Sugar

I think 19 grams of sugar is alot for yougurt. Is there another brand that is under 5grams? I would cut out as much sugar from the fruit as I could. Your body doesn't know the difference between healthy sugar & plain old sugar. It stores the excess into fat.

The apple is better because it has fiber which helps give the body something to break down other than fructose. Plus...can you imagine how much juice you get from one apple? Not very much.

The problem with juice is that it lacks the fiber and it has many servings worth of fruit in each glass.

I've spent the last week trying to understand why, when I went low carb, I suddenly lost my unending appetite and I just felt calmer inside. The best answer I've come up with is the drastic reduction in all sugars.

Not all nutrients are created equal, protein, fat and carbs are handled differently during digestion. It's very much a chemical process happening within our bodies. I encourage you to read more about it. I certainly never put the puzzle pieces together until this experience.

Here's an excerpt from an online article to get you started.

"The first step is to develop an understanding of the biochemical concept of blood sugar control. Research has confirmed many of us simply cannot eat sugars and grains without it leading to out of control eating. You can check this out for yourself. Examine the sensitive nature of your own blood sugar, the highs and lows, the cravings created, and the physical, emotional, and mental response you have to both high and low blood sugars.

What happens to our blood sugar when you eat a high carbohydrate diet? It doesn't matter which processed carbohydrate food you choose, carbohydrates break down into sugar (glucose) in your body and go into your blood. Unbalanced blood sugar levels are a major cause of carbohydrate cravings. Because your blood cannot tolerate too much sugar, your body naturally produces the hormone insulin that takes sugar from the blood and deposits it into the cells. When you eat a high carbohydrate meal, your blood sugar levels rise to a dangerous level. Large doses of insulin rush to the scene and clear out the sugar. As a result of clearing, the opposite state occurs, called low blood sugar. You may be familiar with feeling low blood sugar---being tired irritable even shaky. To bring blood sugar levels back up, your body sends your brain a chemical message saying, "I need sugar, eat sugar." Hence you crave pop, bread, brownies, pasta, or anything with sugar. In effect, carbohydrate cravings are a biochemical response to low blood sugar. Cravings are not a lack of will power! "

So is it the same thing whether I eat a whole apple or a glass of apple juice?

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1809/2

One medium apple, 95 calories 95% of which from carbs. 4.4g fiber, 18.9g sugars (about half are fructose). 14% of DV for VitC.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1822/2

One cup of unsweetened apple juice, 114 calories, 97% from carbs. 24g sugars, 4% of DV for VitC.

So they are pretty similar, yes. Losing the skin etc removes some fibre & vitamins, but fruit is essentially fruit juice soaked into a bit of animal feed.

It's a lot easier to down 3 cups of apple juice and have an appetite than to down three apples and be as hungry.

Just sayin'!

Eat the sugar. The broccoli and red capsicum in my stirfy this afternoon totalled 6 and 7g of sugar respectively and that sugar was gooooooooood. As long as you're not eating a whole bunch of empty calories that mean you miss out on fibre, vitamin e, zinc, iron, etc, there's nothing wrong with having sugar in your diet, whether it be from a lot of fruit and veg and some unsweetened yogurt or a few pieces of chocolate/glass of fruit juice. For the record, my cravings on a high sugar diet from fruit and veg are exactly as they are on Atkins. Funny that.

Hi everyone!

This is my first post in here. I usually just read, and I have to admit this forum and you guys have been very helpful!

Here's my two cents on the sugar topic.

I'm pretty sure the MFP goal refers to added sugar.

http://www.fitsugar.com/Healthy-Eating-Tip-Limit-Your-Added-Sugar-Intake-40-Grams-3035229
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-08-25/health/aha.sugar.added_1_sugar-corn-syrup-teaspoons?_s=PM:HEALTH

Considering I've completely removed any added sugar from my diet, I've changed the sugar goal accordingly to the European GDA (90 grams in a 2000 cal diet)

http://gda.ciaa.eu/asp2/5_key_nutrients.asp

I hope this helps.

tracking sugar is really pointless, I don't even eat fruits and I go over most days because of sweet potatoes and Brown Rice in my diet. I just raised the intake by about 20 grams because looking at that -12 or whatever made me feel bad lol.