Total sugar?

lisaab27
lisaab27 Posts: 56 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I know they’re natural sugars in fruit & vegetables. And there are added sugars from sauces, breads, sweets etc. What is a good daily total goal of the two? My fitness pal does not differentiate between the two in our goal selection.

Replies

  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    MFP's goal is for all sugar, but it's based on a guess about how much of the total sugar would be added sugar.

    If you want to estimate added sugar, the usual goal is no more than 10% of cals, and ideally perhaps more like 5%. That's what the WHO recommends.

    There are no recommendations that would require limiting intrinsic sugar (that tends to come with plenty of micros and usually not all that many cals) for health or nutrition reasons beyond the obvious: leave room in your diet for other important foods, such that you get sufficient protein, healthy fats, fiber, and micros. So IMO hit your protein goal, eat a reasonable amount of fat and make sure you are eating some sources like fatty fish, avocado, nuts and seeds, and olives, and hit your fiber goal, and make sure your diet is overall healthful and has a good amount of veg. If so, and if your calories are on point, then your total sugar is fine.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,030 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    MFP's goal is for all sugar, but it's based on a guess about how much of the total sugar would be added sugar.

    If you want to estimate added sugar, the usual goal is no more than 10% of cals, and ideally perhaps more like 5%. That's what the WHO recommends.

    There are no recommendations that would require limiting intrinsic sugar (that tends to come with plenty of micros and usually not all that many cals) for health or nutrition reasons beyond the obvious: leave room in your diet for other important foods, such that you get sufficient protein, healthy fats, fiber, and micros. So IMO hit your protein goal, eat a reasonable amount of fat and make sure you are eating some sources like fatty fish, avocado, nuts and seeds, and olives, and hit your fiber goal, and make sure your diet is overall healthful and has a good amount of veg. If so, and if your calories are on point, then your total sugar is fine.

    100% endorsed.

    Good nutrition is more about getting nutritious things into one's eating, within a sensible calorie goal. Getting things out is less important (as long as they're not poisonous at the given dosage, allergy-provoking for you personally, or medically necessary to limit/eliminate because of a health condition).

    Putting good nutrition in, while hitting a calorie goal, tends to automatically limit less nutrition-dense/more calorie-dense foods without taking an elimination focus.

    WHO's reasons for limiting added sugar largely seem to come down to 3 things: (1) It's hard to get adequate nutrition on sensible calories if there's lots of added sugar; (2) It's easy to go well over sensible calories in the pursuit of adequate nutrition if there's lots of added sugar; and/or (3) dental cavities and dental diseases are more likely if there's lots of added sugar.

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