Eliminating Sugar From Your Diet

[sedirea]

i havent eaten sugar in almost 5 months and by that I mean I avoid it almost entirely. I try to eat under 10g a day (yesterday I ate 2g), its hard to get 0g since most foods still have a minimal amount of sugar. l eat loads of whole grains / whole wheat.

Although I do not currently consume any fruits (except for the occasional few of blue berries / grapes when I want it) I do make sure I get other vegetables that are high in vitamins. I probably eat my weight in broccoli, arugula, baby spinach and edamame, lol.

 

[The Moon]

Yeah cutting out refined sugar was one of the best things I ever did for my skin, moods, weight, and it cured the ovarian cysts I had. Sugar acts like a drug.. with side effects.

I also just read an article where they looked at the faces of older people and those who ate a lot of sugar had much more wrinkling and aging than those that did not consume sugar.
Sugar ages you faster.

Just a thought

 

[cold_sun]

How do you all cope with cravings ? Im fine for 4/5 days and then its just like I can't controll it anymore. Pretty much like a drug indeed

 

[sedirea]

I guess it helps that I don't have a sweet tooth (chocolate taste bad to me) but I genuinely just concentrate on how great my health is now and how it will be in the future IF I continue to eliminate it completely from my diet. Good health motivates me quite easily.

 

[~Gia~]

Yes! Finally found this thread.
I was a dumb*** and kept typing suger.

 

[misstarshine]

i havent eaten sugar in almost 5 months and by that I mean I avoid it almost entirely. I try to eat under 10g a day (yesterday I ate 2g), its hard to get 0g since most foods still have a minimal amount of sugar. l eat loads of whole grains / whole wheat.

Although I do not currently consume any fruits (except for the occasional few of blue berries / grapes when I want it) I do make sure I get other vegetables that are high in vitamins. I probably eat my weight in broccoli, arugula, baby spinach and edamame, lol.

I quit eating nearly all sugar using the I quit sugar program from this website

http://iquitsugar.com/

I decided to do it as I had a baby and wanted to shed the last of my baby weight before my wedding. My Fiancé and I have been sugar free (including fructose) for at least 4 months. He has not changed anything else and has lost over 12kg. I lost 6kg and have the flattest stomach I have had since I was 21. My skin is amazing and I have also lost weight in all my stubborn areas like love handles and upper arms which I thought I would never lose. My body is way better than it was before I had my baby.

I don't think there is a problem with eliminating fruit from your diet. I eat it occasionally but there are so many vegetables with vitamins that you can eat instead.

All our friends were really sceptical when we started and now so many of them are also going sugar free just from seeing our results.

 

[MilkyWay]

I was raised vegetarian and without sweets so with the exception of apple pie I don't really crave sweets but over the last few years I wasn't diligent about excluding them. Lately I've gone further to elimate sweets and white food (sugar) and include more diverse foods like yams, greens, etc.

I have to get one little rant out - I think with the exception of ppl who have specific health issues eliminating fruits is excessive and unnecessary. Many fruits have healthy benefits like being high in antioxidants that are highly beneficial to the skin (berries and pomergranate) and other nutrients like potassium (bananas). Kiwis for example are a super food and super cheap.
I think there's something weird about our culture making being healthy or slim so complicated. 50-11 ppl on various special diets and having to constantly consult a rule book only to have new conflicting info come out every few years that contradicts what everyone was doing last year and to be honest not looking (to my eye) or seeming to feel all that better than the average relatively healthy person. The goal for me is to cut down on sugar particularly in processed food. Grapes and cherries are not processed last I checked so they and other fruits will remain in my diet, but in moderation. So far I've not needed more than that to maintain great skin and a size 0-2. I'm wary of any diet that associates stress or anxiety with eating especially because the mind is a big part of being healthy.

 

[SabrinaNicole]

Sugar is actually not as bad for you as polyunsaturated fats. PUFAs (omega 3 & 6) are the real problem.

 

[*Isobel*]

^? care to explain?

 

[MulletProof]

I decided to quit ground sugar this week.. but it's proving to be so damn hard!. I didn't have sugar so I thought, what a great opportunity to finally quite this bad habit (I add 3 teaspoons to my black coffee.. brown though , haven't had white in a long time). Well.. I have somewhat managed with other things I used it for (like porridge) but man, coffee is so disgusting without it, it's like washing a duster in hot water and then drinking it. I've been waiting for it to cool off and then drink it as a shot because I can't handle the horrible taste (which kills the entire purpose of having a nice cup of coffee!)... it's definitely been making me reconsider even my attachment to coffee as a whole. Also can't add milk to make it less harsh.. my stomach is super sensitive to regular milk and coconut/almond/rice/soy milk with coffee grosses me out even more (just like splenda).

Ranting, but yeah, coffee without sugar is so hard.. and so many people drink it like that all the time and so proudly. I hope I adapt to the taste soon.

I did notice I crave less sugar as a result.. I'm always searching for something very sweet in the afternoon, usually panda bears or pastries most people find too much (boston cream donut/pfannkuchen) and that suddenly stopped. Maybe it's psychological, who knows. Either way, I feel a little proud of that.. I was tested for sugar levels not long ago and they were perfect, but I still carry predisposition to diabetes.. it's all around my paternal family.

 

[Phuel]

^^^ Let me get your panties into a bunch, Mullet... I’m not a coffee fan but I’ve never never never had my coffee with sugar… Always preferred it blackest— no milk, no cream: like drinking a cup of aspirin. I can’t stand sweetness LOL

 

[tigerrouge]

I'm a hard-core black coffee drinker, but if you're trying to adjust to the taste, there are all sorts of low- or non-sugar ways of adding flavour to it. You can try adding spices, such as powdered cinnamon - supposedly also good for blood sugar levels - or you could experiment with flavoured coffees or sugar-free syrups.

Personally, I find it's difficult to find a flavoured coffee that doesn't have a strange chemical taste to it, but there are some which seem a little bearable. Douwe Egberts does little glass jars of instant coffee in a range of flavours, the vanilla and the hazelnut are the only ones I'd touch.

Monin seems to have cornered the market in coffee syrups full stop - if you go on their website, they have flavours I'd never even heard of - but I've yet to see the sugar-free varieties on sale in my local supermarket, so I can't vouch for their taste, only their existence.

Another thing to consider is adding powdered dark chocolate to your coffee. If you're OK with the taste of dark chocolate, it can make black coffee seem a little 'rounder' and I presume that's from the fat content.

People on a keto diet talk about 'bulletproof coffee' - adding butter or coconut oil to your morning coffee. But not only is that a nightmare to mix properly, I wasn't impressed by the taste or the effects, and I suspect continued consumption in the mornings would amount to a free enema in the afternoon.

 

[MulletProof]

^ oh my.. I had heard of coconut oil in coffee and felt curious about it but hadn't thought of the effects. Sounds like a nightmare, I don't want to forever taint my image here , but I've had colitis nervosa for a few years now , any minimal level of stress (had to leave at 8:00 am and it's 8:14 am) combined with harsh food like coffee, or even an apple = excruciating pain and.. yeah. Probably ideal for some (certainly keeps me -> |) but so painful I tend to run the extreme of the opposite way: stuffing myself with bread if I'm having a hectic morning and staying away from coffee until I've relaxed a bit.

I hadn't thought of spices.. I love them in coffee, especially cinnamon, I'm going to try that tomorrow.. I really want to adapt to the lack of sweetener, but the taste is so metal-ish for now.. I don't even know how coffee ever managed to leave the Americas tasting the way it does haha

.. I'll try to find monin syrups, cause I see they're sugar-free.. I had a phase where I had to had giffard's noix de coco in hot chocolate every single afternoon, but that was plenty of sugar too.

When you say you're a hardcore black coffee drinker, you mean you don't use any sweetener right?

Phuel, I've accepted that no respectable adult drinks coffee the way I do! I even add 2 spoons socially cause it's so embarrassing.. and disgusting, yeah.

 

[tigerrouge]

No, I never use sweetener, I drink straight black coffee, but that doesn't mean I don't sometimes yearn for a hint of something different in it. I also eat 90% dark chocolate, so I'm used to bitter tastes at the moment, which makes black coffee more palatable.

I used to drink a lot of diet coke, but phased it out of my life in February, and the occasional instance I've had it since, it's tasted really weird to me, and not how I remember it. I think everyone's taste buds can become acclimatised to different things with time (and absence).

 

[MulletProof]

^ ah, I wish I could do that with coffee. I don't think it's that bad to drink it but one January, as part of that year's resolutions, I decided to quit it (just for the sake of quitting something!)... and the withdrawals were crazy, worst hangover and symptoms of depression.. I got back to it less than 48 hours later and haven't tried to do it again since. I didn't even know I was addicted to it and I don't like the idea of having to get high on some plant's seeds (lol) in order to function in my day, instead of relying on sleep+food like a normal animal. But that's tougher than sugar for now!

I agree on taste buds being flexible.. I've only been drinking it like this for a week so here's hoping!.

 

[Fewormany]

When considering spices you might want to try ginger and/or cardamom as well. I really like those in my coffee alone or together with some cinnamon. Always with some oat milk though, adding herbs to black coffee gives it a strange dry dusty flavor if you ask me.

 

[Phuel]

Sorry to hear about nerve condition, Mullet— sounds terrible, especially when it’s induced by stress. I mean, how can any sane, functioning adult ever avoid stress????? I always drink a lot of freshly blended fruits, along with tones of freshly squeezed ginger, even more than I usually do, when I’m overly stressed; I don’t know if it helps soothing the effects of stress, but I do feel a lot healthier. I’ve always hated sweet drinks since I was little; like I hated the taste of Coke or any pop and just preferred my sparkling water (with dry seaweed and rice sheets instead of some gross candy bar LOL) I’m so boring my fav thing to drink to this day is… ice-cold sparkling water, even in the winter time when it’s -40… (maybe mixed with equal amount of vodka from time to time LOL)

tiger: Pure bitter, unsweetened dark chocolate melted into the blackest coffee sounds like decedent bliss. I’ll try that come winter… Nearly God’s “Black Coffee” will be the soundtrack when I try this dark potion of an elixir come winter.

 

[MulletProof]

^ almost all the women in my family have it, I grew up hearing the term but didn't know what it was until experiencing loss at.. 20?, and seeing how my body reacted to that level of stress. In long-term cases like that, getting my body under control feels a bit like bull riding , I have to implement lifestyle changes (food, sleep patterns, routine). For short-term stress, I try to start the day healthy but make sure to include bread. I also do cardio almost everyday now, which relieves nearly all the stress, I feel so calm (even sedated) afterwards.

I never liked soda.. only a couple weeks ago I kind of gained some appreciation for sparkling water but still not my thing. I'm always searching for electrolytes cause water alone won't cut it post-cardio and it's hard to find it without sweeteners.. I mostly go for aloe vera, or cucumber/coconut water, but they're sadly not as effective as Gatorade. Bottled coconut water is also suspiciously sweet.. at least the one I grew up with (from some coconut palm field an hour from where I lived) wasn't really sweet..

 

[Phuel]

^^^ Great that at least the condition can be somewhat reduced. Frankly, controlling it sounds… so stressful. And the fashion industry is such a forgiving, nurturing, kind and generous place to reduce stress LOOOL

And frankly, I can’t imagine cutting sugar— including natural sweeteners from fruits, out of your life completely. If you’re an individual that’s naturally drawn to sweetness/ sugars, that would be so stressful to your physical, mental and emotional being to neglect your body’s craving for these types of fuel. That would be like forcing a natural carnivore to cancel meats from their diet. I’m not a natural red meateater nor am I a vegetarian although I don’t prefer to eat red meat, so I don’t crave it. Nor do I crave sugar. But if you do crave both meat and sugar, to cancel it out of your diet completely, for the rest of your life, is so unhealthy. Eating responsibly instead would be so much healthier. If I were pressured to eat red meats on a daily basis, I would be nauseous. Just the smell of pork is so unpleasant to me.

I remember not having eaten at McDonald;s for a while— like over a decade, and when I ordered some fries and McNuggets one day… they were so heavenly; so greasy and crispy and-- so wrong. Fortunately, haven’t craved them since I had it… that was a few years ago. (Wished I could say the same for sleazy, greasy hot men LOL)

 

[MulletProof]

^ oh stop ... but me too , have done a smoother transition quitting harmless sugar than quitting 'let me burn you to the ground' types.

I'm not trying to completely eliminate sugar, but just want to be more, yeah responsible.. same with salt, and meat. It's mostly aging you know .. gone are the days when I wouldn't get the bill for all the nastiness I would put in my body, if I craved it, I had to have it. I try to compensate now.. like I love bacon and sausages.. usually together (ew, I know, but yum), so I try to have veggies only for a couple days just to make it easier for my body. And sugar, well.. I'm just trying to reduce it as much as much as my willingness allows... my grandpa went blind and later died, all for consuming sugar just like I do when he was my age (and not stopping).. so that makes me feel like I'm not painting a good forecast for myself while I still have time..

It's not necessarily unhealthy to quit some things.. I think the body adjusts easily, especially when there are healthier options with more nutrients. I have noticed that the more intoxicated you are, the more you crave junk, so hearing cravings isn't always a good idea (dear god, let me keep my own advice). It is a bit disorienting at first but good in the long run..