AIBU to be impressed by this woman's diet?

[ComingUpTrumps]

Sorry about the Daily Mail link!

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4550978/Carolyn-Hartz-reveals-secrets-amazing-body.html.

This is an article about someone who gave up sugar almost 30 years ago. Her diet/general lifestyle seems pretty good to me. What do you all think?

PS disclaimer I'm definitely not her and this isn't a sneaky stealth boast!

I'd just been doing weight watchers on and off for years and I'd easily lose a stone, then start to yoyo. It was always craving biscuits and choc. I'd previously stopped smoking and gone veggie by myself yet found my chocoholic tendencies a real addiction. I decided that I had to face that if I was ever going to lose weight. I read a book on it with a lot of science of why sugar is hugely addictive, can't remember the name, but Paul McKenna's book says it much simpler. Then I just stopped. A Facebook page called I Quit Sugar helped a lot, but it suggested limiting carbs and fruit initially, which I didn't do as I know it would be too harsh for me. One of the biggest changes I made was ditching all diet and low fat things - yoghurt, drinks, spreads and having butter instead. I eat a ton of full fat Greek yoghurt almost daily with grapes or berries, which seems to be my filling lifesaver. I don't eat meat, so I've eaten curries, chillies, ratatouilles, pesto, salads - with potatoes, pasta, rice or cous cous. Big portions too, I'm an outdoor girl, can't live on tiny meals. Tonight we had a huge frittata with feta, peas red onions and cherry toms in it and potato wedges. I've kept a diary of everything I've eaten good and bad. When I've gone out or away I've eaten what I've wanted and drunk what I wanted, perhaps once a week/10 days. I'm cabin crew, so have managed around hotel food and travel too.

I guess it doesn't feel like a diet/feels different this time because there's no rules/plan/points/syns and no daily limit, so no guilt at having "blown it". I didn't lose weight for the first three weeks, but immediately lost a good inch or two from my waist and stomach, so it kept me going. I just feel in control of myself for the first time in decades. It feels good, and when I do have something sugary it tastes too sweet. I've still got just over 2 stone to lose, but it feels doable and sounds better than the 4 stones I needed to lose in January.

If it helps (I know you didn't ask me) here's what I eat in an average day.

Asparagus, scrambled egg and bacon or sausage with a coffee made with whole milk or cream and a tiny sprinkling of xylitol.

Lunch, chicken/ham/Mackrel salad with lemon mayo and some berries or watermelon.

Dinner, roast pork belly with buttered greens and carrots and gravy,

I drink plenty of water during the day and a Diet Coke at dinner time (apart from weekends when I might have a glass of wine)

Snacks would be cheese, a few nuts or peanut butter.
I make a lot of low carb alternatives like bagels/breadsticks/English muffins etc so I never feel like I'm missing bread.
Pasta is the hardest thing for me because I used to eat great big bowls full.
We still eat the creamy takeaway curries and kebab meat and salad so we don't miss out on takeout.
I dropped 4 stone originally doing this and considering how mic I ate in the last 5 months (I got married in Florida and spent a lot of time at Disney and Universal) I put 2 back on and I've already dropped 0.5 of that again in just coming up to 2 weeks.

I do eat dark chocolate but not much, I used to inhale meringues and dairy milk, doorstop cheese sandwiches, crisps and ice cream. The second and third day were hard but after that I was fine.

Ps, the theory is chemical sugar substitutes sometimes keep the sugar cravings in your head, and it's better to avoid them too.

I try and eat porridge for breakfast but don't love it, so often have fruit and fibre (which is bad as it's 25% sugar!), then homemade soup for lunch or salad, or a sandwich, and then stuff I mentioned before for dinner. Snacks, mainly fruit - 2 bananas, punnet of grapes (with yogurt), apples etc. Sometimes crisps. One small dash of baileys in my coffee at night!

Sorry if I'm going on, it's just I never thought I'd do it - I was the biggest chocoholic- if I can do it anyone can..

titsalina may I ask for your cheesecake recipe, please?

Thank you honey and titsalina! What you eat definitely sounds doable and enjoyable!

You have put me back on the boat! Thanks again (screenshotting )

Those scaremongering books on sugar are not evidence based, the are misinterpretation of research and not to be take seriously.

I take them seriously, I definitely think I had a sugar addiction, and didn't realise how much sugar was in processed food. Plus stepping away from the low fat/diet industry and sugar has massively helped me. I used to have regular indigestion after meals, quite bad, and within a week of no sugar I've not had any since. I'm not saying the books are religiosity right, but there's definitely something in it and it's helped me.

You may have had a mental addiction to sugar , i have friend who did and just sorted it out by hypnotherapy. It went back to when she had a 3rd child later in life who was an appalling sleeper and used sugar to get her through the day.
But these books are nonsense, and when the original researcher was shown the book he was disgusted.
People need to be hoest with themselves and realise they are just eating too much rather than blame one particular food.

But giving up that one particular food has solved it for me! I still eat tons of food, I still love eating, I just don't have the same greed/desire for crap. I don't have to cut carbs or calories, I just had to get over my sugar issue. I found it easier to control my nicotine addiction when I smoked than my sugar addiction.

I don't have the science, I can only tell people what my experience is. I'm not selling a diet, not making money from it or persuading people to join a club, I'm just saying that cutting out refined sugar and processed foods (because most of them are loaded with sugar) has been the one thing that I've done that has massively changed my weight loss success and meant the weight is slowly and steadily coming off, after more than three decades of, basically, failure.

PS, when I say I eat fruit I mean fresh fruit. No dried fruit and no fruit juice, very occasionally a smoothie. I don't drink diet drinks anymore, which has lead to me drinking more water by default, or peppermint/ginger tea. I probably drunk more water than i used to. If out and about i drink lattes, not skinny ones.

she credits her figure to 28 years without sugar and uses xylotol instead.

Well. Say no more then.

Restless too much fruit can be a bad thing because of all the natural sugars inside.

For instance a diabetic friend of mine can only have handful of fruit a day because of the way your body metabolises it (I think). So I.e half a banana etc etc.

I've been through a stage if healthy eating that was so 'clean' it was beyond even her diet. However, for me it wasn't sustainable. Good on her for avoiding sugar for that many years!

Sorry that sounded arrogant!! I meant I took it too far compared to anyone who does it sensibly and keeps it up in the long term

GM diet

I was quite impressed with the diet until xylitol was mentioned. I'd rather eat a small amount of 'real' sugar. Rather than artificial sweeteners.

My diet is very similar to hers and I'm overweight, look 5 years older than I am and am seriously ill.

She has good genes and an even better plastic surgeon I think!!

I don't think that's her natural hair colour.
I bet she's on HRT hence not much fat around her abdomen.
She has a huge amount of lower leg muscle definition for someone whose only exercise is walking dog + yoga.
Her skin is the only thing that impresses me. She lives in sunny Australia & has almost no wrinkles? WOW. That must be a lifetime of effort to avoid sun.

I don't understand. She says she's cut out sugar but has two squares of dark chocolate every evening.

Plus all the sugar in fruit as PPs have mentioned

I'm more shocked that her dog only gets half an hour of exercise a day.

I'll get my coat...

Every now and then I do the Paleo diet and ditch all sugar and starch. I allow dairy and oats, but everything else is wheat free, sugar free. The first 2 weeks are hardest but just like quoting smoking: it's the habit and the addiction. Once you pass that, it's easier if you are armed with good recipe books. I recommend "Against all grain", there's two of them and also a blog, have a look. Both are good. The waffles are amazing but laborious. I do the jam with frozen blueberries, honey and lemon: delicious with cheese, yogurt or cheesecake. Every time I have done it, I also dropped 7lb-11lb in the first two weeks without actually limiting the intake of anything. It makes me feel less tired too. You do require some planning and time for cooking.

Looks like a very dull way to lead your life and it's an advertising promo. I guessed her age at 68 so not far off. She's had a face lift too.

I gave up sugar for 4 months last year as a group of friends were doing it. I absolutely love all things sweet so the idea of giving up terrified me but I decided to try anyway.
I gave up all sugar, juice, dried fruit, alcohol, bread, pasta, rice etc. I kept eating a little fruit as I would have cracked otherwise.
I didn't have any sugar substitutes as I find they make me feel weird.
I won't lie, the first few weeks were really hard and if I hadn't have had the support of the others doing it, I may not have managed it.
After a few weeks though, it was amazing. The cravings went, I felt good all day without my sugar binges and crashes but most surprising, I slept brilliantly. I've always struggled with insomnia and it just went. Everyone said the same.
Now I eat a lot less sugar than before but I do have it. 18 months later, I think I've finally got used to coffee without sugar!
If you decide to try, it's well worth it.

bitoutofpractice, there's dark chocolate with no sugar added. They use xylitol instead, which is a sweetener that not only is not digested by the system but also is good for the teeth. My favourite is Planilla coffee, which is sold in Holland's and Barrett. There are lots more, though, Tesco sells a brand that does little squares of milk, dark and white chocolate. There's another one also in H&B that has probiotics. I've tried at least 5 different products and I also made my own chocolate desserts with sugar-free dark chocolate.

bruffin you might be a bit harsh there. For certain people, there is clear health benefits that have been researched. Look up IBD Aid Diet and go to Google Scholar to find related articles from medical journals. People with bowel conditions benefit hugely from this because it changes the intestinal flora killing the bacteria that produces inflammation in sensitive people, and getting good healthy bacteria instead. Same with FODMAP based diets, which also remove similar ingredients. There's reputable research from Universities and Medical bodies available in Google Scholar, sometimes you cannot read the whole article but you can read the abstract, summary and results, so good enough to get the main idea.