Quitting sugar help

[OldDorisDoris]

Can anyone advise on any books or apps to help with quitting sugar?
I'm consuming far too much and have really started to notice the impact it has on my mood and appearance. Or would hypnosis be better? Any advice welcome

You need to go low carb as it is the carbs and the sugar together that affect the moods. Checkout Michael Moseley on this and consider keto type eating.

You can go no sugar without low carbing. What people don't tell you about low carbing is that you are depriving your body of certain nutrients. You probably won't get enough fibre which can lead to bowel cancer. Also after a year there's no evidence that low carb is any better for weight loss than calorie counting. For some people, like me, the increased fat increase can cause serious issues.

Start label reading, it's surprising how much sugar is in savoury food. If you cook from scratch it's much easier than if you buy processed food. I would also replace things like rice and pasta with wholemeal varieties.

Thank you for your replies. I'm thinking it's probably more processed sugar I need to quit, as maybe cutting it out completely would be unrealistic for me and I'd be setting myself up to fail. Is that even possible? To have a low sugar diet, or is it all or nothing? I'd like to still have honey in my porridge for example, but I'm unsure whether that would count as processed. Are sugar alternatives better or worse? I'd love if someone could educate me on this

Bumping

I have sultanas in my porridge - it helps with the sweet taste but I don't feel as bad as it's one of my 5 a day!
What other sugar do you want to cut out?

I've just started reading "A Case Against Sugar" by Gary Taubes, bought from Amazon. Seems interesting enough. Cadbury's Creme Eggs are my weakness at the moment however I have been able to go from having two sugars in hot drinks to having none and giving up all fizzy drinks. My skin is better for it and my eyes aren't as puffy. I'm hoping this book will help with the willpower to cut chocolate right down.

I gave up sugary hot drinks by just not drinking any at all for about 4 months and then when I started again I didn't add any sugar. Now I'm amazed I could drink them at all. I worked out on one day alone I could have 16 teaspoons of sugar just from my cups of tea, let alone anything else I was consuming. Shocking.

Fizzy drinks were more difficult as I don't like the after taste of artificial sweetener so, again, I just gave them up and drank tap water and now I prefer it.

You can track the amount of sugar you are taking by using a free app like My Fitness Pal and entering your daily food and drink intake. It can be a bit of an eye-opener!

Refined sugar is supposedly more addictive than cocaine so I'm not surprised that anyone struggles to give it up. I was brought up having two sugars in tea from about the age of 5 or 6, drinking strongly diluted Vimto and being given a spoonful of sugar by my mum as a daily treat. Twice a week my mum would buy us about 5 chocolate bars or packets of sweets when she went food shopping, which I would eat in a couple of hours and I would eat a whole packet of biscuits to myself after school everyday waiting for my mum to come home from work. Surprisingly I've still got all my own teeth and I'm still relatively slim (lockdown boredom and peri-menopause not withstanding). It wasn't until I had my own children that I realised how bad my own childhood diet was.

I've heard good things about an Allan Carr book. I did quit sugar for 7 months once and several attempts before and after. To really go all in, there's no ketchup, drinks or foods not cooked by you. No to most yoghurts etc etc etc.

My advice though? It's not sustainable...maybe choose specific ways to cut down sugar. E.g. I no longer really drink sugar. It's such a large amount and it's far too easy to down it without even feeling the benefit of a treat.

Mashed banana in porridge for breakfast

Greek yoghurt and fruit for treats.

Stop buying sugary food and then you can't eat it