Sugar recommended limit seems ridiculously low
TheMrWobbly
Posts: 2,541 Member
I am well within my calorie count and all macros except sugar, everyday sugar. Today is a typical day so my sugar comes from;
Veg & Rice 15g
Semi-Milk 21g (Porridge and one latte)
Raw Fruit 31g (Banana, Orange, Pear)
Porridge is one of the healthiest breakfast options and I've cut down from 3 to 1 latte a day. Should I eat less fruit? If I do what am I going to replace it with? At this point I am still 400 calories under my daily goal and don't want to eat more as I hate seeing the 'red' numbers on the bottom of the food diary.
All suggestions welcome.
Veg & Rice 15g
Semi-Milk 21g (Porridge and one latte)
Raw Fruit 31g (Banana, Orange, Pear)
Porridge is one of the healthiest breakfast options and I've cut down from 3 to 1 latte a day. Should I eat less fruit? If I do what am I going to replace it with? At this point I am still 400 calories under my daily goal and don't want to eat more as I hate seeing the 'red' numbers on the bottom of the food diary.
All suggestions welcome.
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Replies
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Macros is fat, protein and carbs. Sugar is a subset of carbs. A recommendation is just that. If you don't want to see the sugar number, don't track sugar. If you want a different sugar limt, change it.7
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Thanks Kommodevaran, it is not that I don't want to see the number, I just don't want it in red. Am I the only one who struggles with the sugar recommendation whilst being well under in all other groups?0
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I have struggled a lot with conflicting, vague, random recommendations. The only solution for me was to figure out the reasoning for the suggestions, and what resonated with me, and what I would be able and willing to adhere to over time.5
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im always over in sugar but i dont have an issue with sugar so i track fiber instead.4
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While I almost never reach my sugar limit (too little fruit, black choco as a sweet - personal preference), I see absolutely no problem with going over the „standard initial MFP provision” for sugar. You can change it, anyway! And maybe you should, especially if it frustrates you to see it in red. Milk and fruits are two great and conscious choices, and the sugars in them are, in my point of view, quite irrelevant to both weight loss and overall health.2
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I'm always over on sugar because I eat a lot of fruit. If I didn't eat so much fruit or was on a restricted diet I'd pay attention to it but honestly I pay it no mind.3
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Absolutely not!! Obviously, restrict refined sugar, but never restrict fruit. The settings in MFP are adjustable; set them to what's right for you.TheMrWobbly wrote: »Should I eat less fruit?
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Honestly, I didn't even realize that sugar was tracked. I looked back over the last 2 weeks and my highest day my sugar was at 15g, most days it was under 10g. Now, I do eat a low carb diet, but honestly, even if it didn't, mine would still probably be low because I'm just not a "sweets" person. I don't really eat fruit either, maybe only once or twice per week, it just doesn't do anything for me.0
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Sugar is tracked by Default on the "Printable Version" so you don't really need to track it on the FOOD diary page. Just change your nutrient column to track something else (go to FOOD > Settings to make the changes.)
"Sugar" is always available to view, one click away with the green button that says, "View full report Printable," at the very bottom on the FOOD page. Just toggle back and forth.2 -
The sugar in fruit is natural and good for you. It's the processed, added sugar you need to worry about - or not. I track sugar but always check where it came from. When I subtract the fruit and milk it is usually in a good place, so I don't pay attention to the red numbers.15
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The sugar in fruit is natural and good for you. It's the processed, added sugar you need to worry about - or not. I track sugar but always check where it came from. When I subtract the fruit and milk it is usually in a good place, so I don't pay attention to the red numbers.
Sugar is sugar - all that refined sugar is exactly the same chemical make-up as the sugar in the fruit and veggies and all of that stuff. The only people who really need to track sugar are the ones who have a medical need (such as diabetics).11 -
I switched my sugar tracker to fiber, instead. I'm already tracking sugar with the carb section.1
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The sugar in fruit is natural and good for you. It's the processed, added sugar you need to worry about - or not. I track sugar but always check where it came from. When I subtract the fruit and milk it is usually in a good place, so I don't pay attention to the red numbers.
Sugar is sugar - all that refined sugar is exactly the same chemical make-up as the sugar in the fruit and veggies and all of that stuff. The only people who really need to track sugar are the ones who have a medical need (such as diabetics).
^this^
I blow by my sugar number every day, usually with a combination of natural and added sugars. You need to watch for added sugar only because it makes things higher in calories than you might expect and it can be difficult to reach other macros (like getting enough protein) if too many of your daily calories come from sugar or other carbs. But your body isn't affected differently by added sugars than natural. the funny thing is that many people consider HFCS an evil source of sugar but fructose is the sugar you get from natural source like fruit and corn, where it is a natural ingredient, is the source. there are some differences in how sucrose and fructose are processed but the end result is the same - sugar is sugar. That's actual science. There is a a lot of woo/bro-science that vilifies sugar.
EDIT - see I got wooed already. <shrug>, I have lost 65 pounds and have maintained the loss for 3 months. That doesn't make me an expert, but i am not just guessing that blowing through the number and having some added sugar in your diet can work as part of a healthy weight loss.12 -
TheMrWobbly wrote: »Thanks Kommodevaran, it is not that I don't want to see the number, I just don't want it in red. Am I the only one who struggles with the sugar recommendation whilst being well under in all other groups?
I recommend just letting go of the notion that red is bad. It's just how it was programmed and I have days all the time when one number or another is red -- I always get more than 25 grams of fiber, for example.
There's no reason to try to meet a recommendation that doesn't have a point and staying under 25 grams of sugar is that kind of recommendation.6 -
TheMrWobbly wrote: »Thanks Kommodevaran, it is not that I don't want to see the number, I just don't want it in red. Am I the only one who struggles with the sugar recommendation whilst being well under in all other groups?
I think it's nice to have a mix of red and green . . . woo-hoo, it's Christmas!!
I was over the MFP sugar recommendation every single day while losing, when the only added sugar I was eating was a bit of concentrated fruit juice well down the ingredient list in a single daily 30-calorie tablespoon of all-fruit spread. (The rest was from whole fruit, and the sugars inherent in low/no fat no-sugar-added dairy products.) I'm not diabetic, insulin resistant, or anything else that requires me to monitor carbs/sugar closely.
My conclusion? Stop tracking sugar (silly for me), start tracking something I care about (fiber, in my case, but for some it's iron or whatever).
Don't struggle to meet irrelevant goals - that would be my opinion.
P.S. Turning your protein goal red by a bit is usually a good thing. Same can be true for fats.4 -
The sugar in fruit is natural and good for you. It's the processed, added sugar you need to worry about - or not. I track sugar but always check where it came from. When I subtract the fruit and milk it is usually in a good place, so I don't pay attention to the red numbers.
Sugar is sugar - all that refined sugar is exactly the same chemical make-up as the sugar in the fruit and veggies and all of that stuff. The only people who really need to track sugar are the ones who have a medical need (such as diabetics).
Sugar might be sugar, but eating 300 calories of fruit versus 300 calories of sugary processed snacks looks different nutritionally. Fruit contains fiber, vitamins, etc. as a whole package. I agree with everyone on the thread who said not to worry about it so much and focus on fiber or other micronutrients that you might care about.11 -
I changed all of my recommendations to ridiculous settings so I never get an alert. As long as I eat more than 1g of protien and less than 100,000mg of sodium a day (and so forth) I don't get the annoying warnings. I'm under medical supervision as I'm having surgery in August and all my blood work is great, so I don't worry about it. I just continue to eat mostly healthy and get my workouts in. Also, the sodium levels are for the average person - I live in the desert, because of the high temps we get pretty sweaty and drink a lot of water, so more sodium is needed to be healthier than in cooler climates2
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I really wish it differentiated between fruit sugar and refined sugar!3
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I really wish it differentiated between fruit sugar and refined sugar!
What benefit would that provide? Is powdered fructose different from strawberry fructose??Lillymoo01 wrote: »
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stanmann571 wrote: »I really wish it differentiated between fruit sugar and refined sugar!
What benefit would that provide? Is powdered fructose different from strawberry fructose??Lillymoo01 wrote: »
It is what you are eating it with that makes a difference. Sugar is sugar but if it is coming with a rich source of fibre, vitamins and minerals then you are not simply consuming empty calories. I personally would like to see a breakdown of sugar that is found naturally in the food I am eating verses added sugar so I can avoid those empty calories where possible (unless the food warrants those calories because it tastes divine making the calories worth it).0 -
OP please eat your allotted calories for the day. That’s more important than a red number. The default sugar number is based on the WHO recommendations, which is referring to “free sugar” like the sugar in your latte. The recommendations are to reduce the incidence of tooth decay.
There is no way to differentiate at the moment on nutrition labels between the sugar in your fruit and the sugar in your latte. Your body also does not know the difference.
If you don’t like to see red, change the settings or stop tracking sugar. The carb number is more important anyhow.3 -
Lillymoo01 wrote: »stanmann571 wrote: »I really wish it differentiated between fruit sugar and refined sugar!
What benefit would that provide? Is powdered fructose different from strawberry fructose??Lillymoo01 wrote: »
It is what you are eating it with that makes a difference. Sugar is sugar but if it is coming with a rich source of fibre, vitamins and minerals then you are not simply consuming empty calories. I personally would like to see a breakdown of sugar that is found naturally in the food I am eating verses added sugar so I can avoid those empty calories where possible (unless the food warrants those calories because it tastes divine making the calories worth it).
But Fiber is already included in the nutrition information. as are vitamins and minerals.
So unless you're eating powered sucrose, or fructose, or drinking Karo, I fail to see the added value.1 -
Lillymoo01 wrote: »stanmann571 wrote: »I really wish it differentiated between fruit sugar and refined sugar!
What benefit would that provide? Is powdered fructose different from strawberry fructose??Lillymoo01 wrote: »
It is what you are eating it with that makes a difference. Sugar is sugar but if it is coming with a rich source of fibre, vitamins and minerals then you are not simply consuming empty calories. I personally would like to see a breakdown of sugar that is found naturally in the food I am eating verses added sugar so I can avoid those empty calories where possible (unless the food warrants those calories because it tastes divine making the calories worth it).
MFP tracks fiber and (some) vitamins.
In most cases, it's very easy to tell whether or not the sugar in a food is added or not. It's either common sense (you're eating a piece of fruit or a glass of milk) or you can look at the ingredients. This idea that people who want to avoid empty calories need MFP's assistance to tell the difference between a chocolate chip cookie and a banana is confusing to me. Why do you need this feature to avoid "empty calories"?4 -
Lillymoo01 wrote: »
It would be hard for them to do. Is concentrated apple juice natural or added if it's in fruit punch? What if it is in gravy? In some respects, it is always natural.2 -
Lillymoo01 wrote: »stanmann571 wrote: »I really wish it differentiated between fruit sugar and refined sugar!
What benefit would that provide? Is powdered fructose different from strawberry fructose??Lillymoo01 wrote: »
It is what you are eating it with that makes a difference. Sugar is sugar but if it is coming with a rich source of fibre, vitamins and minerals then you are not simply consuming empty calories. I personally would like to see a breakdown of sugar that is found naturally in the food I am eating verses added sugar so I can avoid those empty calories where possible (unless the food warrants those calories because it tastes divine making the calories worth it).
If you read the ingredient list, and sugar (or one of the variant names, like HFCS, cane juice, fructose, sucrose, corn syrup, cane syrup, molasses, honey, maple syrup, etc.) is high on the ingredient list, you're eating a food that's high in added sugar, at least in the US. The ingredients are listed in order from most predominant to least. It's not that hard to choose to avoid/minimize added sugar, in practice.
Personally, I'd appreciate clearer labeling, too, if only to match up with the recommendations from mainstream authorities like USDA and WHO. But it's really not a big deal to avoid foods high in added sugar, if it's a concern.
Besides, few of us sit and eat the sugar (or analogs) with a spoon. If it's in a context of a home-cooked or purchased food, we get the fiber and nutrients of the whole set of foods/ingredients, and the oh-so-demonized insulin spike is moderated by those other ingredients, whether nature, a machine, or our mouth/stomach mixed them together.
Yes, people do drink beverages that contain little other than some form of sugar. If they don't know that, they have bigger cognitive problems than labeling laws can solve.
Sugar, added or inherent, primarily a problem when it drives other necessary nutrition out of our eating, unless one is diabetic or insulin resistant or has some other relevant medical condition.3 -
OP please eat your allotted calories for the day. That’s more important than a red number. The default sugar number is based on the WHO recommendations, which is referring to “free sugar” like the sugar in your latte. The recommendations are to reduce the incidence of tooth decay.
There is no way to differentiate at the moment on nutrition labels between the sugar in your fruit and the sugar in your latte. Your body also does not know the difference.
If you don’t like to see red, change the settings or stop tracking sugar. The carb number is more important anyhow.
I know what you mean, and I know you know the difference, but: The only sugar in my latte is lactose (plus maybe its components glucose & galactose), all put there by the cow. Technically, of course, free sugars are the ones added by humans and machines, like in a mocha latte (that doesn't use sugar-free syrups and such).
I wouldn't mention it if I hadn't had to argue with people in the forums at least twice now over whether nonfat milk has added sugar. (Of course, it doesn't . . . even though the label says it has more sugar grams per cup than whole milk. <eye roll>.)
I completely agree that it doesn't matter to one's body where the sugar comes from, in people without medical conditions, at least.0
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