For once and for all, can I get the info on sugar?
catalinaromera
Posts: 20 Member
So I have read in a variety of places, how important it is to eat whole; as in, less processed food and more natural foods. So, following the age old advice, Ive been trying to eat lots and lots of fruits and veggies.
But mfp is telling me that I am exceeding my sugar goals for the day.
Now I know macros dont really matter too much in the grand scheme of things as long as you are eating under calories. And I know that WW points count fruits and veggies as 0. AND I know that the sugar in fruits is different than processed sugar.
But what does this all mean? Am I eating too much fruit/sugar? Does our body process sugar from fruits differently than processed sugar? Am I overthinking this?
But mfp is telling me that I am exceeding my sugar goals for the day.
Now I know macros dont really matter too much in the grand scheme of things as long as you are eating under calories. And I know that WW points count fruits and veggies as 0. AND I know that the sugar in fruits is different than processed sugar.
But what does this all mean? Am I eating too much fruit/sugar? Does our body process sugar from fruits differently than processed sugar? Am I overthinking this?
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Replies
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It's saying that based on your settings. You can change it.1
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What is your limit set to?
I don't count sugar from fruits and dairy.
I try to keep my added sugars to less than 20 grams a day.
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You are over thinking this..
And here we go with another sugar thread.
I did a search in MFP before posting here and looked up Sugar, Sugar Debate, Is sugar Bad for You?... the threads are endless in MFP..
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It all depends on who you ask and what you are looking for...
I have cut my sugar intake down to 15 grams. I don't eat fruit. I was told if I do eat fruit, eat it early in the morning. I didn't ask why. I just cut it out all together.
My tortilla shell has the most sugar of everything I eat. By lowering the amount of sugar I get in a day, my waist has shrink a little.
Sugar is hard for your body to process and get rid of.....
Again, its all depends on who you ask.0 -
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Mystical64 wrote: »It all depends on who you ask and what you are looking for...
I have cut my sugar intake down to 15 grams. I don't eat fruit. I was told if I do eat fruit, eat it early in the morning. I didn't ask why. I just cut it out all together.
My tortilla shell has the most sugar of everything I eat. By lowering the amount of sugar I get in a day, my waist has shrink a little.
Sugar is hard for your body to process and get rid of.....
Again, its all depends on who you ask.
What do you mean it's hard for your body to process? As far as I know, I takes more energy to process proteins than carbohydrates. That's my definition of "hard to process".
What's your definition?
Btw, when I was counting calories, I was always over on sugar. Every day. I don't count calories anymore but I eat just the same. It doesn't have any effect on my weight whatsoever.
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You'll probably get a wide variety of answers here. I've seen people equally insist that "sugar is sugar" and "fructose and sucrose affect the body differently". And people will provide studies that prove both, I'm sure. And then there are the CICO folks, who insist nothing else is relevant.
Here's the real, as honest as it gets answer.
1. Are you diabetic? If so, it is vital that you monitor your total sugar intake.
2. If you are not, don't stress about it.
Personally, if I go over my 50 gr per day, and I know it was all fruit, it's fine. I don't eat a lot of fruit, 2 servings per day is usually my max, to ensure that I'm not overdoing the sugar, just in case.2 -
You are probably overthinking it. Unless you have a medical reason, you probably don't need to track sugars. My first day on MFP I swapped fiber tracking for sugar tracking and have never once looked at the sugars again in the around 3 years I've been tracking. I started out pre-diabetic, lost 125+ pounds, am no longer pre-diabetic and my tests come back normal each time so I've never seen a need to track it.5
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catalinaromera wrote: »AND I know that the sugar in fruits is different than processed sugar.
It's all sugar to the body - doesn't matter the source.
I don't track sugar. I eat a wide variety of foods that I enjoy. Done & done.
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Sugar is sugar regardless of if it comes from fruit or soda. Also sugar doesn't directly effect weight loss.
And WW has a flawed system because you should keep track of the fruits and vegetables you eat because you could just eat fruits and veggies all day and if you're over maintenence you'd gain weight.
You're over thinking it. Staying within your calorie goals is all that's important.0 -
You're never going to get an accurate, once and for all answer about sugar on here. If you want to know for definite just for yourself I'd get professional advice. I told my doctor I was eating around 60g of sugar from fruit and 20g of added sugar. He told me I should try cut down on all sugar from all sources including fruits as sugar is still sugar and effects the body the same way. I've taken his advice and cut down to around 40g of sugar from fruit and under 20g of added sugar & I'm happy with that. I have no medical reasons that needs me to cut down on sugar either. Unless my doctor advises otherwise I'm sticking to this amount of sugar.1
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vivmom2014 wrote: »catalinaromera wrote: »AND I know that the sugar in fruits is different than processed sugar.
It's all sugar to the body - doesn't matter the source.
I don't track sugar. I eat a wide variety of foods that I enjoy. Done & done.
Yep! Love the Done & Done!!
OP...Track fiber.. maybe you will like those results better!2 -
vivmom2014 wrote: »catalinaromera wrote: »AND I know that the sugar in fruits is different than processed sugar.
It's all sugar to the body - doesn't matter the source.
I don't track sugar. I eat a wide variety of foods that I enjoy. Done & done.
No, naturally-occuring sugar and processed sugar are not processed differently. But, most foods that contain naturally occurring sugar (fruit, veg) also contain a lot of fiber, which slows down the rate at which the glucose hits the bloodstream, preventing spikes.3 -
Don't worry *too much* about sugars coming from fruit and dairy, just eat your recommended daily servings of each. If you haven't had anything with added sugar in it, then don't worry about going over on any given day. 1.5-2 cups of fruit a day and 2-3 cups of dairy should keep you well within your sugar range on MFP. Just keep your added sugar below 25 grams per day.
If you REALLY love fruit and have a hard time eating vegetables or have a really bad sweet tooth and the fruit helps you stay away from chocolate and ice cream and candy... by all means, eat more fruit and don't stress the sugar. Eating 8 servings of fruit a day would be probably be a problem, but doing 3-4 instead of 1-2 is *probably* fine. If you are diabetic or pre-diabetic, this wouldn't be great advice. But even if you are not, just be mindful of what fruit you are eating and how much so not to go crazy with it. For example, overripe bananas have more sugar than barely ripe bananas (those brown, soft patches are basically pure sugar!), and berries are generally a much better option than any of the other fruits.
Fruit is great for you. They are rich in antioxidants, vitamins, fiber... so many nutrients. I don't trust anyone who says to not eat fruit. But like all things, moderation matters.2 -
Digestion is complicated and unless you study it in depth, you won't understand it. Like everything else in the body, it doesn't work alone, so you need a little background in cells, histology and other organs in order to understand it. Almost 100% of the people who blab about it have no idea what they're talking about, so don't take what they say to heart. There is also the fact that different people have unique issues with their bodies, so there's that, too.
The reason people keep saying we should limit sugar is that we are a FAT country and we keep getting fatter. Table sugar gives you very little as nutrients go and is very high-cal. Sugar is added to a lot of packaged foods. For the average person, lowering their sugar will help them maintain or lose weight. It's also really difficult to get the nutrients you need when you aren't eating the foods that contain them. That's why people are saying, "Watch your sugar intake."
When the new food labels roll out, they'll be required to label how much of the sugar in a product is "added sugar," so people can (supposedly) see the difference. The only people who will see it are the ones reading the labels, though. Most of the people who could actually use it won't look.
When they tell you to limit sugar, they aren't suggesting that you cut back on fruits (or vegetables.) They're suggesting that you focus more on eating food that gives you the nutrients you need. I have no idea why they don't just say that, but they don't.
Focus on getting the nutrients you need and sugar will quickly become something you don't overeat.4 -
The reason people keep saying we should limit sugar is that we are a FAT country and we keep getting fatter. Table sugar gives you very little as nutrients go and is very high-cal. Sugar is added to a lot of packaged foods. For the average person, lowering their sugar will help them maintain or lose weight. It's also really difficult to get the nutrients you need when you aren't eating the foods that contain them. That's why people are saying, "Watch your sugar intake."
The thing is, sugar doesn't cause obesity, eating too many calories does.
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Only calories matter for weightloss but eating things with alot of sugar will prbably leave you hungry again in an hour...1
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tillerstouch wrote: »Sugar is sugar regardless of if it comes from fruit or soda. Also sugar doesn't directly effect weight loss.
And WW has a flawed system because you should keep track of the fruits and vegetables you eat because you could just eat fruits and veggies all day and if you're over maintenence you'd gain weight.
You're over thinking it. Staying within your calorie goals is all that's important.
That's a new one. Sugar from blueberries is the same as powdered sugar on a donut. Thanks for the head's up. And all this time I thought fruit was healthier than donuts. Silly me.1 -
gonetothedogs19 wrote: »tillerstouch wrote: »Sugar is sugar regardless of if it comes from fruit or soda. Also sugar doesn't directly effect weight loss.
And WW has a flawed system because you should keep track of the fruits and vegetables you eat because you could just eat fruits and veggies all day and if you're over maintenence you'd gain weight.
You're over thinking it. Staying within your calorie goals is all that's important.
That's a new one. Sugar from blueberries is the same as powdered sugar on a donut. Thanks for the head's up. And all this time I thought fruit was healthier than donuts. Silly me.
What has the first one to do with the second one?3 -
cerise_noir wrote: »The reason people keep saying we should limit sugar is that we are a FAT country and we keep getting fatter. Table sugar gives you very little as nutrients go and is very high-cal. Sugar is added to a lot of packaged foods. For the average person, lowering their sugar will help them maintain or lose weight. It's also really difficult to get the nutrients you need when you aren't eating the foods that contain them. That's why people are saying, "Watch your sugar intake."
The thing is, sugar doesn't cause obesity, eating too many calories does.
Apparently not.
http://blogs.plos.org/publichealth/2014/01/13/worst-sugar/2 -
Digestion is complicated and unless you study it in depth, you won't understand it. Like everything else in the body, it doesn't work alone, so you need a little background in cells, histology and other organs in order to understand it. Almost 100% of the people who blab about it have no idea what they're talking about, so don't take what they say to heart. There is also the fact that different people have unique issues with their bodies, so there's that, too.
The reason people keep saying we should limit sugar is that we are a FAT country and we keep getting fatter. Table sugar gives you very little as nutrients go and is very high-cal. Sugar is added to a lot of packaged foods. For the average person, lowering their sugar will help them maintain or lose weight. It's also really difficult to get the nutrients you need when you aren't eating the foods that contain them. That's why people are saying, "Watch your sugar intake."
When the new food labels roll out, they'll be required to label how much of the sugar in a product is "added sugar," so people can (supposedly) see the difference. The only people who will see it are the ones reading the labels, though. Most of the people who could actually use it won't look.
When they tell you to limit sugar, they aren't suggesting that you cut back on fruits (or vegetables.) They're suggesting that you focus more on eating food that gives you the nutrients you need. I have no idea why they don't just say that, but they don't.
Focus on getting the nutrients you need and sugar will quickly become something you don't overeat.
Table sugar has 4 calories per gram. Same as protein and any other form of sugar. Less than half the amount of fat.2 -
gonetothedogs19 wrote: »tillerstouch wrote: »Sugar is sugar regardless of if it comes from fruit or soda. Also sugar doesn't directly effect weight loss.
And WW has a flawed system because you should keep track of the fruits and vegetables you eat because you could just eat fruits and veggies all day and if you're over maintenence you'd gain weight.
You're over thinking it. Staying within your calorie goals is all that's important.
That's a new one. Sugar from blueberries is the same as powdered sugar on a donut. Thanks for the head's up. And all this time I thought fruit was healthier than donuts. Silly me.
The sugar in a blueberry is the same sugar in a banana, but the two fruits are very different. Likewise, the sugar in cherry pie is the same sugar in pecan pie, but the two pies carry different nutrients. Don't confuse the fact that the sugars are the same with the strawman that the foods are the same. No one is saying that.5 -
gonetothedogs19 wrote: »cerise_noir wrote: »The reason people keep saying we should limit sugar is that we are a FAT country and we keep getting fatter. Table sugar gives you very little as nutrients go and is very high-cal. Sugar is added to a lot of packaged foods. For the average person, lowering their sugar will help them maintain or lose weight. It's also really difficult to get the nutrients you need when you aren't eating the foods that contain them. That's why people are saying, "Watch your sugar intake."
The thing is, sugar doesn't cause obesity, eating too many calories does.
Apparently not.
http://blogs.plos.org/publichealth/2014/01/13/worst-sugar/
A blog. Cool.
Saying how much sugar is in tomato soup, forgetting how tomatoes have sugar in them themselves without needing to add any, and white bread that supposedly has a teaspoon of sugar in 2 slices which when crossreferenced with the cheapass stuff I use is over double the actual amount... and I'm good. It's trash.4 -
Beginning in 2018, nutrition labels will breakdown natural sugars and added sugars. There's a reason for that. The two are obviously not the same.1
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gonetothedogs19 wrote: »Beginning in 2018, nutrition labels will breakdown natural sugars and added sugars. There's a reason for that. The two are obviously not the same.
I was worried that this was what people were going to take away from that.1 -
gonetothedogs19 wrote: »Beginning in 2018, nutrition labels will breakdown natural sugars and added sugars. There's a reason for that. The two are obviously not the same.
Added sugars are natural.0 -
gonetothedogs19 wrote: »tillerstouch wrote: »Sugar is sugar regardless of if it comes from fruit or soda. Also sugar doesn't directly effect weight loss.
And WW has a flawed system because you should keep track of the fruits and vegetables you eat because you could just eat fruits and veggies all day and if you're over maintenence you'd gain weight.
You're over thinking it. Staying within your calorie goals is all that's important.
That's a new one. Sugar from blueberries is the same as powdered sugar on a donut. Thanks for the head's up. And all this time I thought fruit was healthier than donuts. Silly me.
Of course fruits are healthier than donuts. Fruit has a lot more nutrients than a donut.0
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