Question about sugar

I have the following question , I have limited my fat and sugars but its getting really hard to find food with fat free and sugar free so my question is how much is enough sugar in a food.

Hey Tracy. Everyone is a little different, but I have found that an average amount that is safe is a food containing under 8g of sugar per serving. Now, of course, you should not eat an entire serving of a sugary-type food. Instead, eat about 1/2 of a serving. Another thing I have learned is that if I have a sugary-food and drink something at the same time, I will dump. So, no drinking with any type of sugary-food. BTW...I ate two bites of REAL chocolate ice cream today with no problem! But, I am now 11 months out. You'll get there.

Marcie, I've noticed a lot of fat free sugar free yogurts contain more than 8 grams of sugar, like lemon and keylime for instance. I really don't like plain ol' fat free vanilla yogurt anymore and would love to eat other flavors. Yoplait is my favorite brand. Does the 8 grams of sugar limit refer to cane sugar or natural sugars, too? Thanks!

Hey Jessica. The 8g rule is just a guideline and it refers to the sugar content listed, no matter what type of glucose derivative is used. Congrats on finding sugar free yogurt. I never could. I also could never find one that contained less than 8g of sugar that I liked, either. So, I would just have 1-2tsp of the higher sugar content yogurt and then let that go down. About 30 minutes or so later, if I was still hungry or if I felt shakey, I would have another tsp or so. It's all about finding your limits and then learning to live within those limits. Don't push them. Having dumping syndrome once or twice will teach you. It's a good thing. But, continually getting dumping syndrome because you aren't listening to the signs and signals of your body is a BAD thing. Also a warning...you can eat through the dumping syndrome to the point that your body no longer has the negative consequences associated with eating too much sugar or fat. You can abuse and ultimately, destroy your tool. I have seen it happen. My cousin is a walking example. She learned she could eat little Hershey's kisses throughout the day and not dump. Yet, she was taking in lots of calories. Soon, 5 or 6 kisses a day turned into a couple dozen. She is slowly putting her weight back on. Know your limits, respect those limits and live with them. Those limits have been imposed on us by our surgery for good reason. It's the way we SHOULD eat. So, test them, but then respect them. Go try some yogurt and see how you do. Just use the 8g as a guideline.

Thanks, Marcie! I *think* most of the smooth yogurts, like key lime and lemon had 14 gms of sugar, so it's not too much more than vanilla. I'll double check the labels the next time I go food shopping. I don't eat a whole lot of yogurt, but I'd like to have it once in awhile. I actually like fat free cottage cheese a lot now. It's funny because before my surgery I'd eat cottage cheese, but not really like it. I guess it's true that your taste buds can change after WLS.