to think it's not possible to give up sugar

[enifing]

I have heard people suggest this from time to time. It's not possible with DCs, is it?

We've given up most cereal, but porridge has to have sugar or some sugar substitute.

Stewed fruit can't be fine without sugar.

Home baking, absolute no-no.

How dull would life be? I would probably overdose on salt instead...

jobbly the innuit adapted to their diet (eg they developed larger livers).They ate raw sea mammals, some of which they fermented to produce carbohydrates. It's not true that the innuit ate a carbohydrate free diet.
They also ate some vegetables (seaweed, berries, tuberous roots).

Interesting thread. I'm nearly three months into quitting sugar. I'd love to say the weight has fallen off, it hasn't and I haven't been weighed either. I do think the top part of my chest, arm tops, shoulders is looking thinner and my legs too. There maybe some slight movement on my hips but I'm still in the same size clothing. Maybe just look a bit slimmer in it.

I eat a very basic diet. Omelette with onion on a morning. Home made green soup with lentils and ham for lunch and protein veg and either sweet potato or whole grain rice for dinner. An apple for a snack.

We don't eat potato at home or bread or wheat. I don't have milk but occasionally a bit of cheese.

I find I cope better by keeping my foods down to a few basic items. I don't feel deprived. I can choose to eat chocolate and get on that treadmill of sugar cravings again....or I can stay more well.

Inotice that some people eat very similarly to me.
The hardest thing is going to a coffee and cake shop or not having ice cream when it's hot.

I have the occasional gin and tonic. In my latest blood test the doc told me I have extremely healthy blood. I'm 63 and on no medication.

I take kefir for its probiotics. I've just made some kombucha for the same reason.

I want to meet my grand daughters children...she's only 5 so it's up to me to look after myself.

You look good wobbly jelly and prof ...none this year. Excellent.

There's no one traditional Inuit diet though - agreed that some populations are these things but there are others who ate caribou muscle meat - have you read Stefansson's Fat of the Land? I think pre-industrial diets are incredibly relevant actually, given how rapidly we are becoming obese and sick. Apart from my father, who has followed a low carb diet for years, ALL the adults on both sides of my family have developed (and many already died from) interrelated metabolic disorders- diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer's, heart disease, cancer. All of them. That's my fate of I don't do something, because I have demonstrated amply over the years my carb sensitivity.

My starting point is to question everything we are told about nutrition. Given the utter lack of evidence base for public health policies such as the food pyramid, five a day, the dangers of eggs and sat fat etc and the demonstrable link to political and financial agendas, I think that's the only place to start.

So virtually all research into nutrition takes a set of assumptions (that we need certain levels of particular micronutrients, that fibre is essential, that fatty diets are unhealthy, that cholesterol should be reduced for a healthy heart, that grains are heart healthy) and I question all of these.

I'm not committed to this for life, by the way - I am doing six months and then reviewing based on how I feel and blood work.

Meat has its own anti-scorbutic properties - that link I posted above has more info but no, no danger of scurvy.

What's wrong with potatoes if they were newly imported at great expense from the Andes ( where they originated) they would probably be a superfood!

DD likes strawberries on her porridge.

I make cakes with half sugar and no one seems to notice.

I love chocolate though

I'm glad to see your not too militant about your diet jobbly. I lost a fair amount of weight a few years ago and that sparked my interest in nutrition. Over a period of about 6 years my diet has changed dramatically. From a typical bodybuilder diet ( 6 meals a day, high protein, slow disgesting carbs and "good" fat) to an intermitent fasting style diet and now on to a flexible dieting style diet. People who are militant about these diets seems to cherry pick the science that they believe in and ignore everything else. Which I think is wrong.

Keep and open mind. Admit when your wrong and don't be afraid to try new things is the best way to go IMO

Jobbly - I am not being critical, and quite agree with you about the inadvisability of a high-carb/sugar-rich diet - but just a note of caution. Stefansson was writing in the 1950s, and we have learned an awful lot more about nutrition (and studied Inuit lifestyle more scientifically) since then.

Today, high consumption of red meat (especially if cooked and processed) is fairly definitely linked to an increased risk of the development of bowel cancer www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/booth/hliving/meatcrca.html In contrast, the Inuit and other hunter populations ate quite a bit of their meat and fish raw or fermented

Also, the Inuit diet evolved to cope with periods of feast and famine - they did not eat a lot of protein and fat every day, but went hungry for a fair bit of the time.

Finally, the Inuit and others studied by Stefansson and others had a relatively short life expectancy, compared with the western world today; so did almost all other pre-industrial peoples. Diseases such as cancer and coronary heart disease (some Inuit did get this) are relatively rare below age 50 in almost all populations. ajcn.nutrition.org/content/25/8/737

(And incidentally, I don't think you can call heart disease and cancer 'metabolic disorders', as you do. Cancers arise when cells mutate as a result of the interaction between a person's genetic factors and external agents such as tobacco, viruses, radiation, pollutants, asbestos etc.. Obesity, lack of exercise and poor diet also play a part, of course; but so does aging, which is one of the most important factors.)
www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs297/en/)

Jobbly, thanks for sharing, interesting. I have a friend who went Atkins and now is keen to try what you do.

To those commenting that they gave up sugar and didn't lose weight...I gave up sugar for a while to support a friend who was morbidly obese and in a scary doctor prescribed diet.

I wasn't overweight but I found cutting out all added sugars quite grim. I really stuck to it and after two months, weighed the same. I realise it is different if you are overweight in the first place, and I wasn't eating tons of sugar....plenty of people do lose weight while still having the odd treat. My friend is now a healthy weight and also gave up low sugar because it just didn't work for her. Each to their own. It was all a bit joyless.

I am careful in the office though. Boredom has driven me to eat stuff I dont even like and then get a sugar crash!!

Flora the key bit of commentary for me on the meta analysis of meat and colorectal cancer is the following:
"Unfortunately, only a few studies examined the independent effect of meat consumption on the risk of colorectal cancer so the associations found here could be confounded by other dietary, lifestyle or genetic factors."

People who ignore guidelines on red meat consumption are more likely to ignore other bits of health advice - on smoking, lifestyle etc, and I haven't yet found any studies that untangles these confounding factors properly. Also, all the studies I've seen conflate fresh red meat and processed meat.

Re nutritional research having come a long way since the 50s - it's more like we swerved into a separate set of fundamental assumptions based on the Ancel Keys theory of saturated fat causing heart disease.

Fair point on including cancer under the metabolic disorder label, although I would immediately adopt a ketogenic diet if I were diagnosed with cancer tomorrow. I would still include heart disease under the banner. Cardiometabolic is a better term perhaps.

I gave up all of the following for the best part of 3 years and would have continued had it not been for getting pregnant and craving starchy food

*All refined sugar, sweets and cakes
*anything containing flour, including pasta and bread
*anything containing potatoes
*anything containing rice
*all fruit except berries (eaten maybe once a month)
*all starchy veg, including carrots, peas and parsnips

Despite also being veggie I didn't find this at all difficult. I definitely felt better on it, lost several stone and plan to restart shortly (having a fruit-monster DD has definitely made it harder to stick to).

Why do you have to have porridge or stewed fruit for breakfast? There are far healthier sugar free options such as scrambled eggs.

I'd advise looking at the primal diet. Mark Sissons has a blog The Daily Apple that is really informative

We gave up refined sugar except for "social obligation" occasions. I say we, I mean DH and me.

Porridge made with whole milk and fruit (sultanas or sliced banana) is plenty sweet enough. Your taste buds change pretty quickly. Home baking is restricted, yes, but scones baked with dried fruit or cheese don't have sugar in so you get your cake fix.

What's hard is breaking the addiction and working out your swaps. Then it's only positive.

Xici why are eggs "healthy" than porridge or fruit?

Eggs are protein and a small amount of fat. Oats are carbs with fibre and a small amount of protein. Fruit is mostly sugar with a small amount of fibre and some vitamins.

(Carbs = sugar)

Because Mide porridge is a starchy grain which usually requires high sugar additions like honey, sugar or fruit to make it palatable. it also contains phenols which prevent mineral absorption. Fruit is generally high sugar though some are better than others such as grapefruit, cherries and berries. Eggs are pretty much the perfect food. Packed full of nutrients - minerals, vitamins and essential fatty acids. High protein, low gi, no sugar and keeps you full all morning whilst cereal for instance is full of sugar and leaves you hungry after half an hour.

There are very few "bad" foods eggs are good, oats are good, fruit in moderation good. Relax enjoy a balanced diet, the Mediterranean diet seems a good example of this- fish, meat, veg, olive oil and some carbs.

But healthy is a subjective term. It doesn't really mean anything.

For example healthy for me would be; fits into my daily calorie and macro allowance, has some micro nutrients in. Porridge with whole milk, some fruit, could even add in some protein powder to increase the protein contain ( can add flavour to)

Disappointed one - that sounds really interesting , do you mind describing a bit of what you ate ?

www.naturalorganiclifestyle.com/unrefined-raw-sugar.html

The difference between refined and unrefined sugar.

Of course. Omelettes with different kinds of cheese, peppers, spring onion, spinach etc. cabbage carbonara (shredded cabbage, steamed with a standard egg yolk, cream, veggie-Parmesan sauce and veggie bacon), quiches made with a ground almond crust (tastes like wholemeal pastry), stir fries with fish or prawns, curries with cauliflower rice, tuna steak salad nicoise, almond bread with marmite or peanut butter, coleslaw, roasted butternut squash and peppers with goats cheese, tiramisu mousse (mascarpone, double cream, egg and a bit of Tia Maria) 85/99% chocolate, "oopsie" rolls (made with eggs and cream cheese), crudités with dips, mushroom pate on celery, mushroom stroganoff on cauliflower rice, cauliflower cheese (mix strong grated cheese into creme fraiche to make the sauce), broccoli and cauliflower soup, cauliflower cheese soup, cod baked with pesto and served with broccoli.........