Added sugar vs. natural sugar

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LaurenLite
LaurenLite Posts: 87
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok guys, need some help here. I neeeeed to figure out how many grams of sugar I should take in a day. MFP has me set at 24 which is doable for added sugar but I also eat a lot of fruits and veggies (both have natural sugar- sometimes a lot of natural sugar). Do I only count added sugars or do I count both? And does 24 seem low to you or just me? (says the sugar addict- LOL).

Please don't flame, I'm sure there's a post somewhere about this already but I didn't see it.

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  • LaurenLite
    LaurenLite Posts: 87
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    Anyone???
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    Sugar is sugar. Also, sugar is a carb. If you are managing your carbs correcty, eating a reasonably healthy diet and using common sense when it comes to simple sugars, there's just no realy value in measuring them.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    Sugar is sugar. Also, sugar is a carb. If you are managing your carbs correcty, eating a reasonably healthy diet and using common sense when it comes to simple sugars, there's just no realy value in measuring them.

    ^^ This

    The main thing with sugar is the number of calories you spend on it. Don't let sugar get in the way of getting in your protein and fats.
  • prokomds
    prokomds Posts: 318 Member
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    Unless you have a medical reason why you need to regulate sugar, I would just worry about the overall calories and not worry about the sugar you get from fruits. If you want to regulate how much sugar you get from other sources, that's up to you. I go over my sugar all the time, but so long as it's from mostly fruit and a small amount of sweets/other things, rather than splurging on whatever sweet junk food, I don't worry about it. Good luck!
  • lawtechie
    lawtechie Posts: 708 Member
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    Not sure there's an easy way to track, other than manual but my nutritionist wants me to limit the added sugars to 40g/day. Since MFP only tracks total sugars, I manually figure it out by looking at the individual entries. Not too hard since you can look at your diary as a whole on the website, and then just crunch the numbers.

    I'm limiting added sugar b/c my glucose has been testing high and don't want to risk getting diabetes.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    sugar is sugar; that said, your body will metabolize sugar from fruits and veg slower than from a piece of cake or a soda or something because of the fiber in the fruit and veg. Otherwise...sugar is sugar.
  • SnicciFit
    SnicciFit Posts: 967 Member
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    The main thing with sugar is the number of calories you spend on it. Don't let sugar get in the way of getting in your protein and fats.

    ^^YES!
  • vsetter
    vsetter Posts: 558 Member
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    I try to follow the guidelines set by the American Heart Association:

    "The new guidelines state most women should consume no more than 100 calories, and men no more than 150 calories, of added sugar. These numbers average out to about 6 to 9 teaspoons, or 25 to 37.5 grams, of sugar a day."

    I try to stick to 25 grams or less of added sugar. On a "good" day, I am below 10 grams. I do not count dairy or fruit/vegetables.
  • LaurenLite
    LaurenLite Posts: 87
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    Thank you guys. I'm not worried about my cals anymore, I have a perfect routine that keeps me quite under the cals but I noticed with all of my fruits and veggies, the MFP sugar column is always waaaayyy over (I probably eat way too much fruit - blueberries, pineapple, grapes... UGH, so good). I also eat a lot of squash and carrots which are high in sugar. Those are really the only sugars I take in except for 3g / serving of my froyo (I break my 1/2 cup into smaller servings and nom it throughout the day). But yeah, I guess it's added sugar that is the really bad thing for you and can result in diabetes and other health issues. :)
  • Ryanmariem
    Ryanmariem Posts: 46 Member
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    Not sure there's an easy way to track, other than manual but my nutritionist wants me to limit the added sugars to 40g/day. Since MFP only tracks total sugars, I manually figure it out by looking at the individual entries. Not too hard since you can look at your diary as a whole on the website, and then just crunch the numbers.

    I'm limiting added sugar b/c my glucose has been testing high and don't want to risk getting diabetes.


    That is what I have to do. Added sugars and sugars in high carb foods like bread I really have to watch. I was told not to worry to much about fresh whole fruits and vegtables as they do metabolize different in the body, so does not cause a spike in my blood sugar. I was also told if I must have a sweetner to use Honey, it is very healthy for you as it is loaded w/lots of vitamin B's and it does process a little slower, plus it has a lot of medicinal properties. But that I should only stick w/1 serving or less per meal (1 tbs) "16gramsSugar". So though I can have Honey I still can not go overboard w/it... I try not to have more than 3 servs. for the day, but sometimes go as high as 5, I drink a lot of tea esp. in winter when I am cold. I love to put it into my Jasmine Blossom Green Tea, or sometimes a plain greek yogurt.

    Here are some sweetners I was told to avoid as new studies find they are very bad for you: ALL ARTIFICIAL SWEETNERS, that is Equal, Nutra-sweet, Sweet n' Low, Splenda, etc... it is the Aspartame that is the worst, but the Succralose, & Saccharin... pretty much the "man made' stuff. They are way sweeter then reg. sugar so add to the sugar addiction, plus they don't trigger and can interfere w/the "i'm full hormone in your body" so you will eat more, plus some become poison in your system like the Aspartame, turns into formaldehyde in your body. Yuck!!

    Stevia is very new and is derived from a natural plant... but studies are still being done on the long term benefits/dangers of it's use. Though I have been told if you use Stevia be careful to read the label that you have the actual stevia leaf plant and nothing else in the sweetner, and look into the process of the "powdered" stevia of some brands as it may be done w/chemicals, using the liquid is better. But note that Stevia is sweeter than reg. sugar and also will not trigger that "I'm full hormone" which may cause you to feel hungry longer and eat more.

    Oh things like High Frutose Corn Syrup is really bad for you too... so best to eliminate or minimize which is hard because if you start to read labels it is in a lot of things, esp. package foods.

    For a good resource to help watch your blood sugar is a new book called "The Blood Sugar Solution" by, Dr. Mark Hyman. I have been reading and using some of his tips and my doctor and I both really like it. He also gives some delicious recipes in the back, along w/a shopping list, makes it easy to use. =)

    Good Luck To You!
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
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    Get a blood sugar monitor and be your own scientist. It's all sugar that can contribute to diabetes. Heritability of diabetes is estimated at 26%. Grapes are terrible for sugar content. Squash is high sugar but the fiber does slow it down some.

    I'm at typical risk for diabetes (I had DNA analysis done a while back - I'm actually about 2 percentage points below the typical risk). Most of the population is at increased risk for diabetes. It doesn't run in my family. YET - my father is on dialysis, my older brother is diabetic, and I have a dysfunctional insulin response. The healthiest version of the SAD was making me diabetic. I've done my own test (I don't need a doctor to check my sugars. You can buy them in a store). High blood sugars now can mean having kids with the potential to become diabetic. I have Reactive Hypoglycemia. It doesn't matter the source of glucose either.

    Now, if you are very, very active then those sugars from real whole food aren't going to hurt you. The fructose in fruit is the EXACT SAME MOLECULE as in HFCS and table sugar. There is just less of it and the body knows what to do with whole food. There is a synergy to whole food - there could be something in fruit that we don't know about that helps the body better deal with fructose. Enjoy your fruits and starchy veggies. But if you weight loss hits a plateau just remember that carbs are and elective source of calories. They can be removed and replaced with real, natural healthy fats (like from eggs, meat, butter and coconut) and they won't hurt your weight loss (although your energy levels might increase; you might be able to back off to the typical 2-3 meals a day and never suffer through nasty hunger pangs; You will probably just have to give up on calorie counting because there will be no need to. And you might have to back off some of the chronic cardio because it will be impossible to fuel it. You just won't be able to eat that much food.)

    Take it from someone who dropped 12lbs below her lowest adult (136lbs at 14; 120-ish as an adult) weight and got healthy for the first time when she dropped the carbs (I don't eat birdseed, oils extracted from birdseed or beans - I prefer what little gas I do pass now not to stink). I was already at my goal when this happened. And this happened when I dropped the carbs and INCREASED MY FAT INTAKE TO ABOUT 65%-75% OF MY DAILY INTAKE OF FOOD. I am not gluten intolerant. I don't have celiac. This happened after 6 months of calorie counting, logging and weighing all my food. And I eat real food (animals, plants, water. That's all you need).

    Listen to your body rather than a website. Be your own scientist. Those numbers are an average. My guess is you are far from. :) We all are.
  • Ryanmariem
    Ryanmariem Posts: 46 Member
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    Thank you guys. I'm not worried about my cals anymore, I have a perfect routine that keeps me quite under the cals but I noticed with all of my fruits and veggies, the MFP sugar column is always waaaayyy over (I probably eat way too much fruit - blueberries, pineapple, grapes... UGH, so good). I also eat a lot of squash and carrots which are high in sugar. Those are really the only sugars I take in except for 3g / serving of my froyo (I break my 1/2 cup into smaller servings and nom it throughout the day). But yeah, I guess it's added sugar that is the really bad thing for you and can result in diabetes and other health issues. :)

    That sounds like you have a good plan! Keep up the good work, I would not worry about the sugar column, esp. if the main sugars you are getting are from fruits and vegtables, they process different in your system and won't cause spikes. They are high in natural vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants... really the health benefits outweigh the "sugar label"... also I think the sugar lable on fruits and veggies is misleading...as it does not say how your body processes that sugar. However the rule of thumb is to use Temperance in all things. If all you did was eat nothing but fruit all day.. well then that might cause a sugar spike, lol.

    What I would be careful are the stuff that can spike your blood sugar, but you can help that by making sure you have a good protien w/those items as it will help slow your digestion. I like to use the Diabetic Glycemic Index on my foods and try to stick w/the low Glycemic foods. Even w/that my sugar column is always higher that what FitnessPal has given for my alloted sugar count... so I just minus the Fruits and Veggies (they do not count), and I have a better idea of where I need to watch my sugar intake.

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