Sugar

[Veronica]

My trainer has me looking at my diet for sugar.

How many grams of sugar per day is reasonable?

V.

[kelownagirl]

My trainer has me looking at my diet for sugar.

How many grams of sugar per day is reasonable?

V.

Actual granulated sugar or sugar content in food in general?

[Veronica]

Sugar content in food in general.

I'm sort of appalled at how much sugar there is in my food.

My yogurt has 18 grams, cereal 9, Red Bull 27! Okay, I'm not really surprised at the Red Bull.

But it seems to add up to an awful lot of sugar.

V.

[kelownagirl]

Sugar content in food in general.

I'm sort of appalled at how much sugar there is in my food.

My yogurt has 18 grams, cereal 9, Red Bull 27! Okay, I'm not really surprised at the Red Bull.

But it seems to add up to an awful lot of sugar.

V.

I've cut back a lot just by eating less processed foods. I eat unsweetend plain yogurt now. Plain oatmeal. I do eat chocolate tho - sugar in that. I use splenda in my one cup of coffee and sugar free pop but that's rare so I don't get much aspartame. I eat lots of fruit and get my sweet fix from that.

[Veronica]

Luckily, I don't put sugar in my coffee.

The chemical stuff in diet things makes my head wonky. My MIL likes to cook desserts with the fake sugar. I can always tell because my head just feels weird. I get the same effect from MSG. Now I ask her if she used it and I politely decline if she did.

She and and my FIL work hard to try to eat in a more healthy way. They are truck drivers and it's hard to get a healthy meal on the road. So I understand why she cooks with it. I'm not even sure they have real sugar in their house. :p MY FIL does have a real big sweet tooth.

V.

[ny biker]

My trainer has me looking at my diet for sugar.

How many grams of sugar per day is reasonable?

V.

If your trainer wants you to cut back, shouldn't s/he be giving you guidelines as to how much is too much?

I just try to avoid processed foods and stick with the basic idea that vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lean proteins are things to focus on. I have known people who won't eat fresh fruit because "it has too much sugar" but I think that's ridiculous.

[Veronica]

If your trainer wants you to cut back, shouldn't s/he be giving you guidelines as to how much is too much?




It's something we've just started to discuss. Right now I'm keeping a food diary.

She's wondering (and so am I) why I'm not leaner. Most weeks I burn 4,000 calories through exercise - weights and cardio. If I have an event on the weekend I burn more - last week's total since I did a 200K on Saturday was over 11,000. And I don't wig out and totally overeat the next day.

I've been keeping track of my calorie intake for years at a USDA site. I eat about 2,000 calories a day, usually slightly less.

I've always been of the mindset calories in/calories out. And that philosophy worked when I was younger. But my body fat percentage is a little higher than I'd like now, so we're exploring why.

She brought up how much sugar is in my diet and that got me curious. Why does my breakfast yogurt have more sugar than my ice cream?

V.

[Blueberry]

V- is it plain yogurt or flavored? The flavored stuff tends to be loaded with sugar. Unfortunate - it does taste good;)

CA

[Veronica]

Of course it's flavored. :cool:

Why does non-fat vanilla yogurt have more sugar than regular vanilla yogurt?

V.

[michelem]

Here's some info I found doing a quick search:

How Much Can You Feed Your Sweet Tooth?
Sugars found naturally in fruits and milk are not a problem. It's the added sugars that need to be limited because they provide calories but few vitamins and minerals. You'll find sugar-laden food at the top of the Food Pyramid. Added sugars can be found in soft drinks, candy, jams, jellies, syrups and table sugar we add to coffee and cereal. Added sugar can also appear in sweetened yogurt, soups, spaghetti sauces, applesauce and other items where you wouldn'tsuspect it unless you check the list of ingredients.

Here are some guidelines for added sugar based on calories in the daily food choices:

1,600 calories - Limit sugar to 6 teaspoons per day or 22 grams per day
2,200 calories - Limit sugar to 12 teaspoons per day or 44 grams per day
2,800 calories - Limit sugar to 18 teaspoons per day or 66 grams per day

So if the food label on your sweetened yogurt says a one-cup serving contains 22 grams of sugar, and your meal plan has 1,600 calories a day, you've eaten your day's allotment of sugar.

http://www.lifeclinic.com/focus/nutrition/food-pyramid.asp

Incidentally, my doc (who is an MD, with one of her specialties being nutrition) has told me to limit my fructose intake as well as the refined sugars. This is super-hard for me 'cause I LOVE fruit! I'll post in a separate post some excerpts from an article she wrote on the topic.

[Veronica]

Yeah, I'm beginning to think I need to go back to my steel cut oats for breakfast. But guess what I like to put on them... brown sugar and maple syrup. :p At least I'm in control of how much goes on.

I knew about the spaghetti sauce. You can find some w/o sugar - typically higher end, more expensive brands. I wonder how much sugar is in my pasta.

V.

[firenze11]

Why does non-fat vanilla yogurt have more sugar than regular vanilla yogurt?

V.

Because those tricky little devils that make the food add it in to thicken up and improve the flavor of non-fat items. When you take fat out, you need to replace it with something. I was on a low fat diet for awhile a couple of years ago and appalled by how hungry I would get after eating, then I saw how much sugar (and general processed stuff) was in everything I was eating.

I've been trying to cut down on processed foods and sugar but I have a problem with not eating yummy baked goods.

Holy moly @ the daily allotment of sugar. Ok, I guess I really need to cut down on my sugar, too!

[Grog]

Why does non-fat vanilla yogurt have more sugar than regular vanilla yogurt?


Can a chemist explain in a better way than my rough understanding allows? Here's my take at it:

Fat maximizes flavours. It has something to do with the shape of molecules I think, but I don't remember the details. Remove the fat and a lot of people will not find the food item tasty (understandably so, considering a lot of the industrial food available to us). So they add sugar instead (our brain likes sugar a lot), but they can still print "low fat" on the container, which helps with sales.

You can make plain, non-fat yogurt really tasty, but it takes better milk, which Big Dairy is not necessarily able to provide at the cost and price structure it's operating at, I'm afraid...

[redrhodie]

Have you had your thyroid checked? I have a friend with Hashimoto's disease (hypothyroid) and she gained weight despite a low calorie diet and lots of exercise. She had none of the classic symptoms (sluggish, moody, skin disorders) except weight gain and infertility.

(side note--I have a new baby kitten sleeping on my lap as I'm writing this. I know you know what that's like :) my feet are falling asleep, but I can deal).

[michelem]

This was written by my MD:

For years nutrition scientists said that a calorie is a calorie, and consuming too many or burning too few causes obesity. Bits of evidence refuting that axiom are trickling into nutrition science. For a long time research has focused on fat vs. carbohydrate, but hints that fructose (a sugar) contributes more than glucose (the ‘bad’ sugar in diabetes) to insulin resistance, fat and diabetes surfaced years ago. Scientists uncovered unsuspected effects of fructose on a variety of metabolic processes, which remained obscure pieces of information with unknown cause and effect until recently.

Now we know much more. We know that fructose increases enzymes (the worker-bee proteins of the body) that make fat. We know that fructose turns off at least three of the body’s mechanisms to keep blood vessels open and flexible. We know that it affects hormones that reduce insulin’s effectiveness. We know that eating excess fructose leads to high uric acid levels, which contribute to high blood pressure.

For those of you who think I’ve lost my marbles and am making this up, I may have lost my marbles, but I’m not making this up – A lot of this data is very recent and not widely disseminated yet. All of these metabolic consequences of fructose feed into the Metabolic Syndrome, the constellation of abnormalities that eventually leads to diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, abnormal cholesterol levels and heart disease.

Fructose, a very common sugar molecule, constitutes half of sucrose in beet- or cane-derived table sugar. The other half is glucose. In addition to beet and cane, fructose occurs naturally in honey, fruit, maple syrup and corn. Fructose tastes sweeter than sucrose or glucose.

In 1957 Richard O. Marshall and Earl R. Kooi developed a process whereby an enzyme (glucose isomerase) turns corn sugar’s glucose into fructose. The resulting ‘high fructose corn syrup’ (HFCS), with up to 90% fructose, tastes sweeter than table sugar. In 1971 Japanese researchers figured out how to mass produce HFCS, which made it very sweet and very cheap. Since the USDA subsidizes corn agriculture with price supports that foster over-production, we have sustained corn excess and a very cheap route for sugar to your stomach.

HFCS entered the food chain in the mid-1970’s. With sweeter sugar, food manufacturers don’t need to use as much, making sugary food even cheaper to make. By the 1980’s HFCS-sweetened sodas and juices had flooded the market. Food manufacturers switched to HFCS to sweeten any processed food. Big Gulps replaced 12 ounce Dixie cups. Even yogurt and tomato ketchup, two foods that I somehow thought would be ‘pure,’ contain HFCS.

The timing couldn’t have been worse. Public health nutritionists, promoting very low fat diets to lower cholesterol, could not predict the effect of HFCS because it hadn’t existed before. Sugars are part of the carbohydrate family, so high carb, sweet foods proliferated in the fat phobic 1980’s, when everyone thought that carbs were ‘good’. Contrary to the low fat promise, though, people’s waistlines expanded rather than contracted.

It is no coincidence that the obesity epidemic and soaring rates of childhood diabetes and adult metabolic syndrome took off in the 1980’s. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, an ongoing project of the Centers for Disease Control, documents the dramatic ballooning of Americans’ weight. The 1960-1962, 1971-1974 and 1976-1980 surveys produced consistent levels of obesity and healthy weights. In each of those surveys, about 12% of men and 17% of women were obese and about 46% of men and 53% of women were in the ‘desirable’ weight range.

That all changed with the 1988-1994 survey, in which obesity jumped to 21% in men and 26% in women, and kept on climbing to 27.5% in men and 25% in women in 1999-2000. The rates of overweight but not quite obese are even higher. Obesity is defined as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than 30. BMI expresses weight in proportion to height. Desirable is 18-25.

What does this have to do with you? Everything, if you are diabetic, overweight, or hypertensive, or if you have friends or relatives with those problems. You might care that the childhood diabetes epidemic will affect Americans’ productivity and longevity for years to come. If nothing else, the growing public health consequences impact your insurance rates.

Your choice of soda vs. tea or milk just graduated from “empty vs. healthy calories” to “damaging vs. OK”. Perhaps the most insidious aspect of fructose is that it drives its own consumption. Excess glucose tells the body “enough already!” and the enzyme that degrades it stops working, at least for a while. That doesn’t happen with fructose. Its enzymes turn on and the body churns any huge amount you give it into energy or fat. Unless those calories are burned during physical activity, most will end up around your middle before they cause disease that kills you.

A calorie is not a calorie, metabolically. Just like the total fat number doesn’t tell you how much ‘bad’ saturated and ‘good’ mono-unsaturated fat there is, carbohydrate and sugar totals doesn’t tell you the source of sugar. Your food label-reading chore now must extend to the ingredients section. You get to make a choice between cost and health.

[Veronica]

Have you had your thyroid checked? I have a friend with Hashimoto's disease (hypothyroid) and she gained weight despite a low calorie diet and lots of exercise. She had none of the classic symptoms (sluggish, moody, skin disorders) except weight gain and infertility.

(side note--I have a new baby kitten sleeping on my lap as I'm writing this. I know you know what that's like :) my feet are falling asleep, but I can deal).

I know I gained weight through a lowered activity level last year without a dietary change to offset. So I doubt it's a health issue. I do need to go have a blood work up done as part of my yearly exam. The order is on my frig. I keep putting it off. They don't open until 7 AM. I get up at 4:30. I drink coffee. I'm starved and cranky by 7 AM. I'm whining. :p

Aren't kittens great! I don't want to go back to work. I love how mine follow me around all over the house.

V.

[kelownagirl]

Have you tried the Greek style plain yogurt? I tried quite a few brands of plain yogurt before I found one I really liked. I can eat this stuff plain but I usually toss in a handful of oatmeal and some cut up fresh fruit, maybe a few walnuts. No sugar but it tastes great.

RE: fructose - isn't the naturally-occurring sugar better than the artificial stuff? ie fructose added to a product rather than natural fresh fruit?

[Veronica]

I use the Greek style plain yogurt when I make gyros - combine it with feta cheese to make the sauce. I can't imagine eating it for breakfast. :)

I actually do really like steel cut oatmeal and most mornings I have the time to cook it.

Thom eats Frosted Mini Wheats for breakfast. They have less sugar than my yogurt. :rolleyes:

V.

[farrellcollie]

I usually make a big thing of steel cut oatmeal and refridgerate it. In the summer I don't care if it is not hot. I then use 1/2 to 1 banana to sweeten it with 1/2 C of plain yoghurt.

[kelownagirl]

I use the Greek style plain yogurt when I make gyros - combine it with feta cheese to make the sauce. I can't imagine eating it for breakfast. :)

I actually do really like steel cut oatmeal and most mornings I have the time to cook it.

Thom eats Frosted Mini Wheats for breakfast. They have less sugar than my yogurt. :rolleyes:

V.

1/4 cup steel cut oats, 1 cup boiling water in a thermos. Lid on tight. Sit on counter overnight. Nuke for 1 min in morning. Ready to go, no work, no stirring involved.

[maillotpois]

I love the Greek plain yogurt. I put honey on it, though. :rolleyes:

[Flybye]

This thread is pretty interesting. Thanks for all of the information.
I wanted to add that when I was in the throes of major weight loss, I was instructed by a nutritionist not to eat ANYTHING with ANY type of sugar in the first five ingredients. That includes cane sugar, rice sugar, fructose, etc., etc. For breakfast, the only cereal that I found other than oatmeal was Special K in the blue box, the one with lots of protein. I haven't seen it on shelves for about 6 months, I don't know if the store that I shop in has quit carrying it or if it is no longer produced. In addition to that, I was instructed to only have two servings of fruit per day, and to increase the amount of protein that I ate. The weight fell off with so much ease.

[OakLeaf]

I just want you to know that this thread FORCED me to bake a batch of oatmeal bars :o

[OakLeaf]

For breakfast, the only cereal that I found other than oatmeal was Special K in the blue box, the one with lots of protein.

Any puffed cereal has no sugar added (and only one ingredient)...

[maillotpois]

Staples in my house, Shredded Wheat and Shredded Wheat n Bran both have negligible amounts of sugar. As does plain old Cheerios.

What you do with it after you put it in the bowl is your own business.

[han-grrl]

I am going to second the calorie DOES NOT equal a calorie

when it comes to weight management there is much to consider

- water intake (are you drinking water or juices or coffee or tea or pop any excess of any one can either add calories, dehydrate you etc)

- wheat,milk, soy, corn etc intolerances - water gain, weight gain are SYMPTOMS of intolerances along with headaches etc.

- meds - are you on any? also can affect weight

- added sugar, yeast can cause weight issues as well.

- the whole picture - are you getting all your vitamins/nutrients from FOOD over about 48 hours? If you are low in any one thing, or if your body is struggling to absorb, then your body will "pad you up" to ensure your organs stay safe

- sleep - getting enough?
stress? do you have too much - if you are stressed out or not sleeping well, this can all affect weight, because your body is struggling.


two cents

Smile

Han

[bmccasland]

1/4 cup steel cut oats, 1 cup boiling water in a thermos. Lid on tight. Sit on counter overnight. Nuke for 1 min in morning. Ready to go, no work, no stirring involved.

Kewl! I'm going to have to try this. I think I even have an old wild mouth thermos in the cupboard somewhere, maybe, perhaps.

[Tuckervill]

Thanks for posting that article, Michelle.

I don't think we should throw fruit out. It's the HFCS that's we should avoid. I've been doing so for a few years now. Virtually eliminates all processed food from diet, which is a very good thing.

But fruit, containing fructose, is still good for you.

Karen

[OakLeaf]

But fruit, containing fructose, is still good for you.

Karen

I agree... but I don't eat fruit without other carbs. It just makes me STARVING, hungrier than I was before I ate the fruit.

[TahoeDirtGirl]

Can you go to a dietician that specializes in sports nutrition? I agree that looking at the sugar in your diet is a good idea, but getting a good medical history and where you are at now in your exercise/nutritional/body composition is what they will assess and tell you what to look at. Trainers cannot do this unless they have the added training as a dietician (or nutritionist but I am all for the dietician). Be careful with that, I've seen people cut alot of sugar from their diet including the natural kind. And everyone is different so you should get it squared away for you! As an example tho of what I was told, not to eat packaged foods with more than 5-7 sugars listed. Good luck with that one! That is what convinced me why bother with stuff in a box.

But in respect to sugar, for me, I don't eat HFCS, which I swear made a difference for me in the big craving of sugar vicious circle. I don't use artificial sweetners, even Splenda. However, I got this stupid stomach thing and I started eating processed food. Guess what? I feel WORSE! I'm not sure now if it's the stomach bug, some other illness or my diet :eek:So for me, there is something to avoiding processed food with lotsa sugar. I still use sugar (raw demera or turbinado) in coffee or tea, but not like I used to. And if I go to Starbucks, I don't get the syrups anymore. I found they really set me off.

But I know people that are runners (how bout them runners) and triathletes that live on sugar. If I ate as much sugar as they did I would feel horrible. But if they ate as little as I did, I think they would probably not feel so good either.

SO now I need to go through sugar detox (aka fake food cold turkey). I still eat fruit and milk of course has it's own sugar (that is why you will always have sugar in yogurt because of the lactose-even if you make your own).

[KerryCrow]

You probably are taking this into account, but if not...there is a difference between "sugar" like in the ingredients list, and "sugars" on the NI lable. Even my plain, ff yogurt has 10 g. of "sugars" that are naturally occuring. Orange juice has 22 g per serving etc, even with no sugar added. I think you are mostly concerned about added sugar, the kind you find in the ingredients list.

[spokewench]

Yeah, I'm beginning to think I need to go back to my steel cut oats for breakfast. But guess what I like to put on them... brown sugar and maple syrup. :p At least I'm in control of how much goes on.

I knew about the spaghetti sauce. You can find some w/o sugar - typically higher end, more expensive brands. I wonder how much sugar is in my pasta.

V.

If you like sweet on your oats - try whatever berries are in season/ cut up peaches/ bananas. That way you get sugar in a natural way, flavor in a yummy way, and some nutrients (antioxidants as well) YUM

[spindizzy]

I agree with spokewrench. Also try cooking oatmeal with fresh cut-up apple and a bit of cinnamon.

[Tuckervill]

I put raisins in my oatmeal and they sweeten it up just fine.

Karen

[farrellcollie]

I also like barley or quinoa cooked with apples and a little cinnamen when I get tired of oatmeal. For the quinoa I cook the apples for a bit first before putting the grain in because it cooks so fast.

[lph]

Interesting thread. Very interesting about fructose, though it does sound a little bizarre. You'd think the one thing we definitely had evolved to eat safely would be fruit. And if fructose does have those negative effects, eating too much fruit should do it too, not just the syrup? But maybe nobody is going to overdose on bananas or grapes anyway ;)

Flavoured yoghurt over here has so much sugar that some kindergartens don't want kids bringing it in as food. You can buy so-called "healthy snacks" that are sweet flavoured yoghurt with sweet cereal to put in it... makes my blood sugar go through the roof.

[Resi]

I've cut back a lot just by eating less processed foods. I eat unsweetend plain yogurt now. Plain oatmeal. I do eat chocolate tho - sugar in that. I use splenda in my one cup of coffee and sugar free pop but that's rare so I don't get much aspartame. I eat lots of fruit and get my sweet fix from that.

Wow, where do you get unsweetend plain yogurt? What brand... I have never seen or heard of it... Doesn't milk have natural sugar? I don't use splenda or other artificial sweetners... I always say...I am sweet enough ha ha ha

Resi