No more added or artificial sugar: who's with me?

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Replies

  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    I want to write this down to help solidify my intentions into actually doing this. I want to see how long I can go without eating any added or artificial sugar. I know that it's only adding empty calories and I can get plenty of sweetness from natural sources. I can do this. Here we go! Who's with me?

    Actually, what I really suggest for you, OP, is to log your food. I see you're not doing that right now.

    Focus on the things that actually matter and don't get caught up in silly things like "no sugar!" that don't matter.

    You are setting yourself up with a basically impossible long-term goal (no sugar) that obscures your real goal (weight loss), thus leaving you with a situation where you WILL fail and then have nothing to blame but your own lack of willpower. This is a poor situation. Set up realistic goals and put yourself in a position to attain them by setting up methods that actually work and are sustainable.
  • twixlepennie
    twixlepennie Posts: 1,074 Member
    I want to write this down to help solidify my intentions into actually doing this. I want to see how long I can go without eating any added or artificial sugar. I know that it's only adding empty calories and I can get plenty of sweetness from natural sources. I can do this. Here we go! Who's with me?

    Actually, what I really suggest for you, OP, is to log your food. I see you're not doing that right now.

    Focus on the things that actually matter and don't get caught up in silly things like "no sugar!" that don't matter.

    You are setting yourself up with a basically impossible long-term goal (no sugar) that obscures your real goal (weight loss), thus leaving you with a situation where you WILL fail and then have nothing to blame but your own lack of willpower. This is a poor situation. Set up realistic goals and put yourself in a position to attain them by setting up methods that actually work and are sustainable.

    +1
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,008 Member
    You are setting yourself up with a basically impossible long-term goal (no sugar) that obscures your real goal (weight loss), thus leaving you with a situation where you WILL fail and then have nothing to blame but your own lack of willpower. This is a poor situation. Set up realistic goals and put yourself in a position to attain them by setting up methods that actually work and are sustainable.

    ^^^Please listen to this guy. Your current plan is only going to set you up for failure not due to your lack of willpower but due to an eating regimen that is too strict and unnecessary. The other thing you may wind up doing is giving yourself a case of orthorexia...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthorexia_nervosa

    That was at least my experience. May not be yours but it is important that you know it can happen.
  • SuperCrsa
    SuperCrsa Posts: 790 Member
    But I love me some chocolate and any things sweet! Nah. Lifes for living :)
  • starrylioness
    starrylioness Posts: 543 Member
    It's just in too many things for me to completely cut it. Sure I keep an eye on it but I don't cut it out. I love my fruit too much (and yes, fruit does have a lot of sugar in it) as well as other sweets like chocolate and cake and...well you get my point! and hey - I have PCOS and I still eat sugar and I don't have problems. I am simply doing low cal and that's it and I've lost over 50 lbs.

    But if it works for you, right on! I'm certainly not going to criticize! I just know it's in SO MUCH it's really impossible for me to cut out completely.
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
    Good luck, OP. I appreciate you leaving more sweets for the rest of us. :happy:
  • sfbaumgarten
    sfbaumgarten Posts: 912 Member
    Nope, count me out.
  • stumblinthrulife
    stumblinthrulife Posts: 2,558 Member
    If it's something you feel the need to do, then all the best to you. But I encourage you to not hinge your entire success on it. If you can't cut out sugar, it doesn't mean you have failed.

    There are a great many of us on MFP who have learned to incorporate sugar, and other so-called 'bad' foods, into our life while meeting weight-loss, fitness and health goals. If you find that a restrictive diet just isn't for you, please search the forums for IIFYM and I'm sure we'll all be very happy to help you.

    On the other hand, if you find that cutting out sugar helps you reach your goals, and you can be perfectly happy while doing it, that's great and well done.
  • GW1970
    GW1970 Posts: 81 Member
    give up sugar , keep the alternativly sourced sweetners to help wean you off sugar, soon you won't want those either! eventually your natural appitite will return and you won't over eat.
    but lets get it straight its not "sugar" its fructose you need to avoid!
    as for what everyone else has said. well this is all new and i guess their response is no differant to smokers reaction when it became clear that was dangerous.
    so i'm bookmarking this so i can come back and say "told you so":laugh: :laugh: :happy:
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    give up sugar , keep the alternativly sourced sweetners to help wean you off sugar, soon you won't want those either! eventually your natural appitite will return and you won't over eat.

    That's pretty much the exact opposite experience of the vast majority of people who "give up sugar."

    Their willpower eventually fails and they go back to eating sugar. Since they never learned to actually eat the food they enjoy in healthy, moderate ways, they simply fall back into their old eating patterns and go back to looking the way they looked before.
    but lets get it straight its not "sugar" its fructose you need to avoid!

    Oh, I see. So..... it's fruit that's bad.

    Got it.
  • stumblinthrulife
    stumblinthrulife Posts: 2,558 Member
    give up sugar , keep the alternativly sourced sweetners to help wean you off sugar, soon you won't want those either! eventually your natural appitite will return and you won't over eat.
    but lets get it straight its not "sugar" its fructose you need to avoid!
    as for what everyone else has said. well this is all new and i guess their response is no differant to smokers reaction when it became clear that was dangerous.
    so i'm bookmarking this so i can come back and say "told you so":laugh: :laugh: :happy:

    Most of us are years and 50lb+ into our experience. I think we are ready to say "I told you so" right now, to be honest. But we'll wait for you to catch up.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    give up sugar , keep the alternativly sourced sweetners to help wean you off sugar, soon you won't want those either! eventually your natural appitite will return and you won't over eat.
    but lets get it straight its not "sugar" its fructose you need to avoid!
    as for what everyone else has said. well this is all new and i guess their response is no differant to smokers reaction when it became clear that was dangerous.
    so i'm bookmarking this so i can come back and say "told you so":laugh: :laugh: :happy:

    Most of us are years and 50lb+ into our experience. I think we are ready to say "I told you so" right now, to be honest. But we'll wait for you to catch up.

    050808_soundbarrier.jpg
  • twixlepennie
    twixlepennie Posts: 1,074 Member
    give up sugar , keep the alternativly sourced sweetners to help wean you off sugar, soon you won't want those either! eventually your natural appitite will return and you won't over eat.
    but lets get it straight its not "sugar" its fructose you need to avoid!
    as for what everyone else has said. well this is all new and i guess their response is no differant to smokers reaction when it became clear that was dangerous.
    so i'm bookmarking this so i can come back and say "told you so":laugh: :laugh: :happy:

    Really? Are you looking at the stats of the people posting that sugar isn't bad in the various sugar threads? Have you added up the hundreds of pounds lost, and counted how many of us are successfully maintaining? Wise people listen to those who have already gone ahead of them and figured out how to be successful. I agree, you should bookmark this, but for different reasons than what you posted :smile:

    OP-eat now, how you plan on eating for the rest of your life. Learn now, the tools to eating the foods you enjoy in a way that's sustainable for not only weight loss, but to maintain that weight loss for the next 20, 30, 40+ years. Creating pointless restrictions now, is only going to lead to failure.
  • GW1970
    GW1970 Posts: 81 Member

    Oh, I see. So..... it's fruit that's bad.

    Got it.
    nope cause the Fructose in fruit is tied up with fibre, when you take the fibre away (like pure fruit juice) then it is bad and contains more sugar then the equivilant amount of full strength coke!
    sugar itself is completly safe if you eat it as a "whole". there being more than enough fibre to take away the fructose!
    this information is just coming out in the UK . been around in Australia a couple of years, i'll come back in 12 months and see what you'll all saying then :flowerforyou:
  • Greytfish
    Greytfish Posts: 810
    You are setting yourself up with a basically impossible long-term goal (no sugar) that obscures your real goal (weight loss), thus leaving you with a situation where you WILL fail and then have nothing to blame but your own lack of willpower. This is a poor situation. Set up realistic goals and put yourself in a position to attain them by setting up methods that actually work and are sustainable.

    ^^^Please listen to this guy. Your current plan is only going to set you up for failure not due to your lack of willpower but due to an eating regimen that is too strict and unnecessary. The other thing you may wind up doing is giving yourself a case of orthorexia...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthorexia_nervosa

    That was at least my experience. May not be yours but it is important that you know it can happen.

    You know what's worse than unrealistic expectations? Fabricated mental illnesses. And, using Wikipedia as a primary source.

    While I don't agree that avoiding added processed sugars and thigns like HFCS or regular corn syrup is a magic pill for weight loss, Americans consume both at alarming rates and not without health consequences. There's no reason the OP can't fill her sugar intake with naturally occurring sugars in everyday fruits and foods.

    Most people here have made a rather large presumption that the OP's goal - and only goal - is to lose weight and advising against lowering added sugars. Notably, none of you asked her blood sugar numbers, or her A1C. You're all assuming she's doing this solely to lose weight, and that's short sighted and potentially dangerous. Both numbers could be fine, but her processed sugar and HFCS intake could be already making her body insulin resistant, thereby undermining health and weight loss.

    Not only is what she proposes possibly for a 30 day period, millions of people on the planet eat that way all the time either by choice or because they live in a less gluttonous society. If avoiding sugar lifelong was going to cause her to eat poorly in other respects or to experience psychological ill effects, that would be a reason to not pursue this. Otherwise, there's no harm.
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member

    Oh, I see. So..... it's fruit that's bad.

    Got it.
    nope cause the Fructose in fruit is tied up with fibre, when you take the fibre away (like pure fruit juice) then it is bad and contains more sugar then the equivilant amount of full strength coke!
    sugar itself is completly safe if you eat it as a "whole". there being more than enough fibre to take away the fructose!
    this information is just coming out in the UK . been around in Australia a couple of years, i'll come back in 12 months and see what you'll all saying then :flowerforyou:

    So take a fiber supplement with my juice? Will do?


    And he's been here since April 2011. What do you think another year is going to change?
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member

    Oh, I see. So..... it's fruit that's bad.

    Got it.
    nope cause the Fructose in fruit is tied up with fibre, when you take the fibre away (like pure fruit juice) then it is bad and contains more sugar then the equivilant amount of full strength coke!
    sugar itself is completly safe if you eat it as a "whole". there being more than enough fibre to take away the fructose!
    this information is just coming out in the UK . been around in Australia a couple of years, i'll come back in 12 months and see what you'll all saying then :flowerforyou:

    Oh, I see. "Tied up with fiber."

    So if I add a tablespoon of fiber to my Mountain Dew then it's fine!

    Cause the fiber "takes away the fructose."
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    You are setting yourself up with a basically impossible long-term goal (no sugar) that obscures your real goal (weight loss), thus leaving you with a situation where you WILL fail and then have nothing to blame but your own lack of willpower. This is a poor situation. Set up realistic goals and put yourself in a position to attain them by setting up methods that actually work and are sustainable.

    ^^^Please listen to this guy. Your current plan is only going to set you up for failure not due to your lack of willpower but due to an eating regimen that is too strict and unnecessary. The other thing you may wind up doing is giving yourself a case of orthorexia...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthorexia_nervosa

    That was at least my experience. May not be yours but it is important that you know it can happen.

    You know what's worse than unrealistic expectations? Fabricated mental illnesses. And, using Wikipedia as a primary source.

    While I don't agree that avoiding added processed sugars and thigns like HFCS or regular corn syrup is a magic pill for weight loss, Americans consume both at alarming rates and not without health consequences. There's no reason the OP can't fill her sugar intake with naturally occurring sugars in everyday fruits and foods.

    Most people here have made a rather large presumption that the OP's goal - and only goal - is to lose weight and advising against lowering added sugars. Notably, none of you asked her blood sugar numbers, or her A1C. You're all assuming she's doing this solely to lose weight, and that's short sighted and potentially dangerous. Both numbers could be fine, but her processed sugar and HFCS intake could be already making her body insulin resistant, thereby undermining health and weight loss.

    Not only is what she proposes possibly for a 30 day period, millions of people on the planet eat that way all the time either by choice or because they live in a less gluttonous society. If avoiding sugar lifelong was going to cause her to eat poorly in other respects or to experience psychological ill effects, that would be a reason to not pursue this. Otherwise, there's no harm.

    Her plan isn't "lowering added sugars" as you say. It's eliminating added sugars. And, on top of that, eliminating artificial sugar as well.

    It's clear that she's simply buying into the "sugar is evil" hype going all around the fitness and nutrition industry lately.
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
    Re: added sugar

    My cookie dough comes with the sugar already in it, not added by me. Does that count as added? If yes than lolnope this isn't for me. If no then hey, I could be on board. I only add sweetener to tea and I drink too much tea anyway.
  • twixlepennie
    twixlepennie Posts: 1,074 Member
    You are setting yourself up with a basically impossible long-term goal (no sugar) that obscures your real goal (weight loss), thus leaving you with a situation where you WILL fail and then have nothing to blame but your own lack of willpower. This is a poor situation. Set up realistic goals and put yourself in a position to attain them by setting up methods that actually work and are sustainable.

    ^^^Please listen to this guy. Your current plan is only going to set you up for failure not due to your lack of willpower but due to an eating regimen that is too strict and unnecessary. The other thing you may wind up doing is giving yourself a case of orthorexia...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthorexia_nervosa

    That was at least my experience. May not be yours but it is important that you know it can happen.

    You know what's worse than unrealistic expectations? Fabricated mental illnesses. And, using Wikipedia as a primary source.

    While I don't agree that avoiding added processed sugars and thigns like HFCS or regular corn syrup is a magic pill for weight loss, Americans consume both at alarming rates and not without health consequences. There's no reason the OP can't fill her sugar intake with naturally occurring sugars in everyday fruits and foods.

    Most people here have made a rather large presumption that the OP's goal - and only goal - is to lose weight and advising against lowering added sugars. Notably, none of you asked her blood sugar numbers, or her A1C. You're all assuming she's doing this solely to lose weight, and that's short sighted and potentially dangerous. Both numbers could be fine, but her processed sugar and HFCS intake could be already making her body insulin resistant, thereby undermining health and weight loss.

    Not only is what she proposes possibly for a 30 day period, millions of people on the planet eat that way all the time either by choice or because they live in a less gluttonous society. If avoiding sugar lifelong was going to cause her to eat poorly in other respects or to experience psychological ill effects, that would be a reason to not pursue this. Otherwise, there's no harm.

    I don't know OPs blood work numbers but I do know mine, and my last fasting glucose test number was an 89. This is after having numbers in the pre-diabetic range previously. I didn't cut back on sugar to improve my numbers-lost over 50lbs while still eating the foods I enjoy and cutting back on calories.
  • GW1970
    GW1970 Posts: 81 Member

    Cause the fiber "takes away the fructose."
    so it would seem. the diet industry has known this for years, hence products like all-bran. bran flakes etc etc exist. the problem is they are sweetened with so much sugar them selfs (all bran is 17% added sugar) that the fibre is next to useless!
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member

    Cause the fiber "takes away the fructose."
    so it would seem. the diet industry has known this for years, hence products like all-bran. bran flakes etc etc exist. the problem is they are sweetened with so much sugar them selfs (all bran is 17% added sugar) that the fibre is next to useless!

    I'm going to quit stringing you along now, and just tell you outright that this makes no sense whatsoever.
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,008 Member

    Oh, I see. So..... it's fruit that's bad.

    Got it.
    nope cause the Fructose in fruit is tied up with fibre, when you take the fibre away (like pure fruit juice) then it is bad and contains more sugar then the equivilant amount of full strength coke!
    sugar itself is completly safe if you eat it as a "whole". there being more than enough fibre to take away the fructose!
    this information is just coming out in the UK . been around in Australia a couple of years, i'll come back in 12 months and see what you'll all saying then :flowerforyou:

    Ok, see you in 12 months when you have found and isolated yet another nutrient to blame...
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member

    Cause the fiber "takes away the fructose."
    so it would seem. the diet industry has known this for years, hence products like all-bran. bran flakes etc etc exist. the problem is they are sweetened with so much sugar them selfs (all bran is 17% added sugar) that the fibre is next to useless!

    BTW, here's some actual science regarding nutrition that I think you need to read, considering your macro targets:

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24092765
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member

    Cause the fiber "takes away the fructose."
    so it would seem. the diet industry has known this for years, hence products like all-bran. bran flakes etc etc exist. the problem is they are sweetened with so much sugar them selfs (all bran is 17% added sugar) that the fibre is next to useless!

    I'm going to quit stringing you along now, and just tell you outright that this makes no sense whatsoever.

    And there goes my early morning fun!

    Unless they keep replying anyway, oblivious and full of denial. *hopeful*
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,008 Member

    Cause the fiber "takes away the fructose."
    so it would seem. the diet industry has known this for years, hence products like all-bran. bran flakes etc etc exist. the problem is they are sweetened with so much sugar them selfs (all bran is 17% added sugar) that the fibre is next to useless!

    BTW, here's some actual science regarding nutrition that I think you need to read, considering your macro targets:

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24092765

    But Jonny, don't you know that the scientists are in bed with the politicians who are in bed with the FDA who are in bed with big pharma... so they can keep all this a secret, keeping us ignorant, making us (fat, sick and nearly dead) only to one day rely on their meds to function in old age?
  • GW1970
    GW1970 Posts: 81 Member

    And there goes my early morning fun!

    Unless they keep replying anyway, oblivious and full of denial. *hopeful*
    lol.
    sorry. i stopped smoking over 10 years ago, i had as much fun with smokers then as i'm having here with you lot now!

    just starting to make news in the UK.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25650352
    but take my experience. my first wife was diabetic, so neither of us ate sugar. for 10 years i maintened the same weight and pretty much ate anything and everything i wanted to. in the 10 years since we split up i've put on 40lbs and struggled with every diet imaginable! until now!
    so have as much fun as you like, but remember "he who laughs last laughs the loudest":laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,008 Member

    And there goes my early morning fun!

    Unless they keep replying anyway, oblivious and full of denial. *hopeful*
    lol.
    sorry. i stopped smoking over 10 years ago, i had as much fun with smokers then as i'm having here with you lot now!

    just starting to make news in the UK.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25650352
    but take my experience. my first wife was diabetic, so neither of us ate sugar. for 10 years i maintened the same weight and pretty much ate anything and everything i wanted to. in the 10 years since we split up i've put on 40lbs and struggled with every diet imaginable! until now!
    so have as much fun as you like, but remember "he who laughs last laughs the loudest":laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

    You're funny... misguided but funny none the less...
  • stumblinthrulife
    stumblinthrulife Posts: 2,558 Member

    And there goes my early morning fun!

    Unless they keep replying anyway, oblivious and full of denial. *hopeful*
    lol.
    sorry. i stopped smoking over 10 years ago, i had as much fun with smokers then as i'm having here with you lot now!

    just starting to make news in the UK.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25650352
    but take my experience. my first wife was diabetic, so neither of us ate sugar. for 10 years i maintened the same weight and pretty much ate anything and everything i wanted to. in the 10 years since we split up i've put on 40lbs and struggled with every diet imaginable! until now!
    so have as much fun as you like, but remember "he who laughs last laughs the loudest":laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

    You know, the really great part is that our laughing doesn't actually rely on you failing. If you can cut sugar, that's really great for you. If that's what makes you happy and healthy.

    The point is that we are happy and healthy without cutting sugar. My health indicators have all improved to healthy levels through moderation, exercise. Yes, that includes my blood sugar levels.

    Just because you couldn't be healthy while eating added sugar doesn't mean no one can.
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member

    And there goes my early morning fun!

    Unless they keep replying anyway, oblivious and full of denial. *hopeful*
    lol.
    sorry. i stopped smoking over 10 years ago, i had as much fun with smokers then as i'm having here with you lot now!

    just starting to make news in the UK.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25650352
    but take my experience. my first wife was diabetic, so neither of us ate sugar. for 10 years i maintened the same weight and pretty much ate anything and everything i wanted to. in the 10 years since we split up i've put on 40lbs and struggled with every diet imaginable! until now!
    so have as much fun as you like, but remember "he who laughs last laughs the loudest":laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

    Well your single anecdotal case has opened my eyes, swayed me, and shown me the light.