The "I Quit Sugar" (by any method) support thread

splishsplash

Morning.

I'm still added sugar free too for the most part, but it's easy to get caught out.

For instance, I bought what I thought was almond milk. I had been toying with making my own, but I thought 'meh, effort' and picked some up at the shop. Almond milk, almonds, water, job done, I thought.
Nope - there is such a thing as a Fresh Almond Milk Unsweetened alternative... I didn't spot the alternative bit. The ingredients in order of amounts were water, sugar almonds 2% etc., so basically almond syrup.

My kids used it, said it was fine. I waited and got some 'proper' almond milk but haven't used it yet. I'm aiming to use it for my banana ice cream or cookies etc. TBH, I haven't bothered with any of the treats since - I haven't felt a need.

I've made the dates/coconunt milk/cocoa mousse a couple of times - it is really nice with fruit, berries, natural yoghurt or just on its own.

I'm also pretty much done with bread and pasta now too. I've had bagels a couple of times and I find they really don't agree with me any more - it feels like a huge sugar crash a couple of hours after eating them. Bit sad about that, I like bagels, especially as I've discovered the herby cream cheese in either Aldi or Lidl has no added sugar.

However, no biggie, as I'm cutting way back on dairy too. I have milk in coffee sometimes at home. I will make the change to almond milk at the weekend. Cheese is a rarity these days. I haven't had things like lasagne or pizza for ages, although I still make them for the kids (I really must stop saying kids - the youngest is 19).

Lunch today is chicken soup, dinner is panfried sea bass with spuds and veg and lemon veloute (deglaze the pan with hot fish stock, add lemon juice and seasoning and thicken with more cornflour). I don't eat breakfast, I may have berries and yoghurt later.

Hope everyone has a good day - it's going to be a lovely one here again- and it's Friday:T.

VfM4meplse

lynnejk wrote: »

I'm just wondering why you're cutting your carbs ??
Lx

Its in an attempt to suck the visceral fat out of my system. It's this that is causing an element of insulin resistance, I have visions of a fatty liver which might go some way towards explaining my odd LFTs and lipid profile. Some years ago I stupidly tried to address this with, guess what, a diet of fruit, vegetables and porridge, no naughty snacks and when the results were unimpressive concluded the cause to be a familial (which certainly plays a part). It's only in recent years I've come to realise why that approach was never going to work, and now that I've reached a certain age that I realise it's now or never for me.

Not so much a case of fois gras as humain gras.

Day 58 and I didn't feel the need to eat this morning, so far not hungry at all...but am prepared with my thick Greek yoghurt for later.

choose_wisely

Good afternoon. I decided to reduce carbs at the beginning of April. I am neither obese nor diabetic, in fact I am small and have a slight build. I have very little subcutaneous fat but have always had a bit of a tummy. I put weight on slowly but then find it almost impossible to lose it again as my maintenance calorie intake is only about 1000 a day.

Just before I retired nearly 3 years ago I started the 5.2 diet and lost the half stone that made such a difference to my clothes fitting. Since then it gradually increased again (chocolate biscuits with coffee break, eating with granddaughter on 4 meals a day etc) until I was 12 pounds heavier.

I came across the blood sugar diet and thought I could give it a try. As a health care scientist i had always believed that a calorie was a calorie and the only way to lose weight was to reduce intake and that 'diets' were not sustainable or balanced nutritionally.

However the science behind the bsd makes sense, blood sugar spikes from sugar and white carbs such as potatoes, rice and wheat causes cravings and hunger. I lost the 12 excess pounds and inadvertently 3 more and conclude that it is visceral fat that has gone.

I eat tasty meals with meat vegetables some low carb fruits olive oil and full fat dairy. I still miss crusty bread and pasta but have found recipes for alternative items such as flax seed bread and courgettes. I don't want to lose any more weight so will increase my overall intake without 'bad' carbs.

Good luck to everyone making the effort to ban sugar from their diet.

PS, have not been hungry at all, even by next meal time, and eat only because I am cooking for others.

VfM4meplse

choose_wisely wrote: »

PS, have not been hungry at all, even by next meal time, and eat only because I am cooking for others.

Reduce the insulin secretion, reduce the leptin and hunger response. I treated it with great scepticism not so long ago but it is true.

The tummy fat I'm afraid is the bad stuff, good on you for making an effort.

VfM4meplse

I awoke this morning from an odd dream. Part of it involved someone leaving behind a load of individual tartlets (I say individual, but at a width of 6" they weren't small ) filled with mincemeat or lemon curd to be eaten. No coincidence that they are 2 of my favourite flavours

So I took one of each. My mind was telling me that it would be a shame to go back to eating sugar after all the effort I have put in, but they still went on my plate. I didn't eat them though, they were on my plate for the fear of missing out, ie if I didn't claim my stake on them somebody else would and I would be disadvantaged. Even though I had no real wish to eat them, I didn't want to miss the opportunity. 10/10 for stupid, huh? Ironically yesterday evening I found myself internally criticising French eating habits, they feed their children too much refined carbohydrate (white bread, etc) IMO.

Someone shared this with me yesterday, 25 smart ways to cut down on sugar. I feel past it now, but it may help others.

splishsplash

I had a similar dream shortly after I quit smoking. In my dream I was smoking, and it was so vivid that when I woke up I was convinced for several minutes that I had actually smoked. I was gutted. I couldn't believe I had blown it.

At least in your dream you resisted and chose well.

Lunch today: chicken soup and chopped salad w/pine nuts, vinaigrette dressing
Dinner: fishcakes. sweet potato wedges, carrots, kale.

VfM4meplse

I can't believe I've reached Day 70 already! Sugar isn't even tempting, in fact I ordered an iced coffee the other day and couldn't drink more than a sip without reeling in disgust as the barista had thoughtfully stuck syrup in it

People have started commenting on how well I look, and interestingly on my skin (I no longer wear foundation) which seems to have cleared up completely after 34 years - count 'em - of acne!

I watched this as a motivator last night - worth it if you have a spare 1/2 hr. I believe it up until the point about candida towards the end, I think this is an exaggeration. Diabetes is the bigger deal to me.

splishsplash

Still going strong here:j.

I tried the almond milk in coffee. Wouldn't bother again - it is very watery and slightly sweet, so not very good. I prefer it black or with cow's milk. I will try the almond milk for cooking and baking though.

I had a yen for pastry recently so had a look at alternatives to wheat flour. I discovered rice flour, coconut flour or gluten free flours are all available quite easily once I looked for them, but yikes, the cost! For example, plain/SR white flour costs 65c/kg; strong flour €1.25/kg; gluten free and rice flour costs €2.45/1 kg; coconut flour €5.49/kg...

I've been playing with sugar free/wheat free/dairy free recipes and I'm extremely impressed with the choices I have. There are so many excellent online blogs and sites that it is really easy to plan lovely stuff with very little extra effort.

I've also switched to Meridian peanut butter (tesco) which is 100% peanuts, no oil, no sugar. Other peanut butters can contain as little as 65% nuts, the other 35% being things like glucose syrup, palm oil and other lovely things:eek:.

Overall, my diet is certainly much cleaner but I don't feel I'm missing out on anything. I haven't made desserts or treats at all - didn't feel a need for them - but have lots of ingredients at the ready if the mood strikes.

One recipe I like is to very thinly slice a spud and a sweet potato (with a mandolin if possible), soak the slices for a bit, then dry them off really well or spin them in a salad spinner. Then just lay them on a plate on a paper towel, add a light dusting of onion granules and pepper, then microwave at full blast for a couple of minutes. Turn them over and zap them again until crispy. Et voila - guilt free crisps.

Lunch today - falafel burgers with salad, Dinner: stuffed cabbage leaves (maple syrup instead of sugar and cooking them in the slow cooker) with mash, carrots and broccoli.

mardatha

Hi ladies - been watching this thread but just reading, now I have to come out of the woodwork. My sugar consumption was legendary - not cakes or biscuits or choc but sweeties Then husband got diabetes - although he's thinner than me and eats healthier - so that sparked off a lot of research and reading up on diets and sugar and carbs etc. I like Dr Bernstein's thinking and try my best to eat his way, which is low carb/high fat. However, I still can't shake the cravings, however long I go without sugar. I'm only half a stone overweight, but it's all on my tummy which is not good, and I recently had what the docs thinks was a mini-stroke, so I need to get my a$$ in gear with the healthy eating.
Will follow this thread with interest!

VfM4meplse

^^ Glad you've joined us! Yes please do get rid nor the toxic abdominal fat. You can up your fat intake rather than carbs, but don't go all-out fat, try and get 0.8g protein / kg of body weight and eat plenty of vegetables, and you will feel full.

I was required to strip off in front of a class this week and was amazed to hear gasps of admiration at my body (that's never happened before!), not that it's is amazing but it does look quite trim now

Yesterday I covered some strawberries in chocolate as a birthday treat for a friend. I thought hard before eating a portion of it (maybe 40g?) to see how I would react. Would I crave more and end up licking the bowl out? Result: I found nothing tasty about it, in fact it made me wonder why I used to eat so much of the stuff so mindlessly . About an hour later I felt awful, really tired and irritable although I was definitely not hungry! Conclusion: I won't be doing that again in a hurry