SUGAR!

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phishn4peace
phishn4peace Posts: 21 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Please help! I am very good with sticking to under my calories(I stayed under last week but I ate a cookie everyday as a reward for finishing my first half marathon!) but I am always over on my sugars. I know a lot of my sugars are coming from fruits and veggies, but I feel like I will never be able to lose the rest of my gut with all the excess sugar I eat. I finally opened my diary today to the public. Please let me know if you have any snack/lunch alternatives or any other advice. Thank you!
Ky

Replies

  • LCBinGA
    LCBinGA Posts: 102 Member
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    I don't watch sugars, as I need to watch iron more so (thus too many columns). But keeping them to basic fruits, veggies, dairy sugars are better than straight sugar with coffee, sugar desserts, sugar sauces. You need a little reward sometimes! Try adding some veggies as snacks, add them to stir fry, double up on them for sandwiches. Keep it up!
  • Koldnomore
    Koldnomore Posts: 1,613 Member
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    It's a little bit of an adjustment but once you manage you will be amazed at how sweet things really are! If your goal is to lower sugar then you can do some or all of the following:

    -Skip the ketchup on your eggs and other food, if you can't skip it try salsa ( has a less sugar)
    -Go with unsweetened yogurt or Greek yogurt if you are going to put fruit in it anyway.
    -Drop the 'bars' - granola bars, cliff bars etc..Instead, have more snacks with 'protein' they are less likely to have sugar, try boiled eggs or eat veggies with less sugar - like celery or cucumber.
    -Limit your fruit to one serving per day and choose low sugar fruits like berries - no bananas
    -Don't eat cereal unless its things like 'Shredded Wheat' which have no sugar.

    If you want more ideas check my diary. I'm normally around 30g /day.
  • phishn4peace
    phishn4peace Posts: 21 Member
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    Thank you for the advice....My issue wil ketchup is that i USED to eat like 6 tablespoons with breakfast-at least but not I am down to a little under 2 per breakfast meal. I don't like salsa. I really wish that I did. I am trying to use a smaller and smaller amount but it is extremely difficult.

    I like to eat the "bars" because I sometimes need to fill in that last 100 calories. I should try to eat carrots or celery or cucs like you recommeneded.

    I used to eat bananas all the time, but I have changed over recently to berries. Way easier to fit in my daily eating in terms of sugars and calories. I really should get plain, non sugar yogurt and mix my berries in that way. Good idea! I just worry I don't get enough fruit if I only eat one piece.
  • shelbyfrootcake
    shelbyfrootcake Posts: 965 Member
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    I stopped tracking sugar when I realised that eating two pieces of fruit was putting me over for the day. Sod that.
  • Joannie30
    Joannie30 Posts: 415 Member
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    Not all sugars are created equal. Fructose is a disaccharide but all the other health benefits contained within fruit and vegetables (fibre, antioxidants etc) outweigh this. At the end of the day too much of anything is bad for you but it's just using common sense and moderation.

    Ketchup etc has LOADS of sugar so it might be worth cutting back on this a little. Don't forget about the sugar content in drinks too. Quite often people over-look drinks and don't consider their nutritional value (or lack thereof). One of my big mistakes years ago was fruit juices. I never considered this as contributing in any way to my weight and nutritional goals. I was absolutely horrified when i discovered the amount of pure sugar i was consuming every day and night before i even ate a thing!!!

    Good luck!
    Jx
  • Koldnomore
    Koldnomore Posts: 1,613 Member
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    Good idea! I just worry I don't get enough fruit if I only eat one piece.

    Any 'recommendation' that I have seen states fruits AND vegetables - you don't need to eat fruit. Vegetables have generally better nutrient profiles imho.

    If you are interested in the science behind sugar and why it's a good thing to limit it, check out Sugar: The Bitter truth on you tube or just Google it. The 'sugar' in ketchup is particularly nasty because its mostly HFCS (High fructose corn syrup) as are most sugars you will find in other processed foods - this stuff metabolizes like alcohol (right to the fat).
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    If you are staying under your calorie goal, then you really can't eat too much sugar, so long as you are also getting enough protein and healthy fats. Turn off your sugar tracker and just track carbohydrates. And continue to eat fruit knowing that you are feeding your body healthy food.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    Good idea! I just worry I don't get enough fruit if I only eat one piece.

    Any 'recommendation' that I have seen states fruits AND vegetables - you don't need to eat fruit. Vegetables have generally better nutrient profiles imho.

    If you are interested in the science behind sugar and why it's a good thing to limit it, check out Sugar: The Bitter truth on you tube or just Google it. The 'sugar' in ketchup is particularly nasty because its mostly HFCS (High fructose corn syrup) as are most sugars you will find in other processed foods - this stuff metabolizes like alcohol (right to the fat).

    Technically, you could take a multi-vitamin and skip veggies too. But why would you want to? There's no reason to NOT eat fruit!
  • Koldnomore
    Koldnomore Posts: 1,613 Member
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    Technically, you could take a multi-vitamin and skip veggies too. But why would you want to? There's no reason to NOT eat fruit!
    I stopped tracking sugar when I realised that eating two pieces of fruit was putting me over for the day. Sod that.

    The reason not to eat fruit is to cut sugar, this is something that the OP wishes to do and it is valid advice to accomplish this goal. If this is not your goal that is fine but there is no point to post in a thread unless it is to provide a SOLUTION to the problem that the OP has. Not everyone has the same goals, not everyone wants to consume tons of sugar (regardless where it comes from) not everyone feels that fruit sugar is better than added sugar. So to say 'just ignore it' when the OP has stated that they feel the excess sugar is preventing weight loss in THEIR case is pointless and not helpful in the slightest.
  • joe_d
    joe_d Posts: 73 Member
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    Hmmm. But her real goal is lose weight, no? I think she's making the *assumption* that the problem is sugar, and that eating fruit contributes to that. But like most folks say, if you're really running a calorie deficit, then you'll lose weight no matter how much sugar you get. Of course, you might not be in the best shape nutritionally speaking if what you're consuming isn't the healthiest.

    I think the bigger thing to ask yourself is if you reduce the amount of fresh fruit you eat to reduce sugar in your diet, just what will you replace those calories with? Something healthy? Something that has the nutrients you've excluded? You'll have to pay attention to that. Frankly, I think you're better off just eating fruit and instead bearing down on sources of processed sugar.

    Besides, I glanced at a bit of your diary and I really didn't see much fruit there anyway. What I did notice, however, is a large overage of sodium. One suggestion would be to try to work on that as well as making sure you're getting enough water. This could be more the issue than your sugars...
  • rickerred12
    rickerred12 Posts: 75
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    If you are staying under your calorie goal, then you really can't eat too much sugar, so long as you are also getting enough protein and healthy fats. Turn off your sugar tracker and just track carbohydrates. And continue to eat fruit knowing that you are feeding your body healthy food.

    Sorry but I disagree. In the first 20-25 minutes of exercise the body is burning only blood sugar, not complex carbs or fat. Therefore if there is a depletion of sugar in the diet complex carbs are not being stored but burned for fuel. Too much sugar also leads to type 2 diabetes, inflammation of the arteries and hence weaker arteries and many other effects on the body. The average North American consumes 22 teaspoons of sugar a day = 88 lbs per year or 135,520 calories or 38.7 lb of fat

    Fruits could be limited to a apple or 2 a day (or whatever you like no more than 1 or 2 cups) lots of green veggies, the fiber will help you feel full longer, multivitamin, lots of water and tea or coffee black. So IMHO if you cut back on sugar you will be better off in the long run, best of luck.
  • abbyy182
    abbyy182 Posts: 56
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    So how many grams of sugar should we limit ourselves to ? Cos I really don't know and would appreciate some advice :smile:
  • rickerred12
    rickerred12 Posts: 75
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    So how many grams of sugar should we limit ourselves to ? Cos I really don't know and would appreciate some advice :smile:

    Women – No more than 100 calories per day which equals 6 teaspoons or 24 grams of sugar.
    Men – No more that 150 calories per day which equals 9 teaspoons or 36 grams of sugar.

    Taken from the Mayo Clinic website.
  • joe_d
    joe_d Posts: 73 Member
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    If you are staying under your calorie goal, then you really can't eat too much sugar, so long as you are also getting enough protein and healthy fats. Turn off your sugar tracker and just track carbohydrates. And continue to eat fruit knowing that you are feeding your body healthy food.

    Sorry but I disagree. In the first 20-25 minutes of exercise the body is burning only blood sugar, not complex carbs or fat. Therefore if there is a depletion of sugar in the diet complex carbs are not being stored but burned for fuel. Too much sugar also leads to type 2 diabetes, inflammation of the arteries and hence weaker arteries and many other effects on the body. The average North American consumes 22 teaspoons of sugar a day = 88 lbs per year or 135,520 calories or 38.7 lb of fat

    Fruits could be limited to a apple or 2 a day (or whatever you like no more than 1 or 2 cups) lots of green veggies, the fiber will help you feel full longer, multivitamin, lots of water and tea or coffee black. So IMHO if you cut back on sugar you will be better off in the long run, best of luck.

    Yes, yes. All good points. But I think that giving a person a reason to avoid fruit without really looking at the specifics may be a disservice. Before you go headhunting the fresh fruit intake you've got to make sure you've cut out the other sources of sugar. And in the diary in question, a large percentage of the sugar intake has nothing to do with fruit. In fact, if she upped her fresh fruit intake at the expense of the other sugar calories, I think she'd be nutritionally better off.
  • rickerred12
    rickerred12 Posts: 75
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    Yes, yes. All good points. But I think that giving a person a reason to avoid fruit without really looking at the specifics may be a disservice. Before you go headhunting the fresh fruit intake you've got to make sure you've cut out the other sources of sugar. And in the diary in question, a large percentage of the sugar intake has nothing to do with fruit. In fact, if she upped her fresh fruit intake at the expense of the other sugar calories, I think she'd be nutritionally better off.
    [/quote]

    Agreed, by far the greatest amount of sugar most likely comes from junk, but you can easily over do it with fruit as well. Should fruit be removed all together? "no" but it should be limited same as any sugar. 100grams of sucrose, lactose, fructose is still 100gr of sugar

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