Limiting Sugar - Does source matter?

CMReece
CMReece Posts: 4 Member
I'm new to the food diary thing and I see that many days my sugar intake is over where it should be. Most of my sugar comes from raw, whole fruit and from milk (1/2% dairy milk or almond milk). Should I be concerned, or should I be more worried about added sugars and kinda discount the fruits and milk sugars from my count in my mind?
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Replies

  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Unless you have diabetes (or doctor's orders), ignore MFP's sugar goal.
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
    I only worry about added sugars, personally.
  • cwoyto123
    cwoyto123 Posts: 308
    Why are you limiting sugar?
  • rueyaroo
    rueyaroo Posts: 35
    Yes-- try not to eat anything that rapidly raises your blood sugar. So limit fruits that aren't mostly fructose. I used to have problems losing weight before I was put on medication for IR and PCOS, I cut most fruits from my diet and consider it a cheat since i'm so sensitive.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    I would forget tracking sugar and replace it with fiber and pay attention to your overall caloric intake and Protein, Carbs, and Fats.... I have never tracked a single gram of sugar and it has not effected my outcome both with weight loss and overall health.... If your within your Macros and Calories the rest will fall in line..... Best of Luck
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  • Barbellarella_
    Barbellarella_ Posts: 454 Member
    Yes-- try not to eat anything that rapidly raises your blood sugar. So limit fruits that aren't mostly fructose. I used to have problems losing weight before I was put on medication for IR and PCOS, I cut most fruits from my diet and consider it a cheat since i'm so sensitive.
    The OP didn't mention any medical conditions so don't apply your restrictions that you have for your medical condition to her.

    Telling people to cut fruit out of their diet isn't smart and it's unnecessary.
    Truth.

    Also, you can remove tracking sugar if you go into your settings, a lot of people do that. I just track carbs as a whole.
  • Cranquistador
    Cranquistador Posts: 39,744 Member
    Yes-- try not to eat anything that rapidly raises your blood sugar. So limit fruits that aren't mostly fructose. I used to have problems losing weight before I was put on medication for IR and PCOS, I cut most fruits from my diet and consider it a cheat since i'm so sensitive.
    The OP didn't mention any medical conditions so don't apply your restrictions that you have for your medical condition to her.

    Telling people to cut fruit out of their diet isn't smart and it's unnecessary.
    Truth.

    Also, you can remove tracking sugar if you go into your settings, a lot of people do that. I just track carbs as a whole.
    ^exactly.
  • danasings
    danasings Posts: 8,218 Member
    Unless you have diabetes (or doctor's orders), ignore MFP's sugar goal.

    ^^This.
  • rueyaroo
    rueyaroo Posts: 35
    excess sugar isn't good for your health anyway, i wouldn't understand why you would want to eat more of it if the bottom line is sugar is empty calories and can cause a whole slew of health issues down the line? the point of dieting is to be healthy, not strictly for appearance only.

    I also didn't say to cut all fruit from her diet, I said fruits that aren't mostly made of fructose.
  • MyFitnessPal and much food information is very simplistic. Hence there is more to nutrition than carbs, sugars, and fats. Excess sugar from fruits is rather difficult unless you are eating way too much fruit. Fruits also differ in the sugar content. E.g. If you in a workout and need an energy boost, bananas are great. But if you are sitting at a desk and need a snack, then apples are great. If all your fruit and milk is coming from smoothies, then than may need to be be adjusted. 1 smoothie is good, but too many smoothies in a day is almost like candy.
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    excess sugar isn't good for your health anyway, i wouldn't understand why you would want to eat more of it if the bottom line is sugar is empty calories and can cause a whole slew of health issues down the line? the point of dieting is to be healthy, not strictly for appearance only.

    I also didn't say to cut all fruit from her diet, I said fruits that aren't mostly made of fructose.

    That's how I read your comment above as well.

    Limit does not mean remove.

    Personally if you're happy with sugar and it is not taking you over your calorie goal or detracting from your other macro or micro nutrients then eat it log it and enjoy.

    If you are looking for something to cut to get you into a calorie deficit without affecting your micro nutrients then sugar is the quickest, easiest and most efficient option.

    Good luck OP
  • rueyaroo
    rueyaroo Posts: 35
    Thankfully someone else agrees.

    It's sad that I get put on blast for telling people to cut down on sugar when it's the source for a lot of serious medical problems, especially if it's eaten in large amounts over long periods of time.
  • cwoyto123
    cwoyto123 Posts: 308
    No, calories in vs. calories out (unless diabetic).

    Do not worry about sugar.
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
    To answer the OP's question, no. You should not be concerned. =)
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    Thankfully someone else agrees.

    It's sad that I get put on blast for telling people to cut down on sugar when it's the source for a lot of serious medical problems, especially if it's eaten in large amounts over long periods of time.


    Do we have any evidence that fruit intake is problematic in a hypocaloric diet in non diabetic patients? IF the answer is yes then we would then need to look at quantity and compare that to the OP's diet before suggesting she "cut back on fruit".
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    excess sugar isn't good for your health anyway, i wouldn't understand why you would want to eat more of it if the bottom line is sugar is empty calories and can cause a whole slew of health issues down the line? the point of dieting is to be healthy, not strictly for appearance only.

    I also didn't say to cut all fruit from her diet, I said fruits that aren't mostly made of fructose.

    Why fructose?

    Also, assuming the OP is consuming 'excess' sugar ignores what the OP is actually doing. Also, many foods that contain sugar are not 'empty calories'. You told the OP to limit sugar in your initial post...which, without context, is also limiting possible nutrients, especially as the OP mentioned milk and fruits etc - which are absolutely not empty calories..
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  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    Have to agree with Sidesteel and Sara. Tons of blanket statements being thrown around today with little context or consideration on what people do here.

    And Ruey, just because 1 person agrees with you doesn't mean your statement is accurate.

    Just to clarify I was agreeing that her original statement was indicating limiting rather than avoiding (that was all).

    I don't have an issue with sugar, it has it's place in a healthy diet .

    My views on limiting sugar from any source is purely for convenient calorie control.
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
    I know all of the foods I gained all my weight on (more than once in my life). Fruit was never one of those foods. I eat fruit now and I'm losing weight, although I do eat it alongside other foods. I rarely will go into the kitchen and grab a handful of fruit by itself. It actually makes me feel a little ill the few times I've done it.

    Your results may vary.
  • rueyaroo
    rueyaroo Posts: 35
    Honestly just do whatever you want. Cutting fruit and sugar is what works for me, and I know for a fact that carbohydrates are processed differently in different types of individuals. I know because I have an endocrinologist, and have a lot of friends around me that are becoming physicians.

    I dropped 40 pounds via calorie restriction, and a whole slew of diets + fasting to maintain weight. It wasn't until I started to control sugar that I could start dropping weight again, and I'm at -60.

    If you think 150 calories of oatmeal and 150 calories of cupcakes are equal, you're sadly mistaken. Sugar is a controversial micronutrient and insulin resistance is in fact, higher and correlated with bmi. If you're trying to lose weight, fine they might be equal. But if you're trying to be healthy on the fundamental level, which is what people should be striving for anyway, then no.

    Fruits that are entirely made of fructose are proven to not raise blood sugar like other sugar fruits can, so apples, pears, etc. Spiking insulin also packs on fat since your pancreas starts to produce insulin to try to put your blood back to a normal level. There's an entire book about insulin resistance, which btw everyone has-- just at different levels.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    If you think 150 calories of oatmeal and 150 calories of cupcakes are equal, you're sadly mistaken. Sugar is a controversial micronutrient and insulin resistance is in fact, higher and correlated with bmi. If you're trying to lose weight, fine they might be equal. But if you're trying to be healthy on the fundamental level, which is what people should be striving for anyway, then no.

    Did anyone claim that 150 calories of oatmeal and 150 calories of cupcake are equal?

    This is a strawman argument.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    Honestly just do whatever you want. Cutting fruit and sugar is what works for me, and I know for a fact that carbohydrates are processed differently in different types of individuals. I know because I have an endocrinologist, and have a lot of friends around me that are becoming physicians.

    I dropped 40 pounds via calorie restriction, and a whole slew of diets + fasting to maintain weight. It wasn't until I started to control sugar that I could start dropping weight again, and I'm at -60.

    If you think 150 calories of oatmeal and 150 calories of cupcakes are equal, you're sadly mistaken. Sugar is a controversial micronutrient and insulin resistance is in fact, higher and correlated with bmi. If you're trying to lose weight, fine they might be equal. But if you're trying to be healthy on the fundamental level, which is what people should be striving for anyway, then no.

    Fruits that are entirely made of fructose are proven to not raise blood sugar like other sugar fruits can, so apples, pears, etc. Spiking insulin also packs on fat since your pancreas starts to produce insulin to try to put your blood back to a normal level. There's an entire book about insulin resistance, which btw everyone has-- just at different levels.

    weightology.net/weightologyweekly/?page_id=319
  • rueyaroo
    rueyaroo Posts: 35
    The implication that the sources of sugars "don't matter" means that as long as the macronutrient of carbohydrates are fulfilled, the micronutrient doesn't matter-- which seems to be the idea of many in this forum.

    I disagree, and I can't be convinced because eating a lot of carbs regardless of source (meaning that I used to eat both sugars and complex carbs prior to me cutting simple sugars to get past a several year plateau) has always blunted or stopped weightloss for me. I don't really care what studies have been written/or done since it's never produced a good outcome whenever I've applied those ideas to my diet.

    edit* had to specify for the trolls.

    I don't tell people what to do with their diet, I'm just stating what has worked for me in my several year journey.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    The implication that the sources of sugars "don't matter" means that as long as the macronutrient of carbohydrates are fulfilled, the micronutrient doesn't matter-- which seems to be the idea of many in this forum.

    Did anyone claim that micronutrients do not matter?

    I disagree, and I can't be convinced because eating a lot of carbs regardless of source has always blunted or stopped weightloss for me.

    If eating a lot of carbs regardless of source has blunted weight loss wouldn't that imply that the source of the carbohydrate doesn't really matter, at least as far as your personal experience goes?

    I don't really care what studies have been written/or done since it's never produced a good outcome whenever I've applied those ideas to my diet.

    The problem is that you are taking personal experience and using it to justify potentially poor dietary choices in other people without paying consideration to those studies that you don't care about and without gathering more information about the individual's diet.

    Decreasing fruit intake because of fear about sugar COULD be a very bad idea.
  • rueyaroo
    rueyaroo Posts: 35
    The sources of my carbs USED to be mostly sugar (fruits, white rice), if you read my previous posts I specified my plateau experience and how I got past it by eating only complex carbs.

    Most of those links are showing me how glucose is processed in the body in the same way, but the studies aren't showing how the body processes it in a sudden release of a large quantities.

    Okay-- then tell her to go increase sugar in her diet because we all know that doesn't cause diabetes at all.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Technically, wouldn't any sugar in almond milk be an "added sugar"? I mention this only because I think sometimes people go overboard on the distinction. IMO, saying carrots are good, because natural sugar, but adding a bit of sugar to rhubarb to make it more palatable is bad because, well, added doesn't make a ton of sense. You always need to look at context and the overall diet.

    But that aside, I agree with the majority here, unless you are having issues meeting your calorie goals or achieving nutrition goals otherwise (and I think fruit, dairy, and almond milk all can be quite helpful in achieving nutrition goals, so are unlikely to be negatives unless you are consuming much higher amounts than seems likely if you are meeting your calorie goals), don't worry about it.

    I also think total sugar grams isn't that useful to track. Maybe keep it a while to see how much you are eating, were it comes from, and if there are any surprises and if not try tracking something else.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    Okay-- then tell her to go increase sugar in her diet because we all know that doesn't cause diabetes at all.

    Did anyone say this to her?

    https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/strawman
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member

    Most of those links are showing me how glucose is processed in the body in the same way, but the studies aren't showing how the body processes it in a sudden release of a large quantities.

    The weightology link specifically discusses insulin and how it is misunderstood. It is a good read.