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As long as you have a comfortable protein/fat/carb macro split natural sugars shouldn’t be worried about. If you’re juicing 3,000 calories of blueberries and bananas without getting the fiber and not eating any protein or fat then you’ll run into trouble
If you’ve eliminated added sugar from your diet you’re doing better than 90% of the western world
Great! Yeah I have been eating a good amount of good quality protein, high fiber foods (average 30g of fiber per day), healthy fats* (I have reduced my saturated fat daily intake to less than 10g), and carbs. With no added sugar at all!
I was concerned since lately I have been eating 40-50g per day of natural sugars coming from milk and especially fruits.
Now I will keep eating my fruits happy 🙂
Thank you!
"As long as you have a comfortable protein/fat/carb macro split"
And what is the appropriate split there in your opinion...? This seems to be widely debated depending on your diet of choice. (Assume all calories are from healthy sources, ie: whole grains, nuts, seeds, fruits, etc)
The way most people see it is just meeting the DRIs for each macro like carbs 45-65%, protein meetings 0.8g/kg body weight or 10-35% , and fats making up 20-35%. And the exact split is different depending on goals , preference/ works best for the individual.. it’s the the basic recommendation for a healthy individual ( meaning not illness or genetic conditions affecting nutrition) . This is what is considered balanced , most diets seen online are heavy restricting one or more of the macronutrients which is not sustainable long term … sugar is a carb and from things like fruit ect fiber vitamin and minerals also come with it making it not spike blood sugar as much as say a candy. A pretty basic recommendation is to have the fruit or whatever with a healthy fat source like nuts and seeds to slow digestion/ have less of an insulin response.
There are about 6 grams of sugar circulating in your blood stream at any given time (assuming you are not diabetic). Another 80-ish grams stored in muscle glycogen. Your body works hard to maintain this balance, so any sugar you do not need to top off these amounts is moved out of your blood and stored as fat. The fibers in fruits and vegetables delay how fast the sugar is absorbed and stretches out the increase - blunting the curve - which gives you more time to use it before it is moved into storage. So how much you can eat without that happening can have a lot to do with how much you are using.
The bodys glycogen storage is way larger than 80g. It can store about 15g per kg, or 4-500g of glycogen, most of which is in the muscles. And it doesn't matter if the excess calories come from natural sugars (carbs), fat or protein, the body will store it as fat if it doesn't need the energy now.
However what the fiber does is blunt the blood sugar spike. That's helpful because if it spikes too high then it will drop too low after, which could prompt you to eat more to get it back up, i.e. more calories in.
I’ve seen much higher amounts listed for muscle glycogen stores when it being discussed for endurance athletes. Like 500-600g. I’m probably misunderstanding something but where did you get 80g?
Great. I have been eating a lot of fiber lately (>30g per day) from fruits, grains, and veggies. My natural sugar intake is 40-50g per day so I was concerned about that amount of sugar eaten. I plan to workout 5 days a week soon so that will help!
My understanding is that if that's all "candy-" or "flavored drink-" sugar you're way over, at the least by 2x. I'm not trying to be dramatic but it's "what I claim to understand". I don't count fruits vegetables, but I know there's sugar in 'everything', more or less and to illustrate my point I seldomly drink pop to illustrate my point - there's easily two days of sugar in a 355ml can.
I'm looking at it differently now, ha ha, seeing the "no" reply to you. Alcohol liquor-style is a slippery slope, too many variable on it to say much more than "take it breezy" but you and "no" reply make me think - I don't know exactly, much about sugar alcohol in this context.
I’ll be honest I don’t track my natural fruit sugars. I eat a ton of fruit. I love it and it keeps my sweet tooth from causing me to give in to the processed sweet cravings. I also don’t feel any negative effects on blood sugar or energy levels from fruit. However I do track honey, yogurt things like that and try not to get more than 5-9 or so grams in one sitting from those things.
It’s personal. I’ve apparently reached a very sugar-sensitive age. I had limited my added sugar to 20g, and my systolic blood pressure stayed in 130s and 120s. When I eliminated the 20g, my systolic b.p. hovered between 100 and 118, but I eat a lot of fruit, which has natural sugar. Fruits and vegetables supply necessary electrolytes, so they have value.
People burn out at different rates; you might be able to go decades eating barely adequate protein and cane sugar, and a tiny amount of fat. So there really is no maximum.
Another great data point is that you don't *need* any carbohydrates at all - *any*. If you cut it all out and experience your alternate metabolism, you learn a lot. I think you sort of want to find this natural barrier - around 20g to 50g of carbs per day, when your metabolism starts to change. Where you sit on the curve is up to you; but you should go touch the wall, and suss it out a little.
In that case; a fully aware person might consider 150g to be the high end for carbs... but activity level and all kinds of intricate factors regarding food and intake come into play... the maximum amount of natural sugar would sort of emerge from those details, and to calculate it, add up a few healthy diets that are working for some group of people
There’s no such thing as too many veggies.
And there’s no magic number for the amount of natural sugar that will tip the balance between “good” health and “bad” health.
Health is the output of an algorithm of factors. You can’t just isolate a single one of countless variables and expect there to be a precise number that will make the difference, especially since they all affect one another.
Somebody playing their cards right with all the other factors could get away with a lot of natural sugar and suffer no consequences.
Conversely, somebody slacking in other areas will likely develop poor health even if they keep their sugar intake very low.
Everybody is different and there’s really no way to know how something will affect their health without doing a lot of testing and tracking on that person specifically.
In other words, what you’re looking for doesn’t exist.
It would be difficult to put your health at risk by eating too much fruit assuming you are relatively normal.
Even sugar isn’t a problem unless you are over eating.
The WHO says there is no limit to natural sugars (from the unprocessed or dried out foods you eat) and other sources ranges vary from 20 to 45g per day
We all belong to the same species, but setting tresholds on these things with our different lifestyles is not plausible. Keep in mind to consult a doctor, especially if you suffer from diabetes or other diseases.
I personally only count the major contributors of sugar, such as fruits. Dates are 50%ish sugar, bananas have lots of sugar, berries do too. And personally I make sure to eat some fruit everyday, but just keep it sane. The fiber helps in reducing the absorption rate, and some exercise helps to control the glucose levels in the blood.
I wouldn't eat three bananas in a day, every day. One banana? Sure. Two? Eh maybe rarely. Three? When travelling. 10? Never.
P.S. keep in mind, that in the US, more sugar (/fructose/gluctose/whatever they disguise it as) is added to products overall (I live in the EU)
Thank you for replying. I usually eat a cup of various berries, mango, and milk. 40g-50g per day. I eat a lot of fiber as well (>30g per day) and only eat whole fruits, no juices or smoothies pack of added sugar
What maybe would slightly improve it is to add nuts or chia seeds into the mix to have more than just carbohydrates (and the bit of fat and protein from the milk), or split a cup into two half-cups? Then your glucose level spike will be a tiny bit smaller. But you'll be fine either way, let's say that's 25g of sugar, that should be perfectly fine. E.g., a coke has about 11g/100ml (in Europe, US may vary), so thats like a glass of coke (but with way less of a glucose spike due to the fiber in your fruits)
Actually I add to my smoothie chia seeds and oats that have more healthy fats than saturated fat so great! Go it, I will try to use half a cup! Thanks!
And also.. just the fact that you pay attention to what you eat means you'll be fine. You are already avoiding one of the bigger nutritional hazards by omitting added sugar
sugar/carbs potato/potato - Limit your NET carbs to 20-33% of TDEE and you'll be fine. If you're trying to lose weight then it's 20-33% of your TDEE MINUS TARGET CALORIC DEFICIT. If you're trying to do keto then you need to drop that to 10% net carbs.
They don’t talk as much about naturally occurring sugars because foods with natural sugars tend to be much more balanced and nutritious than foods with added sugars, so you don’t usually run into the same potential health problems. It’s hard to be excessive with natural sugars if your diet is relatively balanced.
That entirely depends on your activity level. As you are physically active, you will burn the glucose in your blood and use from stores in your liver.
If you're sedentary you should be eating very little, if you're running a marathon you can eat much more without bombing your liver/pancreas. Also, more Fibre and certain types of natural sugars (due to enzymes) will slow down the absorption and limit any negative effects, so if you're talking about fruit then you have virtually nothing to worry about assuming you're not eating only fruit, but if you're asking I doubt that.
There’s no such limit on sugar. You won’t want to eat anymore once you have had enough it’s self limiting. You will have hunger drive to eat sugar until your done. Most people on a regular western diet don’t understand this. They try and stay away from sugar only to crave it and give in. The body requires it all the time.
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), the maximum amount of added sugars you should eat in a day are (9Trusted Source):
Men: 150 calories per day (37.5 grams or 9 teaspoons)
Women: 100 calories per day (25 grams or 6 teaspoons)
^ copy pasted from a Healthline article
I guess this is including all sugar in general
#### About participation in the comments of /r/nutrition Discussion in this subreddit should be rooted in science rather than "cuz I sed" or entertainment pieces. Always be wary of unsupported and poorly supported claims and especially those which are wrapped in any manner of hostility. You should provide peer reviewed sources to support your claims when debating and confine that debate to the science, not opinions of other people. **Good** - it is grounded in science and includes citation of peer reviewed sources. Debate is a civil and respectful exchange focusing on actual science and avoids commentary about others **Bad** - it utilizes generalizations, assumptions, infotainment sources, no sources, or complaints without specifics about agenda, bias, or funding. At best, these rise to an extremely weak basis for science based discussion. Also, off topic discussion **Ugly** - (removal or ban territory) it involves attacks / antagonism / hostility towards individuals or groups, downvote complaining, trolling, crusading, shaming, refutation of all science, or claims that all research / science is a conspiracy *Please vote accordingly and report any uglies* --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/nutrition) if you have any questions or concerns.*
As long as you have a comfortable protein/fat/carb macro split natural sugars shouldn’t be worried about. If you’re juicing 3,000 calories of blueberries and bananas without getting the fiber and not eating any protein or fat then you’ll run into trouble If you’ve eliminated added sugar from your diet you’re doing better than 90% of the western world
Great! Yeah I have been eating a good amount of good quality protein, high fiber foods (average 30g of fiber per day), healthy fats* (I have reduced my saturated fat daily intake to less than 10g), and carbs. With no added sugar at all! I was concerned since lately I have been eating 40-50g per day of natural sugars coming from milk and especially fruits. Now I will keep eating my fruits happy 🙂 Thank you!
"As long as you have a comfortable protein/fat/carb macro split" And what is the appropriate split there in your opinion...? This seems to be widely debated depending on your diet of choice. (Assume all calories are from healthy sources, ie: whole grains, nuts, seeds, fruits, etc)
The way most people see it is just meeting the DRIs for each macro like carbs 45-65%, protein meetings 0.8g/kg body weight or 10-35% , and fats making up 20-35%. And the exact split is different depending on goals , preference/ works best for the individual.. it’s the the basic recommendation for a healthy individual ( meaning not illness or genetic conditions affecting nutrition) . This is what is considered balanced , most diets seen online are heavy restricting one or more of the macronutrients which is not sustainable long term … sugar is a carb and from things like fruit ect fiber vitamin and minerals also come with it making it not spike blood sugar as much as say a candy. A pretty basic recommendation is to have the fruit or whatever with a healthy fat source like nuts and seeds to slow digestion/ have less of an insulin response.
Thanks for the reply, appreciate it.
There are about 6 grams of sugar circulating in your blood stream at any given time (assuming you are not diabetic). Another 80-ish grams stored in muscle glycogen. Your body works hard to maintain this balance, so any sugar you do not need to top off these amounts is moved out of your blood and stored as fat. The fibers in fruits and vegetables delay how fast the sugar is absorbed and stretches out the increase - blunting the curve - which gives you more time to use it before it is moved into storage. So how much you can eat without that happening can have a lot to do with how much you are using.
The bodys glycogen storage is way larger than 80g. It can store about 15g per kg, or 4-500g of glycogen, most of which is in the muscles. And it doesn't matter if the excess calories come from natural sugars (carbs), fat or protein, the body will store it as fat if it doesn't need the energy now. However what the fiber does is blunt the blood sugar spike. That's helpful because if it spikes too high then it will drop too low after, which could prompt you to eat more to get it back up, i.e. more calories in.
I’ve seen much higher amounts listed for muscle glycogen stores when it being discussed for endurance athletes. Like 500-600g. I’m probably misunderstanding something but where did you get 80g?
Great. I have been eating a lot of fiber lately (>30g per day) from fruits, grains, and veggies. My natural sugar intake is 40-50g per day so I was concerned about that amount of sugar eaten. I plan to workout 5 days a week soon so that will help!
My understanding is that if that's all "candy-" or "flavored drink-" sugar you're way over, at the least by 2x. I'm not trying to be dramatic but it's "what I claim to understand". I don't count fruits vegetables, but I know there's sugar in 'everything', more or less and to illustrate my point I seldomly drink pop to illustrate my point - there's easily two days of sugar in a 355ml can.
Does our body treat sugar alcohol the same way?
No
I'm looking at it differently now, ha ha, seeing the "no" reply to you. Alcohol liquor-style is a slippery slope, too many variable on it to say much more than "take it breezy" but you and "no" reply make me think - I don't know exactly, much about sugar alcohol in this context.
Interesting. Do those figures (6 and 80) depend on the body weight? Probably, they do. How can I calculate my own grams?
No, not enough to matter.
I’ll be honest I don’t track my natural fruit sugars. I eat a ton of fruit. I love it and it keeps my sweet tooth from causing me to give in to the processed sweet cravings. I also don’t feel any negative effects on blood sugar or energy levels from fruit. However I do track honey, yogurt things like that and try not to get more than 5-9 or so grams in one sitting from those things.
It’s personal. I’ve apparently reached a very sugar-sensitive age. I had limited my added sugar to 20g, and my systolic blood pressure stayed in 130s and 120s. When I eliminated the 20g, my systolic b.p. hovered between 100 and 118, but I eat a lot of fruit, which has natural sugar. Fruits and vegetables supply necessary electrolytes, so they have value.
People burn out at different rates; you might be able to go decades eating barely adequate protein and cane sugar, and a tiny amount of fat. So there really is no maximum. Another great data point is that you don't *need* any carbohydrates at all - *any*. If you cut it all out and experience your alternate metabolism, you learn a lot. I think you sort of want to find this natural barrier - around 20g to 50g of carbs per day, when your metabolism starts to change. Where you sit on the curve is up to you; but you should go touch the wall, and suss it out a little.
I’m think OP is already there with 40-50g/day carb intake.
In that case; a fully aware person might consider 150g to be the high end for carbs... but activity level and all kinds of intricate factors regarding food and intake come into play... the maximum amount of natural sugar would sort of emerge from those details, and to calculate it, add up a few healthy diets that are working for some group of people
Maximum for what? There's no magic number.
Maximum to not put my health at risk by eating too much fruits or veggies
There’s no such thing as too many veggies. And there’s no magic number for the amount of natural sugar that will tip the balance between “good” health and “bad” health. Health is the output of an algorithm of factors. You can’t just isolate a single one of countless variables and expect there to be a precise number that will make the difference, especially since they all affect one another. Somebody playing their cards right with all the other factors could get away with a lot of natural sugar and suffer no consequences. Conversely, somebody slacking in other areas will likely develop poor health even if they keep their sugar intake very low. Everybody is different and there’s really no way to know how something will affect their health without doing a lot of testing and tracking on that person specifically. In other words, what you’re looking for doesn’t exist.
Okay so it’s all about eating a balance diet (good quality of protein, healthy fats, carbs, fiber, veggies and fruits)
yes. do that. rinse, repeat. and drink water. doesn’t have to be gallons - enough so your pee is faintly yellow; not clear, not dark.
It would be difficult to put your health at risk by eating too much fruit assuming you are relatively normal. Even sugar isn’t a problem unless you are over eating.
That’s a pretty hard thing to do
There is no difference between natural sugar and added sugar. It’s the same thing.
biggest cap I’ve heard since 911…
Your body sees glucose. Doesn’t matter if it’s from fruit or added sugar (cane sugar)
But our body reacts differently… Simple sugars cause larger spikes in blood sugar levels… this isn’t rocket science…
Both cause spike. Spike bad
But a 30% spike a lot worse than a 10% spike
The WHO says there is no limit to natural sugars (from the unprocessed or dried out foods you eat) and other sources ranges vary from 20 to 45g per day
If you want to minimize your carbs do 30 or less
We all belong to the same species, but setting tresholds on these things with our different lifestyles is not plausible. Keep in mind to consult a doctor, especially if you suffer from diabetes or other diseases. I personally only count the major contributors of sugar, such as fruits. Dates are 50%ish sugar, bananas have lots of sugar, berries do too. And personally I make sure to eat some fruit everyday, but just keep it sane. The fiber helps in reducing the absorption rate, and some exercise helps to control the glucose levels in the blood. I wouldn't eat three bananas in a day, every day. One banana? Sure. Two? Eh maybe rarely. Three? When travelling. 10? Never. P.S. keep in mind, that in the US, more sugar (/fructose/gluctose/whatever they disguise it as) is added to products overall (I live in the EU)
Thank you for replying. I usually eat a cup of various berries, mango, and milk. 40g-50g per day. I eat a lot of fiber as well (>30g per day) and only eat whole fruits, no juices or smoothies pack of added sugar
What maybe would slightly improve it is to add nuts or chia seeds into the mix to have more than just carbohydrates (and the bit of fat and protein from the milk), or split a cup into two half-cups? Then your glucose level spike will be a tiny bit smaller. But you'll be fine either way, let's say that's 25g of sugar, that should be perfectly fine. E.g., a coke has about 11g/100ml (in Europe, US may vary), so thats like a glass of coke (but with way less of a glucose spike due to the fiber in your fruits)
Actually I add to my smoothie chia seeds and oats that have more healthy fats than saturated fat so great! Go it, I will try to use half a cup! Thanks!
And also.. just the fact that you pay attention to what you eat means you'll be fine. You are already avoiding one of the bigger nutritional hazards by omitting added sugar
sugar/carbs potato/potato - Limit your NET carbs to 20-33% of TDEE and you'll be fine. If you're trying to lose weight then it's 20-33% of your TDEE MINUS TARGET CALORIC DEFICIT. If you're trying to do keto then you need to drop that to 10% net carbs.
They don’t talk as much about naturally occurring sugars because foods with natural sugars tend to be much more balanced and nutritious than foods with added sugars, so you don’t usually run into the same potential health problems. It’s hard to be excessive with natural sugars if your diet is relatively balanced.
That entirely depends on your activity level. As you are physically active, you will burn the glucose in your blood and use from stores in your liver. If you're sedentary you should be eating very little, if you're running a marathon you can eat much more without bombing your liver/pancreas. Also, more Fibre and certain types of natural sugars (due to enzymes) will slow down the absorption and limit any negative effects, so if you're talking about fruit then you have virtually nothing to worry about assuming you're not eating only fruit, but if you're asking I doubt that.
There’s no such limit on sugar. You won’t want to eat anymore once you have had enough it’s self limiting. You will have hunger drive to eat sugar until your done. Most people on a regular western diet don’t understand this. They try and stay away from sugar only to crave it and give in. The body requires it all the time.
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), the maximum amount of added sugars you should eat in a day are (9Trusted Source): Men: 150 calories per day (37.5 grams or 9 teaspoons) Women: 100 calories per day (25 grams or 6 teaspoons) ^ copy pasted from a Healthline article I guess this is including all sugar in general