SUGAR... natural or artificial

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  • TLC1975
    TLC1975 Posts: 146 Member
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    So I just started tracking sugar.

    I made a smoothie for breakfast (1/2 banana, 1/4 cup Coconut Dream Coconut milk, 1/2 cup 2% Fage Greek Yogurt, 1/4 cup milk, 1 tblsp Better Than Peanut Butter, 1 tblsp peanut butter, 1 tblsp cocoa, 1 tsp NuNaturals Stevia)... and the tracker says I have used ALL of my sugar for the day.

    How in the HECK would anyone keep within that goal. I know that peanut butter has sugar in it, and banana has natural sugar... but HOLY MOLEY, does anyone stay within what is allowed?

    P.S. I am a stevia fan.

    All natural peanut butter that is made from JUST peanuts is low in sugar..this might help. Also most milks contain sugar, along with fruit as you know..this smoothie to me looks like pure sugar with a bit of protein in it, with all that fruit, why would u need stevia? And you can keep within ur sugar limit, it is possible I do it..I do not eat fruit (except grapefruit prior to workouts), no milk, no stevia (except what is in my protein powder)...
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    Stevia is not a chemical. I haven't heard anything "bad" about it and it tastes good. (Please post if you have heard differently.) Find an organic brand that is minimally processed and doesn't use fillers.

    Sugar and other high glycemic foods are bad for you. Here is a brief article summarizing some of the things I think about before I put sugar in my mouth:

    http://www.organicnutrition.co.uk/articles/is-sugar-bad-for-you.htm
    Water is a chemical.

    http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/22/opinion/la-oe-blum-chemicals-20120122
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    So I just started tracking sugar.

    I made a smoothie for breakfast (1/2 banana, 1/4 cup Coconut Dream Coconut milk, 1/2 cup 2% Fage Greek Yogurt, 1/4 cup milk, 1 tblsp Better Than Peanut Butter, 1 tblsp peanut butter, 1 tblsp cocoa, 1 tsp NuNaturals Stevia)... and the tracker says I have used ALL of my sugar for the day.

    How in the HECK would anyone keep within that goal. I know that peanut butter has sugar in it, and banana has natural sugar... but HOLY MOLEY, does anyone stay within what is allowed?

    P.S. I am a stevia fan.

    All natural peanut butter that is made from JUST peanuts is low in sugar..this might help. Also most milks contain sugar, along with fruit as you know..this smoothie to me looks like pure sugar with a bit of protein in it, with all that fruit, why would u need stevia? And you can keep within ur sugar limit, it is possible I do it..I do not eat fruit (except grapefruit prior to workouts), no milk, no stevia (except what is in my protein powder)...

    Even some that aren't aren't very high in it.

    Skippy natural either has 2 or 4 grams per 2 T serving. I can't remember which it is.
  • lynheff
    lynheff Posts: 393 Member
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    Splenda ( sucralose) is made from sugar. I use it since it doesn't make my blood sugar bounce like sucrose. It also stays sweet in baking.
  • JennaM222
    JennaM222 Posts: 1,996 Member
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    I like a splenda packet with my coffee.

    But, you know, it will probably kill me along with all the diet pepsi I drink.....:drinker:
  • SweetSammie
    SweetSammie Posts: 391 Member
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    The regular PB is Full Circle Organics, so it is pretty low. Better Than Peanut Butter tastes pretty sweet, so that might be a culprit.

    I welcome any help, but the only fruit was 1/2 a banana... which I know is a super sweet fruit, but still... it's not much fruit.

    However, 3 1/2 hours later, I'm still full, so I may scrap the sugar tracking aside from eliminating added sugars where I can. I don't eat packaged foods... I'm losing weight...

    There has to be a little trade-off from my carbs being lower than usual, because essentially, carbs become sugar pretty quickly.

    It may not be a battle worth fighting when we're talking about sugar in milk/yogurt/peanutbutter and fruit. I love fruit, but it's not like I"m eating it more than 2 maybe 3 times a day, and often my servings are smaller: 1/2 a banana, or 1/2 cup of strawberries.
  • Vegetablearian
    Vegetablearian Posts: 148 Member
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    I am a scientist ...

    I hate to tell you all everything is a chemical ... you're all going to die.

    No seriously just because something is natural doesnt mean it is healthy and just because something is man made it doesnt mean it is bad.

    Hemlock is natural but poisonous but you wouldnt eat it.

    Aspirin is man made but you take that. (aspirin is not found naturally in a plant, a similar chemical is and that was modified by man to make it better and causes less side effects) or most other medicine is man made.

    Ive studied chemistry at degree level and biology at college level :-)
  • odonogc
    odonogc Posts: 223 Member
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    For me, it's natural sugar only, and not very much of it.
  • mammfp
    mammfp Posts: 1
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    Agave nectar
  • Linbo93
    Linbo93 Posts: 229 Member
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    I have an intolerance for fake sugars...it causes me to break out. So I only eat real sugar, and I haven't had any issues with Stevia yet, although I'm treading slowly. But my opinion is that if I'm going to eat something sweet, I'm going to eat it the natural way. I just moderate how much I have, too much of anything is bad for you.

    I also cut out 90% of the processed foods I used to eat out of my diet, so a lot of those sugary snacks got cut out with it.
  • lgomez75
    lgomez75 Posts: 115
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    question - where does turbinado fit into all this? friend? or foe?
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,018 Member
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    question - where does turbinado fit into all this? friend? or foe?
    It's just less refined cane sugar. Basically it doesn't get to the refined white stage. Treat it as you would normal white table sugar.
  • Bridget28152723
    Bridget28152723 Posts: 372 Member
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    This is a big debate...
    I used to eat a lot of equal , etc., like 12 packs or more a day , put in oatmeal, yogurt, coffee everything. Also I drank a little diet Pepsi daily
    As of a week ago I stopped because Im trying to go as close to raw and plant-based as I can.
    I guess artificial sweeteners can be good for diabetics and people who are trying to lose weight but it has to be broken down in the liver and if you use it throughout the day you're not giving your liver a break ...

    The liver helps break down fat and flushes toxins out of your body so I thought it would be good for ME to quit the fake sugars so my liver can break down fat and flush out all the crap I was putting in my body a week ago. I have lost a few pounds and let me say this is HUGE because I haven't lost in 5 months ( I have Hashimoto's(hypothyroid) I am wondering if all the artificial sweeteners I was ingesting was part of the reason I wasn't losing weight ..

    Anybody with an auto-immune disease/disorder should consider limiting extra chemicals, toxins, hormones, and animal products because our immune system is already compromised and could use some TLC on our part, I know I would do anything if I can to help my thyroid to function better, because medicines are not gonna make me feel 100% better.

    Also just because something is "natural" doesnt mean its good for you and vice versa. Whatever works for you and makes you feel healthy go for it!
  • mellabyte
    mellabyte Posts: 193 Member
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    I'm diabetic, so I should really watch my sugars. I've gotten to the point where I no longer need diabetic drugs, my sugars are controlled naturally through diet and exercise. So here's my take with that background.

    I stay away from anything that has aspartame...I also stay away from things like equal or sweet n' low. (I stay away from diet anything really, just usually leaves a strange aftertaste. -_-) For a while, I used splenda because supposedly it was better for you because it was derived from sugar, but as studies progressed, the final verdict on splenda because more grey...sort of the path that aspartame studies followed. So I switched to stevia, which I only use very occasionally now because the verdict is also starting to get grey there too. -siiighs-

    In the end, I now use natural sugars like honey, sugar in the raw, maple syrup, etc. I just use less. I notice that after a while, your taste buds are basically reprogrammed. Lots of things just taste really sweet or really salty to me now since I've started limiting.
  • elijahgo1
    elijahgo1 Posts: 17
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    Everything has sugar in it. Much of it you cannot control. Control what you can. I use splenda in everything I would normally put sugar. Frankly, and to my suprise, I cannot tell between the two. This helps a lot. For instance, now, instead of a cup of coffee (two cream two sugar) being 160 calories, it is around 30.

    MFP is a program that tracks calories. Sugar has a lot of calories. Eliminate what you can control is my advice.

    Elijah
  • Dare2Believe
    Dare2Believe Posts: 140 Member
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    When I was in nursing school 3 years ago I had to do a research project on artificial sweeteners. Some of the things I read in peer reviewed scientific/medical journals was scary. I stopped eating & drinking stuff that had artificial sweeteners in them. Think I will try & find that paper or some of the research again.
  • steveinct
    steveinct Posts: 140 Member
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    A good start would be to research why beer (and other alcohols) make you fat, how your body digests fat, and how your body handles toxins. You will notice a pattern. Your liver is hugely responsible for both the breaking down of fats and also the handling of toxins. When you consume something that your body perceives as toxic, your liver will (wisely) try to process that toxin before getting to the rest of it's business (like creating bile acids to break down fat other nutrients). Because of this inefficiency, you can end up storing fat from the good foods you eat while your body is fighting toxins. To me, it is as simple as this: In general, if a product is not found in nature, your body will have a harder time assimilating it which decreases your efficiency to meet your goal. This can be anything from artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols to synthetic vitamins. On the other hand, don't make yourself crazy about all of this stuff because it could case you to give up before you reach your goal. Good luck!
  • scoutit
    scoutit Posts: 36
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    Neanderthin, or anyone who knows: Doesn't fructose absorb differently than refined sugar? My understanding is that the nature of fructose combined with the fiber of the fruit you are eating slows it's absorption and lowers its GI rating.

    Before you bash me about Glycemic Index again I will share that yes, it is important to me to find low GI foods. Many on these boards are diabetic, pre-diabetic or cancer survivors and they should be taking GI into consideration when making choices..
  • scoutit
    scoutit Posts: 36
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    Mella, what "gray areas" are you hearing about stevia? I use it and would be very interested in knowing!
  • LoveLivingHealthy
    LoveLivingHealthy Posts: 52
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    As every overweight person is told Sugar... its bad for you... I was told too... though I do not have a sweet tooth but some days you feel like having somethings sweet. So i was considering substituting sugar but then i thought WHY? any substitute is chemical when you talk about eating organic why would you want to eat chemicals... plus when i started mfp this time i know 1tsp is not so many calories... you can totally stop having sugar or just reduce the quantity..

    sugar substitutes are basically poison for your body and they also confuse your brain into thinking its getting calories when its not so it makes you crave more calories, therefore you eat more than you should.

    regular sugar is also a processed which is bad for your weight and body.

    the BEST sugars are the natural ones such as raw honey, agave, stevia and 100% pure maple syrup. those foods your body knows how to break up and metabolize and its so much better for your body. Of course it is still considered sugar so if your wanting to lose weight than just make sure that you use it in moderation and dont get too crazy.

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