has anyone ever managed to kick the sugar habit?

[Deleted User]

No point in trying to avoid "sugar " completely. Its possible but not really needed. Sugar, in the form of sucrose cane or beet sugar is just one of several forms of sugar . lactose, maltose, sucrose, fructose are others. Its in cows milk ( in lactose sugar )so you would have to drink black tea and coffee avoid yoghurt, cream, dairy, cheese etc Same sort of thing with fruit in moderation all juices and smoothies tho. I m diabetic type 2 where my lifestyle has led me to be diagnosed about 4 years ago. Using my own diet I ve not budged one jot from the original 6.2 which has tipped me over to a confirmed diabetic. Just eating slow to digest carbs as your main bulky food and avoid all the usual junk the supermarkets churn out has kept me stable.Eat fruit, but not a lot,try only to eat complex carbs, eg brown rice, pulses, various dried beans. Make delicious home made chapattis from wholemeal flour Use third world recipes involving dried spices and complex carbs. The Hairy Bikers did a good third world recipe book (quote..no calories in spices ) The main thing is to see the supermarket as an enemy out to get you with their endless rows of added sugar processed foods. I forgot to add the number one thing to cut right back on..booze ! I ve been told that spirits and zero cal mixers are preferable if you can t knock it off.

greenbee

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Why not switch to darker, less sugary chocolate when buying that sort of thing.

For home baking, there are masses of sites offering recipes.

http://www.goodhousekeeping.co.uk/food/baking-recipes/the-best-low-sugar-baking-recipes

I occasionally cook using 100% chocolate(I.e. no sugar). I also eat it, but I don't know anyone else who can...

OP - if you are trying to give up refined sugars and reducae your taste buds, it's worth thinking about when you have sweet things. So cut out fruit juice in the mornings (I gradually worked over to green juices with no fruit by adding more greens to my fruit juices, then replacing with carrot/beetroot, then with courgette/cucumber). If you do need something sweet to deal with a craving, then try fruit or dried fruit (dates are particularly helpful as they are very sweet).

FBaby

I'm a sugar addict and I have managed to give it all up much easier than I thought it would be. It is very much an addiction because I do feel withdrawal symptoms at first, but the first time I did it, i was very surprise how after only about a week, I actually didn't crave it any longer. it was much easier than I thought it would be. It was odd to sit on the sofa, think about my favourite treats but instead of starting to salivate, to actually feel that I didn't really want them.

Of course it wasn't long term, just when I needed to lose a few pounds as I don't want to give it up forever, but now back at that stage of needing to lose these few pounds again, so back to give it all up. Haven't had any form of sugar for 5 days now (except for apples, but I don't count this as sugar for my own purposes) and not craving it and now reaching that stage when I actually feel much better for it.

brook2jack

One thing to mention to those suggesting replacing sugar with fruits or dried fruits. These also contain a lot of sugar, a small packet of raisins has seven and a half teaspoons of sugar, an apple three to five http://www.sugarstacks.com/fruits.htm. http://www.sugarstacks.com/snacks.htm

This sugar is no different , metabolically , from the sugar in sweets or fizzy pop. .

focus888

Do you bake? This year i wanted to make healthier foods. I love my sweet and desserts but have been looking at alternative to the normal. Ive been substituting sugar with honey. Also have you ever used dates in your sweet baking, it is so naturally sweet you might even fool yourself that it taste too good to be healthier.

missbiggles1

greenbee wrote: »

I occasionally cook using 100% chocolate(I.e. no sugar). I also eat it, but I don't know anyone else who can...

OP - if you are trying to give up refined sugars and reducae your taste buds, it's worth thinking about when you have sweet things. So cut out fruit juice in the mornings (I gradually worked over to green juices with no fruit by adding more greens to my fruit juices, then replacing with carrot/beetroot, then with courgette/cucumber). If you do need something sweet to deal with a craving, then try fruit or dried fruit (dates are particularly helpful as they are very sweet).

I tried it once and it really was a step too far. I only eat chocolate with a minimum of 70% and 80/5% is just right.

Gloomendoom

Mrs G has just started trying to reduce her sugar intake.

Isn't honey and dried fruit, such as dates, loaded with fructose?

suki1964

missbiggles1 wrote: »

I tried it once and it really was a step too far. I only eat chocolate with a minimum of 70% and 80/5% is just right.

Saw something on the tv the other night, where they proved that eating 70% chocolate curbs your appetite

On the small experiment ( cut down from much longer trials) they gave some people 100gr of dark chocolate to eat, some just bog standard milk chocolate. Then they gave them pizza. Each one of those that had the dark chocolate ate a lot less pizz then those who ate the milk chocolate


Can't think of the name of the programme It was something about the truth about calories

brook2jack

A date is 60% sugar and honey is 55% fructose. The sugar in honey is used by the body exactly the same way "white" sugar is. It is no better for you than white sugar as it is only very slightly lower GI. It is still sugar. Indeed the WHO recommends we limit our sugar intake , including honey, to no more than 6 teaspoons a day.

All dried fruit is high in sugar. A small box of raisins has the same amount of sugar (7 1/2 cubes ) http://www.sugarstacks.com/snacks.htm
as a regular sized snickers bar!!! http://www.sugarstacks.com/candy.htm

Slinky

suki1964 wrote: »

Saw something on the tv the other night, where they proved that eating 70% chocolate curbs your appetite

On the small experiment ( cut down from much longer trials) they gave some people 100gr of dark chocolate to eat, some just bog standard milk chocolate. Then they gave them pizza. Each one of those that had the dark chocolate ate a lot less pizz then those who ate the milk chocolate


Can't think of the name of the programme It was something about the truth about calories

I think that was Trust Me I'm a Doctor, probably a couple of weeks ago now on BBC2. Might be on the Iplayer still.