I'm thinking that a sugar free diet isn't that unusual?

[Twartyvajitus]

NC for this as its quite outing (not that I'm that interesting to be 'outed')

I've just had an operation via the NHS, but at a private hospital, I'd done the usual fasting before and was starving a few hours after coming to.

I asked for something to eat and was given a fruit corner, I queried if there was alternative, explaining that I don't eat sugar or sweeteners (a dietary choice made 18mths ago resulting in me dropping my BMI from 49 to 34) and was made to feel like an absolute pain in the arse - and told there was nothing else!

I was reluctantly given a latte - but one of those sachet sweetened ones.

Was I being really princessy? I've never struggled with not being able to eat anything offered to me before, I'll eat anything savoury. Has anyone else given up all things sweet?

I try to regulate my sugar intake just because it makes me feel better - makes my skin better, digestion better, general well being improved. I would not eat a Fruit Corner or indeed almost any commercially produced yoghurt - they are absolutely stuffed with sugar!
So YANBU but I don’t know what you could have done about it - bugger all probably

Me. Sugar especially and even complex carbs play hell with my fibromyalgia, so I avoid eating them if I possibly can.

That said, I'm also coeliac, lactose intolerant and allergic to soya so I would usually have food with me that was safe for when I was allowed to eat again. My GP and rheumatologist are both supportive of my sugar and carb dodging, and it gives me at least some control over my condition.

In my limited experience hospitals usually have sandwiches available. I hardly think one fruit corner is going to ruin your whole lifestyle though.

It is actually extreeemly unusual to eat a very low sugar diet.

It means you basically can’t eat anything processed or packaged.

I get incredibly fucked if with ‘sugar free’ baking which has shit loads of honey or agave in it. That’s not fucking sugar free is it?!

I had the same after I gave blood !
I didn’t want a bloody biscuit as was dieting !
Seeing as I had just donated I did not feel princessy

You could have eaten the yog and left the fruit bit of the corner. Not amazing but not too bad as a one off in hospital thing.

Thanks inspector and grumpy, your quick responses have assured me that I'm not such an unusual case!

I gave it up as I was addicted and it was a massive factor in binge eating. I've genuinely not touched anything sweet (cake, choc, pop, ice cream etc) since last year.

I don’t think it’s unusual in day to day life but hospitals don’t cater for anything but mainstream diets (ie there might be options for vegetarian or halal but no other dietary preference)

I don't know anyone who eats a sugar free diet so it would be unusual time but I don't know whether you would expect a hospital to cater for it.

It is extremely unusual to eat a very low sugar diet

I agree. I don't know a single person who does.

Well they’re not “absolutely stuffed with sugar” - they have less sugar than a like for like serving of all bran. They’re not sugar free though

@Twarty I think you've found something that works for you and you can be proud of the results you've achieved. And sure, one yogurt won't undo all that hard work, but the easiest is probably to take a peperami or babybel with you for emergencies in future.

Congrats on the weight loss :)

I can see how it came across. It's not that I am afraid of being 'set back' - I'm really sensitive to sweeteners and sugar now, I suppose like a reformed meat eater wouldn't eat a one off slice of ham or an ex smoker wouldn't have just one fag.

I don't use honey or sugar substitutes to sweeten stuff, I just don't have sweet food anymore.

@serbska - Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, Muller add sugar to their plain yogurt. It can be hard sometimes to find yogurt without added sugar.

Though I don't make a massive effort to avoid sugar in my diet as a whole, plain yogurt isn't something that I think should have sugar added.

stopfuckingshoutingatme ... what did you have instead of a biscuit? Will they let you go home without one?!

@knittingdad yes they do add sugar to the yog, but for a snack in a hospital where the OP isn’t staying for long, it’s not a disaster.

Sugar gets added because people like sweet things.

Fruit and veg is cultivated to be sweater and sweater. And actually it’s the bitter taste thing that acts as a deterrent to pests so more pesticides have to be used.

Did you know there is a program in netherlands to cultivate the bitter taste out of chicory? The whole niceness of chicory is the bitter taste :-(

I would LOVE to do a low sugar diet.
OP, how many weeks before you noticed the benefits?

At the blood donor centres that I go to there is always an option of crisps, alongside the biscuits.

Well yes, it’s very unusual, I don’t know anyone who does. Also, a ‘sugar free diet’ is different to ‘i don’t eat sweet things’ as well.

Myself and DH have both gone sugar free at different times over the last 5 years or so, him more than me but the longest I did was over a year. I felt much more energy and honestly after the first few weeks, didn’t crave it. Whenever I’ve had it again after a gap it feels unpleasantly sweet and like taking drugs! But that soon wears off and you start craving it again. I haven’t done it for a while now, inthis pregnancy there’s been barely a day without sugar. Anyway, OP, I don’t think you were being princessy at all and if it is hard in a hospital to find something sugar free that is completely ridiculous, they should have been apologising to you. No wonder we have an obesity crisis when your request was considered odd in a healthcare setting.

havaina about a week or so I would say, it got much easier as I went along.

I also gave up eating in between meals which I now realise was much easier as I did not have big sugar highs and lows.

I'm not evangelical by any means and don't check the sugar content of food as I don't eat anything that tastes 'sweet' if you get me. For example I avoid tomato soup now as it tastes so sweet, I prefer tinned tomato's to baked beans for the same reason.

Havaina I know you were addressing the OP but I can tell you that I started to feel better within a week and really better after two. By 3 weeks regular sweetened processed food seemed sweet enough to burn my mouth. That sounds dramatic but it's true and one reason why I can so understand the OPs point about the yoghurt

Slightly drip feedy ...

My operation was having a gastric band removed! So I do feel this should have been taken interesting account. I was going to have it converted to a bypass but didn't feel the need to my weight is slowly and consistently decreasing.

Such is life, I'm not particularly annoyed about it, just thought I can't be the only person who feels want do 'sweet'.

Very similar posts inspector! High 5! 👋🏻