Healthy food sugars and sugar goals?

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katieflaniken2017
katieflaniken2017 Posts: 19 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'd like your opinions friends. I don't eat sweets or refined sugars often at all, but I'm almost always over on my sugar goals. A typical daily diet has 2 tsps. of raw, unfiltered honey, some fruit, maybe a small square of dark chocolate every couple days, as well as the sugars in milk, greek yogurt, and the other whole choices I make. There's obviously sugars in every diet, but I hate that I keep going over. But is it a big deal since it's from healthy foods? Especially when I don't feel I'm going over board on servings of those foods? What are your opinions on sugars?

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  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
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    If it's within your caloric allotment, and you don't have any health problems, ignore the sugar bar. Better yet, replace it with something useful, like Sodium, to make sure you're getting enough.
  • PattiBaldwin88
    PattiBaldwin88 Posts: 41 Member
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    I would double check things like the greek yogurt to make sure that there is not an excessive amount of added sugar. If you have the time to track natural sugar vs. added to see if you're over in the added then try that. If not, just watch the labels for lots of added sugar, avoid those the best you can, and ignore the bar!
  • enterdanger
    enterdanger Posts: 2,447 Member
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    I never thought I'd say this, but I'm with @Gallowmere1984.

    Some fruit has a crap ton of naturally occurring sugar. I ate a peach yesterday and MFP said that it had 24g of sugar or something like that. the 2 tsp of sugar I put in my morning tea has 8g of sugar. But my peach had fiber and vitamins and I've no medical reason to limit sugar. So who cares.
  • texasleahgirl
    texasleahgirl Posts: 96 Member
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    As long as I am trending toward my fitness/weight goals, I don't worry about the sugar in whole foods. That bar and those MFP reminders about being over your sugar goal is annoying though! Also when it comes to fruit, the likelihood of the peach you are eating having exactly 24g is somewhat inaccurate anyway depending on the ripeness.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Basically what Gallowmere said. I'd add that you should also be sure you are getting enough protein and fiber and healthy fats. In fact, I think a good approach for someone who does not otherwise have health issues is to watch fiber instead of sugar, overall macros, and just make sure they have a healthy, balanced diet. If sugar is high because you are basically eating more fruit and veg and dairy in place of starchy carbs or perhaps higher fat cuts of meat or the like, no reason to worry about it.

    I do usually watch sugar out of interest when logging, but that's only because I know I always go over the fiber goal and there's nothing else I particularly care to watch.
  • katieflaniken2017
    katieflaniken2017 Posts: 19 Member
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    Thank you for your input everyone!
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    Swap out sugar tracking for fibre
  • fr33sia12
    fr33sia12 Posts: 1,258 Member
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    Looking at your diary most of the sugar is from fruit and naturally occurring rather than refined added sugar with no nutritional benefit, so I wouldn't be too concerned. I try keep my added sugar under 20g and the rest from fruit etc. For most people it's a personal choice. Some believe there's no need to worry about sugar, some believe it's worth keeping a track of. It certainly can't harm you to track sugar and only eat a certain amount if you're wanting a healthy lifestyle.
  • MelaniaTrump
    MelaniaTrump Posts: 2,694 Member
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    I only count added sugars from processed foods. Try to limit them to 20 grams a day. I do not count those from dairy, or whole foods.
  • berolcolour
    berolcolour Posts: 140 Member
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    This is so interesting. I've been a bit concerned about going over sugar but I don't eat much added sugar. I've found unless I eat no fruit it's impossible to get under. I also watch fibre and protein, but I'm happy hitting those numbers. Thanks guys!
  • B4Rachael
    B4Rachael Posts: 155 Member
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    I believe that you should have no more than 7 tsp of sugar a day, BUT if you are getting your sugar from fruit you are bound to go over *which is fine!* sugar in fruit is digested slow because of the fiber that is in the fruit. If you are diabetic than try not to eat too much of the "melon" fruits (cantaloupe, pineapple, etc.) because they are more water than fiber.

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