Afraid of natural sugars

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E02L05
E02L05 Posts: 9 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I love 1% milk and bananas but if I eat them I go way over my sugar goal for the day. Am I wrong to be avoiding them? Trying to lose 80 pounds so every little bit helps!
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  • Raptor2763
    Raptor2763 Posts: 387 Member
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    Natural sugars aren't any big deal - it's the added sugar, ESPECIALLY the REFINED sugar one need to avoid. That's where reading labels comes in really handy
  • ccrdragon
    ccrdragon Posts: 3,370 Member
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    Raptor2763 wrote: »
    Natural sugars aren't any big deal - it's the added sugar, ESPECIALLY the REFINED sugar one need to avoid. That's where reading labels comes in really handy

    Why? What's wrong with refined sugar?
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited September 2016
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    E02L05 wrote: »
    I love 1% milk and bananas but if I eat them I go way over my sugar goal for the day. Am I wrong to be avoiding them? Trying to lose 80 pounds so every little bit helps!

    Either your sugar goal is really low (lower than MFP's 15% of calories) or you are eating a lot of bananas and milk (or using the wrong entries -- something to be careful about).

    How much sugar you eat has nothing to do with weight loss, but if you aren't tracking in some other way watching added sugars and macros (making sure you get enough protein, healthy fats) is a good way to somewhat make sure your diet is nutrient-dense (and to reduce calories), which is why the WHO et al. recommend limiting ADDED sugar to below 10% of total calories. Milk and bananas don't have added sugar, of course, and I don't think milk or bananas are bad foods to be eating, at all (I feel like I should say of course here too), but if you are really going way over sugar it's not a bad thing to look at fiber, protein, fat, and glance over your overall diet to make sure you aren't getting in more sugar from other sources than you'd expect or maybe not having a balanced diet.

    But mostly it doesn't matter, especially if the main goal at the moment is just losing 80 lbs and you aren't having a problem sticking with your calorie goal.
  • CasperNaegle
    CasperNaegle Posts: 936 Member
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    Nothing wrong with sugars, I don't ever pay attention to anythings past calories, hitting my protein, keeping my fats in line. In my opinion unless you have medical issues the rest is a waste.
  • cathipa
    cathipa Posts: 2,991 Member
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    No one should be afraid of food unless they have an allergy that is life threatening. Eat in moderation and stick to your calories allotment.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,025 Member
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    I ignore my sugar goal. Unless you have a medical reason there is no need to worry about sugars. You might want to limit sugar from sources that don't help you meet your nutritional goals. But you don't have to. If you can fit it in your calories and you ate meeting your nutrition goals then go for it. I lost all my weight without paying attention to sugar. I eat bananas frequently and put sugar in my coffee. I would never stress about sugar in fruit.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    E02L05 wrote: »
    I love 1% milk and bananas but if I eat them I go way over my sugar goal for the day. Am I wrong to be avoiding them? Trying to lose 80 pounds so every little bit helps!

    You should never be afraid of a food. Sugars will not make you gain weight... calories will. Just look around and you will see a lot of threads about people eating "clean" or low carb or paleo or whatever diet and gaining/maintaining. The common theme, calories are not controlled. Calorie determine energy balance. Energy balance determines weight loss/maintenance/gain.

    And sugars can actually be helpful, especially when it comes to muscle recovery.
  • E02L05
    E02L05 Posts: 9 Member
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    Thanks everyone, I eat a lot of salad which also has natural sugars and that plus a glass of milk or putting a banana in a smoothie seems to bring up my sugar. Once I see that negative red number I feel like I screwed up.
  • ericwhitt
    ericwhitt Posts: 87 Member
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    The only thing I really worry about is excess sodium because it tends to cause my ankles to swell and I retain a lot of water for a day or two after it. The biggest thing with Sugar isn't diet related, but as a culture our taste buds have become dependent on sugar. Multiple studies (I can't confirm how reliable they were) out there show that if you cut out sugars for a while and then go back to eating high sugar foods, you become much more sensitive to how sweet they really were and therefore rely on less sugar for those same foods to taste good.

    I know a lot of people once they cut drinking pop can't go back to drinking it and say it tastes way too sweet now.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    edited September 2016
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    You don't need to avoid them unless you struggle to stay within your calorie goal if you injest them. What foods allow you to comfortably attain your calorie goal while getting the macro and micronutrients you need comes down to personal choice. Sugar can cause some people issues with having too many calories for not enough satiation but thats highly personal.

    If I may ask I noticed you refer to "natural" sugars. What sugars are "unnatural"? To my knowledge all of the sugars in our foods are natural.
  • gonetothedogs19
    gonetothedogs19 Posts: 325 Member
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    shadowfax_c11 wrote: »
    Sugar is sugar no matter what it's source is. For weight loss the only thing you need to worry about is calories. I look at the macro goals as minimums to be met. Going over them by a little is not a concern. Going over them by really huge margins might be a problem, moreso for some people than for others.

    Well if your trying to lose weight so you might as well try to eat healthy. When you say sugar is sugar it's a green light to eat a donut for breakfast instead of fruit (for argument sake they have the same calories and same sugar).

  • gonetothedogs19
    gonetothedogs19 Posts: 325 Member
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    Raptor2763 wrote: »
    Natural sugars aren't any big deal - it's the added sugar, ESPECIALLY the REFINED sugar one need to avoid. That's where reading labels comes in really handy

    You may be the only person on this thread that's making any sense.

    In 2018 the USDA will require food companies to provide the amount of added sugar on the label. I wonder why?
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    E02L05 wrote: »
    Thanks everyone, I eat a lot of salad which also has natural sugars and that plus a glass of milk or putting a banana in a smoothie seems to bring up my sugar. Once I see that negative red number I feel like I screwed up.

    You didn't screw up anything. The only reason to watch your sugar intake (unless you have a medical reason to do so) is if you're eating foods with lots of refined sugar that put you over your calorie goal or are taking the place of more nutritious foods. Sugar intake, on its own without context, is meaningless. Eating a Twinkie, if you have room in your day for it, is fine; eating 6 Twinkies instead of your veggies and proteins isn't a good idea if you make a habit of it. Bananas, salad and milk are all very nutritious foods and give you things like vitamins and fiber, which you need.

    Lots of people here don't look at that sugar number and instead track things like sodium or iron. If you watch your total carbohydrates and keep a "common sense" eye on the amount of refined sugar you're taking in (and by that I mean maybe don't replace dinner with 6 Twinkies), you'll be fine.

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