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Not tracking sodium and sugar

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filbo132
filbo132 Posts: 956 Member
edited September 2016 in Debate Club
I am a type of person who does the IIFYM (If it fits your macros for those who don't know) way of eating. However, am I right not to track and sugar intake on mfp (yes I know sodium and sugar are not macros before someone mentions it)? I mean I always between 10-15% body fat, I drink lots of water, I lift 4 times a week and do cardio twice a week (that's exactly 6 days out of 7 where I go to the gym) and I walk a lot at work. I have no health issues, my blood pressure is excellent...so going back to my question, am I right to ignore the sugar and sodium intake??? i usually go over on both of them (I usually go over by 20-30g when it comes to my sugar), so does it really matter or does it only matter if I wasn't healthy and a sedentary person? I read a Mike Matthews article saying to ignore it if your healthy (doing some form of exercice) and tracking your macros, is he right?

Replies

  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    I don't track those, either. Tracking carbs is good enough, since sugar is a carb, and I'm not worried about my sodium. I also don't track fat. I track protein, carbs, fiber, calcium and iron because those are all important to me. You can change these in your Food Diary settings, if you want.
  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
    edited September 2016
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    I don't either. Sugar falls under carbs, and there is no real reason to track it separately unless you have a medical reason for it. I regularly get twice the recommended amount of sugar, but I also run 55 miles/week, so that intake is driven by my requirements for my activity level.

    Same for sodium. Some percentage of the population has sodium sensitive blood pressure. The majority of the population does not see great variance in blood pressure with sodium intake. I regularly get almost double the recommended amount, but I'm also lose it through sweat and my blood pressure is not salt sensitive. Actually, my blood pressure runs borderline low...

    I pay attention to my macros, fiber, and micronutrients, but basically ignore those two. They aren't relevant for me personally.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    I changed my settings to track fiber & iron. These are more important for me than sugar or sodium.
  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
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    I was tracking sugar and fiber, but switched to sodium and fiber a while back as an experiment. I cut back on my sodium intake to around 1300mg per day for a few weeks. What I found is that there was zero impact on my blood pressure -- I do find my blood pressure tracks my weight. So I'm apparently not one of the sodium sensitive individuals (my cardiologists have never suggested I cut down on salt).

    So tracking has helped give me some insight into the effect of dietary changes on my health. It's a toolkit, and I suspect not all tools will be of equal values to MFP users.
  • Alyssa_Is_LosingIt
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt Posts: 4,696 Member
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    I do not track either one. As mentioned above, I do track my carbohydrates, which is good enough. In my opinion, if you're not diabetic or suffer from hypertension, and you're eating a well-balanced diet within a reasonable calorie goal each day, you're not likely to get way too much of either in your diet anyway.
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
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    I don't track either. I track calories, protein, and fiber. I'm not salt sensitive nor hypertensive, and in fact if I tracked sodium it would be to ensure I got enough on my hikes. As it is I just have some high sodium foods and trust it's enough.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    edited September 2016
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    I track sodium, only because i have trouble limiting it, and too much gives me bad water retention. Plus i always know when i'm going to see a higher number on the scale when it's right there in my diary each night. I don't regularly eat high sugar foods, so i don't bother tracking it.

    ETA: I don't think it's wise to ignore any macro/micro. Knowledge and awareness of what goes into your body is important imo.
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
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    It set my sugar goal to 50 g but don't actively track it. But I do like to know if I go over because it tells me I'm eating too much junk food. Tracking carbs alone doesn't help because I eat alot of vegetables and some fruits and aren't concerned about carbs from them. (I'm not concerned about carbs anyway but I try to strongly limit processed carbs and added sugars)
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 5,948 Member
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    TeaBea wrote: »
    I changed my settings to track fiber & iron. These are more important for me than sugar or sodium.

    I did the same thing...
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    If you don't have a health condition and your goals are not focused on limiting sugar or sodium to a certain level there isn't much need or point to tracking it. You can always look at a report on your intake if you are ever curious without tracking that. The information will be there.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,170 Member
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    IMO, unless you have special medical dietary requirements, the MFP default sugar goal in particular is just nutty. I stopped tracking it when I was going over (by lots) every single day, when the only added sugar I was eating was a tiny bit of fruit juice concentrate, not even the first-listed ingredient, in 1T (30 calories total) of all-fruit spread daily. All of my goal-busting sugar, except for that fruit juice concentrate, was coming from whole fruit (2-3 servings, nothing crazy) and no-sugar-added dairy products.

    Sure, it's good to limit added sugar, and seriously over-doing sodium may not be the greatest idea. I keep tracking the sodium, because I'm capable of going a bit wild that way (pickles! sauerkraut! kim chi! soy sauce! chile sauce!). But for those without special health problems or issues, and who know they're being basically sensible, I don't think it's a big deal to skip tracking them.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,122 Member
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    I don't track sugar since I don't have a medical need to. I do track sodium since I am medicated for blood pressure, however, having tracked sodium, even though I eat way over the default amount from MFP which is over the 1500mg that is recommended for people with high blood pressure, it makes no difference that I can see either in cumulative days or in acute instances. I find tracking fiber is much more helpful.
  • jillybeansalad
    jillybeansalad Posts: 239 Member
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    I prefer iron and potassium.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    jillybeansalad wrote: »
    I prefer iron and potassium.

    I think hell will freeze over before i hit mfp's potassium numbers..
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,170 Member
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    Christine_72 wrote: »
    jillybeansalad wrote: »
    I prefer iron and potassium.

    I think hell will freeze over before i hit mfp's potassium numbers..

    Lotta DB entries don't have accurate potassium. Think about that before despairing of achieving goals?
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    jillybeansalad wrote: »
    I prefer iron and potassium.

    I think hell will freeze over before i hit mfp's potassium numbers..

    Lotta DB entries don't have accurate potassium. Think about that before despairing of achieving goals?

    Yeah i know that, which is why it's impossible to hit the numbers mfp sets. Even though i probably get an adequate amount, just don't know exactly how much. .
  • jillybeansalad
    jillybeansalad Posts: 239 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »

    Lotta DB entries don't have accurate potassium. Think about that before despairing of achieving goals?

    Very true, and many foods don't even have it on their labels. I just try to make sure to verify that I'm getting a good percentage of it.

  • CipherZero
    CipherZero Posts: 1,418 Member
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    Christine_72 wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    jillybeansalad wrote: »
    I prefer iron and potassium.

    I think hell will freeze over before i hit mfp's potassium numbers..

    Lotta DB entries don't have accurate potassium. Think about that before despairing of achieving goals?

    Yeah i know that, which is why it's impossible to hit the numbers mfp sets. Even though i probably get an adequate amount, just don't know exactly how much. .

    Try looking on the USDA's website. A google search for USDA SR28 will bring you to their lookup database where potassium is listed for 8000+ foods.

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