Added sugar vs. natural sugars in daily total?
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stevencloser wrote: »ForecasterJason wrote: »
The problem though is that a lot of people aren't eating a healthy diet to begin with, and in a lot of those cases their sugar consumption is excessive. I believe that's what she's referring to.stevencloser wrote: »Come on you guys, 10 chocolate bars and 20 apples were obviously extreme examples just meant to show that too much sugar both in "natural" and "unnatural" forms can be harmful.
And the guys told you that it's pretty much impossible to get excess sugar if you're restricting caloriesand even have the slightest idea of what a healthy diet looks like.
Are you implying the OP has an unhealthy diet? Because there's absolutely NOTHING to imply she does or is eating excessive amounts of sugar.
No I'm not. My original comment wasn't really about the OP post it was about whether or not you should track sugar. Lots of people aren't aware of the amount of sugar that is in thing's like fruit. My point was just that sugar is sugar no matter the source.2 -
Sugar is a health issue for everyone. It's just not well known.
Sugar from unrefined sources like fruit is processed very differently in real life than added sugar. That's because nobody eats 20 apples. But it's easy to eat the equivalent in baked goods or candy.1 -
Come on you guys, 10 chocolate bars and 20 apples were obviously extreme examples just meant to show that too much sugar both in "natural" and "unnatural" forms can be harmful.
Sure but extreme examples don't prove anything because most people with some semblance of common sense don't eat like that...5 -
ForecasterJason wrote: »
The problem though is that a lot of people aren't eating a healthy diet to begin with, and in a lot of those cases their sugar consumption is excessive. I believe that's what she's referring to.stevencloser wrote: »Come on you guys, 10 chocolate bars and 20 apples were obviously extreme examples just meant to show that too much sugar both in "natural" and "unnatural" forms can be harmful.
And the guys told you that it's pretty much impossible to get excess sugar if you're restricting caloriesand even have the slightest idea of what a healthy diet looks like.
You keep referring to "a lot of people" in your posts. I don't imagine the majority of people on MFP do that. Further, people who do that have other issues regarding food. The point is, it is not the food but the manner in which it is consumed.5 -
Come on you guys, 10 chocolate bars and 20 apples were obviously extreme examples just meant to show that too much sugar both in "natural" and "unnatural" forms can be harmful.
Right. But if people are tracking calories and not eating to excess like your example, there isn't really a reason to worry about sugar unless the person has a medical condition requiring them to limit their intake. Which is what she said.5 -
I personally do not track sugar, I track fiber...2
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What would be classed as excessive sugar consumption? I'm thinking anything over 80g a day..0
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Come on you guys, 10 chocolate bars and 20 apples were obviously extreme examples just meant to show that too much sugar both in "natural" and "unnatural" forms can be harmful.
Too much of anything is extreme. Fact is, your body needs sugar and it occurs naturally in a lot of food. All things in moderation, portion control and balance will work for most people.
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Christine_72 wrote: »What would be classed as excessive sugar consumption? I'm thinking anything over 80g a day..
So far for today I am at 103grams of sugar and my fiber is at 42grams. I am not concerned...3 -
Christine_72 wrote: »What would be classed as excessive sugar consumption? I'm thinking anything over 80g a day..
So far for today I am at 103grams of sugar and my fiber is at 42grams. I am not concerned...
That was just a top of my head number. I just went back and had a look at my numbers, and i average between 25-60 a day. I don't consciously limit sugar, but I'm sure i could double those numbers if I ate a ton of fruit.0 -
Sugar is a health issue for everyone. It's just not well known.
Sugar from unrefined sources like fruit is processed very differently in real life than added sugar. That's because nobody eats 20 apples. But it's easy to eat the equivalent in baked goods or candy.
A medium apple from the USDA databank has 19 grams of sugar. Is it easy to eat 380 grams of sugar in candy and baked goods? Really?3 -
ForecasterJason wrote: »
The problem though is that a lot of people aren't eating a healthy diet to begin with, and in a lot of those cases their sugar consumption is excessive. I believe that's what she's referring to.stevencloser wrote: »Come on you guys, 10 chocolate bars and 20 apples were obviously extreme examples just meant to show that too much sugar both in "natural" and "unnatural" forms can be harmful.
And the guys told you that it's pretty much impossible to get excess sugar if you're restricting caloriesand even have the slightest idea of what a healthy diet looks like.
Yes, because it's so likely they are eating 20 apples.0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »What would be classed as excessive sugar consumption? I'm thinking anything over 80g a day..
Depends on the rest of your diet.
I think excess sugar would mean over calorie limit or short on anything else you need, like vegetables, protein, healthy fats, fiber, etc. This effectively prevents anyone from eating significant amounts of added sugar or even tons and tons of fruit. I've seen 0 evidence that if someone wants to eat more fruit and veg and less starches (thereby getting the same amount of carbs and fiber, more sugar) that's that's likely to be a problem. (It's what I did when cutting calories at first, although how much fruit I eat has never been especially high.)1 -
While I am not by any means suggesting that the OP is actually consuming too much sugar, I thought it was fair to speak in general terms.ForecasterJason wrote: »
The problem though is that a lot of people aren't eating a healthy diet to begin with, and in a lot of those cases their sugar consumption is excessive. I believe that's what she's referring to.stevencloser wrote: »Come on you guys, 10 chocolate bars and 20 apples were obviously extreme examples just meant to show that too much sugar both in "natural" and "unnatural" forms can be harmful.
And the guys told you that it's pretty much impossible to get excess sugar if you're restricting caloriesand even have the slightest idea of what a healthy diet looks like.
You keep referring to "a lot of people" in your posts. I don't imagine the majority of people on MFP do that. Further, people who do that have other issues regarding food. The point is, it is not the food but the manner in which it is consumed.
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A reasonable sized piece of cake can easily have close to 70g of sugar. Add in flavored low fat yogurt (with sugar added), 3 servings of fruit and a couple servings of vegetables, one could easily be pushing 150g+ of sugar a day. I don't think that's an unrealistic extreme diet, but if one has a calorie goal (for example) of 1500 calories, that becomes quite a bit of sugar.lemurcat12 wrote: »ForecasterJason wrote: »
The problem though is that a lot of people aren't eating a healthy diet to begin with, and in a lot of those cases their sugar consumption is excessive. I believe that's what she's referring to.stevencloser wrote: »Come on you guys, 10 chocolate bars and 20 apples were obviously extreme examples just meant to show that too much sugar both in "natural" and "unnatural" forms can be harmful.
And the guys told you that it's pretty much impossible to get excess sugar if you're restricting caloriesand even have the slightest idea of what a healthy diet looks like.
Yes, because it's so likely they are eating 20 apples.
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ForecasterJason wrote: »
While I am not by any means suggesting that the OP is actually consuming too much sugar, I thought it was fair to speak in general terms.ForecasterJason wrote: »
The problem though is that a lot of people aren't eating a healthy diet to begin with, and in a lot of those cases their sugar consumption is excessive. I believe that's what she's referring to.stevencloser wrote: »Come on you guys, 10 chocolate bars and 20 apples were obviously extreme examples just meant to show that too much sugar both in "natural" and "unnatural" forms can be harmful.
And the guys told you that it's pretty much impossible to get excess sugar if you're restricting caloriesand even have the slightest idea of what a healthy diet looks like.
You keep referring to "a lot of people" in your posts. I don't imagine the majority of people on MFP do that. Further, people who do that have other issues regarding food. The point is, it is not the food but the manner in which it is consumed.
It's not relevant...4 -
ForecasterJason wrote: »
A reasonable sized piece of cake can easily have close to 70g of sugar. Add in flavored low fat yogurt (with sugar added), 3 servings of fruit and a couple servings of vegetables, one could easily be pushing 150g+ of sugar a day. I don't think that's an unrealistic extreme diet, but if one has a calorie goal (for example) of 1500 calories, that becomes quite a bit of sugar.lemurcat12 wrote: »ForecasterJason wrote: »
The problem though is that a lot of people aren't eating a healthy diet to begin with, and in a lot of those cases their sugar consumption is excessive. I believe that's what she's referring to.stevencloser wrote: »Come on you guys, 10 chocolate bars and 20 apples were obviously extreme examples just meant to show that too much sugar both in "natural" and "unnatural" forms can be harmful.
And the guys told you that it's pretty much impossible to get excess sugar if you're restricting caloriesand even have the slightest idea of what a healthy diet looks like.
Yes, because it's so likely they are eating 20 apples.
If one has a 1500 calorie goal I doubt they would eat that way as that would probably use up most of their calories...4 -
ForecasterJason wrote: »
A reasonable sized piece of cake can easily have close to 70g of sugar. Add in flavored low fat yogurt (with sugar added), 3 servings of fruit and a couple servings of vegetables, one could easily be pushing 150g+ of sugar a day. I don't think that's an unrealistic extreme diet, but if one has a calorie goal (for example) of 1500 calories, that becomes quite a bit of sugar.lemurcat12 wrote: »ForecasterJason wrote: »
The problem though is that a lot of people aren't eating a healthy diet to begin with, and in a lot of those cases their sugar consumption is excessive. I believe that's what she's referring to.stevencloser wrote: »Come on you guys, 10 chocolate bars and 20 apples were obviously extreme examples just meant to show that too much sugar both in "natural" and "unnatural" forms can be harmful.
And the guys told you that it's pretty much impossible to get excess sugar if you're restricting caloriesand even have the slightest idea of what a healthy diet looks like.
Yes, because it's so likely they are eating 20 apples.
I don't see how this is relevant. Look back at the posts about the amount of sugar that is too much being determined by the rest of the diet, not some set number.0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »What would be classed as excessive sugar consumption? I'm thinking anything over 80g a day..
90 and 100 g/day are used as daily intake guidelines for labelling, so 80g of total sugars is a bit below that (which is for a 2000 calorie diet IIRC).
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There's nothing behind the UK 90 g suggesting that eating more than that is bad for you if the sugar is from nutrient dense foods and, especially, if it's merely subbing veg, dairy, and fruit for starches in a macro-balanced diet.
Instead, they get the number based on the limit for added sugar, the overall carb goal, and an assumption about how much other sugar people will be eating (at max) of 5 servings of veg and fruit and 3 servings of milk. See here: http://www.fdf.org.uk/publicgeneral/gdas_science_Jul09.pdf
I think 5 servings of veg and fruit (while probably more than the average person in the US/UK gets, and the minimum recommendation) is low, and personally try to exceed 5 servings of veg by a comfortable amount. I also think 1-3 servings of fruit is reasonable and within dietary recommendations. For me that rarely comes to over 90 anyway, even at more than 2000 calories (my normal TDEE is around 2200), since I do tend to eat a lot more veg than fruit and not that much higher sugar dairy. But if eating that way kicked me over 90 g, I wouldn't see any reason to see it as an issue when looking at the reasons for the limit (and especially most of the NHS discussions of sugar, which are all about added sugar and quite similar to what I've seen from the WHO and US guidelines, which focus on added sugar and the calorie/low nutrient/tooth decay reasoning. Some of the NHS stuff even says basically "we don't mean limit fruit, don't."
This is why I think it makes more sense to judge excess by overall diet and whether one is getting in what else one should.0
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