Check the serving size

I’ve been using MyFitnessPal for the past week to help track my sugar intake and calories and to help hold me accountable with my fitness goals. And I’ve learned a few things, I thought I would share.

I’m usually pretty good about limiting my sugar intake…or at least I thought I was. I’ve already cut out soda, tea, coffee creamer and ice cream…so what more is there, right? Within the first day of using this tool, I realized that I have still have a ways to go. Having something easy to use that counts my nutrition calories, protein, fiber and sugar has made a big difference in my food choices. So find something that works for you – it could be a notebook that you write it down yourself, a different app, whatever just find something that helps you.

You may say, “That’s ok, I don’t need to see it, I’ll just add it up.” Seeing the actual numbers is a very important part of acknowledging where to start and how to move forward. For example, I got my husband to try it…he thought I was asking a bit much, but he humored me and played along for the first day (Saturday). Then Sunday he started really watching what he was eating. Then this morning we talked about portion size, so we actually measured his cereal and the next thing I know he’s making his own protein shake for lunch. I realize that you all may not have met my husband, but you’ll have to take my word for it that this is VERY unusual behavior….but it started with seeing and confronting the numbers and acknowledging the need for change.

I also decided that if I was really going to do this….I was really going to do it, so to speak. So I even decided to enter my supplements, after all they affect my overall health, too. I was really surprised by the number of calories in vitamins. My vitamin D chewable has 20 calories and 4g of sugar….guess I’ll be switching that one. Especially if you are using over the counter supplements like gummy or chewy vitamins, I would encourage you to put these in, too, just to see how they measure up.

I typically am really good at reading food labels for ingredients, limiting added sugars, yeast extract and other food sensitivity triggers, but I realized I wasn’t looking at one thing: serving size. I got my favorite flax seed, whole food muffins from Whole Foods…should be healthy right? For the most part, yes, when you look at the ingredients and the numbers on the label. Then I looked at the serving size …who eats half a muffin? I sure don’t, but I guess I’m going to start. I’ve allowed myself 38g of sugar daily which is the recommended daily value and the whole muffin has 26g of sugar! Between that and my morning snack of a very small green banana, I’ve had the whole day’s serving of sugar. Needless to say, I’ll be trying half a muffin tomorrow with a small bowl of oatmeal or a protein shake and I’ll be having salad and turkey for the rest of the day.

I would love to hear if you are doing the sugar challenge or what types of things you do to cut sugar out of your daily foods. Leave a comment here on the blog or message me on our Facebook page!