Sugar and/or salt???

pbajwally

Which is worse? I'm pretty sensitive to salt and don't like a lot of it but I definitely have a sweet tooth. I've been noticing that my daily sodium intakes are staying well within my boundaries so I switched the macros to keep track of my sugar intake. I've been significantly over (25-50 g) the last two days & I haven't gone back to check more than that.

If I'm staying within my calories & within the boundaries of the other nutritional guidelines - how much is the sugar hurting? It's hidden in a lot more foods than I have given thought to. I don't like artificial sweeteners. I would much rather consume real sugar. Am I totally alone in this? I could really use some guidance. Thank you in advance for any input!

Redbird99ky

I guess it's personal preference. I don't track sugar, but Pam does, and she TRIES to stay within the bounds, but she finds it difficult to do so in her low calorie weeks. I try to make most of my sugars come from natural sources such as fruits, but honestly, I couldn't tell you. I know that some of my zone bars are pretty high in sugars (11-14g) and I haven't read the ingredients close enough to know if it's processed sugar or honey.

The only things I add sugar to are my oatmeal, and raisin bran. I do know that some of the lean cuisine meals have quite alot of sugar (one had 54g or something like that).

I'm more concerned with sodium, given our family's propensity for hypertension. As a result of watching my sodium and getting my weight down, my blood pressure last week was 120 something over 70 something, my cholesterol was 149, (not bad, considering that my doctor wanted to put me on one of the statin drugs two years ago and I refused), and triglyceride level was 78, all well within the healthy range for my age. Sugar control was 5.3, also good.

I don't know if this helped any, but that's my two cents on the issue.

pbajwally

Have you tried chia seeds? I've heard one of the benefits is that is lowers blood pressure naturally... I think of them as poppy seeds with a punch.

And thank you for your response. It helps shed some light on things and I appreciate it.

Redbird99ky

Chia seeds? like from chia pets? (j/k) No I haven't tried them. I may if I have BP issues in the future, but for now, it is doing pretty good, all things considered.

I haven't heard of chia seeds. I'll have to google them ... tomorrow... I need to do my reading and get to bed.

theartichoke

I'm over on my sugar everyday and I don't even eat the stuff. If I have 1 cutie orange, half a banana and sugar from fresh tomatoes or carrots I'm over. I'm also eating to avoid becoming Type 2 diabetic so no hidden sugars in bread or other things. I say to heck with that sugar part on MFP. It doesn't differentiate between corn syrup and fresh carrots. I'm sure they set as neutral a guideline as possible to help us see our intakes. I'm staying well within range for a diabetic, according to doctors, not MFP. It's easy to lower the sugars if you feel they're problematic without ingesting artificial sweeteners. Try choosing breads made without sugar or lower sugar fruits. Strawberries, apples, nectarines, plums. If you're not suffering any physical problems from your intake level like getting really tired after meals, not being able to exercise or have trouble reaching your weight goals I would let it be. Sounds like you're doing pretty well to me.