How can I cut my sugar down?

I just looked at my food diary. I haven't yet finished tracking today. I've had over 100g of sugar! all I've had is peaches, a banana, and milk with my rolled oats and cups of tea. I'm meant to be cutting back on sugar/carbs to get rid of high blood sugar and avoid diabetes. Does sugar from fruit/milk count towards the recommended 25g a day of sugar for adults? It seems a bit pathetic to have half a banana and I can't afford to get a milk alternative as there is no spare money at the moment. I don't know how much sugar my soup had because I chose a random entry instead of uploading my recipe as my numbers are different everytime I make it.

Thanks for any help!

Replies

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,036 Member
    edited April 2021
    Which organisation is recommending 25 grams a day? The source I found that's using that number is the AHA and that's regarding added sugars, so fruit shouldn't count towards that, or even milk. But I'm wondering how many peaches and milk you had that you would get to 100 grams of sugar (my banana today was 16 grams of sugar).

    Using a random soup entry will yield random results :wink: Who knows what's in that soup, it might have added sugars whereas your soup doesn't have added sugar. Using the recipe builder might be more accurate. Or you can use the Meals functionality instead of Recipes, it might be easier to adapt to your different number each time you make it.

    PS on the Android app, if you turn your screen to landscape mode, you can see the amounts of sugar (and other nutrients) per meal and per ingredient.
  • cyaneverfat
    cyaneverfat Posts: 527 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    Which organisation is recommending 25 grams a day?.

    The Healthy Food Guide for New Zealanders recommends UP to 25g of sugar per day for adults. I guess you can eat way under that. Myfitnesspal intially recommended 50g a day, then it went up to 100g for some reason.
  • cyaneverfat
    cyaneverfat Posts: 527 Member
    The soup has onion, cooking oil, carrot, celery, cabbage, split peas/soup mix, corn, chicken stock and salt.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,036 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    Which organisation is recommending 25 grams a day?.

    The Healthy Food Guide for New Zealanders recommends UP to 25g of sugar per day for adults. I guess you can eat way under that. Myfitnesspal intially recommended 50g a day, then it went up to 100g for some reason.

    MFP's goal is higher but also includes all sugar, simply because food labels don't always specify how much of the sugar content is added sugar.
    And apparently the sugar maximum is proportional to your calorie allotment. I checked mine and it fluctuates according to my calorie goal (higher or lower activity level,...) So that might explain why your sugar goal has changed?
    The soup has onion, cooking oil, carrot, celery, cabbage, split peas/soup mix, corn, chicken stock and salt.

    Not sure what split peas/soup mix is, but a few ingredients in that list might have some added sugar if they're processed (for example store bought chicken stock or canned corn), which you should see in the ingredients. But I don't see how that would add up to a substantial amount of added sugar in your case

    Generally speaking, I would say you shouldn't mind natural sugars and only be careful regarding added sugars. But I'm not a doctor and you do mention high blood sugar. Has your doctor given you instructions food wise? Or are you just trying to pay attention to general guidelines?
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    edited April 2021
    Lietchi wrote: »
    Which organisation is recommending 25 grams a day?.

    The Healthy Food Guide for New Zealanders recommends UP to 25g of sugar per day for adults. I guess you can eat way under that. Myfitnesspal intially recommended 50g a day, then it went up to 100g for some reason.

    Can you link to where you found that recommendation?
    I did a quick search and didn't find any speciific limit stated, just general recommendations to make low added sugar choices.

    What I did find was that in common with most healthy diet recommendations the guideline I found including vegetables, fruits, grains and milk products which seem incompatible with a 25g total sugar limit.
  • MaltedTea
    MaltedTea Posts: 6,286 Member
    My guess is the recommendation references "added sugars" as opposed to naturally occurring ones. But anywhooo, cutting down the total amount of sugar - regardless of source - is about making conscious choices.

    For example, it's possible to drink tea black or switch to a herbal option (which, imo, should rarely - if ever - take milk anyway).

    Also, as you use MFP's logging and analytics more, you may want to leverage its ability to calculate servings for homemade recipes. That way, you'll have more accuracy and less questioning about your food intake, in general (and will know, with more specificity, what your sugar intake is).
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    edited April 2021
    25 g is almost always some version of the WHO's recommended 5% with assumed calories of 2000. And that number doesn't include intrinsic sugars, but only added, or what the WHO calls free sugars (which do include honey and syrup as well as other sugars added to foods).

    That said, if the goal is addressing high blood sugar (are you insulin resistant?), just focusing on sugar is probably not ideal. You'd want to watch net carbs per meal and combine carbs with protein and fiber. I know many with insulin issues don't find fruit a problem, even lower fiber fruit, but some do.

    Re the soup recipe, you can create a recipe and then just modify it if you change up the ingredients.

    Regarding MFP's sugar limit, it includes all sugars, including those in the vegetables and fruit and dairy one consumes, so is higher than the ones for added sugar only -- typically 15% of total cals. So 50 g would be the default for about 1330 cals, and 100 g for twice that (which seems unlikely, so you shouldn't have gotten 100 g as a MFP default unless you logged huge amounts of exercise).

    That said, the MFP limits are based on an assumption about how much veg and fruit you consume, so if it's mostly veg and fruit (ideally mostly veg, some fruit) and you are getting sufficient fiber, protein, and fat, I would normally recommend not worrying about it. With the IR issues, though, you would want to pay more attention to carbs generally, however.

    Were you given any dietary advice but for the sugar thing? I would hope so.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,879 Member
    edited April 2021
    I just looked at my food diary. I haven't yet finished tracking today. I've had over 100g of sugar! all I've had is peaches, a banana, and milk with my rolled oats and cups of tea. I'm meant to be cutting back on sugar/carbs to get rid of high blood sugar and avoid diabetes. Does sugar from fruit/milk count towards the recommended 25g a day of sugar for adults? It seems a bit pathetic to have half a banana and I can't afford to get a milk alternative as there is no spare money at the moment. I don't know how much sugar my soup had because I chose a random entry instead of uploading my recipe as my numbers are different everytime I make it.

    Thanks for any help!

    Not sure where you're getting the 25 gram recommendation...but most recommendations I've seen from various health organizations are for added sugars, not intrinsic sugars...that said, if you're diabetic, all sugars are going to come into play...or, I should say net carbohydrates in general.

    Something appears to be off on the entries you're choosing though...not really sure how you'd arrive at over 100g of sugar with a banana and a peach...a banana has about 14 grams of sugar...a peach is around the same. 1 Cup of 2% milk also has around 13g of intrinsic sugar (lactose). Tea doesn't have any sugar. Those things don't add up to anything close to 100 grams + of sugar.
  • Thoin
    Thoin Posts: 942 Member
    I just looked at my food diary. I haven't yet finished tracking today. I've had over 100g of sugar! all I've had is peaches, a banana, and milk with my rolled oats and cups of tea. I'm meant to be cutting back on sugar/carbs to get rid of high blood sugar and avoid diabetes. Does sugar from fruit/milk count towards the recommended 25g a day of sugar for adults? It seems a bit pathetic to have half a banana and I can't afford to get a milk alternative as there is no spare money at the moment. I don't know how much sugar my soup had because I chose a random entry instead of uploading my recipe as my numbers are different everytime I make it.

    Thanks for any help!

    Check out the glycemic index for fruits and other foods. The Glycemic index can help inform you about sugar absorption info and show you better and worse foods to eat for that. Fiber helps slow down the absorption of sugar which helps with how the body processes sugar which is different depending on what you eat. Fruit also has many additional nutrients that are good for the body. But too much fruit sugar can be the same as too much added sugar.

    There's lots of good information out there for the glycemic index. Here's something I found to hopefully sum it up real quickly. And a graph to give you a basic idea.

    amsan50nf937.png

    For people with diabetes, insulin sensitivity or hypoglycemia the GI (glycemic index) is of even greater importance and they are often counseled by our dietitians on how to manage this.

    The GI is a ranking of how much a carbohydrate containing food will raise your blood sugar (insulin levels) on a scale of 0-100. The higher the GI a food has, the faster it raises your blood sugar and the insulin released into your blood increases higher as well.

    The take home is: the lower the glycemic index of a food, the lower the insulin secretion and the less likely the tendency of a carbohydrate to be converted into fats.

    http://www.wholisticfitnessonline.com/whats-glycemic-index-and-how-does-it-affect-fat-loss/
  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
    NZ guidelines based on the WHO guidelines, which allows for 53g of ALL sugars, and a max of 25g ADDED sugars.

    Your milk and fruits contribute to that 53g, but not the 25g "added" sugars

    https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/what-we-do/our-expert-advice/all-expert-advice-papers/sugar-and-health/how-much-sugar-should-we-eat/#:~:text=The World Health Organization (WHO,teaspoon = 4g of sugar).
  • cyaneverfat
    cyaneverfat Posts: 527 Member
    Is my food diary closed?
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Is my food diary closed?

    Yes.
  • cyaneverfat
    cyaneverfat Posts: 527 Member
    Is my food diary closed?

    Yes.

    Opps
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,036 Member
    Is that a special kind of milk you're drinking? That sugar number seems way too high for regular milk. I'd check the label to make sure that database entry is correct.

    As for the soup, the sugar count seems high as well, but who knows without knowing the ingredients. Your own soup probably contained less sugars, but logging your own recipe would be the best idea.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    Yeah, like cwolfman caught above, your sugar number seemed unlikely to really be so high given the foods mentioned, and as Lietchi says, those milk numbers are off -- in fact, the sugar adds up to more than the cals on its own, so they have to be off. I'd check your milk carton.

    I also think the sugar in the soup may well be too high and would recommend trying to create a recipe as in any case it's not going to be accurate at all in other respects either.
  • cyaneverfat
    cyaneverfat Posts: 527 Member
    I'm not testing my blood sugar. I'm going to get another blood test in 3 months.