Sugar in fruit- how should I feel about it?

I just stopped by Whole Foods to get a snack and ended up with a tub of organic pineapple. Sure, it was a lot of pineapple (the container holds 2 cups), but I figured it was a healthier alternative than anything else I might end up with. Anyways, when I got home I looked it up to add it to my food log and it said it has 32 g sugar, pushing me 23 g over my daily limit. I know overeating even a fruit is bad, but how concerned should I be about the high sugar levels? I've got to admit a part of the reason I am asking is because I'm trying to justify some moose tracks ice cream...
Thoughts?:flowerforyou:
«1

Replies

  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    Why would you limit your sugars that much? The single banana I had for a snack a minute ago had more than twice the amount you set for your whole day in sugar.
  • laura97z
    laura97z Posts: 18
    Why would you limit your sugars that much? The single banana I had for a snack a minute ago had more than twice the amount you set for your whole day in sugar.


    Oh no my sugar limit is 54, I had just already had some sugar in other foods today.
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
    You should eat it and not worry about sugars unless you are a diabetic... it's fruit for cying out loud. Next time pick up fresh pineapple to reduce the sugars.
  • DamianaKitten
    DamianaKitten Posts: 479 Member
    I always think "OM NOM NOM NOM NOM!!!!!!!!!!"

    However, as I've stated before, pineapple is gross. So, you should feel shame. So much shame..... :laugh:
  • DusrPixie
    DusrPixie Posts: 3 Member
    Sugar that occurs naturally in a fruit, so long as you are eating the whole fruit so you get the fiber too, is fine. It's sugar, honey, syrup, etc. that has been added to a food (like catsup, or ice cream) that is bad for you.
  • laura97z
    laura97z Posts: 18
    You should eat it and not worry about sugars unless you are a diabetic... it's fruit for cying out loud. Next time pick up fresh pineapple to reduce the sugars.

    Well it was organic and freshly cut that morning so that's pretty fresh to me!
  • DamianaKitten
    DamianaKitten Posts: 479 Member
    Sugar that occurs naturally in a fruit, so long as you are eating the whole fruit so you get the fiber too, is fine. It's sugar, honey, syrup, etc. that has been added to a food (like catsup, or ice cream) that is bad for you.

    No.
  • DamianaKitten
    DamianaKitten Posts: 479 Member
    You should eat it and not worry about sugars unless you are a diabetic... it's fruit for cying out loud. Next time pick up fresh pineapple to reduce the sugars.

    I'm not sure I follow. The OP had fresh pineapple.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    Sugar (added or natural) is just a carb. Track your carbs, hit your goals, and don't worry about it. No need to track sugar individually.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    Sugar that occurs naturally in a fruit, so long as you are eating the whole fruit so you get the fiber too, is fine. It's sugar, honey, syrup, etc. that has been added to a food (like catsup, or ice cream) that is bad for you.

    No.

    x's 2
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    If fruit is bad for humans then we'd better all warn our local zookeepers not to give fruit to any other species of primate either.
  • DusrPixie
    DusrPixie Posts: 3 Member
    Sugar that occurs naturally in a fruit, so long as you are eating the whole fruit so you get the fiber too, is fine. It's sugar, honey, syrup, etc. that has been added to a food (like catsup, or ice cream) that is bad for you.

    No.

    x's 2

    Yes http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/eating-too-much-added-sugar-increases-the-risk-of-dying-with-heart-disease-201402067021
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
    If fruit is bad for humans then we'd better all warn our local zookeepers not to give fruit to any other species of primate either.
    :laugh:

    Bananas banned from monkey diet at U.K. zoo
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/bananas-banned-from-monkey-diet-at-u-k-zoo-1.2498127
    Monkeys at a zoo in England have been banned from eating bananas — for their own good.

    Bananas, and other fruits, are bad for the monkeys' health and can rot their teeth, according to staff at Paignton Zoo in Devon.

    "They simply are much more sugary than the sort of fruits that monkeys would have access to in the wild," said Amy Plowman, the zoo's head of conservation and advocacy.

    The monkey's high sugar diet led to problems similar to those seen in humans, namely tooth decay, diabetes, and issues related to obesity, such as heart problems.

    "What we found is that the monkeys are maintaining a much healthier weight, which is really good. In zoos, animals tend to perhaps put on a little more weight than they should because they've got very easy access to lots of food and they don't as much exercise as in the wild," she said.

    A low-sugar diet also slightly improves the animals' behaviour, especially among smaller monkeys, who tend in live in packs and tend to squabble a bit, she added.

    So what are the monkeys eating now? More vegetables, particularly the green, leafy kind, which are packed with nutrients and take the animals longer to eat. Plowman said.

    Bristol Zoo has followed the lead of Paignton​ Zoo in cutting back on the fruit in the diet of its monkeys.
  • gaelicstorm26
    gaelicstorm26 Posts: 589 Member
    Are you diabetic? If not, I wouldn't worry about the sugar you are getting from eating fruit. I have diabetes so I do have to watch how many fruits I eat that are high in sugar (pineapples are one), but most people can process it just fine.
  • MBrothers22
    MBrothers22 Posts: 323 Member
    Sugar that occurs naturally in a fruit, so long as you are eating the whole fruit so you get the fiber too, is fine. It's sugar, honey, syrup, etc. that has been added to a food (like catsup, or ice cream) that is bad for you.

    No.

    x's 2

    Yes http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/eating-too-much-added-sugar-increases-the-risk-of-dying-with-heart-disease-201402067021

    Newsflash: everything causes some sort of disease.
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    Sugar that occurs naturally in a fruit, so long as you are eating the whole fruit so you get the fiber too, is fine. It's sugar, honey, syrup, etc. that has been added to a food (like catsup, or ice cream) that is bad for you.

    No.

    x's 2

    Yes http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/eating-too-much-added-sugar-increases-the-risk-of-dying-with-heart-disease-201402067021

    Eating too much anything is unhealthy.

    Drink too much water and you know what happens?

    Get too much oxygen and guess what?
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    If fruit is bad for humans then we'd better all warn our local zookeepers not to give fruit to any other species of primate either.
    :laugh:

    Bananas banned from monkey diet at U.K. zoo
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/bananas-banned-from-monkey-diet-at-u-k-zoo-1.2498127
    Monkeys at a zoo in England have been banned from eating bananas — for their own good.

    Bananas, and other fruits, are bad for the monkeys' health and can rot their teeth, according to staff at Paignton Zoo in Devon.

    "They simply are much more sugary than the sort of fruits that monkeys would have access to in the wild," said Amy Plowman, the zoo's head of conservation and advocacy.

    The monkey's high sugar diet led to problems similar to those seen in humans, namely tooth decay, diabetes, and issues related to obesity, such as heart problems.

    "What we found is that the monkeys are maintaining a much healthier weight, which is really good. In zoos, animals tend to perhaps put on a little more weight than they should because they've got very easy access to lots of food and they don't as much exercise as in the wild," she said.

    A low-sugar diet also slightly improves the animals' behaviour, especially among smaller monkeys, who tend in live in packs and tend to squabble a bit, she added.

    So what are the monkeys eating now? More vegetables, particularly the green, leafy kind, which are packed with nutrients and take the animals longer to eat. Plowman said.

    Bristol Zoo has followed the lead of Paignton​ Zoo in cutting back on the fruit in the diet of its monkeys.

    because they're eating more than they would have had access to in the wild and because they don't get as much exercise as they would in the wild....

    no different to humans, i.e. get more exercise and limit portion sizes.... they haven't been banned from eating fruit altogether, the zookeeper is limiting the amount they can eat to match what they'd eat in the wild, i.e. portion control... what is recommended for humans to maintain a healthy body weight. No-one here's recommending humans eat fruit in unlimited quantities... the objection is to people demonising fruit and/or sugar and claiming that it alone is responsible for obesity without taking anything else into account, e.g. balanced diet, total number of calories eaten, burned etc, or saying fruit is bad and shouldn't be eaten at all. Fruit is an excellent source of micronutrients, fibre and carbohydrate... and is totally fine to include as part of a balanced diet with portion control. The only nut-job recommending eating huge quantities of bananas a day is that Freelee woman and there's currently 2 threads taking the blatant pee out of her and saying how unhealthy her diet is.
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    Log it and enjoy it - it's pineapple!!!
  • misdreagus
    misdreagus Posts: 30 Member
    Natural sugar is totally fine :)
  • Shropshire1959
    Shropshire1959 Posts: 982 Member
    Sugar that occurs naturally in a fruit, so long as you are eating the whole fruit so you get the fiber too, is fine. It's sugar, honey, syrup, etc. that has been added to a food (like catsup, or ice cream) that is bad for you.

    No.

    The science behind your 'NO' is? ....... Your 'no' post on it;s own is not very helpful. Please explain what you mean, why and prove it.
  • Shropshire1959
    Shropshire1959 Posts: 982 Member
    If fruit is bad for humans then we'd better all warn our local zookeepers not to give fruit to any other species of primate either.

    quite.

    I'm on a mission today to try to get people to explain their answers.


    There appear to be a lot of people here who seem to think that their Normal body responds and processes nutrients in a totally different way to all other Healthy Normal bodies (N.B simplified to remove folks with medical issues - who 'could' work differently to some extent or another).. Well I'm not buying this and so am trying to find out.....


    The glib bit : I'm not sure why so many scientists, Drs etc.. bother going to university for years and years - when all they need to do is come here to get their 'facts' from the University of the Herd :-p who have already got ALL of the Answers :tongue: :tongue: :tongue:
  • lisaabenjamin
    lisaabenjamin Posts: 665 Member
    Sugar that occurs naturally in a fruit, so long as you are eating the whole fruit so you get the fiber too, is fine. It's sugar, honey, syrup, etc. that has been added to a food (like catsup, or ice cream) that is bad for you.

    No.

    The science behind your 'NO' is? ....... Your 'no' post on it;s own is not very helpful. Please explain what you mean, why and prove it.

    I think the poster was getting at the fact that really, refined sugar or added sugar is no more or less bad for you than natural sugar. There may be different kinds of sugar (glucose, fructose, sucrose etc) but they are all still sugar, sugar is a carb, so watch your overall carb intake and don't stress about the sugar as a separate macro.

    Refined sugar isn't "bad" for you per se, it's just that foods that tend to contain it are not as nutritious. Yes fruit has sugar, but it also has a lot of good stuff like fibre and vitamins.

    Edited to clarify a point..
  • lisaabenjamin
    lisaabenjamin Posts: 665 Member
    Commenting on my own post here as I had a thought: sugar is a carb, yes, but does MFP track it separately? I have a column for carbs in my diary, and a column for sugar - does my carb column also contain the values for sugar or are they separated out somehow?

    I was thinking I would remove the sugar column from my diary but would my carb column be accurate?
  • thisonewillwork
    thisonewillwork Posts: 74 Member
    The KISS principle: if it's natural (as in completely unprocessed) then it's okay but if it's processed then have just a little or steer clear. Unless of course you have a health issue.
  • Shropshire1959
    Shropshire1959 Posts: 982 Member

    I think the poster was getting at the fact that really, refined sugar or added sugar is no more or less bad for you than natural sugar. There may be different kinds of sugar (glucose, fructose, sucrose etc) but they are all still sugar, sugar is a carb, so watch your overall carb intake and don't stress about the sugar as a separate macro.

    Refined sugar isn't "bad" for you per se, it's just that foods that tend to contain it are not as nutritious. Yes fruit has sugar, but it also has a lot of good stuff like fibre and vitamins.

    Edited to clarify a point..

    Thanks .

    I agree that there are different kinds of sugars (I've often made that same point here) but I don't think that they are all processed the same way by the body. The sugars are not only different by name (clearly ;-p ) but also my molecular composition. Long chain (complex) sugars will take more (and different enzymes) processing than simple ones and seem to cause different responses from your body (I'm still researching a more detailed explanation - but I don't hold with an overly simplistic one).

    But I do stand by my comment that a simple 'No' posts is a waste time and helps no one.
  • Frood42
    Frood42 Posts: 245 Member
    Sugar (added or natural) is just a carb. Track your carbs, hit your goals, and don't worry about it. No need to track sugar individually.

    This
    .
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    Sugar is only an issue if you have blood disorders impacted by the consumption of sugar. For all other purposes, it is a carbohydrate.
  • Shropshire1959
    Shropshire1959 Posts: 982 Member
    I tend to think if it's natural (as in completely unprocessed) then it's okay but if it's processed then have just a little or steer clear. Unless of course you have a health issue.

    agh, but there are examples of foods that are either not edible or even dangerous when not processed and 'safe' when they are ...

    Examples

    Cassava
    Cashew 'nuts'

    So my point is that the ....... 'Raw GOOD... Processed BAD" ......... mantra is yet another over simplification of the nutritional sciences.
  • Chezzie84
    Chezzie84 Posts: 873 Member
    Sugar that occurs naturally in a fruit, so long as you are eating the whole fruit so you get the fiber too, is fine. It's sugar, honey, syrup, etc. that has been added to a food (like catsup, or ice cream) that is bad for you.

    No.

    x's 2

    Yes http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/eating-too-much-added-sugar-increases-the-risk-of-dying-with-heart-disease-201402067021

    Honey is a natural sugar too.
    I also say No. Just because Harvard says so!!!! Ohhhhhh I am so scared.
    Guess what next week sugar will be fine and something else will be bad. If you listened to the experts, you wouldn't eat anything.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    I just stopped by Whole Foods to get a snack and ended up with a tub of organic pineapple. Sure, it was a lot of pineapple (the container holds 2 cups), but I figured it was a healthier alternative than anything else I might end up with. Anyways, when I got home I looked it up to add it to my food log and it said it has 32 g sugar, pushing me 23 g over my daily limit. I know overeating even a fruit is bad, but how concerned should I be about the high sugar levels? I've got to admit a part of the reason I am asking is because I'm trying to justify some moose tracks ice cream...
    Thoughts?:flowerforyou:
    I think you need to reassess what you consider healthy. This skewed idea pushed by the media that all sugar is bad is not helping. Unless you have some medical condition I really wouldn't worry about sugar in fruit. Fair enough cut down on added sugar in processed food but fruit no. I average around 100g of sugar a day and normally all from fruit