Natural sugar vs. added sugar

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mytmo777
mytmo777 Posts: 3 Member
in Food and Nutrition
When this app recommends a certain number of grams of sugar per day, is that referring to all sugars or just added sugar? I'm assuming it's all sugar as it adds in sugar from fruit along with added sugar. However, I find it hard to eat the daily recommended servings of fruit without going over my sugar grams each day.

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  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    The app isn't distinguishing. It means all the sugars.

    I exceed my sugar limit on a daily basis. I come close to exceeding it during breakfast sometimes. But all sot all my sugar comes from fruits, so I don't care. :)
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    ^^^ yep^^^

    I've never been able to stay at or under mfp's sugar goal.
    The majority of my sugar comes from fruit and dairy. Two things I refuse to give up!
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10197460/sugar-faq-june-2015
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    mytmo777 wrote: »
    However, I find it hard to eat the daily recommended servings of fruit without going over my sugar grams each day.

    Really ? Can't fit 2 portions of fruit a day in 45 grams ?
  • Spyer116
    Spyer116 Posts: 168 Member
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    yarwell wrote: »

    Really ? Can't fit 2 portions of fruit a day in 45 grams ?

    I'm also wondering that.
    even an extra large apple and extra large banana, would be like just 40 grams of sugar.
    And I think eating those two together, along with a big breakfast or one with even more sugar, is probably just bordering on being greedy. (due to the sizes of the fruit. Compared to smaller ones)
  • Kathrynha77
    Kathrynha77 Posts: 103 Member
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    I didn't have sugar on my food diary (sat fat, iron and protein are the ones I need to keep an eye on more for medical reasons), but I am growing increasingly interested in sugar, so read this thread and went and ticked the sugar box in my food plan settings.

    The fruit levels didn't overly shock me, although I am thinking I need to swap my 2nd banana of the day for some other fruit. The one that shocked me was the 11g of sugar in my skimmed milk!

    Going to struggle to keep under the amount, and won't be over bothered if I don't, but definitely going to start paying more attention to it.
  • dizzieblondeuk
    dizzieblondeuk Posts: 286 Member
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    Kathrynha77 wrote: »
    I didn't have sugar on my food diary (sat fat, iron and protein are the ones I need to keep an eye on more for medical reasons), but I am growing increasingly interested in sugar, so read this thread and went and ticked the sugar box in my food plan settings.

    The fruit levels didn't overly shock me, although I am thinking I need to swap my 2nd banana of the day for some other fruit. The one that shocked me was the 11g of sugar in my skimmed milk!

    Going to struggle to keep under the amount, and won't be over bothered if I don't, but definitely going to start paying more attention to it.
    Milk contains lactose - which is a type of sugar! However, lactose is made up of glucose and galactose - both classed as 'essential sugars' (galactose is considered especially important), so it's certainly part of a healthy diet (if you eat dairy).

    I've stopped counting sugars - after a few weeks of tracking, and seeing my numbers going over, purely on dairy and fruit consumption. I don't consider what I'm eating to be a 'high sugar' diet, so have substituted calcium as an important tracker for me - I've just hit 40, and calcium intake is especially important for women my age. That's a far more critical macro to track, for me.
  • Kathrynha77
    Kathrynha77 Posts: 103 Member
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    dizzieblondeuk wrote: »
    Milk contains lactose - which is a type of sugar! However, lactose is made up of glucose and galactose - both classed as 'essential sugars' (galactose is considered especially important), so it's certainly part of a healthy diet (if you eat dairy).

    I've stopped counting sugars - after a few weeks of tracking, and seeing my numbers going over, purely on dairy and fruit consumption. I don't consider what I'm eating to be a 'high sugar' diet, so have substituted calcium as an important tracker for me - I've just hit 40, and calcium intake is especially important for women my age. That's a far more critical macro to track, for me.

    Thanks that's really helpful knowledge.
    Def not going to be cutting the calcium and fruit out of the diet, as I'm only 2 years behind you with a family history of osteoporosis. More interested in seeing what sugar is creeping in to my diet from less healthy sources.
    I had a spare macro, so might as well be there, but it will be the one to go if I decide I want to track something else

  • Osiris275
    Osiris275 Posts: 228 Member
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    I was wondering this too. My sugar goal is often over. I only eat fruit, very little eg, and I do like something sweet after dinner like yoghurt or a small biscuit. Most of my sugars are natural though so I've stopped stressing about it too much. I'm still loosing weight!
  • dizzieblondeuk
    dizzieblondeuk Posts: 286 Member
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    If only MFP (and the food industry) could separate out ingredient lists into 'natural' and 'added' sugars, that would be super helpful! There's tonnes of guidance about limits on added sugars, but absolutely nothing guiding maximum (or even minimum - as sugars are essential for a normal body to function) quantities of natural sugars. It's to be presumed that the FDA, NHS and other guidance authorities care so little for the quantities of natural sugars, because it's the amount of added sugar that people are consuming that's contributing to weight gain and poor health.

    For future note, NHS guidance says added sugar shouldn't make up more than 10% of your daily consumption. MFP sets daily sugar goals for 1200 calories to be 45g/190 calories from all sugars (which is actually 16% of the total cals). Essentially, it's presuming that well over half your sugar comes from added sources. For me, as long as that proportion of my daily calories is reduced to, say, 5% from added sources and 10% from natural, I've done a decent job of achieving the health goals, along with my calorie goal. The final number in the macro is less important.
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
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    The sugar goal is low, but didn't they raise it? It seems to me that it used to be lower, but it could be that I slightly cut the size of my dairy portions.

    I don't really sweat it because I know I'm not going nuts on sugar, and in the end -- you're an adult, a rational being capable of assessing your own diet. If the bulk of the sugar in your diet is coming from dairy, veggies, and fruit? Don't worry about it.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    PeachyCarol wrote: »
    The sugar goal is low, but didn't they raise it? It seems to me that it used to be lower, but it could be that I slightly cut the size of my dairy portions.

    It is currently 15% of calories reflecting total sugars in a typical diet.

    It used to be lower - 8% of calories but supposedly added sugars, which aren't on labels. They changed in early last year so it's possible some people haven't re-run goals and have the old number.

    It isn't really low - it's the 1200 calories that do that.

  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    edited July 2015
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    dizzieblondeuk wrote: »
    If only MFP (and the food industry) could separate out ingredient lists into 'natural' and 'added' sugars, that would be super helpful! There's tonnes of guidance about limits on added sugars, but absolutely nothing guiding maximum (or even minimum - as sugars are essential for a normal body to function) quantities of natural sugars.

    If you look at UK food labels you'll see a 90 grams GDI for total sugars in a 2000 calorie diet.

    Food-Labelling-Section2-3.gif


    Dietary sugars are not essential for the body to function. There's sugar in the bloodstream of a dog, but none in its diet as some French guy said over 100 years ago.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    [quote="dizzieblondeuk;33195941" Milk contains lactose - which is a type of sugar! However, lactose is made up of glucose and galactose - both classed as 'essential sugars' (galactose is considered especially important), so it's certainly part of a healthy diet (if you eat dairy).[/quote]

    From my understanding, sugars and carbohydrates are not essential to life - there are no essential sugars.

    If people do not eat fat or protein they will eventually die. The same is not true of sugars and other carbohydrates - our body will make what it needs from the proteins we eat.

    That's not to say sugars are bad, just that we do not need to eat them.

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