The 'Towards a Sugar-Free Future' Challenge

Pollybear

I knew it wasn't real hunger because I ate proper meals.   Just in my brain.  There have been many many times when I haven't held out and I know there will be again.  I just keep remembering "one day at a time".

Honey_Bear

I know that feeling really well Polly Bear, when you are gnawing on table legs because you need to satisfy that craving but know that if you do you'll be disappointed in yourself.  You're absolutely right about the only way to deal with it is one day at a time, but the whole reason for this Challenge is that I could say to myself early on:  Not today, but I can tomorrow.  Once I'd got to the point where I could go two days in a row I knew I was on to something, but it took four weeks before I even attempted to do that. 

However, I'm now back to where I started and it's sheer frustration with not being able to do anything and being in a state of waiting all the time - waiting for a prescription to be issued and being worried that it might not come in time (it still hasn't), waiting for people to return phone calls because I've got little else to think about, waiting for my next appointment at the hospital (tomorrow - hurrah!) while I while away the hours.  It's a kind of boredom but not an unhappy one most of the time because I'm entertaining myself all the time, but it is a bit dull being stuck with my leg elevated pretty much all the time.  I've got a few questions I need answering tomorrow and then I'll feel better about life in general and stop with the sugar.  I'm not back to where I started but I am eating it every day and that's not good.

Pollybear

Is there any chance the hospital can sort you out some medication to go on with?

Honey_Bear

I'm going to ask them, but the cost would be on their budget as opposed to the GP's which is where it belongs so not only is it not their job to issue a prescription, they may not be allowed to do so. 

To be honest I've been really abstemious with it for various reasons but sometimes I need the stronger prescription only stuff and I'm almost out of it.  Being in pain isn't fun nor necessary. 

I'm really concerned about what it says about the service my GP's surgery is able to provide in the future if something doesn't change fairly soon.  We hear about waiting lists at hospitals, we hear about how hard it is to get an appointment to see a GP but this is something I'd never heard about and it doesn't make any kind of sense. 

There used to be eight GPs in the practice, there are now only four, presumably their number of patients hasn't fallen but not providing ANY service is still shocking.  I know there's a problem with recruiting GPs locally so I can't be angry, but I am frightened of the future.

Pollybear

It makes you wonder how many other of their patients are suffering, potentially with dangerous consequences.  It's bad enough being in pain but somebody could end up seriously ill.

cookie02

Well, I had another case of 'accidental sugar' yesterday.  We hate food waste so I planned to wake up early to bake a cake with some sad-looking apples.  Everything went to plan but I ended up having a slice of cake to taste it and I didn't even realise that I'd spoilt my sugar-free day until I noted it in my food spreadsheet!  The sugar level wasn't too high though as I only used a small amount of dark chocolate chips in the entire cake.  

Today, I've managed to restrain myself and I'm going to go ahead and call it a sugar-free day - that way, I know I won't nibble on anything now!

Pollybear, if you are hungry, it might be worth trying some non-sugary snacks instead of staying hungry.  Personally, I've found dates and date bars helpful, as well as pecans (spiced or just plain) and I genuinely like the rice/lentil cakes that you can find in the supermarket now.  I think it was Morning_walker that suggested getting the basic ones and then adding eg spices or other flavour to them and I've tried that too 😋 .  You have incredible willpower to continue if you're hungry but I think maybe if you find the right snack(s) you will make things a bit easier for yourself.  Well done on persisting 🏅.  

Honey_Bear, did you have any luck with your prescription?  As long as you enjoyed the sugary rubbish and keep going, that's what counts! 

My goal for the week was 4.75 days but, since I indulged on Monday, I'm going to aim for 3.75 and hope that I don't lapse again... 

Good luck, everyone!

Pollybear

Thanks for the suggestions cookie but I know I'm not really hungry.  When magazines write about tricks that stop you being hungry I just don't understand.  For me it's nothing to do with hunger.  It's about eating chocolate or biscuits or whatever.  I could eat a full roast dinner with pudding and if I was having one of those days I could still eat a big bar of chocolate.  I think I have a wire crossed somewhere in my system!   If I eat something sensible it makes no difference.  I just eat that and then the "wrong" thing.  So I may as well just try to ride it out.  I often fail btw in case you think I'm good at this

cookie02

I love your description, Pollybear - I think I might have the same condition as my mum always says that I must have been born with a 2nd stomach for sweets.  Apparently, I would always say that I'm full after a meal but then I'd gobble up any cakes, chocolate or ice cream 😂.  It's only the risk of serious health issues has made me finally try harder to resist the sugar!  Well done for persisting ⭐️ .  We all fail but I really believe that the key part is getting back to trying to be sugar-free again.  Personally, I don't believe I will ever be totally sugar-free and I don't really want to be either as I genuinely enjoy cakes and chocolates etc - I just want to reduce it enough that they aren't a serious risk to my health anymore.  With Honey_Bear's challenge, I feel like I'm gradually getting there.  I'm not one of those people that sees food as purely fuel.  I have a friend who does and he seems to be able to eat healthily regardless of how something tastes.  Part of me wishes that I had that talent and part of me feels like it is quite sad that he doesn't seem to distinguish between food - for him, whether it's a cake or a carrot, he just sees it all as food and doesn't really love or hate anything.  

After my failure on Monday, I'm pleased to report that I struggled through and managed to be sugar-free on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Today, I'm going to stick with the challenge and stay sugar-free until this evening.  We're going out locally and I know the dessert options will be good so I'm looking forward to that!  This weekend, we will be visiting a friend and then seeing family on Sunday so there will be sugar but I'll try to stick to just one thing on Sunday so I can get through Monday.  That's the plan, anyway - we'll see how things stack up!

How are things going, Honey_Bear?  Did you finally get your prescription?  I hope your ankle is improving and that you aren't in too much pain.  

Morning_walker, have you had any progress with your scent experiment?  

I hope everyone is well and that you've been making progress with your goals this week.  Happy Friday! 🎉  

Honey_Bear

Hi All.  Interesting discussion, spot on with all your observations as far as I'm concerned.  I'm pretty sure that once our sugar consumption has gone up we find it hard to cut it back down again, so if we have a treat every day we really miss it on days we don't.  As a child we had chocolate biscuits once a week but now they're an everyday thing, and that's just one example of how we eat differently.  No wonder we have a national problem with obesity.   

I've had a bit of a disastrous week sugarwise but I'm kind of okay with it.  My inner slug has been rested enough and frankly I'm getting a bit stir crazy here with my leg elevated higher than my hips most of the time, and my frustrations have resulted in sugar consumption.  Not too excessive, but sugar none the less.  By 'not too excessive' I mean either one tube of fruit pastilles or all the red and purple ones from a bag of them one day, and all the green and yellow the next day.  Or a 100g bar of chocolate.  Every day.  Today it was the annual MacMillan cake day so as we were out for breakfast after our C19 boosters and the café had a fundraising cake table ... it was inevitable.  Excellent cake I have to say, but unfortunately after I ate my slice for tea the dog nabbed half of Belovéd's.  Whoops a daisy.  Not good for the dog or Beloved's morale.  Anyway, we are where we are and I'm just accepting things are the way they are for the time being and getting through as best as I can.  As yet I haven't gone back to 200g bars every single day so it's progress.

I had a Fracture Clinic appointment and asked for help with pain relief.  A Registrar came and gave me the general low down on the most effective way to deal with it at this stage so I don't need that prescription after all, but it was a slightly unsettling experience overall in that both the plaster technician and the doctor pretty much trashed all the information I'd been given by other doctors about medication, and the hospital regarding my appointment.  One of them also had a face like a slapped !!!!!! all the way through the appointment so Belovéd and I came away with an unsettled feeling.  I think NHS staff morale is so low that sometimes some people come across in an unfortunate way but I can totally understand why that happens and I truly feel for them.  All they want is to help people to heal and the circumstances under which they're working are conspiring against them and the patients.  Of course there are crossed wires. 

I've bought myself an exercise bike (Ebay, excellent heavy thing, terribly cheap because no-one else wanted it, the guy delivered it free of charge because he was just delighted to get it out of the house, I'm very lucky) because cycling is an excellent way to strengthen the ankle once I can weight bear again.  I can't wait to get on it but I'm not allowed to for another couple of weeks.  I fully intend to lose some of the extra weight with it, too over the winter while I strengthen all the leg and ankle muscles while it's raining and cold and windy and icy outside.  Win win.

hazeldreams

Honey_Bear said:

I've been struggling with my sugar consumption for years and no matter how hard I try I don't seem to be able to just cut it out.  I've tried everything I can think of over the past five years but nothing's worked.  It's time to try an approach that has worked for something else.

Just over seven years ago I joined the Giving Up / Cutting Down Alcohol forum thread and posted every single day for two solid years.  The wonderful support on that thread helped me stop drinking altogether and I'm still absolutely certain that without that support I wouldn't have succeeded.  So, despite having been able to give up both smoking and drinking by going cold turkey I just can't hack giving up sugar on my own, and I wondered if anyone else has the same problem and would like to try this approach.   

I'm at least a stone (6.35kgs) overweight and that's entirely down to sugar, which I started over-eating when I gave up smoking, but when I stopped drinking it got totally out of hand.  One of the wise people on the Giving Up / Cutting Down thread said it was because the sugar content of alcohol is so high that when you cut out the booze, your consumption of sugar increases to balance it.  I don't know if that's true but it certainly seemed to be so for me because the weight was slowly piling on after I stopped smoking and the rate has certainly increased since going alcohol-free.

If I stopped craving sugar I'd stop buying the stuff in chocolate and biscuits and ice cream and desserts and .... all the rest of it, which is where the MSE thing comes in.  Of itself each £1 spent on a bar of chocolate isn't a massive amount, but I've been tracking my chocolate spend this year, and by the end of July I'd racked up £143 on chocolate alone - and I started the year with a big stash.   That's just chocolate.  I also had a sugar stash, and there are only four bags left - the rest went in puddings, biscuits, cakes, jam, marmalade and anything else I can think of making. 

It has to stop.

However, denial on it's own just doesn't work for me so dieting isn't my way forward.  I'm going to wean myself off this stuff and if anyone would like to join me that would be really, really helpful.

From tomorrow, Monday, I will be cutting out sugar on Mondays - for the rest of the month.

From September I will be cutting out sugar on Mondays and Tuesdays.

In October, no sugar on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

November - Monday to Thursday will be sugar-free.

December - sugar on weekends only.

There are exceptions.  I am not a sugar-nazi and I am only talking about added sugar, so fruit is fine, mayo and tomato ketchup stay on the edible list despite both containing sugar, and if there happens to be a birthday or a highday or holiday that falls during the week I intend to eat whatever happens to be on offer that day.  If we go out for a meal with friends and other people want dessert, I'll probably continue to share one with my Belovéd.  I am not a purist about this because having tried that approach I just know I'll fail.  I'm planning on being pragmatic because I believe I stand a better chance of succeeding by being so.

I'll post daily, whether I eat sugar or not.  When I don't I'll need to record those successes, and when I do eat sugar I need to hold myself accountable for whatever it is that I'm eating that I know I really shouldn't be eating but can't seem to help myself.

This is NOT a diet.  It's a change in the way I live my life, so it's about breaking old bad habits and setting up newer healthier ones.

Anyone else fancy having a go?

I appreciate that I'm incredibly late to this challenge, but having just discovered this thread and read your first post THIS IS SO ME! I'm still on my alcohol free journey (3rd attempt, this time I'm just under 1 month in; longest stint I've managed is 10 months) and my sweet tooth is in overdrive! I'm still 2 stone heavier than lockdown too (But I was too skinny then, so I'd be happy with a stone loss).

I'll be a while reading all the posts and catching up, but any immediate tips would be so welcomed!

Thanks,

Hazel!