Sugar intake for Women

Mrsfreedom41

I just read the daily sugar intake for Women should be no more than 20g a day. This was posted by the American Heart Association. My sugar intake for today which is just breakfast is already 17g. The most being from fat free milk. Do you keep track of your sugar intake and what do you do to keep it down?

GreenLifeGirl

BUMP. I would be interested to know what others do...one piece of fruit is like 12-16g of sugar!

adjones5

I actually just thought about this yesterday. I work out like crazy and haven't seen results in a little while so I went back over what I have eaten in the past week and I have not been monitoring my sugar intake properly. I'm brain storming strategies to keep it down.

Beezil

I kinda gave up on limiting myself to 20-22 grams of sugar a day. I feel like it's honestly impossible. I think though that the number is meant for added sugars, not necessarily natural sugars. Typically, half the sugar I consume in a day is made up of natural sugars - but I almost always still go over 30 grams of added sugar a day. :P

emaline614

i generally don't pay attention to my sugar... especially since i eat SO much fruit. if you want to watch your sugar intake... pay attention to your processed sugars and try and keep them down.

Artemis_Acorn

I tracked my sugar intake (and kept it down) for a couple of weeks to help break a plateau. It was brutal. Basically, little to no dairy, no fruit, nothing the least bit starchy, nothing processed etc. I did use protein bars, but only the ones that used Sugar alcohols to sweeten because they only had like 2g of sugar.

Stevia was my friend. I ate a lot of tuna, chicken, eggs, lettuce, spinach and other non-starchy veggies. I found some dried beans that were sprouted before they were dehydrated and they were quite low in sugar. Basically, whenever I found something that met all the criteria, it was on the menu for the duration!

It busted my plateau quite rapidly, along with a few other temporary changes I made. I will do it again if necessary, but wow, it sure did limit the options.

Debbe2

You can find sugar in lots of foods. I concentrate on keeping my sugar intake low and have virtually eliminated milk from my diet over the past few years. I'm not recommending that anyone else does that. Lactose is a sugar in the body and I stay away because I'm diabetic controlling my diabetes well through diet without any meds. I enjoy yogurt a lot as a snack but I do have preferred brands and try to stay with brands containing lower sugar. You're right, sugar in dairy can add up and we tend not to realize how quickly it does.

tpycha126

I actually just thought about this yesterday. I work out like crazy and haven't seen results in a little while so I went back over what I have eaten in the past week and I have not been monitoring my sugar intake properly. I'm brain storming strategies to keep it down.

I just did the same too. I'v been stuck losing & gaining the same 3 pounds. I really wanna break past it and hit my goal. I'm only a few pounds away from it but I've been stuck in this cycle. So I was thinking it has to do with either my sugar or sodium intake, but both are so hard to keep down. If you can think of anything let me know. I could use some suggustions.

kristitampl

Its almost impossible not to exceed 20-25 grams of sugar daily. I thought I was doing a very good job by eating alot of fruits, but my sugar intake for eating a banana and a golden apple, exceeded the recommended daily amount. So , now I am confused about what to replace them with.

Beezil

Just as an example - here is the summary of my added sugar intake for the last week. This is ADDED sugar only. If you totaled these along with the natural sugars from the fruit, milk, and honey I had then most of these numbers would be doubled or a little less than doubled.

Edit: Today I had a lot of fruit. Most of the added sugar from today was from the frozen yogurt I added to my smoothie - without it I would have only had 21 grams of added sugar today.

Today: 55 grams
Wednesday: 32 grams
Tuesday: 19 grams
Monday: 56 grams
Sunday: 33 grams
Saturday: 29 grams
Friday: 32 grams
Thursday: 30 grams

RoanneRed

I kinda gave up on limiting myself to 20-22 grams of sugar a day. I feel like it's honestly impossible. I think though that the number is meant for added sugars, not necessarily natural sugars. Typically, half the sugar I consume in a day is made up of natural sugars - but I almost always still go over 30 grams of added sugar a day. :P

This was my first thought - they're talking about ADDED sugar. After all, one pear has about 20 grams of Carbohydrate and it surely can't be excessive to eat 1 piece of fruit.

Mrsfreedom41

I have to edit my post - I went back to American Heart Association information and it is 30g of sugar not 20 g and this does not include the natural sugars in foods consumed. So I guess the amount of sugar I'm consuming is not that bad after all. I will just have to watch the snacks and liquids that I consume that have sugar in them. Hope I didn't confuse anyone.

Ashbee1224

Ive been trying to stay under my 26g a day and doing pretty well. Im confused by this refined/natural sugar thing. Ive done a lil research and have read sugar is sugar, wether natural or refined your body recognizes it the same.

HMonsterX

I really don't get what all this fuss about sugar is for. I never, ever look at mine. I just watch my calories, exercise regularly, and enjoy the results. I've never felt better, stronger, or fitter. I did a report on my sugar, and it was pretty much double for every day for the last 6 months. As long as i don't exceed my calories, i really don't see any ill effects

People just seem to want to overcomplicate this...

Artemis_Acorn

I really don't get what all this fuss about sugar is for. I never, ever look at mine. I just watch my calories, exercise regularly, and enjoy the results. I've never felt better, stronger, or fitter. I did a report on my sugar, and it was pretty much double for every day for the last 6 months. As long as i don't exceed my calories, i really don't see any ill effects

People just seem to want to overcomplicate this...

I'm really happy for those who can do well just watching the calories, but for some of us, it is a bigger deal than for others. I have PCOS and am insulin resistant and so my macronutrient ratios and micronutrient totals really do impact whether I'm successful or not. I can believe that for someone who is healthy with the exception of needing to lose a few pounds, this question is really moot.

klynn22091

Actually, this is a bit of a complicated question. Carbohydrates can take the form of sugar once digested, and a certain amount of sugar, as the answer above indicates, occurs naturally in food. However, the following bit from http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/hl/nutr/food/alert01192000.jsp, I found helpful: "In petitioning for labeling changes regarding sugar, CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest), joined by dozens of leading health experts, also wants the FDA to set a maximum recommended daily intake (Daily Value) for added sugars of 10 teaspoons (40 grams) and require labels to disclose the percentage of the Daily Value a food provides."There are many naturally occurring sugars such as sucrose which is a combination of glucose and fructose (or fruit sugar), lactose (from milk), maltose and galactose. You don't want too many of the simple sugar glucose, but you can have a few more of the complex ones. If you digest too many simple sugars, your body gets swamped and the excess that is not used by your body gets stored as fat. Also useful to know is that sugars also enters your cells using the same pathway as Vitamin C - so, too much sugar and your body does not absorb Vitamin C as well. Too much sugar also interrupts your immune system. However, you can eat or drink natural sugars in moderation - say up to 100 grams a day (like orange juice which contains quite a lot of fructose).

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_grams_of_sugar_are_appropriate_per_day_for_the_average_adult



Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_grams_of_sugar_are_appropriate_per_day_for_the_average_adult#ixzz1cLPt6I4c

marzahl68

I have to edit my post - I went back to American Heart Association information and it is 30g of sugar not 20 g and this does not include the natural sugars in foods consumed. So I guess the amount of sugar I'm consuming is not that bad after all. I will just have to watch the snacks and liquids that I consume that have sugar in them. Hope I didn't confuse anyone.

Whew! I'm glad! I try to cut out sugar as much as possible but I sure wasn't going cut out fruit because of its natural sugar.

babz3000

I've read various sources and the recommended sugar intake is definitely 20g for women, 36 for men, 12 for kids. Here's a great article on the subject: http://www.rodale.com/recommended-sugar-intake

To the lady who said she gets most of her morning sugars from her fat free milk: my friend, what kind of milk are you using??! You need to get some REAL milk, not "milk drink", soy milk or rice milk! Those ALL contain sugars. Normal skim milk and fat free milk has ZERO sugars. Stick to skim milk and you'll be fine for a number of reasons.

Byrdsong1920

I was just goggling this.....lowering sugar helps w/insulin spikes and so its good to always eat sugars w/a protein. And stick to healthy sugars such as fruits and not processed sugar such as raw sugar, candy, soda, etc. We can't avoid sugar, but we can help it work for us. Cutting back on high sugary dressings on salads, etc. I use unsweetened Almond Vanilla or Chocolate Milk for my protein shakes and most recipes.

This is a lifestyle change...so have fun and do the best you can. On average my sugar is between 20-30, if I have some ice cream or something, it is much higher, but I try to limit my 'splurge' meals to once a week and have fun so I don't binge.

Happy Journey, Shan

Great artcile I found: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/NutritionCenter/HealthyDietGoals/Sugars-and-Carbohydrates_UCM_303296_Article.jsp

Rainbowabi85

erm to babz3000, real milk also contains sugar!

willdob3

If you are making good food choices & seeing results I would not worry about going a little over. And if you add your exercise the sugar grams go up & that should help. If you indulge in treats on occasion that will put you over, too, but I don't think it is a problem unless you are going over because of eating lots of junk on a daily basis. If you do that you'll be way over on lots of things.

If you eat much fruit &/or starchy carbs it is going to be difficult to stay under the suggested limits without some extra work. You can look for lower sugar fruits & carbs if you really want to stay under on the sugar.

Eliminating processed foods will lower your sugar. Low/no fat products generally have higher sugar than full fat ones. Read labels.

I know there are some specific diet plans that focus on how to keep sugar grams low but I have not followed one. I think they also spread sugar grams out evenly over all meals.

I don't need to worry about going over my sugar grams and I have customized my goal to 15g sugar per day. I never come close. I eat no processed foods or grains (have food sensitivities) and stick to veggies for most of my carbs. Even adding a couple small servings of lower sugar & healthy fruit would put me over that. Getting the quality of fruit (no pesticides, etc) I require is a bit tough on my budget right now so fruit has been infrequent. When my budget allows i will most likely add fruit back in more often & allow more sugar grams.

1223345

Are they talking about added, refined sugar or natural sugar?

kpd270

the last comment is absolutely true. No added processed sugars, whether from dairy or boxed food or candy. The intake of fruit should be limited to about 3 servings a day. Stay away from the tropical fruit with higher sugars and stick with dark berries and high fiber like an apple or pear. Fruit sugar is automatically used as fuel for energy. You can have approx 40 naturally ocurring sugars a day, especially if you exercise. I would eat it BEFORE the wok out so the glucose levels go up and converts it to energy quickly to give you stamina. This is the only way to reduce belly fat. Gluten free, dairy free, soy free, sugar free. Cravings will subside, belly fat will reduce and your mind and joints will feel amazing. If you HAVE to use sugar, use stevia or natural cane sugar, straight from the source. In addition, your muscles will begin to show through, if you are strength training. Try to eat way more greens and veggies than fruits per day. high fiber, low sugar. Good luck!

nomeejerome

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