Sugar Intake?

SportyLadyPhotographer

Cap'ns' rules:

If it's coming from fruit and you're not diabetic, don't worry about it.
If it's coming from fruit and you are diabetic, only worry about if it's jacking your glucose up.
If it's coming from junk food, quit it.

bump!!

CaggyLeCaz

Cap'ns' rules:

If it's coming from fruit and you're not diabetic, don't worry about it.
If it's coming from fruit and you are diabetic, only worry about if it's jacking your glucose up.
If it's coming from junk food, quit it.

Thank you.

And thank you islandrollin too, for that very detailed description.

I've also had issues with the sugar levels MFP sets. A typical day for me sees me start with a bowl of shreddies (no additional sugar) a banana and an actimel. I have sugar free drinks, except for one cup of coffee with sugar a day (my morning kickstart that I simply can't give up!) This alone puts me well over my limit and it was getting a bit depressing.

I haven't yet worked out how sugar from fruits differs from refined sugar - surely sugar is sugar, or am I missing something? I think, if I am reading things right (here and elsewhere) that fruit sugars are ok but refined sugar not. I assume MFP's levels are refined sugar and don't account for those who get a lot in a healthy diet?
I am not diabetic but my dad is, and his mum before him was and I have similar dodgy crashes (like Nikki mentioned) and I have PCOS so on the slippery slope to it if I don't watch out. Everything checks out fine for now as I've recently had blood tests.
I thought I was very strict with my sugar intake and thought I was doing ok until I started using MFP and it told me I was over by 10 - 30g every single day. It's a bit depressing; I don't know whether to ignore it or not.

CyberEd312

Sodium is very important too...but sugar is what really makes the cake... you have to track your sugar.
Too Much Sugar Like I mentioned, too much sugar fails to produce a critical hormone in your body called leptin.
Leptin has proven in study after study to be a key player in how your appetite center functions
and how much fat your body uses or preserves. This essential hormone is released by fat cells
and has many functions, but its primary job is to signal to your body that you’ve had enough
food—think of it as the street signal that switches to red when it’s time to stop eating. Sounds
like a pretty important hormone, right? Well, guess what sugar does—it suppresses your body’s
production of leptin. A study done at the University of California, Davis determined that fructose
(one of the most common sugars, often consumed as high-fructose corn syrup) failed to stimulate
leptin and insulin production, claiming it “contribute to decreased satiety and increased food
intake.” 10 When you don’t produce enough leptin, three negative things follow:
• Your Body Stores Belly Fat. Research studies have shown that leptin directly
contributes to a decrease in abdominal fat11—without it your body is programmed to
store fat in your abdominal region.

• You Overeat. When your leptin “signaling center” isn’t working, you don’t know when
to stop eating—and pretty soon you end up with a traffic jam of food in your body ready
to get stored as fat. Where this fat gets deposited depends on your genetics, but most of
us start storing it in our midsection, while others carry it in their butt, hips, or thighs. And
the snowball effect of missing leptin doesn’t stop there—once you’ve gained this weight
your body can actually become leptin resistant. You see, when you gain weight, your fat
cells get bigger and because that’s where leptin comes from, you produce TOO much of
it to the point where your body doesn’t respond to it anymore. And this is why you will
just continue to feel endless hunger and gain an endless amount of weight.

• You Turn Off Fat-Burning Mechanisms. In addition to signaling that you’re full, leptin
also fulfills an essential role in fat burning. Leptin triggers an enzyme in your body to
burn fat. One study done at Harvard Medical School stated that leptin “can directly
stimulate fatty acid oxidation” which is a scientific way of saying fat burning. They even
went on to call what leptin does a “fat-melting” activity. 13 So when you eat too much
sugar and your leptin production goes down, you actually stop your body from burning
fat.

I must be a freak of nature then lol I have NEVER tracked a gram of sugar or sodium for that matter EVER and have managed to lose a few pounds,, I concentrate on the main Macro's- Protein, Carbs and Fat... beyond that I watch my calorie intake and drink atleast 120 oz. of water a day... I am a Type 2 Diabetic and stick with complex carbs and stick to natural sugars.. Eat lots of fruits and veggies and avoid alot of processed crap... OP if your sugar's are coming mainly from fruits and not so much processed junk then I would not worry to much about them... Best of Luck...

yarwell

I haven't yet worked out how sugar from fruits differs from refined sugar - surely sugar is sugar, or am I missing something?

The major sugars are glucose, fructose and sucrose. G & F are "monosaccharides" the simplest sugars with 6 carbon atoms in a molecule, Glucose is the one in your blood stream referred to as "blood sugar". Sucrose is a "disaccharide" with 12 carbon molecules and in acid conditions (like your stomach, or a coca cola bottle) it splits into glucose and fructose. Complex carbohydrates like starch are digested and broken down into glucose too.

So if you eat fruit with G+F+S in it, or eat white sugar, or HFCS, you get both glucose and fructose. Fructose goes to the liver for processing. It doesn't raise your blood sugar level in itself, because it's the wrong molecule. But fructose is almost always accompanied by glucose in any case.

Fruit has some merit in that it has the odd vitamin and a bit of fibre with it, however the sugar content is sugar however it is dressed up, passed off, disguised or advertised.

Nikiki

I haven't yet worked out how sugar from fruits differs from refined sugar - surely sugar is sugar, or am I missing something?

sugar is sugar is sugar-ish. the different types of sugar affect your blood sugar differently but the main difference (in my entirely unscientifically researched humble opinion based on nutritionals and how they affect me) is that sugar from whole fruit affects the blood sugar less due in part to the make up of the fruit itself. Fruit isn't just a solid chunk of sugar but is made up of fiber, vitamins, minerals and proteins that slows digestion and prevents your body from delivering the sugar itself in just one straight shot to your blood stream causing a spike followed by a crash. the above poster broke it down a little more scientifically and I will assume that the research is sound, it sounds intelligent anyway but the final

Fruit has some merit in that it has the odd vitamin and a bit of fibre with it, however the sugar content is sugar however it is dressed up, passed off, disguised or advertised.

over simplifies the make up of fruits and trivializes their benefits. fruit is healthy, too much fruit (as in most things in life) can be bad but fruit in moderation (as in most things in life) is good for you, or at the very least isn't harmful to you. enjoy that apple!

TheVimFuego

Cap'ns' rules:

If it's coming from fruit and you're not diabetic, don't worry about it.
If it's coming from fruit and you are diabetic, only worry about if it's jacking your glucose up.
If it's coming from junk food, quit it.

Yeeeeeup!

I will say that the more you avoid it, in all forms, the less you crave it.

yarwell

fruit is healthy

It may be healthy as part of a balanced diet, but its benefits are greatly overstated in motherhood and apple pie assertions.

A small apple is mildly inflammatory, has 4g of fibre, 15g of sugars and 2g of other carbs. Fats and proteins both zero grams http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1809/2 it offers 11% of daily vitamin C but less than 5% of anything else. Similarly it offers 5% of potassium but less than 3% of other minerals.

For a laugh, an ounce of potato chips gives you 25% of your vitamin C, 1g of fibre and 15g of other carbs with a complete amino acid profile in its 2g of protein and 6 minerals at >4% of daily requirements.

Funny thing, nutrition. The first thing I learned was how little we know despite what we think we know.