How many grams of sugar should I have daily?

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monmcb
monmcb Posts: 35 Member
in Food and Nutrition
As I'm revamping my daily meals, my downfall seems to be too much sugar intake. Is there a magic numbers as to how many grams of sugar i should have daily? I love to hear your input, thanks!

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  • Bump319
    Bump319 Posts: 17
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    You can change your settings to include sugars. I have a hard time with this as well. I tend to eat a lot of fresh fruit and those sugars add up fast. I'd like to know some alternatives as well. Does anyone know of any fruits that are low in sugar?
  • slimkitty
    slimkitty Posts: 418
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    No idea. I would say focus on reducing or even eliminating refined sugar. There's a lot of sugar in fruit as well, but that sugar is balanced out by the fiber, vitamins and minerals in fruit, so I don't worry too much about it, unless you feel bloated and uncomfortable after eating it.
  • gypsy102
    gypsy102 Posts: 14 Member
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    Everyday I go over my sugar goal. I posted here last week about it. Try buying reduced sugar products or low sugar. I agree with bump319 - the sugar in fruit is not refined, so it's better. Unfortunately, it does go toward the sugar goal. :frown:
  • slimkitty
    slimkitty Posts: 418
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    You can change your settings to include sugars. I have a hard time with this as well. I tend to eat a lot of fresh fruit and those sugars add up fast. I'd like to know some alternatives as well. Does anyone know of any fruits that are low in sugar?

    Tropical fruits (bananas, mangoes) seem to have the most sugar. Berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries) seem to have the least sugar. I've heard apples are good at balancing the blood sugar especially when they are sprinkled with cinnamon.

    My bowl of cantaloupe for breakfast apparently had 28 grams of sugar which puts me over the top of MFP's default settings. It was very delicious and hydrating, so I am not going to worry.
  • pettmybunny
    pettmybunny Posts: 1,986 Member
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    The government set 40 (although it may have been reduced to 36) grams of "ADDED" sugars as the maximum per day. That is the equivalent of 10 (or 9 if it's 36g) teaspoons of sugar. It doesn't make a determination on natural occuring sugars such as in fruits and vegetables.

    edit* I used to track my sugar, then subtracted the natural stuff to find out how much added I was getting. Since I don't eat a whole lot of processed foods any more, my levels were usually pretty far below the recommendations.
  • SandyBeach55
    SandyBeach55 Posts: 10
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    a peach has 8 sugars, a cup of sliced strawberries has 13 (that's a lot of strawberries) a cup of diced watermelon has 10.. these all have fiber. I did learn from my last low carb adventure that once you limit sweeties and carbs that turn to sugar, a piece of fruit is very sweet and you will be well below the stated sugars. I am on induction for the next two weeks, so my answer is 0 lol.
  • cpenn1980
    cpenn1980 Posts: 22
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    thank you for the info for fruit. I was shocked at how much sugar my banana had. I'm not too overly concerned though since it's from a natural source and not candy or something else terrible for you.
  • monmcb
    monmcb Posts: 35 Member
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    Hi Everyone,
    Thank you so much for all of your input on this. I have adjusted the MFP daily food tracker to include sugar and gave me 24 grams a day. Which i seem to go WAY over daily. I love fruit, there is alot of good sugar, its the refined sugar I apparently need to battle. I certainly need to pay attention to this more so than I have in the past. Only thing is, i've heard that alot of the "sugar free" stuff contains Aspartame, and other artificial sweetners that are no bueno for you. Have any of you hear this as well?
  • pettmybunny
    pettmybunny Posts: 1,986 Member
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    I would recommend just doing a search for artificial sweetners (in general and by specific name) on the forum. It's been a heated debate many times. Like everything, I believe it's ok in moderation. My question is just how much you can moderate it, when it seems to be in everything.

    I've started making most of my foods from scratch. It really seems to help with the sugars and sweetners content. That being said, I do add splenda to my plain soyyogurt (aack otherwise) and my coffee. But, I only have the yogurt a couple of times a week, and I only have a cup of coffee 3 days a week. Usually, I blend my straight black coffee (after it's gotten to room temperature or I'll stick it in the fridge) with my protein powder. Then, no need for added sweetners!
  • JennaK
    JennaK Posts: 43 Member
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    I'm also having a hard time with this....MFP says 24 g of sugar per day, but I eat a ton of fruit (mostly berries in my attempt to keep the sugar low) Pair that with some non-fat yogurt and low fat cottage cheese and I'm over double my sugar everyday!!
  • positivelyg
    positivelyg Posts: 4
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    You should worry about natural sugars to an extent, but yeah, not so much as refined sugars. I have known people who have gained weight from eating "natural sugars," but I do wonder how much of it was fruit versus organic cane sugar. Blueberries are great, and FULL of antioxidants! I buy frozen blueberries and cherries. They go great in morning oatmeal. Oh and if you just eat them frozen straight from the bag, it curbs ice cream cravings! Not that I'm a fan of junk food or anything...
  • maureak
    maureak Posts: 107 Member
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    These posts have been so helpful! It's very deflating to see that sugar number blown every day. But I also know the health benefits of a variety of fruits and don't want to give those up. I may just remove the sugar number from my food diary and focus instead on making sure I'm getting a good balance of foods into my diet. I tried a low-carb diet years ago, lost weight, then gained it all back (and more) because the diet was way too restrictive for me and I couldn't maintain it. Making sure I'm eating whole foods, not processed, and a good variety is more important than watching that sugar number.
  • nightmerr
    nightmerr Posts: 5
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    I was also wondering about the sugar. Since I changed my settings to show sugar (and fiber) I have found that I go over my sugar EVERY DAY. (two bananas today pretty much used it all up already). I am glad to know I am not the only one!

    I agree that the natural sugar in fruit is better but I still think I need to get better at cutting out sugars in general. Too bad I have such a sweet tooth! :)

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