How much Sugar/Added Sugar?

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vinitraj
vinitraj Posts: 5 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I am trying to lose weight. I am Vegetarian. I am unable to keep to the goal of eating 63 grams of Sugar as it is always above that. My questions is - is all sugar needs to be counted or only added sugar. I am eating may be less than 20 grams of added sugar but total sugar intake is always above 100 grams due to fruit and milk.

I can't stop eating those as well. What are the alternatives/option?

Any suggestions?

Replies

  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    Everyone has different goals, based on their needs and desires.

    Almost all of my sugar is not added sugar, but I do have a little added sugar here and there. It's usually in granola or a store-bought granola bar.

    This is the kind of thing everyone has to decide for themselves after getting professional advice.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited October 2015
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    A lot of food has sugar already in it. So that is added to your sugar count for the day. IF you add a teaspoons of sugar here and there to your foods you are eating, you should log that sugar because those are added calories.

    A lot of food already contains natural sugar. Processed, boxed, bagged foods have added sugar, even added sodium, and other ingredients you may or may not want in your diet.

    I am curious as to why you are monitoring sugar intake, instead of just watching calorie counts to loose weight. If it is because of medical issues I understand the need to watch sugar. ]

    If you are just trying to cut out high calorie sugary food, then you should watch the labels for all the sugar added and choose options that are lower in sugar and make those choices to either eat more protein rich foods...

    But to loose weight alone watching sugar is not necessary, just the amount of calories and making sure you stay with in the calories you have setup to eat daily to loose weight.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Unless you have a medical reason to watch your sugar intake, I wouldn't worry about it. I don't even track it anymore.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    Most of us should probably eat less sugar.

    Here's the latest WHO guidelines: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/sugar-guideline/en/
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    Unless you have a medical reason to watch your sugar intake, I wouldn't worry about it. I don't even track it anymore.

    ^ This is correct
  • ainarsraciks
    ainarsraciks Posts: 166 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    Unless you have a medical reason to watch your sugar intake, I wouldn't worry about it. I don't even track it anymore.

    As long as you don't go too crazy with it I guess it's fine. But for many other people, if they will not start tracking sugar soon, they will soon GET a medical condition. Which one OP is I don't know.


  • vinitraj
    vinitraj Posts: 5 Member
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    Thanks for the replies.
  • vinitraj
    vinitraj Posts: 5 Member
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    I don't have medical condition like diabetes. I hardly have added sugar - at most 2 teaspoon. Everything else is part of the natural food like milk, fruit, etc
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
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    vinitraj wrote: »
    I am trying to lose weight. I am Vegetarian. I am unable to keep to the goal of eating 63 grams of Sugar as it is always above that. My questions is - is all sugar needs to be counted or only added sugar. I am eating may be less than 20 grams of added sugar but total sugar intake is always above 100 grams due to fruit and milk.

    I can't stop eating those as well. What are the alternatives/option?

    Any suggestions?

    I suggest you continue with your plan. 20g of added sugar is pretty good! Unless you've been advised by a Dr. to limit all sugar added is what most health agencies say you should limit.
  • SamandaIndia
    SamandaIndia Posts: 1,577 Member
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    vinitraj wrote: »
    I don't have medical condition like diabetes. I hardly have added sugar - at most 2 teaspoon. Everything else is part of the natural food like milk, fruit, etc

    I had 1/2 teaspoon of sugar in my morning coffee and no other added sugars. I rarely ate desserts or had a sweet, but having had 2 weeks with consciously avoiding sugars, including grains, starches, breads I am a much healthier and happier person. Like you, I was eating ~120 grams of sugars in natural products, especially Apples. If you are trying to improve gut flora then cutting back to a few berries a day with 20% carbs is a way of achieving less than 20 grams total sugar a day. Note this also means eating a lot of protein and leafy greens for fibre. Your body won't care where sugar comes from, other than some releases quicker than others. Low Glycemic Index of food is a good thing.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited November 2015
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    vinitraj wrote: »
    I am trying to lose weight. I am Vegetarian. I am unable to keep to the goal of eating 63 grams of Sugar as it is always above that. My questions is - is all sugar needs to be counted or only added sugar. I am eating may be less than 20 grams of added sugar but total sugar intake is always above 100 grams due to fruit and milk.

    I can't stop eating those as well. What are the alternatives/option?

    Any suggestions?

    The WHO's recommendation is 10% of calories from added sugar (ideally, 5%). The current US Dietary Guidelines is also 10%. Basically all total sugar recommendations are based on estimated sugar from getting the minimum recommended fruits and veg (most people don't) plus the 5-10% added, and I've never seen any good reasons to limit fruits and veg assuming you are getting the other nutrients you need and are eating appropriate calories (in theory fruit calories add up--harder to do with veg).

    So what I do is ignore the sugar guideline and look to see if my added sugar is reasonable (I aim for the 5% for added sugar, while being happy to keep my sugar from vegetables as high as possible, so long as I am getting reasonable fat and protein too). Often an easier way to do this is track fiber instead of sugar, as that will show that your carbs are generally from more nutrient dense sources.

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