Question about fruit and sugar

You don't have to worry about the sugars from whole fruits or milk sugars. It's added sugars that are the problem.

Yeah this has really concerned me as well I have even given up drinking milk and my kids and I love milk and we only drink 1% but it still has 12g of sugar a cup. I love fruits and juices but have not had those either...this is very depressing to me and instead I grab a 100 calorie snack pack of fudge crackers which doesn't have as much sugar but I'm sure is not as healthy as having an apple or a grapefruit daily...jjjjeeezzzzzzz I need help with this one too!!!!!!!

Well, this may be the reason I'm almost always over the sugar consumption target. It's been bugging me, as I don't feel I am a heavy sugar user--I do use a teaspoon of maple syrup on my oatmeal and I have two minicubes of sugar (one gram each) in my morning coffee but apart from that NOTHING. No chocolate, no sweets... and yet I am still over target every day. It must be the half-orange of half-grapefruit I eat at breakfast, which doesn't count, right?

How about the sugar in fruit juices? They come originally from fruit, so are they OK too? I'd really like to be able to stop worrying about this.

Well, this may be the reason I'm almost always over the sugar consumption target. It's been bugging me, as I don't feel I am a heavy sugar user--I do use a teaspoon of maple syrup on my oatmeal and I have two minicubes of sugar (one gram each) in my morning coffee but apart from that NOTHING. No chocolate, no sweets... and yet I am still over target every day. It must be the half-orange of half-grapefruit I eat at breakfast, which doesn't count, right?

How about the sugar in fruit juices? They come originally from fruit, so are they OK too? I'd really like to be able to stop worrying about this.

Fruit juices are like liquid sugar. They come from fruit, but lack all of the good things that the whole fruit has to prevent that blood sugar spike. I've pretty much cut all fruit juices from my diet...and I love orange juice. A little is ok as long as you count it toward your sugar limit, and try to have it with a high fiber food like whole grain toast.

Why is added sugar the devil? Just curious.

I understand the chemistry of it.

I still am not understanding why it seems to be demonized around here - and that's an observation I've made that extends the boundaries of this thread alone.

Should added sugars be controlled? Sure... I understand that.

Feared? That's something I'm not quite grasping based on my education and the available data.

Assuming proper accounting of calories and nutrients.... throwing in processed sugar isn't going to make or break someone. Plus, I don't believe we should be viewing things in a vacuum. Sure, a sedentary person who's overweight and snorting pixie sticks while downing soft drinks... that's one thing.

But an active individual who's accounting the the proper nutritional quality AND quantity isn't nearly in the same boat... not that anyone in this thread is implying this.

One of the biggest concerns with "empty calories" is that they'll dilute the nutritional quality of your intake. The research, as it stands (which admittedly can be improved greatly), simply doesn't support some threshold of "added sugar" intake that dilutes micronutrition. If you're interested, I could provide you the references to the abstracts of the primary reviews of this data.

The most quantifiable data explains that for those who are dieting, thus eating hypocalorically, deriving 20% of your total energy from empty calories could start diluting nutritional quality. However, that's my point... most health conscious people aren't intaking mass quantities of this stuff.

As far as the Dietary Reference Intakes go... they put the upper safe limit of added sugar intake at 25% of total calories. I can also provide you the reference to those interested.

And let's not forget, added sugars aren't going to directly make you fat in the face of an energy deficit.

My point isn't to start eating more and more added sugar. Hardly.

It's that adding rigidity to eating seems to backfire more than it helps. Yes, some rigidity is necessary. However, this industry is plagued by alarmists and hucksters who like to pitch absolute statements that conjure up an emotional response.

1. Make sure your caloric intake matches your goal.

2. Account for the essentials such as aminos, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. This calls for healthy doses of protein and healthy fats along with a wide array of vegetables and fruits to name a few.

3. After that, with the little bit of room that's left to fill, calorically speaking, if a hefty chunk OF THE REMAINING CALORIES comes from added sugars it's not likely you're going to be failing at weight loss.

Just my 2 cents.

Do you have links to the peer reviewed data you're referencing? I'd be interested in seeing the study parameters, test subjects, quantity of consumption, etc.

I've seen a lot of so-called objective researchers make claims about fructose being the most fattening carbohydrate, yet, when you look at their references (assuming they actually have some and aren't talking out their you know what), you see that the fructose dosages used in their references are absurd and inapplicable to the real world concerning people who eat relatively healthy, balanced diets.

And like all food in general, we can't look at things in a vacuum. Meaning, it's nearly impossible to judge the "goodness" or "badness" of a food without providing context pertaining to dosage, energetic state, entire diet (not just the food in question), etc as metabolism will vary depending on these factors.

A friend of mine, James Krieger, who's a published researcher recently put out a great article on his blog pertaining to fructose metabolism. It's a great read:

http://www.thebsdetective.com/2010/02/partial-bullsht-of-day-fructose-makes.html

Thanks for the discussion!

Upset?

Sorry if I gave that impression. I'm not upset in the least.

And a big thing?

I didn't realize this was, nor did I intend for it to be some big thing. I'm just having a discussion here.

From your post it'd appear as if I'm doing a very poor job of expressing my point, however.

I simply like to play devil's advocate to get people thinking objectively. Especially when it comes to topics that are so deeply ingrained in the minds of the masses yet broadly misunderstood. I stated my reason, which is avoidance of too much rigidity when it comes to nutrition. In my experience, which you can take for what it's worth, people who fall into the alarmist category of thinking one particular food or food group will make or break your health and/or weight control without supporting context tend to feel as if they're walking on egg shells.

This mentality is coupled with a polarized vision of everything food. It's either good or bad. They're either 100% on or 100% off a diet. It's either starvation or binge. I'm sure you've seen similar stuff as it seems to be a common theme among the professionals I communicate and deal with.

So in a nutshell... my only intention is to help people in terms of easing off the restrictive, binary mindset that is so common among dieters. Apply some logic, if you will.

My intent is certainly not to debate for the sake of hearing myself speak. And because the irrational fear is universal, at least in my world, doesn't make it any less prudent to discuss the facts.

what kind of fruit juices are we talking about here? big differences between going to the store and buying a jug and making your own at home(and i don't mean from a package!)

You can absolutely be healthy yet still indulge every once in a while. I feel like when someone realizes they can go over or under their calories every once in a while, that is their "light switch" moment, and they can really begin working towards a better life. So I get your premise, and pretty much agree with it, I just misunderstood your intent before.

I feel like people not realizing this is why some of dieters fail. The every day constant stress of plugging in numbers and worrying about hitting every goal dead on gets to people. They burn out and just quit.

My husband once saw a TV show (one of those reality things that focuses on one person who became morbidly obese and their attempts to lose weight) where a woman lost a ton of weight, but said she still was not happy. She said, "Before my life was all about food. And it STILL is."

I think the trick is to learn how to eat healthy in general. Learn how to make healthy choices when eating out, cooking dinner, picking ingredients... and eventually you can maintain on a daily basis WITHOUT having to log every single morsel you eat. Maybe you over one day. Maybe you come in under the next.

I might be wrong, I'm still logging every morsel, because I still have plenty to lose. But I don't blow my emotional lid every time I eat 1240 calories on a rest day instead of the 1200 I'm allowed. Or, if I go over on fat by 5, when I usually come in well under.

It's all about moderation, I think - not keeping yourself in food bootcamp for the rest of your life.