The 'Towards a Sugar-Free Future' Challenge

~FlowerPot~

@Honey_Bear thank you for you reply. I didnt want to 'hog' your thread!

I am well aware how hard it is to give up sugar I have tried many times before. So your your absolutely right slow and steady wins the race!! lol.

So for me it begins with reducing those snacks!! Starting with the rich tea biscuits I often have wiht my morning cup of coffee, before breakfast!! They are gone. Then Im trying to hold out and have one snack after lunch and one after tea and then Ill reduce that to one in the evening. At the same time I need to have hnady alternatives like olives / nuts and seeds etc (but not crisps!!!)

Yesterday I did quite well, well I though I had until this evening I realised I had had a strawberry cornetto after tea, completely unaware of it oops!

Today is also going quite 1 snack after lunch and no biscuits woohoo, and not even tempted to eat the xmas chocs that are still left!

Honey_Bear

Commenting is not hogging Flower!  It's sharing, and what keeps this thread alive - the last thing I want is to be talking to myself in public!  Not my thing at all - this is a Challenge, not a diary.  The more the merrier - quite literally.  Anything you find out that will help others of us on the same journey is useful, every victory where you skip a habitual sugary snack is something we can all celebrate, and every slip is human and reminds us that we all struggle with this, and need to be as kind to ourselves as we are to each other.  It's all welcome here.

So, well done on skipping the first sugar hit of the day - the longer you can leave that the easier the day will be, I've found.  Belovéd often brings me a tangerine with my first coffee, after my tea in the morning, and that's a habit I've learned to love. 

As for R!ch T3a, as a child they were my favourite biscuits until I was about 10 when I discovered chocolate biscuits.  Ahhh, happy days.

~FlowerPot~

Yey! Its a lovely happy place this forum! Thank you for you kind words.

Im not sure I could eat a tangerine first thing, but I have been known to have hot water with a chunk of orange, when I was trying to give up coffee!! (which was much easier than sugar!!, but Im back on that too, so mabybe not as easy as I thought to keep it up long term!!)

I think I had convicned myself because rich teas are plain they dont really count

flowers

x

Honey_Bear

Flowers - If you're used to having a sugar hit from the RTs, then a tangerine would taste very tart so it wouldn't work for you at all!   Those of us that have been doing the Challenge for a while have each found some foods that work for us, and they're all slightly different, but if you read back you'll get some ideas of what might work for you as a substitute. 

What I find doesn't work for me is thinking that I'll just go without anything and hope that my willpower will be enough to get me through.  Turns out I have the willpower of a puppy next to a bowl of chicken. 

What you might find would be sweet enough to give you the hit, but healthy enough for you to feel virtuous., is something like dried apricots, figs or dates - all full of sugar but if you stick at two or three they're one of you're five a day, healthy, full of fibre and therefore a great alternative.

At this stage the most important thing to consider is how to wean yourself off the processed sugar on to food that nourishes your body and soul.  I cannot stress enough that willpower alone is for the birds and puppies - if it worked no-one would drink to excess, no-one would have a problem giving up smoking, and no-one would be overweight.  We've just got ourselves into a habit that is doing us harm and we need to replace that with a habit that benefits us, but if we try to do it too fast the result is our body and mind go into panic mode and we go back to the old habits as a way of comforting ourselves that everything is alright.  

Good luck with it.

So, Belovéd's birthday is over.  He wanted us to have tiramasu for dessert as he knows it's my favourite but the price of it in M&S was just excessive and I know he likes it but he doesn't love it.  In the end he settled for a slice of Christmas pudding and a vanilla custard, and I had my indulgent m@gnum.  I'm running the stocks down of those in the freezer so I'm not tempted over the next few weeks because they are a bit of a habit now.  I purposely didn't buy any chocolate for myself, and I'm not going mad this weekend.  I'd like to get back into the swing of this as gently and easily as possible.  Feedback on the chocolate Brazils was very good indeed so I think I will be using them as my allowed treat on sugary days in the future - mostly nut, very thin dark 70% L!dl fair trade chocolate and absolutely nothing else in them at all.  The leftovers from the melted chocolate were spread very thinkly on baking parchment and scattered with almonds for me, and sultanas and cranberries for Belovéd.  That'll do until I get hold of more Brazils.

All of that to say - Monday will be a No Sugar Day and if I can do it, Tuesday too.  If not Tuesday I'll aim for Wednesday as well.  I don't think I can let myself take a month to up it to two days etc because the weight is defo not good and I know from experience a couple of sugarfree days isn't going to kill me.

Makingabobor2

Well, after a good day, DH brought home a load of chocolates that were left over in his office from Christmas....QSs. So we sat & pigged about 4 each last night!!! .   I put the rest in the cupboard, hiding in a tin and told him we can have no more than 1 day now. Luckily there is quite a few I don't like....the toffee pennies and strawberry cream.  DH has far too much sugar though, as he has it in tea & coffee and refuses to give it up.  Anyway, onwards an upwards to another day. So far I have had decaff coffee x 2 and boiled egg and GF toast. Lets see how long it lasts. 
Have a good day everybody. 

~FlowerPot~

Thanks @Honey_Bear i think for me I just need to get up and have a breakfast, pre breakfast snacks just have to go! And I know if i start the day well, psychologically I do better. PLus i also know is gets harder as the day goes on, i think i have a 2.30 in the afternoon slump! I will try and remeber how I made those cocao and nut balls, cant remeber what they were called. They used to have nuts and dried fruit, a much more natural sugar hit at least!

Might have a go at the dark choc brazils, they sound lush!

flowers

x

Honey_Bear

Oh Making, that finishing up thing!  I know people are generous and kind but someone putting temptation in front of you on a day when you've been good - Aaarrrgh! 

I'm seriously impressed that you stopped at four.  I couldn't if there were any purple ones or green triangles left.

Honey_Bear

~FlowerPot~ said:

Thanks @Honey_Bear i think for me I just need to get up and have a breakfast, pre breakfast snacks just have to go! And I know if i start the day well, psychologically I do better. PLus i also know is gets harder as the day goes on, i think i have a 2.30 in the afternoon slump! I will try and remeber how I made those cocao and nut balls, cant remeber what they were called. They used to have nuts and dried fruit, a much more natural sugar hit at least!

Might have a go at the dark choc brazils, they sound lush!

flowers

x

You probably start the day earlier than me, so my 3.30 slump is probably your 2.30 slump, and the only way I've found of derailing the sugar cravings is to substitue something healthy like the date bars I found in L!dl but more importantly - more protein at both breakfast and lunch, and less carbohydrates at both meals.  I'm sure each individual is different but I'd got into the toast and sandwiches routine thinking it was normal but it really, really doesn't suit me at all.

If you can ditch the pre-breakfast snack that would probably be a good idea.  Bad habits are suprisingly difficult to break!

Have you got a recipe for the cocoa nut balls?  They might work for me too, and every alternative is a bonus.

cookie02

Good morning .  Welcome @~FlowerPot~ and good luck with your sugar goals!  It sounds like you're making a great start with identifying which meals you can change and the substitutes.  I can second Honey_Bear's suggestion of date bars as they have saved me from processed sugar on many occasions now.  I'm looking forward to cheering you on and sharing all our experiences. 

I've had a slightly weird (but positive) development where I ended up being sugar-free yesterday.  Yes, it was a Friday and I had intended to have my evening treat with the family but I was genuinely too full after dinner to even taste dessert.  I can't remember when everyone started chatting about protein but I'm increasingly convinced that this is making a huge difference. 

Honey_Bear said:

I'm seriously impressed that you stopped at four.  I couldn't if there were any purple ones or green triangles left.

Making, this was exactly my thought when I read your comment.  I wouldn't have stopped at four and I am happy to eat the random toffee pennies and the weird red ones etc.  Well done 🏅.  I hope your sinus issue is improving.  GPs don't have a lot of resources available and tend to have to rule things out one by one based on the symptoms that we share with them.  This makes it very slow (especially if your area is like mine and there is a pretty long wait for appointments).  I've got several skin conditions and these are a few things that helped me:

- cutting down alcohol (this was making my skin dehydrated - I still drink but far less often and with fewer drinks overall), 

- cutting down sugar for the reasons you described around inflammation.

- increased my water intake. 

Together, these have made a really big difference but it took a while to calm down (I had problems for years and was prescribed various steroid creams which worked in the beginning but made the problems worse in the long-run so it took a while to overcome everything).  I hope that you start to see the results from cutting back sugar soon.  

Honey_Bear, congratulations on your unexpected sugar-free day this week 🏅.  Glad the birthday celebrations went well and good luck for next week!  I will also be trying to have a sugar-free day on Monday.  I think my goal for next week will be one sugar-free day but I'm hoping I might even get a 2nd one in.  I'm going to see depending on how the weekend and Monday turn out.  Either way, I feel much better this year vs the same time last year.  I have some of that L1dl chocolate and might try your chocolate bark idea, thank you. 

Have a great weekend, everyone! 

Coffeekup

I've just stumbled across this thread, and it peaked my interest as I kind of have a sugar addiction too. But I can take it or leave it fortunately because I have a bigger addiction with savory food mainly sandwiches.

As I say I can take it or leave it, but once it's in the house I can't stop. For example I bought a 900g iced Christmas cake for Christmas on the 17th of December 36 hours later it was gone, it could have been gone quicker but I held off a few times. I was going to buy another (for Christmas) when I was in the supermarket a few days later but I said to myself "don't I had one for Christmas and I scoffed it".
My daughter got 5 selection boxes for Christmas, which annoyed me a bit as I say to family and friends "don't give her chocolate or sweets". I tend to only give her a treat once a week or two of chocolate, sweets or a dizzy drink and I do tend to stick to that as I want her to have a good teeth and health when she gets older. So to stop her eating the "crap" selection boxes I have had around 3 of them and gave the stuff I/we don't like to a friend at work for him or his kid's.

Back to what I said at the start I can take or leave surgery stuff, the easiest way for me to ignore it is not buy it in the first place and not let it in the house. But once it's in the house I can't leave it be, I'll be in the cupboard munching on it within a few hours. Evening's especially I can struggle with when on a cupboard hunt when I'm bored.

So my tips...
*No treats in the cupboards to satisfy my needs, I'll either go without, make a sandwich or have chopped fruit with low fat natural Greek yoghurt.
*I no longer have mayo as it upsets my gut, so as an alternative I use the Greek yogurt with a dollop of mustard instead.
*Cook all meals from scratch so you don't have to worry about added sugars or artificial sugars in ready made meals.
*Don't buy it, and certainly don't let it in the home.
*I found cutting back sugar similar to cutting back on salt. Once you've had a good number of meals without salting your food, when you do have a salty dish it makes me say "eww that's salty", I find it the same for sweets thing's... I tried a friend's sweet and sour chicken at new year's and my initial reaction in my head was "wow that's sweet". I could have carried on and ate more of his dish but I knew it was overly sweet and thought "if I have more I won't stop".

With all that being said I wish all of you who struggle more than I all the best.