stopping sugar today!

I'm a sugar addict also- the only thing I've found that works is to go cold turkey- if I can make it past 4 days with no sugar, I find I don't crave it anymore and can have it once in a while. However, if I then have sugar again two days in a row, I'm back to the starting point. Good luck!

Have healthy snacks available; that way you are not tempted by the sugar around you. After 3 days your desire will be gone. You can do it.

the reason sugar is so hard to kick is because (1) it affects our brain in the same way crack or coke does! (2) its in EV-EVERY-THING! all processed foods and low-fat foods are substittuted with sugars and sugar alochols, or high fructose corn syrup...its how they keep us all buying JUNK food and not sticking to natural plant-based foods...

One thing that is good for you and when I'm craving sugar I eat is dark chocolate OVER 70%...at first 70 or 72% tastes real bitter, but after a while you can move up in darkness and anything below 73% will taste so sweet its disgusting/makes you feel sick...sugar is toxic so great for you for cutting it out!

Here's a great resource for those wanting to know more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57407128/preview-is-sugar-toxic/

And within the link is the full video from 60 minutes with Dr. Sanjay Gupta!

There seems to be conflicting ideas all around these boards on sugar, natural sugar, and no sugar. One of the things I did when I started this new lifestyle was started eating a lot more fruit. I like fruit and I find much more portable than veggies by in large (doesn't require the fridge, don't need to cut it up before I leave the house or use special storage containers, etc). I make sure I incorporate veggies into lunch and dinner when home but when I work fruit is just easier. However eating an apple and an orange put me over my sugar for the entire day! This week has been bad for processed sugar b/c of Easter although I have been trying to be moderate in what I am eating. Should I really worry about the natural sugar I am getting from fruits? Most days if I subtract that sugar I am well within the range that MFP allots.

The sugar measurement only counts for added sugars. Added means it didn't grow with it. Coke is added, apples are not. MFP can't differentiate between the two. If you are diabetic the sugar in fruit has to be monitored but it's still healthy. If not, it's absolutely fine.

OK, me too, I am in. No sugar unless it comes from fruit starting right this moment. I did use a little aguave nectar in my Greek yogurt this morning which is natural but has carbs. I will try to nix that also. I have had a headache for two days straight I swear.

My sisters and I have only allowing natural sugars for the month of April as a way to get our food in check. We also cut out carbs from rice, potatoes, bread, pasta, corn, etc. It has been really good. I feel good. We have had discussions about sustainability of eating this way and the reality is that I don't want to give up chocolate forever, but I want to be in a place where having a small piece is so fulfilling and sweet that it is all I need to be satisfied. I have been eating unsweetened natural peanut butter and almonds with fruit for snacks and it has been wonderful. You can do it and feel better.

AND in that report I noted, I've read and seen a lot of Dr. Lustig's work, and since the 1980s when they pushed for low-fat foods, that's when rates of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, cancers, etc. have increased...because low fat foods all have added sugars...and since everything we eat has sugars, just like a drug, we grow a "resistance" to it and want more...not to mention the way foods with carbs/sugar in it affect our metabolism and insulin levels, we eat a bunch of it, then within an hour or so we're starving again...because it continually spikes our insulin levels and crashes it, causing us to over eat as well.

Cutting sugar, and processed "frankenfoods" is definitely the way to go! Great for you!!!

I came across a post in Jan. (for the new year I wanted to bump up my health habits) and came across the 100th posting about "good sugar vs bad sugar" and a MFP member posted about how his wife died suddenly from cardiovascular disease and that led him to healthy habits and he lost 185 lbs not from exercising, but over time changing how he ate and researching...and I read through all of his blogs (from oldest to newest) and did hours of my own research and even met with one of the professors he quoted who works at the university I work at, and it was all very eye opening! His blog is here: http://danmoffett.blogspot.com/

And I just watched a great documentary on how MDs don't have nutrition as part of their curriculum so they prescribe drugs that don't necessarily get rid of the diseases, but then holistics docs who gave people with diseases like diabetes and cancer a plant-based diet and cutting our processed junk reversed the diseases, including cancer. It was called Forks Over Knives...it touches on sugar too. Definitely worth it to watch, it's on netflix now if you have it.

If you need to put sugar on things like coffee berries etc. try the estivia sweetner. All natural ...comes from the leaf of the estevia plant. I use it in my coffee and on my strawberries. Truvia brand and Hy-Vee makes it.