Going sugar free

Have tentatively just started a sugar free life....not sure I can stick it out but just wondering if anyone else is sugar free or has tried it? It's pretty hardcore, like you can't have tomato sauce for example, as it has sugar..so it will mean a lot of label reading at the supermarket!

Anyway, I'm doing it mostly out of curiosity to see whether I can be disciplined about my eating as I can usually put away a 250g choc block in one night (which disgusts me). And the weight loss factor is also encouraging...

Anyway....here's to trying! :o

Good on you! There was an article in the paper today about the amount of sugar in single servings certain things you think is fairly 'healthy', like some flavoured yogurts- 4tsp; apple juice- 5tsp; nutrigrain- 4tsp.
Kinda scary for those who eat these things regularly thinking they're healthy. DH was surprised by those figures, I wan't but only because I know that things which are promoted as healthy aren't necessarily so!!

DH is pretty much sugar free and I try to stay low sugar.
We still have sauce and mayo but we don't drink juice or soft drink etc. DH doesn't have sugar in his tea or coffee but I usually do (trying to cut that out).
We have no breakfast cereals except weet-bix and rolled oats in the house. The boys and I use jam and honey but DH doesn't.
I still eat the odd bit of dark chocolate (I go through a 250 gm bar each week) but DH doesn't partake.
People feel sorry for our children and load them up on sugar and we tolerate it to a certain extent but it does kind of **** me off.

I don't have sugar in tea drinks except the odd store bought coffee. I don't have it on cereal either. I got told off by my Dr for cutting out to much sugar as my suger levels dropped the point I passed out so take note of how you feel. If you get lightheaded take care :)

Cat (nice to see ya round ;) ) how hardcore is it? Do you plan to have Sugar in it's natural form, like honey? Or those 100%fruit jams, or not even that? Did you find out about bread?

Just curious.....

Btw. I can't believe you can eat a whole block of choc and still be slim! Impressive. :)

I'm a sugar-holic... I was doing ok for a bit but have fallen off the wagon lately. I will be trying again though.

One thing I noticed was that my blood sugar levels were much more stable (I know, you're thinking "duh" but I didn't think of it beforehand :dunno:) and I felt better overall. Also my cravings for sweet sugary things were much less after a few days, and reappeared when I started eating like that again. Again, stating the obvious, but I didn't realise how much it was really affecting me, you know? I just didn't think about it.

My friend did sugar free, and she coped ok for a while but found the craving took over eventually and she broke it big style. She has a serious sugar addiction though, to the extent it affects her health on a daily basis despite her not being overweight. I think she was following a book plan though which was designed to help her wean herself off sugar, then slowly introduce it to her diet. I can't remember the name, but it was something like "the candida diet". I think if you are prepared for it being very hard in the first few weeks/months you will reap the benefits in the long run though, as a general rule we all eat far too much sugar and it is far from good for us.

I have a systemic sugar addiction and the more and more I feed it the more and more I crave it. I have major issues where I am not hungry but I will have to put away something sweet. So for example one day this week I had cookies, vanilla slice, a frappachino thing, then more cookies at home, then icecream loaded with icemagic and then lollies in between. That's just one day. Then the next I will do the same thing, week in week out.

Every 3 months I get a candida detox with a mora therapist and use homeopathy to prevent sugar cravings and combat the candida returning by taking the drops after I have some sugar. Then, I last about 2 weeks without sugar, and I relent and have one cookie. Then my mind says 'well, you've blown it now - may as well go all out' and I don't take my drops because I think hope it all lost.

But now that I am going to TTC, I am going for my detox again in early jan and I'm going to beat this sugar thing - and yes, dropping all sugars (including all that hidden stuff) is so darn hard. With such a sweet tooth as mine, I try to just limit additional sugar things and then try drop down on the hidden stuff...but it's just sooo nasty sugar - it's so hard to beat.

what does the candida detox entail? My BFF suffers from terrible thrush but I don't think she's tried that

Hey there, any chance you've read the book about sugar poision?
I love sugar, fully addicted. I read the book and started immediatley. Cut out suagr in my coffee, tomato sauce, bbq sauce, most pre packaged stuff, yogurt etc. I lost 3 kg in a few weeks and felt great after the first 2 weeks. Got to the point i didnt even think about sweet stuff, when usually i couldnt resist a cake or a freddo or a treat
My best tip was that i used potato chips as a treat (fat is okay) and diet coke (artificial sweetners are bad but okay to help you withdraw)
Its true that once you cut out sugar your body starts to recognise when its full now, rather than telling you your not full until it gets its sugar hit
I lost weight so easily, yet still ate lots of 'fatty' food. Sugar seriously is terrible for you, and its not that hard to learn and teach yourself to avoid it. I've just started again after falling off the bandwagon on a holiday
The sugar poison book is just fantastic!

I am diabetic so I go mostly sugar free - I do have it in natural forms though - honey and fructose in fruits. Lots of veggies also have some sugars.

I guess I was wondering the same as jungle mum - are you going fully hardcore? Carbohydrates have sugars in them and carbohydrates are very good for you if you choose complex carbs rather than simple carbs. Complex carbs are wholegrains, low GI type foods. Your body does need them to a degree for energy.

As a diabetic, I eat 5 times a day - small meals. My meals are 1/3 protein (yoghurt/meat/egg etc), 1/3 low GI carb & 1/3 legumes or fruit. There is very low sugar in my food, but still enough for energy.

I think you will probably find giving up sugar a little difficult at first especially if you have been having a lot of it. It does get easier after the first couple of days. I find once I have been off it for a couple of weeks, it is really hard to go back to and all I can taste is super sweetness. Food isn't as enjoyable once you get used to having less sugar. Salt also works the same way - just for the record.

Good luck with your diet. I would mostly suggest that you know what you are doing and make sure you are still eating in balance. Your body still does require sugar for energy in complex forms so just keep that in mind.

Dee - lol, yep have just finished 'the sweet poison quit plan' yesterday!!! Very interesting book...scary what they say about dementia....if it's correct then I'll never eat sugar ever again!! Recommend the book to anyone who hasn't heard of it..

Not going completely hardcore, still happy to eat bread that is 3.5% sugar...once I get home (currently at in-laws who only eat white bread) I'll start on my usual bread which is less than 1% sugar though. Will still be eating fruit & veg that are known for sugar content (carrots and tomatos..), really just will be cutting out the processed crap. Luckily don't have sugar in tea (I will miss my milos though...and aktavite :( ) and I'm not into soft drink so that's a good head start too.

Will be interested to see how long it takes before I only need to eat three meals a day with a tiny snack (if that) in between. I am such a grazer usually. Also interested in seeing if our grocery bills go down! Though the chocolate money might just convert to BBQ Shape money ha!

THanks for all the replies....appreciate the tips and encouragement!

Best thing I noticed when I went sugar free is that I smelled a lot more pleasant, both in my mosh pits and at the lower end of things.

Going cold turkey is hard, and I don't think it's sustainable. That said, once a year I do cut sugar and refined carbs for 6 weeks, and feel amazing. The cravings for it tend to wane, and I know when I'm going overboard because I start turning into a sugar hound and looking for it everywhere.

Good luck! Sounds great.