No added sugar diet

tennisdude2004

I am looking into starting a lifestyle change of not eating any foods with added sugar. Has anyone done this or is currently living this way? If so, I would love to share ideas and encourage one another to keep plugging along.

Great idea cutting back on sugar - a moderate amount of sugar in the diet is fine IMO. I think a lot of westernised diets have way to much.

I should think most people on MFP (looking to lose weight) will be on a lower than average (average being most no dieters sugar) intake.

If you really are keen to cut back as much as possible then fair play to you - your life, your rules.

AlabasterVerve

Too much sugar is too much sugar for me no matter what the source so I prefer to just keep my sugar below a certain level and leave it at that. When I first stared out (and gave up junk food) I was eating so much fruit it wasn't unusual for my sugar to reach 100g - 200g a day and fool myself into thinking that was ok because it was natural/healthy fruit.

But I think for most people -- especially dieters -- reducing added sugar is a great place to start. Just be mindful you're actually reducing your total sugar and not just masking it by increasing the "natural" sugars in your diet. I don't think there's any health benefits to be had from that.

kgeyser

I just saw an article about this yesterday. Granted, these people got into it by reading Lustig, who many people regard as a bit of a quack, and they are trying to market their book now, but you might find the interview interesting. I know, it's HuffPost, but I think the interns were busy with the majestic dog slideshow and didn't have anything to do with this article.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/07/year-of-no-sugar_n_5084561.html

asciiqwerty

everything in moderation

calories are calories wherever they come from
all sugars are bad for the teeth where ever they come from
weight loss is about deficit - not source

but avoiding "hiden" sugar (by which my mean sugars in food that you wouldn't expect - like a noodle soup dish I found the other day with more sugar in than a coal) leaves you move calories available to consume a range of filling and nutritious stuu

for baking - i like to use brown unrefined sugars or honey as i prefer the flavour - but by trial and error i've found that some recipes are fine with less

my general approach tends to be that I prefer to know what i'm eating, and appart from sugar (in all its varieties) i also like to check labels for high levels of salt and ingredients that i can't pronounce or don't have in the kitchen cupboard.

cocolo89

I need help in this department. ?

kgeyser

I just saw an article about this yesterday. Granted, these people got into it by reading Lustig, who many people regard as a bit of a quack, and they are trying to market their book now, but you might find the interview interesting. I know, it's HuffPost, but I think the interns were busy with the majestic dog slideshow and didn't have anything to do with this article.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/07/year-of-no-sugar_n_5084561.html

Lustig? No thank you. If Lustig is someone's source of knowledge......keep it moving buddy.

I agree with you on that which is why I mentioned it, but I did find their experience to be an interesting read. They did not end up sticking with the no-added-sugar diet beyond the one year experiment and admit that changing to this diet did nothing in terms of weight loss. They also did not list any benefits other than they "felt better" and "seemed to get sick less often" but they had no data to back up their claims in terms of health markers or records of illnesses prior to trying this out. They did talk about their difficulties finding foods with no sugar added, even bacon.

KimmieSue2011

I gave up added sugar and artificial sweeteners in January of this year and it helped me lose weight and not overeat. I don't eat sweets or pastries or artificial sweeteners, but I will eat products that have sugar in them (fruit, pasta sauce, salad dressing, dairy, etc.) What I've noticed is that the more sweet things I ate, the more I craved them. And now its easier for me to not binge/overeat. I was never a chips/salty overeater anyway. I feel far better than I did before -- no afternoon energy slump.

WendyTerry420

If you want some recipes for no added sugar that work and taste good go to www.SucroseFreeLiving.com

The coconut jam slice and baked chocolate cheesecake have to be my favourites.

I try to eat no added sugar as I'm sucrose intolerant, but I still eat the natural sugars myself. Honey has become a lifesaver for me in my recipes as an alternative to sugar, as well as jam.

Well crap! You have to buy the book!

WendyTerry420

I just saw an article about this yesterday. Granted, these people got into it by reading Lustig, who many people regard as a bit of a quack, and they are trying to market their book now, but you might find the interview interesting. I know, it's HuffPost, but I think the interns were busy with the majestic dog slideshow and didn't have anything to do with this article.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/07/year-of-no-sugar_n_5084561.html

Lustig? No thank you. If Lustig is someone's source of knowledge......keep it moving buddy.

highervibes

I started avoiding sugar and carbs at first, lasted 2 months. Total misery. www.iifym.com will help you sort your macros if you actually plan to live on Earth while you lose weight. Good luck.

jenmom2myboys

I gave up sweets months ago. I dont eat a lot of processed foods so it isnt a big deal to me. As another poster said it is amazong how much sweeter fruits taste once you do not eat sugar. Feel free to add me as a friend.

WendyTerry420

I did it for a while. Close to a year. I don't remember exactly as it was many years ago. I didn't really find it all that hard after the first couple of weeks. Except for maple syrup and birthdays.

I still eat a diet low in added sugar, but not totally free. Probably 85% of my added sugar is maple syrup though. :laugh:

If it's real maple syrup, then it's totally worth it.

WendyTerry420

Well refined sugar is no worse for your teeth than any other form of sugar such as in fruit and personally I just brush my teeth twice a day. Also sugar contains calories your body needs calories so it is nutritious in that way. Also the body needs sugar to function so you still need some source of it.

I understand that people may want to reduce their sugar intake but demonising it with all this misinformation is silly

Fruit has vitamins and fibre in it, so it's worth eating, and the sugar content is far lower than an equivalent amount of chocolate or similar. There are numerous other sources of calories and energy, the body is perfectly capable of breaking down starches and similar into the glucose we need: you won't somehow starve without refined sugar. And calling the correlation between sugar and tooth decay 'misinformation' is ridiculous. Find me a single dentist who would disagree.

What would happen to your teeth if you ate nothing but fruit 24/7?

I think this is where oral hygiene becomes important. Even if you only ate protein and fats, lack of brushing/flossing will do you in!

bcattoes

I did it for a while. Close to a year. I don't remember exactly as it was many years ago. I didn't really find it all that hard after the first couple of weeks. Except for maple syrup and birthdays.

I still eat a diet low in added sugar, but not totally free. Probably 85% of my added sugar is maple syrup though. :laugh:

If it's real maple syrup, then it's totally worth it.

I know, right? Maple syrup is so good. Especially with peanut butter.

JoRocka

I did it for a while. Close to a year. I don't remember exactly as it was many years ago. I didn't really find it all that hard after the first couple of weeks. Except for maple syrup and birthdays.

I still eat a diet low in added sugar, but not totally free. Probably 85% of my added sugar is maple syrup though. :laugh:

I did this- I went processed free- 6 weeks so only eating sugars that come from fruit and stuff- and I ate A LOT of fruit- then weened off of the fruit for the following 6 weeks- I still ate it- but a whole lot less.

It was hard the first few weeks- I wasn't doing it because I thought it would make life better- I do self discipline challenges purely for the "I'm doing X for 6 weeks" factor. So I wasn't expecting long term life of no sugar. Life with no ice cream and oreo's would not be a life worth living.

I rotate through various things- all depends on my goals and what's going on in my life. I am not low sugar now- I'm big on hitting my #'s and that's that. But I try to avoid loads and loads of candy bars- my go to is ice cream and oreo's. There is crap all over the office- I'll eat it sometimes- but not others- but it's just calories I don't want and I eat because it's there.

rmdaly

I tried this for several months about a year ago. The hardest part for me was bread. I like wheat bread, but it was almost impossible to find any without sugar (or honey, molasses, maple syrup). French bread or sourdough bread often does not have any, but it's white flour. I ended up making my own bread (google no-knead bread) with half white and wheat flour. I love tortillas, but they often have a paragraph of ingredients so I make my own whole wheat ones now.

I found that when I craved bad food, I just turned to salty instead of sweet. Regular potato or tortilla chips don't have added sugar. I also ended up eating a lot of dried fruit (although you have to be careful because a lot of them are dried with sugar) to get my sweet fix.

I don't eat a lot of added sugar still, but I like desert. I have read several of the articles about added sugar and what they recommend and I am within the recommendations. I also often cut the sugar down in recipes.

WendyTerry420

I did it for a while. Close to a year. I don't remember exactly as it was many years ago. I didn't really find it all that hard after the first couple of weeks. Except for maple syrup and birthdays.

I still eat a diet low in added sugar, but not totally free. Probably 85% of my added sugar is maple syrup though. :laugh:

If it's real maple syrup, then it's totally worth it.

I know, right? Maple syrup is so good. Especially with peanut butter.

Oh yes! *drooling* My mom made me those when I was a kid.