Sugar free

goldthistime wrote: »

lawanddean wrote: »

Well progres so far I've limited sugar, I only have it from fruit and I've limited that, I'm eating much more but more healthy foods and I've lost 7 pounds in a week and feel amazing. I'm not touching process foods again, I wish I had tried this years ago

I LOVE it! When you said "sugar free", I assumed that you did not mean you would stop eating fruit or drinking milk or consuming ANY possible source of sugar because that would be a statistically unusual situation and if that really WERE your intent, I would have expected you to expound upon all the strict rules you would have to follow. I don't know why people here take everyone so literally when, to me, your intent was clear. But I LOVE that you didn't engage, you just came back and reported SUCCESS! WTG!

Most people asked, and no one jumped on her. I don't know why people are so quick to see negativity when it does not exist, just from questions or the like.

Here's my response from above:

I gave up added sugar for a period of time for my own reasons.

You have to know what your reasons are and specifically what you are trying to do (for example I think it is not a good idea to give up some foods with sugar, like vegetables and fruits and dairy -- I've generally increased my consumption of those). I also think unless you have a specific reason for cutting out added sugar for a time or in general and simply think you consume too much of it that it's often best to start by just cutting down. Why make it all or nothing?

But if you have specific questions about what I did I'm open to them. On the whole it wasn't much more than just not eating them and I didn't really feel any different. (I mostly eat whole foods and don't put sugar in beverages so it meant cutting out sweets--my consumption from processed things is pretty low already.)

I will say that I'm actually more concerned by OP's subsequent post than the original question as I think cutting down sugar to the extent that you restrict/cut fruits and even vegetables, without some reason for that (like I get why low carbers cut fruit, although I wouldn't, and I personally see zero good reason to cut vegetables). But her business. I think my answer is just as applicable, although she apparently wasn't really interested in anyone else's experiences (which is totally cool, of course).

tennisdude2004 wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

tennisdude2004 wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

tennisdude2004 wrote: »

I take it you mean you are looking to reduce your sugar - good for you. great thing to cut back on to reduce the calories.

Going "sugar free" does not = "reducing sugar."

It does if you don't read everything so literally!

The other day I was out of breath (but guess what? I could still breath).

Out of breath is an expression in a way sugar free is not.

So not a good analogy.

I would also disagree that reducing sugar from veg is a good thing.

I think in this day an age of dieting 'most people' understand sugar free diets as an expression meaning 'ones that reduce added sugar'.

Nope, usually they mean cut out ALL added sugar (which you can see from my response is what I assumed she meant) and far too often they also include concerns/worries about sugar from fruit and vegetables. That's common enough on MFP that I think it needs to be addressed and OP here has made it clear that she did indeed include cutting down sugar from even vegetables (which is not healthy IMO) as well as cutting (not reducing) added sugar (which IMO is fine, whatever).

Anyway, she should do what she likes, but I think your insistence that "sugar free" tends to mean "cutting down added sugar" only is simply wrong in most cases.

And regards reducing sugar from fruit and veg - I think you can only really make a judgement on that when you know what the starting point is (for example - If the ops is getting 80% of cals from fruit and veg, there maybe room for reduction).

I'm willing to bet this is not the case for most trying to lose weight, and also you tossed fruit back in (and I'm skeptical it's that significant part of the diet for almost everyone concerned about going sugar free), whereas I focused on vegetables. OP specifically claimed to be reducing her vegetable consumption because of sugar, so she's NOT just saying "I want to eat fewer high cal, low nutrient foods," contrary to your effort to re-interpret the posts.

I go sugar free now in my tea/coffee... no honey/sugar dates on my oats and watch out for sugar in yogurt, it has really reduced my cravings for sweet treats which would derail me, I can taste the sweetness of sweet potatoes now. And bitter chocolate has become my treat! Its working! and saving my teeth! Sugar has hormonal effects on our bodies any one who say all calories are the same are WRONG in terms our nutritional support.

OP while its true that macros have different thermal effects of foods, its very minimal in most cases. Something like for a 60g increase in protein, it would burn an additional 80 calories. IIRC, TEF for protein is like 20%, carbs are like 5 or 6% and fats around 3%. This doesnt mean you can add an additional 600 calories and lose more weight.

If what you previously listed was an accurate statement then you where eating like 600 calories in fruit alone. And knowing the common issues on MFP, you were probably significantly under reporting calories in.

And for the most part you process almost all sugars the same... its either broken down in the intestinal track or the liver.

I try minimize my sugar intake because I feel less hungry, fewer cravings, and save calories. But not completely sugar-free. That would be very hard to do and, for me, no particular reason to do so.

One calorie actually does equal 1 calorie. There's no doubt scientifically. The reason why many people fall for low sugar or low carb diets is because initially you will notice a reduction in weight and waist size due to the loss of water. Carb molecules bind 4 molecules of water etc. Cutting very ow on any essential macros (fat, protein,carbs, sugar etc.) isn't something to promote to people that are serious about being healthy or seriously overweight and looking to become healthy. Too many calories and too little burn (activity) = fat gain. On the other hand if you are already normal weighted and have some extra fat to lose, yes, cutting out sugar or carbs will make you shrink quick and feel happy! It's not a fit and healthy approach though. From your profile pic you don't appear to be on the fat side. I haven't looked up,your stats but if you aren't overweight Maybe you should rethink your weight loss journey altogether and instead just go to the gym and get in shape.

One calorie equals one calorie just like one gallon of gas will yield the same BTU's as another gallon of gas from the same storage tank. Therefore the mileage of all cars that burn gas from the same source are equal.