Eliminating Sugar From Your Diet

[snowinmoscow]

Apologies if this has already been mentioned before - but i read the book "Sweet Poison" by David Gillespie and it absolutely changed my life! I have cut down on the amount of bad sugar in my diet,*******, improved my skin and just feel so much healthier all round!

Definitely grab a copy if you can find one online!!!

 

[SabrinaNicole]

But then otoh I don't eat much refined sugar anyway including chocolate. I'm still reading Gary Taubes book Why We Get Fat, he is very anti carbs in general including even fruit. Certainly many people do not process foods high in sugar at all. And if they do, it just contributes to the flab unless you rev it up with tons of cardio.

 

[Teja]

Did you eat dairy products and/or meat ? Ive been a vegetarian for years and recently switched to full vegan and my skin improved dramatically. Perhaps thats an option for you as well! Let me know if you need any more advice

(Oops haven't seen this until now.)
I did ate dairy products but no meat (I'm a vegetarian). I ate lots of fruit so maybe that's why my skin didn't get any better? I just love fruit covered in yogurt.

 

[cold_sun]

^Im obviously no nutrionist or anything, so Im just speaking from my personal experience but for me, cutting out dairy products made a huge difference indeed (Ive been a vegetarian 6 years before and that didnt improve my skin at all either). So perhaps you want to give it a try. Fruit covered in soy yogurt can be pretty delicious as well haha!

 

[Dianochka]

Well, I'd definitely never give up fruit or healthy complex carbs or dairy. There are too many nutrients in those for me to give them up.

I also love to have dark chocolate and raw honey almost daily, so those, I'd never give up. But I'm going to try much harder lately not to have other sugars except on rare or special occasions. It's going to be tough!

 

[Teja]

^Im obviously no nutrionist or anything, so Im just speaking from my personal experience but for me, cutting out dairy products made a huge difference indeed (Ive been a vegetarian 6 years before and that didnt improve my skin at all either). So perhaps you want to give it a try. Fruit covered in soy yogurt can be pretty delicious as well haha!

I forgot to mention I also eat lots of cottage cheese with fruit. But I think I can go vegan for a couple of months and see if my skin gets any better.

 

[fashionista-ta]

But then otoh I don't eat much refined sugar anyway including chocolate. I'm still reading Gary Taubes book Why We Get Fat, he is very anti carbs in general including even fruit. Certainly many people do not process foods high in sugar at all. And if they do, it just contributes to the flab unless you rev it up with tons of cardio.

I have to say, being anti-fruit is just insane. Eliminate fruit, eliminate half the super foods known to man (at least). I remember one study where they killed cancer cells with crushed blackberries.

Just came here to note that I'm doing the cleanse from The Hormone Diet, which eliminates red meat, caffeine, peanuts/pistachios, dairy from cows, sugar, artificial and natural sweeteners, dates, raisins, limits soy, limits carbs, limits seeds/nuts, and probably more I'm forgetting atm. By far the hardest for me has been sugar, because that means no chocolate. But it really hasn't been too bad (started on Monday, today is Wednesday). Have only slightly bent the rules so I could eat out twice, having an oil I wasn't supposed to, a few oats, I think there was a raisin, oh and a bit of cheese and today a bit of yogurt. (Forgot to mention, gluten, oats, and most oils are also verboten.)

Sugar's the only part that's bothered me, but I have noticed that it really eliminates a lot of ups and downs (feeling tired, needing a boost) to get rid of it.

PS Wrt dairy, it is supposed to be inflammatory, and ... it is. I definitely feel better without it. I haven't had the bit of sheep or goat's milk cheese that I'm allowed. And I loooove it, but I'm going to change my eating habits wrt dairy based on this experience.

 

[Fabulyss]

^ That sounds interesting, but what are you allowed to eat on the hormone diet?

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ Well, let's see ... eggs, fruits, veggies, one serving each per day of soy, nuts/seeds, and allowed carbs (such as rice, millet, quinoa, etc.). Olive oil, white meat, all beans, one pat of butter per day ... I'll say this, it certainly makes food a lot less interesting. You're not so much wanting any seconds

 

[MimiV]

^ that one sounds really interesting!!
I was so happy with my results from the Low Carb High Fat-diet, but I'm going to have to try something new .. Since I came back to Beirut it has been impossible to not eat carbs/sugars - it's like the base of all dishes and all my hard work has really gone out the window. The hormone diet, going to google that now!!

 

[adorefaith]

no sugar for a week now....and for some bizarre reason i'm not finding it all that difficult. i'm doing the candida cleanse... lots of protein and veges.. i feel full for longer and don't have crazy cravings. i will eventually add some apples and berries back in... i think the hardest part of it is all the meal planning/prep... no more grabbing things in a rush.... it's a whole new way of planning your day...

 

[Fabulyss]

^ Well, let's see ... eggs, fruits, veggies, one serving each per day of soy, nuts/seeds, and allowed carbs (such as rice, millet, quinoa, etc.). Olive oil, white meat, all beans, one pat of butter per day ... I'll say this, it certainly makes food a lot less interesting. You're not so much wanting any seconds

Sounds tasty, but aren't eggs and butter dairy?

 

[adorefaith]

eggs aren't dairy...they're poultry...

 

[tayloryepp]

I'm having a really hard time cutting sugar out.

What are some foods I can eat that I don't have to worry about sugar content?

And also, is fruit (say 10 grapes, 5 strawberries) a good substitute? There are so many pro and anti fruit people.

 

[MimiV]

Fruits are still sugary, so a lot of sugar-free-diets do not include them. It is much better to eat berries (rasberries, blueberries and strawberries are the best in that order). You can also eat very dark chocolate (85% and over) something I found helped me a lot when I was really craving in the beginning.

That said not everyone cuts out fruits and it's of course better to eat fruits than let's say ice cream. I recommend you to check out the website I linked to earlier!

 

[cheepmunk]

I'm having a really hard time cutting sugar out.

What are some foods I can eat that I don't have to worry about sugar content?

And also, is fruit (say 10 grapes, 5 strawberries) a good substitute? There are so many pro and anti fruit people.

Sounds reasonable to me. Be careful about cutting out fruit entirely. Ten grapes and five strawberries doesn't sound anywhere near excessive, but then I'm only anti-refined sugar, not anti-carb. I know that there are people who are extremely, vehemently opposed to consumption of any carbohydrate at all but, as has already been pointed out upthread, fruits are made up of more than just carbs. They're also made up of vitamins and minerals and anti-oxidants.

If you remove the source of those vitamins and minerals and anti-oxidants from your diet, you'll have to replace it with something else like a supplement. I'm of the school that says that natural is always better than artificial (regardless of what it says on the bottle, it's almost always better to get your vitamins from a natural source if you can), so for me, I'd rather munch on fruit than swallow a pill.

ETA: I just remembered the reason I never come in this thread anymore. It makes me crave sugar like you would not believe. Like, pancakes smothered in syrup with a big glass of juice followed by a big pastry-type craving.

 

[tayloryepp]

Day 1 of low sugar/carb diet. I ate mostly protein today: nuts and chicken, with vegetables such as celery and corn.

I did have three pretzel rods today and 4 caramel cakes (35 calories), but I feel today was a start and I'm going to keep up with this! This thread has really inspired me to be healthier! Thanks everyone!

 

[Blodeuwedd]

I used to do a variation of a low carb/low sugar diet provided to me by a bodybuilder female friend of mine, called the anabolic diet. the elimination of sugar was rough, especially in my coffee and while I did substitute sugar to truvia natural sweetener, I found myself not craving sweet things after the first 2 weeks. It was pretty amazing. I should get back on something similar but not as extreme.

 

[caughtulikeacold]

I have has some PCOS problems, and let me tell you when it was bad, my sugar cravings were horrible! I was like a drug addict. What I did was I went cold turkey, but after a week I couldn't take it, now I take sugar in very limited amounts and it's been fine (mostly sugar in fruit). Try going slowly and your body will get used to it.

 

[Komodia]

I haven't eaten sugar in forever. I do eat lots of fruit though, and I must say, it's NOT a problem. I don't get how people could be anti-fruit. Then again, I don't eat grains at all.. Probably eating both grains and fruit is a bad idea though. Particularly refined grains!