Naturally Occurring Sugars

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OutwardSix
OutwardSix Posts: 11
in Food and Nutrition
This one has me curious, so I thought I'd see if anyone else has their own take on this or any words of wisdom on the matter.

As we all know, fruit and veggies are good things - for this I'm more referring to the fruit portion of things. Until I started with MFP I didn't really give too much thought to how much sugar, protein and vitamins/minerals I've been taking in, or at least not recently. Since last week though, I've been paying a lot more attention to the whole set of nutritional values we accumulate over a day of noting down what's been going in. The nerd in me loves the mathematical element of this. It's a bit sad.

As far as naturally occurring sugars go, I've googled and searched and I always seem to find conflicting answers as to how you deal with it - the orange I had with my breakfast today isn't something I do every day, but it is a fair whack of sugar. At the same time, it's not like I've just poured in the same amount of sugar into my tea. So, therein lies the real question;

How much natural occurring sugar is too much? Not necessarily looking for a specific value but rather some other people's opinions on the matter!

- S

Replies

  • dutchliz
    dutchliz Posts: 9 Member
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    Would be really interested to hear the answer to this - some diets seem to say you restrict many foods but you can eat as many fruits/veg as you like. It is something I've been wondering about too...
  • sngnyrslp
    sngnyrslp Posts: 315 Member
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    I'd like to know too. Usually, I just don't count natural sugars as "sugar," because it's not possible to eat 5 servings of fruit a day and not go way over on sugar. I figure if it's natural, it's probably nothing to worry about. I'd love to hear about what others have to say.
  • smuehlbauer
    smuehlbauer Posts: 1,041 Member
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    Yikes - that's one big ol' can of worms!
    I say if it's fruit or natural your fine. Processed sugars is where you run into issues.
    But, I'm not a doc
    Peoples opinions on this vary - wildly!
    Good luck!
    Steph
  • Nikiki
    Nikiki Posts: 993
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    I've always discounted the sugar that occurs in whole fruits and veggies because a whole orange also includes fiber, vitamins & minerals, its very different from refined table sugar. Last year I started my healthy living and lost 15 lbs in about 3 months (I did fall off the wagon big time and gained it back which is why I'm back on here again!) but during that time I completely disregarded the sugar section of the nutrition breakdown because I ate very very little actual sugar but generally ate a banana and orange and grapes every day so I was always over. I lost weight with that method (and am losing weight agian with it!) so you should be ok :)
  • antiadipose
    antiadipose Posts: 447
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    i wanna know what the majority says here too.
    im in love with fruits and i am over my sugar everyyyy day! but its not making me gain weight =]

    ive actually lost weight by stopping all artificial flavors (i used to be a crazy splendacrack addict lol now i use honey. and somehow crave sugars less! and lost all the splenda bloat.

    so that my 2cents. but i wanna know what everyone thinks!
  • OutwardSix
    OutwardSix Posts: 11
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    I'm mostly pleased to see I'm not the only one wondering this! Ha.

    It does seem like a lot of people are saying that natural sugars can be all but ignored, so long as you're not overdoing it, but it's tricky. I'd imagine the body processes the two differently and am far too intrigued into the ins and outs of that. Still, I wonder if there even is an official word on how much is too much for naturals. I was told recently there's some set amount for max "sugar" in a product that you should steer clear of - but most fruits smash that number out of the ballpark if you're playing it by those rules.

    Still! Anyone with some form of definitive super-answer, we're all eager to listen. :wink:
  • dutchliz
    dutchliz Posts: 9 Member
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    Guys - found this good site on it!

    http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/t045000.asp

    It goes into it all in detail. It's all about how sugars in fruits and vegetables are also matched with other nutrients which steady the absorption of sugar into the blood stream. Therefore you don't get a huge 'sugar spike' and a big crash afterwards (and normally a mighty headache). However, if you eat an apple or an orange, the other nutrients like fiber and complex carbohydrates steady the absorption of the sugar uptake. Therefore it can be metabolised a lot more efficiently by the body.

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