Too Much Sugar.

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daniellelorean
daniellelorean Posts: 8
in Food and Nutrition
Everyday I enter in the foods I eat and everyday I go over on sugar. Usually it's anywhere between 5-15g over. I eat a lot of yogurt which has a lot of sugar in it. How does too much sugar effect dieting?

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  • bparr
    bparr Posts: 246 Member
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    tag for later
  • Ral263
    Ral263 Posts: 318 Member
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    Sugar can definitely hinder weight loss-- apart from being extra added calories, sugar tends to give you a spike in blood sugars, followed by an immediate "crash," which makes a lot of people eat additional calories to continue to feel energized after the crash.

    You say that most of your added sugar comes from yogurt, which is really easy to fix! Get plain, non fat Greek yogurt instead (chobani and Fage are my favorite brands) and then add a little bit of any/ all of these:

    Stevia, Vanilla extract, cinnamon, and fruit (blueberries are awesome).

    Also, watch out for added sugars in cereals, juice (has very little nutritional value-- eat the fruit instead!), sauces, dressing, etc.

    Sugars from fruit or nonfat dairy are fine, since they are naturally occurring (I try to avoid super high sugar fruits like grapes, pineapple, cherries, etc).
  • jeffrodgers1
    jeffrodgers1 Posts: 991 Member
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    Sugar is energy. Energy you don't use is stored as fat.

    Can you find sugar free or low sugar alternatives? What about making your own Yogurt blends?

    I use splenda for a lot of things (i.e. coffee, some baking) and avoid sugars wherever possible.
  • emaybe
    emaybe Posts: 187 Member
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    I have the same problem --- I eat lots of fruit and drink lots of juice (without added sugar) and my sugar is ALWAYS over. I made a similar post a while back and everyone here told me that if it's naturally occurring sugar, not to worry about it. I'm not sure how yogurt counts though -- check the ingredient label and make sure there aren't any added sweeteners. If there are, try to switch to a more natural brand that doesn't add sugar or corn syrup. :)
  • roxannima
    roxannima Posts: 10 Member
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    If it's just 5-15 mg I honestly wouldn't worry about it. But if you start to go 40-50 or more over, then I'd worry. Sugar turns into fat, and obviously we don't want more fat when we're trying to lose weight. Sugar also has tons of other harmful effects on our body (here's one article I found via Google: http://www.naturalnews.com/022692.html).

    Probably the best advice I heard was from my own doctor, which was to limit my sugar intake to simply natural sugars, such as those in fruits. I personally had to also make the choice to stay away from artificial sweeteners as well, as they trigger migraines for me. I sweeten my coffee in the morning with Stevia, which is a good alternative.

    I hope that helps!
  • daniellelorean
    daniellelorean Posts: 8
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    Sugars from fruit or nonfat dairy are fine, since they are naturally occurring (I try to avoid super high sugar fruits like grapes, pineapple, cherries, etc).

    Also the reason I'm going over in my sugars is because of fat free milk. I mean, it has 12g in it! D: So, what you're saying is that these sugars are better for me than other sugars because it's natural?
  • Atlantique
    Atlantique Posts: 2,484 Member
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    Everyday I enter in the foods I eat and everyday I go over on sugar. Usually it's anywhere between 5-15g over. I eat a lot of yogurt which has a lot of sugar in it. How does too much sugar effect dieting?

    It affects it several ways:

    -First, it leaves you hungry. sugar takes up a lot of calories, causes an insulin spike and then a blood sugar crash, so even though you recently ate you get hungry again shortly after eating a meal with a lot of non-fiber carbs. (All non-fiber carbs are converted to sugar in your body.)

    -Insulin tells your body to STORE FAT. Not burn it. So obviously, this is problematic if you were hoping to lose fat!
  • shreddingit
    shreddingit Posts: 1,133 Member
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    sugar makes you fat!....too much is over 35gr....the only ok sugar for weight loss is lactose which is milk...
    your body can only handle 5gr of it at a sitting the rest stores as fat...be careful and check all your foods and fruits...
  • maserati185
    maserati185 Posts: 263 Member
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    My opinion? DEFINITELY matters. I eat around 15g of sugar a day. You don't have to go that low, but I would keep it at the MFP recommendations. My "lifestyle change" or "diet" primarily focuses on this very thing. I've lost 21 lbs. in 3 months by lowering sugar (and carbs that turn into sugar). I still eat rice, fries/potatoes, bread, pasta... but never more than one at a time. Berries are a good natural lower sugar option, though I don't really follow the "natural sugars are better" thing. To me, sugar is sugar. I can get vitamins/nutrients from vegetables - without the high sugars.

    As some one else pointed out, it makes sense that sugar leaves you feeling MORE hungry. This is another aspect of how sugar will lead you to weight gain - indirectly, per se.

    And yes, milk is high in sugar. I used to drink a gallon a week (yikes!) I switched to Almond Breeze UNSWEETENED Vanilla Almond Milk. 0 sugars. I don't love the taste but I don't hate it either and it allows me to eat my cereal with peace of mind. :)
  • MissaMezzo
    MissaMezzo Posts: 1
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    I've been having this problem too. I find it really frustrating because I've been eating basically no refined sugar and I'm consistently under my goal in every other category including carbs and overall calories. Most of my sugar comes from carrots, oranges, and yogurt (which I only eat plain or sweetened with honey) I'm intolerant to most alternative sweeteners, but I don't think they'd really help me anyway since I'm not really adding sugar to anything right now. It's really confusing because I'm always WAY under my goal for carbs, but I'm still over on sugars. I wish there was a way to set it to only track refined sugars, or at least track them separately. I know it's not true for everybody, but for me (hypoglycemic) sugars from whole fruit/veg metabolize way different than sugars from sweets. Also, simple, refined carbs that MFP seems to only track as carbs (not sugar) are way worse for my blood sugar than sugar from whole foods. I'm new to this program, so if anyone can give me any advice on tweaking things to tell me more of what I'd like to know, I'd really appreciate it.
  • tryinghard2012
    tryinghard2012 Posts: 419 Member
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    I always go over. Today what was"high" in sugar is a medium gala apple (16 grams of Sugar) and All natural Greek Yogurt (15 grams of sugar).

    The nuts (all natural walnut/almonds), milk and low sugar oatmeal contributes a little (4-8 grams). I figure it's okay because the apple is natural sugar coupled with fiber. And my yogurt offers so much more benefits: Calcium, and protein (19 grams). :bigsmile:

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