Sugar question

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icramirez
icramirez Posts: 40
in Food and Nutrition
Is the sugars in fruits just as bad as sugars in sodas and candy?? Ive been trying to cut down on sugars and I know fruits are like really sugary if you eat a lot. I think everything has sugar in it so its hard to cut down!!

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  • ImNotThatBob
    ImNotThatBob Posts: 371 Member
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    I notice MyFitnessPal doesn't differentiate between Carbs and Net Effective Carbs (ie. subtracting out Dietary Fiber, Sugar Alcohols and other hard to digest Carbs). They don't affect your blood sugar as much. Find a good article on the subject here ==> http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002469.htm <=== at the National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health website.
  • jolteon00
    jolteon00 Posts: 89
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    I notice MyFitnessPal doesn't differentiate between Carbs and Net Effective Carbs (ie. subtracting out Dietary Fiber, Sugar Alcohols and other hard to digest Carbs). They don't affect your blood sugar as much. Find a good article on the subject here ==> http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002469.htm <=== at the National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health website.

    Though I'm not sure how exactly relevant this is to the OP, I wanted to just say that this is why I also track my fiber, because I can subtract that from my carbs at the end of the day to estimate my net carbs. Yes, fruit has fiber, but it also has a lot of sugar - not just carbs, sugar.
    The glycemic index is probably the answer to the OP's question, but it's too complicated for me. I just know that most fruit carbs and sugars are better than most grains/processed carbs and sugars.
  • mamaredhead
    mamaredhead Posts: 112
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    There are two different types of opinions on this and I am not sure if there is the ONE truth:

    1. Sugar is sugar is sugar. No matter where it comes from -- the calories you take in from a piece of cake are equally bad or good or THERE as those from a couple of pieces of fruit.

    2. There are lots of different types of sugar. Especially the long carb-chains that you find in whole grains and complex fruit-sugars aren't used up as fast as those from simple (white) sugar. So therefore the energy level stays up high for a longer period of time and those cravings (more sugar NOOOW!) don't hit you as fast. Plus in fruit there are lots of important secondary plant substances that meet your overall needs better than a teaspoon of sugar.

    I personally go with the second opinion, and even when you have e.g. diabetical problems the fruit-sugars count differently. Of course there are as many calories in them, but there's also fibers that fill you up and the feeling of having eaten something healthy instead of something simply sweet.

    For a diet eating fruit is good in the morning to fill up on a needed sugar-and-fiber-level for the day. Later on you might want to substitute fruit by vegetables. Less sugar, less calories, but plant-proteins and fibres that keep you content. You will find your personal way :-)

    Hope that helped!
  • icramirez
    icramirez Posts: 40
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    The government site helped very little considering its all scientific mumbo jumbo LOL. Seriously though, all I got from it is dont eat too much and dont eat too little. I knew that already, and moderation is the easy way of explaining something. It seems to me that whether its complex or simple, its still bad even though some have a little of this and a little of that in vitamins and minerals. I guess maybe the government should genetically modify fruits to be sugar-free!!! HA!! J/K

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