Are these bars made with natural sugars good if consumed in large amounts.
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dlp97dlp
Posts: 24 Member
Hi -
In my local grocery store they sell Pure fruit and nut bars like almond, cashew and date bars or coconut and macadamia nut bars.
They only use natural sugars and each bar contains around 12g of sugar.
Is a diet high in natural sugar OK for someone who already has a high carb, high protein, high fibre diet? (good fats are included)
My refined sugar intake is extremely low on a daily basis and up until recently my sugar intake in general has been very low.
I like these bars and have room calorie wise for them.
Thanks
In my local grocery store they sell Pure fruit and nut bars like almond, cashew and date bars or coconut and macadamia nut bars.
They only use natural sugars and each bar contains around 12g of sugar.
Is a diet high in natural sugar OK for someone who already has a high carb, high protein, high fibre diet? (good fats are included)
My refined sugar intake is extremely low on a daily basis and up until recently my sugar intake in general has been very low.
I like these bars and have room calorie wise for them.
Thanks
1
Replies
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Unless you've got a medical condition that necessitates it there's no reason to fret over natural or refined sugars.6
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As long as the sugar intake isn't crowding out other nutrients (fat should be seen as a minimum, unless you're restricting for medical reasons)6
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Sugars, "natural" or otherwise, should kept to a limited amount. Sugar is sugar. The exception is fruit because there's not a lot of fructose (fruit sugar) in any normal fruit. It becomes more challenging when you create concentrated fruit (as in smoothies or these bars). If you are metabolically healthy and use your glycogen energy stores regularly, it likely won't be a problem. But, carbs are what has gotten our country sick, and sugar is the primary refined carb at the forefront in the cross hairs.34
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How much is a large amount? If you ate nothing but these bars you would not be doing yourself any favors, not because of the sugar but because you would not be getting enough other foods. Eating one a day or so as part of a balanced diet is fine. 12g is not much, for comparison it's one "carb point" on the diabetic exchange. Even most diabetics could fit one of these bars into a diet pretty easily, and if you are healthy there's no issue here.0
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OP, since you know you can fit the bars into your macro and calorie goals, go for it - guilt-free
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terryritter1 wrote: »Sugars, "natural" or otherwise, should kept to a limited amount. Sugar is sugar. The exception is fruit because there's not a lot of fructose (fruit sugar) in any normal fruit. It becomes more challenging when you create concentrated fruit (as in smoothies or these bars). If you are metabolically healthy and use your glycogen energy stores regularly, it likely won't be a problem. But, carbs are what has gotten our country sick, and sugar is the primary refined carb at the forefront in the cross hairs.
False. False. False.
For one thing, fruit tends to actually be pretty high in fructose (which you ironically called "fruit sugar" while claiming that fruit doesn't have much of it).
Carbs haven't gotten our country sick. Too many calories and not enough movement has made us fat.13 -
terryritter1 wrote: »Sugars, "natural" or otherwise, should kept to a limited amount. Sugar is sugar. The exception is fruit because there's not a lot of fructose (fruit sugar) in any normal fruit. It becomes more challenging when you create concentrated fruit (as in smoothies or these bars). If you are metabolically healthy and use your glycogen energy stores regularly, it likely won't be a problem. But, carbs are what has gotten our country sick, and sugar is the primary refined carb at the forefront in the cross hairs.
I don't agree with the bolded. The cantaloupe and watermelon I'm having today contain 61g of sugar, quite a sugar punch for a snack IMO.2 -
Christine_72 wrote: »terryritter1 wrote: »Sugars, "natural" or otherwise, should kept to a limited amount. Sugar is sugar. The exception is fruit because there's not a lot of fructose (fruit sugar) in any normal fruit. It becomes more challenging when you create concentrated fruit (as in smoothies or these bars). If you are metabolically healthy and use your glycogen energy stores regularly, it likely won't be a problem. But, carbs are what has gotten our country sick, and sugar is the primary refined carb at the forefront in the cross hairs.
I don't agree with the bolded. The cantaloupe and watermelon I'm having today contain 61g of sugar, quite a sugar punch for a snack IMO.terryritter1 wrote: »Sugars, "natural" or otherwise, should kept to a limited amount. Sugar is sugar. The exception is fruit because there's not a lot of fructose (fruit sugar) in any normal fruit. It becomes more challenging when you create concentrated fruit (as in smoothies or these bars). If you are metabolically healthy and use your glycogen energy stores regularly, it likely won't be a problem. But, carbs are what has gotten our country sick, and sugar is the primary refined carb at the forefront in the cross hairs.
This is the very reason I asked the question to be honest - I have had many people say to me (and read on here too) that sugar is sugar and there are other better sources of fibre and nutrients etc... others say eat lots of fruit. Health services say max 90g of sugar is 'allowed' for an average person.
Even in this day and age there is significant confusion on food which I am surprised at. I personally think genes play a BIG role in ones long term health especially in later life. But again this is my assumption.
Someone even said if you eat a banana you might as well eat ice cream because of the high sugar content - ice cream is no replacement for fruit of course.
Calorie wise I would like to fit 3 or 4 of these raw fruit and nut bars in - they tend to be pressed and combined by date syrup or other fruit sugars. Problem is 4 of them = 60g of sugar. I just don't feel comfortable consuming that much sugar for some reason. If it was proven not to affect my health in the long term I would eat them everyday no problem. Sugar has always concerned me, nothing else. Probably down to the poor modern day diet high in processed, refined sugars with little nutrients, protein, fibre. And of recent even people questioning natural sugars makes me question them too!
5 -
Christine_72 wrote: »terryritter1 wrote: »Sugars, "natural" or otherwise, should kept to a limited amount. Sugar is sugar. The exception is fruit because there's not a lot of fructose (fruit sugar) in any normal fruit. It becomes more challenging when you create concentrated fruit (as in smoothies or these bars). If you are metabolically healthy and use your glycogen energy stores regularly, it likely won't be a problem. But, carbs are what has gotten our country sick, and sugar is the primary refined carb at the forefront in the cross hairs.
I don't agree with the bolded. The cantaloupe and watermelon I'm having today contain 61g of sugar, quite a sugar punch for a snack IMO.terryritter1 wrote: »Sugars, "natural" or otherwise, should kept to a limited amount. Sugar is sugar. The exception is fruit because there's not a lot of fructose (fruit sugar) in any normal fruit. It becomes more challenging when you create concentrated fruit (as in smoothies or these bars). If you are metabolically healthy and use your glycogen energy stores regularly, it likely won't be a problem. But, carbs are what has gotten our country sick, and sugar is the primary refined carb at the forefront in the cross hairs.
This is the very reason I asked the question to be honest - I have had many people say to me (and read on here too) that sugar is sugar and there are other better sources of fibre and nutrients etc... others say eat lots of fruit. Health services say max 90g of sugar is 'allowed' for an average person.
Even in this day and age there is significant confusion on food which I am surprised at. I personally think genes play a BIG role in ones long term health especially in later life. But again this is my assumption.
Someone even said if you eat a banana you might as well eat ice cream because of the high sugar content - ice cream is no replacement for fruit of course.
Calorie wise I would like to fit 3 or 4 of these raw fruit and nut bars in - they tend to be pressed and combined by date syrup or other fruit sugars. Problem is 4 of them = 60g of sugar. I just don't feel comfortable consuming that much sugar for some reason. If it was proven not to affect my health in the long term I would eat them everyday no problem. Sugar has always concerned me, nothing else. Probably down to the poor modern day diet high in processed, refined sugars with little nutrients, protein, fibre. And of recent even people questioning natural sugars makes me question them too!
I somehow feel better (psychologically) if i go over my sugar goal due to fruit rather than candy/sweets/ice cream. Even though i know sugar is sugar, at least with fruit I'm getting some added benefits of vitamin and minerals, I can't really pull the fibre card as 800ish grams of melon only has 6g of fibre, not even noteworthy IMO.0 -
What percentage of your daily calorie intake would be coming from those bars? If you're eating those instead of other foods that would give you other macro/micronutrients, eating four a day might not be the best plan. The sugar in itself isn't the problem, but if it's causing you to not get other nutrients you need, it can become a problem.Christine_72 wrote: »terryritter1 wrote: »Sugars, "natural" or otherwise, should kept to a limited amount. Sugar is sugar. The exception is fruit because there's not a lot of fructose (fruit sugar) in any normal fruit. It becomes more challenging when you create concentrated fruit (as in smoothies or these bars). If you are metabolically healthy and use your glycogen energy stores regularly, it likely won't be a problem. But, carbs are what has gotten our country sick, and sugar is the primary refined carb at the forefront in the cross hairs.
I don't agree with the bolded. The cantaloupe and watermelon I'm having today contain 61g of sugar, quite a sugar punch for a snack IMO.terryritter1 wrote: »Sugars, "natural" or otherwise, should kept to a limited amount. Sugar is sugar. The exception is fruit because there's not a lot of fructose (fruit sugar) in any normal fruit. It becomes more challenging when you create concentrated fruit (as in smoothies or these bars). If you are metabolically healthy and use your glycogen energy stores regularly, it likely won't be a problem. But, carbs are what has gotten our country sick, and sugar is the primary refined carb at the forefront in the cross hairs.
This is the very reason I asked the question to be honest - I have had many people say to me (and read on here too) that sugar is sugar and there are other better sources of fibre and nutrients etc... others say eat lots of fruit. Health services say max 90g of sugar is 'allowed' for an average person.
Even in this day and age there is significant confusion on food which I am surprised at. I personally think genes play a BIG role in ones long term health especially in later life. But again this is my assumption.
Someone even said if you eat a banana you might as well eat ice cream because of the high sugar content - ice cream is no replacement for fruit of course.
Calorie wise I would like to fit 3 or 4 of these raw fruit and nut bars in - they tend to be pressed and combined by date syrup or other fruit sugars. Problem is 4 of them = 60g of sugar. I just don't feel comfortable consuming that much sugar for some reason. If it was proven not to affect my health in the long term I would eat them everyday no problem. Sugar has always concerned me, nothing else. Probably down to the poor modern day diet high in processed, refined sugars with little nutrients, protein, fibre. And of recent even people questioning natural sugars makes me question them too!
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The focus on sugar is way excessive, IMO. Better to look at whether you have a balanced, nutrient dense diet, and if items high in sugar are crowding out other things you need: micronutrients, fiber, protein, healthy fats. If you eat something high in added sugar and low in nutrients, I think it can be fine, but I'd not devote a lot of calories to it on an average day (on occasion, sure). If you eat something higher in sugar but also some nutrients that you need (micros and sometimes fiber in fruit, protein and some micros in dairy), I'd think there was some additional room for the item. If your overall diet has plenty of vegetables, protein, and healthy fats, I think there's no need to think about sugar (except that I still wouldn't consume a huge amount of refined grains or added fats, personally).
IMO -- and others might differ -- something like these bars (or a Kind bar or a Quest bar) is kind of in-between fruit and a candy bar. They are higher in calories, but they definitely have nutrients (and a more diverse array of nutrients from the nuts than even fruit). So does it fit? 3-4 bars of about 200 calories would be excessive for me for an item like that, but you may well have many more calories and find that they fit. I'd look less at sugar and more at whether you are getting in a diverse diet with adequate nutrients over all.
Just my 2 cents.2 -
Christine_72 wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »terryritter1 wrote: »Sugars, "natural" or otherwise, should kept to a limited amount. Sugar is sugar. The exception is fruit because there's not a lot of fructose (fruit sugar) in any normal fruit. It becomes more challenging when you create concentrated fruit (as in smoothies or these bars). If you are metabolically healthy and use your glycogen energy stores regularly, it likely won't be a problem. But, carbs are what has gotten our country sick, and sugar is the primary refined carb at the forefront in the cross hairs.
I don't agree with the bolded. The cantaloupe and watermelon I'm having today contain 61g of sugar, quite a sugar punch for a snack IMO.terryritter1 wrote: »Sugars, "natural" or otherwise, should kept to a limited amount. Sugar is sugar. The exception is fruit because there's not a lot of fructose (fruit sugar) in any normal fruit. It becomes more challenging when you create concentrated fruit (as in smoothies or these bars). If you are metabolically healthy and use your glycogen energy stores regularly, it likely won't be a problem. But, carbs are what has gotten our country sick, and sugar is the primary refined carb at the forefront in the cross hairs.
This is the very reason I asked the question to be honest - I have had many people say to me (and read on here too) that sugar is sugar and there are other better sources of fibre and nutrients etc... others say eat lots of fruit. Health services say max 90g of sugar is 'allowed' for an average person.
Even in this day and age there is significant confusion on food which I am surprised at. I personally think genes play a BIG role in ones long term health especially in later life. But again this is my assumption.
Someone even said if you eat a banana you might as well eat ice cream because of the high sugar content - ice cream is no replacement for fruit of course.
Calorie wise I would like to fit 3 or 4 of these raw fruit and nut bars in - they tend to be pressed and combined by date syrup or other fruit sugars. Problem is 4 of them = 60g of sugar. I just don't feel comfortable consuming that much sugar for some reason. If it was proven not to affect my health in the long term I would eat them everyday no problem. Sugar has always concerned me, nothing else. Probably down to the poor modern day diet high in processed, refined sugars with little nutrients, protein, fibre. And of recent even people questioning natural sugars makes me question them too!
I somehow feel better (psychologically) if i go over my sugar goal due to fruit rather than candy/sweets/ice cream. Even though i know sugar is sugar, at least with fruit I'm getting some added benefits of vitamin and minerals, I can't really pull the fibre card as 800ish grams of melon only has 6g of fibre, not even noteworthy IMO.
It's not exactly the same, however. One benefit of bring a diabetic with a blood glucose meter is that I can directly measure how different foods affect my body. 20g of sugar from melon won't raise it above 100, while 20g of sugar from candy will peak about 130, and 20g of white flour tortilla, about 150.
Different individuals respond differently to specific foods - I have a diabetic friend whose levels spike when he eats any fruit, even tomatoes. So generalizing that "this food bad, this food good" isn't that simple. But they are not all the same. Different sources of sugar DO have different effects in the body.5 -
Someone even said if you eat a banana you might as well eat ice cream because of the high sugar content - ice cream is no replacement for fruit of course.
I was told this by a Weight Watchers leader at a Weight Watchers meeting. She said "If you want a candy bar, just substitute it for a fruit, they're both sugar." She didn't just say it once. She really believed it.
0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »terryritter1 wrote: »Sugars, "natural" or otherwise, should kept to a limited amount. Sugar is sugar. The exception is fruit because there's not a lot of fructose (fruit sugar) in any normal fruit. It becomes more challenging when you create concentrated fruit (as in smoothies or these bars). If you are metabolically healthy and use your glycogen energy stores regularly, it likely won't be a problem. But, carbs are what has gotten our country sick, and sugar is the primary refined carb at the forefront in the cross hairs.
I don't agree with the bolded. The cantaloupe and watermelon I'm having today contain 61g of sugar, quite a sugar punch for a snack IMO.terryritter1 wrote: »Sugars, "natural" or otherwise, should kept to a limited amount. Sugar is sugar. The exception is fruit because there's not a lot of fructose (fruit sugar) in any normal fruit. It becomes more challenging when you create concentrated fruit (as in smoothies or these bars). If you are metabolically healthy and use your glycogen energy stores regularly, it likely won't be a problem. But, carbs are what has gotten our country sick, and sugar is the primary refined carb at the forefront in the cross hairs.
This is the very reason I asked the question to be honest - I have had many people say to me (and read on here too) that sugar is sugar and there are other better sources of fibre and nutrients etc... others say eat lots of fruit. Health services say max 90g of sugar is 'allowed' for an average person.
Even in this day and age there is significant confusion on food which I am surprised at. I personally think genes play a BIG role in ones long term health especially in later life. But again this is my assumption.
Someone even said if you eat a banana you might as well eat ice cream because of the high sugar content - ice cream is no replacement for fruit of course.
Calorie wise I would like to fit 3 or 4 of these raw fruit and nut bars in - they tend to be pressed and combined by date syrup or other fruit sugars. Problem is 4 of them = 60g of sugar. I just don't feel comfortable consuming that much sugar for some reason. If it was proven not to affect my health in the long term I would eat them everyday no problem. Sugar has always concerned me, nothing else. Probably down to the poor modern day diet high in processed, refined sugars with little nutrients, protein, fibre. And of recent even people questioning natural sugars makes me question them too!
Sugar IS just sugar, no matter where from. But sugar isn't something to be afraid of. And fruits have other nutrients that you need and are usually lower in calories.1 -
stevencloser wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »terryritter1 wrote: »Sugars, "natural" or otherwise, should kept to a limited amount. Sugar is sugar. The exception is fruit because there's not a lot of fructose (fruit sugar) in any normal fruit. It becomes more challenging when you create concentrated fruit (as in smoothies or these bars). If you are metabolically healthy and use your glycogen energy stores regularly, it likely won't be a problem. But, carbs are what has gotten our country sick, and sugar is the primary refined carb at the forefront in the cross hairs.
I don't agree with the bolded. The cantaloupe and watermelon I'm having today contain 61g of sugar, quite a sugar punch for a snack IMO.terryritter1 wrote: »Sugars, "natural" or otherwise, should kept to a limited amount. Sugar is sugar. The exception is fruit because there's not a lot of fructose (fruit sugar) in any normal fruit. It becomes more challenging when you create concentrated fruit (as in smoothies or these bars). If you are metabolically healthy and use your glycogen energy stores regularly, it likely won't be a problem. But, carbs are what has gotten our country sick, and sugar is the primary refined carb at the forefront in the cross hairs.
This is the very reason I asked the question to be honest - I have had many people say to me (and read on here too) that sugar is sugar and there are other better sources of fibre and nutrients etc... others say eat lots of fruit. Health services say max 90g of sugar is 'allowed' for an average person.
Even in this day and age there is significant confusion on food which I am surprised at. I personally think genes play a BIG role in ones long term health especially in later life. But again this is my assumption.
Someone even said if you eat a banana you might as well eat ice cream because of the high sugar content - ice cream is no replacement for fruit of course.
Calorie wise I would like to fit 3 or 4 of these raw fruit and nut bars in - they tend to be pressed and combined by date syrup or other fruit sugars. Problem is 4 of them = 60g of sugar. I just don't feel comfortable consuming that much sugar for some reason. If it was proven not to affect my health in the long term I would eat them everyday no problem. Sugar has always concerned me, nothing else. Probably down to the poor modern day diet high in processed, refined sugars with little nutrients, protein, fibre. And of recent even people questioning natural sugars makes me question them too!
Sugar IS just sugar, no matter where from. But sugar isn't something to be afraid of. And fruits have other nutrients that you need and are usually lower in calories.
A lot of the issues I see are people who drink two cans of coke a day , + chocolate bars and before you know it that is 90g plus of refined sugar in those three items alone. It can add up really quickly but in my eyes it is what the sugar is used in, not necessarily the consumption off it. These items nutritionally don't give you much in the way of fibre and protein.
For people who are watching their weight, it is easy to say avoid sugars and that is true, sugar can make you gain weight quicker? For me though I am looking at what foods I can fit into my calorie goals. Ice cream has a low GI index and so does a muffin or doughnut - so I may treat myself every week to something like this.
If I fancy a nice cake from a patisserie it would be a treat and at least the ingredients are better than a can of coke or chocolate bar.1 -
Sugar doesn't make you gain weight quicker.5
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If it fits in your calories and it fills you up enough that you aren't going for more food (since foods that are high in sugar but low in protein and fiber would not keep you satisfied for long) then they are fine. I eat Kind bars when I'm in a rush and I'm hungry. They aren't something I'd replace a meal with regularly though but for a snack it's Snack it's ok or even better as a post workout snack. Of course it's better then a snickers bar or something since it has fiber, vitamins, proteins, etc.0
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corinasue1143 wrote: »
Someone even said if you eat a banana you might as well eat ice cream because of the high sugar content - ice cream is no replacement for fruit of course.
I was told this by a Weight Watchers leader at a Weight Watchers meeting. She said "If you want a candy bar, just substitute it for a fruit, they're both sugar." She didn't just say it once. She really believed it.
This is how I see at it...Sugar is Sugar and if I'm going to eat sugar and fill up my carb meter, it's going to be something I enjoy, definitely not a piece a fruit.0 -
corinasue1143 wrote: »
Someone even said if you eat a banana you might as well eat ice cream because of the high sugar content - ice cream is no replacement for fruit of course.
I was told this by a Weight Watchers leader at a Weight Watchers meeting. She said "If you want a candy bar, just substitute it for a fruit, they're both sugar." She didn't just say it once. She really believed it.
Agree sugar is sugar, however the fruit will also have fiber, electrolytes and vitamins.0 -
corinasue1143 wrote: »
Someone even said if you eat a banana you might as well eat ice cream because of the high sugar content - ice cream is no replacement for fruit of course.
I was told this by a Weight Watchers leader at a Weight Watchers meeting. She said "If you want a candy bar, just substitute it for a fruit, they're both sugar." She didn't just say it once. She really believed it.
Agree sugar is sugar, however the fruit will also have fiber, electrolytes and vitamins.
The candy bar also likely has vitamins and fiber.1
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