Sugar...

People who shouldn't really bother tracking sugar:

a) everyone

I've stopped tracking it, but I tend to try and limit empty sugars (those sugars that have been separated from any beneficial fiber or nutrients, such as table sugar, maple syrup, honey, corn syrup, etc) when I can.

I still eat them, but in small amounts.

I have also reduced my fruit intake in order to accommodate more protein and fat intake, which I found helpful for appetite control. But even with that reduction, two pieces of fruit and a bowl of oatmeal put me over on my sugars, so I stopped tracking it because there are nutrients I want from those foods that outweigh any issues with the sugars.

Does anyone try to keep track with their sugar consumption... If so how does that work for you if you try to eat to recommended amount of fruit daily, along with other things that end up having sugar in them... Just curious. Looking for some ideas as well as advice.

Too Much Sugar is really bad for you and here is why...

My information I base this on is in the book, THE BELLY FAT CURE by Jorge Cruise

"Like I mentioned, too much sugar fails to produce a critical hormone in your body called leptin.
Leptin has proven in study after study to be a key player in how your appetite center functions
and how much fat your body uses or preserves. This essential hormone is released by fat cells
and has many functions, but its primary job is to signal to your body that you’ve had enough
food—think of it as the street signal that switches to red when it’s time to stop eating. Sounds
like a pretty important hormone, right? Well, guess what sugar does—it suppresses your body’s

production of leptin. A study done at the University of California, Davis determined that fructose
(one of the most common sugars, often consumed as high-fructose corn syrup) failed to stimulate
leptin and insulin production, claiming it “contribute to decreased satiety and increased food
intake.” 10 When you don’t produce enough leptin, three negative things follow:
• Your Body Stores Belly Fat. Research studies have shown that leptin directly
contributes to a decrease in abdominal fat11—without it your body is programmed to
store fat in your abdominal region.

• You Overeat. When your leptin “signaling center” isn’t working, you don’t know when
to stop eating—and pretty soon you end up with a traffic jam of food in your body ready
to get stored as fat. Where this fat gets deposited depends on your genetics, but most of
us start storing it in our midsection, while others carry it in their butt, hips, or thighs. And
the snowball effect of missing leptin doesn’t stop there—once you’ve gained this weight
your body can actually become leptin resistant. You see, when you gain weight, your fat
cells get bigger and because that’s where leptin comes from, you produce TOO much of
it to the point where your body doesn’t respond to it anymore. And this is why you will
just continue to feel endless hunger and gain an endless amount of weight.

• You Turn Off Fat-Burning Mechanisms. In addition to signaling that you’re full, leptin
also fulfills an essential role in fat burning. Leptin triggers an enzyme in your body to
burn fat. One study done at Harvard Medical School stated that leptin “can directly
stimulate fatty acid oxidation” which is a scientific way of saying fat burning. They even
went on to call what leptin does a “fat-melting” activity. 13 So when you eat too much
Confidential Material. All Rights Reserved ©2009 JorgeCruise.com, Inc. 17
sugar and your leptin production goes down, you actually stop your body from burning
fat.

I hope by now you get how truly important the hormone leptin is to regulating your appetite and
belly-fat-burning abilities. But sugar consumption has also been linked to belly fat in other ways,
too. A study done at UC Davis determined that “intra-abdominal fat was significantly increased
in subjects consuming fructose”14; they suggested that it was because the sugar produced excess
triglycerides (fat found in blood). Because fructose does not promote insulin production, it often
goes directly to the liver to be processed and is converted into triglycerides. The researchers
hypothesized that simple sugars such as fructose create an excess of this fat in the blood, which
may be more likely to get deposited in abdominal fat cells. Bottom line: reducing sugar intake
is critical to managing dangerous abdominal belly fat"

You shouldn't eat more the 15g of all sugars all day. This includes fruits, Veggies, Meats, Processed Foods and of course Junk food, Fruit and Soda Drink