Sugar intake

ashleyShades
ashleyShades Posts: 375 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Based on the daily sugar guidelines MFP has set for me, I eat too much sugar every day. My question is, is there a difference between natural sugar and refined sugar? Most of the sugar I eat is from fruits.

Replies

  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    Most of the sugar I eat is from fruits.

    I wouldn't worry about it.
  • MrsRamseyForever
    MrsRamseyForever Posts: 28 Member
    Just have to say, glad I am not the only one having an issue with the sugar! I was actually talking with my mom (who is not a nutritionist- just want to through that disclaimer out there :) ) today about it and she thinks that there is a bit of a difference between refined sugar and fruit sugar (I tend to think so too). Honestly, the sugar intake seems to be more suited to a diabetic diet (I had to be on one for one of my pregnancies because of gestational diabetes). I try to stay close to the guidelines but honestly, if I am 10mg outside of that, I really don't sweat, as long as my calories are not over and all of that sugar is not from candy :). Fruit really has a lot of sugar in it once you get down to it, and one piece of fruit (sometimes half) and just regular food (maybe one or two carbs) will usually throw me over the daily allowance...
  • seena511
    seena511 Posts: 685 Member
    i was just about to make a post about this. i feel like i can't eat fruit because my sugar intake is always too high. but if i'm over by 18 and i have 12 g from an apple, i try not to worry about it.
  • reklawn
    reklawn Posts: 112 Member
    http://www.discovergoodnutrition.com/2011/02/the-truth-about-sugars-in-fruit/

    This is a great article :)
  • ashleyShades
    ashleyShades Posts: 375 Member
    Thanks!
  • ashleyShades
    ashleyShades Posts: 375 Member
    Mine is wayyyy over by the way but I have been making smoothies for breakfast with bananas and frozen fruit
  • JCupelli
    JCupelli Posts: 16 Member
    I went to my doctor for acne. He told me Is should cut back on my fruit intake and eat more good carbs (veggies). I was told it was putting too much sugar in my diet and to eat fruits and any sugars in the morning. I do eat 5x a day. So eating fruits with every meal makes sense that I was getting too much sugar. It was causing my breakouts. I just don't eat fruit past 1pm now.

    I'm not sure if the body treats refined sugars different than natural sugar.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Fruits are definitely better for you than reaching for a cookie or other sugary treat. My dad is diabetic and he can eat some fruit, but he's not supposed to go overboard...maybe two servings per day. The fiber in the fruit makes your body process that sugar a little differently than refined sugar. That said, I don't eat as much fruit as I used to..maybe 2-2.5 servings per day and have upped my vegetable intake; this is primarily because I was going over on my carb macro goal at the expense of my protein and healthy fats.
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    It depends on how over, how sensitive your body is and which fruits you are eating.

    If you are having only tropical fruits like bananas, pineapple,and mangoes, they are mostly sugar and if you are eating three or four a day, they might cause you some issues.

    On the other hand, if you are generally healthy and don't have any problem processing sugars, a couple of pieces a day are great.

    Finally, if you are really watching your sugar, I have noticed that a lot of dairy products in the database don't include sugars, so be sure to double check, as milk has natural sugars, just like fruits.
  • Firefox7275
    Firefox7275 Posts: 2,040 Member
    There are a number of recent threads on this topic with some great science based responses if you run a search, there was one yesterday IIRC.
  • kimcalica
    kimcalica Posts: 525 Member
    http://www.discovergoodnutrition.com/2011/02/the-truth-about-sugars-in-fruit/

    This is a great article :)

    Great article! But I get from that, that the sugar from fruit is still technically the same as refined sugar but we just get a lot more out of fruit and for less calories.

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