21 Day Sugar Detox

brg020788
brg020788 Posts: 18 Member
in Food and Nutrition
My biggest downfall is sweets! I love dark chocolate and pink drinks and muffins with crumble and cake and Nutella.... the list goes on!!!:sad: I'm hypoglycemic, have a family history of diabetes and struggle with my weight!! I need to cut the sugar and take control of my cravings!

My question is ... has anyone done this official program? Did it work? What were the pros and cons?

Thank you in advance! :smile:

Replies

  • joyfulnana21
    joyfulnana21 Posts: 3 Member
    Oh my goodness I am also type 2 diabeties and my downfall is the sweets I would love to beat the sweets and detox from sugar but my cravings are just too strong if you fine a way let me know
  • Unknown
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  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
    You don't need to buy a book or spend money on anything else to do this. Here is a free list of names food manufacturers like to hide sugar and artificial sugars under. Best of luck:

    http://blog.fooducate.com/nutrition-101/quick-food-facts/sugar-synonyms/

    Aspartame – marketed as Nutrasweet (artificial, 0 calories)
    Acesulfame potassium (acesulfame-K) / E950 -
    marketed as Sunett / Sweet One (artificial, 0 calories)
    Agave
    Agave Nectar
    Barley Malt Extract
    Brown Rice Syrup
    Brown sugar
    Corn sugar
    Corn sweetener
    Corn syrup, or corn syrup solids
    Crystalline Fructose
    Dehydrated Cane Juice
    Dextrin
    Dextrose
    Evaporated Cane Juice
    Evaporated Cane Syrup
    Fructose
    Fruit juice concentrate
    Glucose
    High-fructose corn syrup
    Honey
    Invert sugar (golden syrup)
    Lactose
    Maltodextrin
    Malt syrup
    Maltose
    Mannitol (2.6 calories)
    Maple syrup
    Molasses
    Neotame (artificial, 0 calories)
    Raw sugar
    Rice Syrup
    Saccharin (artificial, 0 calories)
    Saccharose
    Sucralose – marketed as Splenda (artificial, 0 calories)
    Sucrose
    Sugar
    Sorbitol (2.6 calories)
    Sorghum syrup
    Syrup
    Treacle
    Turbinado Sugar
    Xylose
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
    What 'official program' are you talking about? Sugar is not toxic, first of all. And all those foods you describe are a combination of sugar AND fat - which makes them extremely savory.

    My advice is to not cut anything out entirely as it will only set you up to binge. Meet your macros and your micro nutrient needs. Don't have too aggressive of a calorie deficit, and get 1g/lb of lean body mass of protein every day. For me that means at least 100 grams (as a for instance).
  • segovm
    segovm Posts: 512 Member
    There are lots of different low carb diets out there, Atkins probably being one of the more talked about ones. I think in general though it's just a matter of making some good decisions for your particular goals.

    I think what you are probably looking for is to eat foods with a low "glycemic index" to keep the blood sugar a little more normalized. Maybe google that term and see if that sounds right for you and then you can try to find foods and or a diet that has a lower GI for you.

    Hope you find something that works well for you!
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,213 Member
    I have eliminated treats and most added sugar from my diet at times but haven't done any official kind of detox. I think a period of abstinence from sugar is not such a bad thing. It will reset your habits and perhaps your palette. When you are done, or if you change your mind about starting the "detox", I'd try to reduce your daily intake of carbs overall to help control cravings (meaning up your fat and protein levels).
  • _Terrapin_
    _Terrapin_ Posts: 4,301 Member
    You don't need to buy a book or spend money on anything else to do this. Here is a free list of names food manufacturers like to hide sugar and artificial sugars under. Best of luck:

    http://blog.fooducate.com/nutrition-101/quick-food-facts/sugar-synonyms/

    Aspartame – marketed as Nutrasweet (artificial, 0 calories)
    Acesulfame potassium (acesulfame-K) / E950 -
    marketed as Sunett / Sweet One (artificial, 0 calories)
    Agave
    Agave Nectar
    Barley Malt Extract
    Brown Rice Syrup
    Brown sugar
    Corn sugar
    Corn sweetener
    Corn syrup, or corn syrup solids
    Crystalline Fructose
    Dehydrated Cane Juice
    Dextrin
    Dextrose
    Evaporated Cane Juice
    Evaporated Cane Syrup
    Fructose
    Fruit juice concentrate
    Glucose
    High-fructose corn syrup
    Honey
    Invert sugar (golden syrup)
    Lactose
    Maltodextrin
    Malt syrup
    Maltose
    Mannitol (2.6 calories)
    Maple syrup
    Molasses
    Neotame (artificial, 0 calories)
    Raw sugar
    Rice Syrup
    Saccharin (artificial, 0 calories)
    Saccharose
    Sucralose – marketed as Splenda (artificial, 0 calories)
    Sucrose
    Sugar
    Sorbitol (2.6 calories)
    Sorghum syrup
    Syrup
    Treacle
    Turbinado Sugar
    Xylose

    Sugar hiding inside sugar; sugar hiding inside brown sugar; sugar hiding under my bed.. . . .great list.
  • TCsaba
    TCsaba Posts: 3 Member
    The reason for all of those cravings is that eating food high in carbs causes insulin levels to spike and then fall and then spike again at the next meal. I doubt it's a good idea to switch to a low-carb diet temporarily and switch back after 21 days. You're just setting yourself up for failure.

    Set a daily goal of, say, 100 g of carbs and a daily calorie limit that is acceptable for your size / age and stick to it indefinitely. You will get used to it, the cravings will go away. I mean it, I've been doing keto for 6 weeks now, lost over 15 lbs and I don't crave ice cream, chocolate, cake etc. I eat some almonds, peanut butter, maybe an apple or two, Splenda-sweetened tea or coffee, but that's about it. I switched to the diet gradually, by dropping some things out, reducing them or replacing them with something else.

    You will, however, be allowed to treat yourself to small amounts of your favorite food, as long as it fits into your carb / calorie budget. I used to eat about a tablespoon of diet ice cream every couple of days in the first few weeks when I craved for it. But then the urge just went away.

    So, in conclusion, the low-carb diet must be a permanent thing, not just a phase. It has to be sustainable and done right, it is. It might just save your life. I got my first info about how to do this from /r/keto on reddit.com but there are plenty of sites out there with information about low-carb diets. Set a goal (no more than 100 g of carbs per day) and stick to it. Good luck!
  • NCDJ2013
    NCDJ2013 Posts: 43 Member
    I too am trying to avoid a Diabetes diagnosis. I try not to exceed 25g sugar from any source and aim for about 100g carbs. I find I can't go too low on the carbs . I seem to hold onto the weight that way. Interestingly the days I splurge a bit and have something carby at dinner like rice or potatoes are when the scale drops the next morning.
  • brg020788
    brg020788 Posts: 18 Member
    Thanks everyone for the support! I find that if I eat any bread product, especially with yeast as an ingredient, the scale spikes. So my regular intake of carbs is already pretty low. It's the binging and the snacking of sugary sweets that gets me every time.
  • donyellemoniquex3
    donyellemoniquex3 Posts: 2,384 Member
    Ah HEM

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1159755-looking-for-a-detox-cleanse
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    There are several sugar detox diets out there, but they don't mean detox your body, they mean "detox" your taste buds. Supposedly if you eat a lot of sugar, your taste buds become desensitized, so you need to eat more and more to get that sweet taste you are craving. The idea is that if you cut out all sugar for a short period of time, your taste basically "resets" and you can taste natural sweetness again. I have no idea whether any of that is true or not!
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    I also don't see why an official "detox" would be needed, although I don't know anything about the program. I believe the author is a paleo diet person.

    My approach for myself is to try to figure out why I'm craving something or feel out of control about it--is it an effect of the food itself, some psychological or emotional thing, connected to a time or situation or trigger (for example if you are used to eating popcorn while watching movies it might be hard not to really want popcorn when you go to a movie), or simply a strong preference for that food. Depending on what it is I approach it differently.

    Sweets were one of my issues when I started this too, and for me there was both a trigger and emotional eating component and an overall diet one. The first was that I was in the habit of resorting to sweets if I felt bad, tired, stressed, etc., the trigger was that I'd developed a related habit of eating them at particular times of day (I was working late every night and the first part of my day would always be really stressful, so I'd started eating at 5 pm as a comfort for having hours more to work and to recover), and the overall diet was that all this plus a too carb-based diet generally meant that I genuinely felt like I was hungry and tired and needed a pick-me-up and was using the sweets for that.

    What I did was just decide I was going to stop it for 2 weeks. I had other snacks if I felt like I needed to munch (carrots, radishes, nuts), but I wanted to break my feeling like I NEEDED sweets if I felt bad. In connection with that I also focused on adding protein and healthy fats and lots of vegetables into my diet (all stuff I liked but just more time consuming than grabbing a bagel for breakfast). I know lots of people here don't like giving up foods, but I found this really helpful and once I'd broken the pattern I was able to reintroduce some sweets in moderation. I'm just really careful that I don't eat them as comfort, since that was bad for me, but purely because they taste good and fit in my calories, and only when they are really worth it.

    You may have different issues that affect the approach you want to take. I will say that for me it was not a function of the foods themselves and certainly not sugar itself (fruit has never been a problem for me though I really like it, for example, and I can't imagine ever wanting to eat plain sugar). That's why within the context of a diet that's moderate in carb intake and balances carbs with fat and protein I don't find that eating sweets causes any particular cravings at all anymore. If someone has particular trigger foods that are sweets I imagine they might take more work to deal with. (And if someone wants to give stuff up longterm, that's their choice, but I don't think it's necessary for most people.)
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
    How are you managing the hypoglycemia? Could the binges be the result of low blood sugar? I'm not hypoglycemic but I can turn into an irrational mess when I have low blood sugar, so I imagine it would be more difficult to control intake with that condition.
  • Cerakoala
    Cerakoala Posts: 2,547 Member
    I am not sure of any special programs to follow etc. I was Diabetic when I first started this journey and one of my downfalls was sweets and carbs. I completely cut processed sugars and bad carbs out for almost 2 years. I know that is not ideal and its not sustainable but that I had to do to get control of my life :) Once I had a better handle on my food choices and felt I had overcome my binge eating I then started incorporating them back in :) Now I enjoy those things in healthier versions and moderation :)

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