Sugar in my Diet

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  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
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    psuLemon wrote: »
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    stevencloser wrote: »
    GaleHawkins wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    GaleHawkins wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    GaleHawkins wrote: »
    krishnip wrote: »
    I am very careful with the amount of sugar I take in but the majority of my sugar comes from the apple and grapes I eat. Do I need to count this for the amount I am sugar I am allowed to take in?

    Only if you are into counting what you eat. Counting is a good thing at least until intutive eating become a way of life for you after you count for a while and learn what foods fatten you up and what foods leads to natural weight loss/maintenance.

    @krishnip best of success. Remember it is the Way Of Eating that works for you that is right for you. We are all different and do well often eating very different diets from another person that is being successful.

    Specific foods don't fatten people up or lead to natural (whatever that means) weight loss/maintenance. The total amount of calories consumed is what is responsible for weight management.

    OP you will find that without a medical reason to specifically limit sugars, the natural sugars in things like apples and grapes have no bearing on your actual results. MFP doesn't differentiate between natural and added sugars so while there are important guidelines to keep an eye on the total consumption of calories from added sugars, it often is a red herring to chase for weight loss. Many seasoned posters with no medical reason to restrict sugars ignore that metric in their diary or replace it with something more meaningful for them like fiber.

    Not sure after all of this time why you do not grasp weight management is far more than calories consumed.

    Not sure after all this time, why you do not have the most fundamental understanding of energy balance. It's honestly the most basic science out there.

    I am also unsure why you make these arguments with people far more fit than you. And while fit =/= knowledge, it would suggest they are following basic principles to enable them to achieve those goals.


    OP, it all comes down to energy balance for weight loss. What is important is eating foods to allow you to achieve you goals, improve satiety to help it become a sustainable diet, and address any medical needs. The current dogma of the need to cut sugar/carbs is just that.. dogma. It's no different than the old dogma that fats where bad. Fruits are fantastic for you. They are low in calories, high in fiber, vitamins and minerals and have antioxidants. That increases the amount of volume you can eat, provides sustainable energy and will help keep you body health.

    http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/95/4/989

    Sure it is about energy balance. Normally in the animal kingdom energy balance is controlled by hormones not manual math if food choices are not limited.

    Your link is not currently working on my computer.

    ad_234085936-e1486481476991.jpg

    100% the deadlier version of one of my past cats, Dave. My fault, I fed him too much. And he was a piggy.

    To confirm. Animals get fat too. In fact, along with a human obesity epidemic, there is a pet one too.

    My parents have an overweight diabetic cat... and he didn't eat sugar... true story.

    Imagine!
  • JustSomeEm
    JustSomeEm Posts: 20,197 MFP Moderator
    edited August 2017
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    psuLemon wrote: »
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    stevencloser wrote: »
    GaleHawkins wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    GaleHawkins wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    GaleHawkins wrote: »
    krishnip wrote: »
    I am very careful with the amount of sugar I take in but the majority of my sugar comes from the apple and grapes I eat. Do I need to count this for the amount I am sugar I am allowed to take in?

    Only if you are into counting what you eat. Counting is a good thing at least until intutive eating become a way of life for you after you count for a while and learn what foods fatten you up and what foods leads to natural weight loss/maintenance.

    @krishnip best of success. Remember it is the Way Of Eating that works for you that is right for you. We are all different and do well often eating very different diets from another person that is being successful.

    Specific foods don't fatten people up or lead to natural (whatever that means) weight loss/maintenance. The total amount of calories consumed is what is responsible for weight management.

    OP you will find that without a medical reason to specifically limit sugars, the natural sugars in things like apples and grapes have no bearing on your actual results. MFP doesn't differentiate between natural and added sugars so while there are important guidelines to keep an eye on the total consumption of calories from added sugars, it often is a red herring to chase for weight loss. Many seasoned posters with no medical reason to restrict sugars ignore that metric in their diary or replace it with something more meaningful for them like fiber.

    Not sure after all of this time why you do not grasp weight management is far more than calories consumed.

    Not sure after all this time, why you do not have the most fundamental understanding of energy balance. It's honestly the most basic science out there.

    I am also unsure why you make these arguments with people far more fit than you. And while fit =/= knowledge, it would suggest they are following basic principles to enable them to achieve those goals.


    OP, it all comes down to energy balance for weight loss. What is important is eating foods to allow you to achieve you goals, improve satiety to help it become a sustainable diet, and address any medical needs. The current dogma of the need to cut sugar/carbs is just that.. dogma. It's no different than the old dogma that fats where bad. Fruits are fantastic for you. They are low in calories, high in fiber, vitamins and minerals and have antioxidants. That increases the amount of volume you can eat, provides sustainable energy and will help keep you body health.

    http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/95/4/989

    Sure it is about energy balance. Normally in the animal kingdom energy balance is controlled by hormones not manual math if food choices are not limited.

    Your link is not currently working on my computer.

    ad_234085936-e1486481476991.jpg

    100% the deadlier version of one of my past cats, Dave. My fault, I fed him too much. And he was a piggy.

    To confirm. Animals get fat too. In fact, along with a human obesity epidemic, there is a pet one too.

    My parents have an overweight diabetic cat... and he didn't eat sugar... true story.

    The amount of carbohydrates in cat food can (for some brands, especially dry foods) be pretty high. If the cat was over-eating all those carbs, then color me not shocked to learn about the kitty-diabetes. :)

    OP - if you have a reason for limiting sugars (medical or diet choice such as keto), then all sugars should be counted. If you're only worried about weight loss and maintenance, then I wouldn't worry about sugar from fruits. Weight loss and weight maintenance is just a numbers game.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    Personally I found tracking fibre instead more useful and informative. Sugar is just a sub-set of carbs.
    It would be an awful shame to reduce your fruit consumption for no good reason.

    Me too. I am T2Dm and am managing my disease through diet and exercise. My A1C is in the normal range.

    I do not track sugars because it is meaningless to do so, even as diabetic. Why? Total carbs are the most important number, not how those carbs are divided up. I am on no medication so I do not need to know how many of my carbs are sugars and how many are fiber in order to calculate a dose of insulin. I DO need to count my total carbs to make sure I stay under 160 grams per day.

    Yes, I do track fiber even though it is also a subset of carbs. My Dad died of colon cancer so eating a minimum of 25 grams of fiber each day is an important part of my preventative measures.
  • OliveGirl128
    OliveGirl128 Posts: 801 Member
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    SmithsonianEmpress wrote: »
    What if sugar is an issue and a medical professional has warned you to watch your daily intake? Do those fruits need to be cut from a diet?

    If someone has a medical condition that requires restrictions on sugar/carbs then yes, limitations on fruit will most likely happen per doctor's orders.
  • OliveGirl128
    OliveGirl128 Posts: 801 Member
    edited August 2017
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    VintageFeline wrote: »
    stevencloser wrote: »
    GaleHawkins wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    GaleHawkins wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    GaleHawkins wrote: »
    krishnip wrote: »
    I am very careful with the amount of sugar I take in but the majority of my sugar comes from the apple and grapes I eat. Do I need to count this for the amount I am sugar I am allowed to take in?

    Only if you are into counting what you eat. Counting is a good thing at least until intutive eating become a way of life for you after you count for a while and learn what foods fatten you up and what foods leads to natural weight loss/maintenance.

    @krishnip best of success. Remember it is the Way Of Eating that works for you that is right for you. We are all different and do well often eating very different diets from another person that is being successful.

    Specific foods don't fatten people up or lead to natural (whatever that means) weight loss/maintenance. The total amount of calories consumed is what is responsible for weight management.

    OP you will find that without a medical reason to specifically limit sugars, the natural sugars in things like apples and grapes have no bearing on your actual results. MFP doesn't differentiate between natural and added sugars so while there are important guidelines to keep an eye on the total consumption of calories from added sugars, it often is a red herring to chase for weight loss. Many seasoned posters with no medical reason to restrict sugars ignore that metric in their diary or replace it with something more meaningful for them like fiber.

    Not sure after all of this time why you do not grasp weight management is far more than calories consumed.

    Not sure after all this time, why you do not have the most fundamental understanding of energy balance. It's honestly the most basic science out there.

    I am also unsure why you make these arguments with people far more fit than you. And while fit =/= knowledge, it would suggest they are following basic principles to enable them to achieve those goals.


    OP, it all comes down to energy balance for weight loss. What is important is eating foods to allow you to achieve you goals, improve satiety to help it become a sustainable diet, and address any medical needs. The current dogma of the need to cut sugar/carbs is just that.. dogma. It's no different than the old dogma that fats where bad. Fruits are fantastic for you. They are low in calories, high in fiber, vitamins and minerals and have antioxidants. That increases the amount of volume you can eat, provides sustainable energy and will help keep you body health.

    http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/95/4/989

    Sure it is about energy balance. Normally in the animal kingdom energy balance is controlled by hormones not manual math if food choices are not limited.

    Your link is not currently working on my computer.

    ad_234085936-e1486481476991.jpg

    100% the deadlier version of one of my past cats, Dave. My fault, I fed him too much. And he was a piggy.

    To confirm. Animals get fat too. In fact, along with a human obesity epidemic, there is a pet one too.

    Yep, we have two cats-one is thin and the other is obese (his stomach drags on the ground oiy). The obese cat is as active as the other cat (both are outside quite a bit/vicious hunters), but the overweight cat is the dominant one and always gets first dibs on the food. He will also eat even if he's not hungry as a dominance thing, (he can be in the same room as the food bowl and not touch it, but as soon as our other cat comes into the room he'll run over to the food bowl and start eating).
  • Rusty740
    Rusty740 Posts: 749 Member
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    krishnip wrote: »
    Macros, how do I track those Rusty740?

    @krishnip
    Foods are grouped in to Macronutrients and Micronutrients. We need them all. There are three types of macros (short for macronutrients), carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Each of them come from different foods in varying amounts, and most foods have all of them, but are mostly one or the other. So when it comes to how many am I supposed to get of each, it varies, but really generally a diet that has 50% Carbs, 25% Protein and 25% fat is about right, and of course it doesn't matter if one day is mostly one or the other, it balances out over the weeks and months because your body stores them for use when it needs them. Generally you can think of carbohydrates as the main energy source your body uses for moving around and functioning. You can think of proteins as the building blocks of the muscles, bones and organs and stuff, and you can think of fat as necessary for hormones, greasing creaky bones and just generally keeping things running properly. That's a really simplified way of looking at it that is as correct as most people really need.

    For calorie counting, and why in the past fat was considered bad (but really isn't), carbs and proteins have 4 calories per gram and fats have 9 calories per gram. Turns out we don't have to each much fat to go over our calorie goal for the day. Other foods (like sugar) are really dense (small volume of food for lots of grams/calories) so sometimes these are called bad too. Bad and good foods really come down to one thing my kids like to say, "If you eat too much of something, you grow the wrong way", so too much sugar, too much fat, too much carbs...you get the idea. Too many calories is the end result, turns out, that really IS bad.

    You can look up which foods are composed mostly of one macro or the other, but here's a short list to sort of point you at the different kinds.

    mostly Carbs
    Rice
    Potatos
    Sugars
    Grains
    most vegetables

    mostly Proteins
    lean Meats like chicken/turkey breast
    some cheeses like cottage cheese

    mostly Fats
    oils
    most cheeses
    avocado
    nuts
    chips

    and there are a bunch of them that are maybe 50/50 of two of the macros, like eggs & fish (protein and fat) and many beans like black beans, edamamme and lentils and things that are 50/50 of carbs and protein.

    and then there's the other macro that's carbs and fat, buttered popcorn :)

    If you do some looking around on the internet with searches like (good sources of carbs or fats or protein or whatever) you'll figure out for yourself which ones you like to eat and can start to get to know them.

    When it comes to tracking macros it's pretty much trial and error for a bit but it becomes very easy after awhile. If you have the time, just type in some foods in MFP and see what they've got in them. MFP will show you how much of carbs/protein/fat each food has.

    Now if you want to vary the number of macros you are eating that's fine, just do some more research to figure out what's the best for your goals. You'll probably want to keep carbs 40-60%, proteins 20-40% and fats 20-40%.

    Now micronutrients are things like iron, potassium, sodium, calcium, that are in foods in really small percentages. You don't really need to worry about these if you just eat your vegetables, and in any case MFP is not great at tracking these because many of us that input new foods in don't know how much of them are in each food anyway.
  • Treece68
    Treece68 Posts: 780 Member
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    My cat was so fat she looked like a furry meatball with tiny arms legs and face. I put her on diet cat food that was ... less calories and she lost the weight. After she had a sad pouch of skin that wiggled when she walked. I thought it was adorable. I miss her.
    As to OP question don't worry about sugar unless you have medical reason to weight loss is CICO.
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,214 Member
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    I liked tracking sugar because it showed me that there was a decent correlation between the amount of sugar I consumed and how hungry I felt on the same number of calories.
  • Rusty740
    Rusty740 Posts: 749 Member
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    GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »
    I see the issue of fruit consumption has already been nicely covered (it's perfectly fine if you don't have a medical reason to limit it), so I'd like to just add some thoughts regarding macro balance.

    I'm in the camp that believes that there are minimal healthy intakes of fat and protein specific to dieters, and after they are satisfied, any remaining calories are best "spent" on a macro distribution that best promotes dietary satisfaction, compliance, and satiety for the individual dieter.

    The protein and fat intake goals aren't a percentage of calories, but rather based on a percentage of ideal body weight. For protein, ideal intake should be .65-85 grams per pound of, again ideal body weight. Fat intake should be a minimum of .35-.45 grams per pound of ideal body weight.

    There are reasons for meeting those minimums that include protecting against the loss of muscle mass and preserving optimal hormone regulation/function.

    After meeting those recommendations, any calories in one's daily budget can be "spent" on carbs, more protein, more fat, or some mix of all three.

    Some experimentation is usually needed to find out what macro balance best suits one's needs/preferences, and those needs might change over time, especially if you become more active while you're dieting.

    Yup, this is about right. I've used percentages because it seems a bit easier to track and get a handle on at the beginning, but by all means, figure out the suggested minimums for your body as you get better at tracking.
  • OliveGirl128
    OliveGirl128 Posts: 801 Member
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    dmfitness324 wrote: »
    sugar has the same effect on your body as cocaine, so please try to stay under your daily amount. Sugar is also linked to obesity and heart disease. I challenge you all to 2 weeks free from processed sugar and limit yourself to only 1-2 fruits per day. I did this and you may find that you have more energy throughout the day, less cravings for sugar (remember it's addictive!) helps with weight loss :)

    Not true.

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