Anyone else doing a sugar free diet?

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Replies

  • Sunna_W
    Sunna_W Posts: 744 Member
    Our house has been "no added sugar" for quite sometime. It was hard at first, but once I got the hang of shopping and finding key staples (like canned beans and canned tomatoes) it was pretty easy. We have a Trader Joe's near us and they have many no sugar added canned goods. I just shop the perimeter of the store usually and the freezer aisle for flash frozen vegetables. I buy my spice mixes from www.penzeys.com and I don't miss store bought sauces / mixes at all.

    What I have noticed is that when I rarely do have something (like a slice of pie or cake at a friend's house or as part of a restaurant birthday celebration) I notice *all* of the flavors in the dessert, not just the sugar. I can't eat much of it either. Just a few bites and I am completely done.

    I do think that in certain instances, specifically due to dehydration from fevers / flu, that sugar is necessary for medical reasons and I do keep a small amount in the house for that.
  • 147Daneen
    147Daneen Posts: 11 Member
    day 8 of sugar free! cooked all my meals for the most part, ate egg & turkey bacon for lunch yesterday outside, but it wasn't bad! whee!
  • 147Daneen
    147Daneen Posts: 11 Member
    something's wrong with my blog so it hasn't been allowing me to post my new diaries, guess ill post here until that's fixed
  • 147Daneen
    147Daneen Posts: 11 Member
    i think everyone should just do what they want.. if they don't want it, they don't want it. this thread can just for people who want to do sugar free. does that sound more productive for everyone?
  • mom22dogs
    mom22dogs Posts: 470 Member
    Orphia wrote: »
    147Daneen wrote: »
    I'm writing about my sugar free process on my blog here at myfitnesspal. Was wondering if anyone is also doing sugar free - no sugar, and no processed food at all. (white bread, pasta, tortilla, white rice), basically I'm only eating what I cook myself.

    Thanks!

    @147Daneen I left them cold turkey Oct 2014. The first two weeks was hellish after 40 years of abusing carbs but my health is recovering nicely. Wish I had started this WOE long ago and not waiting until I was 63 with health crashings.

    It is not something all can do because carb addictions can be really hard to walk away from for many. The funny part for all of these years I did not realize I was an addict.

    What is the link to your blog?

    There is no such thing as carb addiction.

    Or are you admitting that carbs are an essential part of a healthy diet?

    I agree there's no such thing as carb addiction. Just lack of self-control or lack of self-awareness of what you are eating and in what quantities.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Again, we haven't gotten clarification on whether the thread is about being "sugar free" or just avoiding added sugar. As I think I said upthread, I currently find it easier to eat quite low carb with my only sources of carbs non starchy veg, dairy, nuts, and fruit (whatever's local and in-season), so I'm generally "no added sugar," although far from sugar free. I also don't worry about using something like sriracha that has a tiny amount of sugar per serving.
  • 147Daneen
    147Daneen Posts: 11 Member
    From the past 8 days - here's the effects that I did notice after eating sugar free for 8 days:
    1) i have better skin - even though it's only been 1 day more than a week, my skin has improved noticably. I used to always get pimples, but now they have subsided, even the marks. I think I also have less wrinkles on the forehead, so it's not very noticeable yet because I didn't have that many to start with.
    2) definitely lost a lot of sizes around the waist - where my old pants were tight, even though it's only 8 days ( i know), i can now fit into them without discomfort.
    3) feel less like napping after lunch / in the afternoon - that's something I also really like - because in the past, I'd always have that 1 hour or 2 in the afternoon where I really feel lethargic

    Actually, it's been all great for me thus far and it was not that hard for me after the first 3-4 days (very hard on day 2-4 for me....), I feel really great, and should be all thanks to this since nothing else has changed...
  • nokanjaijo
    nokanjaijo Posts: 466 Member
    147Daneen wrote: »
    From the past 8 days - here's the effects that I did notice after eating sugar free for 8 days:
    1) i have better skin - even though it's only been 1 day more than a week, my skin has improved noticably. I used to always get pimples, but now they have subsided, even the marks. I think I also have less wrinkles on the forehead, so it's not very noticeable yet because I didn't have that many to start with.
    2) definitely lost a lot of sizes around the waist - where my old pants were tight, even though it's only 8 days ( i know), i can now fit into them without discomfort.
    3) feel less like napping after lunch / in the afternoon - that's something I also really like - because in the past, I'd always have that 1 hour or 2 in the afternoon where I really feel lethargic

    Actually, it's been all great for me thus far and it was not that hard for me after the first 3-4 days (very hard on day 2-4 for me....), I feel really great, and should be all thanks to this since nothing else has changed...

    That's fantastic, it sounds like this WOE really works for you. It was about three weeks into this that I knew I would never eat any other way, the improvements to my quality of life were so dramatic and undeniable. For me, it was almost entirely mental improvements, improvements to mood, focus and mental endurance. But I also have more energy and it's consistent. I can go on a run after not eating for 18 hours and not feel like I'm struggling.
  • 147Daneen
    147Daneen Posts: 11 Member
    edited July 2017
    nokanjaijo wrote: »
    147Daneen wrote: »
    From the past 8 days - here's the effects that I did notice after eating sugar free for 8 days:
    1) i have better skin - even though it's only been 1 day more than a week, my skin has improved noticably. I used to always get pimples, but now they have subsided, even the marks. I think I also have less wrinkles on the forehead, so it's not very noticeable yet because I didn't have that many to start with.
    2) definitely lost a lot of sizes around the waist - where my old pants were tight, even though it's only 8 days ( i know), i can now fit into them without discomfort.
    3) feel less like napping after lunch / in the afternoon - that's something I also really like - because in the past, I'd always have that 1 hour or 2 in the afternoon where I really feel lethargic

    Actually, it's been all great for me thus far and it was not that hard for me after the first 3-4 days (very hard on day 2-4 for me....), I feel really great, and should be all thanks to this since nothing else has changed...

    That's fantastic, it sounds like this WOE really works for you. It was about three weeks into this that I knew I would never eat any other way, the improvements to my quality of life were so dramatic and undeniable. For me, it was almost entirely mental improvements, improvements to mood, focus and mental endurance. But I also have more energy and it's consistent. I can go on a run after not eating for 18 hours and not feel like I'm struggling.

    that's great! I too have noticed that, and I actually had no idea what eating sugar (white rice, fast carb, however they are called) was doing to me in this regard. I work in a very high-paced industry (fast reaction to number, attention to details a must, lots of negotiation on short notice), and I was always exhausted in the past - i knew that, at certain points, i just had to have that white rice / sugar food in me to make my brain churn... However, ever since i started eating sugar free, i don't fee exhausted any more, and definitely don't feel compelled to ea those things during mentally difficult tasks and days. I would really credit that to this new habit, and I really appreciate that it's helping me work more effectively!

    I think one way to make it easier to adopt (once the first few days passed, it is not as difficult), is to find a way that's easy to cook for you and start this during a long weekend /holiday. My experience was that the first 4 days were really difficult on withdrawal symptoms, and even when I was not hungry i just wanted to cry because i was so used to feeling higher on sugar. Luckily those days were during my July 4th vacation for me, so I was able to just stay at home and sleep...Even a long weekend would suffice. Also, there are some very easy ways to cook root vegetables - yam, sweet potato, turnip, etc - you can just microwave them for 8 minutes while covered, and you can buy a load of them every week in advance, so you don't have to worry so much about planning every day. I think that has been very helpful for me as someone who has a very demanding schedule and relatively long-ish hours.

  • nokanjaijo
    nokanjaijo Posts: 466 Member
    I'm doing the keto diet which is pretty restrictive on all carbs so I don't do root veg. Luckily, I have a lot of autistic qualities, one being that I can eat the same thing every day and never get bored.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    Here's a link to the Low Carber Daily mfp group that I mentioned up thread. I forgot it earlier. Sorry about that.
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group

    They're a very supportive bunch who will understand where you are coming from.

    Continued best wishes.
  • changeconsumeme
    changeconsumeme Posts: 229 Member
    I'm doing a Whole 30 (part of a gym challenge). No added sugar of any sort, but fruit is okay. I'm feeling fine! Do what works for you! But be sure to read your labels. Does the turkey bacon you buy have no added sugar??
  • sosteach
    sosteach Posts: 260 Member
    My first month I ditched all processed food and sugars (including fruit). I have slowly added all foods in and done really well with it. You have to develop a lifestyle you can do forever.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    Don't mention Lustig around here, you'll really set some people off. He's considered a bit of a quack.
    Entirely to be expected. You see there are some extremely powerful vested interests in play here, who want things to continue exactly as they are, ie huge consumption of sugar and foods containing it. They don't care how fat or sick the populace gets, it is their profits they care about. Such powerful vested interests would have no qualms whatsoever about posting en masse on weight loss forums such as this, discrediting anyone they consider a threat to their interests. They also tend to favour those financially who treat their wares kindly.

    Like John Yudkin before him, Lustig makes some compelling arguments, so he has to be destroyed, like Yudkin was. I've yet to see them in any manner debunked. I've seen a lot of fiddling with dodgy figures and ridiculous assertions regarding a mythical drop in sugar consumption here in Australia and an "Australian Conundrum" based on fabricated sugar consumption figures, which on its own convinces me that much is being hidden. It's very easy to call someone a "quack" but much more difficult to debunk what appears to be quite sound science.

    Anyway, those who think sugar is hunky dory are free to eat 5 Tim Tams (500 calories) )not sure other countries have these very sweet and very popular chocolate biscuits) for dinner and enjoy the fun as their body craves some real food.

    Right, we are all paid shills for the sugar industry...

    Listing has been called out by numerous of his peers as a pseudo-scientist and fear-monger

    No one is saying eat large quantities of sugar and ignore nutrition; what we are saying is that sugar can be part of an overall healthy diet that meets macro, micro, and calorie targets. What matters is context and dosage. There are no bad foods , just bad diets.

    But if you want to do some super restrictive diet and be miserable because you are worried about how much fruit you are eating, then by all means knock yourself out.

    Wait, we are supposed to be getting paid!? My check must have been lost in the mail. Grr, that darn accounting department at Big Sugar! They are so careless!

    send me your bank information and i will send you the million that you are owed from big sugar...
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    geebusuk wrote: »
    Perhaps, just perhaps...
    Food companies are in the business of selling food.
    People like food with sugar in, so they buy food with sugar in because it tastes nice.*
    So food companies make food with the substance which makes it taste nice in, so people buy it.

    (*We can blame evolution/god for that one.)

    na, the food kabal wants to kill us off by getting us addicted to sugar, which is toxic, which will kill off all their customers...
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Where do I sign up to be a paid shill? I mean, should I call one of the sugar companies listed in the baking aisle, or is there some "Big Sugar" hotline that hires everyone?

    I'm confused about how I was even shilling here, as I'm all for limiting sugar, but I guess our employer has low standards. Email me and I'll hook you up! Best way to make $$$$ a day from your home and all that.*

    *Just kidding.