Sugar: Fruit vs. Junk

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vickystrand1
vickystrand1 Posts: 47 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Is sugar the same in fruit and junk food? I feel guilty after just eating a mango and it sent my sugar through the roof for the day.
I am trying to think of it-it's better than eating a cookie or a piece of cake right???

Just one of those days.

Replies

  • dontgobacktosleep
    dontgobacktosleep Posts: 144 Member
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    Yaaa I think you got your answer, how many nutrients are in a cookie vs a mango.... :D
  • beets_yum
    beets_yum Posts: 36
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    It's not the same as eating a piece of cake or a bag of candy. Fruit has nutrients and fiber, that slow down the rate of absorption. So in terms of satisfying your sweet tooth, of course a mango is better than junk. And I love mangoes! Mmmm.

    IIRC, fructose (from fruit) is more easily metabolized than glucose. But of course a ton of it--like if you are eating fruit all day long--isn't great. I believe it's best to think of fruit as a treat to be eaten in moderation. If you have a real problem with sugar, it can be interesting to remove sugar from your diet, then slowly add fruit in to see the degree to which it can trigger more sugar-eating or if you are ok with certain fruits.

    I try to eat fruit with fat and protein to counter the sugar-cravings very sweet fruit can trigger for me.
  • N0EXCUSE
    N0EXCUSE Posts: 23 Member
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    Fruit and vegetables are VERY good for you. They are natures way to help heal.

    Mango vs. Cookie

    Mango fruit is rich in pro-biotic dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, and poly-phenolic flavonoid antioxidant compounds. It is also a great source of Vitamin-A and flavonoids like beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, and beta-cryptoxanthin. It has a load of potassium, vitamin-B6 (pyridoxine), vitamin-C and vitamin-E. It contains copper, which is a co-factor for many vital enzymes, including cytochrome c-oxidase and superoxide dismutase.

    A cookie is rich in refined sugar, fat and carbohydrates.

    Both contain sugar, yes. But the mango itself provides to many nutrients that are so good for your body that it throws the comparison between the two way out of proportion. And the sugar is NATURAL.

    I'd go with the mango next time :)
    x
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
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    I have a controversial answer. I'd much rather have sugar from junk food than fruit but here's why: fructose has almost no impact on leptin levels/sensitivity while all other carbs do. I take a multivitamin and I eat small portions of fruit sometimes but I try to avoid it. Fruit also causes me to have more cravings and is not at all filling so I see it as empty calories. I can get the same nutrients from vegetables anyway.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    Natural or refined sucrose?

    sugar-sucrose-molecule-3d-model-thumb17798094.jpg
  • shosho420
    shosho420 Posts: 220 Member
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    I am not tracking sugar anymore. It said my eggplant had like 19grams so 1 egg plant and 1 banana put me in the red. Uh no thanks. I know when I drink coffee mate or eat cereal to only use the serving size. I would go back and add up my sugar and then add up all my fruits and veggies and deduct them to see how much bad sugar I actually had. But now I just keep track in my head and don't bother, I track something else.

    Also there is a plethora of miss information out there about fruit sugar. You can weed it out and ignore it. You have to do your own research on the subject, fruit sugar is encased in a fiber shell making it easier to absorb, it doesn't spike your blood levels as fast you dont have that high and low its absorbed slower and better (many tests have been done). When fructose is stripped from fruit it is NOT THE SAME THING. But you can beat that into peoples heads all you want they don't care.
  • jasmine_noel
    jasmine_noel Posts: 62 Member
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    My Home --> Goals --> Change Goals --> Custom --> Go give yourself a few more grams of sugar each day so you don't feel bad about inevitably going into the red (especially if you're eating natural, whole food sources and going over)... MFP default is ridiculously low.
  • Spokez70
    Spokez70 Posts: 548 Member
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    The sugar is the same- it makes no difference to your body if it comes from fruit or candy. Fruit is better for you because of everything else in it. (Nutrients, vitamins, fiber, etc.)
  • beets_yum
    beets_yum Posts: 36
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    The sugar is the same- it makes no difference to your body if it comes from fruit or candy.

    That's not exactly true. Your body processes fructose (from fruit) differently than sucrose (fructose + glucose, from candy). To a degree, sugar = sugar = sugar in terms of how your body uses it, but that is really more applicable to a conversation about, say agave vs HFCS. But there is a difference between the processing of fructose v sucrose. Some people think that a lot of fructose is more dangerous than a lot of sucrose, but that's controversial.

    I think another basic question goes to your goals. Are you trying to lose weight? For some fruit consumption than slow weight loss. As PP said you can get pretty much every vitamin from fruit in veg in a less destructive package.
  • CarrieTolles22
    CarrieTolles22 Posts: 1
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    Is there a way to separate natural sugar intake from your added sugar intake?

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