To think it is not actually possible to "give up sugar"?

[RevoltingPeasant]

I had thought of doing this for Lent. But now I start looking more closely, sugar of some type is in everything! Even milk.

AIBU to think cutting down on sugar is possible but giving it up is not and people who say they have cut out sugar must be cheating in some way??!

YANBU

I'm just trying to reduce the crap I eat day to day, mostly by cutting down on stuff with added sugar, sugar in tea etc. I still have fruit, I think those natural sugars are OK.

A friend of mine regularly cuts out all sorts of things from her diet, ALL sugars was one of her latest things, took her about two weeks until she was munching a full fat full sugar chocolate brownie. It's not sustainable.
Everything in moderation init especially moderation

I've managed eight months of no cake/cookies/chocolate, so it is sustainable for some. :) I can't do any sugar in moderation, it's either nothing or cramming every cake in sight down my throat so I choose to eat none. Much better for my health, waistline and mental state.

I'm not evangelical about carbs but I do have to severely restrict them and what I can eat is limited.

For instance porridge, even wholegrain oats, cause my blood sugar to spike. I can just about tolerate sweet potato but not white potato. Rice is OK if it's brown and only a handful.

I'm not being faddy. Just trying to keep my asshole pancreas happy.

Asshole pancreas

Fair doos moneyback you're a stronger woman than I!

Oh! No, not you, thumpson. But there are some really weird views out there

Carbangelists are those weird people who consider sugar to be poison. Does anyone remember Drs Robert Lustig and Gary Taubes? I wonder if they would publish any differently, in hindsight?

And those original Fruitarians? I bet they are all really fat and have gout by now

I wouldn't consider myself to be a 'carbangelist', but I do agree with Dr Lustig. Is there research that has come to light that disagrees with the idea that sugar is toxic to the body (in that, it has no nutrient value and can cause inflammation and reduce ability to fight disease). I'm not up to date on recent stuff.

Afish - I'm can be a single minded dog with a bone with certain things, it has to be said!

What about Robert Lustig and Gary Taubes? I don't know of the latter, but have watched a lecture of Lustig's online and thought he sounded legit!

I'm all or nothing with cake/chocolate etc so have been 'nothing' for many months...now i've got out of the habit, i'm considering how to reintroduce it back into my diet, in moderation.

I don't want to preach to anyone about the way or what they eat, but I eat virtually no sugar. It took a while to get used to but it's not impossible. And I don't mean just refined or added sugar. I don't eat any fruit any more but I do eat loads of veg.

osmi in very simplistic terms, your body doesn't simply break down fat if you haven't provided it with carbs. Basically the order of easiest to break down goes carbs, protein, fat. So eg if you're exercising and your body needs energy there and then, it won't simply start breaking down fat for energy. It will start breaking down protein. Which includes your own lean muscle. It also has some rather nasty side effects on insulin levels.

Obviously that doesn't mean to say you personally should start eating a loaf of bread every meal. But we do all need carbs in relation to our activity/ exercise levels.

blanche I'm afraid I've reached the point past early January where my tolerance for unsolicited and incorrect advice is close to zero. We're currently at 'I disagree, you've been given incorrect advice, and clearly my diet suits me perfectly'. Another week and we'll be at 'you're talking utter bollocks, wtf makes you think I want your advice'

And there must be others like me who cut out sugar and found my body reacting violently against the abuse. I had terrible bursts of uncontrollable rages .

So, I have 2 sugars in the morning in my tea and the rest of the day I use artificial no calorie sweetener which cured the problem .

I've been doing Mosley for the last few weeks and am surprised how easy I am finding it atm.

I'm another no sugar/low carber. Currently doing BIWIs bootcamp and lost 8lbs in two weeks. I feel fantastic and I'm burning fat. My sugar levels have stabilised. I don't have mid afternoon slumps or sugar cravings

osmi Go and read up on how our bodies process food, and I mean that from the scientific fact pov, not some uninformed dieticians take on it. Nor do I mean it dismissively.

You may well be getting sufficient carbs from your meat and veg for your current physical levels of activity. But if you're doing a healthy level of exercise, it's not. Also, apologising in advance if you are purely losing for health. But if you're aiming to be slim and toned, you also need to exercise, which is when such low carbs cause the problems I mentioned. Also depends on what you class as reasonable physical activity, I'll admit my idea of sedentary is many others idea of a good level.

Ever wondered why for years people ate comparitively high carb diets and yet were slim and toned? Yet now with all the access to lean protein the nation is fat? I realise there are many reasons people are fat now, but that takes nothing away from the fact low carbing is not the best and only way to be a healthy weight.

I cut out most "white" foods over a year ago now. I had to, they make me look bloated, weight goes straight to stomach. So meals are mostly protein and veg. Im not evangelistic though, I will have small portion of carbs on plate occasionally. I just know I cant do it more than 3 times per week. I also avoid sugar where I can, been doing that for years.

I used to love bread both white and wholemeal but can't stand it now as after cutting down carbs for ages I could actually taste the sugar when I tried it again and I disliked the taste. I accept that sugar is in many foods anyway so what can be done but try.. & I still have cake occasionally I don't want a life of very regimented food.

A friend of mine cut out carbs entirely a couple of years back. She went down to size 8 very quickly, figure looked great but she was shattered, no energy whatsoever fell asleep at work, couldn't go to gym etc. Thats quite dangerous, I would think.

Yes we need carbs but its eating too many carbs thats the issue

Lustig and Taube had good points, there is a lot of other research that shows fructose carrys its own health problems and that the American craze for sugar substitutes has had an alarming side effect.

But the reaction to their work, especially their populist books, was probably not quite what they intended.

(Tries not to start with the 'do you know what a carb is?' verbiage)

Lurked, you are being very patient

I've always had the impression that Lustig is aiming for small buy significant change in the population as a while; as such, he's hardly going to advise everyone to stop eating fruit is he.

I'm interested to hear more about the reaction to his book/s. I'm very sheltered and have only formed my views based on my own personal experiences putting Lustig's work into practice in my own life.

Buy = but
While = whole

I quit sugar for a month - it was properly hardcore and involved no dairy, grains, fruit, legumes...... basically it was veg, meat, nuts, seeds...... yeah that was about it! It involved a lot of cooking from scratch, making my own almond milk etc. Most people don't mean that they quit all sugar when they say sugar but I have to say it totally reset me and I'm still healthier for it about 18 months later because it totally broke all my sweet cravings and it taught me how badly I react to grains so I've cut those down substantially. If

If were you I'd just set your own rules - no added sugar (though I would include sweeteners too as they are just as bad as sugar in terms of blood sugar levels and if you eat them you'll end up not getting over the cravings). You could stick to the low fructose fruits like berries and cutting out sugary ones like grapes. You could try an unsweetened almond milk instead of dairy if you'd like (though go for a pure one like rude health).

Maybe aim for just slightly more than you feel comfortable with to give you a challenge but going all the way is bloody hard and should probably be done for health reasons rather than lent - more motivation.

Have a look at the Australian "I quit sugar" programme - it's not too hardcore but it's very good.

Lustig in particular had months of MFP discussions based on his research. Lots of Paleo sites etc started using his research to prove some of their more extreme practices. During the height, around Lustigs Ted Talk, there was a lot of hissy fitting and taking out of context. There were a lot of more reasoned debates too, in many scientific journals. Remember they were at the forefront of overturning the 'obvious truth' that fat was bad, they were extremely radical and sparked some truly extreme reactions.

Both Lustig and Taube have tried to dissuade people from eating a lot of , that's one of the key points of both sets of studies. The search for non sugar sugars has led to sales of things like corn syrup and some weird 'nectars' that are fructose and that places high levels of stress on the liver, leading to new diseases like nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and increased obesity, heart disease, diabetes. These are now finding their way to the UK, so I assume we will see a similar increase as the US did.

That both have now gained almost 100% support for their theories is great - if it means people understand their real message rather than just the headlines and highlights. But I still wonder if they would have published the books, used the words they did, in hindsight. Both of them have had to fight against he knee jerk reactions that words like 'poison' and 'toxic' produced.

Don't misunderstand me, I read a lot of research on this as it came out and agree with the every day reality of their findings. I just regret they felt they had to be so sensationalist when publishing.

Osmi, I think Lurked was prompted to suggest that because some of the terminology you have used is 'populist' rather than accurate. Not wanting to speak for Lurked but it might be that like myself, they have a more in depth understanding and occasionally become a bit scared for some people who use such terminology, because sometimes a little mis-knowledge can be quite dangerous for long term health.

Other times I just get pissed off when someone with a lot of magazine knowledge tries to explain how wrong I am using terms like 'converts to fat'.

I dont have a sweet tooth at all, its just how I am, DH doesn't either But this post got me thinking about how much I eat. I eat a lot of veg but not much fruit, maybe 3 pieces a week. I rarely eat cake or pudding. Did have some chocolate a couple of nights ago as DH was given a box by someone. It just doesn't do anything for me and the last time I had chocolate was a couple of coins on Christmas Day.

I just wonder why some people have a sweet tooth and some don't. I never did and my Easter eggs were not eaten by me as a child. One of my sisters adores chocolate and the others certainly like it. They used to have my Easter eggs.