Going sugar free

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#1345404 16-Jul-2015 12:57

Cutting out sugar is a great move - but you don't have to view all sugar as the devil.

Cutting out coke, sugar laced energy drinks, biscuits etc will give you massive results if you already consume a lot of them. Switching to sugar free alternatives is also a good idea - I don't drink a lot of coke but when I do it is Coke Zero. I drink my tea black and coffee with milk only.

You can get still get your sweet fix from fruit, honey etc - but as with anything, moderation. Don't eat 15 apples. Don't drink fruit juice thinking it is healthy (how many apples go in to a cup of apple juice? Would you eat that many real apples).

I find that switching my thinking from "not having sugar/fat/carbs" to "having more natural food" was a big help. Rather than denying myself stuff I now try and use more natural ingredients when I can - actually make things from fruit, nuts and veges along with proteins, rather than grabbing some chips. Learn to cook eggs properly, have healthy alternatives available in the cupboard or fridge. I learned how to cook a mean mushroom soup that is a treat and is pretty good for you.

However changing your lifestyle means you WILL spend more on food and you WILL have to be far more conscious about preparing your food and having stuff ready to eat.

Also - don't try and cut all carbs from your diet - it's stupid. You can make some easy replacements (e.g. brown bread for white) and just get rid of the really bad offenders (chips, biscuits etc).

Having said that - I still have treats - chocolates every now and then, ice cream every now and then. Takeaways every now and then. It is easier to be good when you know you will have a treat sometime soon.

Regarding breakfast: Porridge with Canned fruit and/or Yoghurt - or weetbix with the same is good and kid friendly. I start the day with a protein shake and some cashews.

I found calorie tracking (with myfitnesspal) was a really good way to get a handle on how much I was eating and adjust accordingly. I have a target (for weight gain) so I try and stick to that. If I have a big lunch I can size dinner to stay within that target. Starting with that approach is easy, then you can move on to focus on your macros (protein, carbs, fat).

dafman

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#1345414 16-Jul-2015 13:16

jonathan18: What about your fruit intake? Milk?

And what did you do for substitutes, ie if you took x out of your diet due to high sugar content, what did you replace it with?

Fructose, in nature, is found in fruit, some vegetables and honey. However, I have cut out processed/added sugars, not naturally occurring sugars (although I have reduced intake of these).

Nature has typically controlled how much fructose you can take in naturally. eg. sit in front of a bowl of apples, you will only get through a couple before you naturally feel full and want to stop. (This is where fruit juices are dangeous - you can't eat more than a couple of apples, but you can easily drink a large number of apples reduced to fruit).

Milk - I have in coffee, tea, on porridge - my partner was away last week and a one litre lasted me a week. I eat quite a bit of cheeze though.

I use limited substitutes. Am slowly getting used to porridge without additives. If I make sandwiches etc, I don't add sauces etc that have sugar. I have cut down on honey (high in fructose) but still enjoy about once a week.

ajobbins

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#1345416 16-Jul-2015 13:16

I need to cut back on the sugar. In all seriousness, I am probably at risk of type 2 diabetes (And my type 1 diabetic fiancée will certainly murder me).

There is a really good talk on the science behind sugar here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

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Fred99

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#1345417 16-Jul-2015 13:17

tdgeek:
andrew027: Due to some liver/gall bladder problems I had early last year I've significantly reduced my fat and sugar consumption. To give you an idea of how much sugar is like crack cocaine...

When my daughter was born I stopped smoking: my wife and I went out to dinner, I had a cigarette after dinner, she went into labour an hour after we got home, and I never smoked again. From 20-25 cigarettes a day to zero, in an instant, and I've never missed it or wanted a cigarette since then. When I decided to stop having sugar in my coffee I tried cutting that straight out too, but couldn't do it - I had to cut down from 2 teaspoons to one, to a half, to about a quarter, to nothing, over the course of a couple of weeks. While some of that was getting used to the taste, some of it was just missing the sugar - e.g. I didn't mind having less sugar in the coffee if I could have a chocolate chip biscuit with it. And now, over a year later, sometimes in cafes I look at all the sugar sachets in the bowl on the table and think about ripping one open and pouring it into my coffee...

Wow, a strange story indeed. Have you truied artificial sugar, sacharin is it? To give you a no sugar diet but with the sweet taste that you appear addicted to?

Forgetting past controversy about artificial sweeteners, there's some evidence that switching to them may be counter-productive:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_substitute#Weight_gain_and_insulin_response_to_artificial_sweeteners

I get annoyed by the fact that "diet" and "reduced sugar" products seem to made to taste even sweeter than the sugar-loaded products they're replacing.

A teaspoon of sugar in coffee - no worries IMO. By the time you'd consumed the same amount of sugar as in one can of coke, then you'd be shaking from caffeine overdose.

I imagine the look of horror if someone stirred 10 teaspoons of sugar into a cup of coffee in a cafe, but the same people wouldn't think twice about giving their kids a can of soft drink, a smoothie or "healthy" yoghurt concoction, or an ice-cream.

dafman

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#1345423 16-Jul-2015 13:24

Stu: I've avoided sugar (wherever possible) for some time. Along with wheat and dairy. Still drink red wine.

If you cut everything "bad" out completely, you'll be very limited in what you have left to consume.

I've just cut out refined sugar. Still on the menu is:
- wine, beer (beer is low in sugar, plus its sugar is maltrose which is easily processed, unlike fructose).
- dairy. esp cheese and butter.
- meats (all of them).
- scones (scones are one of the few baked goods that have no sugar added).
- Fish and chips. The very occasional McD or KFC. I tend to keep away from takeaways with high sugar - eg sweet and sour, most thai food
- veges, fruit.

Basically, I have cut out:
- all processed foods and meals (replaced with fresh fruit, veges and meat).
- lollies/chocolate
- baking - cakes and biscuits
- soft drinks
- icecream
- tomato sauce, bbq sauce etc (I don't add it, but I am pragmatic, if I buy a Burger Wisconsin, I accept I will occasionally have these things

Occasionally, maybe once a week:
- honey, dried fruits

dafman

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#1345427 16-Jul-2015 13:26

bazzer: What about honey?

It's a cool idea, but I love sweet things. I might be addicted to crack. Soft-crack and hard-crack sugar!

I've cut out processed / added sugar. Naturally occurring sugars I still consume, but in much more moderation than in the past.

dafman

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#1345428 16-Jul-2015 13:27

xpd:
dafman:

So what’s my experience two months in? With no other changes to lifestyle at all, I have dropped around 5kg. I gave up sugar for health reasons, not weight loss, but an nice side effect nonetheless.

[Mod edit |Stu| Moved to the correct sub-forum]

Do you do regular exercise etc ?

Ive been given heads up by the doc I should cut back on sugars etc and drop some weight. So dropping sugar def sounds like good start :)

Moderate exercise. I used to gym around 3 times a week, but have been too busy at work last year. Bike to work a couple of day a week (20kms round trip), try to keep up with walking etc.

Equinox IT

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dafman

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#1345431 16-Jul-2015 13:29

Watch the porridge. Plain old fashioned porridge - ie. oats - is totally sugar free, whereas porridge satchels with flavouring can be quite high in added sugar. Old fashioned is dead easy to cook in pan or microwave - just as quick as the satchels (and also way cheaper).

dafman

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#1345436 16-Jul-2015 13:30

Stu: When you cut out sugar, red meat and dairy and greatly reduce carbs, and also can't eat seeds/grains/nuts it gets rather boring.

I only cut out the sugar, all the rest are in. Not bored yet (-;

Batman

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#1345456 16-Jul-2015 13:48

Everything has "sugar". Other than a cardboard box or a leather boot.

It's the excess fructose that is bad. And the fructose comes as half of your plant sugars. So the big offenders are highly processed food (all food is processed other than a raw apple and a carving up a cow alive. So the fruit juices, the fancy so called healthy drinks, yummy cakes, weird looking cereals, etc ...

I heard the Jenny Craigs etc has an app with ask these info loaded and helps you lose weight by making sure you don't eat stuff with excess "sugar" and "fat"

If you are cycling the tour de france and you cut your "sugars" you won't last half a day. Same with someone who eats three balanced meals a day and drinks only water, they could well have tea with three table spoons of sugar every night and that is not excessive. But for the fast food (read highly processed ie lots of hidden excess fats and sugars) junkie who follows those with an Apple tart and washes down with a bottle of fruit juice and then has snacks in between still, well you can drink the six cups of coffee with a quarter teaspoon of sugar and feel good but hey ... Look at the rest of the junk! Get my point?

SepticSceptic

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#1345475 16-Jul-2015 13:55

My favourite "Lite" con has been salad dressings - I eat much salads and other greens, occasionally make my own dressings, but the supermarket shelves are loaded with "Lite" or "Fat free" dressings. Fat reduced they may be, but after water, the other major ingredient is sugars.
Bah, give me full fat, full flavoured dressings and mayos everytime !!

matisyahu

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#1345483 16-Jul-2015 14:07

In the case of the sugar, what I did was complete cut 'sugar loaded' stuff out of my diet and adding sugar to anything but with that being said there are a lot of things out there that are paraded as being 'healthy' when in reality they're no better than the sugary stuff. Reminds me of the 'juice' that parents give their kids at fast food places, they would be better off giving their kids a coke so then the kids aren't under the illusion that 'juice equals healthy'. There was also another interesting point made in a study I read - how people who purchase 'low fat' and 'low sugar' end up eating more of that because 'they can'.

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

Fred99

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#1345603 16-Jul-2015 16:56

kawaii: There was also another interesting point made in a study I read - how people who purchase 'low fat' and 'low sugar' end up eating more of that because 'they can'.

I don't think that's quite as conscious a decision as implied - more subconscious or probably biological feedback mechanism at play.
One thing I'm sure of (but have no solid proof) - the major food manufacturers and fast-food companies will have researched this thoroughly - and know exactly how to stimulate appetite to increase sales.
However, the average cafe selling"healthy" but horrendously fat and sugar laden cakes/muffins/slices are worse IMO. A muffin or cake recipe will typically be (w/w) 1 part egg, 2 parts pure fat/oil, 4 parts sugar, 5 parts flour. Using wholemeal flour, throwing in some grated carrot, blueberries, nuts etc won't make a hell of a lot of difference to what it does to you.

kiwitrc

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#1345617 16-Jul-2015 17:05

Fred99:
One thing I'm sure of (but have no solid proof) - the major food manufacturers and fast-food companies will have researched this thoroughly - and know exactly how to stimulate appetite to increase sales.

I watched something on BBC Knowledge only a week or so ago that showed exactly that. I think its Michael Mosley doing a thing about fasting or diet, but they had a stack of people tasting food for some outfit that was trying to get the sugar/salt/other crap ratio just right to make people want to eat more of it.

Stu

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#1345657 16-Jul-2015 17:35

dafman:
Stu: When you cut out sugar, red meat and dairy and greatly reduce carbs, and also can't eat seeds/grains/nuts it gets rather boring.

I only cut out the sugar, all the rest are in. Not bored yet (-;

I try to avoid anything with added sugar. Natural foods containing sugar aren't completely avoided. Red meat*, refined carbs (breads etc) only on rare occasions (sometimes not rare enough!). I don't have cows milk, but if something has cheese in it I won't turn my nose up and avoid it. If "bad" things are only consumed in moderation then you'll be fine. (I can't eat seeds/grains/nuts for a completely different reason. Nothing to do with weight loss or any other benefit)

I'm currently 23Kg lighter than I was nearly 5 years ago. I don't care what other people say or think, but the modifications I made to my dietary intake work for me. Everybody is different though, so find your own path and don't expect every suggested or 'fad' diet to work for you. Figure it out for yourself. YMMV

*Dropping red meat out of my diet has helped with many things, not only weight loss. It's not something everyone needs to do, but for me it works.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

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