AIBU to think it is possible to permanently change to a low (or no) sugar diet if you have an incredibly sweet tooth?

[cyclerunmum1]

I eat way too much sugar and want to try and change this to reduce lethargy and headaches I suffer from, which I think may be related to this.

I am not overweight, or unfit, but my eating needs to change. I snack on sweet things a lot, always have done, but exercise regularly which I think has helped keep my weight down. I am beginning to think more of my general health and teeth now too though.

Problem is I have a really sweet tooth, so giving up crisps, cheese etc would be easy for me..... but cakes, biscuits and chocolate, not so much!

Has anyone else successfully done this and kept to it long term?

So AIBU to think I can do this, or overly optimistic?

Lots of interesting views on this, it is confusing isn't it!

I have, since first posting, had 2 days where I ate no added sugar, but caved and had some biscuits for the past 2 days. On the plus side, I have had no fizzy drinks, no alcohol and compared to how much sugar I would usually have it has drastically reduced.

But I am still not convinced I can do this properly... all this mentioning of sugar being carbs and therefore having to give up bread, pasta, potatoes etc. It must take so much control to eat like this.

I am still going to reduce though, I bought some natural greek yoghurt and had some with strawberries today instead of cake, which is a step in the right direction I suppose. I've also stocked up on cheese to try and have this as a snack to force myself into a new habit!

Don't feel any different at all though, tummy a bit flatter, but that's it so I'm probably not doing enough.

Thanks mathanxiety (not Martha)!

I can't do eggs in the morning really but I have been having ricotta and fruit on toast with cinnamon. It's lovely. Peanut butter sounds good too.

There's no reason to give up carbs too though. You can switch to those which release energy slower if you are concerned - so that's white to brown rice, white to brown pasta etc. There's a good article here if you want to read more.

Cyclerunmum, maybe try to eat whole grain bread and pasta, brown rice, etc? That way you are at least doing yourself some good. Try sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes?

One thing I read about when embarking on reducing sugar as much as possible was the amount of sugar in prepared pasta sauces and shop bought pizza, as well as salad dressings.

Faintly -- I found some recipes for very eggy mini muffins on Pinterest that I am going to try. The ingredients tend to be chopped broccoli or peppers, cheese, eggs, maybe some ham, mushrooms, etc and they can apparently be frozen and heated in the microwave.

I gave up sugar, grains, and processed food two years ago. I went cold turkey and just increased my fat intake to compensate.

After a while, sweets, cake, and bread stopped looking like "food". Somehow my brain rewired to perceive, say, a chocolate bar in the same way it would perceive a wooden spoon or something else inedible.

What I did find was that one of the ways to reduce anything that felt like a craving was to take a spoonful of double cream. It had a really calming effect on my brain.

One thing I will say, though, is that I don't think you can do it and drink more than a few glasses of alcohol a week. I found drinking alcohol made me crave sugar and bread products. I can just about drink a pint of beer on a full stomach once a week, and be okay. Any more and it is a disaster.

Interestingly, there's a woman in the states that has been looking at the relationship between grain product consumption and alcoholism, and had a lot of success with treating alcoholics by putting them on grain and sugar-free diets. There seems to be some sort of connection.

What were the effects? I lost a hellova lot of weight very quickly. It was almost like a pound a day and I wasn't particularly big to begin with; I think I lost about two stone in three months.

Giving up sugar and grains gave me a lot of energy, and because you tend to replace those items with ones with more nutrition, I noticed other changes ... skin got better, hair grew faster, nails got stronger, my eyesight improved a bit.

For snacks, try nuts. My DH eats thin salamis, like a kabanos. Celery is a good one, particularly with cheese or a dip.

All that said, I feel a bit crap today because I've stopped drinking caffeine four days ago. Crikey, the headache ....

I really really need to do this too. I am hooked on all things sweet!

Ooh, celery - I actually tried it with peanut butter once, thought my mum was insane for suggesting it but it was actually really nice! I have some 100% peanut butter now, not sure it would taste as good but might try it.

I do love Philadelphia with celery too though.

You could try a psychological approach to it a la Jason Vale.
www.amazon.co.uk/The-Juice-Master-Simple-Chocolate/dp/0007836104

He uses very similar techniques to Allen Carr (he of the stopping smoking books/ seminars fame). You start the book and commit to nothing. Then simply see what you want to do at end of book. I read it and went completely off everything sweet - genuinely couldn't see point of eating it. I have an appalling sweet tooth.

(It lasted about 9 months for me of NOTHING sweet, then I slowly went back to sweet food but for reasons connected to a personal situation at the time rather than it suddenly stopping working.)

There's also Slim For Life which is more of a general book (rather than aimed at chocolate and sugar) and aims to change your whole diet to an unprocessed, wholefoods, juicing one.

I don't work for/profit from this book/ person in any way by the way! But it is the first 'diet' I've ever been on that doesn't require willpower. Sounds mad I know, but Amazon reviews on the books are worth a read to see what others say.

OP I shouldn't concentrate on knocking the carbs on the head just yet - it may just be a step too far too fast for you! Carry on with giving up the refined sugar and step away from the white bread, white pasta, potatoes and rice. Can you do that? Then you can think about the rest of it when you've got your head round this bit.
By the way Werkz - I also find the spoonful of cream really helps when the craving is bad and I just can't look another sugar free polo in the face! It really does soothe whatever is itching in you at that moment.
It's also ok to eat a couple of squares of really dark chocolate - the Lidl 82% one is really nice, not at all sweet but not so moreish that you'd want more than a couple of squares.