Sugar Goals?

The MFP goal is 15% of total calories, which means it's easy to go over if you eat lots of fruit and have a low calorie target. Lots of us don't worry about it, but instead track fiber or, in the alternative, use it just as a check to see where our sugar is coming from. There's no credible science saying that overall sugar should be kept below a particular limit. The lower limits tend to be added sugar and more about calories/nutrition than any specific problem with sugar. The MFP goal uses an assumption as to how much intrinsic sugar the average person is eating, since it's impossible to break out added sugar, and that will often be too low if you eat lots of fruit and veg. Also, it's a loose guideline to help you have a balanced diet, which is why many think tracking fiber better does the same thing -- if you hit fat and protein minimums and the fiber, chances are you aren't overeating low nutrient sugary stuff (unless the fiber is hit from supplements or the like).

Personally I don't generally eat 4-5 servings of fruit or consider that necessary (I prefer to eat more vegetables and well exceed the recommendations for them, and usually eat more like 2 servings of fruit, although somewhat more in the summer when it's in season), and I tend to eat at least 1500 calories, and with that I don't find that I go over my limit. I wouldn't worry if I did due to mostly fruit, veg, and dairy, though.

You don't actually NEED sugar. So I would not worry about getting a minimum of that. Any thing your body needs glucose wise, it can get from any carbs you eat or make itself with your liver.
And it is likely you get plenty of sugar anyway.
Just concentrate on eating the most nutritious fruits and veggies, with the most fiber and least sugar.

dee_thurman wrote: »

How many fruit servings should you have a day?

DASH DIET for a 2,000 calorie diet recommends that you eat 4 to 5 fruit servings per day. Yesterday I ate an apple, orange, and banana. I am pretty sure I had used 42 out of my 52 g of sugar for the day with these 3 fruits. If I did eat two other fruits there is no way I could stay under my allotted grams of sugar.

Even if I were to eat 3/4 fruits with the other things that you eat throughout the day it is almost impossible to stay under the recommended allotment. Is anyone else having this problem?

Is the 52g a DASH thing or MFP? The fruits you ate all are higher sugar fruits, try berries, tomatoes and avocados in your mix for some lower sugar options.

Pollywog_la wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Pollywog_la wrote: »

You don't actually NEED sugar. So I would not worry about getting a minimum of that. Any thing your body needs glucose wise, it can get from any carbs you eat or make itself with your liver.
And it is likely you get plenty of sugar anyway.

Where do you read that she's worried about getting a minimum amount of sugar? Are you referring to the DASH diet recommending a certain amount of fruit? The DASH diet is aimed at people with specific medical issues (hypertension, I believe).

Just concentrate on eating the most nutritious fruits and veggies, with the most fiber and least sugar.

Why on earth does she need to worry about the amount of sugar in her vegetables or fruit? Probably best from a nutrition standpoint to get a variety and not limit yourself to the lowest sugar ones.

Because the title of this post is "Sugar goals". I see she is trying to stay under a sugar level, but there is no reason to get a minimum amount of sugar. None.
Some foods that are nutritious happen to have sugar, but that is not why they are nutritious.

That was well said.

This content has been removed.

http://www.mckinley.illinois.edu/Handouts/dash_diet.html
The DASH diet accounts for the sugars in fruits and other sources.
This sample includes orange juice, banana, melon balls, fruit cocktail,
tomatoes, and dried apricots along with corn flakes, whole wheat bread,
pita bread, rice dinner roll, pretzels,

dee_thurman wrote: »

My sugar is coming from mostly fruits and vegetables. I am going over my sugar goal because of the types of fruits I eat. Carrots have sugar in them etc... I don't eat candy. I eat the lowest amount of sugar in greek yogurt. I have sugar free jello. I am almost exclusively getting my sugar from these sources and I am over most days. I have always understood sugar is sugar. There aren't different types of sugar are there? I do not have diabetes but it is all over my family tree. For this reason my eyes and ears are perked up at the sugar numbers because I do not want to be another person in the family with the disease. I am not obese and I am eating very healthy now in my opinion, but I also want to eat correctly knowing my family history.

I'd talk to your doctor or a dietitian, not the anti sugar brigade here.

Sugar is sugar, but the effects of it (for those with insulin issues) differ based on what you eat it with. Eating it with fiber, as with fruit and veg, is going to have a different effect than eating some candy. Also, eating an overall nutritious diet is going to be different than eating a diet that has excessive calories and is very high in low nutrient foods, which is why the WHO recommends limiting added (or free) sugars to 10% (ideally, 5%), but does not recommend limiting fruits and veg. The propaganda about avoiding fruit that some on this forum are on about isn't backed by anything credible. There is not a T2D problem with traditional diets that happen to be high in carbs, even higher than the SAD. T2D creeps in when societies start modifying their diets to be more like the SAD in some other ways.

yarwell wrote: »

4 half cups of orange juice (this is an illustration, not a recommendation) contains 44 grams of sugar so would fit into the MFP goal, which you can of course tweak to fit any specific eating plan via Custom goals http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/my_goals

DASH recommends veg too, so not necessarily (of course it would if one chose lower sugar fruits, but that seems unnecessarily to add restrictions beyond what DASH already includes and what her doctor may be recommending).

Custom goals make sense if one is following a specific diet like DASH.

Good point re the different calorie levels.