Sugar

jesseBYAH
jesseBYAH Posts: 446 Member
edited September 23 in Food and Nutrition
Ok, so I don't normally eat a lot of sugar. My downfall is salty foods, so I have my sodium intake set at 2000 (might lower it more still, but this seems like a good starting point). However, I have started making smoothies pretty often to help keep me full, and fruit has a lot of sugar in it (especially bananas and pineapples). Is it bad if I go over my sugar intake just by eating fruit? I've been staying under my calories, but I've had issues with going over my limit on fat. I'm trying to remedy my salt and fat intake by eating more fruit, but this might be a bad thing too if I'm going over my sugar all the time.

Any advice? Thanks guys and gals!

Replies

  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
    I posted this to someone else asking about going over from natural sugars (rather than added) - so I'll post it here, too:

    How much are you going over? While natural sugars are certainly better for you, they shouldn't be disregarded altogether... even fruit sugar/milk sugar needs to be consumed in moderation. Sometimes people forget that a reduced calorie intake to lose weight = reduced intake of everything, including fruit, dairy,etc! If you ate 2-3 pieces of fruit a day on maintenance, you should only be eating 1-2 a day when trying to lose weight. Total sugar should be kept at a reasonable % of your total calories - if you're eating too much dairy/fruit for your overall calorie consumption level, then that % is going to be too high. Just something to remember. :) I aim for no more than 10-15% of my calories to be from sugar each day. (Take your grams of sugar, multiply by 4 (because there are 4 calories/gram) and then divide by the total calories you've eaten to get your % from sugar)
  • Martha_VH
    Martha_VH Posts: 386 Member
    The sugar in fruit is natural sugar, so its not like the raw sugar added to Soda or candy. The recommendation for women is about 2 cups of fruit per day. I would say you are eating a healthy amount.

    As far as the fat, it depends what kind of fat you are taking in. If you are eating saturated fats, then you might want to cut down on the consumption of those foods. However, if you are eating unsaturated (polyunsaturated or mono-unsaturated) those are good for you. Eating a certain amount of fat is healthy and actually keep you full.

    The goal of MyFitnessPal is to keep you aware of what you are eating so that you can lead a more healthy lifestyle. This program is basically a calorie/food database. It doesn't know your body. If you feel like you have more energy and are benefiting from your positive changes don't worry too much.

    I know that personally I have been under my calorie intake but it says my protein is too high. I'm really not worried because I have more energy then I've had in a long time!
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
    The sugar in fruit is natural sugar, so its not like the raw sugar added to Soda or candy. The recommendation for women is about 2 cups of fruit per day. I would say you are eating a healthy amount.

    Keep in mind that if the recommendation is 2 cups/day on *maintenance calories* then you should be eating porportionally less fruit if you're eating fewer total calories to lose weight. I only eat 1 or 2 servings of fruit per day (at the most) right now, but I'll be eating 2-3/day when I can up my calories to maintenance level.
  • jesseBYAH
    jesseBYAH Posts: 446 Member
    I posted this to someone else asking about going over from natural sugars (rather than added) - so I'll post it here, too:

    How much are you going over? While natural sugars are certainly better for you, they shouldn't be disregarded altogether... even fruit sugar/milk sugar needs to be consumed in moderation. Sometimes people forget that a reduced calorie intake to lose weight = reduced intake of everything, including fruit, dairy,etc! If you ate 2-3 pieces of fruit a day on maintenance, you should only be eating 1-2 a day when trying to lose weight. Total sugar should be kept at a reasonable % of your total calories - if you're eating too much dairy/fruit for your overall calorie consumption level, then that % is going to be too high. Just something to remember. :) I aim for no more than 10-15% of my calories to be from sugar each day. (Take your grams of sugar, multiply by 4 (because there are 4 calories/gram) and then divide by the total calories you've eaten to get your % from sugar)

    Well, my goal is 31 grams but I made a smoothie this morning and added it into the recipe spot, and it says that it has 36 grams of sugar in it (1 banana, 5 strawberries, some pineapple, and some OJ). I also had whole grain bread with my lunch which had 6 grams of sugar in it, but that could be wrong because the exact bread I used isnt in here and I don't know the nutritional facts on the bread I did use ("day old" bread from a local cafe). But still, just the smoothie alone is going over my sugar goal. Before I started here, I definitely wasn't eating enough fruit each day. Like, hardly any. But I got a magic bullet (tiny blender) for Christmas and I've been using that a ton to make smoothies because fruit is better than the crap I used to eat for breakfast. But maybe "better" isn't enough in this case?
    Anyway, my goal is set at 31, which was the automatic goal MFP gave to me. Today, I'm already at 42 without eating dinner, and most of that is from that smoothie. However, according to the calculations you gave me, if I eat 1560 calories, then 42 grams is only 10%. Even if I only eat 1200 calories today, it's still just 13% from sugar. So, Maybe I don't have to worry about it too much. I'll just have to keep an eye on it each day. Thanks for the advice!
  • Hamidhamid579
    Hamidhamid579 Posts: 8 Member
    This is great info...thanks! Seeing the number isnt at daunting as seeing the percentage...Thanks for the formula!
  • Martha_VH
    Martha_VH Posts: 386 Member
    If you want to watch the sugar, try skipping the OJ, and just making sure that you don't have more then a cup of fruit.
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