Always going over MFP's daily sugar

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jessimurph
jessimurph Posts: 50 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I use a banana in my two protein shakes a day which puts me a few grams under my suggested sugars for the day. I'm going over every day. I was thinking it was not such a big deal because it's almost always from fruit/veggies, but maybe I'm wrong. Opinons? My diary is open, but I'm exclusively breastfeeding my son so it looks like i'm going way under my caloriea when i'm really not.

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  • kristinacottle
    kristinacottle Posts: 52
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    Your diary isn't open. :tongue:
  • jerbear1962
    jerbear1962 Posts: 1,157 Member
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    I watch my sugars close and I'm way over every day too. It hasn't hurt me but I do keep an eye on them. I eat plenty of fruits daily that keep my sugars high.
  • thankyou4thevenom
    thankyou4thevenom Posts: 1,581 Member
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    It's not unless

    1) You're a diabetic
    2) It's all processed sugars

    Sugar is sugar but unless you've got a real issue processing it MFP's setting is way too low.
  • Dark_amethyst
    Dark_amethyst Posts: 20 Member
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    I've heard that it's not as bad when it's with fiber and protein as long as you are using the fruit, whole, and not juice, like V8. When you have the protein and fiber with the sugar it doesn't spike it and crash as it would without them.
  • Halleeon
    Halleeon Posts: 309 Member
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    My opinion...switch them out for some berries or experiment with some of the other varieties of shakes...dashingdish.com has plenty to get ya started.

    I have diabetes and I know diabetes is rampant in the USA (where I live.) From that standpoint, I would say it could potentially be an issue for you or your child...it might not.

    Perhaps, adding more vegetables & protein vs fruit might be a better option.
  • jessimurph
    jessimurph Posts: 50 Member
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    Your diary isn't open. :tongue:

    Whoops! It is now :)
  • ShaneOSX
    ShaneOSX Posts: 198
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    The daily recommend serving of sugar by every medical association is what MFP uses. However, all of those associations make a point of saying not to worry about naturally occurring sugars, such as in a banana. What they are talking about watching is added sugar, such as sugar added to a protein bar, or ALL the sugar in soda.

    MFP uses their number, but nutrition labels don't differentiate between naturally present and added sugar, so neither does MFP.
  • Towny15
    Towny15 Posts: 4
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    Hi,

    This:

    http://www.fdf.org.uk/publicgeneral/gdas_science_Jul09.pdf

    is a good read for the science and research behind the UK's daily recommended values for calories, fat, fibre and sugar - it's only a 2 page fact sheet but it's explicit as to what the recommended breakdown of sugars should be.

    Basically, it's 11% of your food energy from "Non-Milk Extrinsic Sugars" (i.e. all added sugar in processed foods, fruit juices, etc. I call it "naughty" sugar!), 7% from "Intrinsic Sugar" (natural sugar from fruit and veg) and 2% from "Milk sugar" (dairy).

    Assuming 2500 calories a day for me (on a non-workout day) (and that 1g sugar = 4kcals), that's 68g from "naughty" sugar, 44g from fruit and veg and 12.5g from milk.

    For a woman on 2000kcal/day, that equates to:

    55g naughty sugar
    35g from fruit
    10g from milk.

    The figures were designed like this to take into account the 4-5 portions of fruit and veg we should be eating. I just tweaked my sugar values in MFP to match the extrinsic value above (68g in my case), and then I know that if I have my 5 portions of fruit and veg and no more than 0.5-1pint of milk a day I don't have to worry about the sugar in them.

    It also means that if you exercise and burn more calories, your sugar allowance goes up and MFP increases it to reflect this.

    Hope this helps - it put my mind at rest because there's a lot of contradicting info on the net!

    James

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