Fruit

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malibulu
malibulu Posts: 79
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi.
This might sound a bit silly, but I've really been put off eating fruit by the amount of sugar that is in it. I'm not very good at the whole nutrition knowledge, but can anyone please help me - or does anyone feel the same way? I'm happy to eat fruit and vegetables generally, I love them... but the sugar is really hard to overlook. Can anyone help me with figuring out what I should be eating. I find it really tough to balance out all of the different areas. I tend to have too much protein generally. Everything else I'm usually ok with.

Thanks
Luisa :-)

Replies

  • fiberartist219
    fiberartist219 Posts: 1,865 Member
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    Yes, there is sugar in apples and oranges, but they also have nutrients and fiber that candy doesn't.

    If you eat a couple pieces of fruit, it's good for you. If you eat a whole bag of apples or oranges, or a whole box of cherries, then you are probably overdoing it and the sugar would be bad in that kind of quantity.

    Juice seems wonderful on the surface, because it still has the nutrients that the fruit does, but it doesn't have the fiber. So juice is better than candy, and whole, raw, fruit is better than juice.

    That's my thoughts on the issue.
  • malibulu
    malibulu Posts: 79
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    yes, thanks for that. I don't tend to have that much of a "sweet" tooth generally anyway. But lately, I've found myself wanting something and having a bag of crisps or something because it shows as less sugar than the fruit. MFP puts a certain amount of sugar allowance every day and today a banana was only a few points off my total daily allowance. How can I figure out what is "good" sugar" and when its too much? or the wrong kind? because normally I'd eat a clementine or something, just finding it sooo offputting that it has so much sugar in it. :-)
  • malibulu
    malibulu Posts: 79
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    bump :-)
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
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    Why are you worried about sugar anyway? And you don't get "too much" protein by going over what MFP recommends.
  • Bentley2718
    Bentley2718 Posts: 1,690 Member
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    MFPs sugar levels seem too low to me, because, as you point out, even a couple of servings of fruit put you over that limit (although bananas are really high in sugar anyway, so they're maybe not the best choice). Typically, I ignore MFPs sugar recommendation because of this. I try to avoid added sugar or processed foods, but if my main source of sugar is fruit (or god forbid the really unhealthy carrot), and I go over, I really don't worry about it. I'm sure there are plenty of people who don't agree with my philosophy, but this is what works for me. In no case can I imagine crisps (by which I assume you mean thin slices of deep fried potatoes covered in salt) would be healthier than a piece of fruit.
  • malibulu
    malibulu Posts: 79
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    Thank you very much for your help - I see what you mean. In reply to the post asking why I'm worried about sugar, I wouldn't go as far as to say I'm worried about it, I'm just confused as to how this works really. Obviously I'm losing weight, I'm just finding it hard to balance all of the different areas without going over on something. I usually go over on protein, but if i have fruit I go way over on the sugar levels.
    I eat a lot of veg and salad, its not that I'm eating in a generally "unhealthy" way. I just wanted a bit of an insight from others about how they deal with the other levels all balancing out. I just kinda figured that if the other levels are there, they'll be there for a reason :-) I'm still trying to get to grips with this properly and was wondering how others deal with things :-)

    I realise crisps (yes, bits of thin potato, sorry, I'm English) lol are not as healthy as fruit. Thank you for your help guys x
    :-)
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    I can tell you that having a few pieces of fruit wont stop you from losing weight. What you want to do is avoid processed sugars/carbs. So eat away. Sodium is better to track than sugar.
  • H_Factor
    H_Factor Posts: 1,722 Member
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    the natural sugar that comes in fruit is inconsequential. I eat my fruit and I stopped tracking sugar because its BS to include natural sugars and refined sugars. Anyway, its the processed/refined sugars that you should limit. Also...its the calories that's most important.
  • FitnessBarbie99
    FitnessBarbie99 Posts: 283 Member
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    i start every single day of my life with a piece of fresh fruit and coffee. No digestive problems ever.

    Just sayin' ...


    95981.png
    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter
  • tillyborn68
    tillyborn68 Posts: 14 Member
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    yes, thanks for that. I don't tend to have that much of a "sweet" tooth generally anyway. But lately, I've found myself wanting something and having a bag of crisps or something because it shows as less sugar than the fruit. MFP puts a certain amount of sugar allowance every day and today a banana was only a few points off my total daily allowance. How can I figure out what is "good" sugar" and when its too much? or the wrong kind? because normally I'd eat a clementine or something, just finding it sooo offputting that it has so much sugar in it. :-)
    fruit is always the better sugar but I use truvia as a substitute sometimes.I also have a book that seems to be helpful, even though I am not diabetic it give me the amount of sugar that is in foods. It's called the diabetes counter 4th ed. By Nolin and Heslin. Here are a few fruits with the amount of grams of sugar when consumed fresh: 1 small apple-11g; 1 navel orange 4.9 oz-12g; 1/2 cup 2.7 oz sliced peach-6g; PINAPPLE 1 cup diced-0g; CANTALOUPE 1 cup cubed or a fresh half-0g; watermelon 10 os wedge-18g; strawberries 1 cup whole or sliced-7g; honeydew 1 cup-14g; BLACKBERRIES 1/2 cup-4g; blueberries 1/2 cup-7g; banana 6"-12g, 7"-14g, 8"-17g. I hope this helps you figure out the amount of sugar to consume for a day, also if you go to myplate.org you can put in the amount of calories you are to consume per day, and it will give you the amount for each food group you should consume per day. For me I am on a 1200 cal diet so the amount of fruit I should have each day is 1 cup. Good luck!
  • curlyslim
    curlyslim Posts: 64 Member
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    I read somewhere about limiting yourself to 3 pieces of fruit, and thats roughly what i aim for.
  • tillyborn68
    tillyborn68 Posts: 14 Member
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    I meant myplate.gov not org, oops :)
  • malibulu
    malibulu Posts: 79
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    Thank you so much - will definately be going onto that website and trying it - I'm on the 1200 a day also. I am grateful for anything that helps to work out the portions of food groups I should be having - As I'm new to all this calorie counting stuff, I'm really grateful for the help.

    I know what you mean about the refined sugar/natural sugar stuff too - its really hard to track. I've only been doing this since the beginning of October as I've had 2 babies and a miscarriage over the last 2 years, so I thought it about time I did somethiing about the extra weight I'd put on gradually and due to the pregnancies.

    Thanks everyone :-) Really really helpful x

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