Sugar intake?

withlovemaryam
withlovemaryam Posts: 7 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Ok so I'm really trying to cut back on sugar, so I was wondering how many grams of sugar should I be having as a woman a day?

Replies

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Ignore sugar unless your doctor has told you; or limit sugar to the amount your doctor has told you.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    A teaspoon of granulated sugar contains 4 g of sugar/sucrose. Perhaps just keep that in mind when you decide how much you want to consume.

    For example, a serving of flavoured yogurt may have 6 teaspoons of sugar in it.
    withlovemaryam wrote: »
    Ok so I'm really trying to cut back on sugar, so I was wondering how many grams of sugar should I be having as a woman a day?

    You asked how many grams of sugar SHOULD you be having. The minimum requirements for sugar is zero. None.

    Some people believe that the safest upper limit of sugar is zero as well. There are no real health benefits to sugar that you could not get from other better sources. IMO.

    WHO believes 4-5 teaspoons of added sugar is safe for women. You can go with that if you want.

    Some people (their health) handle sugar better than others. If you are perfectly healthy, some sugar probably won't hurt you. Others won't do well with sugars. I keep my total sugars under 10g on most days; its actually usually under 5g.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    withlovemaryam wrote: »
    Ok so I'm really trying to cut back on sugar, so I was wondering how many grams of sugar should I be having as a woman a day?

    Depends on why. I'd say focus on eating a nutrient dense diet (get enough vegetables, maybe some fruit, protein, healthy fats, fiber), and then stay within your calories and you don't have to worry about sugar.

    If you are concerned about your ability to judge what a healthy diet/nutrient dense diet is, that's more important to figure out than specific sugar numbers.

    If you want to track sugar I'd watch to see where your sugar is coming from and if a lot of it seems to be coming from not very nutrient dense foods or foods that are higher cal than they need to be, cut back on those.
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
    I think it's sensible to limit your sugar to the least amount needed in order to be happy with your diet.

    There isn't really an answer to your question (you don't need any sugar) but some countries recommend sugar from all sources to be limited to no more than 90g-100g a day. There isn't any solid science behind that recommendation, in my opinion, but I found it useful just to get an idea of where my sugar intake fell.

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