Sugar?!?! I can't win!

dawndelicious
dawndelicious Posts: 22 Member
edited September 27 in Health and Weight Loss
I posted a topic on here not too long ago about going over protein and fiber - no biggie. So now one of my mpfers at work mentioned she was over in her sugar. That got me thinking so I swapped out fiber for sugar intake in my diary and holy crap - here I am doing great at keeping under the goals that matter like calories, carbs, sodium but what now!? My sugar is over like crazy!!!! I can't win. I don't want to ingest my body with a bunch of artifical sweeteners and I don't think I'm eating all that bad . . . what do I do?

Replies

  • Onesnap
    Onesnap Posts: 2,819 Member
    Eat as cleanly as possible. If you eat whole foods and mostly unprocessed foods you will have an easier time keeping your sugar levels low. Plus, you'll be having less chemicals in your body. I posted last week that even the rolls from Subway have chemicals in them to make the whole grain ones look brown to the consumer. You never really know what is in your food unless you look closely at the labels. I saw some things last week that have between 25-80 ingredients! Crazy.
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 Member
    First knee-jerk reaction is, where is the sugar coming from? If its from a couple fruit I'd enjoy it and not worry about it (unless you have health-issues that you have to watch your sugar) if it's from a dozen daily cups of cof.... sugar and milk with coffee flavouring then I'd look at cutting back, my tea and coffee when I have them are black. I eat my cereal a lot of the time with water as the liquid on it to skip the extra sugar from milk (my cereal has a ton of sugar in it anyway)
  • napiform
    napiform Posts: 7 Member
    I'm also vastly exceeding my sugar intake, though it's not as though I'm eating cakes and biscuits.

    Some grapes for lunch and orange juice at breakfast have brought me up to my limit for today. A golden delicious apple as a snack and I'm miles over!

    Should the 5-a-day be 1 fruit and 4 veg?
  • eeeekie
    eeeekie Posts: 1,011 Member
    If most of those sugars are coming from fruits/veg then i wouldn't worry about it. MFP doesn't separate natural sugars from packaged sugars.
  • drasr
    drasr Posts: 181
    Same problem with me. One smoothie and a glass of milk and that's it for the day. I almost overshoot everytime. I think when you exercise, one can add a bit more but still i am keen to know what the experts have to say about this.
  • cmmull67
    cmmull67 Posts: 170 Member
    Keep in mind, MFP logs all sugars, whether from processed table sugar or naturally occuring in fruits and veggies. If you scan your diary, and eliminate the sugars from fruits and veggies, then look at the difference, you might be surprised at how low you are in that category. Unfortunately, you have to differentiate the two types yourself. It would be great if natural sugars were excluded from the tally, or counted as different sugars for us.
  • hooma
    hooma Posts: 124 Member
    I don't really understand how much sugar is too much. Today I had a Chobani fruit on the bottom at 20 g (I know I could lower my sugar by buying plain and adding my own fruit, but I'm lazy) and an apple at 25 g, and I was over!
  • Improvised
    Improvised Posts: 925 Member
    Are you working out? I can't imagine fruit being bad for you, especially if you exercise.
  • Onesnap
    Onesnap Posts: 2,819 Member
    If most of those sugars are coming from fruits/veg then i wouldn't worry about it. MFP doesn't separate natural sugars from packaged sugars.

    Agreed! :)
  • Laurab_1986
    Laurab_1986 Posts: 32 Member
    I posted a topic on here not too long ago about going over protein and fiber - no biggie. So now one of my mpfers at work mentioned she was over in her sugar. That got me thinking so I swapped out fiber for sugar intake in my diary and holy crap - here I am doing great at keeping under the goals that matter like calories, carbs, sodium but what now!? My sugar is over like crazy!!!! I can't win. I don't want to ingest my body with a bunch of artifical sweeteners and I don't think I'm eating all that bad . . . what do I do?

    I am exactly the same MFP really does make you alot more aware of what you are consuming - scary stuff!!!!
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
    I am at least double my limit every day. I only usually have fruit and milk and that throws me way over. Yesterday I fatally had an oat bar for lunch as I didn't have time to stop to eat and the gym wasn't serving hot food, so that was all there was, and the one bar put me over my daily limit.

    I don't really know what more I can do about it.
  • absie107
    absie107 Posts: 290
    try to eat fruits that are lower sugar... such as berries or fresh peaches. fruit is good for you, but in smaller doses... fructose in general isn't the best thing for you, even if a lot of good stuff comes along with eating fruit. grapes, mangos and bananas are sugar bombs. however, don't worry much about the sugar on MFP... A lot of that sugar may also come from milk and bread.
  • Jenscan
    Jenscan Posts: 694 Member
    I know how you feel. I can't win either - seems like no day is perfect. It's very, very frustrating that no matter what I do, I will never do this good enough... Guess that's why I gained a pound this week.
  • Jessaamine
    Jessaamine Posts: 111
    First knee-jerk reaction is, where is the sugar coming from? If its from a couple fruit I'd enjoy it and not worry about it (unless you have health-issues that you have to watch your sugar) if it's from a dozen daily cups of cof.... sugar and milk with coffee flavouring then I'd look at cutting back, my tea and coffee when I have them are black. I eat my cereal a lot of the time with water as the liquid on it to skip the extra sugar from milk (my cereal has a ton of sugar in it anyway)

    I'm the same. I go over all the time but I look and see if I'm going over because of grapes or if it's a frappuchino. I cut down by: not eating yogurt for lunch and having a fruit instead; having low sugar oatmeal for breakfast instead of cereal and milk; and ordering light frappuchinos instead of regular. I'm certainly not going to eat less, just different : )

    *That said, I can't get behind you on the water with cereal thing. I'll eat mine plain instead.
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 Member
    The water on cereal thing is certainly an acquired taste, I started doing it when I was experimenting to see if I was really lactose intolerant years ago (the use of yogurt on an almost daily basis seems to have helped with what I had of a reaction previously) and it just kind of stuck.
  • HeatherScottTN
    HeatherScottTN Posts: 65 Member
    I agree with most everyone else on here... don't worry too much if it's natural occurring sugar (as in fruit..the real thing that comes off the tree or bush). Eliminate the junk sugar and you are on your way to making that number what it should be! We can't let the charts rule us. Eat Healthy... if it doesn't have a mother or grow in the ground, you better think twice about eating it. It's hard to do but definitely improves the health and lowers the calories.

    You CAN WIN! :flowerforyou:
  • Mairgheal
    Mairgheal Posts: 385 Member
    I've just hidden the sugar tab on my diary - the red digits were annoying me, just 3 pieces of fruit and I was over, ridiculous.
  • ESVABelle
    ESVABelle Posts: 1,264 Member
    I'm always over on my sugar because I usually have at least 4 servings of fruit a day. MFP doesn't separate fruit sugar and actual sugar. Your body processes fructose (fruit sugar) and glucose (grain sugar) differently. So if your sugar content is coming from natural sugars, do not worry about it!
  • hellokatee
    hellokatee Posts: 211 Member
    Honestly, my sugar is over every day. I don't eat candy, pastries, sweets, or anything like that. I don't eat a ton of processed junk (well, not all the time at least :wink: ). I feel that if your sugars are coming from fruits and natural foods, you don't have a lot to worry about. If you are really concerned, try looking back on your diary and seeing which foods were putting you over and cut back there.
  • Eve613
    Eve613 Posts: 4 Member
    Instead of regular milk, try unsweetened almond milk. it tastes great and is really creamy and has way less calories and sugar than regular milk
  • milaxx
    milaxx Posts: 1,122 Member
    I sometimes go over my sugar. Not huge numbers but sometime like 5 -7 grams. It usually happens when I run out of almonds. if I have a larabar even though I'm getting fiber from it, because it made with dates will pack on the sugar. I also noticed I'm buying the sweetened rice and almond milk. I'm going to make sure I get the unsweetened from now on. Sometimes it means just reviewing your diet.
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