Questions about limiting sugar intake.

[fuzzybabybunny]

Sugar in processed foods is currently the bad guy in the media, but the health risks have good medical links so I see it being justified. The same with refined carbs that get broken down quickly into sugar.

The American Heart Association (I think) says that men should have a max daily intake of ~35 grams of sugar. Luckily for me, I naturally don't care too much about dessert or sweets or whatever, but I do eat things that contain sugar.

A single cup of apple juice has 18 grams of sugar. I take a teaspoon of sugar in my coffee twice a day. The apple juice I can see as being essentially the same as a soda.

But what about things like a banana? A banana has 14 grams of sugar. If I munch on 3 bananas a day plus some strawberries and coffee is it considered unhealthy? The fiber is there to slow down the uptake of the sugar, but at the end of the day the body is still taking up 14 grams of sugar from a banana.

 

[Ancalagon44]

I'd worry more about fruit juice than whole fruit. Its easy to drink a glass of fruit juice - you forget how sweet it is. On the other hand, it would be difficult to eat enough fruit in one day to cause a problem I would think. As you say, bananas and apples contain fiber which will slow the absorption of sugar.

That being said, 3 bananas is still probably more energy than you need in a day, unless you are doing a lot of cardio.

What about trying to drink coffee without sugar? You get used to it.

Then I'd have one banana and a few strawberries.

 

[88keys]

The recommended daily intake of sugar is in reference to added sugar.

That being said, that's what I'd be watching for and it's what I do.

Though as stated above I would avoid fruit juices as they lack the fiber and is not much better than drinking a soda.

I often look for ways to naturally sweeten my food and beverages and I use a little stevia here and there but I try not to rely on that too much.

One great way to naturally sweeten foods is unsweetened applesauce. I add 1/2 cup to a whole cup of old fashioned oatmeal along with some cinnamon and top it off with a little granola. It's really good and it's been my favorite breakfast for awhile.

You'll find however that cutting added sugar and artificial sweeteners will mean preparing much of your own foods from scratch. The amount of sugar added to packaged foods is literally insane.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I eat oatmeal for breakfast with black coffee and sweeten it with a few tablespoons of peanut butter. (The coffee helps melt the PB too.)

I've found that you can pair certain foods up and avoid eating a lot of sugar. It tends to be added more to drinks than anything, but you'll also find it in salad dressings and pre-made processed foods/fast foods. Restaurants hide sugar in products because it plays off the higher sodium they use as well and makes their food more addictive. I've just about tried to stop eating out in restaurants unless I know exactly what I'm eating.

I agree...stick to fruits where possible if you want something sweet. The fiber typically offsets the sugar. The latest craze is to concentrate on cutting daily calorie intake first. When you do that, you'll start to notice that the foods high in sugar or simple carbohydrates are all high in calories with little payoff. You feel hungry again a short time after eating that junk.


Also, try cutting out all artificial sweeteners.

 

[SP33Demon]

Funny that a little can of Coke has more than the 35~ recommended amount. And we wonder why we're so fat. My old roommate could drink an entire 2L of Coke in one sitting, along with pizza. His pancreas must be superhuman because he still eats like that and doesn't have diabetes yet.

You are right about the apple juice, it's just as unhealthy as the can of Coke. The bananas and strawberries are actually giving you other things (different types of natural sugar such as fructose/maltose/sucrose and vitamins/fiber) without extra sugar added. Apple juice is notorious for adding extra sugar. The fruits are fine, just be sure to work out some if you really enjoy eating fruit. I've found a banana before working out gives more slightly more energy than working out completely fasted because it can draw on the sucrose immediately and doesn't have to wait for the liver to process the fuel (fructose, like strawberries). Bananas and other fruits with sucrose are the ones I prefer for pre-workout. Post-workout, fructose fruits like strawberries (less of an insulin spike).

 

[mammador]

good and bad sugars...good sugars are in fruit. bad are in chocolate, ice cream, well you know the drill... apple juice if it's freshly squeezed, why not? the processed one is bad.

 

[magomago]

I'm sorry but this broscience is hilarious...on what basis are some of these statements made from?

Juice being nearly as bad as soda, LOL?

3 Bananas is more energy than you need a day (3 bananas ~ 300 calories), LOL?

Drinking coffee as a means to cut down on intake of sugars...LOL

Bananas and fruits causing insulin spikes? LOL

Science and research is clear that the more fruits the better, phytonutrients (which are in fruit juice) also play a huge role in slowing down the absorption of sugars...to call juice as bad as sugar water is objectively wrong, and eating lots of fruit can help to control and even improve glycemic response.

Fuzzy this is what you need to do: cut out processed crap. Eat mostly whole foods and never think twice about the sugar in it. You want oatmeal with fresh banana slices and a whole apple? Do it. You want a acai bowl instead? Do it. You want a huge meal of rice or potatoes? Do it. You want to much on strawberries or grapes all afternoon as a snack? Do it.

 

[iluvdeal]

Juice being nearly as bad as soda, LOL?

Fruit juice IS one the contributors to the obesity epidemic. Is it as bad as soda? No as at least you're getting some vitamins and nutrients. But just because it's from a fruit, don't assume that means it's healthy as it can contain as much sugar and calories as a soda.

Think of fruit juice as a processed food, there's no way you'd eat 5 oranges in one sitting, you'd be content after 1. But you can easily drink the juice of 5 oranges.

 

[Phanuel]

there's no way you'd eat 5 oranges in one sitting, you'd be content after 1.

I most definitely could. And I really shouldn't because that is a lot of sugar regardless.

 

[smackababy]

Fruit juice IS one the contributors to the obesity epidemic. Is it as bad as soda? No as at least you're getting some vitamins and nutrients. But just because it's from a fruit, don't assume that means it's healthy as it can contain as much sugar and calories as a soda.

Think of fruit juice as a processed food, there's no way you'd eat 5 oranges in one sitting, you'd be content after 1. But you can easily drink the juice of 5 oranges.

This. A glass of OJ has a ton of sugar and is easily the calories of 3 or 4 oranges. Now, it isn't as bad as soda, but it certainly isn't that much better. The idea that it comes from fruit seems to make people believe it is super healthy and magical. It isn't.

 

[Ancalagon44]

I'm sorry but this broscience is hilarious...on what basis are some of these statements made from?

Juice being nearly as bad as soda, LOL?

If you compare fruit juice to soda made with sugar instead of HFCS, yeah it may actually be worse. This is because of fructose, which increases insulin resistance in the liver directly.

And what are you, a doctor?

3 Bananas is more energy than you need a day (3 bananas ~ 300 calories), LOL?

3 bananas, in combination with the other food in his diet, is more fruit than he needs in a day.

Drinking coffee as a means to cut down on intake of sugars...LOL

If you bothered to read (you can't be a doctor with comprehension skills like that!), you'll see that I said he should drink coffee but without the sugar.

Bananas and fruits causing insulin spikes? LOL

Uh yeah. Do you know what insulin is or what it does?

Meat causes insulin spikes.

Putting sugar in your mouth, swirling it around, and spitting it out will cause an insulin spike.

Science and research is clear that the more fruits the better, phytonutrients (which are in fruit juice) also play a huge role in slowing down the absorption of sugars...to call juice as bad as sugar water is objectively wrong, and eating lots of fruit can help to control and even improve glycemic response.

Fuzzy this is what you need to do: cut out processed crap. Eat mostly whole foods and never think twice about the sugar in it. You want oatmeal with fresh banana slices and a whole apple? Do it. You want a acai bowl instead? Do it. You want a huge meal of rice or potatoes? Do it. You want to much on strawberries or grapes all afternoon as a snack? Do it.

Juice counts as processed food.

Seriously, do some reading on it - just about every scientific article I've read on the subject says fruit juice is bad for you.

But since I know you won't bother to read, here are some excerpts from a blog written by Dr Jason Fung. Dr Fung is a Canadian doctor who specialized in kidney medicine and started doing more research into what actually causes obesity. Here are some choice quotes for you:

With close to 190,000 subjects over 2 decades of follow up, this was a huge study. After adjustment, the pooled hazard ratio for every 3 servings/week of fruits was 0.98. In English, this means that over 12 years or so of follow up, eating an extra 3 servings of fruit per week reduced your risk of type 2 diabetes by 2%. The risk for fruit juice was 1.08 meaning an extra 8% risk with 3 servings of fruit juice.

https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/replace-dont-add-fruit/

The sugar-sweetened beverage is one of the leading sources of added sugars. This includes all soda pop, sugar sweetened teas, fruit juice, fruit punch, vitamin water, smoothies, shakes, lemonade, chocolate or flavored milk, iced coffee drinks and energy drinks

https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/beverages-lose-weight-vi/

The metabolism of excessive amounts of fructose leads to fatty liver, which is a key step in the development of insulin resistance, as we saw in our last post. Is there evidence that consumption of fructose leads to insulin resistance? In a word – yes.

Whole fruits are generally OK. The amount of free fructose available in whole fruit, as opposed to fruit juice is very small. If you look at the amount of fructose in natural diets without added sugars, it is very small compared to current intake.

https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/fructose-causes-insulin-resistance-hormonal-obesity-xxxii/

 

[flopper]

If you eat a lot of carbo it all adds up, switch to a Palo and this changes the amount of food you eat and need and the insulin will go low.