Too Much Sugar

Are you diabetic?

Muscleflex79 wrote: »

why are you trying to cut down on your sugar?? you realize you can lose weight without cutting sugar right?

Agreed. I cut down on sugar myself. The reason is because it has what I consider to be empty calories. I use it for enhancing the flavor of foods but realized I can get that same enhancement from 0 calorie sweeteners like Stevia. However, I did not eliminate it from my diet. I'm not diabetic. I do have a history of diabetes in my family though, so my cutting it down is a bonus to my long term health. I will choose a 'no sugar added' product over a sugar added product every day of the week. I'll also drink diet soda, and/or use Stevia in tea and coffee instead of sugar. But if I eat a piece of pie or something with sugar in it (cookies, doughnuts, etc.) I'm in it for the treat, and really don't care that it has sugar as long as I am under my calorie goal and the added calories aren't making me miss out on some other macro I deem important (like protein).

aeris_ruby wrote: »

Hey y'all!

I've been trying to cut down on my sugar intake for weeks and utterly failing. Most of my day's sugar comes from breakfast (Nature Valley bar or some sort of pastry) and/or snacks (chocolate covered almonds and the like). What are some good replacements? Preferably they'd also be high in protein (I'm a vegetarian) and easy to make/transport.

Thanks in advance! A

For the almonds-I've found cocoa covered ones that are around the same calories as regular almonds and they taste good, (the kind I have are Walmart brand and it uses splenda instead of sugar: 28g is 150cal/6g protein/7g carb/1g sugar/3g fiber).

There's low sugar granola bars-you just have to read through labels until you find one.

edit: more info on almonds

aeris_ruby wrote: »

I've been trying to cut down on my sugar intake for weeks and utterly failing.

The thing to do is figure out why you are failing. Are you choosing things and finding out later they have sugar? Are you stuck without good choices to pick from? If those, the answer is planning. Or is it that you can't think of things without sugar (do you mean added sugar? I'm assuming yes, not fruit)? Or is it that you tend to want to eat sugary things (in which case you should identify other things you like and form new habits).

It also depends on how low and why, as others said. I'm assuming you are trying to improve your macros (lower high carbs and increase low fat and protein, perhaps) and maybe control calories or make sure the diet is more nutritionally-dense.

Most of my day's sugar comes from breakfast (Nature Valley bar or some sort of pastry) and/or snacks (chocolate covered almonds and the like). What are some good replacements? Preferably they'd also be high in protein (I'm a vegetarian) and easy to make/transport.

How many calories do you want for breakfast? How fast? Easy options (if it is about added sugar) are plain greek yogurt with some no sugar added nut butter (I'm currently obsessed with this) or steel cut oats with an egg and vegetables. Protein powder and steel cut oats and berries, perhaps. A tofu scramble with lots of veg. Millions of things.[/quote]

For snacks, again, how often do you want to snack and how many calories?

With protein: the greek yogurt again, or cottage cheese, or a hard boiled egg. Maybe some nuts (you don't have to eat them covered in chocolate, although I understand the enjoyment!).

Planning a usual breakfast and some easy snacks is a good idea in general (I prefer just not snacking, but I know some prefer more and smaller meals).