30 Days No Junk No Soda !!

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  • wmd1979
    wmd1979 Posts: 469 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    wmd1979 wrote: »
    I didn't see OP stating that everyone needed to do what she is doing, yet right away out come all the familiar faces spouting their same recycled lines questioning her decision. She seems to be doing this of her own free will, and if it makes her feel better to change her diet up for 30 days then why does everyone care so much? Can you eat nothing but ice cream and cookies and lose weight? If you are at a caloric deficit then of course you can, however some people may find it easier to stay in a deficit, or prevent overeating by cutting back on some of those foods.

    It just boils down to doing whatever works for you, and makes you feel better. If you can have your cake and eat it too then I think that is awesome, and more power to you. When I am cutting, I generally cut some of the sweet stuff out because I find that makes it easier for me to stay in a deficit and stay satiated. I am still perfectly content eating that way. People seem to get into an uproar when someone else talks about cutting out, or cutting back on sugar but I just don't get what the big deal is.

    Because of all the reasons I mentioned above... but also... losing weight is hard. And for many of us, it is a marathon, not a sprint. Why make it harder than it needs to be, by arbitrarily cutting out completely (not cutting back but completely excluding) foods that you enjoy, if it is not necessary? Like I mentioned, there is such a prevalence of misinformation floating around, people get confused, and dispelling that bad information and focusing on what is necessary (truly, just a calorie deficit for weight loss; with overall nutrition being very important as well) is why people respond in these sorts of posts.

    I agree with you about there being a prevalence of misinformation for sure. I hate all the sugar and carbs are evil posts as much as anyone and in a post like that then people do need to be set straight. This post is a bit different though because OP is not swearing away sugar forever, its simply a 30 day break. It sounds like she has done this before and had good results with it which is all that matters. Like you said, weight loss is hard, and you have to do what works for you. Every so often I take a break from alcohol and it just makes me enjoy a nice cold beer even more once that break is over. I can't really give you a good reason why I take that break, but it is empowering and it is just good sometimes to know that I am in control and the food/drink is not.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    HarryPro wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    HarryPro wrote: »
    When I decided to make some diet changes I swore off Soda, Candy, and Fast Food.

    Eh, depending on how one defines fast food (does Pret count? it's pretty darn fast?) and ignoring my occasional LaCroix (isn't that soda?) and diet Coke/ginger ale, I never really ate this stuff even before MFP. Not because it's "poison" (I don't think it is, and generalizing about fast food and all candy -- even the homemade stuff? -- is hard to do), but because my indulgences are different ones.

    So cutting it out wouldn't be worthwhile for me (as I don't eat it).

    It seems a strange thing to fixate on given how much else goes into having a good diet. If those things were foods I enjoyed, I'd be more proud of myself for eating an overall nutritious diet with sensible calories and lots of vegetables, personally, than whether or not I totally eliminated something I liked.

    But whatever.

    (I do think OP trying a 30 day change if she thinks foods are too significant part of her diet is reasonable, just not that well defined for others joining in if that's what she wants. I cut out added sugar for 30 days as an experiment and then added it back in moderation. For some of us limited term challenges can be helpful. But I HATE the idea that not eating specific demonized foods is what nutrition is all about, whereas if you eat the nutrient-dense foods in the variety needed to get in everything on limited calories, you won't be eating so called "junk" in excess anyway.)

    Fair enough but I think you would be hard pressed to find a doctor who believed eating candy fastfood and soda every day was wise. In fact, I suspect a doctor looking at a habitual diet of these things would suggest that it would harm your quality of life over time ... yaknow, like poison ;)

    It depends on how much.

    But also the alternative to "never" is not "every day." I like some more indulgent foods -- ice cream, cheese, naan and curry, bratwurst, for a few examples. I DO have a little cheese most days. I DON'T have 500 calories of it generally (on a rare occasion, maybe, although I can't think of any since I started watching my diet). At one point I did have 200 calories of ice cream several times a week. In that my diet at the time was extremely healthy (lean meat, lots of vegetables, healthy fats) and had few other indulgences, I don't think that was a big deal or bad. On occasion I have an evening out at an Indian restaurant -- I either use that as a meal after a big workout day or just a rare thing I prepare for by having a light day the day before or lower cals the rest of the day (and a bit of extra protein, since Indian food has plenty of vegetables but tends to be carb and fat heavy). On national holidays involving cookouts I might have a brat AND ice cream, but that's a rare occasion.

    See how that works?

    Whether my diet is healthy is not about avoiding indulgences -- it has MUCH MORE to do with eating enough protein, healthy fats, vegetables, some fruit, being satisfied, etc. And, of course, not overeating.

    So if I had a soda or candy daily, in reasonable amounts, and occasionally had fast food (even in the US it's EXTREMELY rare to have it daily, from the stats I've seen), I don't think a doctor would care. Now, if one NEVER ate those things and also never ate vegetables (or very few), I think most doctors would care, and think that was bad.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    dennissmith33821 wrote: »
    So much negative, nothing wrong with going junk and sugar free for 30 days. and after that definately moderation

    No nothing wrong dropping "junk" (however one defines it, as I asked about). I don't think OP mentioned sugar free -- that would be something quite different. If you notice above, I specifically said that I thought 30 day things like this can be helpful and have done them (I dropped added sugar, among other things at various times). 30 days without added sugar wasn't life changing or even as hard as I might have expected (or as some seem to think), but it was somewhat interesting/educational.

    Others (not OP) seem to have trouble understanding that the alternative to "never eating specific foods" (foods that I think it's funny to make a big thing out of dropping, since I never really eat them) is eating them in enormous amounts daily, and that's absurd.

    My argument, and why I jumped in, is that too often people think eating healthfully is about not eating specific things EVER (when really they are fine in reasonable portions or occasionally) and that distracts from what it's really about, which is not overeating and eating enough nutrient-dense foods to meet your needs. My view is that if you eat a diet that is calorie and nutrient appropriate, eating excessive soda or candy isn't an issue, as you wouldn't have room. (Fast food, well, it depends on what you choose and what else you get in your day, but I don't think anyone is pushing it as a daily choice. That said, a daily fast food chili -- what's wrong with that?)
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,744 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    spiriteagle99 wrote: »
    A challenge like this can be a good way of breaking habits like always having dessert or drinking a lot of soda. After you are done, you may find you have really decreased your need for sugar. Good luck. After the first week it gets much easier.

    i have dessert almost every night and I have no issues...

    dessert does not equal bad...

    I'm not saying it is bad. I eat dessert frequently. However when I eat too frequently, unless I'm getting a lot of exercise, I always gain weight. One of the ways I keep my weight steady is to control how much sugar I eat.
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