Sugar and Salt

helenwilliams78
helenwilliams78 Posts: 46 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I've just changed my settings to include sugar and sodium in Nutrients Tracked and I am completely gobsmacked!

Sugar: Always in the red even on my really good days. It seems to be mostly from fruit and veg - I don't have a sweet tooth.

Sodium: Always under by a lot. MFP have 2500 as my daily goal and I barely make it 1000 most days.

My question is this - Is it still bad to go over on suger if it's from healthy foods and Is having so little sodium in my diet bad for me?

Any advice welcome.

Thx.

Replies

  • SergeantSunshine_reused
    SergeantSunshine_reused Posts: 5,382 Member
    Unless you have a medical reason to track sugar it is pretty much useless. Has no effect on weight loss. Good for you for getting it from healthy sources too! :]

    I personally would increase the sodium, especially if you are active and getting a lot of potassium. Too much can cause water retention, but too little can cause a whole world of bad problems
  • Silverstar46
    Silverstar46 Posts: 187 Member
    Don't worry so much. You are better off tracking your carbs rather than your sugar, especially since it sounds like your sugars are coming from fruits and vegetables which are a GREAT source of sugar/carbs.

    As for sodium - being under is marvelous because many people get way too much sodium from processed foods. Your body will let you know if you're not getting enough salt, you will literally begin to crave it.

    MFP is a great tool, but that is all it is. It gives daily guidelines for each of these levels, but I have found that I eat way more protein than it recommends, which in my mind is better than eating more carbs.

    As long as you feel good, and continue to lose weight - you're going to be just fine. Good luck!
  • ilookthetype
    ilookthetype Posts: 3,021 Member
    In the summer when I'm really on target my sodium is generally between 500-700 it sometimes effects my running but my doc said not to obsess, sometimes just grab a Gatorade or something like that.

    I don't worry about my sugar bc it's all from fruits too, however, if it bothers you, berries have less sugar than other fruits and bananas are pretty sugary. However, I don't really harp on it.
  • caviarblack
    caviarblack Posts: 41 Member
    Thanks for posting this. I was just about to ask the same question regarding sugar. All I had so far today was a tangelo and 1 tbsp of raisins and my sugar was already over the daily suggestion.
  • sbeisel1
    sbeisel1 Posts: 181
    Here is my 2 cents, I always go over on protien, always MFP's settings i find to be too low for that, I go over on sugar when I eat a lot of fruit, if it were over from candy or icecream I would consider that a problem, but fruit and veggies, not so much an issue for me. as long as I stay within my calories for the day. Sodium, if it ever goes red, I worry... then drink lots and lots of extra water, I aim to keep that as low as possible, you do need some sodium for body function but that is naturally found in most food and I try not to add it if I can help it.

    Sodium is good to track, if you have a unexplainable gain, you can look back and see if salt might be the cause. Ive dumped tracking sugars, and picked cholesterol.
  • philco41
    philco41 Posts: 68 Member
    The fun about tracking sugar and sodium is seeing where it crops up. If the sugar you see is from fruits, etc., I wouldn't be concerned. It's when you see it coming up in places you wouldn't expect it that you want to be careful. I've been surprised at how much sodium can be in a slice of bread, for example. Good luck.
  • SergeantSunshine_reused
    SergeantSunshine_reused Posts: 5,382 Member

    As for sodium - being under is marvelous because many people get way too much sodium from processed foods. Your body will let you know if you're not getting enough salt, you will literally begin to crave it.

    My body told me by causing fainting spells, muscle soreness, vomiting, and lots of other stuff. Better to just avoid that all together and get the 1500 per day IMO
  • 3laine75
    3laine75 Posts: 3,069 Member
    it is a wee bitty bad to be low on sodium - low blood pressure. but alot of people on here only enter the total calories, protein, carb and fat values. thats probably why you're low in sodium and sometimes fibre. so, unless you're passing out, i wouldn't worry about the sodium one.

    there's alot of hidden suger in breads, sauces, cereals etc but if yours is coming mostly from natural stoff like fruit i don't think you should worry. i'd probably delete the sugar one if its bothering you lol :D
  • helenwilliams78
    helenwilliams78 Posts: 46 Member
    Thanks Guys. Taking sugar off and ignoring that. Like the tracking cholesterol suggestion so might add that instead. Will keep an eye on the sodium and know what to do if I feel light headed - also a good excuse to eat salted popcorn!!:happy:
  • mrsmangomum
    mrsmangomum Posts: 62
    The fun about tracking sugar and sodium is seeing where it crops up. If the sugar you see is from fruits, etc., I wouldn't be concerned. It's when you see it coming up in places you wouldn't expect it that you want to be careful. I've been surprised at how much sodium can be in a slice of bread, for example. Good luck.

    Totally agree. I don't worry about natural sugars, just added sugars.

    As for the sodium, I don't know what the minimum should be, but the iodine added to salt is important for your thyroid.

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