Fruit Sugar VS Table Sugar

konatreehugger
konatreehugger Posts: 17
edited October 2 in Food and Nutrition
So, I eat a lot of fruit and veggies and am ALWAYS going over my sugar allowance in my food diary. Is there anyway to know if I can just not count the fruit sugar? How can I use this as a tool?

Replies

  • Lesliecs
    Lesliecs Posts: 930 Member
    I go over my sugar quite a bit due to fruits & veggies. What I do is make a note at the bottom of the log in the note section how many sugars are due to fruits & veggies. I call them natural sugar. That way I know if I'm keeping the "other bad" sugar under control.

    I wouldn't not put them in your diary at all because they still have calories.
  • Vegan_Chick
    Vegan_Chick Posts: 474 Member
    If you are eating fruit, I would not worry about it as long as you are not over doing it with other sugars. Fruit tends to get a bad name but it is full of nutrients and antioxidents that our bodies need!
  • CurlyVonda
    CurlyVonda Posts: 59 Member
    You can change from tracking sugar to tracking what ever you would like. If sugar is not a real problem, you can choose things that are. Go to settings...
  • DarleneT22
    DarleneT22 Posts: 224 Member
    I agree with the previous posters. I eat fruits and veggies anytime I want. I don't go overboard on the fruit but I don't limit it just because of the natural sugar content. I do add it to log for the calories though.
  • konatreehugger
    konatreehugger Posts: 17
    Thanks for the great ideas!

    Where I live, outside I have pineapple, papaya, starfruit, guava, lilikoi (passion fruit), Teeny bananas, and so much more! It's hard NOT to eat them everyday!

    I don't eat a lot of table sugar, just occasionally. Thanks again for the good info!
  • Lisaredsox
    Lisaredsox Posts: 3 Member
    I've been wondering the same thing. I always keep a lot of fruit in the house so I don't eat something I shouldn't.
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
    It's true that fruit sugar is good for you, but sugar is sugar, and if you're pre diabetic or something like that you should watch it.
  • kerrydunning
    kerrydunning Posts: 23
    if you look up how many calories it is you could just add a quick calorie thing ie banana 95 calories so the suar wont come up :)
  • KBrenOH
    KBrenOH Posts: 704 Member
    Thanks for the great ideas!

    Where I live, outside I have pineapple, papaya, starfruit, guava, lilikoi (passion fruit), Teeny bananas, and so much more! It's hard NOT to eat them everyday!

    I don't eat a lot of table sugar, just occasionally. Thanks again for the good info!

    Sounds like a great place to live!
  • Grokette
    Grokette Posts: 3,330 Member
    In reality the body does not know the difference in the type of sugar................It just says, hey there's sugar and sends an insulin response - that goes for anyone whether you have insulin resistance or not.
  • konatreehugger
    konatreehugger Posts: 17
    sooo, then I should count my fruit sugars??
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    It's true that fruit sugar is good for you, but sugar is sugar, and if you're pre diabetic or something like that you should watch it.

    Obviously sugar is sugar, but how your body reactes to sugars such as table sugar, honey, syrups, etc. is very different from how it reactes to foods that have both sugar and fiber, such as fruit. The more fiber, the slower your body is to digest the food and the slower it releases insulin to process the sugar. This is why you don't get the same "sugar rush" after eating an Apple that you do after eating the same volume of Oreos. Because insulin isn't released at the same rate.
  • carolinegeorgia
    carolinegeorgia Posts: 157
    I go over on sugar every day but deduct the fruit and veg sugar and it's ok, I saw on some website that a average person can have 100g of natural sugar on top of non natural sugar, I'm assuming that's for someone not watching their cals....
  • Grokette
    Grokette Posts: 3,330 Member
    sooo, then I should count my fruit sugars??

    If you count calories, then yes it should be counted. The fruits you are eating are not low sugar, low calorie foods.

    I no longer count calories, but I don't eat processed foods anymore either. I only eat fat, protein, vegetables, limited fruit and dairy so I have learned to eat intuitively.

    However, I don't eat the fruits you mentioned very often. Like a couple of times per year.
  • Grokette
    Grokette Posts: 3,330 Member
    I go over on sugar every day but deduct the fruit and veg sugar and it's ok, I saw on some website that a average person can have 100g of natural sugar on top of non natural sugar, I'm assuming that's for someone not watching their cals....

    That is like eating 24 teaspoons of sugar a day..................I don't believe that to be correct in whoever said that. That will have ill effects on anyone's body - metabolic issues or not.
  • konatreehugger
    konatreehugger Posts: 17
    I mostly eat papaya, lilikoi and guava... limited banana and pineapple. I probably eat up to 40 grams of fruit sugar a day... I have no medical issues, that I am aware of...however, I am constantly wanting sweets. my daily diet includes meats, veggies (that I grow) and fruit. I have chocolate occasionally, same with breads and other carbs.
  • MikeSEA
    MikeSEA Posts: 1,074 Member
    In reality the body does not know the difference in the type of sugar................It just says, hey there's sugar and sends an insulin response - that goes for anyone whether you have insulin resistance or not.

    There is such a thing as metabolic shunting. Your body does know the difference. Ask any biochemist.
  • Lisa_222
    Lisa_222 Posts: 301 Member
    Sugar is pretty much sugar, no matter what. The good thing about fruit sugar is that you get all the goodies with fruit-fiber, antioxidants, vitamins. With sugary items, you get trans fat and lots of extra calories. I think if you stay away from premade sugar items and you know what they are, you don't need to count your sugar.
  • akrzyzewski
    akrzyzewski Posts: 28 Member
    I was curious about this too because I like to eat 3 servings of fruit a day (sometimes more) so I asked my aunt who is a dietician. She said that natural sugars are ok and not to worry about them. Just don't eat more than 24 grams (6 teaspoons) of sugar a day.
  • Darkness2120
    Darkness2120 Posts: 38
    In reality the body does not know the difference in the type of sugar................It just says, hey there's sugar and sends an insulin response - that goes for anyone whether you have insulin resistance or not.

    There is such a thing as metabolic shunting. Your body does know the difference. Ask any biochemist.

    This. The body doesn't discern where the sugar comes from (processed or natural) because the chemical structure (carbon skeleton, etc.) for fructose is the same regardless of its source. Fructose (found in fruit) and sucrose (50:50 ratio of fructose to glucose) are however chemically different from one another as one is a disaccaharide. So in layman's terms, sucrose is sucrose and fructose is fructose.
    You can go here if you want to see more interesting info on these two from a man who is very well versed in nutrition: http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
  • barwwd
    barwwd Posts: 63 Member
    Great thread, thanks! Just wanted to point out to those watching nutrients that MFP changes your alotments of nutrients based on the exercise you enter. So although I usually am only supposed to have 24 grams of sugar, running for 115 minutes gets me 50 grams.
  • alanwh
    alanwh Posts: 4 Member
    [/quote]
    You can go here if you want to see more interesting info on these two from a man who is very well versed in nutrition: http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
    [/quote]

    Nice link...50g a day for active adults seams low imop. I've always been pretty active and used fruit as Pre work out carbs & for the glucose. I don't think any doctor would say cut out fruit and the fiber it provides is pretty good on top of the nutrients already mentioned.
  • minheee
    minheee Posts: 1
    You should count the carbs from your fruits and vegetables. Sugar is sugar. The word natural sugar comes off very odd to me because the opposite to natural sugar would be fake sugar, aka aspartame. Sugar from the shelf is the same as sugar in your fruits. It's the environment the sugar is retained in that makes a difference between the outcomes. Fruits are packed with fibers, vitamins, and antioxidants; a candy bar has the main ingredient as sugar. Sugar (fructose) gets digested by the liver to make energy, if there is too much sugar it gets stored as fat. Fructose is broken down by enzymes in the liver to glucose, sucrose is a 1:1 ratio of fructose:glucose. Fruits mainly have fructose while chocolate, candies, etc have sucrose. If your body takes longer to digest a molecule, it therefore takes more time for it to be stored to fat. In other words, a direct intake of glucose will take a one way trip to storage land. Another thing, the other health benefits from fruits also slows down this process, google the details of you like.
    You should avoid added sugar if you take a large intake of fruits. Fruits are not bad for you, and the word natural sugar is a bit ridiculous. Table sugar is grown from sugar canes, and last time I checked sugar canes were natural. I have seen "natural sugar" on shelves but they advertised it as no chemicals or pesticides were used in the product.
    Also, the recommended amount of carb intake is just a recommendation. Not everyone is the same, if you've been eating a lot of fruit everyday for a majority of your life, then your body can probably take that much sugar per day.
    I rambled a lot but in conclusion, sugar is sugar, count it towards your carb intake.
  • johloz
    johloz Posts: 176 Member
    It's true that fruit sugar is good for you, but sugar is sugar, and if you're pre diabetic or something like that you should watch it.

    Obviously sugar is sugar, but how your body reactes to sugars such as table sugar, honey, syrups, etc. is very different from how it reactes to foods that have both sugar and fiber, such as fruit. The more fiber, the slower your body is to digest the food and the slower it releases insulin to process the sugar. This is why you don't get the same "sugar rush" after eating an Apple that you do after eating the same volume of Oreos. Because insulin isn't released at the same rate.

    QFT
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