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How much sugar ?

B

BigAlan

Well-Known Member
Messages
51
Location
Hartlepool
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Stupid people.

"Intelligent people are being silenced so that stupid people are not offended."

Author unkown
When I have tried to control my T2, I have always checked product labels, so the sugar is under 5% on the 100g/ mls level.

However, I use the Nutracheck app for logging my food. It was a shock the other day when I had something and checked it on my app, and it was 4.5% per 100g. The weight of the item was about 300g, so that was 13.5 g of sugar.

Therefore, the question is, how much sugar can I have in a day?

It has really, really threw me because for the last 4 months, I've been SO good, but my last hba1c went up to 67 from 63. I was actually hoping it was going to be below 50mmols. As normal, I set myself up to fail, and it is hurting now.

Take care,

Alan.
 
everyone is different regarding how much sugar/carbs.. the only real way to tell is to test directly prior to food then a couple of hours later to see how well your body coped with that particular carb/sugar. What your looking for is 2-3mmol difference after a couple of hours.
 
Thank you, GrantG. I'll do that.
 
Another important thing to remember is all digestible carbs raise Blood glucose, not just 'sugar' as shown by many carbs such as mashed potato having a higher Glycaemic Index than table sugar does.
 
Hi - the things you need to be looking out for is carbs - all of these digest to glucose. This also includes most fruit, which is high in fructose/glucose. So bread, pasta, rice, cereals, as well as fruits and sweet stuff with "white sugar" will all digest to glucose and all will raise your levels.

As to how much you can have - the way to find this out is to test your blood before and two hours after eating. The first test establishes a baseline. After you eat, your blood sugar will peak usually about 45 minutes later. You test at the two hour point not to see "how high you go" but to see how well your body's insulin response system dealt with the glucose produced by digesting whatever it was you ate. If your response means your BG falls back close to where you started - a maximum of two mmol/l from where you started, and is below 8mmol/l, your system handled it OK. If not, there was too much glucose for you in that meal at present.

The point about carb percentages is that the quantity of food eaten really matters. If you eat 10g of a food that's 10% carb, that's only 1g carb. If you eat 300g of a 5% carb food, that's 15g.

Best of luck. I followed this method six years ago and it continues to work for me. I settled on around 20g carb/day.
 
BigAlan said:
Therefore, the question is, how much sugar can I have in a day?
Click to expand...
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends a maximum of 9 teaspoons (36 grams) per day for a man.

A few years back when I was first diagnosed I misread this as 9 grams of sugar per day and actively stuck to that, I went from a XXXL to a M in approx. 6 months and reversed my condition to pre diabetic numbers by the end of that 6 months.
I didn't pay much attention to carbs in the beginning but after joining on here in the first couple of months I actively cut the majority of them from my shopping list.

The best advice I can give is cook things fresh if you can. Simple example would be a pot of soup will have no added sugar if you make it for yourself BUT a tin of soup (400 grams) can have 11g per 100g making it 44 grams of added sugar that has no reason being there except to mask the taste of the soup in the first place.

A good rule of thumb is no matter how much sugar you have in a day try to make it less, changing brands can help making fresh meals, where possible, always check the labels and pay attention to sauces and condiments.

It's shocking how much sugar they try and sneak past you when you buy anything of the shelf. Always double check NO Added sugar labels this is not the same as no sugar.

BigAlan said:
I set myself up to fail
Click to expand...

Don't beat yourself up about it @BigAlan you have been a victim of disinformation now you know better. Remember its a Marathon not a sprint, you're in for the long haul, now you're better informed and making better choices.
I'd say that's a win.
 
The percentage of sugar is not really all that important as it is the intake of carbohydrate that is the major influence on blood glucose levels.
Keep to 10% carbohydrate content, but I do not eat many foods with a significant carb content anyway, my diet is protein and natural fats with salad, mushrooms, low carb vege mixes as stirfry or in casseroles. Once or twice a week I have fruit, berries or a jug of lemon tea. My daily intake of carbohydrate is under 40 gm, which put me into normal numbers soon after diagnosis back in 2016.
I used a blood glucose tester to see what my blood glucose levels were after eating.
 
Also, check the leaflet info if you are taking any other drugs. If you are on a 'flozin, you need some carbs, but there is no figure given of how many, so most days I fulfil this by eating a couple of dry crackers.
 
I don't consider the amount of sugar in anything I'm going to eat, or at least not directly. Instead I look at the net carbs and try and stay away from anything where that's too high.
 
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