to spend some time reading the stickied "most helpful forum posts" at the top of each forum section as there is a wealth of knowledge available in many topics.

    My standard advice (barring any medical conditions):
    1. Enter your stats and a reasonable goal/rate of loss to obtain an appropriate calorie target
    2. Eat a variety of foods within that calorie goal focusing on those that provide nutrition (macro and micro nutrients), satiety (fills you up) and enjoyment (helps with adherence)
    3. Log everything eat consistently, honestly, and accurately - ideally using a food scale for solids.
    4. Exercise if you enjoy it, eating back a portion of those calories.
    5. Be patient, monitor and adjust as real results are obtained (i.e. Change calorie goal once your own rate of loss is determined).

    Good luck!
  • melhaaa12
    melhaaa12 Posts: 14 Member
    Options
    Since joining this site, I am learning how to retrain my brain. When it comes to carbs (sugars), I always knew that the whole fruit is better then its juice; and processed sugar is bad. The food that I consumed today put me way over my planned carb total for the day. But the carbs that I consumed today was fruit. The produce would not of made it another day. It was already a previously frozen product. I was not comfortable refreezing. I really hope that I did not screw myself.
  • miacat2
    miacat2 Posts: 3 Member
    Options
    O.k. Thanks y'all. I think I know everything I need to know now.



  • Scotty_51
    Scotty_51 Posts: 15 Member
    edited January 2017
    Options
    Table sugar is fructose and glucose, your body can use glucose right away, but the fructose has to be processed by your liver, lots of added sugar overwhelm the liver. The reason fruits are fine is the fiber in fruit slows down the digestion and does't overwhelm your liver. It's also hard to eat say 4 or 5 apples at once, so that limits the sugar intake, this is why juice can be bad as your getting the sugar of 4 apples in one glass of apple juice.

    I'm a former soda/sugar addict, I went from getting well over 200 gm a day of added sugar to ~10 gm, and I've never felt better. I'm 50 and have more energy than I did when I was 30, plus my energy levels are steady and I've gone form 215 to 176 (I'm 5'9").

    YMMV, but for me cutting out sugar was the greatest thing I ever did, not just for weight loss, but dental and overall health. The evidence is mounting that added sugar is really bad for you so OP I commend you for taking the steps to make a change. Don't worry about sugar in fruit/veggies, just avoid foods with added sugar. I hate to say that's easier said than done as 80% of the food at a grocery store has added sugar.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Options
    Scotty_51 wrote: »
    Table sugar is fructose and glucose

    So is the sugar in fruit.
    lots of added sugar overwhelm the liver.

    Only in insane amounts and over time. Having a cookie doesn't do a thing to your liver and it ends up being worked as much as if you have an apple (similar amounts of sugar, typically).
    The reason fruits are fine is the fiber in fruit slows down the digestion and does't overwhelm your liver.

    No. You, like many people, are getting different things confused.

    Cookies tend not to be as satiating as fruit (although depends on the person) because it is more quickly digested. It really depends on the person, the cookie, and the fruit, however, as many fruits are NOT that high in fiber and are digested quite quickly -- a banana is a BETTER choice for before or during a race because it is digested quickly whereas the fat in the cookie is not. Also, some find fat satiating and fiber less so and so would likely find the cookie more satiating and fruit not satiating at all. (This is not me, but read MFP for a while. People should not make pronouncements on what is and is not satiating.)

    More significantly, cookies tend to be less sating (really, satisfying) because of the pleasure one gets from them -- you don't want more because you are hungrier after eating one, you want more because sugar + fat tends to be a really hedonistic combination for us. Fruit doesn't provoke that for most (delicious as it is).

    Beyond this, if one is IR (which many of us are not), carbs can be a problem when consumed alone and without much fiber because they are quickly digested and result -- not in harm to the liver -- but in an insulin spike. If you handle insulin properly this is good -- helps the carbs be used as energy, moves protein where it should go, tends to result in you feeling satisfied and less hungry after. But if one is IR, the cells won't respond to the insulin and what's supposed to happen does not. Best way to avoid this is MIXED meals and not eating carbs on their own, especially not low fiber carbs. For people like this many fruits will be a problem and eating carbs with fat (like a cookie) probably helps, although a cookie (lots of carbs, no fiber, sat fat) is probably still not going to be a great combination and is quickly digested (although perhaps not so quickly as some fruits).

    The fiber has zero to do with the effect on the liver, it's just that having a moderate amount of fructose (which we get in fruit, again) is not sufficient to be a problem. It's having crazy amounts over time.
    It's also hard to eat say 4 or 5 apples at once, so that limits the sugar intake, this is why juice can be bad as your getting the sugar of 4 apples in one glass of apple juice.

    This is an issue of excess. Obviously don't eat 4-5 cookies at a time, at least other than on a rare occasion.
    I'm a former soda/sugar addict, I went from getting well over 200 gm a day of added sugar to ~10 gm, and I've never felt better.

    Great, but over 200 is really super high and surely it's obvious how to cut that.

    I cut out added sugar entirely (not sugar) for a while and didn't find much of an effect, probably because I already ate a moderate amount (I estimate less than 10%). I now mostly eat around 5% based on when I've checked, but don't think that if one eats a balanced, healthful diet with enough protein, fiber, healthy fats, and vegetables that there's any reason to track it, since by definition (unless one is overeating) it can't be too much and the rest of that be also true.
    YMMV, but for me cutting out sugar was the greatest thing I ever did, not just for weight loss, but dental and overall health.

    Except based on what you just said you HAVEN'T cut out sugar. You cut way back (assuming a 2000 calorie diet for the sake of math, from 40% to about 2%) in the amount of added sugar, which is great, but there's a huge range within that where most fall (and which can be healthful even according to the recommendations) and plus there's lots of other sources of sugar.

    My breakfast this morning (reasonably low sugar, as I had no fruit, was still 7 g of sugar, just because I had some celeriac, cauliflower, and cottage cheese -- just coincidence it was all the white foods!).
  • Treece68
    Treece68 Posts: 780 Member
    edited January 2017
    Options
    @davert123 Sugars are made up of 3 things Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen

  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Options
    GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »
    I really don't understand why you're juicing. I get that grapefruit juice is tasty, but eating a grapefruit gives you all the fiber. Fiber is good.

    I honestly don't get juicing.

    Sorry for the aside.

    I think I might make it my resolution to stay out of sugar threads this year. They are so pointless. I'll just say this:

    Added sugar is only a problem if you're eating so much of it that you're not getting adequate nutrition from nutrient-dense foods. Otherwise, there's really not a problem with it (barring a medical condition). The recommendation regarding added sugars was made because people are not eating enough nutrient dense foods in the first place.

    And now I want a grapefruit. A nice pink grapefruit. Love the things.

    100% this.

    Sugar is only an issue if you have blood sugar issues or if you end up too hungry and not meeting your protein or fat requirements from consuming too much of it. That's it. The only difference between sugar from fruit and refined sugar is that when you eat fruit, you consume more vitamins and fiber than say, a cookie. That's it. Sugar is sugar. And all the fiber benefits from fruit are lost when you juice (juice is actually the only thing I cut completely 4 years ago because it's pure sugar).
  • successgal1
    successgal1 Posts: 996 Member
    Options
    If you exercise more and log the exercise, MFP will adjust and allow you more sugar, carbs, fat, protein and all. Look to the nutrients section under Nutrition in the app, you'll see the amount you're allowed change with activity.

Categories