Sugar question

blum0133

Does anyone keep track of how many grams of sugar they eat? I just added that today and after eating a banana, over half of my sugar intake is taken up...how am I supposed to eat less sugar? And what happens when I eat too much? Im not eating candy or sweets or anything. It is all coming from foods that are usually thought of as being 'healthy'.

blum0133

Does anyone keep track of how many grams of sugar they eat? I just added that today and after eating a banana, over half of my sugar intake is taken up...how am I supposed to eat less sugar? And what happens when I eat too much? Im not eating candy or sweets or anything. It is all coming from foods that are usually thought of as being 'healthy'.

LuckyLeprechaun

a widely held consensus around here is, if it is coming from fruit, don't worry too much about going over on sugar.

don't use this as an excuse to blow it on candy, but honestly, have bananas, and don't worry too much-

cardigirl

a widely held consensus around here is, if it is coming from fruit, don't worry too much about going over on sugar.

don't use this as an excuse to blow it on candy, but honestly, have bananas, and don't worry too much-

Exactly what my trainer told me yesterday! Fruit is good for you!

angelinaz

I personally rely more on veggies and fruits with less sugars. Bananas have a lot of sugar and so I use them as part of a fruit salad instead of just eating a whole banana. I usually stick to berries and melons, and one of my favorites is the pink lady apple.

mrsyac2

Does anyone keep track of how many grams of sugar they eat? I just added that today and after eating a banana, over half of my sugar intake is taken up...how am I supposed to eat less sugar? And what happens when I eat too much? Im not eating candy or sweets or anything. It is all coming from foods that are usually thought of as being 'healthy'.

eat lower glycemic foods- Banana's are fairly high on the glycemic index- alot of fruits contain alot of natural sugars like grapes are high as well-

mrsyac2

a widely held consensus around here is, if it is coming from fruit, don't worry too much about going over on sugar.

don't use this as an excuse to blow it on candy, but honestly, have bananas, and don't worry too much-

You can still gain weight eating too much fruit that contains high amounts of sugar though so I wouldn't go as far as saying don't worry about it-
There are plenty of fruits out there that you can eat that won't spike your insulin levels like say bananas,oranges,and say grapes

You can eat a green apple rather than a red apple for less sugar

cardigirl

Yeah, bananas are high in sugar, so are carrots, but raw carrots have the fiber to help with the glycemic load and bananas don't have that much fiber.

I'm thinking though, that a banana is a better choice than say, a cookie. Or a doughnut. Or the scant 2 Tbls of maple syrup I had this morning with my waffles. :laugh:

blum0133

Thanks all...yeah I guess I never really thought about getting too much sugar from fruit (silly as that may be). Is it just that I will gain weigt if I eat too much sugar or are there other healthy issues that go along with that (sorry little naive on this subject).

Skinnytime

I wonder if you had a whole grain crisp with sugary fruit if it wouldn't help balance the glycemic load? Not at all sure it works, but it would be adding fiber along with the fruit ...

Nich0le

a widely held consensus around here is, if it is coming from fruit, don't worry too much about going over on sugar.

don't use this as an excuse to blow it on candy, but honestly, have bananas, and don't worry too much-

I have to agree, although fruit should be limited to about 3 servings a day it is better than candy bars! Just goes to show we don't need very much sugar in our diets that a couple of pieces of fruit can blow our numbers out of the water :noway:

blum0133

I usually only eat 2 servings of fruit a day...but I agree! It is crazy how little sugar we really need!

godsgrl

There are all different types of sugar: lactose, fructose, sucrose, glucose, etc, and they all have various roles in the body. They all function as carbohydrates & are considered macronutrients. Though we don't necessarily NEED them, our body can convert them to energy very well. And they do taste good!

However, most of the health problems from sugar come from ingesting the extracted and concentrated form (i.e. removing the fructose from fruit or corn, removing the sucrose from sugar cane, etc). So eating the concentrated, extracted source of fruit sugar (fructose), tends to cause serious health problems but doesn't necessarily do so when you eat the whole fruit.

Most labels (and myfitnesspal) don't differentiate between naturally occuring sugars in grains/fruits and concentrated, added sugars. Of course, since the best way to stay healthy is to stick to basic, whole foods, I wouldn't be too concerned about eating fruit (unless you have insulin problems like hypoglycemia or diabetes) and instead focus more on reducing concentrated sugars in your diet. It will be hard to use myfitnesspal to track this, but you can easily do it on your own.

And this is usually fun to do (for a while, anyway :laugh:)! When I first did this, I was shocked at how much sugar I ate a day in ketchup and other *small* goodies. It was a good wake-up call!

mrsyac2

Numbers lower than 100 mean that food converts to blood sugar slower than glucose-and in terms of your mission to increase energy levels for athletes and burn body fat, the lower the GI index the better


Fruits

dates,dried-103
watermelon-72
pineapple-66
raisins-64
apricots -57
mangoes-56
fruit cocktail-55
banana -53
kiwi fruit-53
grapes -52
canned peach 47
orange -43
peaches-42
blueberries -40
plums-39
pear -36
apple -36
strawberries-32
raspberries-32
blackberries-32
dried apricots- 30
grapefruit-25
cherries-22