how the frick do i keep sugar down??

emmamcc1981

seriously, i stay well within all my other goals but sugar is always waaaaaay over. i know i could cut *some* of the stuff i eat to keep levels down (i have a mega sweet tooth) but it seems like the sugar levels in everything are super high. especially fruit, which i eat alot of.

weirdly though, i logged the sugar i put in my coffee yesterday, and it said 0 for sugar even though i added a teaspoon. WTF?

should i just stop bothering to monitor it? i'm working out and losing and staying within calories - is there any point watching it?

or it there a way to live life with hardly *any* sugar at all? what do you think?

curvatrino

I've cut out additional sugar, and anything with added sugar. I'm trying my best to just have naturally occuring sugar, from fruit etc. It's tough, but worth it. I wouldn't worry about going over your sugar allowance if you're within your calories and all your other macros are fine.

Real sugar is probably better than sweetner, so if you're adding sugar, add the real stuff, and have the most unrefined you can if possible!

ST99000722

I hear you ...I find it impossible.
I'm doing my best and trying not to worry about it too much if the other stuff is on track

SirZee

Replace fruits with vegetables as much as you can. Green Peas are good replacement, tomatoes.

thechubner

I would just try not to add sugar to things and avoid as many processed foods as possible. It's crazy how much sugar they sneak into foods (not to mention the hydroginated goo and other ingredients I can't pronouce) If your sugar is coming from healthy fruits try not to worry too much about it. You can always replace higher sugar fruits like bananas, cherries, and grapes with lower sugar fruits like berries and grapefruit. Good luck!

m_wilh

Don't eat processed or pre-packaged foods. Eat as much fresh or frozen veggies as you can. Even fruit will give you a high sugar intake. Even though it is natural, it still counts toward your sugar intake. I have very little to no sugar in my diet. It's sooo hard sometimes, but I feel TONS better. Sugar makes you feel like poop!

harebearva

One sneaky place to watch is loading up on lowfat or fat free foods. When they remove the fat, often times it is replaced with Sugar and / or carbs.

TitanGM

I eat a lot of meats, whole foods and veggies. Sometimes I'd eat fruits, but I almost never eat raw sugar, or drinks containing that. This way I never had any problem those couple of months. Just for info, I was a sugar/sweet addicted person before.

stormieweather

I don't worry too much about fruit sugars (in natural form). I look at why I am over and how much of that number is from added sugars. I eat sugar free bread and protein bars and use products with Stevia as a sweetener which helps. I'm still over, but it usually isn't because of desserts or sugary drinks or sweetened processed foods.

emmamcc1981

yes! i kicked artificial sweetner/sugar addiction about a year ago, but they do put that cr*p in EVERYTHING! i only use honey or unrefined cane sugar for sweetening at home. i don't eat anything 'low fat' or 'sugar free' because i know that stuff is riddled with nasty stuff.

i tend to make all my meals from scratch and add natural sweeteners where i can, but jeeeeezus i have such a sweet tooth sometimes!

it's probably that sneaky artificial sugar that i've missed or slipped up and ate without thinking or checking. grrrrrrh i wish they'd just ban the stuff!

chrisb75

One sneaky place to watch is loading up on lowfat or fat free foods. When they remove the fat, often times it is replaced with Sugar and / or carbs.

THIS! Never buy low fat ANYTHING.

twinmom01

I do my best to keep my sugars down...I just got off a 30 day strict eating program and i was able to keep my sugars down quite a bit by eating lots of veggies and keeping fruit to one a day and choosing lower sugar ones at that (mainly berries for me)

Now I am relaxing a bit on the sugars for a week or two - which for me means eating higher sugar fruits and i am treating myself to some dark chocolate here and there...so my sugars hover about 40-50/day vs 25-30/day when really watching sugars

I still worry about my sugar levels but since for the most part the majority comes from fruit and some veggies (dark chocolate not withstanding) I don't stress to much about it...in all actuallity I am more worried abotu to much Fructose in my diet and since most fruits are only about 50% fructose and I don't eat processed foods...

m_wilh

One sneaky place to watch is loading up on lowfat or fat free foods. When they remove the fat, often times it is replaced with Sugar and / or carbs.

^^^This.

ladykate7

bump
I'm waaay over my sugar count as well, on a daily basis

starcatcher1975

I'm ALWAYS over so I'd love it if someone has an answer! Mine is usually from yogurt or fruit, or other "good" for you stuff. But I'm usually like 3 times over what they say I should have and it's frustrating.

ladykate7

mfp says 31 grams of sugar a day for me. The Costco chocolate meal replacement drink I had yesterday was 38 grams alone. *sigh

Nikki_Marz

I don't worry too much about fruit sugars (in natural form). I look at why I am over and how much of that number is from added sugars. I eat sugar free bread and protein bars and use products with Stevia as a sweetener which helps. I'm still over, but it usually isn't because of desserts or sugary drinks or sweetened processed foods.

^^^ I agree with this statement...I find a single smoothie is enough to throw me over my sugar limits and yet there's no added sugar or refined sugars in my whole day...I check to see where the sugar came from and don't feel bad if it's naturally occuring sugars as opposed to sweets or pop etc (I am also intolerant to artificial sweeteners so they aren't even an option for me)