The 'Towards a Sugar-Free Future' Challenge

Honey_Bear

Hi there @hazeldreams and welcome to the Challenge! 

Massively well done on the alcohol front, and I know exactly how hard that is.  It took me several attempts to give up smoking but I eventually succeeded so I always thought I should be able to give up the booze, but for a long time I didn't actually think I could and didn't see a way I could enjoy social things without it.  I tried a couple of times in a real way, not the 'Never again' of the morning after but really meaning to stop drinking until eventually there was one evening when even I knew I'd gone too far.  That gave me the impetus and the Giving up / Cutting Down Thread and a lovely lady called Belle who runs 'Tired of Thinking About Drinking' website between them provided the support I needed to make the difference and be successful.  It is possible, but it's hard to begin with, is all I can say so if you can find a support mechanism that makes it a bit easier, do use it.  Belle says if you can get to Day 60 you're way more likely to make it through (she runs a 100 Day Challenge).  I've never gone back to drinking and the quality of my life is vastly improved.  I'm never tempted to drink but it's been about 8 years so I don't think about it any more.  (Slightly untrue in that I still love the smell of red wine when I hold Belovéd's glass while he sits down at the cinema!)  Huge good luck with it.  I think everything I'm about to say applies to alcohol by the way, but here I'm specifically talking about what I've learned on this sugar-free journey - which I have to say I haven't been as successful at yet, but I'm working on it.

It would be great if you could join us and if you read the thing from the start you'll find all of our collective wisdom along the way.  Sorry it's so long but it has been a year and posting random thoughts helps, whether they're daily or less often, I've found.  There are definitely things that you can do to make it easier for yourself, but only you can know what is likely to make you eat sugar, or what makes it harder or easier to resist.  For what it's worth, here are my Top 7, but they don't always work for me as the past few weeks definitely show.

1.  Work out what pushes you to eating sugary things even though you think you should be able to resist them.  (In my case, always around 3.30pm)

2.  Are there specific scenarios that make resistance nearly impossible?  (In my case, going out for coffee, lunch or dinner with a friend.  Breakfast - absolutely no problem at all.)

3.  Is there something sugary in particular that you find it really difficult to resist?  In that case, just don't buy it or have it in the house.  (In my case - chocolate.)

4.  Can you find a substitute that could, theoretically, be classed as a healthy alternative that satisfies your sugary cravings that you can eat when seriously tempted but able to resist, just, but doing so doesn't lessen the cravings?  (In my case, those date bars from L!dl do the trick most, or at least some, days.)

5.  Aim for small successes.  If you normally have jam on your toast at breakfast, see if you can go without it by substituting something else like peanut butter or marmite.  Just getting through that first sugar hit of the day without sugar might be a victory for one person but not mean anything to anyone else.  You can build on a success, no-one can build on a failure, so if you take it one meal at a time you're doing well.  Reset the clock, so to speak, every day or every week so that you always start with a fresh approach.  Yesterday is gone, today is what needs your focus.

6.  Stay positive for your own sake, and everyone else's.  Beating yourself up if you slip up won't help anyone.  It's important to be kind to yourself and everyone else.

7.  Make a commitment to post honestly on this Thread.  (We ALL slip up, but by being honest about it I find I don't feel guilty about it, and posting gives me a chance to reflect on why I slipped up.)

It would be lovely if you could join us.  I totally understand why some people drop in, leave a few comments and then disappear but what really helps motivate me is being part of a community that is struggling with the same level of tempation and finds strategies to deal with it.  I was hoping a year in I'd be further on than I am but I'm a lot better off having resisted some of the sugar I would have normally eaten, so I have everyone who's contributed to be thankful for.  Cookie's been an absolute star right from the start and really, really helpful.

I felt so grim yesterday (post vaccine reaction) that I wasn't tempted at all, so for the most uncomfortable of reasons I can count yesterday as a success.  Belovéd was fine, by the way.  I've had three different vaccines over the course of this pandemic and all four occasions have resulted in 24 hours of feeling grim.  I've also had Covid, which resulted in me being a bit more tired than usual for three days, because it was a milder strain.  Hey ho, at least I'm up to date and feeling better today.

hazeldreams

Thanks so much for the warm welcome and your top tips @Honey_Bear, really appreciate it! 

Here’s some initial thoughts;

1. Work out what pushes you to eating sugary things even though you think you should be able to resist them.  (In my case, always around 3.30pm) 

For me it’s stress and boredom. The problem is that I have a lot of stress in my life right now and as a result reaching for chocolate/cake has become a habit which is proving very difficult to break. Even more so recently, as I have suddenly found that 1 choc bar is not enough, and have scoffed 3,4,5 in a day, I’m ashamed to say.

2.  Are there specific scenarios that make resistance nearly impossible?  (In my case, going out for coffee, lunch or dinner with a friend.  Breakfast - absolutely no problem at all.)

Nope. Since I stopped drinking it’s something I can’t seem to resist in any scenario.

3.  Is there something sugary in particular that you find it really difficult to resist?  In that case, just don't buy it or have it in the house.  (In my case - chocolate.)

Chocolate. Chocolate. Chocolate. Oh and cake. 

4.  Can you find a substitute that could, theoretically, be classed as a healthy alternative that satisfies your sugary cravings that you can eat when seriously tempted but able to resist, just, but doing so doesn't lessen the cravings?  (In my case, those date bars from L!dl do the trick most, or at least some, days.)

apple with almond butter. 

5.  Aim for small successes.  If you normally have jam on your toast at breakfast, see if you can go without it by substituting something else like peanut butter or marmite.  Just getting through that first sugar hit of the day without sugar might be a victory for one person but not mean anything to anyone else.  You can build on a success, no-one can build on a failure, so if you take it one meal at a time you're doing well.  Reset the clock, so to speak, every day or every week so that you always start with a fresh approach.  Yesterday is gone, today is what needs your focus.

This has been the biggest learn of my AF journey. Just take one day, one hour, one minute at a time. The feelings will pass. 

6.  Stay positive for your own sake, and everyone else's.  Beating yourself up if you slip up won't help anyone.  It's important to be kind to yourself and everyone else.

Again, learnt so much about this concept through the AF journey. YWA and meditation really helps me with this. 

7.  Make a commitment to post honestly on this Thread.  (We ALL slip up, but by being honest about it I find I don't feel guilty about it, and posting gives me a chance to reflect on why I slipped up.)

Don't worry, I think I have that gene that means I can’t lie! I’d just persecute myself if I did! Ha!

Overall I’m relatively pleased with how yesterday went and how today is going so far. 

Yesterday, I asked DH to hide the chocolate from me. He did, and whilst I was tempted to ask him to get me some, I didn’t. The feeling passed. I did however cave later on when I saw carrot cake on offer in a cafe where I was with my daughter. But, that was the only added sugar I had yesterday. So a zero chocolate day. 

Today, I’ve been focussing on upping the fruit and veg as I know this has helped my cravings in the past. I cooked a lovely Sunday lunch with carrot, swede, cabbage, peas, runner beans, nut roast, mash and roasters. It was amazing. 

I’ve not had any chocolate yet, but I am going to later with a cup of tea (decaf). It will just be an Aldi jive bar which is tiny. 

I like the idea of cutting down and avoiding the withdrawal symptoms. Life is challenging right now and I don’t want to add any more challenges into the mix! Haven’t had any after effects from just having a carrot cake yesterday  so I’m hoping this will continue as long as I have just the jive bar tonight. 

I am pleased though. This is the least sugar I’ve eaten in a very, very long time.

Thanks again for having me! Looking forward to being around like minded people! 

Hazel x 

Honey_Bear

Well done Hazel.  Giving up alcohol is a tough one and meaning to cut down on sugar at the same time might be too much on top, but if you can cut down on sugar you're doing really well.  I really meant it when I said aim foIr small successes, which is what this Thread is based on.  It's absolutely not about cutting out sugar altogether.  I would simple not be able to do that at this stage of my life.  Maybe one day, but certainly not now.

When I get out of sync with the Challenge Cookie's suggestion really helped - I go back to basics and started again.  When I'm back up and about I'll be going back to Mondays only for a week, then Mondays and Tuesdays etc.  I found that worked really well to get me into the swing of things and when I was at the stage of wanting to chew table legs I was so desperate for sugar I could tell myself, 'Not Today, Fine Tomorrow.'  Amazingly that got me through (I wouldn't try that with alcohol though).

I don't go mad on High Days and Holidays, or when I'm hiking, but I do really enjoy being able to think about chocolate and cake on those days.  I've had one biscuit and three fruit pastilles today and that was enough, which is most unusual for me!  It's also huge progress.

I'm sorry you have so much stress in your life.  I hope being here helps a bit, rather than making it harder.

Good luck.

cookie02

Welcome @hazeldreams!  Wow, 10 months alcohol-free is an amazing achievement ⭐️.  As Honey_Bear says, cutting down sugar is hard but I believe alcohol is harder, plus you already sound like you know your triggers for sugar, so you are already well on your way.  So far, Honey_Bear's challenge has been amazing for me and my family (thank you, Honey_Bear) and I hope you will also see the benefits and look forward to learning from your ideas and experiences too.  

Honey_Bear has covered the key things in the post above.  If you are catching-up on posts, you will see that there have been times when we've struggled and the only things I'd add to Honey_Bear's post are:

1) If you lapse and eat sugar, make sure you enjoy it 😋.  

2) Don't let a lapse turn into an excuse to go sugar-crazy for the rest of that day/week/month.  I used to think, 'oops, I've had a chocolate so I might as well have dessert since I'm not going to make my sugar-free day today.'  For me, this was a vicious spiral as I'd then find myself thinking that I wouldn't make my goals for the week so I'd plan to start again the following week.  Now, if I lapse, I try and make sure its for something I really want and that I enjoy it.  Afterwards, I try to get myself back on tract as soon as possible (eg at the next meal).  

hazeldreams said:

Today, I’ve been focussing on upping the fruit and veg as I know this has helped my cravings in the past. I cooked a lovely Sunday lunch with carrot, swede, cabbage, peas, runner beans, nut roast, mash and roasters. It was amazing. 

I’ve not had any chocolate yet, but I am going to later with a cup of tea (decaf). It will just be an Aldi jive bar which is tiny. 

I like the idea of cutting down and avoiding the withdrawal symptoms. Life is challenging right now and I don’t want to add any more challenges into the mix! Haven’t had any after effects from just having a carrot cake yesterday  so I’m hoping this will continue as long as I have just the jive bar tonight. 

I am pleased though. This is the least sugar I’ve eaten in a very, very long time.

Thanks again for having me! Looking forward to being around like minded people! 

Hazel x 

Well done, Hazel - this is a great result, especially for a weekend!  Once you do the sugar-free Monday > sugar-free Mondays & Tuesday >> sugar-free Mondays, Tuesday & Wednesdays etc, we aim to be sugar-free from Monday morning until Friday evening which I admit that I look forward to A LOT.  It sounds like you're already aiming for multiple sugar-free or low-sugar days, which is great.  Remember that you can re-start the challenge with Mondays only whenever you need to reset and get back on track, similar to what Honey_Bear plans to do.  Friday evening counts as the start of the weekend and we don't have any official sugar limits for the weekend, although it is much easier to be sugar-free on a Monday, if you don't go too sugar-crazy on Sunday.  

On that note, sadly I didn't take my own advice and went a bit sugar-crazy today...  I had cake, chocolates and gingerbread - all were lovely and I enjoyed them with my family.  Tomorrow will be tough but I have a busy schedule and I'm hoping it will help keep me on the straight and narrow!

Good luck with your goals (also with the alcohol), I hope things become less stressful for you and that this challenge helps you as much as it helps me 🤞.  

Honey_Bear said:

 Cookie's been an absolute star right from the start and really, really helpful.

I felt so grim yesterday (post vaccine reaction) that I wasn't tempted at all, so for the most uncomfortable of reasons I can count yesterday as a success.  Belovéd was fine, by the way.  I've had three different vaccines over the course of this pandemic and all four occasions have resulted in 24 hours of feeling grim.  I've also had Covid, which resulted in me being a bit more tired than usual for three days, because it was a milder strain.  Hey ho, at least I'm up to date and feeling better today.

Thank you, Honey_Bear - I really appreciate this thread and all of your ideas and support too ⭐️.  Sorry to hear that you weren't feeling well after the vaccine.  I hope you are ok now and that your ankle is improving.  It's interesting that the doctors gave a different recommendation but, as long as you're seeing progress, that is the key thing.  

Pollybear, how is everything going?  Are you sticking with your plan to just take the paper voucher to avoid temptation?  

Hope everyone is having a lovely evening and that good luck for the coming week!

Pollybear

I have been keeping up with the voucher - about 10 days now.  I have had no chocolate but I'm not completely sugar free and I'm not trying to be.  I had toast with lemon curd for tea, but only two slices and it was my tea not an extra treat.  I had a bun the other day but again it was for a meal.  I make sure I have a sensible breakfast and a proper lunch.   But the thing that I have to completely avoid to enable me to stick to it is chocolate every time.  It just throws a switch inside me and I cannot stop.   The only way is not to buy it.

  It's like a drug to me.   I can resist biscuits, cakes or sweets - although I like them all - but chocolate just calls to me.

I just take each day as it comes and hope for the best and hope to have the strength to resist.  In a perfect world I'd have a sensible tea as well but my world isn't perfect.

cookie02

Good morning!  My goals for this week are to be sugar-free from now until Friday evening.  Today will be tough as I had a bit more sugar than normal (for a Sunday) yesterday but things are already busy so I hope that will distract me from any sugar cravings. 

Pollybear, well done on persisting with the voucher.  10 days is a great achievement!  I'm sure you posted a while ago about not being able to change and yet you are already changing your habits🏅😎.  I hear you re: not being completely sugar-free or trying to be.  I don't see myself ever being 100% sugar-free and that isn't my goal right now either (and I'm not sure it will be but who knows?). After doing this challenge for the past year, what I've concluded is:

- I want to get control of my sugar gremlins so I can keep eating sugar (within limits, like how you do with your tea) but without heading into the danger zone for all the health problems that excess sugar consumption brings.  

- I've learnt a lot about this, not least due to jackieblack sharing her experience, which prompted me to do a lot more reading. I think her comment about addressing this now - while we can still eat sugar and have choices- really resonated with me.  I don't want to find myself in a situation where I have to quit sugar 'cold turkey' for medical reasons like what she described.  Instead, I see this challenge as a way to gradually reduce my sugar intake so that (hopefully) it never gets to the point of having any serious health impact and I can continue to enjoy sugar but not feel controlled by it.  

- I've realised that doing this challenge has also had a positive effect on my immediate familiar, my parents, their neighbours etc.  I've also got my uncle trying the Mondays/Tuesdays pattern as he was diagnosed as having pre-diabetic sugar levels.  My family have seen that this isn't just a fad and, as a result, quite a few of them have changed their eating patterns (some more than others but it is all good!).  

Pollybear said:

I just take each day as it comes and hope for the best and hope to have the strength to resist.  In a perfect world I'd have a sensible tea as well but my world isn't perfect.

I think this is a really great outlook to have, Pollybear.  We all lapse but just accepting that and trying to get back on track is what makes the difference in the longer-term, at least for me.  Even yesterday, although I ate chocolates and cake, it was far, far less than I'd have eaten on a similar day in the past, and I am going to try and get myself back on track, so that is still progress .  I think being sugar-free is an amazing long-term goal but I'll be very happy if I manage to achieve a low-sugar lifestyle on a permanent basis and this challenge is definitely helping me to get there!  

Back to this week: on Wednesday, we'll be meeting some friends for dinner.  I'm going to try and skip dessert - I have decided to just tell my friends beforehand as I don't want to end up ordering something just because the others are having dessert.  We'll also be out on Friday evening but that will count as part of the weekend so I'll definitely enjoy something sweet then!  Both of these are small local businesses and, while we're still being quite careful about going out (due to family health / Covid increases locally etc), we are trying to support our local businesses wherever possible.  

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend and good luck meeting your goals for this week! 

Pollybear

Today I'm trying to tell myself I don't deserve a treat!  Last week I had my shingles injection and today I went over for my flu and pneumonia injections and they did the covid booster as well.   If I get ill after that lot it really won't be fair.  But the little voice inside says I deserve chocolate.  Good job I don't have any

hazeldreams

Morning all,

Yesterday didn't work out as planned but I did have some great learns.

I eat my main meal at lunchtime and I realised that immediately afterwards I'm looking for something sweet. I'm at my desk working while I'm eating, so maybe the not paying attention to the fact that I've eaten/I'm full is the trigger, or may be the fact I had to stop eating and take 3 separate calls contributed and made me feel fed up and in need of a treat. I'm not sure but I'm going to try and take myself away from my desk to eat from now on. It's time to try something new. What I'm doing didn't work yesterday. I went looking for the hidden chocolate and found it in the most obvious of places! Of course, this led to me taking one jive bar, then a racer bar, then another racer bar. And of course, I ate them all. Luckily they are only treat size but still way more than I need. I had soup for tea but also gobbled up the leftover slice of pizza that the girls had left. Not my proudest moment.

Today I'm going to take one jive bar with me. I know I'll hit the shops looking for something sweet if I don't and end up spending money too and I want another NSD. It's fruit basket day at work too, so I'll be able to snack on that if the cravings start to come calling too.

On the plus side, I did another yoga session last night of around 20 mins - it was YWA's new Power video that's just been released. It was really good and just about the right level for me. 

Anyway, I best dash. I'm leaving for work in 30 mins and I'm still in my pjs! 

Have a lovely day all,

Hazel x

Honey_Bear

Sorry to have been tardy again.  Thank you for the commiserations about the vaccine reaction - I've reacted that way to all four jabs.  When I had Covid I just felt tired for about three days.  I won't be getting any more jabs against it but we've booked our 'flu jabs for next week on the way back to the Fracture Clinic because at our age it's sensible and I haven't reacted to any of them.  I'm better today but all this lying around keeping the leg elevated isn't doing my back any good at all and now that I'm totally off painkillers (yay!) I can feel that stress, so I felt a bit sorry for myself yesterday again.  This morning I decided that even if I can only clean up to two feet from the floor I was going to begin to get a bit more active again and the bedroom and en suite is looking a lot better with the paintwork all dusted and washed and the floor vacuumed thoroughly.  I've a bit more to do but it's a lot better and I feel quite virtuous. 

Cookie, your couple of additional points are spot on.  I find once I've eat sugar / chocolate during the day I want more later so if I do indulge I try to make it as late in the day as possible.  You're right about the health thing; I don't think about that side of it much because as far as I know although I'm a bit overweight, and probably slightly more so after six weeks of lying about, I don't think I've got a problem in that area.  It is, however, alarming common now and I think it's because we all share a society where 'treating' ourselves is the norm rather than special.  I want to get back to it being special for me and slowly but surely I think I'm getting there.  It's just taking longer for me to adjust my appetites.

I'm so glad you had a Sugar Crazy Day!  I was beginning to think I was the only person on this Thread who had no willpower at all!  You're only human and that kind of occasional binge is sometimes the only way to feel satisfied.  We don't do it often now, but it was a part of my life for a while, so the fact that it's a very, very occasional thing is actually huge progress.  We focus too much on our slip ups and not enough on the fact that we've changed this for the better hugely over the past year and a bit.  I hope you followed your own advice and thoroughly enjoyed it!

It's gladdened my heart that your whole family is giving this idea a bit of try.  I'm thrilled that the rings of positive healthy choices are spreading out. 

Polly Bear - 10 days is AMAZING!  Hugely well done.  I think your compromise of lemon curd etc is absolutely right in the circumstances - if going cold turkey and trying to change the habit of a lifetime is more likely to lead to a binge or over-indulgence than cutting right back or cutting out the real fiend, chocolate, is the right way to go.  Anything, anything at all that works is the right way to go.  I so identify with your feelings about chocolate - all things being equal I can resist most things now if I set my mind to it, but chocolate is different.

With all of those jabs you sound like a pincushion!  Locally they won't do the C19 and 'flu jab on the same day this year as they did last year, but I've certainly not heard of three in one appointment anywhere.  I'm glad you're fully up to date with your jabs and hope that you sailed through without any problems.

Hazel Dreams I think you're right about not having your lunch at your desk.  We used to have a lot of French and Italian scientists staying here for a few weeks at a time while they were working at local marine science labs and they were all absolutely appalled by the fact that it was normal in the UK to a) eat sandwiches for lunch, and b) that English people eat at their desks.  I used to do that at work and I think it was, on reflection, not a good choice because I never really switched off from work at all.  Ironically I worked for several years in a hospital where there was a very good, affordable staff and visitors restaurant but I eshewed it because I was too lazy to get up off my butt and walk to it.  Given my time there again I would do as one of my favourite colleagues did every day - go for a walk after eating a proper lunch.  On rainy days she walked around the massive hospital and knew it better than anyone else as a result!  If you can filll up on fruit and do a bit of yoga as well as changing your desk lunch habit I hope you see and feel really quick results. 

I lapsed again yesterday at teatime but it was only a 100g bar of milk chocolate and Belovéd ate two fifths of it so it wasn't as bad as it used to be.  That's now my mantra and as long as I can say that while I deal with this immobility I'm going to regard it as progress overall if not every day as successful as I'd like it to be or as I know it can be.  Today's good news is that Belovéd has discovered the pedometer on his phone works on my new exercise bike so I'll be able to track my mileage cycled when I can hoick myself up on it and get pedalling.  I'm so looking forward to being vertical again.

Pollybear

In the end yesterday I had two toffees (DH's) but stopped there so I think that's not too bad.  Today we went for a walk with DD1 and had coffee and while she and DH had cake I didn't.   I get on better not having it at all than trying to eat a little bit.   That just presses the inner switch and off I go!