nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

MyFitnessPal Community

Sugar Intake

LemonJADE

My sugar intake on MFP goes over my limit when I have a piece of fruit. Why is it so low? What should I do?

Replies

LouisaMoo

Don't worry about it. The food diary is only a tool for you to use, it can't tell the difference between healthy sugars in fruit and unhealthy sugars in donuts and Coke. If I see that I've gone way over on my sugar, I check to see where it's coming from. If it's from the banana I had for breakfast and the natural yoghurt I had with my lunch, I don't care. If it's from processed food, I make a mental note to be more careful the next day.

LemonBurns

Mmmmmmm -

Suuuuuugar :happy:

treasa327

it would be nice if there was a tool to differentiate between naturally occurring sugars and the refined ones. although too much natural sugar isn't always good either. i just make a note each day calculating how much sugar is from dairy or fruits.

brkwv5

It is interesting, isn't it? I am intentionally avoiding excess sugar, and generally eat less about 100 grams of carbohydrates per day, but I am ALWAYS WAY over on sugar. It makes me wonder how my numbers would look if I ate breads or pastas!

Maybe there is a flaw in the nutrition guidelines...

laddyboy

Sorry to rain on the Good Sugar vs Bad Sugar parade, but Sugar is Sugar. All sugar creates an insulin response and promotes fat storage if its not burned off for energy. Women should try to stay under 24 grams per day. I rearly eat sugar after 1 pm so that I'm sure I burn off the sugar. When I'm doing a 30 day sugar detox I stay under or around 10-20 grams per day.

Sugar IS the enemy!!!

hongruss

From what I understood(may be wrong) Fructose DOESN'T spike Insulin the same way that refined sugar does. I would say natural is fine in moderation, unnatural try to control

Russ

ahavoc

Simple carbohydrates or simple sugars - These carbs are broken down and digested very quickly, but most simple carbs contain refined sugars and very few essential vitamins and minerals. Examples include table sugar, fruit juice, milk, yogurt, honey, molasses, maple syrup and brown sugar.

Complex carbohydrates - the complex carbs take longer to digest and are packed with fiber, vitamins and minerals. Examples include vegetables, whole grain breads, oatmeal, legumes, brown rice and wheat pasta.

Carbohydrates are considered simple or complex based upon their chemical structure. Both types contain four calories per gram, and both are digested into the bloodstream as glucose, which is then used to fuel our bodies for normal daily activity and exercise.

When you eat (or drink) a simple carbohydrate or a simple sugar – whether it is a can of soda, a scoop of fat-free ice cream, or even a glass of orange juice – all of the ingested sugar quickly rushes into your bloodstream. You typically feel a quick rush of energy. Your body then promptly reacts to this sudden spike in blood sugar by calling on the pancreas to produce additional insulin to remove the excess sugar from your blood. And for the moment, you have significantly lower blood sugar as a result of the insulin doing its job, resulting in a sense or feeling of needing more fuel, more energy and more calories. And as you hit that residual low blood sugar, you begin to crave more of the quick-release, simple sugars, and hence you have just initiated the sugar craving cycle.

As this downward cycle continues, your pancreas continues to secrete insulin while it simultaneously reduces its production of another hormone called glucagon. Glucagon production, as it relates to improving your body composition, is very important if your fitness goal is to lose excess body fat. Glucagon is the only hormone that allows stored body fat to be released into the bloodstream to be burned by your muscles as energy. And when the pancreas has to elevate its production of insulin while reducing its supply of glucagon, you are basically locking-in your excess body fat. Therefore, too much simple sugar intake dramatically hinders the process of reducing stored body fat.

For more information go to: http://www.briancalkins.com/simplevscomplexcarb.htm and read his book The Power of Champions.

lisadlocks

There is sugar in everything almost.. To keep my sugars low, I generally eat small amounts of low glycemic fruits and high amount of veggies. However, the more veggies I eat, the higher the sugar numbers. I eat very little pastas, rice or breads and most of my carbs come from veggies, high fiber cereals and sweet potatoes. Needless to say, SWEET potatoes are high in sugar so I have to watch the amounts as well. I try very hard not to have red numbers from sugar but it takes careful menu planning.

yallcallmedeb

I have not been able to understand the sugar intake. I am always way over as well. I try to avoid added sugar. MFP has me at an allowance of 27 for sugar. I'm assuming that is 27 grams??? If that applies to only added sugar, than MFP should be able to calculate that in by excluding all natural sugars (or at least 90% of the natural sugars - they might miss an obscure fruit for awhile). Since this would be a fairly easy programming fix, I wonder if we really are only supposed to take in 27 grams of sugar regardless of natural or added? I've been doing some research on it but not really coming up with any good, definitive answers. Can anyone enlighten me?

Emilit_uk

Don't worry about it. The food diary is only a tool for you to use, it can't tell the difference between healthy sugars in fruit and unhealthy sugars in donuts and Coke. If I see that I've gone way over on my sugar, I check to see where it's coming from. If it's from the banana I had for breakfast and the natural yoghurt I had with my lunch, I don't care. If it's from processed food, I make a mental note to be more careful the next day.

I agree with this. I had the same question regarding sugar, but if its coming from fruit, don't worry. You don't need to stop eating fruit. Just be mindful that some so called 'heathy' foods sometimes contains a lot of sugars. For example, I ate cereal bars which I have cut out now, Swapped them for nuts which satiate my hunger more effectively. Often sweet things make me feel more hungry!

yallcallmedeb

Sorry to rain on the Good Sugar vs Bad Sugar parade, but Sugar is Sugar. All sugar creates an insulin response and promotes fat storage if its not burned off for energy. Women should try to stay under 24 grams per day. I rearly eat sugar after 1 pm so that I'm sure I burn off the sugar. When I'm doing a 30 day sugar detox I stay under or around 10-20 grams per day.

Sugar IS the enemy!!!

Are we supposed to follow the old guidelines of 1.5 - 2 pieces of fruit, 2-3 servings of vegetables and 2-3 servings of dairy (I'm using the numbers for women....I know that it is slightly higher for men)? I know that there are fruits that are way higher in sugar than others but I find it hard to have a "well balanced" diet and stay within my sugar allowance.

punkypenny

If you can get your added sugars down real low, you should be able to get 1-2 servings of fruit in per day. Also when you exercise your MFP sugar allowance goes up. So that helps. I struggle on most days as well. I usually end up going about 10g over.

Rocbola

Are we supposed to follow the old guidelines of 1.5 - 2 pieces of fruit, 2-3 servings of vegetables and 2-3 servings of dairy (I'm using the numbers for women....I know that it is slightly higher for men)? I know that there are fruits that are way higher in sugar than others but I find it hard to have a "well balanced" diet and stay within my sugar allowance.

Skip the dairy, and have more fruit. The "old guidelines" come from the USDA, which is short for the United States Department of AGRICULTURE. They suggest you consume more dairy than you need because it is an AGRICULTURAL product. The United States Department of AGRICULTURE is more interested in supporting the AGRICULTURAL industry, than they are in your health, because it is their job. The USDA recommendations have switched up over the years, usually recommending whatever it is that us currently being produced by US farmers, not because it's what's best for human health, because it's what's best for them.

laddyboy

Sorry to rain on the Good Sugar vs Bad Sugar parade, but Sugar is Sugar. All sugar creates an insulin response and promotes fat storage if its not burned off for energy. Women should try to stay under 24 grams per day. I rearly eat sugar after 1 pm so that I'm sure I burn off the sugar. When I'm doing a 30 day sugar detox I stay under or around 10-20 grams per day.

Sugar IS the enemy!!!

Are we supposed to follow the old guidelines of 1.5 - 2 pieces of fruit, 2-3 servings of vegetables and 2-3 servings of dairy (I'm using the numbers for women....I know that it is slightly higher for men)? I know that there are fruits that are way higher in sugar than others but I find it hard to have a "well balanced" diet and stay within my sugar allowance.

Actually it really should be more like 1-2 servings for fruit. 8-10 serving of veggies. If you look at the USDA food pryamid and the Farmers Pryamid to fatten the pigs and cows to produce more meat you will see they are not all that different.
When I'm doing a low sugar phase I eat only from the berry family. That's when I'm cutting. When bulking I will eat a banana with my breakfast right after my workout.