How the heck do I eat as little sugar as MFP tells me to?

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  • cindl24
    cindl24 Posts: 178
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    Hi. I started doing this diet because I was pre-diabetic, knocking on the door to diabetes and it completely freaked me out. I thought giving up sugar would be really hard, because I am a confirmed sugar-holic. I love my sweets!

    I eliminated almost all regular sugar from my diet and went low-carb. I make my own almond butter (peanutbutter, but with almonds instead) and that has some honey, but very little. I also give myself a single serving of reddi whip on deserts because it has fewer calories and carbs than the artificial Cool Whip. Other than that, the only sugar in my diet is from fruit.

    You would be amazed at how many things have added sugar to them. Sandwich meat, for example, often has added sugar to it. It took me a while to find carb-free and sugar free foods. That being said, with 99 percent of the sugar in my diet coming from fruit and that which occurs naturally in unprocessed foods, I still go over my daily sugar allowance on MFP. I really just don't worry about it. The diet and weightloss have been successful, by the way. I had my A1C levels checked recently and it was down to 5.1, which means it is normal and I'm no longer pre-diabetic. Yes!
  • tmauck4472
    tmauck4472 Posts: 1,785 Member
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    Processed foods have a lot of sugar in them, you can get yogurt that doesn't have as much sugar in it. I eat yogurt but mine has half the sugar in it than you get. Before you purchase stuff look at the sugar content. I go over my sugar a lot too but it's done with fruits mostly, so I don't worry to much. Start making your own foods, quit buying the processed foods. If your food has natural sugar in it then it's better than the processed sugars.
  • jmzz1
    jmzz1 Posts: 670 Member
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    1. remove the sugar from the macros that you watch.
    2. Pay extra attention to your carbs.
    3. Try to eat under your carb allowance by a little and increase your protein by a little.
    4. Try to make most of your carbs come from fruit, vegetables, and whole grains.

    This is what I did, I'm no wiz but I'm losing weight, my blood sugars are making my doctor happy and I don't see the red negative numbers.
    whole grains contains a good number of carbs and they usually exceed my carb to more than 150 gm per day if i have 3 servings of carbs.........is it a healthy carb or is it alright to have carb from whole grains since they are healthy?
  • MontaukGirl1973
    MontaukGirl1973 Posts: 10 Member
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    I have the same problem with the thyroid! I have no problem with the sugar and the carbs... I eat so many vegetables and reduced the fruits and cerials... Give it a tryl :ohwell:
  • MontaukGirl1973
    MontaukGirl1973 Posts: 10 Member
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    Thank you for posting. I am doing the same thing and have had success as well. :smile:
  • like_milk
    like_milk Posts: 79 Member
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    MFP sets my sugar intake to 30g. In the UK the recommended amount of sugar is 90g and since I fail at being under on the MFP one I like to attempt to be under 90g instead.
  • jmzz1
    jmzz1 Posts: 670 Member
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    bump
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,650 Member
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    1. remove the sugar from the macros that you watch.
    2. Pay extra attention to your carbs.
    3. Try to eat under your carb allowance by a little and increase your protein by a little.
    4. Try to make most of your carbs come from fruit, vegetables, and whole grains.

    This is what I did, I'm no wiz but I'm losing weight, my blood sugars are making my doctor happy and I don't see the red negative numbers.
    whole grains contains a good number of carbs and they usually exceed my carb to more than 150 gm per day if i have 3 servings of carbs.........is it a healthy carb or is it alright to have carb from whole grains since they are healthy?

    Look at the fiber content. If something has 48g of carb, but only 2 g fiber, its not that healthy, even if it says Whole grains. That doesn't tell you how MANY whole grains are used. If it says 100% Whole grain, then it should have a lot more fiber. I try to stay with foods that have 1/2 of their carbs as fiber. This generally leaves me with non starchy veggies and some products that have fiber added to them, i.e. Mission Carb Balance tortillas. A medium tortilla only has 6 NET carbs after you subtract the fiber. For other people I would suggest having fiber make up at least 25% of the total carb if they can.

    Protein mixed with the carbs also helps slow the breakdown into sugar, so dairy products are better, even tho they have a higher sugar content, than something with only a high sugar/carb count.
    If you shoot for getting in 20-25 g of Fiber every day, you will find yourself looking for healthier carbs.
    I limit myself to lower carbs for health reasons, but not everyone needs to go as low as I do. 100-150 g p/day is still fairly low, and many people are fine with 200 or more per day, especially if they work out a lot.
    Fiber is the key!
  • dillydally123
    dillydally123 Posts: 139 Member
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    turn off the notification! if you know you're eating as little processed food as possible then that's fine. don't let it bring you down you're doing great!
  • 748marie
    748marie Posts: 61 Member
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    I agree. even if you have a couple of apple you could go over lol. I stay away from junky sugar eat fruits and If I go over I just let it go. Especially If I am l;osing weight anyway! :)
  • AyaKara
    AyaKara Posts: 220
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    I always go over my sugar but it's always through fruit so I've learned to accept it!
  • Adrian211
    Adrian211 Posts: 52 Member
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    Yeah I've always had an issue with being over my sugar, but MFP doesn't differentiate between natural and added sugars, and I eat fairly well, and was always over my limit. I eat a fair amount of fruit and vegetables, and most of my sugar comes from them. Like others have mentioned, I removed it from my macros, and changed the limit to what Health Canada suggested (25% of my daily energy). So currently I am on a 2050 cal program, so 25% of 2050cals is 513 cals. There are 4 cals in 1g of sugar, so (513/4) = ~128g of sugar per day. The number seems high, but I think if you're getting that sugar from natural sources and shying away from processed food, you're safe.
  • citizencrp
    citizencrp Posts: 228 Member
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    1. remove the sugar from the macros that you watch.
    2. Pay extra attention to your carbs.
    3. Try to eat under your carb allowance by a little and increase your protein by a little.
    4. Try to make most of your carbs come from fruit, vegetables, and whole grains.

    This is what I did, I'm no wiz but I'm losing weight, my blood sugars are making my doctor happy and I don't see the red negative numbers.
    whole grains contains a good number of carbs and they usually exceed my carb to more than 150 gm per day if i have 3 servings of carbs.........is it a healthy carb or is it alright to have carb from whole grains since they are healthy?

    wow, I guess I didn't realize your carb limit would be 150...that's tough to do with whole grains. I figure a meal would have 45-60 g of carbs (hopefully sourced from whole foods). Plus you need 30-60 g for snacks. I don't know...I guess your calorie limit is a lot lower than mine, consider upping it? I am always under my carbs by sticking to the diabetes exchange goal of eating approx 45 carbs at b'fast, 45-60 at lunch, 45 at dinner and snacks adding up to less than 60.

    I base my eating on MFP settings but also on diabetes exchanges, weight watchers experience, and a desire to eat realistically but wholly.

    If you are eating whole foods and low glycemic carbs and staying within your calories without feeling hungry--YOU ARE DOING GREAT.

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