Too much sugar

[kiksu]

My diet has been going really great but I think I may be eating too much sugar on daily basis. What I do is... if I get a craving for sweets/breads I eat fresh or dry fruit(the sugared kind). I eat big portions of it. How many grams of sugar per day is too much? And what should the normal sugar intake be?

[bebeklein]

The USDA recommends no more than 8% of your calories come from sugar. If you eat 2K, thats 40g.

Obviously naturally occuring sugar thats in fruit is better for you than the stuff that's added to cereal or sodas. However, if you're going wild on the fruit, you may want to eat just the fresh instead of the dried since its much lower in sugar.

For example, 42g of dried pineapple has around 32g of sugar. The same amt of fresh pineapple has about only 3g of sugar.

I also use stevia as a sugar substitute to satisfy my cravings. Its plant based and healthier for you than the artificial ones.

[lulusmom]

I agree that eating the fresh fruit is much lower in sugar. Also, what I do if my craving is really bad, I drink a protein shake. Usually when I start craving carby food I am hungry but don't really feel super hungry yet. I try and head off the snack urge by filling up on protein, and most of the time it works.

[OnTheRoad]

My sugar cravings didn't go away until I stopped eating simple sugars completely...it took 5 days of headaches but now I don't have the 3pm sugar hunt. I still have fruit because I need the vitamins

[nunu713]

My sugar cravings usually arrive around 4-5pm. I kill them with either a small apple, or a cup of blueberries. Works every time!