How to keep sugar totals low???

dcholliday2

Hi,

I have been on MFP for about 3 weeks & am tracking my sugar instead of sodium. I'm always low for sodium, so I wanted to see about sugar. Holy cow...I can't keep my sugar levels down!! I didn't realize that so many things had added sugars. Any ideas? I know there are diabetes books out there with low glycemic indexes & sugars. I'm not diabetic, but would that be the best idea to check out one of those books? Or does anyone have a low sugar food items list or know where I can get one? It's hard to find what your daily intake of sugar should be. One source said 40g per day...don't know if that's accurate. I read another source that said if one of the first 5 ingredients says some form of sugar, stay away it's usually a bad sugar. I know there are natural versus added sugars out there, so how many grams of natural sugars should I try and stick with? Thanks!

stormieweather

I try to limit sugars from processed foods, in other words, if the sugar comes from a peach, I worry less about it than if it comes from processed sugars put in foods ie: pie. If I look at my diary, I can see that Friday, my sugar overage was from organic maple syrup (not something I want to eat often, but ok once in a while). Yesterday, I was pretty much dead on, and pretty much all of my sugar came from raw foods (berries, carrots, juice).

And I am very high risk for diabetes, so watch my sugar and insulin production very carefully.

AfroGeek

I agree with you and stormie. It's amazing how high my sugar numbers are. However, if it's from whole fruit or a planned treat, I don't worry about it too much. I still consume sugar regulary in things like sweetened almond milk, but I've stopped adding sugar to my food. There's a great podcast you might want to listen to - Take One Step for a Healthy Heart. In the episode dealing with step 8, Dr. Roizen talks about sugar. He advises not eating it and getting it out of your home. He recommends using agave. I use agave, but I also like maple syrup once in while.

In addition to keeping my sugar number down, I find it a challenge to keep my protein number up without consuming too much fat.

MYF is really great for keeping my aware of what I've eating.

fitterpam

I don't eat many processed foods and any sugars I do have are from fruits and veggies or dairy. I worry less about these, but still try to stay within my limits. I find though that the limits shown here are a little low (everything else I've found shows about 50g and I'm allowed 28 so I figure that as long as I'm between the two and not getting it from processed foods, I'm on track. I'm insulin resistant and my father is diabetic, so I know that I have to be careful. When I do test my blood sugars though, I'm actually right where I should be. I try and get 5 veggies servings in and only 1-2 fruits. 2 dairy servings. And I always have the fruits with a protein to make sure my BS doesn't spike though so I'm well controlled.

fitterpam

There's a great podcast you might want to listen to - Take One Step for a Healthy Heart. In the episode dealing with step 8, Dr. Roizen talks about sugar. He advises not eating it and getting it out of your home. He recommends using agave. I use agave, but I also like maple syrup once in while.

In addition to keeping my sugar number down, I find it a challenge to keep my protein number up without consuming too much fat.

I have agave in my coffee. It's cappucino flavour and it's fantastic. So not only does it sweeten it, but it gives it a smoky coffee flavour that makes my morning cup really good. Since I'm going to wean myself off of my morning coffee soon, I'll need to find another flavour

I also find that it's tough to balance all the items and am generally over somewhere every day. Especially if I'm trying to get to 1200 calories a day (let alone my allowed 1450)!

abyt42

And I always have the fruits with a protein to make sure my BS doesn't spike though so I'm well controlled.

:laugh: Wow, did I read this incorrectly my first time through! And thought to myself: do fruits and protein really have the power to keep that in check? Fruit baskets and cheese wedges for my MIL, that's for sure! :laugh:

judswi

I just sent for a cookbook no flour no sugar diet I don't know if anyone tried it the author is Dr. Gott

dcholliday2

Thanks everyone for the great ideas!! I appreciate it!

fitterpam

LOL yeah....I wondered if I should write it that way.....BS = blood sugar.


Fruits don't but proteins do. http://www.fatwars.com/ultimatefuel.html I learned that at LA weight loss the last time I lost weight. The added benefit of having proteins with every meal/snack besides, stabilizing your blood sugar is that because of the stabilized blood sugar, you don't crash and because you don't crash, you don't have as many cravings or feel hungry so quickly.

AfroGeek

I haven't tried the flavored agave. It sounds good. I've used the plain one (tastes somewhat like honey) to top my cottage cheese and fruit.

I read about combining fruit and protein in one of Jillan Michaels' books and have started doing that too. She also recommended gettng 50% of my calories from protein, which I find a struggle. I've started using whey protein powder to get my number up.