Too Much Sugar

bcweisen
bcweisen Posts: 118 Member
edited September 2024 in Food and Nutrition
So I recently added sugar as one of the factors to track on my daily log ad I went back about 3 weeks and found that I was ALWAYS over and sometimes DOUBLE.

My question is... should the "sugar" in fruits and milk count against me?
These are healthy forms of sugar and 8 ounces of milk has 11g of sugar. So if I only count the "sugars" in my milk, yogurt, and fruits I go over the allotted amount.

Obviously extra "treats" and sugars included in the foods we eat should count, but how do you acheive a balance and stay within the allotted sugar amount?

Replies

  • mishmash73
    mishmash73 Posts: 166 Member
    i wouldn't count natural sugars.... just stay away from added sugar. typically 'low fat' means added sugar and the fat you are saving isn't that much anyway
  • christy_frank
    christy_frank Posts: 680 Member
    No, you could ALL sugars. Granted, natural sugars do not process in your body the same way, but it is still sugar (glucose) and you should try to lower it.
  • christy_frank
    christy_frank Posts: 680 Member
    Also, yogurt sugar is not 'healthy sugar' it is ADDED sugar.
  • Buckeyt
    Buckeyt Posts: 473 Member
    Count all sugars. Just because it comes from an apple it is still sugar. Fructose, which is the sugar in fruit, goes directly to your liver. The liver can store about 100g of fructose. Excess fructose is then converted to triglycerides. Not a goood thing,

    Glucose, on the other hand by passes the liver and goes directly to muscle tissue to provide the fuel that your muscles use.
  • bcweisen
    bcweisen Posts: 118 Member
    Also, yogurt sugar is not 'healthy sugar' it is ADDED sugar.

    It's greek yogurt so it doesn't have as much extra added. The sugars in the milk and then a few extra, but not like the "dessert" yoplait yogurts.
  • nc1191
    nc1191 Posts: 51 Member
    So I recently added sugar as one of the factors to track on my daily log ad I went back about 3 weeks and found that I was ALWAYS over and sometimes DOUBLE.

    My question is... should the "sugar" in fruits and milk count against me?
    These are healthy forms of sugar and 8 ounces of milk has 11g of sugar. So if I only count the "sugars" in my milk, yogurt, and fruits I go over the allotted amount.

    Obviously extra "treats" and sugars included in the foods we eat should count, but how do you acheive a balance and stay within the allotted sugar amount?

    I was just going to post something similar to this. I go over my allotted sugar amount every single day. I do well with everything but sugar. MFP set my personal goal at 28 grams per day. Is that kind of unreasonable or am I just truly consuming too much sugar each day?
  • jb_2011
    jb_2011 Posts: 1,029 Member
    This is definitely a conundrum. I've been experiencing exactly the same thing, and it concerns me a bit since there are several different kinds of sugars. It might be helpful if MFP had a breakdown point for what types of sugars we log in since none of us want to cut down on eating fruit. As long as it's fruit you're eating and not candy or table sugar, I wouldn't worry too much about Sugar being a little in the red on your food page, but it sure does make a person wonder. Maybe we should eat only a certain amount of fruit and less dairy.
    From what I've read in Andrew Weil's book, "Eating Well for Optimum Health", it's all about the Glycemic Index, which is the measure of how different carbohydrate foods (including sugar) affect blood glucose. We're supposed to balance high GI foods with low GI foods. Low GI fruits are apples, berries, dried apricots, cherries, grapefruit, grapes, kiwi, peaches, pears, plums, raisins and watermelon. High GI fruits are dates, papaya, pineapple, mango and banana. Cantaloupe is Intermediate.
    I'm fairly new at all of this, so I'm enjoying the research, but it's still not perfectly clear how much sugar we can safely have. I'm tending to limit my fruit a bit and offset it with things like cauliflower dipped in hummus. Great for the potassium levels!
    Today the only fruit I ate was 1 cup of cherries, measured with pits. I was -16 in the Sugar column. Some of the sugar was from dairy, lettuce, tomato, 3 bean salad, low-so V8 juice. There's sugar in so many things. We need to learn which sugars are good and which aren't.
  • Cletc
    Cletc Posts: 352
    I count ALL sugar, regardless of type, source, etc.
    I don't know how many Grams to aim for though. I'm new to this!
  • futiledevices
    futiledevices Posts: 309 Member
    I have this problem, too. If I have a banana in the morning, I'm instantly over on sugar. It's a little discouraging to see the red there, but what am I supposed to do? Never eat bananas? I try to shrug it off since I'm doing ok with sodium at 1800 or less per day and usually within or under my calories. This is a tough one.
  • jb_2011
    jb_2011 Posts: 1,029 Member
    I just posted a topic in Food and Nutrition called "Could someone please set us straight about sugar?" Keep an eye on it, maybe we'll get some answers. :wink:
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