Fruit and sugar

kellyfeb78

I'm trying to eat more fruit as a sweet snack but the sugar content always puts me over my daily target, should I just ignore it?

nvmomketo

Depends on your circumstances. If you have metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, or CAD, probably not.

You can always switch to lower GI fruit. Berries are low. Tropical and dried fruits have the most sugar.

kellyfeb78

I have no medical conditions I'm just trying to go by what mfp says I should consume in a day. I am losing weight nicely but my sugar is always above due to fruit. I eat pineapple, blueberries, melon, satsumas, and strawberrys now as they are cheap lol

psuLemon

Unfortunately, MFP doesn't distinguish between added and natural sugar. But as long as you don't have a medical condition requiring to restrict carbs, then restricting sugars are unnecessary outside of personal preference.

kellyfeb78

OK that's great so I can eat my beloved pineapple and not stress over sugar lol thanks

psuLemon

kellyfeb78 wrote: »

OK that's great so I can eat my beloved pineapple and not stress over sugar lol thanks

Replace sugar with fiber. Fiber is very important and can increase satiation levels. And concentrate in general on whole foods.

ETA: I eat 100-150g of sugar a day, but I also eat a lot of fruit (400-500 calories on average)

Rocknut53

As long as you are losing by eating at a deficit enjoy that fruit. I've never paid attention to sugar because I'm old and fiber seems more important. Living in Montana and being subject to seasonal variations in what fruit we get and what is affordable I sometimes gorge myself on fruits like raspberries, strawberries, cherries, melons, peaches etc. when they are in season. I just make sure I weigh them so I'm not going over my calories. The exception is raspberries, I grow gallons every summer and eat as many as I can when they are ripe.

kellyfeb78

I tend to eat my fruit with fat free Greek yoghurt as I know it's high in protein and low in the bad stuff and it also makes a nice refreshing, breakfast

dfwesq

I ignore sugars on MFP. Virtually all the sugar I eat comes in natural forms from nutritious foods like dairy, fruits, and vegetables. To reduce my sugar intake, I'd have to reduce my intake of those healthy foods and I'd probably be hungrier.

ETA: In general, whole fruit is good for you and relatively low calorie. Unless there's some medical condition or fruit is crowding out other healthy foods, there's no reason to worry about the amount. Juice, dried fruits, and fruit concentrates are a different matter because it's easy to overeat them.

FattieBabs

I love pineapple and plums so add to oatbran to get the fibre and fruit. Fits in cal allowance so no probs yet

sijomial

You can choose what to track in your food diary. As sugar is just a subset of carbs it seems pretty pointless to track sugar unless you have a medical reason to.

If it's annoying you why not replace it with fibre for example?

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J72FIT

kellyfeb78 wrote: »

I'm trying to eat more fruit as a sweet snack but the sugar content always puts me over my daily target, should I just ignore it?

Yes unless you are diabetic or pre-diabetic...

Ironandwine69

Yes, what everyone already said, if you don't have a medical condition, sugar from fruit is not something to worry about.

kellyfeb78

Thanks all

Niki_Fitz

I don't worry about natural sugar just added sugars.

c50blvdbabe

The main reason I removed the sugar content from my list. I was becoming obsessive over that red number glaring at me at the end of each day. I now just track carbs and focus on the simple ones. As long as that's under the goal, I'm okay.

mtek94

IMHO dont track your fruits and vegies cos who has ever gotten fat from eatting fruit and vegies..

livingleanlivingclean

mtek94 wrote: »

IMHO dont track your fruits and vegies cos who has ever gotten fat from eatting fruit and vegies..

I would.

estherdragonbat

mtek94 wrote: »

IMHO dont track your fruits and vegies cos who has ever gotten fat from eatting fruit and vegies..

Get fat? No. But not tracking fruits and veggies can impede weight loss, because you can have a few hundred calories unaccounted for at the end of each day that wipe out your deficit. That's one issue I've got with Weight Watchers, tbh.

That being said, I might not weigh every low-calorie vegetable I eat; I'm much more likely to use an entry like '1/2 medium cucumber,' for example. Because we're probably talking about a difference of 10-20 calories between the generic "1 medium cucumber" and how much I'm actually eating. But I log them all; I just allow myself more of a margin for error with low-cal foods.

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psuLemon

filbo132 wrote: »

mtek94 wrote: »

IMHO dont track your fruits and vegies cos who has ever gotten fat from eatting fruit and vegies..

I disagree, fruits like apples are high in calories and if you consider dried fruits as a fruit, the calories content in those are extremely high.

Agreed. As I stated earlier, i regularly get 400 to 500 calories of just fruit. That is an entire deficit just in itself.

kellyfeb78

I eat a lot of vegetables with my dinner so I always weigh and log them but will ignore the sugar now as long as it's fruit sugar not fatty sugar

tardis313

Weight Watchers current program considers fruit and veggies to be free. I was double tracking here and on there and while the 2 cups of grapes I ate was free on WW, it was almost 200 calories and a bunch of sugar in reality. After that I decided I needed to be held accountable for everything, even fruit and veggies otherwise I'll go HAM and think it's fine and doesn't matter how much of it I eat

psuLemon

tardis313 wrote: »

Weight Watchers current program considers fruit and veggies to be free. I was double tracking here and on there and while the 2 cups of grapes I ate was free on WW, it was almost 200 calories and a bunch of sugar in reality. After that I decided I needed to be held accountable for everything, even fruit and veggies otherwise I'll go HAM and think it's fine and doesn't matter how much of it I eat

It's free on WW because WW sets calories fairly low. For my wife, it was 900-100 with only 15 lbs to lose.

stevencloser

"Fatty sugar"?

kellyfeb78

Yer like in sweets and ice cream

psuLemon

kellyfeb78 wrote: »

Yer like in sweets and ice cream

Well those foods don't make you fat either, but they don't have as many nutrients as fruits and veggies. But they are definitely helpful in terms of compliance for some. The problem really isn't the sugar, it's the calories that make you fat. Even the best of foods can do that.

kellyfeb78

I log everything I eat and drink I just wanted to know about the sugar in fruit as some days I eat a lot of it and my sugar goal was going over due to it but as someone said it's natural sugar and not something to worry and about too much. I've lost 2 stone since starting MFP so I'm doing OK

psuLemon

kellyfeb78 wrote: »

I log everything I eat and drink I just wanted to know about the sugar in fruit as some days I eat a lot of it and my sugar goal was going over due to it but as someone said it's natural sugar and not something to worry and about too much. I've lost 2 stone since starting MFP so I'm doing OK

Definitely keep going. Just remember what is important is total dietary context. The biggest goal is getting adequate calories (especially from protein while you are losing weight) but also getting adequate nutrition. If cutting out treats helps you achieve that great. But don't feel bad if you want to incorporate them once and a while. Remember, this battle is more than just cutting calories. You want to address your behavioral and psychological aspects as well.