Sugar???

jdp21 · October 2009

Alrighty, SO... I have this friend, see, who's on this special diet that requires him to avoid sugar. He doesn't even eat carrots because they have sugar! Furthermore, he's lost about 40 lbs since Labor Day. He tells me to cut sugar out of my diet, because it does me no good.

Realistically, I don't think I could cut sugar out of my diet, but I DO think that I can at least cut down on it. So here's what I'm wondering...

How bad is sugar for you? And is it okay if you only have it in fruits and, perhaps, low-fat/fat-free yogurt? I'm wondering how much is too much!

SaritaChiquita · October 2009

Personally, I think it depends on the person. A lot of people on here have lost a lot of weight while eating dairy and fruits.

For me, It is almost impossible to drop pounds without watching my sugar intake. I limit myself to 26g a day(including vegetables), and a small treat once a week. It was extremely hard to do at first... but after a week or two, you don't really crave sweet stuff anymore.
There were lot of my staple diet foods that I had to start limiting (once I started watching my sugar intake, such as:

Carrots
Any type of fruit, especially bananas, mangos and grapes (This was the hardest, I love bananas!)
Any starchy vegetable (sweet potatoes, parsnips, ect)
Dairy - Including: Milk, yogurt and limits of fat free cheese. I will eat greek yogurt, when I can afford it, lol. It is relatively low in sugar

I had to keep telling myself that, just because it's a fruit or vegetable, doesn't mean it will help me lose weight. I eat between 7-9 vegetables a day and fruit maybe once a week.

Feel free to check out my food log.

sournotez · October 2009

sugar is a high glycemic food. it messes with your insulin levels, and too many of these foods cause fat storage. some fruits have a low glycemic index, such as apples and pears, so those are alright to eat in moderation. sugar is also high in calories, and if you go over your daily limit in those, then that triggers fat storage as well. your best bet is to aim for mostly low glycemic foods (you can find lists of what these are online if you search google), and stay under your allotted calories per day.

calabrdm · October 2009

I have lost close to forty pounds... I eat a treat everyday! When I limit sugar too strongly, I want to cheat like crazy. Moderation.... got to love Hershey's mini special dark.

TKelly06 · October 2009

I do not watch what I eat for sugar and I am still consistantly losing .7-1 pound a week.

DeeDeeLHF · October 2009

Personally, I had lots of issues with sugar. When I eat sugar it just makes me want more and more...it is like an addiction. I do not find it with fruits and veggies, only processed sugars and things with high fructose corn syrup (super killer).

5 years ago I made the decision to give up all processed sugars and without any other changes lost 20# over the course of a few years. (I was still eating chips, popcorn, etc and NO excercise)

After losing that initial weight I felt better and decided to actually try to lose weight and later found MFP.

If you don't have an issue with blood sugar, small amounts are probably not a big deal, especially if it comes from fruits and vegetables.

DD

jdp21 · October 2009

Thanks for the input, guys!

Sugar is a really, really hard thing for me to avoid. I started my first almost-no-sugar day of dieting today, and like DeeDee said, it IS an addiction... haha. I swear, my body was craving it; I could suddenly sympathize with smokers who try to quit. I've been telling my friends that the changes in my diet might make me slightly irritable so that if I lash out, it's the lack of sugar talking.

However, after a day of avoiding sugar, I finally broke down and went to work, where as I said before, it is a hard thing to avoid because unfortunately for me, I work at a coffee shop! So I'm surrounded by tons of syrups and pastries. I made myself a medium mocca, but I at least only put in one shot of the syrup (it normally takes two).

Tomorrow, I'm going to see if I can actually make it the whole day with avoiding it. I've been trying to eat a lot of celery and cucumber to fill me up and make me crave food less. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go through it like crazy.

I bought a few apples as well, since I feel like maybe they'll help ween me off of sugar at the very least.

BrendaLee · October 2009

Sugar puts a lot of stress on your body- particularly your pancreas and your liver, and can lead to non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver. The body has to produce insulin to deal with sugar spikes, and that takes its toll. Sugar has actually been linked to all sorts of health conditions.

You don't have to worry as much about the sugars in fruit as long as you're consuming the entire fruit, and not just the juice. The fiber slows down the absorption of sugar. The sugars you have to look out for are added sugars.

__

I'm addicted to sugar in a big way.

tmiller17 · October 2009

A little piece of advice that my trainer told me...

Don't cut anything out. Consider the food pyramid, if you pulled something out, it would no longer be able to stand on its own. Your body needs NATURAL sugars, carbs, etc. so completely eliminating these is not healthy. But going and getting a soda because you feel a "sugar craving" isn't healthy, but eating strawberries or carrots that have the NATURAL sugars are just fine in moderation

mrd232 · October 2009

Do a Youtube search on "Sugar: The bitter truth"

Cutting refined and added sugars should be something we all strive for. They are literally a nutrition void added to foods that spikes BG levels, adds unnecessary calories, and fools our body into craving more food. Ever notice you can eat a steak and feel nice and full but you pop one sugary treat and you continue to crave more? This is your body losing its ability to signal when it's full and this is the addictive power of sugar. I guarantee we've all felt it at some point or another.

Excessive sugar intake (be it from sugar or excessive alcohol intake which is similar in chemical structure to common table sugar - sucrose) leads to fatty liver disease.

The great thing about fruit is it contains fiber to offset the natural fruit sugar. Also realize that fruit, though naturally sweet, does not compare the sweetness or sugar load of a piece of candy made with sucrose or fructose.

In short, yes, sugar is addictive. It's hard to stop eating but a lot of people have successfully cut it down or out of their diet. It's not impossible to remove refined sugar (this also includes honey, "raw" sugar, organic sugar, rice syrup, and all that happy alternative stuff - it's still sucrose and fructose and it still raises your blood sugar!) or processed foods (usually laden with HFCS) - cut them down as you go. Your body will thank you for it. If you crave something sweet, try a healthier alternative - a piece of fruit, or use a non-sugar sweetener such as stevia or erythritol.

Sugar???

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