sugar!!

stephl21uk

i have cut back on all processed sugars in my diet but i eat a lot of fresh fruit.......on some days im going over my limit.....as the sugar is naturally occuring sugars does it add extra pounds as granulated sugar would and is the sugar gonna stop me from losng weight?

kristy6ward

I worried about going over on my sugar as well. I'm over my sugar most days before lunch! Stinking grapefruits and their 22 grams of sugar! I've since stopped tracking it and stopped stressing about it. Calories are calories. If you stay within your calorie budget you'll be fine.

stephl21uk

THANKS X

SHBoss1673

with regards to sugar, the type is absolutely important as different sugars are processed in the body differently, it also matters how that sugar is delivered, I.E. sugar locked up in fibrous material (such as in solid fruits) takes longer to be broken down than sugar in fruit juice or sugar delivered as an addition.

This is important in two ways.

First, fructose is a major component of the sugar found in fruits, fructose is broken down in the intestines and absorbed through the intestinal walls to the blood stream to be converted to glucose and stored in the liver or at muscle sites, or stored as fat. This takes (in sugar break down terms) a long time to do, thus it doesn't spike the blood sugar very much. Sucrose (table sugar) and other disaccharides are broken down starting in the mouth and continue all the way down into the stomach, being almost completely broken down before leaving the stomach, which means it's absorbed into the blood at a very fast rate.
Fibrous materials locking up the sugar can slow down the process, since the body can't break down or use fiber, it is required to separate other (usable) nutrients from it before it can reach them (sort of like melting an ice cube to get to the middle), thus solid sugars that are naturally bonded to fiber take longer to break down, making the absorption rate of that sugar slower and more even. When you eat a sugar cube, your blood sugar spikes because there's far fewer barriers to that sugar entering your blood, than say an apple with the same total amount of sugar in it.
Spiking the blood sugar is bad for multiple reasons, mainly though is that the body can only use so much fuel at any one time, extra fuel in the blood triggers fat storage. But on a more long term scale, high levels of blood sugar trigger insulin release (insulin is the catalyst that allows cells to open up and receive fuel), the body does this to try to eliminate all that extra fuel floating around. Eventually the cells in the body become resistant to that insulin, and requiring more of it to activate the cells, this can lead to metabolic syndrome and diabetes (type 2) and consequently a whole host of other problems. This usually takes months or years to really happen, and in most cases is fully reversible with a proper diet and exercise. But the syndrome can lead to other permanent conditions such as vascular problems, extremity problems, and ocular issues.

That isn't to say you can't gain weight by eating too much fruit, you can, but there's more of a balance with fruit because the sugar in fruit is being delivered slower thus giving your body a stable energy source for much longer, and also because the fruit is delivering the micro-nutrients essential to a body, allowing your body's chemistry to function properly. So I say this, if you're spacing out your fruit, and eating it throughout the day, it's not that big of a deal, that doesn't mean you can gorge yourself on it and triple the amount you should eat, but going over by 5 to 10 grams in a day isn't the end of the world, especially if you're staying within your calories.

robin52077

if you notice the fruit (and milk, also a natural sugar) is the only thing making you go over, and you rarely eat sweets and junk food of that nature...then just stop tracking sugar, you're stressing yourself out unnecessarily and stress can hinder weight loss

Better thing to track? Fiber. Set it at 25g and aim to meet it.
Those fruits you were worried about being bad will now be good as that apple gives you 5 grams of fiber towards your goal! Also, it will make sure you are eating the right carbs. The fruits and veggies and whole grains have the fiber. If you are meeting your fiber without going over your carbs, you are eating awesome carbs, not crap carbs.

RebeccaEm4

I'm glad someone brought this up! I've been staying within my 'sugar limit' since I started my food diary but today I was out shopping and needed a drink so I picked up what I thought was a low calorie and sugar juice drink, got home and put it in the diary and it has used up all my sugar for the day and some. It's such an eye opener to see what is actually in the stuff you're eating/drinking. It also took up a lot of calories as well(more than the meal I will be making for dinner.)

I'm not going to worry too much about it, but I'll definitely be checking the labels on juice more often, or just sticking to bottled water. Crazy!

As someone said, calories are calories and even if you're just focusing on that, it makes a difference I'm sure x

stephl21uk

thanks for that, was really helpful....i stay away from fruit juscies and smoothies etc so im sure it will be fine