How bad is sugar?

What are your goals? Are you meeting them? How do you feel? Are you hungry or satisfied after your smoothie? If it is working for you, why bother changing it. If is isn't, you may need to look at that, as well as what you are eating overall and how much.

Personally, I try to limit my sugar intake. Eating refined carbohydrates makes me HUNGRY. Not everyone reacts to carbs as I do. I am the living personification of the adage about Chinese food: eat it and your hungry again in an hour. I am a firm believer in the glycemic index.

My goal is to get down to 125/130 range. In June I was 154 lbs. I stated excercising but only took it seriously once I got my Polar FT7 watch and started using MFP app in July. So since June I have lost 13 lbs but I have not lost anything since Aug 13th and I am getting frustrated.

Seems like a short period of time. Are you taking measurements other than the scale? Tape measure? Body fat? I have lost 2 pounds in 3 months but am down two full clothing sizes and am wearing shorts in public again. Be patient.

What are your goals? Are you meeting them? How do you feel? Are you hungry or satisfied after your smoothie? If it is working for you, why bother changing it. If is isn't, you may need to look at that, as well as what you are eating overall and how much.

Personally, I try to limit my sugar intake. Eating refined carbohydrates makes me HUNGRY. Not everyone reacts to carbs as I do. I am the living personification of the adage about Chinese food: eat it and your hungry again in an hour. I am a firm believer in the glycemic index.

My goal is to get down to 125/130 range. In June I was 154 lbs. I stated excercising but only took it seriously once I got my Polar FT7 watch and started using MFP app in July. So since June I have lost 13 lbs but I have not lost anything since Aug 13th and I am getting frustrated.

Seems like a short period of time. Are you taking measurements other than the scale? Tape measure? Body fat? I have lost 2 pounds in 3 months but am down two full clothing sizes and am wearing shorts in public again. Be patient.

I am def getting more toned and my clothes are looser but the scale isn't budging. I do cardio and strength training several times a week between 60-70min. Yesterday and today I only did 30 min.

If you take more measurements, you see more results, which helps you maintain over the long haul. My scale has not budged, but my thighs are like tree trunks, the cellulite is disappearing, and I have muscles popping up in unexpected places. Enjoy each small victory and don't stress about the sugar.

OP: your thread seems to be the victim of a certain posters crusade to post terrible articles and irrelevant quotes.

I agree. I posted this question because I really am worried about sugar. I don't add refined sugar to any of my meals...even the plain rice cereal I eat on occasion. I don't eat syrup because of the high fructose corn syrup. i eat the greek yogurt with fruit on the bottom but just the yogurt part on top and toss out the rest. My main concern was with sugars from fruit. People say eat fruit and veggies cause it's good for you (and of course most agree). So I started making this one smoothie and I was like holy s*** look at all this sugar! Like some posted on here, the mfp app doesn't distingush beween natural sugars like those found in fruits and those refined ones we find in processed foods. So I started to worry that maybe I shouldn't be eating that banana because of the sugar content. But I will let this worry of mine die because the health benefits from the banana most likely come out ahead than my worry over consuming the amount of sugar that's in it.

To try to put your mind at rest. The sugar limit in MFP is a bit misleading.

I cannot recall which organization set it off the top of my head, but the number comes from a mis-understood concept. Basically, an assessment was done on the amount of discretionary calories an average person could have. Discretionary calories = non nutrient dense ('play' calories), which I believe was about 20%, of which half would assume to come from sugar (a totally arbitrary number).

This is actually in line with the post our helpful Minnie made

"The WHO strongly rejects the sugar lobby's criticisms. An official said a team of 30 independent experts had considered the scientific evidence and its conclusions were in line with the findings of 23 national reports which have, on average, set targets of 10% for added sugars. "

Even using the flawed logic, on a 2,000 calories diet, 10% can come from added sugar which = 200 calories which = 50g.

So, the number is arbitrary, has no basis (there is no RDA for sugar) and in any event relates to added sugar (i.e. that not from foods that also contain micronutrients and/or other macros).

The problem with sugar is when you have a lot of it at once, and spike your glucose levels, and then have a "sugar crash" afterward when you feel all exhausted because your body has produced too much insulin, (trying to bring your blood sugar level back in balance) and then you need more sugar. This will happen if you intake too many simple carbs at once (not just sugar -- think refined flours as well). You obviously don't want to set yourself up for failure, so the best idea is to not take in too many simple carbs at once, and even better, to go for the complex carbs you find in fruits and veggies (e.g. apples) that will keep your blood sugar levels up but won't spike them all at once.

Looking at sugar in terms of losing weight, however, you don't need to avoid it altogether, but it'll benefit you if you regulate it carefully. Note that this doesn't mean staying away from simple carbs altogether (though if you are doing Atkins or South Beach you will do that), but it means being smart and being able to control yourself and resisting putting too much sugar in your body if it'll mess you up later.

I think the most important thing is balance. Focus on getting good complex carbs, good fats, etc. so that you will feel full and your body can keep itself healthy. From what it sounds like you're doing, you can loosen up on yourself and let yourself have more sugars from time to time.

Does Minnie even read what she posts? It's like a "Google=Sugar" copy/pasta Tourette's thingy.

I assume you meant "paste" and not pasta....although pasta is a hell of a lot funnier.

In any event, I have Tourettes....what is this copy/paste thingy of which you speak?

lol sugar is irrelevant .. calories in vs calories out