Bananas!?!

meraki78
meraki78 Posts: 43 Member
edited November 16 in Food and Nutrition
What are your thoughts on eating bananas?

Ok so I know they contain natural sugars and natural sugars better than added sugar but seems like no matter what if I add a banana to my meals/snacks for the day I go over on my sugar content. Before anyone comments something to the effect of "look at the rest of your food dairy", I get it but in all honesty. I eat well. Example: breakfast-3 egg whites, protein smoothie (strawberries/blueberry), vitamin and black coffee. Lunch-turkey and raw celery and cauliflower. Dinner-chicken breast and rice. I did have 1 mini loft house cookie (one of the bite size ones-and honestly only 1) very rare occasion. But I really wanted to have a banana today as a snack but it would have taken me over in sugars.
Hmmmm!! Help, I really like them.

Replies

  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    It does not matter if it will take you over on sugars. Eat the banana.
  • mkakids
    mkakids Posts: 1,913 Member
    Unless you have a medical issue which causes you to need to track sugar intake, don't worry about it.
  • krissyreminisce
    krissyreminisce Posts: 284 Member
    You could also cut the banana in half, weigh it, and save the other half for the next day. Just cap the uneaten one off with aluminum foil. :smile:

    But I understand, I stopped tracking sugars because it kept me from actually eating if I went over and hadn't eaten enough for the day.
  • wizzybeth
    wizzybeth Posts: 3,578 Member
    Ignore the sugar goals.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    Closed diary so who knows, you have at least 45 grams of sugar allowance at 1200 cals and a medium banana is only a third of that.

    Nutrition Facts
    Bananas
    Amount Per 1 medium (7" to 7-7/8" long) (118 g)
    Calories 105
    Potassium 422 mg 12%
    Total Carbohydrate 27 g 9%
    Dietary fiber 3.1 g 12%
    Sugar 14 g
  • tattooedmomma93b
    tattooedmomma93b Posts: 101 Member
    I ignore my sugar "goal" because most of my sugars come from fruit! I eat a LOT of fruit. But if your staying within your calorie goal I wouldn't worry about it at all!
  • squishprincess
    squishprincess Posts: 371 Member
    edited April 2015
    i literally ignore my sugar goal and it's never ever stopped me from eating or reaching my goals. unless you have an actual medical issue it shouldnt hinder weightloss.. eat it!! i eat lotsss of fruit daily & drink sweet tea and i seem to be fine. don't focus too hard on one macro too much, just try to reach your other ones as evenly as possible, and if you go over on sugar, don't sweat it. at least i never do!
  • LacednLace
    LacednLace Posts: 480 Member
    If you have diabetes or PCOS (in my case I have PCOS) than yes watching your sugar intake will help with your journey but if there are no medical concerns for the sugar intake to be watched than I would honestly enjoy the banana for most people as long as your not going drastically over on sugar intake goals/limits set your not going to hinder yourself or ruin your progress.
  • tattooedmomma93b
    tattooedmomma93b Posts: 101 Member
    Another thing I've learned in my many diet journeys, is if you are craving something, whether it's a banana or a scoop of icecream, go ahead and have it. It's better to allow yourself what you want every once in a while, than to keep yourself from what you want then binge eating for 3 days cuz you gave in.
  • zzaped
    zzaped Posts: 17 Member
    Excess sugar can CAUSE the health issues you are all saying "Don't worry unless you have _"

    But Im talking about excess sugars/added sugars in processed/low fat food etc.

    As long your sugars are all coming from natural sugars AND AS LONG as the fruit is still intact (I.e not juiced) it's fine to be over your sugar content.

    But its NOT OKAY to go over sugar if you are getting it from sucrose/HFCS etc
  • BraveNewdGirl
    BraveNewdGirl Posts: 937 Member
    edited April 2015
    zzaped wrote: »
    Excess sugar can CAUSE the health issues you are all saying "Don't worry unless you have _"

    But Im talking about excess sugars/added sugars in processed/low fat food etc.

    As long your sugars are all coming from natural sugars AND AS LONG as the fruit is still intact (I.e not juiced) it's fine to be over your sugar content.

    But its NOT OKAY to go over sugar if you are getting it from sucrose/HFCS etc
    That's not necessarily true. Studies so far have shown that the body doesn't seem to know the difference between HFCS and regular sugar.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/20516261/

  • Gianfranco_R
    Gianfranco_R Posts: 1,297 Member
    BraveNewdGirl wrote: »
    zzaped wrote: »
    Excess sugar can CAUSE the health issues you are all saying "Don't worry unless you have _"

    But Im talking about excess sugars/added sugars in processed/low fat food etc.

    As long your sugars are all coming from natural sugars AND AS LONG as the fruit is still intact (I.e not juiced) it's fine to be over your sugar content.

    But its NOT OKAY to go over sugar if you are getting it from sucrose/HFCS etc
    That's not necessarily true. Studies so far have shown that the body doesn't seem to know the difference between HFCS and regular sugar.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/20516261/

    "Nevertheless, dietary advice to limit consumption of all added caloric sweeteners, including HFCS, is warranted"
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    BraveNewdGirl wrote: »
    zzaped wrote: »
    Excess sugar can CAUSE the health issues you are all saying "Don't worry unless you have _"

    But Im talking about excess sugars/added sugars in processed/low fat food etc.

    As long your sugars are all coming from natural sugars AND AS LONG as the fruit is still intact (I.e not juiced) it's fine to be over your sugar content.

    But its NOT OKAY to go over sugar if you are getting it from sucrose/HFCS etc
    That's not necessarily true. Studies so far have shown that the body doesn't seem to know the difference between HFCS and regular sugar.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/20516261/

    that wasn't her point though, it was the (equally flawed IMHO) notion the "natural sugars" are different to sucrose/HFCS.
  • BraveNewdGirl
    BraveNewdGirl Posts: 937 Member
    edited April 2015
    Gianfranco_R wrote: »
    BraveNewdGirl wrote: »
    zzaped wrote: »
    Excess sugar can CAUSE the health issues you are all saying "Don't worry unless you have _"

    But Im talking about excess sugars/added sugars in processed/low fat food etc.

    As long your sugars are all coming from natural sugars AND AS LONG as the fruit is still intact (I.e not juiced) it's fine to be over your sugar content.

    But its NOT OKAY to go over sugar if you are getting it from sucrose/HFCS etc
    That's not necessarily true. Studies so far have shown that the body doesn't seem to know the difference between HFCS and regular sugar.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/20516261/

    "Nevertheless, dietary advice to limit consumption of all added caloric sweeteners, including HFCS, is warranted"
    "Limit consumption of all added caloric sweeteners." =/= DO NOT GO OVER THE MYFITNESSPAL DAILY RECOMMENDATION FOR SUGAR UNLESS IT'S FROM FRUIT!!!1

    MyFitnessPal's daily recommendation for sugar is considered to be very, very low.

  • Gianfranco_R
    Gianfranco_R Posts: 1,297 Member
    BraveNewdGirl wrote: »
    Gianfranco_R wrote: »
    BraveNewdGirl wrote: »
    zzaped wrote: »
    Excess sugar can CAUSE the health issues you are all saying "Don't worry unless you have _"

    But Im talking about excess sugars/added sugars in processed/low fat food etc.

    As long your sugars are all coming from natural sugars AND AS LONG as the fruit is still intact (I.e not juiced) it's fine to be over your sugar content.

    But its NOT OKAY to go over sugar if you are getting it from sucrose/HFCS etc
    That's not necessarily true. Studies so far have shown that the body doesn't seem to know the difference between HFCS and regular sugar.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/20516261/

    "Nevertheless, dietary advice to limit consumption of all added caloric sweeteners, including HFCS, is warranted"
    "Limit consumption of all added caloric sweeteners." =/= DO NOT GO OVER THE MYFITNESSPAL DAILY RECOMMENDATION FOR SUGAR UNLESS IT'S FROM FRUIT!!!1

    MyFitnessPal's daily recommendation for sugar is considered to be very, very low.

    Indeed I agree that the MFP limit is meaningless. It makes much more sense to me the dietary advise (from WHO, AHA, USDA) to limit added sugar.

  • megomerrett
    megomerrett Posts: 442 Member
    I'm in the "no food is bad food, everything in moderation" camp. Eat the banana. If you were diabetic you would still be allowed to eat a banana. Are you exercising?
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I eat fruit, including a banana and drink milk everyday. Because of these two things I go waaaaaaay over mfp's sugar goals. I don't add sugar to anything. I went from 3tsps in my tea to none. But I refuse to give up either, so I'm headed to sugar hell, I guess :devil:
  • gothomson
    gothomson Posts: 215 Member
    Tbh I never even look at the sugar intake just the calories and protein and that’s it.
  • meraki78
    meraki78 Posts: 43 Member
    Thanks for all the input!! I am not a diabetic and have no health issues. Maybe just a mental thing to look at my daily goals and see that of all things my SUGAR goal has gone over, of course if it were protein I probably wouldn't think anything of it but since we are all here to eat healthier, feel better and lose some weight the last goal I want to go over on is sugar. I am a nurse so I know how sugar works in the body but definitely not a dietician who would know specifics. I started my journey January 19, 2015 starting at 204lbs as of April 7th 2015 i am down to 183.4lbs. My goal is 175lbs. So I think I'm doing pretty good, just wanted others thoughts on what is a good amount of sugar. Goal is to loose 1.5lb week and calorie intake with exercise considered is 1340 a day. Thanks again!!!
  • Pearsquared
    Pearsquared Posts: 1,656 Member
    The dietary limit for sugar in MFP is for added sugar, not naturally occurring sugar. The FDA set this limit for added sugars only because it wanted to encourage people to eat more fruits and vegetables to get the micronutrients and fiber they needed. People were pretty much eating their daily calories in sugary foods that didn't contain much else, and therefore weren't getting those micronutrients. The limit isn't really on sugar, per se, it's more a limit on eating sugar for the sake of sugar alone, which is not the case with fruit.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    BraveNewdGirl wrote: »
    Gianfranco_R wrote: »
    BraveNewdGirl wrote: »
    zzaped wrote: »
    Excess sugar can CAUSE the health issues you are all saying "Don't worry unless you have _"

    But Im talking about excess sugars/added sugars in processed/low fat food etc.

    As long your sugars are all coming from natural sugars AND AS LONG as the fruit is still intact (I.e not juiced) it's fine to be over your sugar content.

    But its NOT OKAY to go over sugar if you are getting it from sucrose/HFCS etc
    That's not necessarily true. Studies so far have shown that the body doesn't seem to know the difference between HFCS and regular sugar.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/20516261/

    "Nevertheless, dietary advice to limit consumption of all added caloric sweeteners, including HFCS, is warranted"
    "Limit consumption of all added caloric sweeteners." =/= DO NOT GO OVER THE MYFITNESSPAL DAILY RECOMMENDATION FOR SUGAR UNLESS IT'S FROM FRUIT!!!1

    MyFitnessPal's daily recommendation for sugar is considered to be very, very low.
    heh.

    Nailed it!!

    Also. jsut for reference- banana's have the same satiating impact of a cookie.

    Which is why I fondly refer to them as "banookies"

    and why I rarely have them outside of "crap I'm having potassium issues and I'm cramping a lot for no good reason"- because usually I'd rather just have the cookie.
    But they are tasty with yogurt.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    mandiRN1 wrote: »
    Thanks for all the input!! I am not a diabetic and have no health issues. Maybe just a mental thing to look at my daily goals and see that of all things my SUGAR goal has gone over, of course if it were protein I probably wouldn't think anything of it but since we are all here to eat healthier, feel better and lose some weight the last goal I want to go over on is sugar. I am a nurse so I know how sugar works in the body but definitely not a dietician who would know specifics. I started my journey January 19, 2015 starting at 204lbs as of April 7th 2015 i am down to 183.4lbs. My goal is 175lbs. So I think I'm doing pretty good, just wanted others thoughts on what is a good amount of sugar. Goal is to loose 1.5lb week and calorie intake with exercise considered is 1340 a day. Thanks again!!!

    Switch out sugar for fiber. Sugar gets counted in the carbs anyway, and if you are getting enough fiber presumably a good ratio of your carbs aren't processed sugar/sugary treats but natural sugar in fruit/veggies or other starchy carbs with fiber like whole grains and beans.
  • Silverstar721
    Silverstar721 Posts: 33 Member
    With Summertime coming up, I like to take a banana and slice it..then lay the slices out inside a plastic bag. I freeze them and eat them like popsicles. You can also do this with grapes.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    Silverstar721 wrote: »
    With Summertime coming up, I like to take a banana and slice it..then lay the slices out inside a plastic bag. I freeze them and eat them like popsicles. You can also do this with grapes.

    :'(
  • lulucitron
    lulucitron Posts: 366 Member
    I have half a banana a day on top of my oatmeal. Sometimes I'll have one after a workout when I'm exhausted and need a sugar hit.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Mmmm, bananas

    Yeah, I don't even track my sugar. I have 2-4 bananas a week.
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