Cutting refined sugar feels like death

24

Replies

  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
    I decided to quit for a month because I was just too addicted. Eating nothing but candy, and it was awful. I would eat candy for breakfast, have some with lunch, eat it for an afternoon snack and then after dinner. The sugar withdrawal lasted probably 5 days for me. I was a pill and was mean to everyone. But then felt really good after the withdrawal was gone. I went back to eating it after 30 days, but it helped reset me in that I wasn't so horribly dependent on it anymore. You'll be fine. You'll be nice again after a few days and the cravings will stop after you get out of the sugary mindset you had before.
  • erinxo13
    erinxo13 Posts: 892 Member
    I get it! I get on sugar binges and I feel horrible and then trying to get OFF the binge is hard. Especially being around so many sweets. You can make it through the hump, don't never not eat anything but the less you eat it - the less you crave it. It's hard at first but I always feel so much better after a couple days. Don't give up!
  • Hello_its_Dan
    Hello_its_Dan Posts: 406 Member
    I wish I liked sugary foods. My kryptonite is a fresh loaf of bread from Wegmans!
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,213 Member
    comptonelizabeth wrote: »
    Riskay123 wrote: »
    I would recommend anyone interested in this topic read the book Sweet Poison by David Gillespie. It is very informative about how bad sugar is for us and easy to understand. It explains how fructose affects the hormones in your body that control appetite along with many other problems. In the last 50 years since they started putting sugar in everything, humans are the only mammals that have gotten fatter (excluding domesticated animals that are fed by humans). There is a direct correlation with our weight increase over the last 50 years and the introduction of refind sugars to our diet. I quit sugar (fructose) 5 weeks ago after reading the book. I have lost over 3kg in the last 5 weeks with very little effort on my part. I have not measured myself since I started but my clothes are much more comfortable. The best part is that I have not counted one calorie since I started this (counting calories has always been a thorn in my side). I eat more fats and proteins than I ever did before. I don't eat anything "low fat" as it is normally loaded with sugar. Now that the hormones that control my appetite have kicked in I get very clear signals from my body when I have had enough and I can stop eating. When I ate fructose I was unable to stop myself so easily. I am never ravenously hungry anymore. I know this will not be for everyone but for me, it has worked and it has been very easy.

    I have a friend who is what is described as morbidly obese. She's virtually immobile,has chronic cellulitis and is currently recovering from a pulmonary embolism. She has read up on and believes all this and has convinced herself that if she gives up refined sugar she will lose weight. So for example,she will now eat a banana instead of a plain rich tea biscuit despite the fact that a banana has way more calories and sugar.

    If I have a banana, I don't find myself hankering for more bananas. If I have a tea biscuit, I will undoubtedly want more. I may resist the urge or I may not.

  • comptonelizabeth
    comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
    goldthistime wrote: »
    comptonelizabeth wrote: »
    Riskay123 wrote: »
    I would recommend anyone interested in this topic read the book Sweet Poison by David Gillespie. It is very informative about how bad sugar is for us and easy to understand. It explains how fructose affects the hormones in your body that control appetite along with many other problems. In the last 50 years since they started putting sugar in everything, humans are the only mammals that have gotten fatter (excluding domesticated animals that are fed by humans). There is a direct correlation with our weight increase over the last 50 years and the introduction of refind sugars to our diet. I quit sugar (fructose) 5 weeks ago after reading the book. I have lost over 3kg in the last 5 weeks with very little effort on my part. I have not measured myself since I started but my clothes are much more comfortable. The best part is that I have not counted one calorie since I started this (counting calories has always been a thorn in my side). I eat more fats and proteins than I ever did before. I don't eat anything "low fat" as it is normally loaded with sugar. Now that the hormones that control my appetite have kicked in I get very clear signals from my body when I have had enough and I can stop eating. When I ate fructose I was unable to stop myself so easily. I am never ravenously hungry anymore. I know this will not be for everyone but for me, it has worked and it has been very easy.

    I have a friend who is what is described as morbidly obese. She's virtually immobile,has chronic cellulitis and is currently recovering from a pulmonary embolism. She has read up on and believes all this and has convinced herself that if she gives up refined sugar she will lose weight. So for example,she will now eat a banana instead of a plain rich tea biscuit despite the fact that a banana has way more calories and sugar.

    If I have a banana, I don't find myself hankering for more bananas. If I have a tea biscuit, I will undoubtedly want more. I may resist the urge or I may not.

    Yeah - I get that. But I feel she's kidding herself in that it's not sugar per se that has made her overweight.
  • Hello_its_Dan
    Hello_its_Dan Posts: 406 Member
    comptonelizabeth wrote: »
    goldthistime wrote: »
    comptonelizabeth wrote: »
    Riskay123 wrote: »
    I would recommend anyone interested in this topic read the book Sweet Poison by David Gillespie. It is very informative about how bad sugar is for us and easy to understand. It explains how fructose affects the hormones in your body that control appetite along with many other problems. In the last 50 years since they started putting sugar in everything, humans are the only mammals that have gotten fatter (excluding domesticated animals that are fed by humans). There is a direct correlation with our weight increase over the last 50 years and the introduction of refind sugars to our diet. I quit sugar (fructose) 5 weeks ago after reading the book. I have lost over 3kg in the last 5 weeks with very little effort on my part. I have not measured myself since I started but my clothes are much more comfortable. The best part is that I have not counted one calorie since I started this (counting calories has always been a thorn in my side). I eat more fats and proteins than I ever did before. I don't eat anything "low fat" as it is normally loaded with sugar. Now that the hormones that control my appetite have kicked in I get very clear signals from my body when I have had enough and I can stop eating. When I ate fructose I was unable to stop myself so easily. I am never ravenously hungry anymore. I know this will not be for everyone but for me, it has worked and it has been very easy.

    I have a friend who is what is described as morbidly obese. She's virtually immobile,has chronic cellulitis and is currently recovering from a pulmonary embolism. She has read up on and believes all this and has convinced herself that if she gives up refined sugar she will lose weight. So for example,she will now eat a banana instead of a plain rich tea biscuit despite the fact that a banana has way more calories and sugar.

    If I have a banana, I don't find myself hankering for more bananas. If I have a tea biscuit, I will undoubtedly want more. I may resist the urge or I may not.

    Yeah - I get that. But I feel she's kidding herself in that it's not sugar per se that has made her overweight.

    How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?
    http://www.shiftn.com/obesity/Full-Map.html
  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,563 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    crzycatlady1 wrote: »
    Dan_Rollins_ACE_PN wrote: »
    John Oliver on Sugar

    https://youtu.be/MepXBJjsNxs

    He started losing me at 1:42 when he admitted that our (Americans) consumption of sugar is actually on the decline. I did watch it all the way to the end though, and his argument against measuring sugar in grams was ridiculous. Don't have a clue who this guy is, but I'm not impressed :p

    American sugar consumption is on the decline while obesity continues to rise...'cuz too much food.

    Exactly! Incorporating sugar substitutes into calorie-dense food isn't going to do much to reduce obesity in the general population, but it's bound to make the sugar consumption stats look better :|
  • tiptoethruthetulips
    tiptoethruthetulips Posts: 3,372 Member
    While American sugar consumption is on the decline it is still the highest or one of the highest per capita.

    There are some interesting graphics as well as observations in this piece:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/02/05/where-people-around-the-world-eat-the-most-sugar-and-fat/?utm_term=.d36c50f722d3

    I feel for you OP, I only said to someone the other day...'that people say sugar isn't addictive, but it certainly feels like it is.'

    I have found for me that certain foods drive my cravings more than others, so its best for me to avoid those foods.
  • Riskay123
    Riskay123 Posts: 159 Member
    I don't see any issue with eating fruit in moderation. Yes, it does contain fructose but it also has fibre and other vitamins and minerals which slow down the liver processing it.
    Some fruits are higher in fructose than others. Bananas are very high as opposed to berries or kiwi fruit.Fructose from table sugar, honey, maple syrup etc are the problem as it hits the liver straight away and the liver converts to fatty acids very quickly.
    I would like to see a change in food labelling laws so you can easily tell if something that has been packaged has added sugar. At the moment in Australia, you can not easily tell if the sugar has been added or it if is naturally occurring. Milk is a great example. If you looked at the sugar content of milk on the label you would think that the sugar content is quite high but the type of sugar in milk is lactose, not fructose and your body processes this type of sugar very differently. So the sugar in milk is not bad for you. I can make an informed decision in relation to fat content when I pick up packaged food because I can see the different types of fats listed. I can't do that with sugar which is very frustrating. I know giving up sugar isn't for everyone but some people are trying to "do the right thing" it is very hard if you don't have the right information.
  • Evamutt
    Evamutt Posts: 2,801 Member
    My hubs is addicted to sugar too. He's lost a lot of weight & got off insulin but it's a battle. He was watching a documentary about drug addiction & they said on there that sugar is more addicting than any drug
  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,563 Member
    Riskay123 wrote: »
    I don't see any issue with eating fruit in moderation. Yes, it does contain fructose but it also has fibre and other vitamins and minerals which slow down the liver processing it.
    Some fruits are higher in fructose than others. Bananas are very high as opposed to berries or kiwi fruit.Fructose from table sugar, honey, maple syrup etc are the problem as it hits the liver straight away and the liver converts to fatty acids very quickly.
    I would like to see a change in food labelling laws so you can easily tell if something that has been packaged has added sugar. At the moment in Australia, you can not easily tell if the sugar has been added or it if is naturally occurring. Milk is a great example. If you looked at the sugar content of milk on the label you would think that the sugar content is quite high but the type of sugar in milk is lactose, not fructose and your body processes this type of sugar very differently. So the sugar in milk is not bad for you. I can make an informed decision in relation to fat content when I pick up packaged food because I can see the different types of fats listed. I can't do that with sugar which is very frustrating. I know giving up sugar isn't for everyone but some people are trying to "do the right thing" it is very hard if you don't have the right information.

    How on earth does your body tell the difference between fructose from honey from fructose from fruit??? Am I reading this wrong?
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    Evamutt wrote: »
    My hubs is addicted to sugar too. He's lost a lot of weight & got off insulin but it's a battle. He was watching a documentary about drug addiction & they said on there that sugar is more addicting than any drug

    Mentally.... Maaaybeee, But not physically. For me it's a battle of willpower, sometimes my sensible side wins, and others my weak side does. I definitely wouldn't call it an addiction though, it's just me feeling like eating something yummy, is all, plain and simple.
  • Hello_its_Dan
    Hello_its_Dan Posts: 406 Member
    Riskay123 wrote: »
    Some fruits are higher in fructose than others. Bananas are very high as opposed to berries or kiwi fruit.Fructose from table sugar, honey, maple syrup etc are the problem as it hits the liver straight away and the liver converts to fatty acids very quickly.

    The liver will give whatever substrate is needed by the system. So no, it doesn't convert directly to fatty acids.
  • Riskay123
    Riskay123 Posts: 159 Member
    Fructose from fruit and sugar are the same thing. The only difference is fruit gives you other good things like vitamins and fibre. Sugar gives you nothing but empty calories.
  • Hello_its_Dan
    Hello_its_Dan Posts: 406 Member
    Riskay123 wrote: »
    Fructose from fruit and sugar are the same thing. The only difference is fruit gives you other good things like vitamins and fibre. Sugar gives you nothing but empty calories.

    I completely agree.
    Still depends on the context of how you're using it.

    Question: What happens to simple sugar in a person who's finished performing high intensity resistance training for 1 hour?

  • girlwithcurls2
    girlwithcurls2 Posts: 2,282 Member
    Pick the one thing you don't want to give up (for me, it's Jr. Mints). Find out what a portion size is, and allow yourself half. In a while, a few weeks? Months?, cut back 1/2 again. Keep cutting back. I eat 4 Jr. Mints after lunch every day. I won't give them up, but I also don't have to. And I'm not tempted to eat the entire box.
  • marelthu
    marelthu Posts: 184 Member
    I have a major chocolate addiction. When I started my weight loss journey I knew I would fail if I suddenly cut chocolate out of my life completely. So I cut down significantly but still allowed some chocolate within my calorie allotment. Now I've switched away from chocolate bars to making small amounts of chocolate pudding - reasonable calorie-wise - and having that after dinner. I'm hoping that someday I'll just have chocolate once in a while and be ok with that. A few nights ago I didn't have any chocolate in the house for the first time in decades and it was fine. I believe that you should be able to enjoy a treat once in a while without being tortured by guilt. That's what other thin people - who have a healthy relationship with food- do.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories