Sugars? Really?

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tacomaboy
tacomaboy Posts: 2
in Health and Weight Loss
Myfitnesspal is suggesting for me less than 31 grams of sugar per day. I just don't see how it is possible to do this. One banana and one apple already puts me over that limit!

Does this sound right to anyone else? If so, how can I stay below that limit?

Replies

  • NKF92879
    NKF92879 Posts: 601 Member
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    I don't worry too much about natural sugars in fruits. I try not to eat too much refined sugar.
  • geevin
    geevin Posts: 5
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    I am struggling with this as well. My carbohydrates are not high enough but I cant build it up without building up sugar or going over calories :( I have cut out bananas as they say other than for potassium they are not a great fruit to eat because of the sugar. I'm learning a lot about food from this!
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
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    I don't pay much attention to the sugar recommendations on here because - like you said, an apple or banana will put you over. Try and avoid processed sugars if you can and eat fruits and such because it is natural sugar.
  • geevin
    geevin Posts: 5
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    Oh and grapes also have a lot of sugar.
  • 27strange
    27strange Posts: 837 Member
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    I don't pay much attention to sugars, especially natural sugars. Fruits are good for you. Don't worry about sugars from fruit. Stay away from processed stuff with lots of sugars and ofcourse sugary junk. Get your sugar from fruit and enjoy that sugar!
  • jmruef
    jmruef Posts: 824 Member
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    I know a lot of people disregard the sugars categoery when they are eating fresh fruit. Other people will still caution you to be wary because fruit still has calories. I guess it's a matter of finding what works for you and tweaking it from there.

    I myself don't worry about sugars that I get from fresh fruit. I go WAYYYY overboard (I get a kick out of seeing all the vitamin levels in the red because I scarfed down a bunch of honeydew! :laugh: ) on fresh fruit when it's in season, and I've lost 23.5 pounds to date doing what I'm doing.

    The thing is, it's also really easy to go overboard on sugars eating unhealthy stuff - cookies, Hostess whatevers, etc. That, I think, is what MFP is trying to get us to watch and cut back on.

    My two cents, anyway. :happy:
  • Egger29
    Egger29 Posts: 14,741 Member
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    MFP doesn't differentiate between Naturally occuring and Refined (Added) sugars, so with that in mind, your 31g limit is based entirely on Added/refined sugars.
  • walsh888
    walsh888 Posts: 8 Member
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    i watch my carbs, which sugar affects....i am on a high protein diet so i keep my carbs under 100 a day. i usually end up around 85 and i eat fruit several times a day. i usually eat strawberries and blueberries and a few times a week a fuji apple with some walnuts.
  • coppercurlz
    coppercurlz Posts: 65
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    If sugar is something you need to worry about, then you should track sugar and watch your intake of it in any form. You can click on my food diary, I never go over on sugar and eat pretty clean now. However, sugar is something I need to watch, but not everyone does!!! Some people it's not a problem, other people like me, it is. So asking everyone's opinion will get you a lot of different answers because not everyone needs to watch the same things. You can set what you want to track in your diary in your settings tab. I track carbs, fiber, sugar, protein and potassium.
  • thetimeisnow2011
    thetimeisnow2011 Posts: 1
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    hi,
    actually bananas are a HUGE recommendation from doctors and health people. they contain a whole heck of a lot that our bodies need and some say that the old adage should be changed to "have a banana a day keeps the doctor away". the thing i learned is that if you eat the banana when it's really really yellow and spotted their is more sugar as it ripened..but if you eat them right after they are starting to turn from green there is less sugar (and they taste MUCH better to me that way anyway). :)
  • ElaKuz
    ElaKuz Posts: 49
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    Sugars from fruit and sugars from refined sources are two COMPLETELY different types of sugars!
    THey are processed totally differently by the body...

    So much so that on the new weight watchers plan, fruits are free, as in eat as much as you want... not fruit juices or dried fruits, but fresh whole frutis have so much fibre that when they are broken down in the down their calories become negligible...

    No one got fat eating apples.
  • sweetness48
    sweetness48 Posts: 61
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    I pretty much disregard my consumption of complex carbs/sugars. They are natural and healthy. It's the simple/refined sugars that I try (and sometimes horribly fail at..lol) to avoid.
  • tacomaboy
    tacomaboy Posts: 2
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    Wow what a great response! I knew fruits can't be bad for you, I just did not understand the MFP recommendation. I am not too concerned with sugars anyhow - my nutritionist told me not to worry about them too much and in fact that I needed to up my carbs since I am training so hard/often for my triathon(s).
  • saltorian
    saltorian Posts: 192 Member
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    Wow, where are all the people screaming "NOOOO SUGAR IS SUGAR NO MATTER WHAT! LIMIT FRUIT AND STARCHY FOODS!!! AAAAAAGHH!"?

    There are usually at least a few of them in each of these sugar threads. Huh. Maybe they got tired of posting?

    For the record, I'm on the side of most people not worrying too much about the sugar from fruits and dairy, only the more processed stuff. Some people, however, have health issues that make losing weight very difficult with too much of any kind of sugar. For them, sugars from fruit and milk should still be watched carefully.

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