Sugar Clarification

areber07

I have a question. When logging my food I have my plan to show me how many grams of sugar to eat in a day. If I eat two pieces of fruit, I will usually go over my alottment for the day. Should I be concerned with this or should the sugar I be concerned about is the processed sugar intake?

Thanks for the clarification!

neanderthin

Yes, it's added sugar, not fruit, unless of course your eating copius amounts of fruit a day, which then compromises a balanced diet.

tsh0ck

I ignore sugar altogether. don't even track it. and many others on here do the same. unless you have a medical condition related directly to sugar, don't worry about it at all.

SPNLuver83

Aggravating isn't it?? I say if most of your sugar for the day comes from fruit, don't stress it if you go over. But if it comes from candy or cakes etc then it'd be an issue.

tamerkins2

I don't worry about sugar from the fruit I eat. I go ahead and eat apples, strawberries, bananas, etc. and always go over my sugar. I love fruit. If it is sugar from other stuff - candy, sweets, etc., that is when it becomes a problem, in my opinion.

prettygirlhoward

bump

pearceda

Similiar post under SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR....but the advise is the same, don't stress over the sugar amounts if everything else is working.

nicholjenny

I tend to go way over in sugar most days... I've been consulting clean eating experts who say that the main concern is REFINED sugars. Natural sugars are okay as long as you have a balanced diet.

twinmom01

Sugar is sugar is sugar....fruit sugar is the same as table sugar is the same as HFC....it's all pretty much the same - the % of fructose and sucrose might be slightly off but not by much....

Yes fruit is better for you than a candy bar...mainly because it also has vitamins and minerals that candy may not...but an excess of sugar no matter what the source may be detrimental to your goals.

morgansmom02

I only worry about sugar when it is added sugar. You can eat all the fruit you want since it is natural sugar!

morgansmom02

In short the reason why Fruit sugar is better for you than table sugar
is that by eating table sugar (Sucrose) our bodies go out of sync with
our sugar levels as the sugar is processed in the body extremely fast
and in doing this the body informs the pancreas to pump out insulin.
Someone with a weak pancreas will have a hard time doing this.
Fructose (Fruit sugar) is broken down more slowly which allows the
body more time to react to the sweetener that has been consumed. This
puts less stress on the body and also the pancreas which is good news
for diabetics as they too can have sweet tasting things but without
the worry of a sudden sugar spike.

ETA - so fruit sugar and table sugar are indeed NOT the same.

hpsnickers1

Sugar is sugar. The body does not know the difference. With whole fruit you are getting more than just sugar (you're getting mostly water, some fiber, some nutrients and a whole bunch of other compounds that we don't know about). The fructose is fruit is the same fructose in HFCS. So the fructose in sugar heads straight to the liver and gets converted into triglycerides by the liver. Just like the fructose in HFCS and just like the fructose in table sugar. BUT - you have to eat a whole lot of fruit to get the amount you would find in say - a soda. And fruit isn't just empty calories.

But too much fruit can stall weight loss for some people. And too much fruit can contribute to metabolic damage. And too much fructose can cause NAFLD and can also cause hypertension (Google fructose-induced hypertension).

A piece of fruit with 16g of sugar in it will raise my blood sugar the exact same as eating a teaspoon of table sugar. I have done extensive research on diabetes, blood sugar levels, and insulin production. (Just like eating some brown rice and eating some white rice will raise my blood sugar the same. Eating white bread and eating whole wheat bread will raise my blood sugar the same).

There is no such thing as good sugars and bad sugars. There is just sugar (lactose, galactose, glucose, sucrose, fructose, dextrose, etc.) There is sugar.

tigersword

In short the reason why Fruit sugar is better for you than table sugar
is that by eating table sugar (Sucrose) our bodies go out of sync with
our sugar levels as the sugar is processed in the body extremely fast
and in doing this the body informs the pancreas to pump out insulin.
Someone with a weak pancreas will have a hard time doing this.
Fructose (Fruit sugar) is broken down more slowly which allows the
body more time to react to the sweetener that has been consumed. This
puts less stress on the body and also the pancreas which is good news
for diabetics as they too can have sweet tasting things but without
the worry of a sudden sugar spike.

ETA - so fruit sugar and table sugar are indeed NOT the same.

This isn't true. Fructose is one half of sucrose. If fructose takes so long to digest, sucrose should take even longer, since it's also fructose. Also, the majority of sugar in fruit is actually sucrose.

morgansmom02

I am pretty sure a Dr is never going to tell someone to not eat fruit.

areber07

Thanks for all the posts! Very helpful. I assumed that fruit wouldn't take away from this but just wanted to make sure!

tamerkins2

The food pyramid says we should get, what, 2-4 servings of fruit per day? That guideline would put anyone over their sugar limit. 1 banana puts me at mine. So, either I eat my 4 servings of fruit and go over in sugar or eat 1 serving to stay under for sugar. The choice seems obvious.

twinmom01

In short the reason why Fruit sugar is better for you than table sugar
is that by eating table sugar (Sucrose) our bodies go out of sync with
our sugar levels as the sugar is processed in the body extremely fast
and in doing this the body informs the pancreas to pump out insulin.
Someone with a weak pancreas will have a hard time doing this.
Fructose (Fruit sugar) is broken down more slowly which allows the
body more time to react to the sweetener that has been consumed. This
puts less stress on the body and also the pancreas which is good news
for diabetics as they too can have sweet tasting things but without
the worry of a sudden sugar spike.

ETA - so fruit sugar and table sugar are indeed NOT the same.

Sucrose is about 50% Glucose and 50% Fructose

Sugar in an Apple is about 25% Glucose and 75% Fructose

As I said the % might be different - but you have three main types of sugars - you have Glucose, Fructose and Sucrose (which is a combo of Glucose and Fructose)

Basically the difference between eating a serving of table sugar and eating an apple is the apple has fiber which can help slow down the metabolism of the sugars in your body - so in that respect eating an apple is better than a spoonfull of sugar....but if one eats say 3 apples (or a bunch of fruit high in sugars) you can still cause a spike in blood sugars and if you don't use it as an energy source fairly quickly it can covert to trigylcerides or fatty acids.

If you are fairly active and utilize the sugars fairly quickly then yes an overabuncance of sugar isn't going to hurt you....

but if you do eat an overabundance of sugars from even "natural" sources it could be detrimental to your goals...

77Maria

I love fruit, everything in it is amazing!! I cannot imagine not logging my sugars....and that is scary to think that others think that those empty calories don't count. Really? Never heard that before. I don't believe as many here do, that fruit sugar is bad for you. Or that all sugar is bad for you! Everything in Moderation is the key!!!

tigersword

In short the reason why Fruit sugar is better for you than table sugar
is that by eating table sugar (Sucrose) our bodies go out of sync with
our sugar levels as the sugar is processed in the body extremely fast
and in doing this the body informs the pancreas to pump out insulin.
Someone with a weak pancreas will have a hard time doing this.
Fructose (Fruit sugar) is broken down more slowly which allows the
body more time to react to the sweetener that has been consumed. This
puts less stress on the body and also the pancreas which is good news
for diabetics as they too can have sweet tasting things but without
the worry of a sudden sugar spike.

ETA - so fruit sugar and table sugar are indeed NOT the same.

Sucrose is about 50% Glucose and 50% Fructose

Sugar in an Apple is about 25% Glucose and 75% Fructose

As I said the % might be different - but you have three main types of sugars - you have Glucose, Fructose and Sucrose (which is a combo of Glucose and Fructose)

Basically the difference between eating a serving of table sugar and eating an apple is the apple has fiber which can help slow down the metabolism of the sugars in your body - so in that respect eating an apple is better than a spoonfull of sugar....but if one eats say 3 apples (or a bunch of fruit high in sugars) you can still cause a spike in blood sugars and if you don't use it as an energy source fairly quickly it can covert to trigylcerides or fatty acids.

If you are fairly active and utilize the sugars fairly quickly then yes an overabuncance of sugar isn't going to hurt you....

but if you do eat an overabundance of sugars from even "natural" sources it could be detrimental to your goals...

If you eat in a calorie deficit, it is impossible for your body to add fat. It may temporarily store the fat when you eat it, but it doesn't stay. That would defy the laws of physics. In other words, sugar is irrelevant unless you overeat total calories, and even then, it's the calorie excess that's the problem, not the sugar specifically.

tsh0ck

but ... but ... but ... sugar is the devil!

Loseweight1980

I am pretty sure a Dr is never going to tell someone to not eat fruit.

A Dr will often tell people not to eat more than the recommended 3-5 servings of fruit a day, because in the end sugar is, as most of these folks are saying, sugar, your body does not differentiate. This is why diabetics can not eat many types of fruits, such as apples, oranges, bananas. Too much sugar in these. Best fruit to eat is berries, low sugar, high fiber. It is better to snack on veggies. (That's at least what this Dr's research found in literature)