too much sugar - noteven eating sugary foods!?

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Roseisadreamer
Roseisadreamer Posts: 110
in Food and Nutrition
my sugar quantities always seem really high but i'm not eating that much which is really sugary, the occasional cake or so when it fits with my calorie goal, but other than that not really. Can anyone recommend me some substitutes because currently it looks like its the fruit and cereal that is raising it....
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Replies

  • kendrart
    kendrart Posts: 49 Member
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    I have this problem too! And I rarely eat what I think of as "sugary" foods, I just eat a lot of fruit. I can't decide then if it's an issue or not.
  • tsh0ck
    tsh0ck Posts: 1,970 Member
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    honestly, I don't worry a lick about sugar intake and don't track it. the number on here is set low in the first place. but past that, barring an existing medical condition, sugar isn't going to hurt you. (neither will sodium, for that matter.) eating better and working out more, you are already balancing your diet and eating better, so your sugar should be just fine.
  • nicholawelch
    nicholawelch Posts: 74 Member
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    you could try finding fruits with less sugar in if it worries you
  • Captain_Tightpants
    Captain_Tightpants Posts: 2,215 Member
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    Stop tracking sugar, it's not worth it. Especially if it's coming from fruit. If you're tracking carbs (which you are) then you're tracking all the sugar anyway... no reason to track it twice.

    Much better off tracking sodium or fiber.
  • linz1125
    linz1125 Posts: 441 Member
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    Try watching the foods you eat that are processed...they typically contain sugar without even realizing it.
  • Sublog
    Sublog Posts: 1,296 Member
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    my sugar quantities always seem really high but i'm not eating that much which is really sugary, the occasional cake or so when it fits with my calorie goal, but other than that not really. Can anyone recommend me some substitutes because currently it looks like its the fruit and cereal that is raising it....

    And why exactly are you concerned about your sugar intake?
  • VanessaGS
    VanessaGS Posts: 514 Member
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    Fruit although filled with sugar it's good for you. You can try Frosted Mini Wheats. Also a good sugar substitue I just learned about is Stevia. You can get it at a regular grocery store and it's a natural sweetener. All the other sweeteners have chemicals in them so think about that next time you drink a tea or something. It has 0 calories also. Hope this helps. You can also try soy milk instead of regular milk. It's really good. That will save you on calories.
  • kyt1206
    kyt1206 Posts: 101
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    If you eat restaurant food, some chefs use sugar to "savory up" their foods. That's why restaurant foods taste better than home cooked meals, they have a tablespoon or so of sugar in it. Want to test it? Try making chicken broccoli stir fry at home, just add a bit of sugar to it, tastes like restaurant made.

    How do I know? Family friends owns a restaurant, altho they use honey in their sweet&savory and they tell their customers about it, most places don't and they don't even bother using natural sugars, just regular cane sugar.

    Barring that, you are really better off just increasing natural foods intake versus processed foods, like cereal. Heck, if you really crave carbs in the morning, get down some rice topped with eggs or turkey sausage. It's really good stuff. Rice contains a significant amount of proteins (if you get the sushi grade rice) and they can be easily steamed.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    If you eat restaurant food, some chefs use sugar to "savory up" their foods. That's why restaurant foods taste better than home cooked meals, they have a tablespoon or so of sugar in it. Want to test it? Try making chicken broccoli stir fry at home, just add a bit of sugar to it, tastes like restaurant made.

    How do I know? Family friends owns a restaurant, altho they use honey in their sweet&savory and they tell their customers about it, most places don't and they don't even bother using natural sugars, just regular cane sugar.

    Barring that, you are really better off just increasing natural foods intake versus processed foods, like cereal. Heck, if you really crave carbs in the morning, get down some rice topped with eggs or turkey sausage. It's really good stuff. Rice contains a significant amount of proteins (if you get the sushi grade rice) and they can be easily steamed.
    First off, sugar makes food sweet, not savory. Salt makes food savory.

    And, cane sugar IS natural sugar.


    To the OP, unless you're diabetic, the amount of sugar you eat doesn't matter.
  • lillebanon
    lillebanon Posts: 214 Member
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    I go over my sugar "limit" eating a few carrots a day. I know the sugars I'm eating are from healthy sources (I rarely crave or eat processed sugars), so I ignore it.
  • kyt1206
    kyt1206 Posts: 101
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    First off, sugar makes food sweet, not savory. Salt makes food savory.

    And, cane sugar IS natural sugar.


    To the OP, unless you're diabetic, the amount of sugar you eat doesn't matter.

    1) I used savory in quotes, I was translating from Chinese, which literally means "good-tasting" or "savory" not salt or sugar.

    2) Cane sugar is NOT natural sugar if it's bleached and processed into powder/cubes. The only natural sugar you get out of cane is the brown sugar/unbleached/syrup.

    3) Wrong, if you're diabetic, you must match the amount of sugar you absorb to the amount of sugar your body can process within reasonable limits. Failure to do this will cause hyper or hypoglycemia.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    First off, sugar makes food sweet, not savory. Salt makes food savory.

    And, cane sugar IS natural sugar.


    To the OP, unless you're diabetic, the amount of sugar you eat doesn't matter.

    1) I used savory in quotes, I was translating from Chinese, which literally means "good-tasting" or "savory" not salt or sugar.

    2) Cane sugar is NOT natural sugar if it's bleached and processed into powder/cubes. The only natural sugar you get out of cane is the brown sugar/unbleached/syrup.

    3) Wrong, if you're diabetic, you must match the amount of sugar you absorb to the amount of sugar your body can process within reasonable limits. Failure to do this will cause hyper or hypoglycemia.
    1. Mistranslation.

    2. Chlorinating something does not make it unnatural, salt and potassium are both natural, plus chloride is a required nutrient. Also, processing something to a certain texture or shape doesn't make it unnatural, either. Cheese and cuts of meat are both natural.

    3. I said UNLESS YOU'RE DIABETIC, meaning that a person who is NOT diabetic does NOT have to worry about sugar.
  • kt487
    kt487 Posts: 2 Member
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    Sugar is the devil!! Haha I don't worry about the sugar too much because most of it for me comes from fruit, wheat bread, and my morning Kashi "go lean" cereal (which I think is pretty nutritious- it's packed with protein, fiber etc. and very filling). I'm not even eating any sweets and my sugar is almost always over. So I agree with many that it's not a big deal if overall you're eating healthy and most of the sugar content is coming from natural sources like fruit, and your carbs are still within range. However, I wouldn't say that sugar is not something to worry about, especially for diabetics and those at risk of getting diabetes.

    For the comment that sodium doesn't matter at all unless you have a health problem, it most definitely does! It's a major contributor to heart disease and hypertension, not too mention feeling bloated. Water follows salt, so the more salt you consume the more water you retain. This explains why our rings are too tight on our fingers after Chinese food!

    Good luck to everyone with each of your goals. :)
  • LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo
    LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo Posts: 3,634 Member
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    That's my problem too & I don't even eat cereals.

    Anyhow I suggest you cut-off your cereal intake but continue eating fruits. The fructose content in fruits is not too many plus its natural unlike cereals that are just purely artificial stuff coated with lots of sugar. Although there are some sugar-free ones but I don't think it can somehow help. Better eat whole foods instead.

    You don't have to be diabetic to worry about the sugar content. I'm a diabetic but before that I used to not care for anything until I got to this stage. Although there are times wherein our blood sugar levels crush & we need to take in some sugar.
  • jessethebody83
    jessethebody83 Posts: 1
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    You are on the right track by eatinf foods that are low in processed sugar. as others have said, natural sugar dont worry about. Processed sugar is where you should worry, stay away from high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils (trans fats). Keep your meals based around protein too, 1gram per pound goal body weight. Eat 6 meals a day to keep your metabolism/energy balanced and your metabolism high all day. You'll be set. Any questions hit me up.
  • LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo
    LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo Posts: 3,634 Member
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    3. I said UNLESS YOU'RE DIABETIC, meaning that a person who is NOT diabetic does NOT have to worry about sugar.
    For the comment that sodium doesn't matter at all unless you have a health problem, it most definitely does! It's a major contributor to heart disease and hypertension, not too mention feeling bloated. Water follows salt, so the more salt you consume the more water you retain. This explains why our rings are too tight on our fingers after Chinese food!

    TRue (on the 2nd quote)... And why have to wait to get sick before start worrying about the macros? Do you people realize that negligence is what has gotten us diabetics or hypertensives here in the first place? You guys don't understand how difficult it is to get sick. PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE.
  • tsh0ck
    tsh0ck Posts: 1,970 Member
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    no, sodium actually doesn't matter as much as many people seem to think. it's not the devil. it's actually a necessary element in our bodies. and, doing the same things as lowering sodium in our diet is increasing potassium-rich foods. lowering salt isn't bad. but keeping the two in balance does the same thing when it comes to lowering BP. add drinking lots of water -- we flush 90 to 95 percent of our sodium through urination -- and working out, you dump even more. it's really not a problem.

    here's just one story:

    http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=its-time-to-end-the-war-on-salt
    This week a meta-analysis of seven studies involving a total of 6,250 subjects in the American Journal of Hypertension found no strong evidence that cutting salt intake reduces the risk for heart attacks, strokes or death in people with normal or high blood pressure. In May European researchers publishing in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that the less sodium that study subjects excreted in their urine—an excellent measure of prior consumption—the greater their risk was of dying from heart disease. These findings call into question the common wisdom that excess salt is bad for you, but the evidence linking salt to heart disease has always been tenuous.


    and sugar? again, same thing. obviously we're talking reasonable amounts here. and since we are living on the principal of portion control/moderation, that's pretty much part of the game plan.
  • tsh0ck
    tsh0ck Posts: 1,970 Member
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    here's another article, by the way:

    http://www.good.is/post/is-salt-actually-bad-for-you-new-research-adds-to-the-confusion/
    For eight years, researchers followed 3,681 Europeans—healthy middle-aged people who didn't have high blood pressure or heart disease. They observed each participant's salt intake by measuring the sodium in their urine and measured their blood pressure. What they found, published in a study in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, continues to stoke the flames of one of the biggest food fights: the assault on salt.

    The investigators claim that the less salt people ate, the more likely they were to die of heart disease—and that a modest increase in salt did not appear to cause high blood pressure.
  • kt487
    kt487 Posts: 2 Member
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    Yes, sodium is essential to the body. Without enough, or with an excess of water (due to dilution), a person can go into hyponatremia, which can be life threatening. However, with the American diet/lifestyle, not getting enough sodium is very rarely a problem. From what I have learned about nutrition, most people get more than enough sodium without even reaching for a salt shaker, especially if he or she eats processed foods.

    The main thing I am never able to get even close to enough of is potassium. Anyone else have this problem?

    Anyways weren't we talking about sugar? That's what I said was the devil... it's in everything and so easy to go over is my point. But everything in moderation right? :happy:
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    3. I said UNLESS YOU'RE DIABETIC, meaning that a person who is NOT diabetic does NOT have to worry about sugar.
    For the comment that sodium doesn't matter at all unless you have a health problem, it most definitely does! It's a major contributor to heart disease and hypertension, not too mention feeling bloated. Water follows salt, so the more salt you consume the more water you retain. This explains why our rings are too tight on our fingers after Chinese food!

    TRue (on the 2nd quote)... And why have to wait to get sick before start worrying about the macros? Do you people realize that negligence is what has gotten us diabetics or hypertensives here in the first place? You guys don't understand how difficult it is to get sick. PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE.

    Yes, prevention is better than cure. That said, SUGAR DOES NOT CAUSE DIABETES. The failure to process sugar properly is a SYMPTOM of diabetes, not the cause. Type I Diabetes is caused by genetics, and Type II Diabetes is caused by excessive body fat in the blood.

    If you have diabetes, you need to watch sugar. If you don't, it's irrelevant.

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