How much sugar is too much?

SniffyDoodle
SniffyDoodle Posts: 129
in Food and Nutrition
MFP has my sugar goal set at 32g. I've never really tracked sugar before, but I thought I'd keep an eye on it to see where I'm at normally. So I added it to my diary and started watching it, but not trying to limit it.

I am currently (at this exact moment) eating an afternoon snack of a mix of fruit (melon, grapes, pineapple). According to the entry I used to log it, this bowl of fruit contains about 32g of sugar. That's my whole day's worth. When you add in my banana that I had for a morning snack, and the packet of oatmeal I also consumed this afternoon, I am way over that goal at 66g of sugar.

I realize that the packaged instant oatmeal is not the best option, that's something I am working on alternatives to, but it certainly can't be the worst thing to eat. And, even without the oatmeal packet I'd still be way over just from fruit alone!!

Is 32g a reasonable amount? At what level should I be concerned?

With something like 70 lbs to lose, does it make sense for me to even be concerned with sugar right now? I know I will lose by just cutting calories and exercising until I reach about 165. Maybe I should just not even pay attention to sugar until I get to that point?

Replies

  • lausmit4477
    lausmit4477 Posts: 30 Member
    Unless you have an underlying medical issue where sugar intake would be of concern, I would pay little to no attention to sugar intake. Plus, you will almost always be over on MFP's sugar limit when you eat a balanced diet of fruits and veggies.
  • rhogr000
    rhogr000 Posts: 126
    Well, the low-fat Yoplait yogurt I just ate as a part of my lunch had 10 g of sugar in it.

    Truthfully, though, I never think about that kind of stuff. All that diet micromanaging gets old fast and can easily spawn obsessive behavior.

    Just be mindful of your calorie and macro intake and have a cookie every now and again...it won't hurt anything.
  • SniffyDoodle
    SniffyDoodle Posts: 129
    Thanks. That's generally the approach I was taking, just watching calories, exercising, trying to get more protein and fiber... then someone told me that banana's are bad for you! While nobody will ever convince me that bananas are bad for you, it did prompt the curiosity as to how much sugar I am consuming, and the subsequent concern when I saw how far over I am the MFP goal just from fruit!
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
    Unless you have an underlying medical issue where sugar intake would be of concern, I would pay little to no attention to sugar intake. Plus, you will almost always be over on MFP's sugar limit when you eat a balanced diet of fruits and veggies.
    This. Unless you're diagnosed as diabetic, prediabetic, or hypoglycemic, you'll be saving yourself a bunch of unnecessary stress by simply turning off the indicator for how much sugar you're eating, and just worrying about calories, carbs, fats, and proteins instead.
  • nexangelus
    nexangelus Posts: 2,080 Member
    I do not track sugar or salt...just checked by changing the macros and I eat between 40 and 150g of sugar per day. I have been losing a pound of fat per week for a few weeks now...I only watch protein, carbs and fat...that is what is important to me. I am not diabetic, so I do not watch sugar.
  • oX_Vanessa_Xo
    oX_Vanessa_Xo Posts: 478
    Thanks for asking this! I am alwayd pretty good at staying under my goal for calories, carbs, fat and sodium. Sugar however....yesterday it was -72 :S
  • Moonbeem11
    Moonbeem11 Posts: 32 Member
    Most of my information is gained by my best friend who's a Naturopathic Doctor. While many people still may be able to lose weight while not watching sugar, for optimal health it is best to watch the sugar. This doesn't mean be perfect and never eat a piece of cake etc. I don't know what a specific amount per day would be. I set mine to 20. I just watch the foods I eat. Bananas aren't bad for you but they are high in sugar. Eating half of a large banana is 1 serving. Berries are the best choice for lower sugar fruits and also have a lot of antioxidants. Corn and carrots are higher in sugar as far as veggies go. If I eat corn I treat this more like eating a piece of bread than a vegetable, because it's really more of a starch. Eat a lot of green leafy vegetables...still working on upping mine!
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
    Most of my information is gained by my best friend who's a Naturopathic Doctor. While many people still may be able to lose weight while not watching sugar, for optimal health it is best to watch the sugar. This doesn't mean be perfect and never eat a piece of cake etc. I don't know what a specific amount per day would be. I set mine to 20. I just watch the foods I eat. Bananas aren't bad for you but they are high in sugar. Eating half of a large banana is 1 serving. Berries are the best choice for lower sugar fruits and also have a lot of antioxidants. Corn and carrots are higher in sugar as far as veggies go. If I eat corn I treat this more like eating a piece of bread than a vegetable, because it's really more of a starch. Eat a lot of green leafy vegetables...still working on upping mine!
    Where does your friend practice? I ask because, regarding the concept of "Naturopathic Doctor," I find this:

    "While these degrees may be held by people outside of these states and provinces, in most other jurisdictions, the terms are unprotected and may be used by anyone, regardless of educational level." (Source: Wikipedia)
  • 3LittleMonkeys
    3LittleMonkeys Posts: 373 Member
    I just had this discussion with my Doctor earlier this afternoon. MFP has my sugar set at 30. I am way over each day. She said as long as my sugar is coming from natural sources like fruit and veggies, she isn't so concerned.
  • rhogr000
    rhogr000 Posts: 126
    Most of my information is gained by my best friend who's a Naturopathic Doctor. While many people still may be able to lose weight while not watching sugar, for optimal health it is best to watch the sugar. This doesn't mean be perfect and never eat a piece of cake etc. I don't know what a specific amount per day would be. I set mine to 20. I just watch the foods I eat. Bananas aren't bad for you but they are high in sugar. Eating half of a large banana is 1 serving. Berries are the best choice for lower sugar fruits and also have a lot of antioxidants. Corn and carrots are higher in sugar as far as veggies go. If I eat corn I treat this more like eating a piece of bread than a vegetable, because it's really more of a starch. Eat a lot of green leafy vegetables...still working on upping mine!
    Where does your friend practice? I ask because, regarding the concept of "Naturopathic Doctor," I find this:

    "While these degrees may be held by people outside of these states and provinces, in most other jurisdictions, the terms are unprotected and may be used by anyone, regardless of educational level." (Source: Wikipedia)

    QFT.

    You have to be careful when taking advice from naturopathic "doctors"...most of them are prone to quackery.
  • Moonbeem11
    Moonbeem11 Posts: 32 Member
    You are right, there are only 2 schools I believe in the US that are "real" N.D schools that train as doctors in additional to natural medicine. She went to one of these which is Southwest in Arizona.
  • Moonbeem11
    Moonbeem11 Posts: 32 Member
    Where does your friend practice? I ask because, regarding the concept of "Naturopathic Doctor," I find this:

    "While these degrees may be held by people outside of these states and provinces, in most other jurisdictions, the terms are unprotected and may be used by anyone, regardless of educational level." (Source: Wikipedia)

    You are right, there are only 2 schools I believe in the US that are "real" N.D schools that train as doctors in additional to natural medicine. She went to one of these which is Southwest in Arizona.
  • rosellasweet
    rosellasweet Posts: 163 Member
    Thanks for asking this! All I had today was cereal (regular cheerios - not honey), yoplait light yogurt, a turkey sandwich (nothing on it), and a serving of lite dressing on my small salad. I'm already over my day's worth of sugar and it's only 12. I'm following the P90 (not P90X) diet plan. Water all day long.
  • svsl0928
    svsl0928 Posts: 205 Member
    Thanks - this is good to know. My sugar mostly due to fresh fruit. :happy:
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
    Sugar is just a carb. As long as you're eating enough fats and protein, your carbs/sugar aren't particularly important unless you have a medical issue that requires carbs/sugar to be monitored.

    However, it should be noted that fructose and sucrose can only be stored as liver glycogen and not muscle glycogen. The liver can hold 100-120g glycogen so anything more than that will be converted to triglycerides. As long as you still have a calorie deficit this will even out. Just try to make most of your carbs glucose and not sucrose or fructose. Fructose in particular has been shown to decrease exercise performance, increased likelihood of gastrointestinal distress, and increase perception of exertion.

    Here are some studies:
    http://www.setantacollege.com/wp-content/uploads/Journal_db/the effects of glucose....pdf

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3592616


    As long as you're under your calorie goal, you'll lose weight. Some people find that sugar (even from fruit) causes them to have more sugar/carb cravings so keep that in mind.

    For information on setting your macro target, read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/911011-calculating-calorie-macronutrient-needs?page=1#posts-13821336
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    I have never tracked a single gram of sugar through 312 lbs. of weight loss... I concern myself with Caloric Intake and watch my 3 main macro's (Carbs, Protein, Fats). Oh and I am one of those individuals with an underlying condition (Type 2 Diabetic with A1c average the past 18 months of 5.4)..... Best of Luck
  • shannashannabobana
    shannashannabobana Posts: 625 Member
    I know everyone likes to say 'unless you have a medical condition' but we're on track for 1/3 of people to have diabetes so lots of people are prediabetic without knowing it. So I don't think it's crazy for people to watch their sugar even if their bloodwork is currently good. I watch my sugar, personally, but I don't worry so much about sugar from fruit/veggies.
    All I had today was cereal (regular cheerios - not honey), yoplait light yogurt, a turkey sandwich (nothing on it), and a serving of lite dressing on my small salad. I'm already over my day's worth of sugar and it's only 12.
    Most cereal has a bunch of sugar (even cherrios) and anything 'light' probably had tons of sugar added because low fat stuff otherwise tastes terrible. So what do food companies do? Add sugar. Oh and the bread on the turkey sandwich probably has sugar too.

    It really is amazing how easy it is to eat tons of sugar if your buy processed food at all.
  • DCruz83
    DCruz83 Posts: 99
    I always go overboard with sugar, heck sometimes I'll get through all of that amount before I even reach lunch! I'd say like everyone else, if your sugar is coming from fruits and veggies, it's not that bad because it's natural and non-refined, whereas if it's from processed foods, it isn't the same. But I certainly wouldn't make such a big deal of it.
  • 122ish
    122ish Posts: 339 Member
    I was told I needed to keep an on my sugars because if not diabetes would certainly be in my future. This was many years ago when I baked almost daily and had a soda and sweets regularly. I tend to not worry so much about sugar when the source is from fruit, but I don't go overboard with fruits either. I prefer berries to a banana for the antioxidants. Mfp has me set at 33 and usually I go over by aa bit and figure it's not a big deal, just don't go extreme only considering cals because u may not have an underlying problem yet but don't want to encourage one either.

    Suggestions for reducing sugars if u like cereal is use unsweetened almond milk, it's higher in calcium and has more vitamins and tastes fantastic.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    Some countries (Aus/NZ, EU) have set 18% of dietary energy as their total sugars guidance limit. 90 grams per day on 2000 calories.

    MFP's number is based on guidance for added sugars.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1017237-so-what-s-with-this-sugar-then-faq
  • susiesunflower
    susiesunflower Posts: 1
    I have found that when I reduce my sugar intake (I'm aiming for 35 grams per day) I'm not craving it as much. Itnseems be controlling my cravings and hunger really well. Btw, I have been including fruit sugars in the total count.

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