what do you do to lower your sugar intake?

lexylondon wrote: »

What's given me the drive to help REDUCE my sugar intake is knowing what it does for ageing. Particularly the skin. See: glycation. That is my biggest driver.

abysmalbeauty wrote: »

Probably not the easiest method but I did a whole 30 where i did not eat any foods with added sugars for 30 days (plus other restrictions.) During that time I ate as much fruit as i wanted. Afterwards my taste buds had completely changed.

I used to prefer Hershey special dark which i believe is 55% sugar and now i prefer 85% chocolate. I find my previous favorite too be sickeningly sweet. I am also more aware of which foods contain added sugar which helps me make better choices... It's surprising once you look for it.

It's been over a year since I did this and my tastes for sweets have not reverted back. Something to consider possibly.

rabbitjb wrote: »

There is none that I have been able to find

If you bring the concept that there is then prove it. Because it is not a belief held by diabetes UK or the NHS or any other official body

And the Mayo clinic link says

"What's the best way to lower triglycerides?

Healthy lifestyle choices are key:

Lose weight. If you're overweight, losing 5 to 10 pounds can help lower your triglycerides. Motivate yourself by focusing on the benefits of losing weight, such as more energy and improved health.
Cut back on calories. Remember that extra calories are converted to triglycerides and stored as fat. Reducing your calories will reduce triglycerides.
Avoid sugary and refined foods. Simple carbohydrates, such as sugar and foods made with white flour, can increase triglycerides."

You infer a direct causation that should be available from the core body of research. I infer that sugary and refined foods are high calorific items which feeds into the second point and then in turn the first point

Anyway I have to go out in the current gale to the gym which I don't wanna do

But calories count

lemurcat12 wrote: »

bisky wrote: »

From American Heart Association: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/HealthyEating/Nutrition/Added-Sugars-Add-to-Your-Risk-of-Dying-from-Heart-Disease_UCM_460319_Article.jsp#.VrkA9oQ-CT8

Getting too much added sugar in your diet could significantly increase your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, according to a study published in April 2014.

According to the study published in JAMA: Internal Medicine, those who got 17 to 21 percent of calories from added sugar had a 38 percent higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared to those who consumed 8 percent of their calories from added sugar. The study factored in some sociodemographic, behavioral, and clinical characteristics such as age, ethnicity, level of schooling, smoking, medication use, and others. The relative risk was more than double for those who consumed 21 percent or more of their calories from added sugar.

Added sugars are sugars and syrups that are added to foods or beverages when they’re processed or prepared.

Please go to http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1819573 for more info of the study that was published in the Journal American Medicine Association, An international peer-reviewed general medical journal.

To clarify article not about healthy carbs such as fruits, beans, starchy vegetables.

The problem is that excess added sugar is, of course, associated with excess weight and excess weight is associated with cardiovascular disease. This doesn't answer the question of whether excess added sugar would be associated with cardiovascular disease when controlling for weight. (I'm open to the idea it is, and try not to eat excess added sugar myself, on average, for a variety of reasons, but this does not answer that question.)

Edit: actually I see they tried to control for that, but there remain some lingering issues worthy of further study, including the fact that they have to rely on the NHANES, which isn't all that accurate (and the study acknowledges the shortcomings).

Another interesting bit is that the higher added sugar levels are found in those with lots of other risk factors (like low activity, poor overall diet) and, interestingly, non-white persons. Why that's interesting is (a) of course there are other factors relating to what is already known to be a higher tendency to CVD, AND (b) some other studies suggest that African Americans may be more honest in these types of studies (for example, it appears that the assessments of obesity rate by state are off because African Americans are less apt to lie about their weights, on average). As a result, the midwest may actually be fatter than the south, despite prior reporting to the contrary. So if AA's are more inclined to CVD and also admit to sugar intake more readily than other groups, that would distort the study. These things are always so hard to figure out, although I certainly see no reason not to just focus on what we know is a nutrient-rich, sensible diet anyway, which would mean limiting added sugar.

Also, sat fat of course has the same association. See also: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-katz-md/study-saturated-fat-as-ba_b_5507184.html and http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2014/03/19/dietary-fat-and-heart-disease-study-is-seriously-misleading/ and http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-fats/

Walter Willett:

Saturated fat is less healthy, since it raises “bad” cholesterol in the blood. We can’t completely eliminate saturated fat from our diets, though, because foods that are rich in healthy fats also contain a little bit of saturated fat. The best strategy is to limit foods that are very high in saturated fat, such as butter, cheese, and red meat, and replace them with foods that are high in healthy fats, such as plant oils, nuts, and fish. An alternative approach is to just use a very small amount of full-fat cheese, butter, cream, or red meat in dishes that emphasize plant foods such as vegetables, whole grains, and legumes.

AnnPT77 wrote: »

longlostsea wrote: »

Hello just wondering what changes any sugar lovers out there have made to lower their sugar intake?
I have a sweet tooth so to speak and have high chloresterol, and have been reading that it may contribute a bit to that. So as well as a healthier diet and more excersize I want to watch my sugars as well. I'm not sure about lowering the amount of fruit I eat because of nutrient content + I am a vegetarian.
Opinions? Methods?

As an ovo-lacto vegetarian, I found I routinely went above MFP's default goal for sugar - usually substantially over - just via the inherent sugar in no-sugar-added dairy and fruit (at non-ridiculous fruit consumption, like around 3 servings a day, none of them juice). The only added sugar I was eating then was a tablespoon of all-fruit spread to sweeten my oatmeal (it has a bit of apple juice concentrate in it, which is added sugar). (Yes folks, this is accurate. I'm very aware of food ingredients, and eat mostly one-ingredient foods I prepare myself.)

What did I do about going over MFP's default sugar goal? I stopped including sugar on my diary display, and replaced it with a column for tracking fiber.

In your case, if the problem is an attachment to sweets that aren't very nutrient dense (cookies, candy, cake, etc.), this is something I had adjusted in my own eating well before losing weight. Everyone's different, but what helped me was consciously trying to increase my whole-fruit consumption to about 3 servings per day. That helped me reduce my cravings for less-nutrient-dense sweets. I may eat less fruit than that on average now, but it got me over the habit/cravings hump at a point in time. Now, heading into maintenance weight, I still eat very little added sugar.

I had high cholesterol, too: In late 2014, my cholesterol was 230, and my triglycerides were 193. In late 2015, 54 pounds down, my cholesterol was 176 and my triglycerides 82 - solidly in the normal range. HDL was up from 45 to 65, ratio down from 5.1 to 2.7, LDL down from 146 to 95, VLDL down from 39 to 16.

I had brought my levels down a bit by changing what I ate without losing weight (in early 213, they were cholesterol 253 / triglycerides 402!). But weight loss was what really brought the blood-test results . . . and lots of other improvements, too.