Confused about sugar...

BlueLikeJazz

I have never looked at my sugar intake on here, I had my food journal set to track carbs, fat, protein, sodium and fiber. Well today I changed it so I could see my sugar and I'm shocked!

For lunch today I had seitan, 2 cups of fresh green beans and 2 tbs ketchup (the ketchup being the highest here, containing 8 g of sugar). For supper I had tempeh, 1 medium zucchini with half an onion, 1/2 tbs. of teriyaki sauce and 2 daikon radishes (these containing 8.5 g of sugar each). Overall I'd consider this a very healthy day of eating. I realize ketchup and teriyaki sauce aren't the greatest things but they were small portions and the rest of my food was really healthy.

I have 648 calories and 84 carbs left for the day, but I'm already over my sugar by 16 grams! Any vegetable I eat is going to have naturally occurring sugars. I guess my question is...how do you determine how many grams of sugar you can really eat since 25ish grams is the basis for ADDED sugars, not total sugars? Is the overall carb count more important?

antiadipose

bump. i wanna follow this because all my sugars come from fruits, veg and yogurt/milk. i dont use any added sugars and its not like i ever eat candy or ice cream.... but im over my sugar limit DAILY!

good question.

BeeZoe

Realistically you know what are good foods and what are not. I am usually over my sugar by 40 to 70 grams and I'm okay with that because 95% of it is from vegetables and fruits. My other 5% is choices I can live with and are not extreme. Study your foods and just make a reasonable decision on what to keep or find an alternative option that's lower sugar or sugar free.

suckitup

Through this, I have been advised to just ignore the RED at the end of the day and just look at the added sugar. If I can get anywhere close to the recommended amount for added sugar, I feel like a rock star.

Jane1848

I'm often looking at my sugar intake too. In my diary today, I was over on my sugar as well, but all of it came from fruits and whole foods except for the 3g from a piece of chocolate. The chocolate, however, was one of the smallest contributors.

I try to not worry about the total sugar, but rather the type of sugar and when I'm eating it. I have some problems with hypoglycemia, and I often find myself craving a quick pick-up like an apple about an hour after a meal. I guess that's a form of sugar craving. Refined sugar is something I have tried to eliminate from my diet, but when you see it tracked, there are some surprising sources of sugar.

melodyg

I almost always go over on sugar too. I try to look back at the end of each day and track where the refined sugar came from (and try to not go over the amount on it). I'm not too worried about the naturally occurring ones at this point.