how much sugar to consume per day?

I read an article last Friday about losing belly fat, and it said to try to stay around or under 21 grams of sugar a day.

an apple has 19 grams of sugar. So, i am a bit confused.

Me too! I want to consume less sugars too, but it's everywhere... all the fruit I love, carrots, protein/fiber bars. etc... Can someone clarify?

Sugar requirements vary between people - in an ideal world it would be very limited, however - manufacturers know its highly addictive so cram it in to everything they possibly can (even the things you'd least expect!).

The UK Government guideline is a maximum of 11% of your calories from Carbohydrates can come from sugar.

I shoot low with carbs and aim for around 175g of carbs per day, so 11% of that is around 19g. Watch out for fruit - its loaded with natural sugars and is no where near as 'healthy' as people insist. When trying to lose weight limit yourself to a single portion of fruit per day. A recent medical journal also highlighted the worrying research that fructose increases (specifically) abdominal fat, and saturated fat around the heart!

I usually am around 20-30 grams a day, but I only consume 80-100 grams of carbs per day too.

I posted this topic last night containing this information. Please keep in mind that natural sugars and refined sugars are totally different things and the body uses and breaks them down differently.

How Much Can You Feed Your Sweet Tooth?
Sugars found naturally in fruits and milk are not a problem. It's the added sugars that need to be limited because they provide calories but few vitamins and minerals. You'll find sugar-laden food at the top of the Food Pyramid. Added sugars can be found in soft drinks, candy, jams, jellies, syrups and table sugar we add to coffee and cereal. Added sugar can also appear in sweetened yogurt, soups, spaghetti sauces, applesauce and other items where you wouldn't suspect it unless you check the list of ingredients.

Here are some guidelines for added sugar based on calories in the daily food choices:

1,600 calories - Limit sugar to 6 teaspoons per day or 22 grams per day
2,200 calories - Limit sugar to 12 teaspoons per day or 44 grams per day
2,800 calories - Limit sugar to 18 teaspoons per day or 66 grams per day
So if the food label on your sweetened yogurt says a one-cup serving contains 22 grams of sugar, and your meal plan has 1,600 calories a day, you've eaten your day's allotment of sugar.

I second the recommendation to add it to your food diary as something you track, and try to stay below the program's presets (which are weight- and intake-based; mine's 27 for sugar). Yeah, it's hard to avoid, but I manage it on days when I don't eat dessert. I don't drink sweetened soft drinks (biggie), I don't eat a *whole* lot of fruit, and I try to choose products with no added sugar whenever possible. But it's in bread (as food for the yeast -- even my homemade bread has added sugar) and spaghetti sauce and ketchup and hundreds of things you wouldn't think of. When I make homemade pizza sauce, *I* put sugar in it!

I do try to avoid high fructose corn syrup, which you can do even in sugar-added foods by buying organic (there's no such thing as organic HFCS).

I find that eating sugar makes me crave sugar, so I have to be very careful with it.

It is not about sugar, or how much sugar is harmful to your diet. Is how that type of sugar affects your insulin. Reason why carbs in oats are healthy, and why an apple doesn't put too much strain on your insulin. Look at the GI index, or GI Load chart so you can understand what type of fruit may not be good for you, or carbohydrate.

I can't find where to do that at

Sugar is a real craving trigger for me, so I watch it more than fat. When I first started my program, I eliminated all added sugars as well as fruit for the first month to break the craving cycle. I have slowly reintroduced fruit but try to stay with lower glycemic options. Honestly, I will eat a good hearty bread before a banana most days, because it doesn't trigger any cravings for me. I try to keep my total sugars under 30 g a day; even when I exercise and earn more calories, I don't consume them in sugar. This does eliminate lots of processed foods from your diet, but it was so much easier sticking to my eating plan when I wasn't experiencing cravings all the time.

If you're otherwise healthy there is no reason to waste time counting sugar. Eat as much as you like so long as you hit your calorie, fiber and macronutrient targets while still getting sufficient micronutrients.

ETA: As for processed vs. unprocessed sugars, ignore the false dichotomy. It's all broken down by your digestive system and your body doesn't distinguish. The focus on fruit and veggies is that these also provide some fiber and micronutrients. At the end of the day though so long as you are giving your body what it needs it doesn't matter how.

I was concerned about the fact that fruit shot up my sugar for the day and asked my nutritionist about it. She said just ignore the fruit sugar grams because fruit has other things that I need. She said to use it for sweets and foods with added sugar like chinese sauces etc. Teaching myself to use less sugar in my coffee.