sugar free - sounds like a massive challenge to me!

niknak30
niknak30 Posts: 58
in Food and Nutrition
So, tomorrow I am getting a book ( a much appreciated gift from a friend ) which is all about a sugar free diet. I am curious if any of you have gone there and what the results have been like. Bare in mind, I need to lose about half my body weight .... so whatever road I take will be a long one.
I figure it is worth a try and might get me back onto the path of losing and not just exercising myself like crazy with little results.

Curious to hear our thoughts

Replies

  • viclaw81
    viclaw81 Posts: 20
    I used to have terrible issues with being very good during the week and then treating myself at the weekend...only treating myself would mean major binges. I also used to drink a lot of sugar free fizzy drinks such as pepsi max, etc.

    Since cutting out all processed foods and sugars (and artificial sweeteners) I haven't had the urge to binge at all! I still have a drink at the weekend but I'll have soda as a mixer and I'll use natural sweeteners such as honey or maple syrup.

    I've found it's helped me so much in controlling binges and sugar cravings. Also, I now find if I ever do stray from eating well (when my family all get together they cook lots of delicious, sugary, chocolately, fatty stuff!) I feel really quite rubbish the next day!

    Good luck x
  • 366to266
    366to266 Posts: 473 Member
    I used to survive on a 90% sugar and wheat diet.

    Toast or cereal for breakfast, followed by pastries, cake or chocolate bars.

    Family bars of chocolate washed down with 2l bottles of Coke.

    Pizza for punch followed by more chocolate.

    Sugary low fat yoghurts

    Chicken korma in an Indian - with a peshwari naan, sweet and sour pork in a Chinese

    Ice cream with caramel and other sugary sauces

    Port and lemonade or advocaat and Coke

    Meat dishes smothered in (sugary) tomato ketchup

    Salads drowned in (sugary) salad cream

    It was a sugar-fest from rising to bedtime

    Right up to 371 pounds!

    Imagine my shock and horror when a nutritionist told me I had to go wheat and sugar-free! I was stunned and bewildered! What on earth would I eat?

    Makes me laugh (in a wry way) to look back on those days.

    I now eat NO wheat and NO sugar - not even fruit.

    Giving up that trash was the best thing I ever did (equal with quitting smoking!)

    I do not miss sugar at all. But if you'd told me that when I was hooked, I would have laughed in your face!

    Me? Give up sugar? I used to take FOUR spoonfuls in my tea! I was the Sugar Queen.

    You'll manage it.
  • AlexFryer
    AlexFryer Posts: 8
    I totally agree. Major sugar binges once a week put you off course and they are best avoided. Many studies have proved that it takes approximately 30 days to initiate any new habit. So ride through the first (inevitably rough) 30 days cutting down hard on sugar, and you're cravings will gradually wilt.

    Sweeteners are a great way to keep you on this path. No significant studies have solidly proved that these products are harmful to your health (certainly not to the extent that high-sugar diets can cause diabetes, obesity etc.), just don't go crazy on them, i.e. cans and cans of diet coke a day.

    Try to limit sugar (in the form of fructose or glucose) to after a workout or a long walk. This way, your body can actually use it as oppose to storing it as fat.

    Good luck stay determined !
  • shella_bella
    shella_bella Posts: 180
    Will be easy after you do it for a week. Once you cut things out of your diet you stop craving them. I, however would not be able to go completely sugar-free because I love my fruit.
  • SkimFlatWhite68
    SkimFlatWhite68 Posts: 1,254 Member
    Hi NikNak, I was just wondering how you are going with the book and if you did decide to go sugar free?

    My diet is not entirely sugar free, but I've elimated added sugars. Still have berries, but not much other fruit, and stay away from starchy carbs and wheat as much as possible. It's made a huge difference in the way I feel. And also my waist.

    So what's your update?

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