I’m feeling kind of bummed…
I’ve been tracking my daily nutritional intake, trying to eat better, and one of the goals I set for myself (which I have stuck to pretty well) is to have less than 50g of sugar a day. For this, I go by the printed nutritional labels, which list sugar content as a line item.
I was feeling pretty good that I’d managed to cut most of the sugar out of my diet.
However, my girlfriend was pointing out the other night that me thinking this is an accomplishment is stupid, because ALL carbohydrates are sugars, so reducing the amount of “sugar” as shown on the label is meaningless, since the overall carbohydrate number is all sugar.
I feel helpless now, I mean, I don’t have the lab equipment to do my own food analysis (the lab guidelines book alone is $500), so all I can do is go by the labels…
Sigh… just when I thought I was starting to learn something about nutritional guidelines.
I’m thinking what I need is better literature…
What I stated was not meant to make you think that tracking your sugar was “stupid”. I was just pointing out that labeling in this country is tricky, because they label sugars weirdly. I think there should be better labeling for foods. Right now it’s sort of confusing. But I think that tracking your sugar level is a good thing. It’s certainly better than doing nothing, like I often do. Sorry I came off as calling you stupid. I didn’t mean to.
S’ok. It just felt like your comments, after a bunch of other people’s comments, made me feel like my idea of tracking my intake was under attack from all sides.
You didn’t actually call it “stupid” that was just me being overly dramatic in my paraphrasing. =)
I think what you’re doing is great! I’m sure it helps keep you healthy. Also, I think it is well balanced and easy, which is important. Too many people become so wrapped up in what’s in what they eat that they no longer enjoy eating, which I think is important. Take the time to chew and cherish you food. You’re a healthy man and I think your current way of tracking what you eat is plenty sufficient. the rest of the world should get off your back! (Anyway, I know you had a healthy start in life as you had nothing but all natural, organic food. No jars of baby food for baby Tev!}
love J.