Sugar intake - I GIVE UP!

Check this out.  It's my food log so far today with (calories in parentheses).

Breakfast:
2 slices whole grain bread (100)
1 tbsp natural peanut butter (105)
1 large banana (121)

Lunch:
2 slices whole grain bread (100)
6 slices Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Chicken Breast (50)
1 slice Sargento Deli Style Mozzarella (60)
3 inner leafs of Romaine lettuce (5)
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt (110)
1 cup fat free milk (90)

Snacks:
1 NLEA serving baby carrots (30)
1 60-cal pack of prunes (60)

Sugar Intake so far today:  57 grams (141%)
I know I'll be at 220% by the time I go to bed, as usual.

What the heck?  I give up!  I see no possible way to cut sugar other than eating nothing but meat and cheese all day.  And then my sodium would triple.  I probably shouldn't have already eaten 4 pieces of bread, but I never eat carbs other than fruits/vegetables after 5pm.  I mean, I've so successfully eliminated processed sugar from my diet that I actually got a buzz the last time I ate a rich cookie (complete with the hangover... won't be doing that again!).

I'm losing weight just fine.  I was just wondering if any human being out there manages to not go over on the sugar intake.  And if so, HOW??? 

I pay no attention to sugar intake unless we're talking refined and artifical sweeteners. The latter I eliminated from my diet a long time ago, and the former I have removed but for trace amounts in healthy foods I eat.

I eat whole grain breads and pastas, natural peanut butter, plain yogurt, etc. There really isn't anything out there you can't eat when avoiding sweeteners—if you find the healthiest alternative. I manage to keep my refined-sweeteners intake quite low every day.

So that's what I do. Other than that, I don't pay attention to sugar content. The amount of sugar in my fruit, for example, matters not at all to me. That's natural sugar. And although even plain yogurt has some refined sweetener, it's worlds better than the flavored ones that contain a lot of refined sweetener, and in my opinion better for you than the ones that contain artificial sweetener. (It tends to have less sugar than the artificially sweetened ones as well.) And the serving size is often enormous: a cup, for example, versus the tiny servings you get of the flavored yogurts that are sweetened. I never eat an entire cup of plain yogurt, but even if I did the sugar content would not be overwhelming.

 

Seriously do not worry about natural sugar.  As long as you're not eating snickers and suckers, you'll be fine.  My friend lost over 70lbs and her daily sugar intake was always between 50-80.

Yay!  Good to know I'm not the only one with off-the-charts sugar levels.

"Healthiest alternative" is right.  I check labels anytime I see new or different products, just to see how they measure to what I'm consuming.  And yeah, when I saw how much plain yogurt I could have for the same calories as one of those dinky little sugary yogurt cups, I totally got on board with the plain stuff.

I do eat a fair amount of low fat or nonfat dairy because I've found that I lose more efficiently with lots of calcium in my diet.

And as for fruits and veggies.... pfft!  No "analysis" on earth is going to make me give up my bananas and prunes and zucchini!

I'm a dairy person, too. I do not fear milk or even cheese. I choose milk with less sugar and fat, typically, but I don't worry too much about it. I consider milk to be a healthy option (and I need it for my protein shakes).

It looks like you've cut out most refined and added sugars, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.  Sugars that occur naturally in fruits and veggies aren't so bad since they're accompanied by fiber and other nutrients.  I would avoid dried fruits, like the prunes, because the sugar content is much more dense and you end up eating a lot more sugar than if you'd eaten the same weight/volume of fresh plums.  Bananas also have tons of sugar.

Try snacking on more veggies than fruits, in general, since they have less sugar.  Tomatoes are a great choice; I always have a supply on had for snacking on the run.  I eat them like apples.  Cherry and grape tomatoes tend to have a lot more sugar, so beware.  (Funny that tomatoes are, technically, fruits!)

Yeah, I'll admit that prunes are one of my "treat" foods.  They're just so good mid-morning with a small cup of coffee!

Eh, even prunes and bananas are no big deal to me sugar-wise. They're good for you. And they contain the kind of sugar that the body most readily assimilates and are a great sweet treat. I wouldn't recommend living on them, but I see nothing wrong with incorporating them into your diet.

Prunes also are created from a special kind of plum that has more fiber than the others. Many types of fruits have beneficial qualities that make them stand alone in the pack. So eating a mix of all or many of them throughout the week makes sense to me.

I do avoid candied fruits and store-bought fruit juice, etc., but otherwise it's open season on fruits.

I'd echo the advice not to worry about sugar content if it it's all coming from natural sources.  I have several thoroughly holy recipes saved on CC like 'Stuffed Peppers' and 'Carrot & Coriander Soup' and the analysis each time says 'bad points... high in sugar'.  It's a pity that the database doesn't distintiguish between the two.  As someone that massively prefers vegetables to fruit (no sweet tooth whatsoever) I usually have a day sub 50g sugar but I think I'm unusual.

Just wanna thank everyone for their input.  :)

(P.S. - gi-jane, I'm having stuffed peppers tonight and can't wait!  I feel my "analysis" screen grumbling already, heehee).

Original Post by jenningermany:

Try snacking on more veggies than fruits, in general, since they have less sugar.  Tomatoes are a great choice; I always have a supply on had for snacking on the run.  I eat them like apples.  Cherry and grape tomatoes tend to have a lot more sugar, so beware.  (Funny that tomatoes are, technically, fruits!)

Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is knowing that you shouldn't cut them up and throw them in your fruit salad.

Like everyone's said, the majority of that sugar is all-natural, so no worries! Plus it likely couldn't have come from many better sources. Bananas and prunes are nutritional powerhouses full of vitamin A, various B vitamins, some vitamin C, calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium, potassium and dietary fibre. Bananas are also natural antacid. When I still drank I ate them as a hangover cure. P: So don't sweat over natural sugar! Remember moderation, obviously, as with all things, but it's the processed and refined sugars and sweetners you ought to worry over. [:

Oh! And if you want prunes, but are at all wary about the fact they're dried (and so more calorie dense), buy tinned prunes in juice and pluck a couple out. :D My mum puts three or so medium sized ones on hot cereal sometimes, they're awesome slightly warm.

Sugar is in everything and not a bad thing. Sugar from fruits and dairy is healthy. Just watch your labels and make sure to avoid HFCS and other man-made sugar additives. What I like to do (becuase I also watch my sugar intake) is subtract the sugar from my fruits and dairy from my daily totals, to get an idea of how much extra sugar I am consuming.

I second what the other smart CC-people have said, they're spot-on. I was worried about my sugar intake before too, it all came from vegetables and the occasional piece of fruit with breakfast and while I was doing some research, mainly getting a second opinion from a few other nutritional databases I found that the caloric information on Calorie Count tends to be unusually high. On many other websites the exact same amount of, say, cabbage, will have up to 20 or 30 calories and several grams of carbs less. So even if you were worried about sugar, which you needn't be considering the sources, CC might be overestimating your actual intake.

Original Post by petite_powerhouse:

Eh, even prunes and bananas are no big deal to me sugar-wise. They're good for you. And they contain the kind of sugar that the body most readily assimilates and are a great sweet treat. I wouldn't recommend living on them, but I see nothing wrong with incorporating them into your diet.

Prunes also are created from a special kind of plum that has more fiber than the others. Many types of fruits have beneficial qualities that make them stand alone in the pack. So eating a mix of all or many of them throughout the week makes sense to me.

I do avoid candied fruits and store-bought fruit juice, etc., but otherwise it's open season on fruits.

Thank you and hallelujah!

I was getting seriously fed up with the NO SUGAR - NO CARBS - WATCH THE DAIRY brigade. Thank you for the gentle voice of reasoning!

4 pieces of bread thru lunch. Be careful with that.  Wouldn't really worry about good sugars.  I'm working out alot and am eating a lot of bananas. In some cases I go way over my sugar requirement, but it isn't ice cream.

Thanks for the observation!  I wondered about the bread in this case.  Normally I would have a serving of Kashi Go Lean for breakfast, and then a lower calorie (76) wrap for lunch, but I was rushed for time and the sandwiches were already made.  Either way I was wondering if maybe I wouldn't do better to wake up earlier and fix some scrambled egg whites with veggies.  I might try it out and see.

Original Post by beckabooey:

Thanks for the observation! I wondered about the bread in this case. Normally I would have a serving of Kashi Go Lean for breakfast, and then a lower calorie (76) wrap for lunch, but I was rushed for time and the sandwiches were already made. Either way I was wondering if maybe I wouldn't do better to wake up earlier and fix some scrambled egg whites with veggies. I might try it out and see.

You had whole grain bread. OK, so it's four pieces. But still, if you get the right whole grain bread it can have not only very little to no sugar but also quite a bit of protein (for bread) and dietary fiber. There's the sodium issue to consider, but even that isn't a big deal depending on what you eat throughout the rest of the day.

A day containing four pieces of whole grain bread is nothing to be concerned about, other than the fact that the calories can add up fast depending on the bread used.

Yeah, there are ways. The bread's a biggie, and you've pretty well attached to a lot of the higher sugar veggies. I didn't crunch the numbers, but I imagine you could do it that way.

Though, in my take somewhat, I don't bother too much with Daily Recommendeds for most things. Elements, sure, and sometimes there's reason to consider something like protine. But as long as the numbers aren't in the 300%+ range (Damn you, sodium!!!!), most of it washes out in the overall caloric breakdown.

Hmmm... I checked the bread, and it actually doesn't list any sugar content.  It's pretty light whole grain bread:

Per slice:
Calories - 50
Fat - 1g
Sodium - 110mg
Carb - 11g
Fiber - 2g
Protein - 3g

It seems like I'm averaging about 180% on my sugar everyday.  Luckily, I'm much more successful at balancing my sodium intake.  Since the initial sodium "sticker shock" when I first began, I've worked hard on that front and very rarely gone over on the sodium.  I'm amazed how little I understood about nutrition until I started this site.  The tools here are fantastic, and with a bit of dietary experimentation, things really do start to become second nature, don't they?

I really value the input from all those who have replied.  Thanks so much for taking a look at my log and making suggestions that get me thinking.  Hands down, this site's best tool is the helpfulness and enthusiasm of everyone involved.