Can we stop saying quiting/cutting out sugar from your diet!
Replies
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Hi!
I'm often dumbfounded when I hear/read people treating food groups as evil, poison, etc.
notice I said food groups and not processed foods (like HFCS)
If we consume a normal amount of added sugar (white, brown, etc) there's NO reason (in my mind) to fear gaining weight or not being able to lose. If I've learned anything this (almost) year of my life is that what's truly harmful is what's created in a laboratory (msg, HFCS,...) I've cut them 100% from my diet! stopped eating ANYWHERE but my house, with the occasional going to my parents' house for lunch. I don't eat ANYTHING from a bag whose ingredients I can pronounced. Discovered I'm celiac, so cut gluten 100%.
I practice intermittent fasting (I'm in a wheelchair so my daily recommended calories have got to be much lower than a walking person) and I've lost 78.8 pounds since around June/July 2013! I started mfp at 178 on 9/1/13. I drink only water or coffee with milk. To my coffees I add plain sugar. I eat one teaspoon of Nutella (YUM!) a few times a week. And I'm CONSISTENTLY losing!
The minute I stopped treating food as an enemy, and feeling angry at food, instead of my real issues surrounding food, I began my healing process. I'm far from "cured" (who knows if I'll ever be!) but seeing ALL the women (and a few men) in my family treating food, sugar, fat, carbs as "enemies" now makes me sad.
How a few of them treat me has changed a bit. Relationships are a bit better. But because their relationship to food, portions and certain food groups is SO distorted, it makes for quite a sour experience seeing them eat and watching them see me eat. They can't understand my new, positive way of looking at the food I eat.
I agree with you, people should ideally stop treating food groups as the enemy, but if my own family members are an indication, I think this might prove to be impossible! We can't change anyone but ourselves and I guess hope that people around us change in their own time?
To give you an idea of how bad it is:
I went to one of their houses and was offered a coffee. To this day, they ask me "how many Splenda?" My answer (EVERY SINGLE TIME) I'll take regular sugar, please. Their reply? I thought you were on a diet? How do you expect to diet and eat that poison?
Me: (147 pounds, with 20-30 more to lose) I'm NOT on a diet. I've never BEEN on a diet. I plan on living like this for LIFE.
They laugh in my face, telling me it won't last.
Or another time, I offered a TIC TAC (2 calorie candy, people!) to another...their answer, I have a better sugar free one. Yours is poison, and until you realize that, you'll never lose the weight (this said to a person who's consistently losing between .5-2.5 pounds a week) they will never change.0 -
I just think the people saying they are quitting/cutting sugar sound ridiculous. It's not that I don't understand what they really mean. Words matter, and how can you be taken seriously here if don't even know what it is you are giving up?
It is not that difficult to figure out that they mean they are giving up sugary sodas, cookies, cakes, donuts, candy, etc.
I mean, come on, most of us DO have a brain and know how to use it.
But apparently it is much more fun for some people to jump in and say, "so you are giving up fruit? and carrots? because they have sugar!"
Yeah, I just said it's easy to know what they mean. Does that mean I'm supposed to nod and move on?
It's not "more fun" to ask them if they're giving up fruit and other stuff. I'd just appreciate it if people were honest about what they were cutting out of their diet. And if they legitimately don't know that carbs or sugar consist of much more than baked goods and candy, well, I hope they learn something.
ETA: And I maintain that it sounds ridiculous when someone on here says something like "I haven't eaten any sugar in XX days! I've concentrated on whole foods like fruits and vegetables, and I have a yogurt every once in a while..."0 -
"went to one of their houses and was offered a coffee. To this day, they ask me "how many Splenda?" My answer (EVERY SINGLE TIME) I'll take regular sugar, please. Their reply? I thought you were on a diet? How do you expect to diet and eat that poison?
Me: (147 pounds, with 20-30 more to lose) I'm NOT on a diet. I've never BEEN on a diet. I plan on living like this for LIFE.
They laugh in my face, telling me it won't last. "
Well, you could just have unsweetened coffee - no sugar, no Sweeteners.
Anyway, I do not think it is silly to try to cut down on one's sugar intake ( note, I said cut down, not eliminate) and eat less sugary sweet foods and get used to things with less of a sweet taste , ie cut down or eliminate sugar in tea, coffee, limit sugary drinks etc.
Yes I know sugar is not the devil - but cutting down on it does reduce calorie intake significantly.0 -
I don't think two coffees a day with sugar add a significant amount of calories to MY diet (maybe it does for someone else's?)
I prefer to enjoy the little food I eat (again, this is only for MY lifestyle, as my wheelchair/disability situation is unique, a normal, walking person should obviously eat more than me since they can burn more)
In the past, I used to be obsessed with how much food or how many calories I was consuming. It wasn't working for me!
It's just my opinion and my experience, but honestly, the damage done by consuming HFCS and processed foods was horrible in my former diet. Since I eliminated them 100% from my diet! I've been consistently losing plus I feel tons better. Maybe when people say they want to eliminate all sugar, if they only eliminated HFCS, they could see their cravings for bad stuff diminish. It worked for me.0 -
I just think the people saying they are quitting/cutting sugar sound ridiculous. It's not that I don't understand what they really mean. Words matter, and how can you be taken seriously here if don't even know what it is you are giving up?
It is not that difficult to figure out that they mean they are giving up sugary sodas, cookies, cakes, donuts, candy, etc.
I mean, come on, most of us DO have a brain and know how to use it.
But apparently it is much more fun for some people to jump in and say, "so you are giving up fruit? and carrots? because they have sugar!"
Yeah, I just said it's easy to know what they mean. Does that mean I'm supposed to nod and move on?
It's not "more fun" to ask them if they're giving up fruit and other stuff. I'd just appreciate it if people were honest about what they were cutting out of their diet. And if they legitimately don't know that carbs or sugar consist of much more than baked goods and candy, well, I hope they learn something.
ETA: And I maintain that it sounds ridiculous when someone on here says something like "I haven't eaten any sugar in XX days! I've concentrated on whole foods like fruits and vegetables, and I have a yogurt every once in a while..."
In every dictionary I've checked, which adimittedly is only three, the first definition for sugar is the crystalized product made from cane or beets. Is it really so ridiculous for people to use the primary definition of a word?0 -
I cut out all the sugar in my diet and replaced it with fruit. Nature's crack.0
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I'll throw in my two cents because...well, I can.
I think it's absolutely asinine to say you are cutting out all of any type of food. If you ate sweets, drank gallons of soda, or gorged yourself on pasta for years to get fat, than chances are you like those things..there's a shocker. So, it's nice to say "I'm giving up all sweets and sugar," but reality is that you're surrounded by it and you really need to find some way to deal with it.
Why not just be conscious of what and how much you are eating, drinking, etc? Why not take your time on MFP to learn HOW to eat those items in moderation? If you deprive yourself of sweets to lose weight, then when you finally decide to have that slice of cake at Aunt Mildred's 90th birthday, you'll likely find yourself right back on the train to Chubbville. Calories in, calories out...moderation, not elimination is most often the best way to ensure your lifestyle change is sustainable.0 -
What's "the A word"?
Avocado
Holy crap, for a second I thought you were serious. Avocado is proof of (insert whichever deity in whom you have faith)'s love for us all.0 -
There is no "correct" meaning. It is what works best for each person.
Some people mean reduce sugar intake while others mean completely cut it. Many people successfully eliminate all fruit, sugar, even artificial sugars. Others find success eating some or even lots of sugar-filled foods, both fruit & processed junk.0 -
I just think the people saying they are quitting/cutting sugar sound ridiculous. It's not that I don't understand what they really mean. Words matter, and how can you be taken seriously here if don't even know what it is you are giving up?
It is not that difficult to figure out that they mean they are giving up sugary sodas, cookies, cakes, donuts, candy, etc.
I mean, come on, most of us DO have a brain and know how to use it.
But apparently it is much more fun for some people to jump in and say, "so you are giving up fruit? and carrots? because they have sugar!"
Yeah, I just said it's easy to know what they mean. Does that mean I'm supposed to nod and move on?
It's not "more fun" to ask them if they're giving up fruit and other stuff. I'd just appreciate it if people were honest about what they were cutting out of their diet. And if they legitimately don't know that carbs or sugar consist of much more than baked goods and candy, well, I hope they learn something.
ETA: And I maintain that it sounds ridiculous when someone on here says something like "I haven't eaten any sugar in XX days! I've concentrated on whole foods like fruits and vegetables, and I have a yogurt every once in a while..."
In every dictionary I've checked, which adimittedly is only three, the first definition for sugar is the crystalized product made from cane or beets. Is it really so ridiculous for people to use the primary definition of a word?
I looked it up in an encyclopedia.
I guess it's not so ridiculous for people to use a general-use term to describe something so commonplace, even if scientifically speaking, it's not correct. Most people do not think of food or nutrition on a molecular level, but it doesn't mean they aren't wrong when they said they don't eat sugar and still eat fruit.0 -
I always think of it as refined vs. natural...where as a person with insulin resistance I avoid refined sugar as much as possible (cookies, candy, etc), I don't have as much of an issue with natural sugar (although I can't overdo carbs obviously). Is that a better distinction?0
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I'll throw in my two cents because...well, I can.
I think it's absolutely asinine to say you are cutting out all of any type of food. If you ate sweets, drank gallons of soda, or gorged yourself on pasta for years to get fat, than chances are you like those things..there's a shocker. So, it's nice to say "I'm giving up all sweets and sugar," but reality is that you're surrounded by it and you really need to find some way to deal with it.
Why not just be conscious of what and how much you are eating, drinking, etc? Why not take your time on MFP to learn HOW to eat those items in moderation? If you deprive yourself of sweets to lose weight, then when you finally decide to have that slice of cake at Aunt Mildred's 90th birthday, you'll likely find yourself right back on the train to Chubbville. Calories in, calories out...moderation, not elimination is most often the best way to ensure your lifestyle change is sustainable.
100% agreed!
If we can't learn ways to deal with living in the real world, one which includes sugar AND fat, but instead of eating ourselves to death on these two foods, eating them sparingly, then I feel we've learned nothing from our healthy lifestyle journeys. I don't wish for myself a life of misery, feeling guilty or horrible for not being able to eat what I find enjoyable. I've learned that my calorie allotment is so little, that if I teach myself self-control, I can eat these things from time to time, and still be healthy.0 -
Yes I agree it is good to learn ways to incorporate sweet foods into your diet, in moderation.
I also think it is helpful in terms of reducing calories to learn to like things less sweet, ie to re- train your palate.
To the poster above who said 2 cups of coffee with sugar isn't a problem for her - great, don't reduce your sugar intake if you don't need to.
But drinking coffee unsweetened is a way of cutting down your sugar intake - of course if the coffee tastes horrible to you, don't do this - but it tastes fine to me now. And I now don't like very sweet cakes etc in anything more than very small portions.0 -
I always think of it as refined vs. natural...where as a person with insulin resistance I avoid refined sugar as much as possible (cookies, candy, etc), I don't have as much of an issue with natural sugar (although I can't overdo carbs obviously). Is that a better distinction?
No, it's an epic fail. Sugar grown in cane and beet (agricultural crops) is natural, for a start.
"Refined" sugar is raw sugar with the small amount of residual molasses removed. Raw might be 99.3 % sucrose whereas refined is >99.9% so basically they're the same thing.
The sucrose in sugar cane and sugar beet is the same sucrose as in an orange, or a sweet potato.
The poster with the dictionary definitions is probably closest for the person in the street - sugar is the crystalline stuff you might add to your drinks, sprinkle on cereals or bake in a cake. To scientists, engineers, dietitians, pedants etc "sugars" are a family of molecules.0 -
I cut out all the sugar in my diet and replaced it with fruit. Nature's crack.
I cut out all the sugar in my diet and replaced it with crack. I've lost 30lbs in one month
Haha in all seriousness, I think this sugar debate all cones down to personal opinion. I cut white sugar out of my diet for the most part. But every once and a while, I'll have a bar of chocolate or a slice of cake.. But again, it's a personal matter!0 -
I cut out added sugar in snacky/dessert type food but i do have it as a seasoning. I am not going to go too far over to the one side and not have anything enjoyable. I mean, i dont necessarily love salad, except if it has sweet dressing or ranch. I refuse to drink diet pop just to save sugar because it tastes nasty to me. so i will eat a sugar product if it makes the food i'm eating edible. I know what "clean eating is" and I know what "i cut out sugar" means. I do both for the most part but i wont be religious about it. my friend is religious about his eating and he drives me crazy, but its working for him. but i wont do his diet because i refuse to eat fake food just to save calories or sugar (he's on Ideal Protein). I could not do that.0
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I always think of it as refined vs. natural...where as a person with insulin resistance I avoid refined sugar as much as possible (cookies, candy, etc), I don't have as much of an issue with natural sugar (although I can't overdo carbs obviously). Is that a better distinction?
No, it's an epic fail. Sugar grown in cane and beet (agricultural crops) is natural, for a start.
"Refined" sugar is raw sugar with the small amount of residual molasses removed. Raw might be 99.3 % sucrose whereas refined is >99.9% so basically they're the same thing.
The sucrose in sugar cane and sugar beet is the same sucrose as in an orange, or a sweet potato.
The poster with the dictionary definitions is probably closest for the person in the street - sugar is the crystalline stuff you might add to your drinks, sprinkle on cereals or bake in a cake. To scientists, engineers, dietitians, pedants etc "sugars" are a family of molecules.
If we looked at it in terms of "brand names" which one(s) is/are the good vs the bad? It would be really good to know that! (At least for me!) thank you so much!
Example: domino's sugar vs sugar in the raw0 -
Oh crise,
I am out of here0 -
Example: domino's sugar vs sugar in the raw
A refinery like Domino will take raw sugar in as its raw material and produce white sugar and a range of other things. "Sugar in the raw" is the raw sugar produced local to the cane growing areas and traditionally shipped in bulk for further processing local to the consumers.
99.9% sucrose in white sugar, 96 to 99.5% in raw sugar.0 -
What's "the A word"?
addiction0 -
I just think the people saying they are quitting/cutting sugar sound ridiculous. It's not that I don't understand what they really mean. Words matter, and how can you be taken seriously here if don't even know what it is you are giving up?
It is not that difficult to figure out that they mean they are giving up sugary sodas, cookies, cakes, donuts, candy, etc.
I mean, come on, most of us DO have a brain and know how to use it.
But apparently it is much more fun for some people to jump in and say, "so you are giving up fruit? and carrots? because they have sugar!"
well if you are addicted to something you would give up what you are addicted to 100%, right?0 -
A - Addiction
B - Binge
C - Craving
D - Diet
E - Eating Disorder
F - Fat / Fasting
G - Good food / GIRLS ONLY
H - Healthy
I -
J -
K -
L - Loose
M - Mean
N -
O - Onederland
P -
Q -
R - Rude
S - Shaming
T - Thigh Gap
U -
V -
W -
X -
Y -
Z -0 -
O-Onederland
T-Thigh gap (two words ok?)0 -
I'll throw in my two cents because...well, I can.
I think it's absolutely asinine to say you are cutting out all of any type of food. If you ate sweets, drank gallons of soda, or gorged yourself on pasta for years to get fat, than chances are you like those things..there's a shocker. So, it's nice to say "I'm giving up all sweets and sugar," but reality is that you're surrounded by it and you really need to find some way to deal with it.
Why not just be conscious of what and how much you are eating, drinking, etc? Why not take your time on MFP to learn HOW to eat those items in moderation? If you deprive yourself of sweets to lose weight, then when you finally decide to have that slice of cake at Aunt Mildred's 90th birthday, you'll likely find yourself right back on the train to Chubbville. Calories in, calories out...moderation, not elimination is most often the best way to ensure your lifestyle change is sustainable.
100% agreed!
If we can't learn ways to deal with living in the real world, one which includes sugar AND fat, but instead of eating ourselves to death on these two foods, eating them sparingly, then I feel we've learned nothing from our healthy lifestyle journeys. I don't wish for myself a life of misery, feeling guilty or horrible for not being able to eat what I find enjoyable. I've learned that my calorie allotment is so little, that if I teach myself self-control, I can eat these things from time to time, and still be healthy.
Different strokes for different folks. It might be "absolutely asinine" for YOU to give up whole food groups. Guilt and misery, oh the horrible life they must live!!!, you might think. Or maybe not...if someone is happy and healthy with a new way of eating and can sustain it, all the best, I say. Some people can forgo cake for the rest of their lives without a mental breakdown. Mind blowing, I know.0 -
O-Onederland
T-Thigh gap (two words ok?)
Added! Totally okay!0 -
A - Addiction
B - Binge
C - Craving
D - Diet
E - Eating Disorder
F - Fat
G - *Good Food*
H - *Healthy*
I -
J -
K -
L - *Loose*
M - *Mean*
N -
O - Onederland
P -
Q -
R - *Rude*
S - Shaming
T - Thigh Gap
U -
V -
W -
X -
Y -
Z -0 -
A - Addiction
B - Binge / Bikini Bridge
C - Craving
D - Diet
E - Eating Disorder
F - Fat / Fasting
G - Good food / GIRLS ONLY
H - Healthy
I -
J -
K -
L - Loose
M - Mean
N -
O - Onederland
P -
Q -
R - Rude
S - Shaming
T - Thigh Gap
U -
V -
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Added a few more (Srsly, there are a lot of doubles that can happen and are too good to not add) and added everyone's input! We gotta do the whole alphabet!0 -
I = IIFYM?
K = Ketosis?0 -
Added a few more (Srsly, there are a lot of doubles that can happen and are too good to not add) and added everyone's input! We gotta do the whole alphabet!
If we can do doubles, we gotta do Bully.
Juicing, Keto, Paleo/Primal, Veggie Fasts, Water Fasts
Oh and Beachbody, Shakeology0 -
Updated to eric_sg61A - Addiction / Atrophy
B - Binge / Bikini Bridge / Bully / Butthurt / Bulk
C - Craving
D - Diet / Documentaries
E - Eating Disorder / Edutainment
F - Fat / Fasting
G - Good food / GIRLS ONLY
H - Healthy / Haters
I - IIFYM
J - Juicing
K - Ketosis / Keto
L - Loose
M - Mean / Moderation
N -
O - Onederland
P - Paleo / Primal / Plant Strong
Q - Quitting
R - Rude / Rage / Refined / Ripped / Research
S - Shaming / separated from the source
T - Thigh Gap / Toned
U -
V - Veggie Fasts
W - Water Fasts
X -
Y -
Z -0
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