What's a good amount of sugar

jdennisj
jdennisj Posts: 53
in Health and Weight Loss
I can find recommendations for healthy quantities of food to eat such as, calories, carbs, fat, protein, cholesterol, sodium and all but find little if anything on recommendations for healthy amounts of sugar. Since I started tracking the amount of food that I eat, i realize that fruit contains certain amounts of sugar but do not understand whether the amount I eat is to much. I am borderline diabetic and am trying to reverse that before my doctor suggests that I need to start medication. Does anyone have a clue where to find healthy amounts? Thanks.

Replies

  • electricmeow
    electricmeow Posts: 68 Member
    It's said to be about 25g a day or something very small. For reference, this is 1.5 tablespoons. But then there's this debate...does fruit count as sugar? It is sugar, its just not added sugar, but some argue our body doesn't know the difference. It's said that when you go back to our ancestors, it was rare to come across fruit, so we didn't eat it so much. Today, we think fruit=vitamins but we can get the same vitamins in vegetables.

    Thats the other side's argument. haha! I love fruit, I work well off fruit...I don't see any harm in eating 1 banana and 1 apple a day, taking how many grams of sugar that is, then adding 25 onto my allotment toward "added sugar". Hope that helps!
  • monty619
    monty619 Posts: 1,308 Member
    irrelevant unless ur a diabetic or pre-diabetic and have trouble regulating insulin... GI scale is dumb u just have to track the number of carbohydrates you consume... so if you eat 200g carbs a day it can be 200g carb sugar, or 200g carb rice... ofcourse there are other nutritional benefits to consuming certain carbohydrates like vitamins and minerals and satiation factor but in terms of body composition it doesnt make a difference.
  • swashburn3
    swashburn3 Posts: 172 Member
    32g is what I found after googling around a bit. That's what I'm using. I do frequently go over when I eat fruit, but I don't sweat it too much.
  • Robin_Bin
    Robin_Bin Posts: 1,046 Member
    Since you're borderline diabetic, you should be checking with your doctor and reputable medical sources. Sugar is a carbohydrate. Some foods, like fruit, naturally have high amounts of sugar in them... usually those aren't the problem. Foods with added sugar, in the form of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, etc. should be avoided. Some of the sugar substitutes can also cause insulin spikes. A diabetic friend, on the advice of her dietitian, tried a little experiment where when she had her sugar under control, she tried a small piece of chocolate with sugar. As she expected, her sugar levels spiked, but came down in an hour or two; a few days later, she tried a small piece of sugar with one of the "natural" sugar substitutes (sorry, I forget which one), it caused a spike that lasted for more than 24 hours! According to her dietitian this is a common reaction to some sweeteners sold as better for diabetics! It's important that you educate yourself. You can get pointers from message boards like this, but please be skeptical of all the information you get on a non-medical, unscreened site like this.
    Good luck! I hope you can improve your health without medicine.
  • Ilovejacks
    Ilovejacks Posts: 153 Member
    25g and under and this should include your fruit intake:)
  • meadow_lily
    meadow_lily Posts: 6
    When I was pregnant I had gestational diabetes, I went to a diabetes specialist and the advice they give is basically increments of carbs though out the day ... off the top of my head from what I remember without looking at my old papers (had baby in Jan)...15g at breakfast, 15-30 snack, 30-45 lunch, 15-30 snack, 30-60 dinner, 15-30 snack, obviously the advice is to eat say an apple over a candy bar for example, but as far as taking in carbs and eating though out the day basically to keep yourself level instead of highs and lows if you were also trying to lose weight or cut more carbs you could skip the snacks or choose to only reach the lower end of suggested carbs for each meal/snack, hope that helps..

    just so you know this was not for exclusively gestational diabetes, it is what is suggested for diabetics in general
  • jdennisj
    jdennisj Posts: 53
    Thanks everyone for posting, it helps me a lot. I know weight loss will help reverse the impact in borderline diabetics. I tend to eat more fruit than refined sugars thinking that it was better in the long run. I now stay away from watermelon and cantaloupe due to the high sugar content. I am learning everyday. Thanks again.

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