cut the SUGAR out

I haven't read what everyone else has said, but I too cut out a lot of my sugar. I was getting far too many calories from ADDED sugar a day. I added honey to my coffee and tea until it was sickeningly sweet, I drank soda, I ate pancakes with syrup for breakfast, I had muffins and cupcakes when I went out for coffee with friends. I had dessert after dinner.

Here's why I decided to cut out sugar - I can't exercise moderation with it. It's like an alcoholic who WANTS to drink less, but they find they don't have the willpower. It was addictive to me, but the problem was that it led me to replace nutritious calories with sweet, sugary, carby ones. I couldn't buy a box of cookies and just have one a day that fit into my calorie goal, I'd eat the whole box. And I'd HIDE that I ate the whole box too. It was addictive behavior and I realized in order for me to get control of it, I had to cut it out of my diet.

Now I still eat sugar, but I get it from fruit. I eat bananas, grapes, apples, pears, dried fruit, etc. I just can't have 'sweets' in my house.

I too am not saying sugar is evil, or that it shouldn't even be eaten in moderation, I'm just saying that for me, the only way to kick the habit was to go cold turkey.

I cleaned up my eating and feel TONS better when I'm not constantly eating that crap. Do I still eat sugar? Yup. I put it in my coffee, I'll eat graham crackers with preserves, home made sweets ... I just make sure I fit the cals into my daily allotment and I make sure I don't eat sugar, sugar, sugar all the time. It's the constant hand-to-mouth of it that wrecks havoc with your blood sugar, up and down and all.

Apart from the use of the term "crap"--IMO sugar adds to certain recipes, and I like sweet treats like ice cream, enjoyed less often and with more moderation and based on my appreciation for the taste of the food, not to bury my emotions, and don't see how good quality, tasty food can possibly be described as "crap" just because you shouldn't overeat it--I generally agree with this. I just think it's worth pointing out that this is not really what is being argued about. I don't see anyone saying that there is never any reason for anyone to reduce the amount of sugar they are consuming, or to make sure it fits into one's calories for the day. The assertion that I understand is at hand is that it's better, healthier for everyone to eliminate added sugar, that it's always more desireable to forego it if one can. I suppose I could if I really believed that were true--I managed to get fat without being prone to binging and I certainly don't think I'm addicted to sugar. But there's no evidence that supports such a rigid requirement.

There's something else going on when people insist that we should NOT EVER eat a particular food vs. avoiding excessive amounts and simply deciding whether the calories are worth it with respect to a particular food item at a particular time. Maybe it's just that it's easier to think of yourself as someone who doesn't eat whatever it is (not you, since you do eat it like you said) rather than having to decide regularly about specific items, but that alone wouldn't explain the efforts to make it a generalizable rule that defines good health or applies to everyone.

By crap I mean processed food. No, I don't consider processed foods to be nearly as healthy for you as non-processed foods because they aren't. Before I cleaned up my diet I was eating basically anything within reach ... frozen stuff, cookies, chips, etc. It made me feel like crap because, compared to non-processed food, it is crap. Not saying I never eat it now, but when it's your steady diet ... yeah, that didn't work out too well for me. If I'm going to eat cake or cookies I prefer homemade to store bought or some mix (ewww) because I know what is and isn't in it. And it tastes better because I'm a darn good baker!

If someone wants to eliminate sugar from their diets completely, then they should if that's what works for them. I've tried that route and for me, I'm better off fitting what I like/want into my daily cals rather than not eating it at all. Some people have a hard time with that so for them, eliminating it completely may work better. Ok, unless it's tortilla chips because then I will just eat the whole damn bag! lol Also, if one consumes too much sugar on a daily basis it will leave you fatigued. Sugar overload puts you on a rollcoaster ride that is exhausting. I've found that for me, moderation works best.

I totally respect your determination that cutting out added sugar, at least for now, works best for you. I think it's an individual thing, as people are different. When I decided to get control of my overeating, one of the things I did was drop sugary treats, eating sugary stuff in place of breakfast, etc., in large part because I was eating a lot of that stuff without even really appreciating it, as either lazy or emotional eating, or both. (For example, work until 10 pm, be tired and kind of down, decide to have a pint of Ben & Jerry's in place of making dinner or bringing it to work in the first place. This is not because I love B&J so much--I like it, but actually prefer normal dinners made up of savory items like meat and vegetables--but because I was misusing it.) Thus, to say that sticking with my prior habits would be more sustainable or somehow a truer reflection of my preferences wouldn't really be true, and I'm happier and feel better eating in a more classically healthy fashion. So anyway I'm lucky enough that I dropped soda ages ago (but for an occasional diet soda) and never liked adding sweet things to coffee or tea--I don't think I would have thought it was necessary to stop adding sugar to them if I had--but otherwise I decided to take a break from the kinds of food I used as comfort and ate for problematic reasons, so as to show myself that there were other ways of dealing with my emotions and I didn't need to run to food. That was necessary for me to start eating in moderation.

The one thing that raises flags for me (as a discussion point, not a criticism) is "And I'd HIDE that I ate the whole box too. It was addictive behavior and I realized in order for me to get control of it, I had to cut it out of my diet." My concern is that hardcore rules like "no added sugar" might be more likely to result in this kind of thing for the people prone to it, since if you have a hardcore rule like that a break it a lot of people feel shame and that leads to a spiral where they just eat more. Anyway, not saying that's the case for everyone, just like not everyone has my particular issues with food, but it's why the "no added sugar" stuff and the like raise my hackles a little when asserted as the definition of eating correctly. It suggests women whispering "oh, I'm just being naughty today" when ordering a sweet treat to the person behind them in line, which I've witnessed not infrequently, or my own mother telling my sister and I not to tell my dad that she'd had pie when we were out or all kinds of bizarre food behaviors.

By crap I mean processed food.

Well, that's a separate argument that I'm not going to detour the thread into, but one problem with that assertion is that processed foods (and natural foods) vary widely and it's not even clear what is meant by the term. Lots of "processed" foods are perfectly healthy IMO (smoked salmon and yogurt are two that are staples of my diet), and unless sugar itself is off limits because it's processed there's really very little connection between the sugar argument and the processed foods argument. I used to overeat sugar, definitely, and have stopped, without seeing any reason to give it up entirely, but I never ate lots of sugar in "processed foods," if by this you mean all the hidden sugar in boxed stuff that people keep complaining about (my opinion is that if you care what's in what you are eating and buy boxed stuff without understanding what's in there, that's on you). Now, I obviously did eat some sugary processed stuff--I just wrote about B&J--but one would have to be a complete moron to be surprised that there's sugar in ice cream, first, and, second, B&J isn't actually more caloric or otherwise worse for me than some ice cream I could make myself at home (or the ice cream a farmer was selling at the green market the other day).

Anyway, your response seems to suggest that I'm saying that moderation is bad, and I think I've been really clear that I also think overeating anything (including sugar, definitely) is bad and that moderation is best. I also agree that IME a diet based significantly on sugar made me feel bad and more tired, etc. I just don't see that as meaning that eating no sugar is the logical answer (and it seems neither do you, so again I think we are agreeing more than not).

By crap I mean processed food.

Well, that's a separate argument that I'm not going to detour the thread into, but one problem with that assertion is that processed foods (and natural foods) vary widely and it's not even clear what is meant by the term. Lots of "processed" foods are perfectly healthy IMO (smoked salmon and yogurt are two that are staples of my diet), and unless sugar itself is off limits because it's processed there's really very little connection between the sugar argument and the processed foods argument. I used to overeat sugar, definitely, and have stopped, without seeing any reason to give it up entirely, but I never ate lots of sugar in "processed foods," if by this you mean all the hidden sugar in boxed stuff that people keep complaining about (my opinion is that if you care what's in what you are eating and buy boxed stuff without understanding what's in there, that's on you). Now, I obviously did eat some sugary processed stuff--I just wrote about B&J--but one would have to be a complete moron to be surprised that there's sugar in ice cream, first, and, second, B&J isn't actually more caloric or otherwise worse for me than some ice cream I could make myself at home (or the ice cream a farmer was selling at the green market the other day).

Anyway, your response seems to suggest that I'm saying that moderation is bad, and I think I've been really clear that I also think overeating anything (including sugar, definitely) is bad and that moderation is best. I also agree that IME a diet based significantly on sugar made me feel bad and more tired, etc. I just don't see that as meaning that eating no sugar is the logical answer (and it seems neither do you, so again I think we are agreeing more than not).

Yes, we do seem to basically be on the same page.

When I use the term processed foods I'm referring to things like store bought cookies, crackers, frozen dinner type foods (think Elios pizza and things along that line), boxed mac and cheese, candy ... things like that.

We have an Obesity epidemic because we can't push ourselves away from the table and consume more calories than we need. Sugar is not evil, I have never tracked a single gram of sugar, have lost over 300 pounds, and still enjoy a bowl of ice cream every night... Hit your caloric intake and macros for whatever you are trying to do (lose weight, maintain weight, or gain weight) that is the key....

+2

I am a sugar lover and I am so going to try this sweet potato recipie. I need saving from sugar in a major way. Thanks for the tip!

As hard as it is, just tell your mind you can't eat it! Try writing down things you need to cut out like- No chocolate, candy, ice cream, muffins, cake, pastries, high-sugar cereal, and so on.. I did this but I also cut out biscuits, fast food, and SODAS and I'm telling you, after about a week it was so much easier for me to say no to the things on my list and yes to some light string cheese for a snack, a handful of grapes or some greek yogurt. As you probably know, sodas are where a whole lot of our sugar intake comes from, I'm not a soda drinker, but for those that are, I know it's an accomplishment to cut way back on drinking them. Another way to go about cutting out sugar is, for example, going thru mcdonalds instead of an ice cream sunday or cinnamelts, go for the delicious yogurt parfait. Little substitutes like that make a world of difference, and especially since you track your food from any fast food rest. in you MFP it makes it easier to see what you're putting in your body and just how bad it is, at least it does that for me. I hope you find a technique that helps you! -rachel

Because WHY? This past weekend I went out of town for a family get together and was not going to worry too much about constraints, I was just going to do my best to log everything accurately. I had limited options with food, I had McDonald's chicken wraps, ok, without the sauce twice, one full size one snack size, half a piece of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (because it didn't tempt me enough to eat it all...now if it had been a good NY style cheesecake or cannoli...but anyway), I think something like 16 ounces of white wine over 2 days (will have to check, I did log it all) and a couple of ounces of vodka, and one of those days I ate about 2200 calories, and amazingly, I still lost weight when I weighed myself today. I usually lose 1 lb. a week, I lost .06 of a lb. That said, I ate less on some of the other days so it all balanced out, and I worked out including lifting weights. It it not this thing or that thing that is the problem, it is the whole picture.

Sugar doesn't make you fat, homey. Caloric surpluses do.

I agree with you. I used to eliminate sugar. I used "substitutes". The substitutes are NO GOOD for your thyroid & other organs. No matter what they tell you sugar substitutes are BAD for you.
Use 2 sugars in your coffee? Try cutting back to 1. Cut your portions down. Use smaller plates. Park further away from your destination...there are so many solutions to this journey. Its just too easy to say I'm fat cause I love sugar. Moderation.

Who are "they"? Research scientists?

What if you are my "they" when I say to others that no matter what *they* tell you, sugar substitutes are fine (unless you have a very specific medical condition)?

I totally hear you. I watch my weight climb if I eat things with sugar or worse I drink sugar. Soda and even diet drinks with chemicals cause weight gain. It takes about 2 weeks to get sugar out of your system. Keep yourself armed with natural sugar (fruits) eating something healthy that is sweet will take the edge off. Don't be fooled by diet treats that say they are low fat or calorie they don't help. Stick to the natural way to loose weight. Good luck!