Sugar Free
Options
Replies
-
Hi,
The sugar from fruit and vegetables is made of fructose and lot of fiber,minerals. This will help metabolize the sugar that you get from fruits/vegetables more easily and slowly. Just for information, we don't need sugar to survive body converts everything that we eat to glucose and store it as glycogen.
Sugar just adds taste and also it increases insulin level as blood sugar spikes. The are proof that increase in insulin will increase fat level in body. Also insulin will suppress leptin hormone which is the feedback system designed to tell brain that you stomach is full. If insulin suppress leptin then we will tend to eat more than what is required / feel hungry or worse increase carving for junk foods which intern has more sugar and produce more insulin.
Read the book 'Pure white and deadly' then you will understand more about how sugar is converted to LDL fat which causes various diseases like Type 2 , blood pressure, heart attack etc.
This seems like a good place to put this.
As a sticky at the top of every thread would be a good place to put this!
Except the eye candy threads....0 -
Why do people assume others cannot "enjoy" a diet that doesn't have refined sugar, cookies, cakes, pies, etc in it?
Thank you! I don't feel like I'll be significantly depriving myself - it's more about substitutions than deprivation.
I have eliminated processed sugars as well. I really enjoy my meals of quinoa, brown rice, veggies now. It's to the point that the thought of having something with refined sugar (yes I thought of a 3 muketeers bar earlier) makes me feel ill. 0 -
Yep - cut right down on refined sugars now for few months now. Never felt fitter...I'm a keen runner training for my second marathon. Running better, sleeping better, no mid-afternoon sugar slumps and less moody ( or so my other half says :-)) Recommend it!
So no fruit for you either?0 -
For me personally, I have found that sticking to whole foods and not those chemically altered (sugar-free, fat-free, etc) have allowed me to curb my sweet tooth and retrain my taste buds. The sugar-free options would only make me crave sugar more often. I work in a hotel that gives away warm oatmeal chocolate chip cookies every day and the bulk of them are in my office before they hit the warmer. After being on this diet a little over a month, I no longer have any desire to have them anymore. That said I eat more fruit now, so that could also be why I don't crave sugar like I used to.
Everyone has to start somewhere, so if going sugar free helps you, go for it.
Chemically altered? Because someone baked cookies without butter?0 -
For me personally, I have found that sticking to whole foods and not those chemically altered (sugar-free, fat-free, etc) have allowed me to curb my sweet tooth and retrain my taste buds. The sugar-free options would only make me crave sugar more often. I work in a hotel that gives away warm oatmeal chocolate chip cookies every day and the bulk of them are in my office before they hit the warmer. After being on this diet a little over a month, I no longer have any desire to have them anymore. That said I eat more fruit now, so that could also be why I don't crave sugar like I used to.
Everyone has to start somewhere, so if going sugar free helps you, go for it.
Where are you buying this sugar-free fruit?0 -
The sugar from fruit and vegetables is made of fructose and lot of fiber,minerals. This will help metabolize the sugar that you get from fruits/vegetables more easily and slowly
Sugar is a molecule made of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Fructose is one form of glucose found in fruits along with glucose and sucrose and perhaps few other minor ones.
Fruit & veg do have a lot of water, a bit of fibre, some minerals & vitamins. Yes the sugar is absorbed a bit more slowly than from a teaspoon of sugar but I wouldn't know how the sugar in another food compares to fruit without looking. I seem to recall that the GI of a snickers bar is less than some fruit, but I may be making that up.0 -
Has anyone made the switch to a sugar free diet? I'm going to attempt it for a week (key word - attempt) but I'm worried about getting sick of the same repetitious meals! So many of my usual meals have sugar whether it be a salad dressing, or frozen chicken.
Yes it was easy ... I'm not a fan of sugar though ... consuming less then 50grams a day.. don't eat fruit ... don't eat any kind of sugar I think I would get the most sugar from sweet potatoes or carrots... that's it though.
As for your sources, make your dressing ... buy fresh chicken0 -
Yep - cut right down on refined sugars now for few months now. Never felt fitter...I'm a keen runner training for my second marathon. Running better, sleeping better, no mid-afternoon sugar slumps and less moody ( or so my other half says :-)) Recommend it!
So no fruit for you either?
Eating fruit but opting for the ones lower in sugar. It's the ready made sauces, dressings, biscuits etc I've cut right down on..I have a very sweet tooth. Read Sarah Wilson's ''I Quit Sugar''...interesting read 0 -
Hi,
What about all the glucose, maltose, galactose, sucrose, and the thousands of other sugar molecules in fruit? To say that sugar in fruit is just made of fructose shows complete ignorance to the entire topic.
Cutting out added sugars with no medical reason is not "healthy eating." Healthy eating is hitting all of your nutritional needs on a daily basis. If you are overeating foods that prevent you from hitting your macronutrient (and micronutrient) goals then cutting them out is certainly a good idea, but if you are already getting enough nutrition, then arbitrarily eliminating foods doesn't make you any healthier.Holey man - who knew this topic would start such a heated debate.
Added processed sugars are in more foods than I would've originally thought, so this process is simply getting me to think harder about what I'm putting in my body.
Comparing healthy eating to alcoholism is a far stretch. I can only imagine the reactions when someone posts about going gluten free or vegetarian!
Also, false equivalency. I made the alcohol comparison because you said you were going sugar free, except for fruits and vegetables (so not sugar free at all.) You don't see someone with celiacs say, "I'm going gluten free, well, except for sourdough bread, I'll still eat that." You don't see vegetarians say, "I eat vegetarian, well except for the giant ribeye steak I eat every day."
Hi,
The sugar from fruit and vegetables is made of fructose and lot of fiber,minerals. This will help metabolize the sugar that you get from fruits/vegetables more easily and slowly. Just for information, we don't need sugar to survive body converts everything that we eat to glucose and store it as glycogen.
Sugar just adds taste and also it increases insulin level as blood sugar spikes. The are proof that increase in insulin will increase fat level in body. Also insulin will suppress leptin hormone which is the feedback system designed to tell brain that you stomach is full. If insulin suppress leptin then we will tend to eat more than what is required / feel hungry or worse increase carving for junk foods which intern has more sugar and produce more insulin.
Read the book 'Pure white and deadly' then you will understand more about how sugar is converted to LDL fat which causes various diseases like Type 2 , blood pressure, heart attack etc.
Of course, protein spikes insulin as much as sugar does, and insulin has nothing to do with fat storage, either. Insulin also happens to be the main hormone that suppresses appetite. Insulin works with leptin, not against it.
Then again, you're recommending a fear mongering book for your source, so I guess I shouldn't expect unbiased, true facts.
Fruits and vegetables have fiber which cuts the sugar spike. Its true insulin does not make you hungry in itself but when it is produced more than it is needed due to sugar spike. Then this insulin will transport all the glucose in blood to storage and if you have more insulin it will transport more glucose to storage. That will cause your blood glucose level to drop and will intern send signal to brain through a hormone called Ghrelin (hunger hormone) to go up. This will make you weak and hungry.
Protein will also be converted to smaller polypeptide chains via hydrochloric acid and protease. This is really needed for getting essential amino acids which helps in building muscles. The more the muscle the more BMR and more mitochondria. So protein are not that bad.
To answer about glucose,sucrose in fruit, fruits and vegetable has fiber,mineral,vitamins which is good for breaking down then macro nutrients so what i am telling is avoid processed food and processed sugar as much as possible. I am not telling no sugar for life but limit the consumption of sugar in processed form which has no micro nutrients or really essential.
All i m trying to tell 'All source calories are same' like sugar which is metabolized to LDL directly. So it is good to avoid SUAGR as much as possible as we get our daily required sugar other foods like veg/meat , bread.
Watch the following links if you have time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6nGlLUBkOQ 0 -
I've hear such positive things from friends who have taken it on as a lifestyle now - more energy, weight loss, better skin. Seems as though as long as I can hold out for the first 21 days, the addiction and reliance should be broken!
Because all da toxinz...
Sugar is not a toxin. There is no addiction to be broken. Just your taste buds becoming adjusted to less savory foods.
SO you are saying those of us who cut down on refined sugars don't feel better, etc etc?
Interesting.
Never ceases to amaze me how many people will crap immediately upon other's lifestyle choices simply to feel superior, make with the snark, or publish some witty picture they think is just so droll.
instead of mocking people who are making better health choices for themselves, perhaps you should just accept that your choices are yours, and theirs are theirs?0 -
Watch the following links if you have timehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6nGlLUBkOQ
These videos are propaganda designed to scare you into a lifestyle change (and usually entice you to buy a book). Most of the studies are highly cherry picked. I would consider looking into studies done by a reputable source such as the NIH, AJM, Harvard, or at least websites that reference and link to other studies.
Keep in mind, this isn't to say that you shouldn't look to opitimize nutrition by following a 80/20 rule. But many of us can hit micro and macro goals while having refined sugar. Additionally, we can improve our energy, skin, etc..
I would suspect that overall health is more than just diet, it's exercise, medications (anitbiotics) and overall eating habits; keeping in mind, that we aren't telling a person to live off of refined sugar, but without medical cause, there isn't a reason to fear sugar.0 -
I've hear such positive things from friends who have taken it on as a lifestyle now - more energy, weight loss, better skin. Seems as though as long as I can hold out for the first 21 days, the addiction and reliance should be broken!
Because all da toxinz...
Sugar is not a toxin. There is no addiction to be broken. Just your taste buds becoming adjusted to less savory foods.
SO you are saying those of us who cut down on refined sugars don't feel better, etc etc?
Interesting.
Never ceases to amaze me how many people will crap immediately upon other's lifestyle choices simply to feel superior, make with the snark, or publish some witty picture they think is just so droll.
instead of mocking people who are making better health choices for themselves, perhaps you should just accept that your choices are yours, and theirs are theirs?
I've always been supportive of people's choices. But you are new here, so you wouldn't know that. But I am a science based thinker, who believes it is important that people know that sugar is not a toxin. Pseudoscience fear mongering is a pet peeve of mine.0 -
I've hear such positive things from friends who have taken it on as a lifestyle now - more energy, weight loss, better skin. Seems as though as long as I can hold out for the first 21 days, the addiction and reliance should be broken!
Because all da toxinz...
Sugar is not a toxin. There is no addiction to be broken. Just your taste buds becoming adjusted to less savory foods.
SO you are saying those of us who cut down on refined sugars don't feel better, etc etc?
Interesting.
Never ceases to amaze me how many people will crap immediately upon other's lifestyle choices simply to feel superior, make with the snark, or publish some witty picture they think is just so droll.
instead of mocking people who are making better health choices for themselves, perhaps you should just accept that your choices are yours, and theirs are theirs?
I've always been supportive of people's choices. But you are new here, so you wouldn't know that. But I am a science based thinker, who believes it is important that people know that sugar is not a toxin. Pseudoscience fear mongering is a pet peeve of mine.
As someone else who's been here for a while, I can vouch for Quiet Bloom's support of choices. I can also vouch for Noobs and their typical derisive attitude toward those of use who don't listen to the typical BS about cutting out sugar and carbs because they are "toxins" and "poisons". It gets a little old after a while, and it's not real science. It's hokum.0 -
I don't use sugar. I also don't eat products that have added sugars. I use some Splenda or Stevia and use some products with those in them. But, for the most part, the only sugar in my diet is the naturally occurring sugar that is in dairy products, fresh fruit, etc. And I don't eat white flour products, since that easily turns to sugar. I eat whole grains, such as brown rice and barley, and the only flour products I eat (bread, pasta, etc) are made with whole grain flour (brown rice flour, whole rye flour, etc). For my birthday, we went out to dinner and I had one of the little desserts that a lot of restaurants now sell--they are in a glass that's not much bigger than a shot glass. So, on rare occasions, I will have something like that. But, I do watch my sugar pretty closely and avoid it as much as possible.0
-
I don't use sugar. I also don't eat products that have added sugars. I use some Splenda or Stevia and use some products with those in them. But, for the most part, the only sugar in my diet is the naturally occurring sugar that is in dairy products, fresh fruit, etc. And I don't eat white flour products, since that easily turns to sugar. I eat whole grains, such as brown rice and barley, and the only flour products I eat (bread, pasta, etc) are made with whole grain flour (brown rice flour, whole rye flour, etc). For my birthday, we went out to dinner and I had one of the little desserts that a lot of restaurants now sell--they are in a glass that's not much bigger than a shot glass. So, on rare occasions, I will have something like that. But, I do watch my sugar pretty closely and avoid it as much as possible.
And our main point is that, while we support your right to do that, there's really no valid scientific reason to do it.0 -
The key is balance and portion sizing. You can eat sugar, but try not to eat it in large amounts. Try for more whole foods and less processed for better nutrition. If you start cutting things out slowly you have a better chance of maintaining rather than cutting it all out at once.0
-
Naturally occurring sugars are different from added sugars. South Beach Diet allows only naturally occurring sugars. Even people with diabetes are allowed to have foods with naturally occurring sugars, such as milk and fresh fruit. It's really not hard to do. I've done it for years, with an occasional treat at Christmas or on summer vacation.I have done the low carb diet and I really like it for myself and I will tell you....I don't think its possible or realistic to do ZERO sugar. Even lettuce has a very small amount of sugar...broccoli has sugar. Several types of cheeses have a small amount of sugar. I guess that would be eating just meat. I'm very much for each their own but completely sugar free...that just seems like you're setting yourself up for failure at some point.0
-
Watch the following links if you have timehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6nGlLUBkOQ
These videos are propaganda designed to scare you into a lifestyle change (and usually entice you to buy a book). Most of the studies are highly cherry picked. I would consider looking into studies done by a reputable source such as the NIH, AJM, Harvard, or at least websites that reference and link to other studies.
Keep in mind, this isn't to say that you shouldn't look to opitimize nutrition by following a 80/20 rule. But many of us can hit micro and macro goals while having refined sugar. Additionally, we can improve our energy, skin, etc..
I would suspect that overall health is more than just diet, it's exercise, medications (anitbiotics) and overall eating habits; keeping in mind, that we aren't telling a person to live off of refined sugar, but without medical cause, there isn't a reason to fear sugar.
Hi,
The first link is a presentation by Mr. Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology. The second link is a documentary by BBC about over consumption and effect of sugary drinks/ food. If you don't believe that Harvard research then read this
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/files/2012/10/sugary-drinks-and-obesity-fact-sheet-june-2012-the-nutrition-source.pdf
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/magazine/sugar-and-salt/
Article about sugar in Frobes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryhusten/2014/02/03/the-not-so-sweet-facts-about-sugar/
Recommendation by WHO :
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2530885/Cut-sugar-intake-HALF-New-health-warning-says-limit-cut-five-teaspoons-day-fears-contributes-heart-disease.html.
No one is asking you to buy a book or sell some fancy item here. The links only tell to reduce the sugar not go without sugar. So its not bad idea to try reducing sugar.0 -
Watch the following links if you have timehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6nGlLUBkOQ
These videos are propaganda designed to scare you into a lifestyle change (and usually entice you to buy a book). Most of the studies are highly cherry picked. I would consider looking into studies done by a reputable source such as the NIH, AJM, Harvard, or at least websites that reference and link to other studies.
Keep in mind, this isn't to say that you shouldn't look to opitimize nutrition by following a 80/20 rule. But many of us can hit micro and macro goals while having refined sugar. Additionally, we can improve our energy, skin, etc..
I would suspect that overall health is more than just diet, it's exercise, medications (anitbiotics) and overall eating habits; keeping in mind, that we aren't telling a person to live off of refined sugar, but without medical cause, there isn't a reason to fear sugar.
Hi,
The first link is a presentation by Mr. Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology. The second link is a documentary by BBC about over consumption and effect of sugary drinks/ food. If you don't believe that Harvard research then read this
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/files/2012/10/sugary-drinks-and-obesity-fact-sheet-june-2012-the-nutrition-source.pdf
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/magazine/sugar-and-salt/
Article about sugar in Frobes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryhusten/2014/02/03/the-not-so-sweet-facts-about-sugar/
Recommendation by WHO :
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2530885/Cut-sugar-intake-HALF-New-health-warning-says-limit-cut-five-teaspoons-day-fears-contributes-heart-disease.html.
No one is asking you to buy a book or sell some fancy item here. The links only tell to reduce the sugar not go without sugar. So its not bad idea to try reducing sugar.
Lustig is just as bad a quack, if not worse, than Dr. Oz.
ETA: To eat added sugar is a personal choice, and if it makes you feel good to try and eliminate it, go for it! I have to watch how I consume foods with sugar, because I am prone to hypoglycemia. Especially nefarious are the foods with lots of sugar and caffeine and almost zero fats or protein. As much as I love Three Musketeers bars, they only work as a dessert, NOT a snack. Or I end up a quivering mass on the floor.0 -
Yes, there is a valid scientific reason. White flours and added sugars cause spikes in blood sugar. These spikes and the drops that follow are what causes cravings. These spikes can be very dangerous to people who are overweight, as metabolic syndrome or diabetes can easily occur from the combination of overweight and spiking blood sugar. It's why Dr. Agatston doesn't allow added sugars/refined grains on the South Beach Diet . It's why my diet doctor doesn't allow it.
If you aren't overweight, older, related to people with diabetes, if you never have cravings, or if you feel you can't live without simple sugars/flours, then by all means feel free to skip the advice these doctors give. But,l I'm sticking with it, as I'm not here to fit into my bikini by spring. I'm here to save my life so my daughter will still have a mother. It's all up to the individual.
But, don't say there isn't medical documentation when there is clear medical documentation put out by the AMA and the American Diabetes Assn.
[/quote]
<<And our main point is that, while we support your right to do that, there's really no valid scientific reason to do it.>>
[/quote]0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 392K Introduce Yourself
- 43.6K Getting Started
- 259.8K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.7K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 402 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.8K Motivation and Support
- 7.9K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.4K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 998 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.4K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions