For those who are going without sugar
xfc1
Posts: 69 Member
How long have you gone without it? Thanks.
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Replies
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It's not practical to fully cut sugar, it's in fruit and vegetables, and it's in so many processed items including bread. The best I could manage is to minimise added sugar, which I've been doing since January.5
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I keep trying. I don't mind the sugar in fruits and vegetables. I've made my own bread a few times. I've also found some light rye bread made with no sugar. I am trying to go by the guide lines of "The Year of No Sugar".
It is a difficult road.1 -
I eat vegetables and fruit every day, so never....8
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I have not dropped all sugar but I have cut this down to nothing over 10% in packaged foods. no sugar in tea/coffee but a small amount of honey.. and now it is no honey.. Hubby and I have been doing this for over 12 months. He has lost over 20 kgs from this alone...me?, well I am a women and apparently weight loss is different for me2
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Except meat and oil every thing contains or converts to sugar/glucose.
I couldn't live on meat and oil.5 -
Op must be talking about sugary products like candy, soda or pastries.
I eat almost all my sugar from fruits, with once a week exception of a candy or ice cream. I don't eat it too much, I crave more salty foods like pizza, hamburgers etc.3 -
I quit eating sugar items (donuts cookie cake pie candy, sweet tea etc) 12/25/15. Cold turkey.
I still eat fruit. I will very rarely eat a little honey or maple syrup like on a sweet potato.. Maybe 10x since I quit sugar. I eat bread that has sugar but I've also cut way back on bread because it's a trigger food for me. I eat ketchup occasionally or an Asian sauce that has sugar. These are rare and don't induce cravings for me. I was practically living off sweets and that's when I decided to abstain. It makes grocery shopping much easier because I just don't eat those things. I have decided to continue to abstain until I'm will into maintenance then they may be an occasional treat. I am down 33lbs with another 38 to go. My weight loss is slow because I am extremely sedentary (I work at home and am at a desk all day) I just started exercising in hopes of increasing my daily deficit.
I know some people just reduce what they eat in sugary foods but completely stopping had been like a miracle for me. I now feel very in charge of my emotional eating.5 -
I don't have a sweet tooth and from my diabetic training I usually avoid sugar sweetened foods. But it is impossible to avoid sugar completely. I eat fruit daily and I use a variety of artificial sweeteners on my oatmeal and in my water.
Now, put a fresh order of fries under my nose....5 -
I'm a bit frustrated. It's been almost 4 months of no sugar: no breads (except Ezekiel which has no sugar), no pasta, no honey, no artificial sweeteners, no fruit, no cereal, and of course, no desserts). I've lost 30 lbs, which is fantastic. But I thought my cravings would go away. NOT a bit! I crave sugar every day and it makes me insane. Any thoughts?4
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louisaguzman wrote: »I'm a bit frustrated. It's been almost 4 months of no sugar: no breads (except Ezekiel which has no sugar), no pasta, no honey, no artificial sweeteners, no fruit, no cereal, and of course, no desserts). I've lost 30 lbs, which is fantastic. But I thought my cravings would go away. NOT a bit! I crave sugar every day and it makes me insane. Any thoughts?
You've had absolutely no fruit in 4 months? I'd be worried about a lot more than sugar (like scurvy lol) Also, Artificial sweeteners have no sugar so why are they included in your no sugar list?7 -
I try to avoid sugar when I can and treat it as a special treat. Maybe a cookie or two once a week. Otherwise, I prefer to use artificial sweeteners like erythritol and stevia. Erythritol is my favourite: it behaves just like sugar in recipes and it has no weird aftertaste and it doesn't have any nasty side effects. It's super awesome. I buy mine on Amazon.
https://authoritynutrition.com/erythritol/2 -
louisaguzman wrote: »I'm a bit frustrated. It's been almost 4 months of no sugar: no breads (except Ezekiel which has no sugar), no pasta, no honey, no artificial sweeteners, no fruit, no cereal, and of course, no desserts). I've lost 30 lbs, which is fantastic. But I thought my cravings would go away. NOT a bit! I crave sugar every day and it makes me insane. Any thoughts?
Congrats on the loss! The weight you lost came from the calorie deficit you created. It is entirely possible to lose weight and NOT give up those things, I and many others did. This is why many find extreme restriction diets to be unsustainable - you gave all those things up, you miss them, and what now? You are going to continue to live without them forever? You can, I suppose, but there isn't anything wrong with bread, pasta, honey, artificial sweeteners fruit, cereal and desserts. They can all be consumed in moderation, in the context of an overall balanced and healthy diet.
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OP, I hope my reply will give you an appropriate answer to your question. why and how long I forewent added sugar/natural sweeteners, honey and syrups were off limits for reasons set out below. Artificial sugars can also cause spikes in blood sugar.
At the instigation of a nutritionist, in response to blood test results, to rid myself of yeast overgrowth and the inflammation it was causing. I gave up fruit for three weeks, along side that I gave up all added sugar for 9 months. I felt so much better as my system reset itself. Because I also have histamine intolerance I had to be careful to find suitable digestive microbes which I started taking later in the 9 months they are still need now. I felt so very much better for that period of abstinence.
I did not do the added sugar avoidance as a weight loss thing it was in an effort to regain my health. Which is still a work in progress.
I would not recommend anyone eliminate a food group for anything other than proven allergy or sensitivity reasons because you can unwittingly be exposing yourself to mineral and vitamin deficiencies and opening yourself up to greater problems.
No one should feel they must give up fruit as a means to loose weight, because of my salicylate sensitivity and historic use of antibiotics, I learned I had to give up high salicylate foods in order to stop various unpleasant symptoms, doing this which exposed me to yeast(s) overgrowth. I knew foregoing vitamins and minerals was compromising nutrition, it had to be done for the pain relief it probided.
Because my issues are complex, I now take digestive enzymes to counteract the phenols associated with fruits and vegetables enabling me to eat well again.0 -
It's been years, maybe 4 or so. I eat a lot vegetables but no fruit. The only exception is when I visit my daughter in New Orleans where they have my favorite dessert.louisaguzman wrote: »I'm a bit frustrated. It's been almost 4 months of no sugar: no breads (except Ezekiel which has no sugar), no pasta, no honey, no artificial sweeteners, no fruit, no cereal, and of course, no desserts). I've lost 30 lbs, which is fantastic. But I thought my cravings would go away. NOT a bit! I crave sugar every day and it makes me insane. Any thoughts?
You've had absolutely no fruit in 4 months? I'd be worried about a lot more than sugar (like scurvy lol) Also, Artificial sweeteners have no sugar so why are they included in your no sugar list?
That's ridiculous.0 -
I think my longest stretch was about 14 hours and I was sleeping for about 10 of those.13
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louisaguzman wrote: »I'm a bit frustrated. It's been almost 4 months of no sugar: no breads (except Ezekiel which has no sugar), no pasta, no honey, no artificial sweeteners, no fruit, no cereal, and of course, no desserts). I've lost 30 lbs, which is fantastic. But I thought my cravings would go away. NOT a bit! I crave sugar every day and it makes me insane. Any thoughts?
You've had absolutely no fruit in 4 months? I'd be worried about a lot more than sugar (like scurvy lol) Also, Artificial sweeteners have no sugar so why are they included in your no sugar list?
While I wouldn't personally give up fruit (don't see a reason to), you can meet all your nutritional needs without it. Many vegetables are high in vitamin C, so scurvy wouldn't be an issue.9 -
OP, are you talking about sugary foods/added sugars? Or all sugars, including those naturally present in foods like fruits, vegetables, and milk?2
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janejellyroll wrote: »louisaguzman wrote: »I'm a bit frustrated. It's been almost 4 months of no sugar: no breads (except Ezekiel which has no sugar), no pasta, no honey, no artificial sweeteners, no fruit, no cereal, and of course, no desserts). I've lost 30 lbs, which is fantastic. But I thought my cravings would go away. NOT a bit! I crave sugar every day and it makes me insane. Any thoughts?
You've had absolutely no fruit in 4 months? I'd be worried about a lot more than sugar (like scurvy lol) Also, Artificial sweeteners have no sugar so why are they included in your no sugar list?
While I wouldn't personally give up fruit (don't see a reason to), you can meet all your nutritional needs without it. Many vegetables are high in vitamin C, so scurvy wouldn't be an issue.
Mmm broccoli! Didn't store as well as limes on ships though
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I eat very little in the way of added sugar relative to my diet as a whole...most of my sugar comes from fruit and veg...but I typically have some sweet thing for desert 3-4 nights per week or something at work a couple of days out of the week...in the context of my diet as a whole it's not particularly material and I don't really see any reason to worry about it or to drive myself crazy trying to avoid sugar for zero reason.2
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I have given up sugar in the sense of processed food. I try to eat at least 90% clean.
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Do you mean sweets? Or added sugars? Is this something you are wanting to do? It might help us have context if you give more information on your own goals.
That said, I have gone without sweets/added sugar from time to time. When I started I wanted to break an emotional eating habit and cut out snacking, and I thought this would be easier (given all the sweets at my office constantly) if I cut out added sugar. I also tend to do well with abstinence, have to work harder to do moderation sometimes, and wanted to experiment with a paleo diet anyway.
I did that for a little more than a month, felt good, but also felt like the structure that I had created (3 meals, no snacking) was more important than never eating sugar (or grains, blah, blah, and plus I had other issues with paleo), and I was getting more calories from working out and wanted to up my calories some, so I added sweets back in, in moderation -- basically an occasional after dinner dessert with the calories I had leftover if there were any.
That went well, but after a while (basically after a week long biking trip when I ate freely given all the calories we were burning every day) I got out of the habit and started getting tempted by office sweets again, so I cut added sugar for another month (but was not super hard core this time, and if I had a bit here and there in savory food at a restaurant I did not care). Again, it went well that month, and I got back to moderation afterwards.
Lately, for various reasons, I've been struggling a bit with maintenance and staying focused and also want to get motivated to lose a bit more, so I am trying a very low carb diet. I have not specifically cut out added sugar, but to hit my carb goal I basically have to limit them to vegetables, nuts, olives, dairy, a few other such things, and so added sugar is effectively excluded. I don't know how long I will do this, depends on how much I like it. I'm sure I will end up fitting in occasional sweets even if I stay mostly low carb, especially for special occasions/holidays.
Don't know if that helps, but it's my experience.0 -
Since December 2016. And when I say cutting out sugar, I don't mean literally any fruit/honey/everything else in this world that contains some form of sugar. I cut out most drinks but water and coffee (with cream and sugar because it's yucky without them), candy/chocolate/junk, and eat smaller portions with mostly protein and veg. Down 28 pounds and counting!1
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ButterballBookworm wrote: »Since December 2016. And when I say cutting out sugar, I don't mean literally any fruit/honey/everything else in this world that contains some form of sugar. I cut out most drinks but water and coffee (with cream and sugar because it's yucky without them), candy/chocolate/junk, and eat smaller portions with mostly protein and veg. Down 28 pounds and counting!
No disrespect, but this sounds more like moderating sugar consumption in order to obtain a calorie deficit than cutting out sugar. Fruit, honey, coffee with sugar . . . these are all sources of sugar. And there's nothing wrong with including them in your diet. As you've found, one can have great results even while eating sugar.5 -
janejellyroll wrote: »ButterballBookworm wrote: »Since December 2016. And when I say cutting out sugar, I don't mean literally any fruit/honey/everything else in this world that contains some form of sugar. I cut out most drinks but water and coffee (with cream and sugar because it's yucky without them), candy/chocolate/junk, and eat smaller portions with mostly protein and veg. Down 28 pounds and counting!
No disrespect, but this sounds more like moderating sugar consumption in order to obtain a calorie deficit than cutting out sugar. Fruit, honey, coffee with sugar . . . these are all sources of sugar. And there's nothing wrong with including them in your diet. As you've found, one can have great results even while eating sugar.
It's amazing how close to 'moderation' the vast majority of us wind up, regardless of what we label it.6 -
If only people understood and/or explained context when asking questions and giving answers.
I eat very little in the way of added sugars. If I am going to indulge on a treat it's going to be something homemade or from a good bakery/restaurant, and that's not going to be very often. I don't drink soda or add sugar to my coffee and eat very little processed food. I certainly don't avoid fruit, or starchy vegetables. I'm not the biggest consumer of bread, only because I'm not a fan of it.2 -
My longest streak of not eating sugar would be the longest I have ever gone between meals, which I would guess would be @ 12-15 hours. Even added sugar I eat every day. Just not too much. I still usually stay under the MFP sugar goal. I'll be over today though - I just ate half a cantaloupe 1
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louisaguzman wrote: »I'm a bit frustrated. It's been almost 4 months of no sugar: no breads (except Ezekiel which has no sugar), no pasta, no honey, no artificial sweeteners, no fruit, no cereal, and of course, no desserts). I've lost 30 lbs, which is fantastic. But I thought my cravings would go away. NOT a bit! I crave sugar every day and it makes me insane. Any thoughts?
When you say you crave it every day, do you mean you are craving specific foods (cakes, cookies), or are you just craving the sweet taste? How do your macros look? Sometimes a slight shift in macros can help with cravings, and a lot of people report not having issues with cravings once they've figured out the macro ratio that works for them.1
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