Sugar counts

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slb260
slb260 Posts: 52 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
What do you use as your total sugar grams each day? My naturopath wants me under 26 g, but I'm finding that hard.

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  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,395 MFP Moderator
    edited November 2014
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    Most of us don't track sugar because sugar is a carb and it will be processed the same way. The only people that really need to track sugar are people with medical issues. But if you want to hit that kind of low number, then look into a Keto diet or at least a LCHF diet.
  • asdowe13
    asdowe13 Posts: 1,951 Member
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    I eat on average 90-100grams per day.
  • Aemely
    Aemely Posts: 694 Member
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    My sugar column tallies 31-60g on any given day, typically 31-40 on a "good day." Looking over my diary entries for the past month or so, I can see one sugary treat that I have in my diet that adds 9g of sugar on a regular basis, so I would eliminate that treat if I had a sugar issue.

    Perhaps there are some key frequently-eaten items you could eliminate/substitute out?
  • vamaena
    vamaena Posts: 217 Member
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    I have mine set to about 100g a day but I really don't focus on it. If I go over, I go over. No big deal.
  • Lian98
    Lian98 Posts: 275 Member
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    I have recently started looking at my sugar intake. But that isn't because I am logging it for losing weight, instead I don't feel really good after a lot of sugar. I'd say, try to stay under your sugar goals. At least for a week. If it is really impossible, talk to your naturopath about it. :-)
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    psulemon wrote: »
    Most of us don't track sugar because sugar is a carb and it will be processed the same way. The only people that really need to track sugar are people with medical issues. But if you want to hit that kind of low number, then look into a Keto diet or at least a LCHF diet.

    All of that.

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    I get 80-100 grams per day on average...hell, an apple would put you pretty close to 26 grams...I don't think there's anyway to really do that unless you do a low carb/high fat diet.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    I've never tracked sugar. I don't even put sugar grams into my custom made foods.

    Unless you are diabetic, there really isn't any need to track sugar intake.
  • Fruitylicious03
    Fruitylicious03 Posts: 301
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    I don't even track mine. I'm always under.
    Probably because for some odd reason I'm always under on carbs too... :neutral_face: I just can't seem to hit carbs, or even sodium. Which is why I have low blood pressure all the time.

    *shrugs* eh.

    But anyway unless you're diabetic or something you don't need to track it.
  • slb260
    slb260 Posts: 52 Member
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    I'm not diabetic, but just recently had to go on half a water pill a day for blood pressure, and am supposed to "work on cholesterol through diet." Carbs aren't a huge issue because I am gluten intolerant. Well, gluten/dairy/soy/nut/egg intolerant.....but that's another issue.
  • Fruitylicious03
    Fruitylicious03 Posts: 301
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    slb260 wrote: »
    I'm not diabetic, but just recently had to go on half a water pill a day for blood pressure, and am supposed to "work on cholesterol through diet." Carbs aren't a huge issue because I am gluten intolerant. Well, gluten/dairy/soy/nut/egg intolerant.....but that's another issue.

    Sugar is a carb as well, as is fibre. But meaning don't worry about going over if you're not diabetic. It doesn't really matter where it comes from (beside your intolerance of course), I wouldn't worry either way.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,395 MFP Moderator
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    slb260 wrote: »
    I'm not diabetic, but just recently had to go on half a water pill a day for blood pressure, and am supposed to "work on cholesterol through diet." Carbs aren't a huge issue because I am gluten intolerant. Well, gluten/dairy/soy/nut/egg intolerant.....but that's another issue.
    Personally, with this intolerances, I would worry about them first and not even bother tracking sugar, especially if most of your sugar is coming from fruits. While fruit has sugar, it also have vitamins, minerals and fiber... all beneficial to your health.

    IRT your cholesterol, losing weight and exercise alone will improve that pending genetics doesn't have an issue with that. In fact, cholesterol in food has very little to do with the cholesterol in your body and in fact, if you do not consume enough cholesterol in food your body will produce it. And when your body produces it, you can build up plaque if I recall correctly.

    In fact, if you look at many of our low carb high fat dieters on this board... most, if not all, have improved their blood work. Overall, obesity is the biggest driver of poor health. And you can extrapolate this by looking at the various diets (paleo, vegan, lchf, iifym, etc..). Every person I know on any diet, who has successfully lost weight, has improved their health to include blood work. If you ask anyone on these diets what do you usually hear? More energy (which is because they are eating more nutrient dense foods) and improved health (weight loss has improved blood pressure, cholesterol, etc..)


    What I would suggest are the following things:

    1. Get a food scale
    2. Log your calories daily
    3. Exercise - preferably some cardio and resistance training.
    4. Have a moderate deficit... with 20 lbs to lose, aim for about 1 lb a week. If you exercise eat back 50% of those exercise calories.
    5. If you have more questions, come back to the forums because it will keep you engaged.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    I don't track sugar. The day I found that breakfast had nearly put me over the limit, I swapped it out for fiber. Then fiber smacked me in the face every day and I increased it, which did me good.

    I don't care if I go over the MFP sugar number. My doctor is good with all the fruit I want to eat.

    OP, if you aren't one of those people who only believes in doctors when they're in pain, see a doctor. Talk to a dietician. See what they have to say. But if you don't like doctors and dietitians, then you have to do what you have to do. Either way, good luck!
  • slb260
    slb260 Posts: 52 Member
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    Thanks. :) I am trying to work on lowering blood pressure and cholesterol naturally right now. I'm definitely tracking foods and calories.

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