Get rid of that sweet tooth: How to quit sugar
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HealthyChanges2010
Posts: 5,831 Member
Get rid of that sweet tooth: How to quit sugar
It has no nutritional value, yet we consume pounds of it each year – much of it hidden in 'healthy' foods. Sophie Morris discovers ways we can kick the habit
Keeping one's blood sugar even is a bit of a vicious circle. We need to feed our bodies to stave off energy slumps, but doing that with hits of sugar will not help in the long term.
So much for Mary Poppins. All those spoonfuls of sugar are not only making us fat, they're contributing to arguably the biggest health threats facing humanity: diabetes, caused by soaring levels of obesity. Eating too much sugar can also make us tired, irritable, anxious, spotty and aggressive, and lead to insomnia.
Why do we eat so much sugar?
You shouldn't feel guilty about enjoying sugary foods. Human beings are designed to like sweet things – a clever physiological trick to save us from the poisonous plants and berries, which usually have a bitter taste.
Before the agricultural revolution, however, the only sugar we could get in our diet occurred naturally. Starchy foods such as rice, wheat, corn and potatoes – and then bread, noodles and pasta – soon became our principal source of energy. In itself, this didn't cause too many problems, until someone hit on the idea of processing raw sugar into the refined white stuff you find in most kitchen cupboards – and adding liberal helpings of it to almost every packaged and processed food on our supermarket shelves.
Most people's sugar hits start right at the beginning of the day with a bowl of breakfast cereal, laden with delicious, sweet additives. Even if you think you're being clever and eating porridge mixed with dried fruits such as raisins, you are still ingesting a fair whack of sugar. In fact, the sugar in raisins raises your blood sugar in the same way as white refined sugar. Apples and pears contain fructose, which raise your blood sugar about 50 per cent slower than grapes; berries, plums and cherries contain xylose, which releases blood sugar 50 per cent slower again.
Other culprits, aside from the obvious sugary drinks, are processed sauces and soups, which have often been sweetened.
Why is sugar so dangerous?
The UK is rushing headlong into a diabetes crisis fuelled by increasing obesity. Both conditions are linked to the intake of too much sugar and refined carbohydrates. When you pump your body full of sweet things, blood-sugar levels rocket and the body releases insulin in order to remove this excess of sugar from the bloodstream. Where does it put this extracted sugar? On your hips, tummy and bum, in the shape of fat.
Patrick Holford is the author of a new book called How to Quit without feeling S**t which treats the issue of sugar addiction as seriously as heroin, alcohol and nicotine. "The root of most of today's killer diseases is actually blood sugar problems," he says. "So the goal becomes, how do you keep your blood sugar even?"
Sugar cravings
Keeping one's blood sugar even is a bit of a vicious circle. We need to feed our bodies to stave off energy slumps, but doing that with hits of sugar will not help in the long term. Have you ever experienced that mid-afternoon slump after a carb-heavy lunch? No doubt you think it means you need more energy to get through the afternoon, and will fend off the fatigue with a biscuit or, if you're the healthy sort, apples or a banana.
The reason you slumped in the first place is because you ate too many carbohydrates for lunch, instead of a balanced meal with plenty of protein. Plugging that gap later on with yet more sugar will make you feel worse, and most likely less able to concentrate. Studies even show that plenty of non-obese people have developed insulin resistance, no doubt because their bodies have become accustomed to being fed sugar with such regularity, and have stopped bothering to break it down.
There are also strong correlations between the level of sugar in your blood and your mood. When people have low blood sugar they start feeling tired and perhaps depressed. They might become irritable, anxious, aggressive and find it difficult to concentrate. As a result, sweet foods are craved in order to bring that blood sugar back up as quickly as possible. "People who feel blue and then eat something sweet find it makes them feel better," says Holford. "They are probably low in serotonin and they've learned that sugar makes them feel better."
Regulating sugar intake
There are two main ways to balance blood sugar. The first is to avoid carbohydrates and follow a regime similar to the Atkins Diet, eating a high-protein diet. This method works for lots of people, who use Atkins as a loose blueprint for their approach to eating, rather than as a strict diet. The point is that carbohydrate, not fat, is the enemy. The demonisation of fat within the health and diet industry has led to even more sugars being added to apparently healthy, low-fat foods, in order to make them palatable.
The second way is to eat a diet that has a low "glycaemic load" (GL). The "glycaemic index" tells us how quickly the sugar from certain foods is released into the blood stream. What it doesn't tell you is how much of that food is sugar. Holford says that it is better to control the amount of sugar we eat. "Atkins limited the amount of carbs, but didn't pay so much attention to the GI," says Holford. "The GI diet limits the fast-releasing GI sugars but doesn't pay enough attention to the quantity eaten."
For example: any food with a GI food of more than 70 is considered bad. Watermelon scores 72, but in a 120g slice there are only six grams of sugar. The sugar is released very quickly into the blood stream but there is not much of it.
Oat-based cereals are better than rice- or corn-based cereals. Beans, lentils and pulses are high in carbohydrate but low-GL; brown rice and wholewheat pasta are better than white, but quinoa is much better than any of these.
The good carb/bad carb debate seems to be ongoing, and no wonder: who wants to give up that bowl of pasta? The obvious solution if you really want to pull your body back from the brink of sugar dependency would be to limit foods that are high in sugar aggressively.
How to quit
The tricky bit. The act of coming off sugar has been likened to going cold turkey on a heroin habit. This seems fairly extreme, but, as we have seen, even those of you who don't add three spoonfuls of sugar to your tea every morning are probably overloading on sugar with cereals and fruits.
"Depending on someone's sugar addiction," says Holford, "it takes between two and five days to come out of withdrawal from sugar. We've done work in schools where children are sugar-addicted. They feel flat and rough and lacking in energy for a couple of days after removing sugar. But within a week most people begin to experience more energy and more mental clarity."
Beat the sweets: Tips for quitting
1. Make a low-sugar meal plan. Swap breakfast cereal for oats and try adding low-GL cherries or berries as a sweetener.
2. Eat little and often. This means three meals and two snacks, so have something on hand mid-morning – a handful of almonds should do the trick.
3. Up your intake of Vitamin C. One study showed that a very high intake of Vitamin C reduces blood sugar levels and lowers the damaging effects of sugar.
4. Use sugar replacements. Work out the times of day you eat something sweet and replace it with something less sugary. For example: a punnet of strawberries has the same effect on your blood-sugar levels as 10 raisins, or one date. Xylose, the sugar in berries, is available in supermarkets as xylitol. You can add this to hot drinks or porridge and bake with it. Manuka honey is a great replacement for refined sugars.
5. Stay off the caffeine. Sorry: you might have decided coffee was to be your crutch while you kicked sweets, but caffeine also disrupts blood-sugar balance. Antioxidants in green tea will help repair any damage done by yo-yoing blood sugar levels.
6. Get some help. Once you've balanced your blood sugar, you need to make sure insulin is working as it should. Cinnamon supplements will help with this. Tryptophan can help reduce sugar cravings (take 200mg a day) and tyrosine will help you deal with the low moods and flatness in the initial stages (take 500mg twice a day, but none too late in the day to avoid disrupting sleep).
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/get-rid-of-that-sweet-tooth-how-to-quit-sugar-938730.html
It has no nutritional value, yet we consume pounds of it each year – much of it hidden in 'healthy' foods. Sophie Morris discovers ways we can kick the habit
Keeping one's blood sugar even is a bit of a vicious circle. We need to feed our bodies to stave off energy slumps, but doing that with hits of sugar will not help in the long term.
So much for Mary Poppins. All those spoonfuls of sugar are not only making us fat, they're contributing to arguably the biggest health threats facing humanity: diabetes, caused by soaring levels of obesity. Eating too much sugar can also make us tired, irritable, anxious, spotty and aggressive, and lead to insomnia.
Why do we eat so much sugar?
You shouldn't feel guilty about enjoying sugary foods. Human beings are designed to like sweet things – a clever physiological trick to save us from the poisonous plants and berries, which usually have a bitter taste.
Before the agricultural revolution, however, the only sugar we could get in our diet occurred naturally. Starchy foods such as rice, wheat, corn and potatoes – and then bread, noodles and pasta – soon became our principal source of energy. In itself, this didn't cause too many problems, until someone hit on the idea of processing raw sugar into the refined white stuff you find in most kitchen cupboards – and adding liberal helpings of it to almost every packaged and processed food on our supermarket shelves.
Most people's sugar hits start right at the beginning of the day with a bowl of breakfast cereal, laden with delicious, sweet additives. Even if you think you're being clever and eating porridge mixed with dried fruits such as raisins, you are still ingesting a fair whack of sugar. In fact, the sugar in raisins raises your blood sugar in the same way as white refined sugar. Apples and pears contain fructose, which raise your blood sugar about 50 per cent slower than grapes; berries, plums and cherries contain xylose, which releases blood sugar 50 per cent slower again.
Other culprits, aside from the obvious sugary drinks, are processed sauces and soups, which have often been sweetened.
Why is sugar so dangerous?
The UK is rushing headlong into a diabetes crisis fuelled by increasing obesity. Both conditions are linked to the intake of too much sugar and refined carbohydrates. When you pump your body full of sweet things, blood-sugar levels rocket and the body releases insulin in order to remove this excess of sugar from the bloodstream. Where does it put this extracted sugar? On your hips, tummy and bum, in the shape of fat.
Patrick Holford is the author of a new book called How to Quit without feeling S**t which treats the issue of sugar addiction as seriously as heroin, alcohol and nicotine. "The root of most of today's killer diseases is actually blood sugar problems," he says. "So the goal becomes, how do you keep your blood sugar even?"
Sugar cravings
Keeping one's blood sugar even is a bit of a vicious circle. We need to feed our bodies to stave off energy slumps, but doing that with hits of sugar will not help in the long term. Have you ever experienced that mid-afternoon slump after a carb-heavy lunch? No doubt you think it means you need more energy to get through the afternoon, and will fend off the fatigue with a biscuit or, if you're the healthy sort, apples or a banana.
The reason you slumped in the first place is because you ate too many carbohydrates for lunch, instead of a balanced meal with plenty of protein. Plugging that gap later on with yet more sugar will make you feel worse, and most likely less able to concentrate. Studies even show that plenty of non-obese people have developed insulin resistance, no doubt because their bodies have become accustomed to being fed sugar with such regularity, and have stopped bothering to break it down.
There are also strong correlations between the level of sugar in your blood and your mood. When people have low blood sugar they start feeling tired and perhaps depressed. They might become irritable, anxious, aggressive and find it difficult to concentrate. As a result, sweet foods are craved in order to bring that blood sugar back up as quickly as possible. "People who feel blue and then eat something sweet find it makes them feel better," says Holford. "They are probably low in serotonin and they've learned that sugar makes them feel better."
Regulating sugar intake
There are two main ways to balance blood sugar. The first is to avoid carbohydrates and follow a regime similar to the Atkins Diet, eating a high-protein diet. This method works for lots of people, who use Atkins as a loose blueprint for their approach to eating, rather than as a strict diet. The point is that carbohydrate, not fat, is the enemy. The demonisation of fat within the health and diet industry has led to even more sugars being added to apparently healthy, low-fat foods, in order to make them palatable.
The second way is to eat a diet that has a low "glycaemic load" (GL). The "glycaemic index" tells us how quickly the sugar from certain foods is released into the blood stream. What it doesn't tell you is how much of that food is sugar. Holford says that it is better to control the amount of sugar we eat. "Atkins limited the amount of carbs, but didn't pay so much attention to the GI," says Holford. "The GI diet limits the fast-releasing GI sugars but doesn't pay enough attention to the quantity eaten."
For example: any food with a GI food of more than 70 is considered bad. Watermelon scores 72, but in a 120g slice there are only six grams of sugar. The sugar is released very quickly into the blood stream but there is not much of it.
Oat-based cereals are better than rice- or corn-based cereals. Beans, lentils and pulses are high in carbohydrate but low-GL; brown rice and wholewheat pasta are better than white, but quinoa is much better than any of these.
The good carb/bad carb debate seems to be ongoing, and no wonder: who wants to give up that bowl of pasta? The obvious solution if you really want to pull your body back from the brink of sugar dependency would be to limit foods that are high in sugar aggressively.
How to quit
The tricky bit. The act of coming off sugar has been likened to going cold turkey on a heroin habit. This seems fairly extreme, but, as we have seen, even those of you who don't add three spoonfuls of sugar to your tea every morning are probably overloading on sugar with cereals and fruits.
"Depending on someone's sugar addiction," says Holford, "it takes between two and five days to come out of withdrawal from sugar. We've done work in schools where children are sugar-addicted. They feel flat and rough and lacking in energy for a couple of days after removing sugar. But within a week most people begin to experience more energy and more mental clarity."
Beat the sweets: Tips for quitting
1. Make a low-sugar meal plan. Swap breakfast cereal for oats and try adding low-GL cherries or berries as a sweetener.
2. Eat little and often. This means three meals and two snacks, so have something on hand mid-morning – a handful of almonds should do the trick.
3. Up your intake of Vitamin C. One study showed that a very high intake of Vitamin C reduces blood sugar levels and lowers the damaging effects of sugar.
4. Use sugar replacements. Work out the times of day you eat something sweet and replace it with something less sugary. For example: a punnet of strawberries has the same effect on your blood-sugar levels as 10 raisins, or one date. Xylose, the sugar in berries, is available in supermarkets as xylitol. You can add this to hot drinks or porridge and bake with it. Manuka honey is a great replacement for refined sugars.
5. Stay off the caffeine. Sorry: you might have decided coffee was to be your crutch while you kicked sweets, but caffeine also disrupts blood-sugar balance. Antioxidants in green tea will help repair any damage done by yo-yoing blood sugar levels.
6. Get some help. Once you've balanced your blood sugar, you need to make sure insulin is working as it should. Cinnamon supplements will help with this. Tryptophan can help reduce sugar cravings (take 200mg a day) and tyrosine will help you deal with the low moods and flatness in the initial stages (take 500mg twice a day, but none too late in the day to avoid disrupting sleep).
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/get-rid-of-that-sweet-tooth-how-to-quit-sugar-938730.html
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Replies
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Got rid of my cravings with shakeology nutrition drink. Simple!0
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Excellent article and tips!
Thank so much for posting this, Becca! 
For me in order to kick the habit it's a mater of slowly fazing out the sweet stuff. I've tried "cold turkey" in the past and it just made my cravings insanely strong.
I really like the tips! I think those are very helpful!0 -
Got rid of my cravings with shakeology nutrition drink. Simple!
There is sugar in those shakes, hun.0 -
Thanks so much for the great post. I've successfully beaten my suagr addiction my putting all of the things in your post into practice. It's hard but I now consume far less sugar and feel much better all round.0
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I totally know what you mean, it's like when you kick sugar, you do feel so much more in control! I'd get a headache when I'd go off but as the article shared, within less than a week the desire for it was gone. Same thing if I eat it again in quantity.....ughThanks so much for the great post. I've successfully beaten my suagr addiction my putting all of the things in your post into practice. It's hard but I now consume far less sugar and feel much better all round.
One thing I notice as well is how much clearer food tastes the fruit tastes sweeter, veggies taste far better, it's amazing, same when you cut way back on sodium, it seems to cleanse your pallette.
Becca0 -
Got rid of my cravings with shakeology nutrition drink. Simple!
There is sugar in those shakes, hun.
You know you can't completely deplete the body of sugars. That and sugar in Shakeology is minimal at best anyway and is natural, Considering its made with mostly fruits and vegetables. Its even been recently certified to have a lower GI score than Apples as well. http://images.beachbody.com/pdf/Shakeology_LowGI.pdf
If you'd like to talk about it more feel free to PM, don't want to hijack this nice thread.0 -
Got rid of my cravings with shakeology nutrition drink. Simple!
There is sugar in those shakes, hun.
Since any carb turns into sugar in the body, it's not possible to have no sugar in your diet/body. I got rid of my cravings for sugar with Shakeology. Which is what some of that article was discussing, if I remember correctly. We have to always make choices in where our sugars come from. In three months I've been on Shakeology, I havent' binged once on sweets(where you feel like you want more and more). I can take a bite or two of something and be completely content to not eat anymore. Or I can eat none and not be salivating over the thought of chocolate or etc.0 -
What a great feeling!!:drinker:Got rid of my cravings with shakeology nutrition drink. Simple!
There is sugar in those shakes, hun.
Since any carb turns into sugar in the body, it's not possible to have no sugar in your diet/body. I got rid of my cravings for sugar with Shakeology. Which is what some of that article was discussing, if I remember correctly. We have to always make choices in where our sugars come from. In three months I've been on Shakeology, I havent' binged once on sweets(where you feel like you want more and more). I can take a bite or two of something and be completely content to not eat anymore. Or I can eat none and not be salivating over the thought of chocolate or etc.0 -
[/quote] What a great feeling!!:drinker:
[/quote]
You have no idea!!! I feel so in control of my eating habits. I have no barrier that will make eating healthy difficult. No excuses, its all on me now and my choices of what I put in my mouth. By the way healthychanges, my sister would kill for those heels!!0 -
I beat the Sugar Bandit too! At first I had low energy and very dull headaches for 2 - 3 days. I thought it was the diet I started. But the diet doesn't allow for added sugar,
I'm "Clean" for 1 whole week and have not had an uncrontrollable craving for the stuff since. :bigsmile:
Yes Healthy Changes - A Wonderful Feeling!
Thanks for sharing :flowerforyou:0 -
Got rid of my cravings with shakeology nutrition drink. Simple!
There is sugar in those shakes, hun.
You know you can't completely deplete the body of sugars. That and sugar in Shakeology is minimal at best anyway and is natural, Considering its made with mostly fruits and vegetables. Its even been recently certified to have a lower GI score than Apples as well. http://images.beachbody.com/pdf/Shakeology_LowGI.pdf
If you'd like to talk about it more feel free to PM, don't want to hijack this nice thread.
It's 9 grams of added crystalline fructose.
That's not exactly "natural" sugar.0 -
I beat the "sugar bandit" by removing all grains (including corn and "grain like seeds"), added sugars (honey, agave, fructose, lactose - milk sugar) and starches from my diet.
It's entirely possible, but it's also been a pretty steadfast commitment to a low carb means of eating. I use sweetener sparingly in the form of pure stevia or xylitol.
I eat fruit sparingly, but load up on non-starchy vegetables and greens.0 -
Got rid of my cravings with shakeology nutrition drink. Simple!
There is sugar in those shakes, hun.
You know you can't completely deplete the body of sugars. That and sugar in Shakeology is minimal at best anyway and is natural, Considering its made with mostly fruits and vegetables. Its even been recently certified to have a lower GI score than Apples as well. http://images.beachbody.com/pdf/Shakeology_LowGI.pdf
If you'd like to talk about it more feel free to PM, don't want to hijack this nice thread.
It's 9 grams of added crystalline fructose.
That's not exactly "natural" sugar.
LOL!! so very true...I swear they put crack in those shakes...people defend their shakeology shakes like their is no other alternative food source on the face of the earth that could possible be as nutritious and deliciously satisfying while helping you lose weight, hel* they're even better then apples!! GEEEEEEESHHH! I've never had one, I don't want one, wouldn't try one, I eat real food, the real way in moderation, not through a freaking straw.....and it seems to be working....enough with the shakeology..hijacking all the posts. It's about quitting the sugar habit,,,GRRRRRR...sorry Becca, I hate reading a really great post to have someone tell me the answer is Shakeology.0 -
we must be reading the same book0
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Got rid of my cravings with shakeology nutrition drink. Simple!
There is sugar in those shakes, hun.
You know you can't completely deplete the body of sugars. That and sugar in Shakeology is minimal at best anyway and is natural, Considering its made with mostly fruits and vegetables. Its even been recently certified to have a lower GI score than Apples as well. http://images.beachbody.com/pdf/Shakeology_LowGI.pdf
If you'd like to talk about it more feel free to PM, don't want to hijack this nice thread.
It's 9 grams of added crystalline fructose.
That's not exactly "natural" sugar.
Its 9 grams, if you're really going to cry over that, you must live on a very strict diet. But you sir are very awesome indeed for doing what works for you. But If you/anyone eat yogurts(lord only knows how many items have a sugar in them "natural" or not) of any kind you've likely eaten some form of half natural/half artifical sweetener. As far as I know fructose (noT HFCS), is a perfectly okay form of sugar. Its not my place to nitpick over the type of sugars, as long as its not HFCS or proven to be adversely bad for consumption anyway. needless to say my sugar ranges from 20 to 30grams any given day.
IF you honestly haven't tried one, you can't claim anything against it for your reasons for not using it come out to be the same as someone dismissing, either going to the gym because they do workouts and run at home, or someone that dismisses home fitness dvds because they go to the gym. All while never trying to the options. Whatever works for you, works for you, we get that, but it gives you no right to preach down anyone elses opionion of what worked for them.
Then answer isn't shakeology, its whatever helps you get healthy, it was under MY understanding that anyone is free to post what works for them. Not a single person except you, has dismissed someone elses post. Simple as that, 9 grams of sugar for one meal with healthy benefits. (gasp, one people say have helped them beat other food cravings.)Is and will be far better than eating a twinkie. Its about replacing something horrible with something healthy. But since you haven't tried it and won't, its only your loss for not seeing if there are any benefits of having it in your diet. thats your choice and no one is forcing that on you. Considering its made from GASP OMG REAL FOODs but turned into a powder and brings a caloric value, and is consumed and provides fuel its still a source of energy or AKA food. Good day to you.
Edit: I also dig your NPH picture, if you haven't already, check out Dr Horrible's blog.0 -
Great post - I loved this article! Sugar is definately a department I need to work on. It's amazing how much of it is hiding in our foods. I come from a long line of people with diabetes and I don't want to end up there. Your post is really reminding me that I need to watch that and be more aware. Thank you.0
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I like sugar. I eat it in moderation. I refuse to give up something I love.0
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and you don't haveI like sugar. I eat it in moderation. I refuse to give up something I love. like you said moderation!
I think at first many of us have to give up our binge foods to take a step back so we can think more clearly. Some of us start out eating more healthy foods then as we feel stronger and more in control, some bring back in some of the foods we may have eaten in the past as treats. Some keep simple sugars out of their new lifestyle from day one and are happier that way, each of us finds out what works best for ourselves as we go along. That's what makes MFP so great, we all find our way and it's a great site with so many wonderful members working together:drinker:
Becca
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Yup, you don't wanna end up there! Not fun, not fun at all, it's a real pain, that's for sure. My numbers are within normal range now but I still have to be careful. You're smart to work to make changes BEFORE anything happens to your body. They say a person has diabetes 7-8 years before being diagnoised, when I heard that, wow it freaked me out!! That meant I had it LONG before I even realized I had T2. So the quicker we all learn to eat well and watch how much of the sugars/simple carbs we take in, the better off we are. :drinker:Great post - I loved this article! Sugar is definately a department I need to work on. It's amazing how much of it is hiding in our foods. I come from a long line of people with diabetes and I don't want to end up there. Your post is really reminding me that I need to watch that and be more aware. Thank you.
Ok, who am I kidding...it still freaks me out that we can be diabetic long before it shows on any test. Dang, it blows my mind, I don't why, it just did and still does. It gave me a huge sense of hopelessness when I found out I had it, then I went all gung ho, I don't feel hopeless anymore, but I think I chose to stay naive in the long term illnesses of it so I can get outta bed each day and run and do the rest of my workout. LOL sorry...a few outloud thoughts there...slipped out 0 -
and you don't haveI like sugar. I eat it in moderation. I refuse to give up something I love. like you said moderation!
I think at first many of us have to give up our binge foods to take a step back so we can think more clearly. Some of us start out eating more healthy foods then as we feel stronger and more in control, some bring back in some of the foods we may have eaten in the past as treats. Some keep simple sugars out of their new lifestyle from day one and are happier that way, each of us finds out what works best for ourselves as we go along. That's what makes MFP so great, we all find our way and it's a great site with so many wonderful members working together:drinker:
Becca
See, I was never a binge eater or an emotional eater or anything like that. I just never had to watch my weight, so if I liked something, I ate it. I might only eat once a day, but it was usually at a restaurant and we all know how many calories one restaurant meal can pack! Add that to not moving enough for a year or two and I gained 20 pounds and had to re-learn how to eat.
I do have a pretty serious sweet tooth, but I came up with alternatives (a fruit smoothier, for example). But if I want some sugar, I eat some sugar. I think there are very few things that are detrimental in moderation, and even the healthiest foods are bad in large quantities.
But I can see how if someone just can't stop eating something (sugar, for example) once he or she starts that it's a good idea to cut it out completely.0
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