Reducing sugar and increasing protein

cchartzell · January 2012

I recently changed my food diary to track my sugar and protein and both need work- I was waayyyyyy overshooting my sugar "goal" every day (MFP has it set at 25g but that seems incredibly low considering an apple has 9g of sugar and I eat an apple almost every day).

Basically I'm looking for ideas to take the meals and snacks that are high in sugar and replace them with meals or snacks that are lower in sugar and higher in protein.

So I really have two questions:

1) Do you have any favorite high-protein breakfast foods or snack foods?

2) If there are others tracking their sugar, how much do you allow yourself to eat in a day?

AngelTwin27 · January 2012

I'm interested in this too! :-)

I've been tracking sugar as well and am truly amazed at how many "healthy" foods actually have lots of sugar in them! My sugar allowance is just the default that MFP set for me, which is 30. Most days I over-shoot it by around 20 - some days more if I've had a sweet treat, but usually it's just from the "healthy" stuff!

I've always just been content with keeping under the calorie total for the day, but feel that my body is changing a lot now and I should start seriously looking at the type of food I'm eating!

Thanks for asking - look forward to seeing the replies...

VickCG · January 2012

I was just about to open a debate about this :-)

I also track my sugar comsuption and I agree with you, my daily allowance is 26 gr and and as soon as I eat a couple of pieces of fruit I pass this allowance.

Regarding the protein I was recomended a yogurt, it is called Total 0% and has quite a lot of proteins, although it has some sugar too.
I also pass my daily allowance of proteins most days too but I was told that this is not too bad, however I am worried about the total sugar

bornforthis1 · January 2012

I am having the same problem! Seeing the sugar intake go over is killing me and I have been trying to figure out something easy for breakfast that won't start me off with a sugar spike in the morning.
I have done eggs in the morning and a lot of time I will eat greek yogurt (which is the Fage total 0% and the like) which is high in protein. But if you get the yogurt with the fruit, it has the sugar. I had this friend who would make Quinoa for breakfast(I might try this). Quinoa is grain like seed, you make it like rice. Good protein and fiber. You could make it like you would oatmeal with milk and honey(but then again, the sugar issue) or start throwing veggies in it or even an egg and scrabble.

I would love to see more tips on the sugar issue though. It's so hard!~

cchartzell · January 2012

Quinoa is a great idea... I have done oatmeal and eggs (or an omelet) for breakfast which is not too bad.

The thing that was getting me was breakfast cereal. I have eaten Special K red berries every morning for the last three years- I just realized it has 9g of sugar in it! I also often eat Fresh Express Salad Kits for lunch and the Asian salad kit has 12g of sugar for the amount I was eating. Calorie wise, even fat and fiber wise these were good choices but holy crap!

Natihilator · January 2012

If you get tired of oatmeal, eggs and quinoa, you might try mixing some cooked oatmeal or any grain with a raw egg/egg whites, some spices, maybe a pinch of honey, and make pancakes from that. I know honey has more calories and is sweeter than sugar, but it also has nutrients and a little goes a long way. You could also make them savoury pancakes, add some green onion and cheese maybe!

annemowen1 · January 2012

Below, I have provided a link to an article that explains the American Heart Association's most recent guideline regarding sugar intake. For people trying to limit their daily sugar, I think one of the key takeaways is that the recommendations focus on added sugars, not those that occur naturally in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and unsweetened dairy products.

One of the challenges in tracking this is that, for processed foods, it is difficult to know how many grams of the sugar listed on the nutrition label are from added sugars and how many grams are from naturally occuring ones. For example, an average slice of whole wheat bread has about 5 grams of sugar, but only 4 of those are from added sugars.

To simplify things, I subtract from my daily sugar totals, any that are from unprocessed fruits, vegetables, whole grains and unsweetened dairy. So, for example, on a recent day where I was slightly under my calorie goal, myfitnesspal tracking showed that I had consumed 37 grams of sugar. When I subtracted the sugars that occured naturally in the unsweetened oatmeal, fresh fruit, milk and vegetables that I ate that day, my total added sugar was 22 grams, just under the recommended 24 grams per day for me.

BTW, Ciara, I recommend whole wheat toast with natural almond butter (no added sugar!) for breakfast .

http://www.rodale.com/recommended-sugar-intake?page=0,0

erickirb · January 2012

More protein is good and if you are not diabetic I would not bother tracking sugar. You already track carbs and sugar is a type of carb, you would be better off tracking other nutrients.

The MFP sugar limit is for added sugar, but when you enter a food item there is no distinction between types of sugar, so for that reason I don't track sugar as most of mine comes from milk and fruit.

knowkeys · January 2012

I agree, the limits are for added sugar, so you should discount the sugar in fruit, milk etc.

However, you should limit yourself to two pieces of fruit a day and make up your "5-a-day" with vegetables.

I track my sugar because I am "diet controlled" diabetic Type II and it is very difficult to keep within the MFP limit.

Embell0830 · January 2012

I'm figuring this out myself. I was over shooting on my sugar to and realized a lot of it was coming from a lot of processed foods. Sugar hides in a lot of unusual places, ie skim milk has like 8g of sugar, but half and half has none.

I've done some research on this and I'm going to go off topic a little. Your body reads sugar as sugar whether it is from a candy bar or a piece of fruit. The piece of fruit is better because you are getting all the additional nutrients from it like vitamins and fiber.

From various articles, books, and a nutritionist that when you eat some sugar you should also eat protein to help prevent a sugar spike. Also if you can keep the sugar consumed per meal/snack at 9 grams or less your body is able to process it much smoother. You should try to keep your sugar in check, but if you end up eating more sugar then MFP says it's ok, but keep in mind the sugars should be coming from healthy all natural items, not from overly processed foods.

april522 · January 2012

I agree, the limits are for added sugar, so you should discount the sugar in fruit, milk etc.

I agree with this. I don't mind my sugar going over so long as it's mostly from natural sources like fruit and dairy products. Added sugars are what I try to watch out for.

Reducing sugar and increasing protein

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