Quote:
Originally Posted by tubbymel
I did not want to go through my food log...my question was simply asking if I should worry about my sugar intake even though I am not eating processed sugar.
I am also not diabetic
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There really isn't any simple "yes" or "no" answer on this one. It depends on too many factors. Personally, I'd suggest experimenting and see if you're happy with the results you're getting.
Natural sugar is still sugar, and it is possible to eat too much of it. Even at my highest weight I was able to maintain my weight and even gain on an entirely whole food, non-processed diet.
I have had to cut back and eliminate many natural, whole-food carbohydrates from my diet. I am diabetic (or at least insulin resistant on the border of diabetes - I've only had a few of my blood sugar tests come back within the diabetic range) and carbs of any kind - even fruit - tend to trigger a great deal of hunger if the food isn't also tremendously high in fiber and/or eaten with a bit of fat and protein.
When it comes to sugar though, not only is sugar sugar - all carbs (except fiber) digest into sugar. So net carbohydrate intake (all carbs minus fiber) may be a better measure than sugars.
However, if you're not carb-sensitive, and don't find natural carbs feed hunger or result in wonky blood sugar, you may not have to consider carb intake at all.
So don't worry, but experiment to see if you feel better or worse, lose weight better or not, are more or less hungry....
There's a good deal of evidence that there is no one perfect diet for everyone. But, while we know (or suspect) that different folks do better on different types of diets, there's no reliable test at present to determine what diet is best for any one individual. That leaves trial and error.
Personally, I wouldn't worry about the carbs in raw carrots. From what I've read, the sugars in carrots are rather difficult to digest raw. So cooking carrots (regardless of the sugar content in the carrots) makes the sugars more digestible, it's a sugar that's more rapidly and completely digested, which means you absorb more calories from cooked carrots than for raw.
Which doesn't mean you should avoid eating cooked carrots (unless you're eating tons of them).
Just FYI, I saw a television show about how "baby carrots" are made, and they're not specially grown carrots. They're exactly the same carrots, from the same seed, same soil, and same batches as the large, straight carrots. They're not "baby" carrots at all (unless the green tops are still attached). They're just whittled down big carrots. It allows the farmers to sell carrots that otherwise would be rejected by the consumer, because they're oddly shaped or not straight. Before "baby carrots" were invented, those oddly shaped carrots were sold for animal feed. Then some farmer got the idea of whittling the carrots down into "baby carrots," carrot "chips," carrot sticks and other small pieces to sell the odd-shaped carrots."
They're identical to the larger carrots in every way, except shape.
Your overall net carb intake is probably more important than your sugar intake (especially if those sugars are coming from fruits and vegetables).
It's possible to overdo fruit and vegetables to the point that it interfered with weight loss. I've done it, but it takes a LOT of fruits and vegetables (when I stalled my weight loss I was eating up to 2 lbs of cooked and raw carrots per day and up to 6 or more pieces of fruit).
Unfortunately there's no magic number as to how much is too much, so you have to experiment.
Regardless, don't "worry" about it, just be aware. Notice how you feel, and how your weight management goals are being met. Experiment with different macro percentages (try low, medium, and high carb for example).
Try different ways of eating, and see what works best for you.
Or eat a way you're comfortable with, and only fix it if you run into problems.
Is Sugar From Fruit Bad?
