Fruit takes me into sugar red

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nevermind18
nevermind18 Posts: 16 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I’ve noticed that I have gone into the red in terms of sugar. I’ve eaten two small donut peaches and two small satsumas fruit wise. I’m a vegetarian and have always eaten a lot of fruit and I’m not sure I want to reduce my fruit intake. I’m on 1200 calories a day, but never use all the calories and don’t want to eat for the sake of using up calories. That makes no sense to me. I understand that too much sugar is bad, in calorie terms and for our guts, but is eating a lot of fruit so bad I shouldn’t do it? Sorry if I’m being thick, but I’m learning that calories don’t seem to be the be all and end of and I’m confused. Thank you.

Replies

  • DoubleUbea
    DoubleUbea Posts: 1,115 Member
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    Fruits are naturally high in sugar, it is what makes them sweet tasting.
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
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    Don’t worry about it. Or if you don’t like the red, just change your sugar goal so you don’t have to see it. Fruit = Good!!
  • nevermind18
    nevermind18 Posts: 16 Member
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    Thank you. I didn’t know I could change goals and tracking. That’s really helpful.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,981 Member
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    I swapped out sodium and sugar for fiber and iron, as those are more useful for me to track.

    I ate fruit all day long when I was in Costa Rico and lost weight without even intending to.
  • nevermind18
    nevermind18 Posts: 16 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    I swapped out sodium and sugar for fiber and iron, as those are more useful for me to track.

    I ate fruit all day long when I was in Costa Rico and lost weight without even intending to.

    Thank you. I would like to lose some weight, but also have a healthier diet long term. I am really a beginner when it comes to understanding that it’s not just calories that I need to be aware of, but sugar, carbs and fibre too. I’m learning as fast as I can, but will doubtless ask lots of silly questions whilst I learn!
  • nickssweetheart
    nickssweetheart Posts: 874 Member
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    One thing I want to address. If you're on 1200 calories and not hitting it, your tracking is probably wrong or you're undernourishing your body which can have really, really bad long term results. Are you weighing everything you eat?
  • TeamNemesisSteve
    TeamNemesisSteve Posts: 134 Member
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    You need to friend me. During the week I eat about 1200 calories of fruit a day! I know that sounds crazy but it happens during breakfast and lunch. Lunch has some protein in it and eventually dinner has large amounts of lean protein. I go over my natural sugar intake Monday through Friday, every single time! The fruit gives me killer energy for my workouts and running in the afternoons.
  • nevermind18
    nevermind18 Posts: 16 Member
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    nickssweetheart wrote: »
    One thing I want to address. If you're on 1200 calories and not hitting it, your tracking is probably wrong or you're undernourishing your body which can have really, really bad long term results. Are you weighing everything you eat?

    I’m weighing everything. I just hit the fibre and sugar red and don’t know what to do then. I’m allowing myself 30g of fibre a day as that is the UK recommended amount for a woman of my age, but it just seems that everything I usually eat is really high in fibre and sugar in terms of fructose, carbs etc, not added sugar. I’m keen to try a lower fibre and sugar diet as I have IBS and do suffer from bloating. I’ve already drastically cut my wheat intake which has really helped with IBS. I also have CFS and a low sugar diet may help with this too. But, as a fruit and vegetable loving vegetarian, I’m really struggling to find food to eat. I always thought I had a healthy diet and just was tempted by too much snacking, chocolate and biscuits. But, my so called healthy diet isn’t as healthy (for me at least) as I thought. I feel like I’ve started a game of Snakes and Ladders, but can’t get past the first snake which keeps depositing me back at the beginning!

  • nevermind18
    nevermind18 Posts: 16 Member
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    TeamNemesisSteve wrote: »
    You need to friend me. During the week I eat about 1200 calories of fruit a day! I know that sounds crazy but it happens during breakfast and lunch. Lunch has some protein in it and eventually dinner has large amounts of lean protein. I go over my natural sugar intake Monday through Friday, every single time! The fruit gives me killer energy for my workouts and running in the afternoons.

    Another fruit addict! Seriously though, I have CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) and just getting out of bed and getting dressed feels like a workout!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,499 Member
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    If you read the guidance from mainstream health authorities (WHO, USDA, etc.), they suggest limiting added sugar. A major reason is that many commonly eaten foods are high in added sugar, high in calories, and relatively low in nutrition for the number of calories. In that situation, high sugar consumption drives needed nutrition out of people's eating.

    Just plain fruit - berries or apples or oranges or bananas or whatever, with no extra sugar added - have naturally occurring sugar, but in a nutrition-dense context, usually relatively high in fiber and micronutrients, and sometimes have non-carb macronutrients as well.

    The MFP default sugar goal is based on nutritional guidelines for added sugar. But foods you eat that contain only inherent sugar (like fruit, no-sugar-added dairy, etc.) will add to your MFP total of sugar consumed. This happens because food labels don't reliably include added sugars as a separate category, only total sugars, so the crowd-sourced database can't accurately determine added sugars alone.

    People who have some need for managing carbohydrate intake - diabetics, the insulin resistant, and some others with certain medical conditions - may need to worry about consumption of total sugars (and other carbs). For the rest of us, the main goal is to eat in a well-rounded, well-balanced way: Getting enough protein, enough fats (including reasonable MUFAs and PUFAs), enough fiber, varied colorful veggies/fruits to hit micronutrient targets, etc. As long as we accomplish that, the sugar goal is irrelevant.

    Several years ago, when I first started losing weight by calorie counting on MFP, I was going over my default sugar goal every single day, when the only added sugar I was eating was a tiny amount of concentrated fruit juice well down the ingredient list in a single daily 30-calorie tablespoon of all-fruit spread. The rest of the sugar was from dairy foods (the sugar the cow put in, not added sugars) and fruit/veggies. I was hitting solid protein and fat targets, and eating plenty of veggies/fruits. I was losing weight just fine.

    My solution? Change my MFP food diary layout to stop tracking sugar, and track fiber instead. I recommend that approach to others in a similar situation.

    Or just pretend the mix of red and green totals means it's Christmas. ;)

    P.S. It's fine to go over fat or protein or carb default goals, too, as long as you don't have special medical contraindications, and don't regularly dangerously lowball any essential nutrients.

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