Eliminating SUGAR
AngelZealot
Posts: 49 Member
I am no stranger to tracking and diets. I've only been sucessful at losing weight a few times in my life, and they were all while tracking either calories, or points in weight watchers. What I am inquiring about is the topic of sugar. I am reading a book about why to eliminate it entirely. I'm hoping to hear sucess stories of people who have eliminated it, what the benefits are, etc. Tips and suggestions are much encouraged!
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Replies
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As in all sugar including sugars that are not added to foods? That sounds like a recipe for disaster. It's also just not necessary unless you have an diagnosed medical condition that necessitates reducing the amount of sugar you're consuming. In that case it's necessary for the successful management of that condition not for weight loss.I am reading a book about why to eliminate it entirely.
In terms of weight loss, reducing sugar isn't the arbiter of success, reducing calories is.19 -
Unless you have a medical reason, you don't need to eliminate sugar. You don't need to eliminate any food group to lose weight (again, unless you have a medical reason).
However, if you want to do this you need to ask yourself if you can eat like this for the rest of your life. If not, then this isn't the way of eating for you.11 -
I have to assume this is added sugar. If you cut out naturally occurring sugar, your diet would be extremely limited.6
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There is no reason to that you need to eliminate sugars from your diet. Almost nobody, even those with medical conditions (such as most diabetics) have to complete eliminate it. Otherwise healthy people don't even need to regulate it. I've eaten plenty of sugar, both natural and added, along my weight loss journey. I've still had a lot of success.
In fact, completely eliminating sugar can actually be negative for your health, as you'll be missing out on a lot of important vitamins and minerals in fruits and vegetables.
I'm sure the book has a lot of fancy science sounding words and some out of context studies. But I would treat it as a fiction read.16 -
Sugar is addictive. If you find that you are over eating sugary foods like the obvious -cookies ice cream and other sweets, then consciously removing sugar is advised. If you also turn to foods like cereal, fruit juice, and granola or breakfast bars, coffee drinks, you may also consider that you have a sugar addiction. Like any addiction, total abstinence is key. Your gut bacteria also responds to sugar consumption, making you more likely to crave sugar, as it uses it as food. My opinion: sugar is bad and should be reduced at least, or better, eliminated.7
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Sugar is addictive. If you find that you are over eating sugary foods like the obvious -cookies ice cream and other sweets, then consciously removing sugar is advised. If you also turn to foods like cereal, fruit juice, and granola or breakfast bars, coffee drinks, you may also consider that you have a sugar addiction. Like any addiction, total abstinence is key. Your gut bacteria also responds to sugar consumption, making you more likely to crave sugar, as it uses it as food. My opinion: sugar is bad and should be reduced at least, or better, eliminated.
Sugar is not actually addictive. It is enjoyable, and we tend to crave things we enjoy. But minus a few questionable rat studies, there is no evidence that our bodies get particularly addicted to sugars. Many of the things that people think are "sugars", such as ice cream or cake, are actually high in fat too, which is part of what makes them enjoyable (the sugar/fat combo), and also high calories.
There are nutritionally rich and devoid food of pretty much every macro. Plenty of foods that contain sugar are incredibly nutritious.23 -
AngelZealot wrote: »I am no stranger to tracking and diets. I've only been sucessful at losing weight a few times in my life, and they were all while tracking either calories, or points in weight watchers. What I am inquiring about is the topic of sugar. I am reading a book about why to eliminate it entirely. I'm hoping to hear sucess stories of people who have eliminated it, what the benefits are, etc. Tips and suggestions are much encouraged!
I am not sure if I qualify since it was never my intention to eliminate sugar (presumably added sugar) from my regular diet. Because I rarely eat anything sweet, I do not add sweetener to any beverage, and I usually make my own sauces my added sugar is often zero or very close to it for weeks at a time. Because I do not eat enough fruit my overall sugar is usually low too. Today I will get most of my sugar from onions.
As far as I know I have experienced no benefit of eating this way. The internet claims my inflammation would go down but it is still an intermittent issue. I do not notice any issues that arise or get worse when I do have some like I just did over Thanksgiving. If anything the increase in carbs and sugar did improve my stamina.
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Added sugar is not good for us nor necessary. My dearest friend is vegetarian and has no white flour products or sugar either. She does eat natural sugars such as fresh fruits. She's 70 yo and runs. A lot. She just finished the 450+ mile walking pilgrimage in Spain this past fall. She's extremely healthy and I believe most of it is due to her healthy eating and lifestyle. I applaud her efforts and others like her. Unfortunately, I can't do no sugar in my life.
And sure, you can still lose weight eating sugar. But personally, I have to be careful with sugar because it is a terrible habit for me. The more I have the more I want and crave. So other than the occasional cheat day like a holiday, the only sugar I have is in my daily coffee.8 -
I started limiting sugar intake when I was diagnosed pre-diabetic.
Over the years, I've tried to stay under 30 grams of sugar/day (all sugars) with reasonable success. I'm not sure if eliminating all sugar is even possible, unless someone was an exclusive meat eater, which doesn't sound healthy or fun.
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I just want to clarify that I still eat fruit- so I would not be cutting it entirely. Sorry for not being specific.3
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Y'know, added sugar has never been the biggest thing for me, and I got obese anyway.
If you look at the actual in-depth boring text from mainstream sources like the World Health Organization, USDA, etc., it turns out that they recommend limiting added sugar mainly for 3 reasons:
* Eating lots of added sugar tends to drive adequate nutrition out of a calorie-appropriate diet.
* Eating lots of added sugar tends to add excess calories to a nutrition-adequate diet (so weight gain results).
* Eating lots of added sugar contributes to dental caries, a.k.a., cavities.
Personally, I find it more effective to focus attention on staying close to my calorie goal, and on getting full balanced nutrition into my way of eating.
By "balanced nutrition", I personally mean:
* Plenty of protein (0.6-0.8g per pound of healthy goal weight minimum daily, because I'm active, aging, sometimes in a calorie deficit, and vegetarian - and yes, I mean pound not kg),
* adequate fat (I shoot for 0.35-0.45g per pound of healthy goal weight, preferring MUFA/PUFA sources like olive oil, nuts, seeds, avocados, etc., and considering Omega-3 and Omega-6 balance)
* lots of varied, colorful veggies and fruits (minimum of 5 80g servings daily, ideally 10+ servings).
When I focus on including those things, and sticking to my calorie goal, that more or less automatically keeps added sugars at a sensible level. For me, forming good habits is just easier - don't quite know why - than breaking bad ones, as an explicit goal.
These days, in year 4+ of maintenance, I've simplified (rounded up) to 100g protein minimum, 50g fats minimum, and the 5-10+ veggie/fruit servings. Once I have my nutritional boxes checked, and if I have calories available, I don't see any particular problem with eating a less nutrient-dense treat food, whether that be something with added sugar, or not. (I don't figure I get much extra credit by eating serving number 11 of broccoli, or something ).
That's just me, of course, and YMMV.19 -
AngelZealot wrote: »I am no stranger to tracking and diets. I've only been sucessful at losing weight a few times in my life, and they were all while tracking either calories, or points in weight watchers. What I am inquiring about is the topic of sugar. I am reading a book about why to eliminate it entirely. I'm hoping to hear sucess stories of people who have eliminated it, what the benefits are, etc. Tips and suggestions are much encouraged!
What's the book?
Recently, for a few weeks I challenged myself to limit my added sugar to the WHO recommendation of no more than 5% of total calories. The first day I just logged. The second day I made changes. The third day and for the next few weeks I was down to @ 5%.
I found it too restrictive for this time of year (and didn't see any benefits) but might try it again next summer once my strawberries start popping.
There are some in the challenge who are doing 0 added sugar: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10769530/30-day-logging-limiting-added-sugar-challenge/p11 -
AngelZealot wrote: »I just want to clarify that I still eat fruit- so I would not be cutting it entirely. Sorry for not being specific.
If it helps, fruit sugar and added sugar aren't really different. The only difference is that foods with added sugar generally don't contain much fiber and valuable micronutrients. This is the problem - it is not the sugar itself, it is the lack of other nutrition. Sugar itself does no harm unless it is crowding out other necessary nutrients.18 -
After my lunch, I just mindlessly consumed 200 Cal worth of CANDY I barely enjoyed as my mind was occupied dealing with a different issue.
Had I not caught myself I would have continued on in my addiction fuelled haze popping wrappers and consuming more and more chocolate.
You know, CHOCOLATE, which I think we can all agree is useless CANDY, about as bad a case of addictive sugar as you can get, right?
39 grams of chocolate in 6 little packages were consumed. 200 Cal (technically 197 per the manufacturer)
36 Cal were ADDED SUGAR
24 Cal carbohydrates
12 Cal protein
135 Cal were FAT.
About 9 Cal of the carbohydrates (not the fats) get dropped because they consist of 3g of fiber that are, presumably, not going to be converted to energy.
So my sugar snack's calories were 68% from fat and 18.27% from da evil sugarz.
OK.
Or maybe I should just pay a heck of a lot more attention when I am consuming treats.
Because, just maybe, highly palatable and calorically dense items should not be consumed in a haze, unknowingly, and in excess.
Not unless I'm trying to gain weight...
<Full disclosure: sugar grams while losing a lot of weight was 128g a day as a yearly average. Sugar grams per day while losing a tiny bit of weight was 175g per day as the next year's average. Sugar grams per day while maintaining weight was about 150g a day on average over the next two years. More recent sugar grams are unknown. YMMV. While a lot of the sugar I consume is from candy and ice cream a lot was also from fruits and veggies and most was from yogurt. Most of the added sugar was clearly from the candy and ice cream isle. And so was most of my fat intake>12 -
Sugar is addictive. If you find that you are over eating sugary foods like the obvious -cookies ice cream and other sweets, then consciously removing sugar is advised. If you also turn to foods like cereal, fruit juice, and granola or breakfast bars, coffee drinks, you may also consider that you have a sugar addiction. Like any addiction, total abstinence is key. Your gut bacteria also responds to sugar consumption, making you more likely to crave sugar, as it uses it as food. My opinion: sugar is bad and should be reduced at least, or better, eliminated.
No and no. Think about it, it is not the sugar alone that makes cookies, ice cream and other sweets so enticing. It is Sugar and his/her good friends Fat, and white flour, or hey could be wheat flour as well. Sugar is not an addiction, it is a cop out for people to say that. Should some people eats lots less sugar. Absolutely. Me for example I am T2D so I no longer partake of white sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup if I can avoid it. Instead I use alternative sweeteners. But I do not blame sugar for my eating too many cookies and or ice cream. No foods are bad or good. It is people who for reasons unknown have decided to label food like this.15 -
I applaud you for wanting to cutting back on sugar for whatever your reason. I did too.
Food isn’t bad or good but Yes some foods are “bad for us” including having too much sugar. Yes we can have some sugar. Not all sugars are the same. Here’s about everything you ever wanted to know about sugar. The good, the bad and the ugly.
https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/sugar/2 -
I won't say I've eliminated sugar. For all practical purposes I have in fact done just that but I won't say it because of the irrational replies it invokes from people who act offended by the possibility.
For me, it came about gradually by phasing out categories of "foods" one at a time. Didn't switch to sweeteners. Just got used to, and eventually came to prefer foods unsweetened. I never swore an oath of sugar abstinence though. Last year I might have made a cup of hot cocoa three or four times. I might have three or four next year too. If pressed I could come up with more examples of very occasional use.
One of the last regular uses was adding brown sugar to the morning porridge but I weaned myself off that and now it's fine either naturally sweetened with fruit or savory. I've lost over 60 pounds so far and have another 40 or so to go to get to normal or healthy weight. When I get there, maybe I'll consider having an occasional dessert. But until then it's easier to skip them altogether than struggle with moderation. If moderating food came easy I wouldn't have become obese in the first place. To all the people who will have the irresistible compulsion to click disagree, I remind you, I'm not taking a position one way or the other on what you should do. And maybe I'll add that if the original poster decides to eliminate added sugars, that won't affect you either.
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I won't say I've eliminated sugar. For all practical purposes I have in fact done just that but I won't say it because of the irrational replies it invokes from people who act offended by the possibility.
For me, it came about gradually by phasing out categories of "foods" one at a time. Didn't switch to sweeteners. Just got used to, and eventually came to prefer foods unsweetened. I never swore an oath of sugar abstinence though. Last year I might have made a cup of hot cocoa three or four times. I might have three or four next year too. If pressed I could come up with more examples of very occasional use.
One of the last regular uses was adding brown sugar to the morning porridge but I weaned myself off that and now it's fine either naturally sweetened with fruit or savory. I've lost over 60 pounds so far and have another 40 or so to go to get to normal or healthy weight. When I get there, maybe I'll consider having an occasional dessert. But until then it's easier to skip them altogether than struggle with moderation. If moderating food came easy I wouldn't have become obese in the first place. To all the people who will have the irresistible compulsion to click disagree, I remind you, I'm not taking a position one way or the other on what you should do. And maybe I'll add that if the original poster decides to eliminate added sugars, that won't affect you either.
So you don't eat any fruits? Where do you get some of the key vitamins and minerals from then?7 -
I won't say I've eliminated sugar. For all practical purposes I have in fact done just that but I won't say it because of the irrational replies it invokes from people who act offended by the possibility.
For me, it came about gradually by phasing out categories of "foods" one at a time. Didn't switch to sweeteners. Just got used to, and eventually came to prefer foods unsweetened. I never swore an oath of sugar abstinence though. Last year I might have made a cup of hot cocoa three or four times. I might have three or four next year too. If pressed I could come up with more examples of very occasional use.
One of the last regular uses was adding brown sugar to the morning porridge but I weaned myself off that and now it's fine either naturally sweetened with fruit or savory. I've lost over 60 pounds so far and have another 40 or so to go to get to normal or healthy weight. When I get there, maybe I'll consider having an occasional dessert. But until then it's easier to skip them altogether than struggle with moderation. If moderating food came easy I wouldn't have become obese in the first place. To all the people who will have the irresistible compulsion to click disagree, I remind you, I'm not taking a position one way or the other on what you should do. And maybe I'll add that if the original poster decides to eliminate added sugars, that won't affect you either.
So you don't eat any fruits? Where do you get some of the key vitamins and minerals from then?
I just saw in another post that he had beets in his diary. Where do people think refined sugar generally comes from? Cane and...beets.15 -
Boy, lots of people in disagreement over this issue. Decreasing or eliminating added sugars and/or corn syrup....is it all just marketable hype, a way to sell books and alternative products?
I believe it's one of those areas where 'all things in moderation' really and truly applies. A cookie now and then, isn't going to kill you. But grab a package and down 'em, then that's something else. And whether it indicates a sugar addiction, raises your levels of happy hormones, or whatever doesn't really matter now does it? To me, many(maybe most) of us have sensitivities of one kind or another, whether it's in our personality, genes, system. My body reacts to sugar in such a way that once I've started down that path I continue with a blind eye. For these type of sensitivities all we can do is our best to avoid it.
I was addicted to alcohol where I couldn't even drive past a bar or liquor store without that deep-down urge to stop. I have controlled it for over 38 years. I have also been addicted(to me NOT a cop out)to sugar where my urge becomes so great that I physically feel that same pull in the wrong direction. I am now working on myself and my habits to control that also.
I believe addictions come in all forms, and levels.
Thankfully, I've never been addicted to drugs, gambling, cigarettes.....there are so many life changing addictions out there. 8
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