Too Much Sugar?

_EndGame_

OK, so I eat fruit everyday. Usually oranges, pineapple chunks, cherries and apples.

I've noticed that my sugar allowance is usually exceeded, but 90% of it is down to fruit. I rarely eat chocolate or processed sugary foods.

Anyway, I've read quite a few forum posts regarding sugar. Some people say stuff on the lines of "Sugar is sugar, regardless of how it's consumed" << Implying that eating a sugary cookie would no different to eating a piece of fruit with the same amount of sugar in. Then you get "Sugar from fruit is good for you, it comes hand in hand with fibre, which gives it a slow release, preventing you from crashing later on" <<< This makes more sense, as when I do eat fruit, I don't "crash" then crave more later.

So my question(s) is - does it really matter? Is eating sugary processed food no more healthy/unhealthy than eating fruit? Will going over my sugar macro on a daily basis eventually hinder my weight loss progress?

Any opinions on this will be muchos appreciated!

jrue1985

I would also like to see people's answers to this as I too eat a lot of fruit (or I would like to anyway, I have cut back :-(

weightlossdiva1219

As long as you're not eating an excessively abnormally large amount of fruit, this is actually okay. I eat fruit at every meal. I eat tons of it. The thing about fruit is it is natural sugar that your body needs. It's not refined. The reason it's okay to eat a lot of fruit, is because there is enough starch to balance out the sugar. Therefore, your body absorbs it more slowly and it is healthier than refined sugars, which your body absorbs quickly and it turns into fat cells.

_EndGame_

Yeah, I'm just concerned I seem to be constantly over on the sugar allowance, from just a bit of fruit! On days my sugar is under, I don't think I eat any!

I'm just trying to find out, that in the long run, could constantly exceeding the sugar allowance have some kind of negative effect on me? Or whether the sugar allowance is just assigned to refined, processed sugars, that come with candy and pre packed meals!

toad493lbs

Okay some people will disagree but... sugar is not all equal. Talk to a dietitian. I have and I also have 5 nurses and a doctor in the family that will tell you the same thing.
That being said too much sugar even from fruit is still bad for you.
Its all about balance. Thats why I have a Nutritionist a dietitian and a cardiologist that advise me on my diet. Along with my family doctor. There are several books on this subject. I have read and can recommend the book Sugar Busters. Good luck.

rainbowbow

The sugar allowance automatically set on MFP is absurdly low. Just as protein is set to 15% and really low unless you choose to change it.

Eating higher sugar foods has NEVER caused any issues for me as long as i was in my caloric goal and my macro goal. Although i imagine if you have a health problem (such as diabetes) it would cause an issue. If not, don't sweat the small stuff.

hookilau

If you have a family history with Diabetes or close family members with this issue then I wouldn't say you should necessarily restrict fruit, but I would definitely suggest you educate yourself about how the disease comes to be.

There's shame involved and stigma attached to a diabetic diagnosis because people believe they ate their way to it through sloth & gluttony. Had I known that so many of my family members currently HAD this disease, I might've saved myself a whole lotta heartache. :ohwell: Because of the shame involved, 5 of my paternal grandmother's children all have it, both paternal grandparents died of complications related to it, and both of my maternal grandparents as well. Just to demonstrate the level of which the shame runs, of the 13 children my maternal grandmother had, not ONE has admitted to being diabetic.:huh:

If you or anyone reading this, has diabetes in your family history, check out bloodsugar101.com & click on the link 'you didn't eat your way to diabetes' and then click on 'the pattern in which diabetes develops'.

If this is not you then I suppose it doesn't matter much one way or another :blushing:

hookilau

Yeah, I'm just concerned I seem to be constantly over on the sugar allowance, from just a bit of fruit! On days my sugar is under, I don't think I eat any!

I'm just trying to find out, that in the long run, could constantly exceeding the sugar allowance have some kind of negative effect on me? Or whether the sugar allowance is just assigned to refined, processed sugars, that come with candy and pre packed meals!

It's not so much about sugar as it is the combination of carbs & sugar. When I was diagnosed with diabetes 4 months ago, the first thing I said to my doctor was that I knew for sure I only consumed up to 24 g of sugar per day because I had been logging on MFP for 4 months prior. The doctor rolled his eyes at me quite a bit as I told him that the 24 g of sugar all came from fruit smoothies.

It's not about sugar so much as it is the combination of sugar & carbs. If you are genetically predisposed to this type of metabolic disorder (family history) then this macro becomes very VERY important.

Otherwise, it's just another macro to manage.

teamAmelia

Aren't you supposed to eat a certain amt of fruit everyday? Isn't that part of a well-balanced diet? I say that you should eat it. Try it for about a month and if it doesn't work, then see what happens. I took my sugar label off because just two servings of fruit usually put me over my limit. So stupid. Even if it puts me over my sugar limit, I'd rather eat fruit to ward off junk food cravings, which will just result in even more sugar and fat.

jafabuNZ

I like 4m's comment. No I don't think it matters if you go above your sugar level calculated in here every day - I've noticed it as well, it is stupid! Test yourself to see if you have a weight loss by the end of each week or month. Fruit is good for you (unless you're eating a huge amount and/or diabetic) and definitely the better choice - not cakes and cookies which I absolutely LOVE and is one of the reasons why I am once again here. If interested, you might want to look at "is sugar toxic?" doco 60 minutes in you tube.

blackNBUK

I remember reading in an old thread someone saying that MFP's sugar recommendation is actually based on an RDA for sugar that has been added to food. Unfortunately nutrition labels seem to give you the total amount of sugar food contains from all sources, whether that is naturally occurring or added later. Because of that mis-match MFP's target for sugar ends up being far too low in most cases.

maxphia32

Sugar is sugar, but none of us are here because we ate too many oranges, apples, and pineapples... haha With that being said though many fruits have sugar they also have so many other benefits such as vitamins and antioxidants that cake, cookies, and ice cream does not provide. Though you should make sure that you are within you daily caloric goal and if you do have a family history diabetes try to limit the amount of sugar you consume.

Mr_Knight

Sugar is sugar, but none of us are here because we ate too many oranges, apples, and pineapples...

Just for kicks I checked, to hit my daily caloric limit I'd have to eat like 25 bananas or 30 oranges or 10 whole pineapples.

I cannot even begin to imagine the monthly toilet paper bill if I tried that!

SailorKnightWing

Sugar is sugar, but none of us are here because we ate too many oranges, apples, and pineapples...

Just for kicks I checked, to hit my daily caloric limit I'd have to eat like 25 bananas or 30 oranges or 10 whole pineapples.

I cannot even begin to imagine the monthly toilet paper bill if I tried that!

I kind of want to see someone try to eat 10 whole pineapples now...

OP, unless you have a medical reason to watch your sugar intake (such as diabetes) you don't have to worry about it. MFP sets the sugar goals very low, and fruit is high enough in other nutrients to make them worth it in most cases. Sugar isn't inherently bad, it just often takes the place of more healthful ingredients in foods when it's added and drives the calorie counts up.

CMB1979

My sugar default was somewhere around 35 grams/day. I just upped it to half of my carb total so I wouldn't be annoyed by a red number that makes no difference.

CyberEd312

I don't even track sugar..... Just Carbs, Proteins, and Fats........

Sunitagt

Fruit sugar is definitely ok, you get fiber with it. I watched a presentation on youtube about what happens to sugar in the body, and it's interesting. But at the end, his point was that you should avoid HFCS as much as possible, and eat your fructose with fiber. I just try to make sure each meal I have non-fruit sugar, I eat something that has fiber in it.

Mr_Knight

But at the end, his point was that you should avoid HFCS as much as possible, and eat your fructose with fiber.

By that standard, honey is also off limits.

Stage14

Your carbs is the number you really want to watch, at least according to my husband's dietician and doctor (he is diabetic). Fiber offsets the effect of carbs (which is why you see certain foods with "x net carbs" printed on the label), and fruit has plenty of fiber. As long as your carb total is under control and your calories are under control, you should be fine. Even as a diabetic, my husband has been told not to worry about the sugar number in MFP too much because "it's virtually impossible to get too much sugar and not exceed your carb limit". That was a direct quote from his dietician.

Sunitagt

But at the end, his point was that you should avoid HFCS as much as possible, and eat your fructose with fiber.

By that standard, honey is also off limits.

No, not at all. You just eat something with fiber in that meal. You just don't eat a teaspoon of sugar, or honey or whatever, when you eat it, you pair it with fiber.

WannabeStressFree

I'm on the fence with this. I LOVE fruit, always have, and always been healthy, though chubby. So I tried to cut fruit and it makes me miserable. So I brought it back into my diet.
In the Weight Watchers program, fruit and veggies are unlimited.
The fiber in fruit is supposed to help the body balance the sugar, in a nutshell.

So, I'm back to eating fruit, though I'm trying not to overdo it. It's refined sweets that I'm trying to get away from.