How much sugar is TOO much sugar?

Unless you're diabetic I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it.

I used to think that wasn't an issue then I got a diabetes type 2 diagnosis. Now I still eat fruit but I watch serving size and stay under my sugars.

According to the American Heart Association, 25 grams of sugar is the recommended limit . Fruit and veggies have sugar yes, but they also contains fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. I wouldn't worry too much about sugar from fruits/vegetables. Try and stay away more from processed sugar.

anthony150paolucci wrote: »

According to the American Heart Association, 25 grams of sugar is the recommended limit . Fruit and veggies have sugar yes, but they also contains fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. I wouldn't worry too much about sugar from fruits/vegetables. Try and stay away more from processed sugar.

Is that from all sources?

Many people on here deride it, but the new USDA guidelines recommend limiting added sugars to less than 10% of calories, but I'm not aware of any guidelines about natural sugars. Personally, I don't worry about it.

chelshepherd wrote: »

I'm not diabetic, so that's not the issue. I am just new to the whole idea of journaling my food, so I am not sure if it's alright to exceed my sugars! I have yet to exceed daily calories, so that's definitely not the problem.

When I started on MFP, I expected my sugar numbers to be concerning, but it was actually the sodium that was consistently high, and I think more of a general health issue.

I would think a max of 30g per day, but I personally try to keep it at 25 or less.
The question you might ask is, is there a loss of bodyfat? Especially around your belly.
If you have a glucometer to test your blood sugar at home, that will also tell you if your blood glucose is at an acceptable level.

You can limit fruit (lowering your carb macro), and instead increase your protein and fat macros. My own diet is 45-50% fat, and protein goal is 115g (protein grams the same number as my Lean Body Mass which is 115 lbs) and I lost weight very efficiently. If your veggies are non-starchy, the sugars from source will be minimal. Yay for veggies!!

Do you track fiber? Soluble fiber slows the entrance of sugar into your system, so whatever sugars you do eat, fiber will help to prevent spikes in blood sugar. Track fiber and increase it slowly to 35g or more!

Lovee_Dove7 wrote: »

I would think a max of 30g per day, but I personally try to keep it at 25 or less.
The question you might ask is, is there a loss of bodyfat? Especially around your belly.
If you have a glucometer to test your blood sugar at home, that will also tell you if your blood glucose is at an acceptable level.

You can limit fruit (lowering your carb macro), and instead increase your protein and fat macros. My own diet is 45-50% fat, and protein goal is 115g (protein grams the same number as my Lean Body Mass which is 115 lbs) and I lost weight very efficiently. If your veggies are non-starchy, the sugars from source will be minimal. Yay for veggies!!

Do you track fiber? Soluble fiber slows the entrance of sugar into your system, so whatever sugars you do eat, fiber will help to prevent spikes in blood sugar. Track fiber and increase it slowly to 35g or more!

Why would someone who doesn't have diabetes be testing their blood sugar?

OP, I only pay attention to added sugar, as others have said. I don't think twice about sugar from fruits and vegetables.

chelshepherd wrote: »

My main fitness goal right now is to lose belly fat that has sadly slowly added up because of working in a new desk job for about a year. So I would like to know what the most important nutrients are that I should be tracking!

Losing fat is just about the calories. Meeting your protein, fiber, & fat macros are key to satiety.

I've been hearing today in the UK, that diabetes is a problem world wide now. Countries which were seen as being in poverty only a few years ago are now in the same fix as us their populations are falling into the same diabetic difficulties as we have. The advice now seems to be becoming eat or drink as little added sugar as possible. Keep sweet stuff as an occasional treat. We are in general living and eating so very differently to how our relatives one hundred years ago would have lived and eaten which is closer to how our bodies were programmed to work.

I used to consider the added sugar level as something I need not worry about too much but increasingly it is becoming obvious our livers etc are finding added much harder to eliminate because of the quantities we have been eating, sweet foods are so enticing, now it seems so very important. I differentiate fruit and vegetable sugars because they come with natural fibre which make them more digestible but again too many portions a day could cause problems for some.

If I were 20 again, knowing what I do now, I would avoid so many of the foods I used to indulge in only having the very occasional treat. That way I would probably have avoided problems I have acquired.

Men should not be eating a lot of sugar regardless of the source because fructose can mess with test levels. Though, some say that the fiber in the fruit helps break the sugar down so it is not as bad as high-fructose syrup. It's basically all broscience at this point.. but....

For you, it is fine.