Sugar

occupysmithmachine
occupysmithmachine Posts: 49
in Getting Started
Does the sugar measure on the food diary represent grams?

Replies

  • occupysmithmachine
    occupysmithmachine Posts: 49
    Well, I was able to workout that under My Home > Goals > Change Goals > Custom that the Sugar column was set at 45 g for my 1200 calorie/day recommendation. How does MyFitnessPal come up with this figure? That's 11 teaspoons of sugar per day, well over what I believe to be the recommended 6 teaspoons per day for women? Almost double!
  • kitticus15
    kitticus15 Posts: 152 Member
    I aint complaing I have a sweet tooth, and if it is a little higher than the recommended I don't mind, cos I know 11 tsp is a lot less than I was consuming....
  • 1pandabear
    1pandabear Posts: 336 Member
    On my food diary settings I choose to show fiber instead of sugar because I actually get a lot of sugar in my diet through eating a lot of fruit, and also because I want to make sure I am getting enough fiber.
  • Fatandfifty3
    Fatandfifty3 Posts: 419 Member
    There are sugars in all sorts of food. I don't think it just means the white sprinkly stuff.
  • occupysmithmachine
    occupysmithmachine Posts: 49
    Yes, perhaps the 6 tsps per day is just for added sugar?

    I've had 16 grams of raisins and 15 grams of hazelnuts so far today and already up to 10 g !
  • occupysmithmachine
    occupysmithmachine Posts: 49
    It's so confusing with all the different info out there!

    According to the NHS website, it's 10% of total dietary intake but this other website* says that the WHO recommendation of 10% has been reduced to 5%:

    "And for those reasons, the World Health Organization has just announced that it is halving its recommended sugar intake for adults, from the original 10 percent of total daily calories to 5 percent. For a normal weight adult, that's about 25 grams, or 6 teaspoons, per day.
    Of course, that's TOTAL sugar, and the AHA has said that people need to make a distinction between naturally occurring and added sugars when it comes to daily sugar intake. The average American consumes around 22.2 teaspoons of added sugar every day, and both the World Health Organization and the American Heart Association (AHA) note that we should really be eating a fraction of that amount. The AHA says that adult women should get 5 teaspoons (20 grams) of sugar per day, adult men 9 teaspoons (36 grams), and children 3 teaspoons (12 grams). For comparison, a can of soda can have 40 grams, or about 10 teaspoons of sugar."

    http://www.rodalenews.com/recommended-sugar-intake
  • Dragonborn79
    Dragonborn79 Posts: 161
    I was wondering about this too. It's confusing. I've been trying to keep my sugar below 20 grams a day, but it's tricky. I'm not eating added sugar, but I'm not eating a lot of vegetables either. And no fruit. I haven't had fruit in months. Actually, that's not true. I have squeezed lemon juice on fish a couple of times. But still. Today (yesterday technically, I'm a night owl) I had 17 grams.

    1/2 cup Oats 1g
    Greek nonfat yogurt 9g
    Low carb tortilla 1g
    40 grams onion 2g
    2 cups frozen California mix 4g

    It adds up fast.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1181259-so-what-s-with-this-sugar-then-revised-faq-jan-2014
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Sometimes I think someone profits from the confusion. Keep it simple. Eat mostly whole food and don't worry over details.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    It's so confusing with all the different info out there!

    According to the NHS website, it's 10% of total dietary intake but this other website* says that the WHO recommendation of 10% has been reduced to 5%:

    "And for those reasons, the World Health Organization has just announced that it is halving its recommended sugar intake for adults, from the original 10 percent of total daily calories to 5 percent. For a normal weight adult, that's about 25 grams, or 6 teaspoons, per day.
    Of course, that's TOTAL sugar, and the AHA has said that people need to make a distinction between naturally occurring and added sugars when it comes to daily sugar intake. The average American consumes around 22.2 teaspoons of added sugar every day, and both the World Health Organization and the American Heart Association (AHA) note that we should really be eating a fraction of that amount. The AHA says that adult women should get 5 teaspoons (20 grams) of sugar per day, adult men 9 teaspoons (36 grams), and children 3 teaspoons (12 grams). For comparison, a can of soda can have 40 grams, or about 10 teaspoons of sugar."

    http://www.rodalenews.com/recommended-sugar-intake
    The figures you are quoting are actually meant to be once your daily nutrients have been met. Your discretionary calories are advised not to be above these amounts (that's the bit these articles keep forgetting to tell people as it doesn't sound like a good story other wise. So for example if your daily nutrient requirements give you 50g of sugar (I just plucked that number out of thin air) then the advice as given above is above that figure.

    In reality though it's just another scare story that all it does is muddy the water even more. Eat a balanced diet with fruit, veg, wholegrains some good protein and don't be scared to have chocolate or ice cream in moderation and ignore the sugar figure. Unless you have a specific medical issue there is no point getting hung up on it
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Eat a balanced diet with fruit, veg, wholegrains some good protein and don't be scared to have chocolate or ice cream in moderation and ignore the sugar figure. Unless you have a specific medical issue there is no point getting hung up on it

    This. I had 43 g yesterday, which I guess sounds shocking if you are trying to stay below 20 (it was still below my MFP goal, which I generally ignore). But it was almost all from fruits (I had an apple at breakfast and some berries as a post-workout snack), vegetables, and a half cup of greek yogurt. I also often get a good bit from milk. None of these seem like foods to cut, especially since I was within my calorie goal (which is low), and I know I eat a healthy diet, so it would just drive me mad to worry about it and seems unnecessary. If you read the reasonings for the sugar limits it's not focused on this kind of thing or even the inclusion of occasional sweets. The concern seems to be that people aren't eating stuff like fruits and vegetables and are getting a significant portion of their calories from sweets. Part of this calorie counting thing is that that's probably quite unlikely (although not impossible), especially if you do make an effort to meet your macros and micronutrient needs.
  • occupysmithmachine
    occupysmithmachine Posts: 49
    It's so confusing with all the different info out there!

    According to the NHS website, it's 10% of total dietary intake but this other website* says that the WHO recommendation of 10% has been reduced to 5%:

    "And for those reasons, the World Health Organization has just announced that it is halving its recommended sugar intake for adults, from the original 10 percent of total daily calories to 5 percent. For a normal weight adult, that's about 25 grams, or 6 teaspoons, per day.
    Of course, that's TOTAL sugar, and the AHA has said that people need to make a distinction between naturally occurring and added sugars when it comes to daily sugar intake. The average American consumes around 22.2 teaspoons of added sugar every day, and both the World Health Organization and the American Heart Association (AHA) note that we should really be eating a fraction of that amount. The AHA says that adult women should get 5 teaspoons (20 grams) of sugar per day, adult men 9 teaspoons (36 grams), and children 3 teaspoons (12 grams). For comparison, a can of soda can have 40 grams, or about 10 teaspoons of sugar."

    http://www.rodalenews.com/recommended-sugar-intake
    The figures you are quoting are actually meant to be once your daily nutrients have been met. Your discretionary calories are advised not to be above these amounts (that's the bit these articles keep forgetting to tell people as it doesn't sound like a good story other wise. So for example if your daily nutrient requirements give you 50g of sugar (I just plucked that number out of thin air) then the advice as given above is above that figure.

    In reality though it's just another scare story that all it does is muddy the water even more. Eat a balanced diet with fruit, veg, wholegrains some good protein and don't be scared to have chocolate or ice cream in moderation and ignore the sugar figure. Unless you have a specific medical issue there is no point getting hung up on it

    I do have to worry about sugar. Several people in my family have died from the complications of heart disease and diabetes so I want to fight against the tide for as long as I am able. I am not yet diabetic but I do get foggy headed when eating too many high GI foods at once. And this guy Robert H. Lustig on this video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM ) sure does make a compelling case - so much so I may look into the actual studies - not that I am qualified to assess their validity (not many people are!).

    That being said, I appreciate all the feedback in your reply and in this thread.
  • Swiftlet66
    Swiftlet66 Posts: 729 Member
    I ignore the sugar in my logs...or at least I've set it to 100 g just so I don't have to see the red letters/numbers. lol. Reason is, I rarely eat processed sugar but instead, I eat lots of fruit and that still adds up quickly. At the same time, I feel so much more energetic eating fruit sugar than when I ate mostly added sugars. So that's why I ignore the sugar data.
  • Dragonborn79
    Dragonborn79 Posts: 161
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1181259-so-what-s-with-this-sugar-then-revised-faq-jan-2014

    Thanks for sharing that link.

    When trying to figure out how much sugar I should have, I read (somewhere, I can't remember now, honestly) that I should try to stay below 20g of sugar. The site was talking about added sugar, but when I talked to my doctor he said "all sugar is sugar" I took that as stay below 20g of ALL sugar, (he never gave me a number or percentage). When trying to eat low carb and high fiber, there isn't a lot of wiggle room for sugar anyway. I have felt like I probably should be eating more fruit and vegetables though.
  • Watermelon_Crush
    Watermelon_Crush Posts: 170 Member
    Honestly? If you're just starting up, I'd recommend you just worry about the calorie column for for now. So long as you're having a pretty balanced diet, usually I find that if I come in under my calories, the other stats naturally are alright too, because cals reflect sugars and fats.

    So yeah....Id get myself comfortable with just worrying about cals first so it's not all too overwhelming. If you're finding that it's not working for you, then I'd look at playing around with the other stats.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    When trying to figure out how much sugar I should have, I read (somewhere, I can't remember now, honestly) that I should try to stay below 20g of sugar. The site was talking about added sugar, but when I talked to my doctor he said "all sugar is sugar" I took that as stay below 20g of ALL sugar, (he never gave me a number or percentage). When trying to eat low carb and high fiber, there isn't a lot of wiggle room for sugar anyway. I have felt like I probably should be eating more fruit and vegetables though.

    MFP used to have a lower limit, the doc is right that if your concern is diabetes / insulin resistance etc then not only do all sugars but all carbohydrates count. 100 grams a day of carbs might be a starting point, or avoid free starches and sugars.
  • occupysmithmachine
    occupysmithmachine Posts: 49
    Honestly? If you're just starting up, I'd recommend you just worry about the calorie column for for now. So long as you're having a pretty balanced diet, usually I find that if I come in under my calories, the other stats naturally are alright too, because cals reflect sugars and fats.

    So yeah....Id get myself comfortable with just worrying about cals first so it's not all too overwhelming. If you're finding that it's not working for you, then I'd look at playing around with the other stats.

    You're probably right. I focused on bettering my sugar and fiber columns today and ended up eating more calories in the process! That being said, I halved my sugar intake and doubled the fiber, even managing some raspberries in the process. This thread has been very enlightening!
  • swalberg0625
    swalberg0625 Posts: 98 Member
    On my food diary settings I choose to show fiber instead of sugar because I actually get a lot of sugar in my diet through eating a lot of fruit, and also because I want to make sure I am getting enough fiber.


    Yup! Me too. There is a difference in the way our body processes natural sugar to processed sugar.

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