How much sugar should I be eating?

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elfward
elfward Posts: 52 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I have a question about sugar intake. According to MFP, I should be consuming no more than 25g of sugars from carbs everyday. I reach this target just by eating my breakfast - 1 small glass (100ml) of freshly squeezed juice and a banana, with milk in a cup of tea. I don't add sugar to anything, or generally eat sweets or chocolate, or any processed food.

How on earth am I meant to keep within these "set" boundaries, or do I just take it all with a pinch of salt (or sugar)?!

Replies

  • tassles
    tassles Posts: 172
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    I'd love to know the answer to this too!:drinker:
  • littlemissgreedy
    littlemissgreedy Posts: 14 Member
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    I know, I too find it impossible to stick to the sugar limits. Every day it I go over the limits and that is mainly because I have milk in my coffee and with my breakfast. It seems a really restirctive amount that is suggested! (I know that doesn't really help you, but at least you know you're not alone!)
  • bettyboop573
    bettyboop573 Posts: 610 Member
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    haha i was just asking my hubby this the other night...i am going to look into it, since i have been using my judgement up till now...like you i dont have much sweets and my sugar is mostly from fruit
  • bettyboop573
    bettyboop573 Posts: 610 Member
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    I know, I too find it impossible to stick to the sugar limits. Every day it I go over the limits and that is mainly because I have milk in my coffee and with my breakfast. It seems a really restirctive amount that is suggested! (I know that doesn't really help you, but at least you know you're not alone!)
  • ProTFitness
    ProTFitness Posts: 1,379 Member
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    Well I say if your getting sugar from fruits and veggies your good. 1-2 pieces of fruit a day. Try and stay aways from the Juice. Eat the Whole fruit. I also have clients back off of Milk skim or not because there is 12-13g of sugar in that. Plus I find sometimes drinking milk daily causes women to retain water and they get bloated.

    So if it is coming from fruit and veggies your good. You may want to watch the juice and milk and ect. Just this morning you probably had close to 40-60g of sugar. THats a guess
  • bettyboop573
    bettyboop573 Posts: 610 Member
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    i am over everyday!!! i always thought i didnt eat much sugar but i had no idea how much was in my milk!!
  • StaceG1986
    StaceG1986 Posts: 350
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    I think the amount MFP gives is meaning more from processed foods like chocolate, yoghurt etc. rather than from fruit :smile:
  • elfward
    elfward Posts: 52 Member
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    Well I say if your getting sugar from fruits and veggies your good. 1-2 pieces of fruit a day. Try and stay aways from the Juice. Eat the Whole fruit. I also have clients back off of Milk skim or not because there is 12-13g of sugar in that. Plus I find sometimes drinking milk daily causes women to retain water and they get bloated.

    So if it is coming from fruit and veggies your good. You may want to watch the juice and milk and ect. Just this morning you probably had close to 40-60g of sugar. THats a guess

    I had 25g of sugar this morning (my "supposed" limit!) - I only have milk in my tea, so only around 15ml. And I need just that little glass of juice in the morning to get me up and going - otherwise, all the other sugar is coming from fruit (bananas, apples, clementines etc). Will carry on eating the fruit and veggies without feeling bad...
  • EzraCCM
    EzraCCM Posts: 47
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    I never thought I ate much sugar, either, until I started logging my daily food intake... then I was surprised!

    What I do (to keep from losing my sanity over it) is I don't "count" any natural sugar found in unprocessed foods (e.g. milk, fruit, etc) I only take into account sugar from processed foods (e.g. sugar added to coffee, pre-packaged snacks, I count juice, too). I just mentally subtract the sugars from the fruit and milk and what not, from my total. I don't know If this is really the best way to go about it, but I feel that I would make less-than-reasonable choices if I tried to follow that limit, I would choose coffee+sugar over milk everyday of my life... which probably isn't the healthiest way to go.
  • Cmsl90
    Cmsl90 Posts: 16
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    I am typically over my sugars too, yesterday by more than twice the allowed (but the Snickers Peanut Butter did not help)...but I changed the milk to skim milk which helps. I am still over but I do not eat many carbs either which also helps. I have only been active MFP for 3 weeks and have found that SODIUM is a huge problem for me...I just changed my diet to make sure I stay at or below my sodium levels. I am going to integrate one watchful eye at a time. It takes time to learn.
  • JillyCornwall
    JillyCornwall Posts: 376 Member
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    Hi, 25gms of sugar is quite low and you can manually up this in your food diary from what I can see 40 grams of sugar as long as from healthy sources is usually the guide line for a normal diet., but not necessarily for a weight reduction plan.
    Also its a bit more complicated than this because carbs are also converted by our bodies to sugar!!
    You should also bear in mind that as far as the body is concerned..sugar is sugar..whether it comes from fruit , chocolate or carbs..any type 1 diabetic will tell you that. Whilst nutritionally it is obvious that sugar from fruit is much better for you, perhaps the MFP dieticians are trying to alert us to just how easy it is to include too much sugar in our daily diets even though we believe we have a 'healthy diet'.

    The continued inclusion of high levels of sugar in the diet from 'whatever' source causes more insulin to be released into the blood stream, therefore perhaps if you are continually over your sugar limmit you should get your '5 a day' from salads & low GI vegetables rather than fruit & dairy. (Don't cut out fruit but be aware of the type & quantity of it..ie Grapefruit rather than Banana or Grapes..my own sin!!)
  • TrainingWithTonya
    TrainingWithTonya Posts: 1,741 Member
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    I don't know where MFP came up with their recommendation, but its wrong. The reason it is wrong is because it doesn't split "added" sugar from "natural" sugar. The actual RDA is to keep "added" sugar to less then 25% of the total nutritional intake. If you are on a 2000 calorie plan, then 125 grams or less should be "added" sugar. Even a 1200 calorie plan allows 75 grams of "added" sugar. Fruits and vegetables don't count toward that amount, by the way, so if you are over on your sugars on here but they are mostly from fruits and veggies, don't worry about it.
  • wrighthe
    wrighthe Posts: 2 Member
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    Sugar is Sugar. Your body doesn’t differentiate between a piece on candy and a piece of fruit. The advantage to eating the fruit is all the added nutrients (fiber, vitamins, etc). As well as serving sizes, and the 'concentration' of sugar per serving

    25 grams a day is believe or not, a good value. However, we live in a society where everything seems to be processed or covered with condiments, or both. Making it seem quite impossible, driving up values like RDA's.
    RDA's and so forth are generally set out to encourage you to eat more whole fruits, for the reasons mentioned above, and not dive into a 130g of sugar pack of skittles at the onset of hunger.

    Ditch the dairy, and the juice. Get calcium from broccoli and other leafy greens. You will find this drastically reduces sugar content, leaving room for Mother Nature’s tasty rainbow
    :)
    If following the RDA of 125g of sugar makes you feel better, than more power to you, if accounting only 25% allows you to have the sugar in your coffee then enjoy! Make small changes you can live with, and overlook the rest

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