AIBU to ask how you go sugar free?

[TheweewitchRoz]

I'm not being deliberately dense but how do you actually go sugar free given sugar is in pretty much everything?

I accept no cake & chocolate but is it also no fruit? So only eating vegetables? What about drinks? No fizzy drinks obviously but what about milk or is it literally only drinking water?

I'd like to give it a go but as far as I can see, sugar is in pretty much everything so not sure where to start & if it's literally just eating veg & drinking water, then doubt I'll last

TIA

I try to avoid anything with more than 5g sugar per 100g. No white carbs, limited wholemeal carbs. Limit fruit. No puddings, ever! Snacks are cheese, nuts, oatcakes.

I think the thing is to go refined sugar free. Don't worry about natural sugars, they're the ones you should be having.

So cut out cakes and biscuits, most breakfast cereals, sugar in your tea and coffee, sugary drinks and deserts. That will make a huge difference to you.

Cheese
Nuts
Meat
Vegetables that grow above ground
A few berries (raspberries are lowest sugar)
Butter
Cream
Full fat Greek yogurt
Almond milk

I do drink sugar free fizzy drinks. Sugar free jelly and sweets.

There's a great blog called All Day I Dream About Food.

I follow the Blood Sugar Diet so no sugar = no sugar, no fruit (apart from berries and the odd apple), no honey, rice, potatoes, pasta, parsnips, oats, bread, anything with any sort of flour in it, only very very dark chocolate, nothing with sweeteners (which makes your body respond as if It was sugar.......

Eat the fruit on an empty stomach or before a meal.
Eat more veg and eat protein, but try to avoid boiled white rice, potatoes, pasta and white bread.
Eat starchy food slowly, chewing it properly.

Don't worry about natural sugars, they're the ones you should be having.

No no no no no. This is completely wrong. You body does exactly the same with natural sugar as refined sugar.

I'm a long-term low carber, which means I have very little sugar in my diet. (Refined or natural - it makes no difference!)

So it means I don't eat:

pasta/rice/bread/flour/biscuits
cakes/scones/muffins etc
breakfast cereals
chocolate/sweets
anything with sugar added to it
honey/agave syrup/maple syrup/golden syrup
fruit (occasionally I may have berries or rhubarb)
soft drinks sweetened with sugar
high carb veg, e.g. potatoes, sweet potatoes, sweetcorn

I eat plenty of meat, fish and eggs
cheese
butter
salads, made with an extra virgin olive oil-based dressing
full-fat everything
a whole range of vegetables

Occasionally I may also include pulses/legumes, e.g. peas, lentils, kidney beans in chilli, etc.

It's not easy at first, but you do get used to it. It's (mostly) second nature to me now.

I just avoid anything with sugar printed on the ingredients. That means I still eat fruit but don't go mad on it. I still have dairy too.

I don't have any sweeteners either because they taste vile when you're not eating sugar and they make me have a sweet tooth.

I do sometimes have bread because if I'm out somewhere it's hard to get lunch without bread.

I find it really quite doable after the first 48 hrs or so. I have nuts and cheese as snacks to start with. After a few days I stop wanting any snacks.

I think that people are usually talking about refined sugar. Natural sugars do not have the same effect on the body (despite what a pp says). There is nothing wrong with eating fruit, but I know that there is a big low carb movement on mumsnet. Personally, low carb makes me feel like hell and very unhealthy, but I know that others have had great weight loss results with it. Low carb would involve cutting nearly all refined and naturally occurring sugars from your diet.

I personally follow a whole foods diet which is naturally fairly high in carbohydrates- fruit, veg, brown rice, quinoa, lentils etc. Very little to no refined sugar. I have lost 2 stone on it but I appreciate it does not work for everyone.

I don't do low carb/no sugar permanently, but in bursts. To manage cravings, I make almond muffins to substitute bread cravings and chocolate cake made with stevia, ground almond and cocoa.

To the poster who asked why - I feel like I need to be healthier & not sure how to go about it & have seen so much about sugar-free that I thought I might try it.

However reading the responses, I doubt I can do it. I can do refined sugars & say no thanks to biscuits, cakes etc but I do love potatoes (I'm Irish ) & pasta & I also like white wine, so likely I'll just end up feeling like a failure.

Thanks for answering all!

I never said I'd given up white wine ...

Natural sugars do not have the same effect on the body (despite what a pp says)

Yes they do. Sugar (fructose/glucose) is sugar, regardless of the source/provenance. Although if you have the evidence to support your statement I'd be happily proved wrong.

I've done it, the first week was like hell as my body attempted to convince me I was on the verge of starvation despite being a fat fucker

Past the first week I then became miraculously full of energy, lost loads of weight and didn't really crave sugar that much. However you have to stick rigidly to it as I found any relapse was fatal. It was interesting to see how much my body ruled my food choices though and that it wasn't necessarily 'willpower' or 'being hungry' that made me pick stuff - the craving was insane.

I went on holiday to Spain, wanted to eat tapas, didn't stick to the diet - am sat here now shoving Christmas cake in my gob.

I followed the rules basically of Michael Mosley's book - no refined sugar, no cake, no biscuits, puddings, chocolate, honey, dates, juice, smoothies.
Very low carb - no pasta, rice, potatoes, bread etc
No breakfast cereals
Fruit was OK (but veg better) except grapes which apparently don't have enough fibre to help you manage the sugar. Interestingly my DM is now diabetic and has found her blood sugar shoots up after grapes but not other fruit.

Idea was after you have achieved goal weight you relax the v low carbs and do a more Mediterranean style diet - lots of veg, fruit, oily fish, small amounts of carbs, still minimal sugar.

Sadly the lovely tapas ruined that for me. Maybe after Christmas I'll try again.

Yes they do. Sugar (fructose/glucose) is sugar, regardless of the source/provenance. Although if you have the evidence to support your statement I'd be happily proved wrong

I will provide it later- don't have time now. The point is that fruit has a very different metabolic effect on the body to refined sugar. This is because it also contains fibre which has an impact on how it is broken down by the body. That is why you are likely to gain weight by having a can of coke a day on top of your normal calories, but you would be highly unlikely to do so from eating apples even though they contain natural sugars. I thought this was relatively uncontroversial? Obviously if your aim is to enter ketosis, fruit will impede this.

Where I do agree with you is that some 'natural sweeteners' such as honey, agave, maple syrup will have a similar effect to white refined sugar (although not completely identical). The thing to bear in mind though is that natural sweeteners often contain additional nutrients which makes them better to use as a substitute.

As I said, low carb is not for me- I don't feel good on it but it is good that it works for so many.

Thanks - maybe I'll just do no refined sugars in the first instance & see how that goes. Not sure I even want to try no carbs as I love potatoes & pasta!

My mum did cut out all sugar except natural fruit itself. She moved to stinky cheese and fruit bowls for puddings. She lost 3 or 4 stone and has kept it off for three years now. Several people have mistaken her for my dad's daughter instead of his wife as the difference in her appearance and youthfulness is so pronounced.

Where I do agree with you is that some 'natural sweeteners' such as honey, agave, maple syrup will have a similar effect to white refined sugar (although not completely identical).

This is something that drives me mad. I saw a recipe recently for chocolate bars made with coconut oil, raw cocoa and maple syrup. I wanted to bang my head against the wall when I saw all the people commenting saying things like ‘finally, guilt-free chocolate!’ and now I can eat as much chocolate as I like!’ It’s still a block of sugar saturated fat no matter how ‘natural’ it might be

Well, yes - fruit has fibre in it (as well as vitamins), so it's indisputably a better option than mainlining granulated sugar! But still, the fructose/glucose will work on your body in the same way.

How about a just cut out junk and try and eat whole foods. When I was plant based three years ago I felt amazing and it was the fittest and healthiest I’d ever been ( I even ran a marathon eating like this). I’m not suggesting that you go vegan but just try and eat more vegetables, fruit, pulses, green juices and smoothies and grains (buckwheat, quinoa etc). I have definitely fallen off the healthy eating wagon this year so am going to do his again.

I wasn’t obsessively plant based as I had the odd bit of cheese or cake when I fancied it but geneally, I just ate proper foods. I am however going to finish off the crisps and Ferrero Rocher before I make any changes!!

I've lost just over a stone in the last three months by just cutting out refined sugar. I know I'd lose more by going fully low carb but I tried it and I didn't enjoy it, and it made my running worse.

Like any diet it's just a device to reduce calories in. I think cutting out refined sugars means you just reduce the mindless snacking, which is really all I needed to do anyway. I was only a bit overweight and I'm now a healthy bmi. It depends really how much you need to lose for your health.

I know Freida909 - it drives me mad too. I love a good plant based lifestyle but a carrot cake icing made with a block of coconut cream and maple syrup is not healthy!! Yes a great alternative if you’re vegan and want a special treat but still massively calorific and sweet.

No sweets, cake, yoghurt, juice, pop biscuits ... or any sweeteners.

I do eat bread, cereal (not obviously sugary) sauces and very occasional fruit.

Works for me 😀

Like any diet it's just a device to reduce calories in.

Again, no. The impact of insulin is very different to calories.