Conflicting information about sugar
osuaero1
Posts: 3 Member
I am trying to maintain my weight and my daily "quota" of sugar is 65 g. I keep hearing two things that conflict:
1) Sugar from natural sources is ok as long as you stick to the ChooseMyPlate recommendations for your caloric needs, and...
2) ... keep your added sugars to 40 g max.
If on a daily basis I eat:
1) 2 cups non-fat lactose free milk (24 g sugar)
2) 2/3 cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt (3 g sugar)
3) 1.5 cups of raw fruit (20 g sugar)
4) 1 cup baby carrots (7 g sugar)
5) 1 cup green veggies (6 g sugar)
I have just consumed 60 g out of my 65 g allocation of sugar for the day AND have also met the guidelines for 1.5 c fruit/2 c veggies/3 c dairy, with a whopping 5 g to spare to spend on all grains and proteins needed for the day, all with zero grams added sugar.
Something is not adding up here! Am I supposed to be following the sugar guidelines MyFitnessPal assigns me or am I supposed to be following nutritional guidelines? When I do my daily 30 minutes of vigorous exercise, I earn a little bit of sugar quota but not much...
Help!
1) Sugar from natural sources is ok as long as you stick to the ChooseMyPlate recommendations for your caloric needs, and...
2) ... keep your added sugars to 40 g max.
If on a daily basis I eat:
1) 2 cups non-fat lactose free milk (24 g sugar)
2) 2/3 cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt (3 g sugar)
3) 1.5 cups of raw fruit (20 g sugar)
4) 1 cup baby carrots (7 g sugar)
5) 1 cup green veggies (6 g sugar)
I have just consumed 60 g out of my 65 g allocation of sugar for the day AND have also met the guidelines for 1.5 c fruit/2 c veggies/3 c dairy, with a whopping 5 g to spare to spend on all grains and proteins needed for the day, all with zero grams added sugar.
Something is not adding up here! Am I supposed to be following the sugar guidelines MyFitnessPal assigns me or am I supposed to be following nutritional guidelines? When I do my daily 30 minutes of vigorous exercise, I earn a little bit of sugar quota but not much...
Help!
2
Replies
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I don't even track sugar. I don't have any medical reason to. Do you?
Sugar is a carb and I'm already tracking carbs. I switched my sugar tracker for fiber.17 -
Do you have a medical reason to watch sugar?
I don't track my sugar intake, i swapped it for fiber a long time ago.8 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »I don't even track sugar. I don't have any medical reason to. Do you?
Sugar is a carb and I'm already tracking carbs. I switched my sugar tracker for fiber.
Jinx! :laugh:5 -
TavistockToad wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »I don't even track sugar. I don't have any medical reason to. Do you?
Sugar is a carb and I'm already tracking carbs. I switched my sugar tracker for fiber.
Jinx! :laugh:
You owe me a (full of sugar) Coke!7 -
Just trying to eat healthy. All bloodwork numbers are ok. I let sodium slide all the time because that one looks truly impossible to control
I used to eat one or two very small pieces of chocolate a day (and that was enough for me) but can't afford even that anymore with this 65 g quota. Kinda discouraging really.3 -
Just trying to eat healthy. All bloodwork numbers are ok. I let sodium slide all the time because that one looks truly impossible to control
I used to eat one or two very small pieces of chocolate a day (and that was enough for me) but can't afford even that anymore with this 65 g quota. Kinda discouraging really.
Quit sweating it and have your chocolate. Sugar is not the devil. All you need to lose weight is a calorie deficit.16 -
The recommendations to limit sugar, if one doesn't have a specific medical reason to do so, tend to come from the fact that sugar is calorie dense and by consuming too much, it can crowd out other nutrition. If you don't have a medical reason to restrict it, neither the 65g total, nor the 40g of added, is particularly meaningful.
If you are eating a varied, balanced, primarily nutrient dense diet that is at a calorie level appropriate for your goals - then you can eat what you like in the way of sugar and not worry about it. Many people here, myself included, never pay attention to sugar intake - but that's because we are focusing on eating a healthy diet in moderation.21 -
I am trying to maintain my weight and my daily "quota" of sugar is 65 g. I keep hearing two things that conflict:
1) Sugar from natural sources is ok as long as you stick to the ChooseMyPlate recommendations for your caloric needs, and...
2) ... keep your added sugars to 40 g max.
If on a daily basis I eat:
1) 2 cups non-fat lactose free milk (24 g sugar)
2) 2/3 cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt (3 g sugar)
3) 1.5 cups of raw fruit (20 g sugar)
4) 1 cup baby carrots (7 g sugar)
5) 1 cup green veggies (6 g sugar)
I have just consumed 60 g out of my 65 g allocation of sugar for the day AND have also met the guidelines for 1.5 c fruit/2 c veggies/3 c dairy, with a whopping 5 g to spare to spend on all grains and proteins needed for the day, all with zero grams added sugar.
Something is not adding up here! Am I supposed to be following the sugar guidelines MyFitnessPal assigns me or am I supposed to be following nutritional guidelines? When I do my daily 30 minutes of vigorous exercise, I earn a little bit of sugar quota but not much...
Help!
I find the MFP sugar counter misleading, as it counts all sugars instead of separating them into naturally occurring sugars and added sugars. I'm diabetic and eat very little added sugar, but I still stress about the sugar totals even though there's no need for me to.
I would follow the 40g added sugar recommended limit, but for naturally occurring sugars, I wouldn't get preoccupied with counting them, as they're processed differently in the body because you're eating the whole fruit, vegetable, dairy item, pulse or grain.
It's best to stick to 150ml fruit juice/smoothie a day, as juices and smoothies have their naturally occurring sugars extracted from the fruit or vegetable, so can be quite high in sugar since you could be drinking the equivalent of multiple portions of fruit and/or veg. A glass of orange juice, for instance, can have the juice of six oranges.
The UK recommendation is two portions of fruit, three or more vegetables, and three portions of dairy a day, so the amounts you've used as an example are fine, and probably don't need to be counted, unless you're following a very low carb/calorie eating plan.14 -
All great responses and very helpful! I appreciate the time people are taking to respond. Gives me assurance that I'm on the right track and not going out of my mind.
1 -
WinoGelato wrote: »The recommendations to limit sugar, if one doesn't have a specific medical reason to do so, tend to come from the fact that sugar is calorie dense and by consuming too much, it can crowd out other nutrition. If you don't have a medical reason to restrict it, neither the 65g total, nor the 40g of added, is particularly meaningful.
If you are eating a varied, balanced, primarily nutrient dense diet that is at a calorie level appropriate for your goals - then you can eat what you like in the way of sugar and not worry about it. Many people here, myself included, never pay attention to sugar intake - but that's because we are focusing on eating a healthy diet in moderation.
Yup...3 -
I am T2Dm and I don't track sugar. My diabetes is managed through diet and exercise so the one thing that is important to me is to stay under 180 grams of total carbs per day. With my reduced calories for weight loss, I am actually averaging closer to 140 grams (35% of my calories).
If you don't have a directive from your doctor to monitor sugars, don't worry about it and concentrate on eating nutritionally balanced meals with a few treats as they fit into your overall calorie target.8 -
WinoGelato wrote: »The recommendations to limit sugar, if one doesn't have a specific medical reason to do so, tend to come from the fact that sugar is calorie dense and by consuming too much, it can crowd out other nutrition. If you don't have a medical reason to restrict it, neither the 65g total, nor the 40g of added, is particularly meaningful.
If you are eating a varied, balanced, primarily nutrient dense diet that is at a calorie level appropriate for your goals - then you can eat what you like in the way of sugar and not worry about it. Many people here, myself included, never pay attention to sugar intake - but that's because we are focusing on eating a healthy diet in moderation.
Ditto. Also, there's no way I'd stick to a healthy way of eating if I couldn't have my daily chocolate fix. Eat the chocolate!5 -
A general rule that my dietitian told me was that
1. Sugar from natural foods like fruits and veggies don't count towards your sugar intake. It's impossible to overeat on those sugars unless you eat 10k+ cals a day because the properties in plants let you break it down differently
2. To be healthy, added sugars shouldn't go higher than 25-30 grams.22 -
The national guideline is for added sugar. It's simply there to (unhelpfully) help people reduce the calories they get from less nutritious higher calorie foods which tend to have a mix of sugar and fat but are less nutrient dense.
The MFP guidelines are for total sugar because of the way labels are, they don't differentiate between existing and added sugar. It's simply there to (unhelpfully) help people reduce the calories they get from less nutritious higher calorie foods which tend to have a mix of sugar and fat but are less nutrient dense.
If you're counting calories and your diet is generally nutritionally balanced, you don't need to pay attention to either. You have better tools at your disposal to achieve appropriate calories and good nutrition.3 -
A general rule that my dietitian told me was that
1. Sugar from natural foods like fruits and veggies don't count towards your sugar intake. It's impossible to overeat on those sugars unless you eat 10k+ cals a day because the properties in plants let you break it down differently
2. To be healthy, added sugars shouldn't go higher than 25-30 grams.
Your dietician apparently doesn’t understand basic physiology. The body metabolizes “added” sugars the exact same way it metabolizes “natural” sugars.
It would be akin to saying that your body obtains hydration from “natural” water in your foods differently from “added” water you drink.
Sugar is sugar and water is water.10 -
A general rule that my dietitian told me was that
1. Sugar from natural foods like fruits and veggies don't count towards your sugar intake. It's impossible to overeat on those sugars unless you eat 10k+ cals a day because the properties in plants let you break it down differently
2. To be healthy, added sugars shouldn't go higher than 25-30 grams.
I hope you're not paying that person for their advice?!10 -
A general rule that my dietitian told me was that
1. Sugar from natural foods like fruits and veggies don't count towards your sugar intake. It's impossible to overeat on those sugars unless you eat 10k+ cals a day because the properties in plants let you break it down differently
2. To be healthy, added sugars shouldn't go higher than 25-30 grams.
About the only way that could work is if the dietary sugar was in a part of the plant that we cannot break down in our body. That is definitely not going to be the case with most fruit and veggies. I suppose if dietitian was implying that in a normal diet the natural sugars don't add up to be significant source of sugar to track maybe. But that leaves a whole lot of room for natural sugars there depending on what you may eat.2 -
I don't track sugar, I switched it out for fibre because I realised that I wasn't getting anywhere close to my daily fibre target. My regularity has improved tenfold.4
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Agreed! Spot on.A general rule that my dietitian told me was that
1. Sugar from natural foods like fruits and veggies don't count towards your sugar intake. It's impossible to overeat on those sugars unless you eat 10k+ cals a day because the properties in plants let you break it down differently
2. To be healthy, added sugars shouldn't go higher than 25-30 grams.
Your dietician apparently doesn’t understand basic physiology. The body metabolizes “added” sugars the exact same way it metabolizes “natural” sugars.
It would be akin to saying that your body obtains hydration from “natural” water in your foods differently from “added” water you drink.
Sugar is sugar and water is water.
My RD would shake her head at the post you quoted. Holy moly..... of course fruit sugars count! The body cannot tell the difference between any sugar.5 -
A general rule that my dietitian told me was that
1. Sugar from natural foods like fruits and veggies don't count towards your sugar intake. It's impossible to overeat on those sugars unless you eat 10k+ cals a day because the properties in plants let you break it down differently
2. To be healthy, added sugars shouldn't go higher than 25-30 grams.
Your dietician apparently doesn’t understand basic physiology. The body metabolizes “added” sugars the exact same way it metabolizes “natural” sugars.
It would be akin to saying that your body obtains hydration from “natural” water in your foods differently from “added” water you drink.
Sugar is sugar and water is water.
So you're saying that I don't have to fuss on how much water I drink if I drink enough diet coke????
<<runs and hides>>4 -
Seeing as how Diet Coke is about 99.4% water, you’re in no danger of dehydration.Tacklewasher wrote: »A general rule that my dietitian told me was that
1. Sugar from natural foods like fruits and veggies don't count towards your sugar intake. It's impossible to overeat on those sugars unless you eat 10k+ cals a day because the properties in plants let you break it down differently
2. To be healthy, added sugars shouldn't go higher than 25-30 grams.
Your dietician apparently doesn’t understand basic physiology. The body metabolizes “added” sugars the exact same way it metabolizes “natural” sugars.
It would be akin to saying that your body obtains hydration from “natural” water in your foods differently from “added” water you drink.
Sugar is sugar and water is water.
So you're saying that I don't have to fuss on how much water I drink if I drink enough diet coke????
<<runs and hides>>
4
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