Should I Go Sugar Free?

Read The Belly Fat Cure by Jorge Cruise - Everything in it made sense to me. I weighed 285 - heaviest I had ever been in May 2014. Read the book in June after my Doctor suggested it. I have been eating less than 15 grams of sugar a day since then. I also eat 6 servings of carbs or less a day - So it is not like Atkins. The biggest part of this way of eating that helped me lose weight is cutting out the sugars. By drastically cutting your sugar intake, your body greatly reduces the production of insulin. For 30 years, I was eating between 75-200 grams of sugar a day...Your body produces great amounts of insulin...insulin tells your body to produce fats to feed your cells. When your cells have all they need - your body "stores the extra fats" to burn later. By reducing insulin production, your body now tells itself...Now we need that stored fat to burn, and it goes and gets it, instead of producing more. I am eating less than 1650 calories a day and am almost never hungry. It does take a couple weeks for your body to adjust to the lower sugar intake - you almost go through withdrawals to an extent, but it is SO worth it. Hope this helps.

pudgymama wrote: »

I have my exercise plan in place, and now I am trying to focus on lifetime healthy eating changes. I am just plain embarrassed by how much sugar I take in on an average day and I felt that this would be a first goal of mine in my healthy eating journey. This includes not only candy and sweets, but also lots of fruits and other sugars hidden in everyday foods. Can anyone tell me if they have cut 100% of sugar from their diet before to sort of "detox"? What were your results? Did you stop craving sugar after a while? Was it sustainable? Or is it not such a good idea to be so severe? Should I leave natural sugars in my diet or cut fruits altogether? What amount of sugar should I limit myself to per day if I can't give it up completely?

No, there's no need to "detox." Your body converts food to glucose anyway, and sugar isn't toxic (and besides your body detoxes naturally).

I also see no reason to cut fruit--very few people eat too much fruit, which I would define as so much that you have trouble hitting a reasonable calorie target or habitually overeat or fail to get in adequate nutrients that fruit does not provide (i.e., eating fruit in lieu of protein or veggies).

I also, personally, see no reason to cut out all added sugars instead of just cutting down if you think you are eating too much. Quite often making it all or nothing ends up being non-sustainable. Of course, this will depend on what you are trying to accomplish and why you think this will help. Cutting out sugar seems to be a trendy thing now, however, and I think it's about as useful as the old idea that a super-lowfat diet was a good idea, or in other words, not useful at all.

What I did when I decided to get my diet in order was to figure out where I was eating too much and, especially, what a healthy diet in my mind consisted of. Then I concentrated on planning how I would achieve that healthy diet--in other words, focusing on what I would eat. What I found is that that left a certain amount of space for treats that I liked (sometimes sugary things like ice cream or chocolate, sometimes less nutrient dense or more calorically dense savory things, like the occasional French fries or naan or, very rarely, Chicago style pizza), but only a limited amount, so it basically took care of the issue of overeating these things or having them make up a huge part of my diet.

That's not to say that cutting out treats for a while might not be helpful for you, if you find that you struggle with moderation or have been using them as a crutch of some sort (I tended to snack on certain foods at particular times/for emotional reasons and found it helpful to cut them out for a couple of weeks to get over that), but I really think it's a better approach to focus on the positive aspects of what a healthy diet is rather than making it about cutting out a particular demonized food or group of foods.

herrspoons wrote: »

Can you do it for the rest of your life? If the answer is no then don't.

+1 that is my philosophy with weight loss.

Also, good luck eliminating all sugar from your diet. It is really not necessary unless you have a medical condition. There are lots of healthy foods that contain naturally occurring sugar that won't effect your weight loss.

Personally I go through a few bouts a year where I "detox" off processed sugars. I love sweets and refuse to give them up forever (refer to the above quote).....but they can feel addicting and once you start eating you just keep piling it into your mouth. So I'll go a few weeks or months without eating processed sweets. I take the time to make raw/vegan sweets - which STILL contain a ton of [natural] sugar and calories. But they satisfy my cravings without me eating a whole pan. And within a few days my cravings for processed sweets drops off dramatically.

Cutting sugar doesn't mean you will lose weight. It is entirely possible - and actually quite common - for people whose diets are essentially carb-free to gain large amounts of weight.

To get to a deficit, you'll most likely have to reduce sugar intake, but it is unlikely you'll need to eliminate it entirely.

I go through periods where it feels like all I ever want is sugar... like the holidays, hah. Nothing like eating chocolate and candy for a few weeks straight; it does start to feel like an addiction. I know it's (hopefully) temporary though, and I will go back to wanting more natural things and fruit again. I think that seems more like what you're hoping to do, so I get that. What's really helped me is making fruit smoothies, eating fruit for dessert, etc. - substitutions that may help satisfy me.

Unless you have a metabolic disorder, insulin resistance, or diabetes, you don't need to go sugar free. However, if you cannot control yourself with sugar and end up eating it in excess, then maybe I would consider eliminating trigger foods for a while and reintroduce them when you have a better grasp of portion control, etc! Best of luck to you!

Do not eliminate fruit sugar! You'll be missing a lot of fiber, and vitamins! I would recommend using natural sweeteners such as stevia! Good luck on your weight loss journey!