Am I eating too much sugar

[ShanRamWhite]

Good morning,

I am on my first Whole30 (Day 5) and have a question.  I have been tracking my food (I know it is a no-no) but really wanted to get an idea if my eating was better or worse with the challenge.  Surprisingly, to me, it is better.  What I have really noticed is my sugars.  The first three days I ate some form of fruit- apples for two days and grapefruit the other.  When I check my sugars via the tracking app I noticed the first 3 days my sugar grams were around 25-30 (I am being compliant- based on my research it is the fruit).  Yesterday i didn't eat any fruit and my sugars were at 10 grams.  Today is the day I have a major headache and really fit with the timeline... I am wondering if I need to cut out the fruit to really keep my sugars in check... thoughts?  Suggestions?  

Please don't lecture me about tracking... it is something I have done for years and will slowly give it up. If it makes you feel better I haven't stepped on the scale at all and it is REALLY hard for me to walk away from it every morning. 

Thanks for your suggestions. 

[slc_melissa]

I'm not trying to speak for anybody else here, as I'm sure someone can prove me wrong, but I would guess most of us don't have a lot of practical experience with those sort of specific breakdowns of sugars.  I mean, 10 grams of total sugar in a day sounds really low.  According to quick google search, one sweet potato has 7 grams of sugar.  1 large carrot has 3.4 grams of sugar. 1 cup of cherry tomatoes has 4 grams of sugar......it sounds like you're not eating vegetables with that low of a number.

Can you give a couple days worth of some example meals?

One thing to remember with this program, you're not consuming any added sugar, you're only consuming natural sugars that already exist in real food.

And, out of curiosity, what metrics are you using to define "better" or "worse"?  Do you have a medical or other reason to keep "sugars" at a specific level?  

[ShanRamWhite]

Thanks for responding... honestly I am rather scared about eating too much sugar just because that is my overall weakness.  I even gravitate to the sugary vegetables before all others.  The biggest reason for my post is because I really hadn't had too many symptoms so far, until today, and was wondering if maybe it was because of the amount of sugar I had been supplementing with fruit.  

Possibly my symptoms today are due to too little sugar.  

I just really want to break my sugar addiction and was worried I might be using fruit as my crutch... make sense? 

[ladyshanny]

@ShanRamWhite - could you give some detail on how much added sugar you were eating before Whole30? Not in grams or anything, just if you used to exist on large quantities of sugary foods like sweet coffee/tea, sugary cereals, baked goods etc? 

I doubt the difference in your fruit on one day and not on the next is causing your malaise. My best guess is that it has taken this long for your body to come to the realization that the easy sugars aren't coming and now the headache sets in.

Know that the sugars in fruit are NOT the same as the sugar in coke or brownies. The naturally occurring sugars in fruits are bound together with fibre and vitamins/nutrients. It's not the same. Yes, we still discourage people from using fruit to assuage sugar cravings but that's more a psychological hold that we're trying to get them to break, not because the sugar is keeping them hyped up.  

[ShanRamWhite]

Thanks @ladyshanny... depending on the day I was pretty naughty.  If I had sweets in the house I ate them without any control.  While it wasn't a daily thing, I could easily finish whatever sweets I had quickly.  

I had cut sugar out of my coffee and tried making more healthy version of peanut butter cups but i would say i was a true addict.  I would even get the next day hangovers from sugar. 

I really want to break this habit and worried with the fruit I was just supplementing my addiction.. ya know?  

BTW... my family knickname is Shannie... love  seeing others who use it too.  

 

[slc_melissa]

I'd say if you're worried about fruit, don't eat it.  But if you do, just make sure it's part of a meal and not a stand alone crutch.  I seriously doubt an apple or grapefruit a day will have any negative consequences.

[ladyshanny]

14 minutes ago, ShanRamWhite said:

Thanks @ladyshanny... depending on the day I was pretty naughty.  If I had sweets in the house I ate them without any control.  While it wasn't a daily thing, I could easily finish whatever sweets I had quickly.  

I had cut sugar out of my coffee and tried making more healthy version of peanut butter cups but i would say i was a true addict.  I would even get the next day hangovers from sugar. 

I really want to break this habit and worried with the fruit I was just supplementing my addiction.. ya know?  

BTW... my family knickname is Shannie... love  seeing others who use it too.  

 

Love another Shannie/Shanny!  Made me smile!

Sounds to me like you are experiencing the standard headache/malaise now rather than a couple days ago. Drink lots of water, make sure you're eating enough protein, veggies and fat and watch it if you find yourself eating nuts, dried fruits, fruit and nut bars or super sweet fruits just to "get you through" a sugar craving.  

[kruddock]

Just as a frame of reference, I'm on Day 4 and just started having a headache today.  Since I've started I had only 4 strawberries with a salad, no other fruit since I started. So I think you are just going through the normal sugar withdrawal from sugar you had preWhole30.  The small amount of fruit you are having while on Whole30 is probably not responsible for the headache but if it will make you feel better mentally you could always avoid all fruit because you don't really need it anyway.  I would agree with ladyshanny that is just a delayed reaction from your preWhole30 sugar intake. FYI, I wouldn't say I'm a sugar addict but I did have more than usual over the holidays. Also wanted to add that not everyone follows the timeline exactly, we're all individuals. Hope that helps!