Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Sugar in diet thread - am I alone?!

58 replies

DocCrumpet · 08/12/2023 08:36

Not trying to do a TAAT more just that since reading a thread the other day where a staggering majority (atleast at the point I read it) did not eat any refined sugar or very small amounts.

It's left me feeling a bit weird about my diet. I'm not overweight at all but am I being more unhealthy than I realise?

Breakfast most days is two crumpets with jam and a cup of tea with 2 sugars, glass of orange juice or apple juice. Lunch I'll usually have a folded flatbread with onions, salad, cheese, chilli jam. Dinners vary and we do make everything ourselves, as in make our own chips out of potatoes, make our own sauces for pastas and curries etc and we don't add sugar in them but we eat a lot of pizza, pasta, curries, stir fries, burgers with caramelised onions, roast dinners etc.

I'll have a couple of biscuits or chocolate a few times a week. I drink a lot of water but do also have a glass or two of lemonade most evenings. Occasional pack of sweets or chocolate or popcorn in an evening.

I kind of thought I was relatively normal?! But now I feel like I'm being really unhealthy and I'm questioning myself when I put jam on crumpets or chilli jam in my flatbreads or caramelise my onions.. do I need to cut back?!

OP posts:
seaweedhead · 08/12/2023 08:41

Sounds very normal to me. I didn't see the other thread but sounds like a variation of the mn competitive undereating to me.

TerrorAustralis · 08/12/2023 08:46

I have my own food and drink vices, so not judging. But it does sound like a lot of sugar to me.

The drinks stand out especially. Tea with two, juice and lemonade is a whole heap of sugar.

TerribleWoman · 08/12/2023 08:47

I would eat that way (except sugar in tea, that's revolting!) When I was younger. Now in my 50s I just can't eat that much sugar, it sends my blood sugar haywire. Are you young? 20s or early 30s?

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

General food Weight management
FlamMabel · 08/12/2023 08:48

I'm not a competitive under eater but I also think that's a lot of sugar. In the tea alone, but the rest of it is sugary too. Isn't sugar consumption linked to dementia?

BoohooWoohoo · 08/12/2023 08:48

There’s a lot of people with eating disorders on here so you need to take many eating posts with a pinch of pepper (I was going to say salt but that’s demonised by some posters here)

BigBoysDontCry · 08/12/2023 08:54

I'm on the other thread. I don't eat sugar anymore as I developed diabetes.

I'd love to be enjoying crumpets and jam right now. 😋

I wasn't overweight but in retrospect given a family predisposition to diabetes I should have been more careful.

I think lots on the thread had had similar wake up calls rather than it being a full range if people with relatively average diets.

Then once people post about how little sugar they eat, it puts people who do have sugar off replying (apart from the very bold who give no shits!)

willingtolearn · 08/12/2023 08:54

I am fully aware that excess sugar is linked to poor health outcomes and various diseases.

I've known this since I read 'Pure, white and deadly' in the 90s

However, I simply do not have the self control that other people demonstrate in their ability to cut out all sugar from their diet and I have a very sweet tooth.

So I'll just have to live with the consequences I guess.

I'm sure people will comment on how I'm a burden to the NHS and society but quite frankly I have served both well and am due pay-back.

BigBoysDontCry · 08/12/2023 08:57

And OP, I'd say you are relatively average but if I was to give any advice, I'd replace the fruit juice with just fruit and a glass of water and try to wean off sugar in your tea. If possible reduce the carb element a little. Otherwise it sounds lovely and perfectly normal.

NChance · 08/12/2023 08:58

I think mine is fairly average

Breakfast - smoothie with protein powder, Greek yoghurt, fruit

Lunch - sandwich and a few tortilla chips or scrambled eggs. I always have some chocolate too!

Tea - home cooked meal from scratch like cottage pie or lasagne or a salad (have veg or salad on the side and cook with lots of veg in stuff)
Sometimes (maybe once a week) a pudding or ice cream

Weekends I have a bagel with jam and cream cheese instead of the smoothie

Iateallllllthepies · 08/12/2023 09:06

We are all different.

I don’t eat any sugar at all. No fake sugar either. No pasta or bread or anything processed at all.

But, I did have an absolutely shocking wake up call which made change my entire mindset and life. I don’t want that one bit of nice looking cake, or a mince pie at a christmas party becuase I was absolutely terrified into changing everything. Those things now hold no joy for me.

I would never preach at anyone else.

Polis · 08/12/2023 09:09

Surely the sugar is in onions whether you caramelise them or not.

RampantIvy · 08/12/2023 09:10

I'm not a paragon of virtue when it comes to food. My downfall is cheese, and I like a glass or two of wine at the weekend, but that does sound like a lot of sugar to me. Sugar in hot drinks, plus lemonade and fruit juice, and jam for breakfast every day is a lot of sugar.

I do have a sweet tooth and enjoy baking, so I bake rarely these days, don't keep biscuits and sweets in the house and walk past the biscuit and sweets aisle in the supermarket. However, I did some baking yesterday and am finding it difficult to resist the little cakes I have made.

backonthemerrygoround · 08/12/2023 09:10

I have a friend who is a sylph who eats like you - I 100% would too if I could, but since hitting 40s it’s a very stark choice between cutting out sugar or piling on weight very quickly. I definitely didn’t used to be like this and know lots of people who aren’t, so it’s just probably down to that.

If you can get away with it, crack on! Sugar in tea prob the worst for your teeth though. Probably should give your teeth a quick clean after a breakfast like that but then again you probably already do!

Destiny123 · 08/12/2023 09:10

Common but not good for you, that is a lot of sugar

I'm a tea addict to keep warm and used to have sugar as my parents gave it to me but had to cut it out as I'd have rotten teeth given how much I drink, it's actually fine now I have no issue with plain tea. Do have sugar in it in the middle of a grim nightshift occasionally but otherwise don't miss it

Cumberbiatch · 08/12/2023 09:16

I think you should take diet threads with a pinch of salt (so to speak, haha!) There is a lot of disordered eating on here (myself included) and the removal of any one commonly found foodstuff rings alarm bells for me.

BogRollBOGOF · 08/12/2023 09:30

If faced with a choice between sugar and sweetners, I'll take the sugar. Sweetners don't like me, and I don't like them (they taste awful, have hours of stubborn aftertaste and give me thumping headaches. My observation is that as we've swapped sugar for them, waistlines and general health have not improved. Sugar is no great health food, but we do know what it does to the body.

If I avoid sweetness in the morning, it's easier to avoid through the rest of the day.

Life is too long to never enjoy things like crumpets in the absence of specific medical issues. We also need balance too.

But you have just reminded me that I bought crumpets a couple of days ago...
wanders off to the kitchen

Augustus40 · 08/12/2023 09:33

Sweeteners give cancer risk.

RampantIvy · 08/12/2023 09:36

Augustus40 · 08/12/2023 09:33

Sweeteners give cancer risk.

And some act as a laxative.

BadSkiingMum · 08/12/2023 09:40

I have a sweet tooth and adore a crumpet, but since cutting right down on bread I find that I can walk past the baked-goods section without any strong desires. Somehow eating fewer carbs seems to switch off your desire for other carbs and sweet things.

I have porridge for breakfast and occasionally buy a pastry in the morning but it’s not a regular thing. Last winter I was in a very stressful job and buying one most days which was definitely not good for me!

A couple of years ago I ditched sugar in hot drinks for Stevia (the Pure Via one).

I now have soup rather than sandwiches for lunch and lost half a stone fairly quickly through that one small change. I eat very little bread now and try to have rice cakes or Ryvita instead.

We have a treat (biscuits and/or dessert) on a Friday but try not to have them otherwise.

It’s all a bit tedious but necessary as you get older!

fishfingersandtoes · 08/12/2023 09:50

The key thing is you are a healthy weight. I wouldn't change things if I was you, if you're not yo-yoing and feel healthy where is the harm?
If you start to get fatter or feel worse as you get older you could cut out one of the main culprits (like lemonade or biscuits rather than caramelised onions) and see if it helps.

minipie · 08/12/2023 09:56

Your lunch and dinner sound fine but got to be honest that breakfast must be giving you an absolutely huge blood sugar spike! Which is not great for the body in quite a few ways. I would def try to reduce the sugar in your breakfast.

Wouldn’t worry about caramelised onions or chilli jam at all - unless you feel like you’ve got to the point where you can’t enjoy a meal without a sweet taste? If so then maybe worth trying to retrain your tastebuds not to need the sweet.

Luckydog7 · 08/12/2023 10:02

It isn't a coincidence that despite medical progress, there has been a massive increase in 'life style' diseases. Not all but many cases of Cancer, diabetes t2, dementia are connected to sugar (carbs are sugar too as far as the body is concerned). Cancer feeds on glucose, diabetes t2 is a problem with insulin which is the hormone that regulates blood sugar, dementia (apologies if I get mixed up with althimers) is now considered diabetes type 3.

This isn't caused by fat. Fat intake, as a result of it being demonised in the 70s/80s has remained stable or gone down. This is as a result of processed food and sugar carbs forming a major part of many peoples diet.

Some people are not as effected by it as others. Some gain the fat around their organs (more prevelent in some places like India which is causing a massive diabetes surge) so it isn't visible.

Some people are simply very insulin sensitive and these are eat what ever I like people who might struggle to understand why anyone else is struggling with their weight.

I think your diet isn't terrible as long as it isn't effecting your health, you may be one of the fortunate ones, your diet may be effecting you in ways you don't know. One very easy change is to stop drinking your sugar. Drink milk, water, tea and creamy coffee. That will transform your diet from average to decent. Imho.

Ps I'm another one who would love a crumpet but I'm gluten intolerant anyway and it wouldn't take many of them before I'd have to buy bigger jeans.

CrunchyCarrot · 08/12/2023 10:14

Doesn't sound that bad apart from breakfast. You could cut the sugar from your tea, I promise you will get used to it quickly! Then wonder why did you have it so sweet in the first place. The orange/apple juice contain sugar and if it's bought jam, then that too will be very sugary. So you are getting off to a carby sugary start to your day, not ideal. At the other end of the day, you could cut out the lemonade (fizzy sugary drinks not good for you!) as well as sweets after dinner. Try to develop a savoury tooth instead.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 08/12/2023 10:18

It sounds like a fuckton of sweet stuff to me. But I like salty, savoury things instead.

Just a matter of taste.

EdgarsTale · 08/12/2023 10:19

Your breakfast is full of sugar. The jam, the juice & the sugar in tea. I’d definitely change that.