Sugar

katarina005

So Im curious if you eat more than the suggested amount of sugars for the diet the app gives you, does your body convert the excess intake of sugars into fat? I know there's this taboo about eating sugars. If you eat no sugars will you burn more fat?

dewd2

No, it does not assuming you are in a calorie deficit. Sugar is not as evil as you've been told. I personally don't care at all how much I eat (I have no medical reason to care) as long as it doesn't cause me to get inadequate protein or fat.

ritzvin

Assuming no personal insulin- issues, the only real problem with sugar is that it adds calories without adding other nutrients or much added satiety (it spends calories without adding needed protein/fat/fiber/misc. vitamins, etc; and many people can keep eating a lot of it without feeling full). In the case of someone who is very active, the latter can be a good thing (ETA: and the former won't be a problem due to extra calories to spend). Not so much, if someone is sedentary and prone to mindless snacking.

lemurcat2

No

AnnPT77

No.

Major health organizations (USDA, WHO, NHS) recommend limiting added sugar for essentially 3 reasons. These are that if you eat a lot of added sugar:

1. It can be hard to get adequate nutrition within reasonable calories, because added sugar is calorie dense.
2. On the flip side, it can be difficult to limit calories to a reasonable level while getting adequate nutrition, because added sugar is not nutrient dense (to say the least ).
3. Teeth get cavities more readily.

Nutrition is important, as is the proper calorie level for healthy weight. Get enough protein, fats, and plenty of varied/colorful veggies and fruits for nutrition. Eat the right number of calories for your weight goals. After both of those are in place, the amount of added sugar you eat is pretty much irrelevant (but brush your teeth! ).

None of those major health bodies, in my understanding, say that you need to take special steps to limit natural sugar intake, in whole fruit, veggies, or dairy foods. They just tell you to get good overall nutrition.

I went over my MFP default sugar goal every single day while losing weight, and still do in year 4+ of maintaining a healthy weight. (It was/is almost entirely natural sugar, only a tiny amount added sugar, as an aside.)

Excess calories are what add fat. It's easy to get excess calories from things with lots of added sugar, because they tend not to be filling.

The blogosphere loses its mind over sugar, because that's what the blogosphere does. Ignore the blogosphere.