Sugars

wildpistachio

What is a “normal” sugar intake for a snack? Everything I touch has sugar, for example, a yogurt has 17-21g total sugars. Help!!!

AnnPT77

wildpistachio wrote: »

What is a “normal” sugar intake for a snack? Everything I touch has sugar, for example, a yogurt has 17-21g total sugars. Help!!!

Do you have a medical reason to limit sugar, such as diabetes or insulin resistance?

For normal nutrition (no medical issues):

In many/most yogurts, a big chunk of the sugar is inherent sugar in the milk (the cow put it there), not added sugar. USDA, WHO, etc., don't say we need to limit inherent sugars in an otherwise balanced diet. They encourage us to limit added sugars.

The amount of sugar you eat has no direct bearing on your weight loss rate, unless it causes you to exceed your calorie goal. I exceeded the MFP default sugar goal every day while losing about 50 pounds, when the only added sugar I was eating was a bit of concentrated fruit juice in a single daily 30-calorie tablespoon of all-fruit spread. The rest was all inherent sugars, mostly in fruits, veggies, and no-sugar-added dairy foods. My solution: Stop tracking sugar in MFP, and track fiber instead.

Absent medical issues, for most of us, it's more important to worry about getting good, nutritious things into our way of eating, and not terribly important to worry about eliminating less useful ones. If you're getting enough protein, healthy fats, and plenty of varied, colorful veggies and fruits, while hitting your calorie goal, sugar isn't really an issue.

Yogurt typically has some good protein (especially Greek yogurt), and useful micronutrients. You might want to avoid ones with lots of added sugar (just because of the calorie "cost"), but otherwise yogurt should be an excellent snack. Or fruit. Or, you can put plain yogurt on tasty fruit, which will have plenty of nutrition but only inherent sugars.

There isn't any specific amount of sugar (especially inherent sugar) that's "normal" in a snack. What's important is hitting your calorie goal, and getting well-rounded adequate nutrition.

Best wishes! :flowerforyou:

NovusDies

wildpistachio wrote: »

What is a “normal” sugar intake for a snack? Everything I touch has sugar, for example, a yogurt has 17-21g total sugars. Help!!!

You might be better off replace your Sugar column with Fiber unless you have a medical reason to avoid sugar. For most people it is a completely useless thing to be looking at or being concerned over despite the anti-sugar campaign you see all over the internet.

Calories are what matter. You can lose weight eating nothing but sugar if you stick to your calorie goal but for obvious nutritional reasons you should not try it.

maureenkhilde

wildpistachio wrote: »

What is a “normal” sugar intake for a snack? Everything I touch has sugar, for example, a yogurt has 17-21g total sugars. Help!!!

To add to what AnnPT77 said natural occurring sugar is no big deal. Think fresh fruits and veges, and dairy products as areas that yep has sugars. I happen to be a type 2 diabetic. And my Dr's said make sure you hit your fiber, as well as protein, fat and carb numbers. And as long as you stay away from most heavily processed food your sugars will be fine. And they are so right. So I do stay away from syrups, corn syrup and processed foods, think canned where so often first ingredient is a form of sugar.
But if you do not need to due to any type of medical condition, then it is a choice opposed to health need.

A low sugar yogurt however is Two-Good is a greek one.