confused about fruit and sugar

Eat your fruit and be blissful. It's good for you.

eat the fruit! The fruit is much better for you then simple sugar "sweets" like cookies and candy. Some fruits are higher than sugar than others.. If you are not choosy, you might want to go with the lower glycemic index fruits.. In general I say if it isnt broke.. dont fix it! You are losing and eating healthy. Keep up the good work!

Eat fruit. You have excellent reasons to continue eating them, including proven weight loss. I believe the worst thing you can do is to limit yourself from entire food groups. So-called "diets" that cut out important groups also cut out the important nutritional benefits they provide.

That said, if you have issues with your blood sugar, or with other sugar-related things, then it would be good to start tracking it. I have had problems with PVCs that I successfully can treat by being aware of carbs and sugars. Your mileage may vary.

as long as you are losing good i would not worry about it

I am having this problem, too... Fruit is my go-to snack. When I voiced some concerns about going over my MFP "recommended" sugar intake, a lot of people pointed out that MFP goals are just an estimate when it comes to specific components of food. When you plug a food into the MFP calculator, it just sees sugar as sugar... Not natural sugar from fruits that have many, many health benefits VS. sugar from a giant chocolate chip cookie. I have reached a peace about eating as much fruit as I want, over MFP sugar standards or not.

Also, keep in mind, the MFP goals for proteins, fats, and carbs are all a little tweeked. Look up the percentage of calories for each by the American Heart Association if you want something healthier.

Eat your fruit. I am over on my sugar every day and all my sugar is from fruit. Snacking on fruit helps to keep the blood sugar just high enough so that you are not famished at a meal. When I snack on fruit, I tend to eat less calories at the next meal.

My opinion based on my own individual experience (everyone is different). Regard fruit as a treat and stick to the ones that are lower on the glycemic index. There isn't anything you can't get from vegetables that you can get from fruit -- minus the sugar.

Thanks Mary for your great question.
It was actually the same question I had on my mind this morning. I was glad to see all th great advice! I still feel that raspberries are so much better for me than cookies! I am glad to see that alot of people that responded have lost alot of weight so they must know what they are talking about:smile

Don't worry about too much fruit. It's a natural unprocessed source of nutrition without added sugar.

That being said, don't forget your vegetables! They are just as important and do not contain as much sugar in any form. They are also easy to sneak into other foods if you don't like the salad approach.

And cydonian has a good point about sneaky forms of sugar in our food. I love how the corn grower's association talks about high fructose corn syrup being fine in moderation, but it's hard to get it in moderation -- that *kitten*'s in everything unless you really pay attention.:huh:

If you're really watching your carbs, you will have to watch your fruits. Acquaint yourself with the idea of glycemic load - how fast the sugars are released into your bloodstream.

Wanna eat fruit but don't want all the sugars? Here are a couple of fruits that we normally think of as vegetables: Tomatoes, bell peppers (all peppers, actually), eggplant, squash, beans, peas and pea pods, cucumber, okra - even corn! So now you can eat your fruits without doing in your sugars!

Cheers...

T

Just adding this--both sugar snap peas (fresh in the pod) and (especially) corn raise my blood sugar markedly--more than a couple of plums, as much as an orange. Because I count carbs as carbs, I make allowances so my blood sugar doesn't go above where I want it. However, sweeter veggies hit me just the same as fruits. It's the carbs in general rather than just sugar, and my corn on the cob is as carb-y as my nectarine. Luckily, keeping my meals fiber-y keeps my blood sugar from going crazy.

Eat the fruit. It's good for you, and veggies aren't the same--you need fruits and veggies, not veggies instead of fruits.

Kris

Nearly everything contains some kind of sugar: you can't avoid it, so stop worrying about that.

If you're trying to eat a low glycemic index diet, then yes, you need to limit your intake of low-fiber, high fructose fruits, like oranges. Notice I said "LIMIT" not eliminate. Replacing chocolate and pretzels with whole fruit and vegetables is almost always good plan.

This is because when you eat whole fruit, you also eat fruit fibers, good vitamins, minerals and stored plant water, besides fructose. The fiber is what keeps you feeling full and satisfied so you don't binge out on empty calories. Fiber also has the benefit of making your food take longer to digest - when this happens, it sits in your stomach longer. The sugars aren't absorbed as quickly and as readily as say, refined white sugar, so you don't spike your sugar levels quickly and suffer from being hungry 5 minutes later. As a result, the fiber in your fruit can be viewed as 'reducing' your carbohydrate intake, because it spreads it out over a longer period of time.

If you would like to remain eating fresh foods as snacks, while reducing your sugar intake, try eating fruits that have less sugar and more plant fibers, but still taste good raw. Sugar snap peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, mushrooms (wiped clean of course). These all taste great and don't need any dressings or toppings to be edible.

Fruits high in fiber and relatively lower in sugar would be bananas, plums, peaches, pears, grapefruit, apples. Limit your intake of oranges, tangerines and the like, they are notorious for having very little fiber and lots of fructose in the sweet juice. You can get more vitamin C from a red bell pepper than you need in a full day, anyways, so it's a great substitute.

Should you worry about your sugar intake? If you're drinking lots of fruit juices and iced tea mixes, then yes. If you're only getting sugar (carbohydrates) from whole foods, like whole fruit and vegetables and meats, then no. Sugar is found in everything... yes, everything, and you can't stop eating food because you want to stop eating sugar.

Best of luck!