Sugar

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jjvz
jjvz Posts: 9 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I really wish they would separate added sugars from sugar, like they do now on nutritional labels. I’m constantly over in sugar because of my fruit consumption.

Replies

  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    You wouldn't get the effect you think you would.

    The database is user sourced - that figure doesn't exist on all the current entries as it's not a field.

    It would take years to start seeing entries changed - and then the normal issue of accuracy, some people inputting Sugar instead of added sugar, fiber, other because they can't read a line across a label, or leaving it blank when it does have a value.

    A day filled with a lot of inaccurate entries missing the figure (or incorrect figure) would be about as useful as logging your weight from a scale that can't display the last figure. (useful eventually of course)
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited March 2022
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    If you want to track added sugar, you can note it in the comments box. I would otherwise not worry about sugar if you know it's largely fruit, veg, and dairy, and personally prefer to track fiber. What I did initially was look at the sources of my sugar to see if there were any surprises. Despite all the press that so-called "hidden sugars" get, there weren't, and I was able to confirm that I rarely ate much added sugar (and that when I did it was intentional, as when I decided to end the day with some ice cream or chocolate).

    My broader nutritional philosophy is that if you are within cals, hit protein and fiber goals (or exceed them), and eat a wide range of nutrient dense foods like veg, fruit, and healthy sources of fat like fish, nuts and seeds, olives and olive oil, avocados, etc., there is likely nothing to worry about.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,200 Member
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    There's already a field for it in the MFP database, and you can enter it when adding a food (at least on the phone/tablet app, not sure about the web). It just doesn't show up in lots of other places. I'm sure it's unlikely to be accessible throughout the app any time soon for the reasons others mentioned above.

    I'm like Lemurcat: I don't care, personally. I don't eat lots of added sugar, well within USDA/WHO and similar nutritional bodies' recommendations . . . though I am over my base default all-types sugar most days, primarily from veggies, fruits, no-sugar-added dairy.

    Frankly, I wouldn't care if I were over recommendations on added sugar, as long as I was getting ample protein, plenty of healthy fats, appropriate calories, and a boatload of varied, colorful veggies/fruits daily. To fit "excess" added sugar into my eating in that situation, I'd need to ramp up my already very adequate cardiovascular endurance exercise to get a higher calorie budget . . . in which case I'd need more carbs/sugars for endurance exercise fueling, anyway, so still no harm/no foul, IMO.

    Nutrition, IMO, is a "big picture" thing, about getting the right nutrients into my eating overall, on average. To my mind, worrying about getting supposedly "bad" things out is a distraction from that main goal. If I get the right nutrient intake at appropriate calories, less nutrient-dense foods (starting with the ones I enjoy least) automatically fall by the wayside, for me.

    I also agree with Lemur that you could use the notes field temporarily; and that looking at food labels and gradually reducing amounts/frequencies of foods with "too much" added sugar (in favor of things that help you meet nutritional goals where you may be sub-par now because of the sugars) is a reasonable path to a less sugar-centric eating pattern.

    YMMV, though.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Got remember the web and app are not united on many things.

    I should have stated not through the website for Added Sugar.
  • rwarren1969
    rwarren1969 Posts: 20 Member
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    I would like to see this feature. I love desserts of all kinds -- and right now it's like penalizing someone for eating fruit. 🍌
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,200 Member
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    rwarren1969 wrote: »
    I would like to see this feature. I love desserts of all kinds -- and right now it's like penalizing someone for eating fruit. 🍌

    Are you actually eating too much added sugar, or is it just that you're getting dinged by MFP on your diary page for having a sugar total higher than their default?

    If the latter, an option to adopt - that I adopted myself in that exact scenario - is to customize your diary columns (possible with free MFP), drop the sugar column, add something more meaningful to you. (I subbed fiber for sugar.) It may still give you the occasional tsk-tsk textual message, especially in the phone/tablet app, but you don't have to look at the "bad" total anymore.
  • rwarren1969
    rwarren1969 Posts: 20 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Are you actually eating too much added sugar, or is it just that you're getting dinged by MFP

    Oh I definitely eat it. I have 29.5 sweet teeth.

    Today's totals are a bit wonky because I was at a funeral so my meals got a bit messed up. But I need to see the total because borderline diabetes runs in the family, plus it's my doc's idea that I lose at least 50 lbs.

    Breakfast included: 1 banana, 1 small glass unsweetened peach drink, 1/2 day-old focaccia, one tbsp of ranch dressing to dip the foccacia in, and 1.5 cups of tea with 1/2 tsp of sugar per cup. Total sugars: 32 grams, of which 27 are natural sugars.

    Lunch was the box lunch catered by the funeral parlor, including: crudités, red grapes, 2 madeleines, some odd tart that was the color of chocolate but the texture of pulled pork and very sweet (no idea how to log that!), a glass of white wine, and a coffee with one packet of sugar. Unlike the guest of honor's family, I didn't trade anything out of my box, and I ate it all. Total sugars: 22 grams.

    Snacks were one mini easter egg (I needed it after a 45 minute walk from the metro uphill to the funeral parlor, getting lost, and arriving late), and a glass of ginger ale when I finally got home. (I'm not a big soft drink person, having soft drink at home is unusual.)

    Supper included clean up the fridge veggie leftovers (tagged as 8 grams of sugar for some reason), a chocolate pudding cup, one small slice of the mini cornbread, and another glass of ginger ale. Total 52 grams of sugar.

    These numbers are very discouraging. (And I haven't eaten a single cookie all day -- I have two kinds in the cookie jar, plus prototype sugar cookie designs for a gift I made to friends who had to unexpectedly move. ) Even more discouraging is that fruit and baking are lumped together in the same category, and painted with the same brush. To me, fruit is a good thing to eat, and I like fruit and try to eat it every day especially for breakfast. But I also like chocolate -- chocolate is a fruit right?! 😁


  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    On the web access method - you can edit your Sugar goal from the default 78g to whatever you want it to be.

    Or ignore it if it's bad data and use something else more meaningful.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    jjvz wrote: »
    I really wish they would separate added sugars from sugar, like they do now on nutritional labels. I’m constantly over in sugar because of my fruit consumption.

    Why are you tracking sugar?
    Does it actually matter to you if you exceed the goal given?

    (Personally I found it pointless to track and swapped it out for something more useful.)
  • rwarren1969
    rwarren1969 Posts: 20 Member
    edited March 2022
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    An update to yesterday's meals:
    rwarren1969 wrote: »
    some odd tart that was the color of chocolate but the texture of pulled pork and very sweet (no idea how to log that!)

    I reached out to the caterer who replied this morning, it was a cranberry and caramelized onion with brie tart. And it weighed 60 grams -- I know because I brought home two leftover lunch boxes. I logged it as 0.272 of an Iku caramelized onion tart (220 grams).

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,200 Member
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    rwarren1969 wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Are you actually eating too much added sugar, or is it just that you're getting dinged by MFP

    Oh I definitely eat it. I have 29.5 sweet teeth.

    Today's totals are a bit wonky because I was at a funeral so my meals got a bit messed up. But I need to see the total because borderline diabetes runs in the family, plus it's my doc's idea that I lose at least 50 lbs.

    Breakfast included: 1 banana, 1 small glass unsweetened peach drink, 1/2 day-old focaccia, one tbsp of ranch dressing to dip the foccacia in, and 1.5 cups of tea with 1/2 tsp of sugar per cup. Total sugars: 32 grams, of which 27 are natural sugars.

    Lunch was the box lunch catered by the funeral parlor, including: crudités, red grapes, 2 madeleines, some odd tart that was the color of chocolate but the texture of pulled pork and very sweet (no idea how to log that!), a glass of white wine, and a coffee with one packet of sugar. Unlike the guest of honor's family, I didn't trade anything out of my box, and I ate it all. Total sugars: 22 grams.

    Snacks were one mini easter egg (I needed it after a 45 minute walk from the metro uphill to the funeral parlor, getting lost, and arriving late), and a glass of ginger ale when I finally got home. (I'm not a big soft drink person, having soft drink at home is unusual.)

    Supper included clean up the fridge veggie leftovers (tagged as 8 grams of sugar for some reason), a chocolate pudding cup, one small slice of the mini cornbread, and another glass of ginger ale. Total 52 grams of sugar.

    These numbers are very discouraging. (And I haven't eaten a single cookie all day -- I have two kinds in the cookie jar, plus prototype sugar cookie designs for a gift I made to friends who had to unexpectedly move. ) Even more discouraging is that fruit and baking are lumped together in the same category, and painted with the same brush. To me, fruit is a good thing to eat, and I like fruit and try to eat it every day especially for breakfast. But I also like chocolate -- chocolate is a fruit right?! 😁


    I would've thought managing carb intake (which includes sugars of course) would be the key thing, in your situation, as well as the weight loss . . . but what do I know, I'm not IR/diabetic. As an aside, I hope that wasn't all you ate? Specifically, I hope there was more protein? Satiation is individual, so this is a very subjective reaction that may not apply to you: If I ate that breakfast, I'd be craving more food (quite possibly sweets) in an hour or so.

    I'm not trying to be a jerk here, I swear. I'm a nutrition fan, concerned about you, wanting to encourage you to think beyond just the sugar even as a method of managing sugar intake. It's common to crave sugar when there's low energy (also sometimes when there's sub-par intake of nutrients that are in traditional (low-processed) foods that taste sweet but are more nutrient dense than baked goods and candy, according to a registered dietitian I heard speak). If there's any chance that's going on, improving overall nutrition might help reduce sugar cravings.
  • Bridgie3
    Bridgie3 Posts: 139 Member
    edited March 2022
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    jjvz wrote: »
    I really wish they would separate added sugars from sugar, like they do now on nutritional labels. I’m constantly over in sugar because of my fruit consumption.

    Because you're on a diet, it's the dietary sugar you need to track (what you're eating) rather than 'added' sugar (where it's coming from).

    I mean, if you're over on sugar, you're over on sugar. Fructose from fruit is worse if anything, because it doesn't trigger insulin response, can't be read off your glucometer, and is metabolised in your liver like alcohol creating fatty droplets and triglycerides.

    Sucrose is 50% fructose, 50% glucose
    HFCS is mega bad, it's about 70% fructose, 30% glucose.

    And remember of course that complex carbohydrates are just long chains of simple carbohydrates
    and simple carbohydrates are just glucose. ie sugar.

    Editing because I just saw your second post.

    Yes, definitely watch sugar. Diabetes type 2 Sucks Buttcheek. It is really bad, and you feel really sick, and you really need to fight against that insulin resistance while you still can.

    We eat too much fruit. we can get all the vitamins from meat that we get from fruit (shocking I know) and we can change the balance of eating from high sweet, light, delicious wonderful fruit... to meat.

    And away from carbs too. I was a major sugar eater. And now look what's happened to me. Diabetic type 2, teetering on the brink of having to start giving myself insulin shots. I've bought a glucometer that I stick in my arm and it takes up to 8 hrs worth of readings every 3 mins. I am watching carbs (including sugar) that I eat and attempting to keep it all in a safe zone. I recently lost feeling in a bit of my foot.

    Watch some 'doctor cuts out abscess from diabetic foot' for real motivation. Nothing like it to inspire you. They lose toes, big toes, get huge abscesses. I can already feel myself going that way; slower healing, fuzzy vision, headaches.

    Not worth it. take it seriously and stop it while it's still easy to stop.
  • paints5555
    paints5555 Posts: 1,228 Member
    edited March 2022
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    "HFCS is mega bad, it's about 70% fructose, 30% glucose. "

    This not correct. The 2 types of HFCS most commonly used have either 42% or 55% fructose. In comparison, honey is 49% fructose.

    Another thing to consider when using fructose from any source is that you will use less to get the same amount of sweetness in a food. So if total grams of sugar is of concern, fructose can be helpful to lower the total grams of sugar consumed.

    "we can get all the vitamins from meat that we get from fruit"

    There are several nutrients that you can't get from meat. The 2 that immediately come to mind are vitamin C and fiber.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    In addition to the above:
    Bridgie3 wrote: »
    Because you're on a diet, it's the dietary sugar you need to track (what you're eating) rather than 'added' sugar (where it's coming from).

    No, there's nothing about being on a diet that makes it necessary to track total sugars. Calories are what matter for weight loss. Other things are important for nutrition, but not total sugar -- as OP already understands, various foods with sugar in them are also nutritionally dense.
    I mean, if you're over on sugar, you're over on sugar. Fructose from fruit is worse if anything, because it doesn't trigger insulin response, can't be read off your glucometer, and is metabolised in your liver like alcohol creating fatty droplets and triglycerides.

    There is no evidence that fruit (which is a mix of fructose, glucose, and sucrose, plus a few other sugars) is bad for the liver or otherwise, and it often works well even for those with IR.

    Fructose and the liver seems to be a problem in large doses that hit the liver all at once, to the extent it's an issue. Thus, high consumption of sugary sodas seem to be an issue for NAFLD, but there are no reputable studies showing any issue with fruit or even just total sugar in the diet at any level. The recommendations backed by studies are about added sugar, and those are focused on overeating, tooth enamel, and nutrients in the diet -- all things that intrinsic sugar generally doesn't create a problem with, and where the fat in most items with added sugar is, in fact, a contributing factor.

    You can have a sensible diet that avoids T2D without cutting out carbs and in fact there's no evidence that a super low carb diet is nutritionally preferable, especially one that avoids vegetables (you didn't mention veg, but I did note the odd suggestion of replacing the nutrients in fruit with meat, and not veg, which would seem the obvious alternative if one were for some reason avoiding fruit).

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