I go over my sugar most days!

vintagegirl3
vintagegirl3 Posts: 49 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am able to keep all of my other things in check, fat, carbs, sodium, but I struggle with sugar. Fruits and vegetables are full of them.

First let me give you an idea of what is available where I live to give you an idea of what I am able to eat.

I live in the Amazon Jungle and it is hard to buy vegetables here. The vegetables that are regularly available are carrots and cucumbers. On rare occasions we can get peas or beens, but this is VERY rare. Also we can get cauliflower and broccoli sometimes and these are two of my favourites. When either my husband or I go to Lima we can bring back other things like asparagus or zucchini, but again that is only about twice a year.

We have every starch you can think of as far as potatoes, yams and yuca. We also have a lot of fruits here, a couple kinds of apples, oranges, grapes and watermelon and bananas.

I do not drink anything other than water, so I am not getting sugar from my drinks. I ate one apple today and it was 17 of my 28 g of available sugar. I also ate some grapes today which I see were really high in sugar, maybe they will have to be an occasional treat.

With a history of diabetes in my family I want to be careful about my sugar intake.

Replies

  • topazora
    topazora Posts: 82 Member
    But you're getting a lot of your sugar from fruit. So long as you're not getting sugar from the refined foods like candy bars and sodas, then you should be fine.
    I go over my daily sugar requirements all the time and I'm still losing weight.
  • nixism
    nixism Posts: 258 Member
    Fruit is really annoying, I only eat a peice probably every few days - as every day I do eat it, I go over in my sugar macros. I don't worry about it too much - lots of people on MFP have told me not to worry too much.
  • carrington2005
    carrington2005 Posts: 7
    In the body, carbohydrates are metabolised the same as sugar, so all the starchy foods = sugar. My macronutrient ratio is 1/3 each of protein, carbs and fats, and if I go over on the fats or proteins it doesn't bother me, as long as I limit to 2 serves of fruit a day (usually berries is one serve, and the other is a moderate fructose fruit such as citrus).
  • sympha01
    sympha01 Posts: 942 Member
    Unless you are diabetic I would take MFP's "redline" on sugar with a grain of, heh heh, salt. It is very easy for MFP to redline you just for eating a little fruit and dairy! As you say, even an apple is more than half of what MFP is recommending for you.

    It's summertime in California, and I've been eating more fruit than usual (and expect to continue to), and MFP has redlined me on sugar EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Like you, I've been really good about keeping everything else clean. The bulk of my calories every day come from whole grains, fresh fruit, and low or nonfat dairy, with a dietary budget for my crazy nut habit, so I'm really sure I'm not doing anything wrong here.

    I have been doing some research trying to see where their default sugar recommendation comes from and so far it looks like they're just doing a straight calculation of 8% of total calorie recommendation. That seems crazy low. So far I'm not finding anything online with an official daily sugar recommendation, but I did find this very interesting article at food politics: http://www.foodpolitics.com/2013/02/lets-ask-marion-whats-the-recommended-daily-allowance-of-sugar/

    The basic takeaway from the article is that among doctors and scientists, there's some disagreement about how to measure it and how high is ok, but the primary concern is added sugar, not naturally occurring sugar. And these scientists are suggesting between 10% of daily calories at the low end to 25% at the absolute upper end.

    So, 8% as an upper limit is absurd. Assuming your recommended daily calories are currently around 1400 (calculated from your 28 g sugar recommendation), you could probably set your real absolute upper bound closer to 85 g, and of course try to keep comfortably below it at maybe 50 or 60. And as long as that's mostly coming from whole foods and not processed foods (or fruit juice, which really is just sugar, even the 100% juice stuff) and you're getting plenty of fiber, you are good to go, sister.

    If your calorie recommendation is different, here's the math:

    25% of total recommended calories = recommended calories from sugar
    4 calories per gram of sugar, so recommended calories from sugar / divided by 4 equals total UPPER LIMIT for sugar grams.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    Stop logging sugar. It's completely irrelevant.

    Log fiber instead.
  • vintagegirl3
    vintagegirl3 Posts: 49 Member
    Your responses are encouraging, thank you everyone.
  • daisyboo84
    daisyboo84 Posts: 37
    Hello,

    I too go over both my sugar and fat every day. My fat comes mainly from Olive oil, and sugar largely from fruit. I don't really count this as fruit from sugar should be fine, and unsaturated fat shouldn't be a problem also...but maybe i'm wrong? I still stay under my cals. My food diary is open if anyone wants to see it.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,334 Member
    I totally ignore my sugar consumption, its calories in and calories out. Working so far!
  • foot1647
    foot1647 Posts: 92
    When I look at my sugar I subtract the sugar from the fruit I eat. So for example if I eat 20 sugar and 15 was form my apples and bananas I will subtract 15 from 20, so I only ate 5 actual sugar grams. Not sure if that's how one should go about it, but like others have said don't count raw fruit sugars as I also consider them natural/organic sugars as opposed to refined, bleached and whatever else and then added to foods.
  • meisio13
    meisio13 Posts: 2 Member
    I struggle with my sugar intake as well. Everything I have read suggests counting added sugar, not natural. While MFP tracks all sugar as equal, I think it should only track added sugar. The sugars found in fruit and veggies are considered natural sugars. Haven't been able to find a limit on natural.

    Here is an article from the American Heart Association on sugar...

    http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/NutritionCenter/HealthyDietGoals/Sugars-and-Carbohydrates_UCM_303296_Article.jsp
  • sc10985
    sc10985 Posts: 347 Member
    Me too. I had pb toast and a banana for breakfast and I have 4g of sugar left for the day lol. Like someone else said, as long as it's not coming from candy and stuff like that, I wouldn't worry too much.
  • magpie_17
    magpie_17 Posts: 124
    I go over my sugar limit every day, too - I'm most of the way there after my breakfast fruit smoothie! I'm trying to cut back, though. Nerd Fitness posted this blog on Monday about sugar - highly recommend it: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/06/17/everything-you-need-to-know-about-sugar/
  • Tammycakes101
    Tammycakes101 Posts: 2 Member
    Me too! I have recently started tracking my sugar intake and every single day I am over.
    I am Always under or within my Calories.
    I consume a lot of fruit (sweet tooth) and have stopped all artificial sweeteners and white sugary snacks.
    I'm glad that I came across this post because I am going to stop torturing myself with the sugar intake.
    I already have 20 grams of sugar and have only eaten breakfast. (Banana and PB toast) Going to change it now:) I love MVP!

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