Sugar! How much??
sarah8352
Posts: 14 Member
So right now my macros are as follows. 100 protein, 75 fat, 180 carbs. I eat healthy and moat of my sugar comes from plant based fruits and veggies with some processed sugar in there to keep me sane. How many grams should I aim to stay under?
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Replies
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There is no certain number. Unless you have a medical reason to avoid it you dont need to limit sugar, processed or not. Just focus on meeting your calorie and/or macro goal, everything else is pretty arbitrary.15
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Unless you have health issues or you’re going crazy eating 100s of grams of sugar a day and not getting your nutrients in I wouldn’t worry about sugar. Some people can’t have sugar due to Insulin resistance, diabetes, PCOS or even gum disease/oral issues or they want to do keto. Personally I have PCOS so I try and keep my sugar treat to small pieces of chocolate. I also have fruits too. I used to be super strict and avoid honey, maple syrup, fruits (except berries) and dairy. Now I include any of these according to my mood and naturally my cravings have gone! Just shows that being over restrictive ends up working against you.9
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I try to keep my sugar total below about 20, because I've observed that high sugar meals and snacks make me hungrier, but if you don't have a problem with it, you can eat much more than that.7
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I am keeping my carbs at around 50 - 60g per day and my sugars below 20g. I actually dont appreciate most fruit so my sugars are largely used in my tea and the occasional processed food. Although not diabetic, I am proper lardy and cannot be far off being pre-diabetic/IR as for me there is a direct correlation between calorie intake and weight loss if I keep my sugar this low. Possibly TMI, but my hormones/ TOTM are deffo more level as well with sugar on the low end. Tbh, if I didnt see the benefit, I would be eating more sugar for sure
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Total sugar is not a useful number unless it's something you wish to track for whatever personal reason. Many plants and dairy products contain sugar naturally, so giving yourself a sugar limit may make you hesitant to eat perfectly good food. I replaced that column with fiber, that's a more useful number.8
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Just try to stay away from refined sugar except for the occasional sweet treat. Dont worry too much about the exact amount, just no tubs of ice cream or binge eating a box of girlscout cookies28
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robthephotog wrote: »Just try to stay away from refined sugar except for the occasional sweet treat. Dont worry too much about the exact amount, just no tubs of ice cream or binge eating a box of girlscout cookies
Whyever not? What would Easter be without the glorious chocolate binge?!16 -
So right now my macros are as follows. 100 protein, 75 fat, 180 carbs. I eat healthy and moat of my sugar comes from plant based fruits and veggies with some processed sugar in there to keep me sane. How many grams should I aim to stay under?
There really is no agreed upon limit for an otherwise healthy person. The WHO did make a recommendation regarding "added sugar", but I have no idea what it was honestly.
The problem with "too much sugar" is either it makes you eat too many calories in order to be satiated, or it doesn't leave room for the good stuff you need. So if you are sticking to your calorie goal, getting enough protein, fat, and fiber, and not struggling in the process, you most likely don't need to worry about sugar. An occasional check up and blood work will confirm that for you over the long term :drinker:3 -
The World Health Organization recommends added sugar be under 10%, or even better 5%, of your total calories. However, there will be no way to track this on MFP until all the food manufacturers include added sugar on their labels and MFP makes a new category.
As most of your sugar comes from fruits and veggies, you may wish to swap Sugar out for something more useful to you. For me, I swapped Sugar and Sodium for Fiber and Iron (I'm anemic.)
https://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/sugar-guideline/en/
https://www.fda.gov/food/guidanceregulation/guidancedocumentsregulatoryinformation/labelingnutrition/ucm385663.htm
...Manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual sales must switch to the new label by January 1, 2020; manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales have until January 1, 2021 to comply.
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Don't make sugary junk a staple and you will be just fine.9
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So right now my macros are as follows. 100 protein, 75 fat, 180 carbs. I eat healthy and moat of my sugar comes from plant based fruits and veggies with some processed sugar in there to keep me sane. How many grams should I aim to stay under?
There are no credible recommendations to limit intrinsic sugar (like those in fruit and veg), beyond of course getting in enough protein, healthy fat, and other nutrients, which you will be doing given your macros.
Instead, the recommendations are to keep ADDED sugar below 5-10% of calories (I usually keep mine below 5%, actually usually well below, but on an odd day I'll exceed 5%). Since it's not so easy to track added sugar at MFP, one option is to make sure you hit or exceed your fiber goal and just look at the sources of your sugar to make sure there are no surprises and it's mostly from nutrient dense foods.1 -
kshama2001 wrote: »The World Health Organization recommends added sugar be under 10%, or even better 5%, of your total calories. However, there will be no way to track this on MFP until all the food manufacturers include added sugar on their labels and MFP makes a new category.
As most of your sugar comes from fruits and veggies, you may wish to swap Sugar out for something more useful to you. For me, I swapped Sugar and Sodium for Fiber and Iron (I'm anemic.)
https://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/sugar-guideline/en/
https://www.fda.gov/food/guidanceregulation/guidancedocumentsregulatoryinformation/labelingnutrition/ucm385663.htm
...Manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual sales must switch to the new label by January 1, 2020; manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales have until January 1, 2021 to comply.
It's important to understand that most health recommendations like these are not made with calorie counters in mind. They are general health guidelines made for people who just live their life normally and eat food until they are full. That can help reconcile why people here say "don't worry about your sugars" and government bodies recommend limiting it.
Added sugar is recommended limited for 2 reasons: food with added sugars tend to have low nutritional value, and they tend to be calorie dense and not very filling. So if someone is not tracking their eating, and they eat a diet high in added sugars, they are more likely to eat more calories and less nutrition than someone who doesn't eat added sugar. Comparatively, foods with natural sugars tend to be more nutrient dense and be more filling than foods with added sugar. You will get more nutrition and likely be fuller from an apple, orange, or pineapple for example than you would a can of coke or bag of skittles. This is the observational evidence from studies that has led governments to recommend the restriction of added sugars but not natural sugars, even though to your body, they are the same thing. But added sugar by itself doesn't make you fat. Eating at a calorie surplus does.
People who do not track their calorie intake tend to eat more naturally when they have a diet high in added sugar than when they don't. So if you are just practicing intuitive eating and natural portion control, which is what most of the world does, then restricting added sugars makes sense. But if you are tracking your calories and meeting your calorie goal without having issues, then added sugar won't be making you fat, and you don't have to limit it unless you have a health condition that calls for limiting sugars. So for us calorie counters, we are to a certain extent freed from some of these recommendations because we are monitoring and controlling our caloric intake.14 -
https://www.nhs.uk/news/food-and-diet/sugar-intake-should-be-drastically-reduced-says-report/
Recommendation from the NHS for the UK is that free sugars (outside of fruit and veg) should be limited to 5% of calorie intake and limited to 30g for over 11 year olds.
And its scarily easy to get to 30g imo !0 -
I have been on MFP since 2011 and have been up and down many times. I to have a sweet tooth probably more than one (haha). I just this year - a couple months ago-reached my weight goal. I finally had to give up most of the sweets I was eating and only allowing one treat at lunch time. I ate the smallest piece of Sees candy I could find and lately I've been eating the small Hershey mini bars. But, I only eat it at lunch only. No sweets after lunch. Will power is a must when you cut out things you like. Good Luck to all of you.2
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Well done on reaching goal AND having a sustainable approach to maintenance !0
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Op..
Sugar mfp recommendation is there..
Web.. under food ..
On app.. it's under nutrients list.
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Just popping on as the resident diabetic (haha) to say that I don't worry about sugar. I do have to limit my carbohydrate intake to keep my blood sugars in a respectable range. Limiting my carbohydrate consumption and choosing less foods with added sugars helps me to keep my daily sugar intake anywhere between 15-60 grams. If your body is able to properly process carbohydrates (as in, your body produces insulin and also is able to use it efficiently) I see no reason to limit sugar intake other than personal preference.
That being said, I totally had some cheesecake AND three small chocolates on Easter because--why not? As long as you are otherwise meeting your weight loss and health goals, enjoy life!3 -
It's important to understand that most health recommendations like these are not made with calorie counters in mind. They are general health guidelines made for people who just live their life normally and eat food until they are full. That can help reconcile why people here say "don't worry about your sugars" and government bodies recommend limiting it.
Added sugar is recommended limited for 2 reasons: food with added sugars tend to have low nutritional value, and they tend to be calorie dense and not very filling. So if someone is not tracking their eating, and they eat a diet high in added sugars, they are more likely to eat more calories and less nutrition than someone who doesn't eat added sugar. Comparatively, foods with natural sugars tend to be more nutrient dense and be more filling than foods with added sugar. You will get more nutrition and likely be fuller from an apple, orange, or pineapple for example than you would a can of coke or bag of skittles. This is the observational evidence from studies that has led governments to recommend the restriction of added sugars but not natural sugars, even though to your body, they are the same thing. But added sugar by itself doesn't make you fat. Eating at a calorie surplus does.
People who do not track their calorie intake tend to eat more naturally when they have a diet high in added sugar than when they don't. So if you are just practicing intuitive eating and natural portion control, which is what most of the world does, then restricting added sugars makes sense. But if you are tracking your calories and meeting your calorie goal without having issues, then added sugar won't be making you fat, and you don't have to limit it unless you have a health condition that calls for limiting sugars. So for us calorie counters, we are to a certain extent freed from some of these recommendations because we are monitoring and controlling our caloric intake.
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