When watching sugar, how bad is an extra priece of fruit?

michedarnd

So, I've been trying to eat healthily, and part of that is keeping my sugar, sodium, and fat intake down. I have found keeping the sugar down to be an IMMENSE struggle, however. I don't do a lot of white flour or white rice, any more (occasional treats), but my worst demon has been cutting down my fruit intake! I have typically eaten 2 servings of fruit per day. Now, I can rarely manage that without doing 450 or more calories of exercise in a day to make room for it (assuming I am varying my diet) or simply going over my sugar count (probably happens about half of the time). So, since I am seldom adding sugar to my food, eating desserts, or adding it to my drinks, how much of a problem is it for me to go slightly (not spectacularly) over my SUGAR intake (not my CALORIE intake) by having an extra green apple that day?

neanderthin

It's about calories, not 2 pieces of fruit a day....enjoy your fruit.

patilee

Unless you are diabetic, fruit is healthy and has all kinds of great micro nutrients.

Chris_bee05

I'm really careful about fruit personally. I know it's not "bad" for you, but some fruit is VERY high in sugar like apples and bananas. One apple is like 19g of sugar. Same for bananas. That's A LOT in my opinion. That's like half of a full sized candy bar. YIKES! And unfortunately sugar is sugar and your body doesn't differenciate between fruit sugars and processed sugars. Some fruits are lower in sugar, like a lot of berries and some melon, but mostly I try to avoid too much fruit. Like anything it's fine in moderation, but mostly I just see fruit as a ton of sugar....

neanderthin

And the reason why people think fruit is a bad thing......olive oil is very high in fat, actually it's all fat, and fat is bad, right?

Chris_bee05

I'm not exactly sure what your "question" is or what is meant by this, but sometimes it's not a matter of what's "good vs bad", but it's a matter of what's okay and what's BETTER for you. Margarine vs Olive Oil....Olive oil is better. White pasta vs whole grain....whole grain is better. Fruit vs Candy Bar....fruit is better, BUT that's doesn't make it good for you per se. Yes fruit has a lot of stuff that's "good for you" and, no, not all sugar is bad, but in the case of the opening post, sugar is sugar, and yes, some fruit has a lot of sugar.

neanderthin

I guess I was really resonding to your comment " but mostly I just see fruit as a ton of sugar.... " You also said even though fruit has natural sugars in it doesn't make it good for us per se...which is basically saying fruit is bad....that is the reason I posted what I did......obviously you and many others find it difficult to imagine fruit to be a healthy addition....diissecting nutrition and pointing a finger at a potential single nutritional problem based on the overconsumption of processed carbs that contain a lot of refined sugar seems to have made fruit a bad choice, which for me makes no sense whatsoever imo.

michedarnd

Neanderthin -- as I understand it, two of the largest contributors to heart disease are an OVERABUNDANCE of fat and an OVERABUNDANCE of sugar. I eat fruit daily. But, I've been struggling to keep my total counts of both things in the green. I believe that her point is that, struggle or not, it is a valid goal to keep it green, and that going over on sugar, even with fruit, is still going over on sugar -- with all of the attendant health issues that go with it.

neanderthin

USDA and others are referring to added sugar, not natural sugar to be kept at a minimum and I believe the USDA limits it to 40g's a day.

Chris_bee05

I guess I was really resonding to your comment " but mostly I just see fruit as a ton of sugar.... " You also said even though fruit has natural sugars in it doesn't make it good for us per se...which is basically saying fruit is bad....that is the reason I posted what I did......obviously you and many others find it difficult to imagine fruit to be a healthy addition....diissecting nutrition and pointing a finger at a potential single nutritional problem based on the overconsumption of processed carbs that contain a lot of refined sugar seems to have made fruit a bad choice, which for me makes no sense whatsoever imo.

No matter how you look at it, sugar is still sugar, and 20g of sugar in an apple vs 20g of sugar in a candy bar is still 20g of sugar.

I'm not saying fruit is "bad", but like anything, it should be eaten in moderation. Fruit is not a "bad" choice if you're looking at your pantry and see an apple and a Twix bar, then obviously fruit is the better choice.

Chris_bee05

USDA and others are referring to added sugar, not natural sugar to be kept at a minimum and I believe the USDA limits it to 40g's a day.

Unfortunately our bodies do not recognize a difference between natural sugar and processed sugar. Again, this goes back to the issue of what's "okay" for you and what's BETTER for you. Of course natural sugar is BETTER (healthwise) than processed sugar, but it's still sugar either way.

MikeSEA

I guess I was really resonding to your comment " but mostly I just see fruit as a ton of sugar.... " You also said even though fruit has natural sugars in it doesn't make it good for us per se...which is basically saying fruit is bad....that is the reason I posted what I did......obviously you and many others find it difficult to imagine fruit to be a healthy addition....diissecting nutrition and pointing a finger at a potential single nutritional problem based on the overconsumption of processed carbs that contain a lot of refined sugar seems to have made fruit a bad choice, which for me makes no sense whatsoever imo.

No matter how you look at it, sugar is still sugar, and 20g of sugar in an apple vs 20g of sugar in a candy bar is still 20g of sugar.

I'm not saying fruit is "bad", but like anything, it should be eaten in moderation. Fruit is not a "bad" choice if you're looking at your pantry and see an apple and a Twix bar, then obviously fruit is the better choice.

I promise you that your body does process 20g worth of sugar from a snicker's bar differently--faster-- than it does 20g worth of sugar from plums (random example fruit).

That said, unless someone already has a problem with sugar, an extra apple is going to turn them into a diabetic.

dls06

I don't think anyone ever died from a piece of fruit. Unless they choked on it. :laugh:
It's all about portion control and serving size too.

neanderthin

What was mother nature thinking when she put sugar in fruit and vegetables.............doesn't she know that it metabolises the same as refinded sugar, what was.....she .....thinking.

rockerbabyy

i dont count my fruit sugars. my dietician told me to only worry about added sugars.
hell, the pear i had today was 21g alone.

michedarnd

i dont count my fruit sugars. my dietician told me to only worry about added sugars.
hell, the pear i had today was 21g alone.

THANK YOU. That was what I wanted to hear. Not that I won't ask a doctor, myself, in most cases, but I was wondering what the dieticians/doctors might have told people.

(Wow. Just noticed the typo in the title. Oh, well)

fastmethod

i'm not sure fruit is that bad, or necessarily the sugar in fruit is the same as a candy bar. I mean yes an apple has 19g of sugar- but remember that's not sugar as in table sugar (sucrose) its 3 different ones glucose, fructose and sucrose. in terms of calorie control- ie if your watching calories that's about 200cal for an average size apple. but if your on a GI type set up then an apple isn't going to raise insulin etc as much as a candy bar not by a long shot. plus it has about 8g of fibre too, which is going to make you feel more full. i guess it depends why your watching sugar.

Chris_bee05

Yes, but as far as what OP is asking, it's still sugar. If someone is seriously watching sugar then they'll want to watch ALL sugars. That's all I'm saying.

Chris_bee05

What was mother nature thinking when she put sugar in fruit and vegetables.............doesn't she know that it metabolises the same as refinded sugar, what was.....she .....thinking.

What is your problem? No need to get all sarcastic and rude....

HMonsterX

What was mother nature thinking when she put sugar in fruit and vegetables.............doesn't she know that it metabolises the same as refinded sugar, what was.....she .....thinking.

What is your problem? No need to get all sarcastic and rude....

You considered that rude? Wow...

*refined, btw

MikeSEA

Yes, but as far as what OP is asking, it's still sugar. If someone is seriously watching sugar then they'll want to watch ALL sugars. That's all I'm saying.

Right, but I guess I would question why the OP cares. It was actually stated they have a concern over overabundance leads to specific medical problems. That kind of statement troubles me. First because I sense an inappropriate generalization rooted in questionable research (but who knows at this point). Second, unless a doctor's been consulted and given specific instructions, there's no need to be concerned about your sugar....unless of course you know you have a family history of sugar-related illness. But none of that has been made clear.

So, again, there's no real point to watching the sugar, to the extent that we're talking about, if you're under your deficit and don't have a direct reason to be concerned about sugar for yourself.