Help! I need tips on cutting sugar from my diet

reowphst
reowphst Posts: 3
edited September 26 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, While tracking my 'normal' meals, I am seeing that I am getting a lot of sugar from hidden sources. I live a very busy life with only a few hours on Sunday to figure out groceries and meals for my week. I've added more fruit to my diet and am working to cut out processed foods where I can but breakfast is killing me. Cereal is out, too much sugar, cottage cheese is out... too much sugar and sodium. I think I'm down to an egg, once slice of bread and a skinny cow wedge of cheese. I hate oatmeal... and have yogurt for my 1030am snack. Salad for lunch (again watching the dressing and fixins for that darn sugar...

I felt like I was doing okay, staying close to my calories but my sugar intake is way high. Any ideas?

Replies

  • shastacrystal
    shastacrystal Posts: 262
    Have you tried the Kashi Go Lean cereal, that is very filling and low in sugar. Or you can always get a cereal that is not sweetened at all and then sweeten it with some truvia.
  • eating4balance
    eating4balance Posts: 743 Member
    Try low sugar, high fiber cereals like fiber one and add natural sweetness with fruits and milk.

    For bread, try a light bread so you feel like you are getting double. My favorite is schwebels lite wheat bread for 35 cal a slice.

    For yogurt, do the same as with your cereal. Get plain, nonfat yogurt or plain greek yogurt and add your own fresh fruit.

    With salads, I forgo dressings completely and instead top my salad with naturally sweet and flavorful veggies like sweet peas (amazingly good), diced tomatoes, onions and peppers.

    For a comment with breakfast, I love to make a 1/2 cup of egg beaters in the microwave or skillet and mix in a 1/4 cup each of mushrooms and onions. I pair that with a handful of almonds for a low carb/healthy fat meal.

    Also, don't worry about natural sugars from fruit, veggies and no sugar added dairy like milk and plain yogurt. Myfitnesspal has their sugar alotments set extremely low and its onlt recommended to be under 40 grams of sugar for non-natural foods.
  • jlemerande
    jlemerande Posts: 10
    Actually I'm struggling with the same issue, but mostly because I'm trying to enough enough fruit and those strawberries, blueberries and watermelon are full of sugar!!
  • elsohypes
    elsohypes Posts: 30
    It just depends whether the sugar is coming from processed food or from natural sources such as fruit. The natural sugars found in fruit is differnet from just plain sugar you add to your coffee.
    MFP doesnt differentiate from added sugar and natural sugar so dont worry too much if this is the case.
    Otherwise, do you have a lot of low fat food as often a lot of sugar is added to make it taste better?

    Good luck :)
  • RoniDoll
    RoniDoll Posts: 262
    I succesfully cut out sugar and people ask me how I did it. below is my reply to that same question... hope it helps!

    Well the first thing I did was detox my liver. Your liver is like your body's coffee filter. If you eat something sugary the sugars get caught in your liver so you continue to crave sweets. Same goes for greasy food and things that are generally not healthy for you (i.e. foods your body cannot process easily.) There is a tea that I highly recommend that promotes healthy kidneys and liver function. Get Clean by Republic of Tea is great for a liver "detox" and helps eliminate the sugar cravings and toxins in your liver and kidneys. It is very gentle on your system so you can drink about three cups the first day of your diet. After that, drink the tea about once or twice a week just to keep things flowing. One of the key things to a sugar free life-style is to never let yourself get hungry! I eat 6 small meals a day that includes lots of fruits and vegetables. Another thing that helps is first thing in the morning drink a cup of warm water with half of a fresh squeezed lemon. This helps your liver produce more bile and gently wakes up your digestive system. It helps your body absorb more nutrients from the foods you eat so you won’t get hungry as fast and your cravings won’t be as strong. Just be sure to drink it before you eat or drink anything else so you can benefit from it. The next thing you need to do is drink lots and lots of water during the day. Take your body weight, divide it by half, and drink that number in ounces a day.

    I do from time to time let myself have a treat! But during the first month I did cut myself off from all sugar except for sugar from fruit. This means no added fructose, sucrose, cane sugar or artificial sweeteners. Just plain jane fruit. I used jellies that were sweetened with fruit juice, I ate yogurt and oatmeal with fresh fruit etc. and honestly, after drinking that Get Clean tea it was not hard at all! But it is best to cut out all of the junk the first month and then you can allow yourself to have a dessert every now and then.
  • Lala44
    Lala44 Posts: 2 Member
    What happens when I stop eating sugar? I get headaches and I feel sick. Am I having withdrawals? Is this common?
  • bcklee
    bcklee Posts: 50 Member
    Instead of having yogurt, try weight watchers cheese sticks (50 calories each) and instead of a piece of regular toast, try sandwich thins multi-grain bread.
  • FitMick53
    FitMick53 Posts: 8
    sorry but, FIND THE TIME! whole foods are the best, if it comes in any kind of a box it has been processed. to save time make a lot of meals one day a week and freeze them (in glass containers plastic is really bad for you,water bottles too) cut down on the fruit it is sugar also. eat tons of salad with meat chopped in with very strict attention to the dressing. I use oiive oil vinaigrette or asian ginger dressings. whatever you do don't use sugar substitutes like splenda. It will be worse than sugar, it fools your body into thinking you are eating sweets and then it expects them! sweet potatoes are really good for you and easy, just micowave for 5 mins, brush with olive oil and bake in a oven at 400 till the skin gets a little crisp. sweet and tasty! piece of grilled chicken and a salad, awesome! get Greek yogurt it is the best for you with lots of protein vs. sugar content. just add some fruit, trader joes has great mixed frozen fruit.
    just remember, no matter how hard you workout, 80 % of your weight loss will be from your diet.
  • FitMick53
    FitMick53 Posts: 8
    yes! you can withdraw slowly cutting down over a couple weeks or just tough it out. it will get better over a week or two. don't switch to spenda or similar it's really bad for you and your bod will still crave sweets.
  • reowphst
    reowphst Posts: 3
    Wow! Thanks for all the great tips!! I'm going to go get that tea today. I have voracious sweet tooth and have always struggled with wanting sweets all the time! Ya hoo!!:happy:
  • dls06
    dls06 Posts: 6,774 Member
    I'm not a nutritionist but I think you should focus more on carbs and less on sugar. Unless you're eating a lot of processed and snacks that contain sugar? The sugar you get in whole foods are good sugars.
  • reowphst
    reowphst Posts: 3
    Thanks!! Life is so hectic and I have a very bad habit of putting myself last. What do you think of Stevia? I have already started skipping my coffee every other day and use 1% milk and have switched to Truvia from splenda.
  • dls06
    dls06 Posts: 6,774 Member
    I would not eat it stivia or any other fake sugar. If you just cut back on sugar a little at a time, you will get use to it and sugary food will be too sweet for you. I have read that the body does not know what to do with artificial sugars.
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
    I find that I always go over my sugar but that it was from fruit.. and honestly, no one ever died from too much fruit.
    Try looking for low sugar or low fat brands... or if you can try making your own salad dressing so that you know exactly whats in there and then you can keep the sugar low.
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