2-week Sugar Cleanse

bytemeeeeee

Hello fellow MFP members!

I've decided to challenge myself to a 2-week sugar cleanse and thought others might be interested in joining me! I keep reading that refined and artificial sugars are among the top reasons for weight gain, specifically in your abdominal area. Many dieticians recommend a two-week period of no refined or artificial sugar to see results in that area. My understanding is that sugar (even artificial sweeteners) makes your insulin spike, thus making you store fat more easily.

So I am beginning this Sunday, 04/21/2012 and I am eliminating:
- refined sugar (white sugar)
- sweeteners (sucralose and aspartame)
- "white" bread and pasta

To replace those items, I will be using:
- honey
- agave
- stevia
- natural sugars (fruit)
- whole wheat bread and pasta
- rye bread

I have a feeling that this will be very challenging as I'm sure there is sugar in a TON of the products I am currently purchasing. That's why I've given myself the 2 day lead time to get ready! Hopefully this will be successful and will help me make some long-term changes as well.

Christyl

You CAN DO IT...You have LOTS of help and support here... ...OK...P.S..So you will be grouchy for a week...BIG deal!

kathyc609

Carbohydrate molecules are all EXACTLY THE SAME !!

There's no difference at all between eating the carbohydrate molecules in fruit, bread, or anything else.

If you must eat some fruit, eat only strawberries or raspberries. They are remarkable in that they contain the least possible carbohydrate molecules, but, taste the sweetest because of the biomechanics of your mouth and tongue.

Again - the only fruit to eat is strawberries and raspberries because they are so low in carbohydrate molecules.

If you're trying to lose body fat, don't eat any bread, potatoes, pasta.



The great news is if you can just limit your intake of carbohydrate molecule to about 72 grams per day, for about a month, you will completely lose your taste for carbohydrates - you won't feel the need to eat potatoes, fruit, pasta, rice, bread. After that you will effortlessly lose body fat, eating whatever you want. (You will have no taste for carbohydrate-based foods.)

Buy a copy of "Life without Bread" by Dr. Lutz - change your life!

this!! u really do lose the desire to eat it carbs. i have not have bread or pasta in 6 months the fat melted away.

UponThisRock

LOL, I almost spit my coffee out.

iamchristyl

Great job in trying to change.

But - those sugars you list - agave, honey, etc. are all still sugar. They may be not as refined (well agave is refined) but they still spike your insulin. Try going without ANY sweetener - zero.

And watch the bread - most have corn syrup in them, or something else.

My nutritionist basically says to stay away from all sweetener. When you get to the point where you're having to sweeten things that don't need sweetening, you need to take a look at your diet.

If you'd like to check out my "no sugar" diary - friend me!

Best of luck. :flowerforyou:

I absolutely agree - the intent is not just to replace "bad" sugar with "good" sugar - but also to reduce the amount consumed. For example, a little honey in my greek yogurt this morning did the trick, but I'll try not use too much more today! You make an excellent point though and I look forward to seeing your diary!

iamchristyl

If you cleanse all the sugar from your body, you're going to have problems.

That's a great point - the idea is to reduce my sugar intake and replace "bad" sugar with "good" sugar. I guess the title "cleanse" was a little strong. But thanks for pointing out that there is no need to take "all the sugar" out of our diets.

Shayztar

Hello fellow MFP members!

I've decided to challenge myself to a 2-week sugar cleanse and thought others might be interested in joining me! I keep reading that refined and artificial sugars are among the top reasons for weight gain, specifically in your abdominal area. Many dieticians recommend a two-week period of no refined or artificial sugar to see results in that area. My understanding is that sugar (even artificial sweeteners) makes your insulin spike, thus making you store fat more easily.

So I am beginning this Sunday, 04/21/2012 and I am eliminating:
- refined sugar (white sugar)
- sweeteners (sucralose and aspartame)
- "white" bread and pasta

To replace those items, I will be using:
- honey
- agave
- stevia
- natural sugars (fruit)
- whole wheat bread and pasta
- rye bread

I have a feeling that this will be very challenging as I'm sure there is sugar in a TON of the products I am currently purchasing. That's why I've given myself the 2 day lead time to get ready! Hopefully this will be successful and will help me make some long-term changes as well.

Christyl

Sugar is sugar. Your body doesn't recognize a difference between white refined sugar, and honey, agave, or sugars from fruits. And honestly, honey and agave are both 90% fructose, so if you believe in all the alarmist claims about sugar, then you should know that according to the anti-sugar fanatics, fructose is the worst form of sugar. Also, white bread, pasta, and ry bread do not have much sugar in them, they are starches., you'd get about 17 times more sugar in a tablespoon of honey than you would get in a slice of bread.

As for sugar turning into fat, that only happens if you eat a calorie excess above and beyond your maintenance calories, otherwise, it doesn't happen.

And artificial sweeteners are just fine in moderation, there is no real scientific evidence of any health issues caused by artificial sweeteners.

All in all, if sugar causes you to have trouble controlling your eating, get rid of it. However, using honey and agave will not help a sugar addiction in the least, as they are just liquid forms of sugar.

If you don't have a sugar addiction, then to be quite honest, sugar will have no negative effect on your health when you eat moderate amounts of it as part of a balanced, healthy diet.

I thought that the main point of this exercise is to be more aware of the things that contain lots of sugar? To start reading labels to find where the sugar is, and replacing it with something else? My Activia is LOADED with sugar. If switching to Greek Yogurt and adding a touch of honey helps to lower the amount of sugar in my diet, isn't that supposed to help with weight loss? To allow me more calories so I can add more lean chicken to my diet? Sure, I can eat 1400 calories a day of pure sugar and still lose weight cause "a calorie is a calorie" but that's not helping me to learn about food content and make changes to eat healthier foods. BTW, have you ever made bread from scratch? The amount of sugar added is outrageous! I'm pretty sure one slice of it is a much smaller portion than the whole loaf. Thanks for using mathematics, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't her point.

Go ahead and bash people's attempt to make better food choices. Cause we all know that science has all kept us so healthy up until now. Wait? Is that the same science that told me that Splenda and other artificial sweeteners don't cause any health problems? Is that why other scientific studies say that Sucralose Toxicity is a very real thing? Hmm.. I'll go ahead and believe in ALL scientific studies. Good thing I didn't drink wine while pregnant, becasue OTHER studies show that drinking red wine during pregnancy isn't always harmful to the fetus either.

Maybe we should just let these nice souls cut down on sugar, read their labels, and add a touch of honey to their tea instead of spoonfulls of sugar. And then try not to be such a contrarion. There are other more pressing topics in the forums that need you oh so desparately.

tigersword

Hello fellow MFP members!

I've decided to challenge myself to a 2-week sugar cleanse and thought others might be interested in joining me! I keep reading that refined and artificial sugars are among the top reasons for weight gain, specifically in your abdominal area. Many dieticians recommend a two-week period of no refined or artificial sugar to see results in that area. My understanding is that sugar (even artificial sweeteners) makes your insulin spike, thus making you store fat more easily.

So I am beginning this Sunday, 04/21/2012 and I am eliminating:
- refined sugar (white sugar)
- sweeteners (sucralose and aspartame)
- "white" bread and pasta

To replace those items, I will be using:
- honey
- agave
- stevia
- natural sugars (fruit)
- whole wheat bread and pasta
- rye bread

I have a feeling that this will be very challenging as I'm sure there is sugar in a TON of the products I am currently purchasing. That's why I've given myself the 2 day lead time to get ready! Hopefully this will be successful and will help me make some long-term changes as well.

Christyl

Sugar is sugar. Your body doesn't recognize a difference between white refined sugar, and honey, agave, or sugars from fruits. And honestly, honey and agave are both 90% fructose, so if you believe in all the alarmist claims about sugar, then you should know that according to the anti-sugar fanatics, fructose is the worst form of sugar. Also, white bread, pasta, and ry bread do not have much sugar in them, they are starches., you'd get about 17 times more sugar in a tablespoon of honey than you would get in a slice of bread.

As for sugar turning into fat, that only happens if you eat a calorie excess above and beyond your maintenance calories, otherwise, it doesn't happen.

And artificial sweeteners are just fine in moderation, there is no real scientific evidence of any health issues caused by artificial sweeteners.

All in all, if sugar causes you to have trouble controlling your eating, get rid of it. However, using honey and agave will not help a sugar addiction in the least, as they are just liquid forms of sugar.

If you don't have a sugar addiction, then to be quite honest, sugar will have no negative effect on your health when you eat moderate amounts of it as part of a balanced, healthy diet.

I thought that the main point of this exercise is to be more aware of the things that contain lots of sugar? To start reading labels to find where the sugar is, and replacing it with something else? My Activia is LOADED with sugar. If switching to Greek Yogurt and adding a touch of honey helps to lower the amount of sugar in my diet, isn't that supposed to help with weight loss? To allow me more calories so I can add more lean chicken to my diet? Sure, I can eat 1400 calories a day of pure sugar and still lose weight cause "a calorie is a calorie" but that's not helping me to learn about food content and make changes to eat healthier foods. BTW, have you ever made bread from scratch? The amount of sugar added is outrageous! I'm pretty sure one slice of it is a much smaller portion than the whole loaf. Thanks for using mathematics, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't her point.

Go ahead and bash people's attempt to make better food choices. Cause we all know that science has all kept us so healthy up until now. Wait? Is that the same science that told me that Splenda and other artificial sweeteners don't cause any health problems? Is that why other scientific studies say that Sucralose Toxicity is a very real thing? Hmm.. I'll go ahead and believe in ALL scientific studies. Good thing I didn't drink wine while pregnant, becasue OTHER studies show that drinking red wine during pregnancy isn't always harmful to the fetus either.

Maybe we should just let these nice souls cut down on sugar, read their labels, and add a touch of honey to their tea instead of spoonfulls of sugar. And then try not to be such a contrarion. There are other more pressing topics in the forums that need you oh so desparately.

I bake bread daily. A loaf of bread usually takes about 1 tablespoon of sugar, usually less, just enough to activate the yeast. I'm not sure I would call that outrageous.

Besides, this thread was about cleansing sugar out of the diet. Swapping white sugar for honey doesn't accomplish that. It just swaps out one sugar for another. It's like saying you want to give up Pepsi, so you start drinking Coke instead.

iamchristyl

Good morning!

Let's change the topic since there seem to be way too many people here who aren't even interested in participating and I'm sorry, I think I'll trust my dietician and nutritionist where refined sugar is concerned!

So, this morning I had a coffee with just milk - it was pretty good! I also really enjoyed my grapefruit, it was perfectly ripe and was energizing for my busy morning.

iamchristyl

Well, it's the end of the first (work) week and I'm feeling great! I've lost 2 pounds this week alone and I noticed another interesting thing... I don't think I noticed that I had an upset stomach most days until - it was gone. I don't know if I can attribute it directly to the lack of refined sugars and sweeteners, but whatever the case may be - I'll take it!

Now to make it through the weekend - they are always challenging for me. It's seems that there is always so much to get done that I let my diet go out the window. With a little careful planning, I hope I can make it work!

iamchristyl

I can't believe I'm already on day 9 and still feeling great! I was a little more tired than usual last week, but I've been feeling much better since the weekend. I'm definitely considering keeping this up after the 2 week experiment. I was thinking perhaps I could eat sugar-free on weekdays and then be a little more lenient on weekends as they are already difficult to begin with!

iamchristyl

Well, I completed the 2-week challenge and I can honestly say that I learned quite a bit... First, I truly felt better with refined sugar out of my diet. That is enough for me to keep it (mostly) up indefinitely. I don't think that I'll actively stay away from everything with refined sugar in it, but I will certainly make an effort to buy products with more natural sugars in them. I also began to realize just how much sugar is in fruit. Again, I'm not going to avoid them going forward, but definitely keep an eye on the sugar content and eat them in moderation - a good tip my dietician gave me is to just eat half of sugary fruits such as oranges, mangoes and bananas in a day.

Thanks to everyone who supported me and/or followed along on this adventure. It really reinforces my philosophy that this is NOT a diet, but a lifestyle and many different factors come in to play - not just calorie counting!
Christyl

chelnuno0826

Hi there. First off - congrats on ur continued success. I am typically low carbing but still have a horrible sweet tooth. What were some of the foods that u were eating. I am such a boring eater and need new ideas. Thanks in advance.
Chelsea
~40 lbs to go