Frustrated with sugar!

casawada
casawada Posts: 3
edited September 29 in Food and Nutrition
So I'm having a sugar issue. Everyday I am exceeding my recommended ( by MFP) sugar allotment. I am staying well under my total carb goal and my fiber is usually close, but my sugar is ALWAYS over. I am trying to eat smart choices avoiding "fat free" diety foods loaded in sugar etc. So what's up? I started to play around with my diary and found out that if I eat one serving of fat free trader joe's vanilla yogurt, it's 33 g of sugar! It alone takes me over the allotted 32 g! And if I were to eat a navel orange and a fugi apple in the same day just those two pieces of fruit take me to 25/32g! What's up with that? I always thought those were smart food choices!

Replies

  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    Hello and welcome to MFP!

    The default sugar limit is really low - you can choose to ignore it, if you feel your sugar intake is coming from healthy sources like fruit and dairy. Or you can manually adjust your settings - I dont track sugar any more, or you can up your daily limit.

    Good luck!
  • Avalonis
    Avalonis Posts: 1,540 Member
    Hello and welcome to MFP!

    The default sugar limit is really low - you can choose to ignore it, if you feel your sugar intake is coming from healthy sources like fruit and dairy. Or you can manually adjust your settings - I dont track sugar any more, or you can up your daily limit.

    Good luck!

    What she said.

    Keep in mind: the reason stuff like Vanilla yogurt has such high sugar is because its not naturally sweetened. Try eating fruits, if you are that concerned about it.

    Or get plain yogurt, and cut of chunks of fruit to put in it. Tastes great, doesn't overload you on sugar.

    Also - Yogurt overall is very healthy stuff... so I wouldn't worry too much about it. I don't even track sugar.
  • beckystephens
    beckystephens Posts: 117 Member
    As long as u get your sugar from natural sources dont sweat it. For instance, when you eat fruit, the fiber in the fruit prevents jolts to your blood sugar. So if you offset the fruit sugars with fruit fiber - its totally ok.
  • casawada
    casawada Posts: 3
    Thanks so much. That's what my gut was telling me but just seeing the red negative number was making me feel guilty! ;)
  • Articeluvsmemphis
    Articeluvsmemphis Posts: 1,987 Member
    I heard that fruit sugar isn't bad for you like tons of added sugar to other products. so i never worry about sugar, i hide that tab and track sodium instead which makes you retain water, and which causes my eczema to act up if i eat too much. good luck.
  • Brandon74
    Brandon74 Posts: 453 Member
    I also have been having the sme issue with my sugar intake. I eat Greek Yogurt and make smoothies with frozen berries and my sugar count goes way over the limit MFP has for me.
  • RangerSteve
    RangerSteve Posts: 437
    I just ate an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's Cinnamon Bun Ice cream. Let's see....according to their website, that is 112 grams of sugar in one sitting. Nice. I still have a few hundred calories for dinner too so I can get my veggies and some more protein.

    Oh yeah, the point of me posting. MFP's sugar intake doesn't matter. Who cares if you go over your sugar? If you're getting your daily fiber, vitamin, mineral, essential fatty acid and protein intake then going over some arbitrary number doesn't really matter. If you're under your caloric goal for the day, you'll be fine.
  • TakeOne
    TakeOne Posts: 345 Member
    I do care about my sugar intake! I'm good with everything else (protien, fiber, carbs, sodium, etc.) and sugar is the one thing that I have been really trying to lower. A MFPal of mine gave me the best idea tho. In the comments section of your intake for the day, sort out the amount of natural and artifical sugar you had. I love fruit and there's just no way to stay under if you eat more than one piece a day. With that in mind, I found cutting out 100% fruit juice and opting for an actual piece of fresh fruit to be one way of lowering my sugar. It's tricky..but I think if you look at the amount of artifical sugar you eat (w/o including the good for you natural sugar), you may feel better :0) Good luck!!
  • faithfitnessandnutrition
    faithfitnessandnutrition Posts: 101
    A group of us are actually doing a sugar challenge right now and I will say it has opened our eyes as to how much sugar there is in EVERYTHING. We don't count the natural sugar that comes from vegetables and fruits, what we are concentrating on is the un-natural sugar that we add to our foods or that are added for us in things such as (unfortunately) yogurt, sauces, teas, protein bars, protein shakes, etc; in my personal opinion only, tracking Sugar is important (especially for helping to lose belly fat) and so it's important to track it as you do any of the other nutrients. Forced me to do a lot of label reading :):)
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