To ask if cutting out sugar really makes a difference?

[Tobythecat]

I eat way too much sugar and lack energy/feel tired a lot, mood swings and sugar crashes. Bloods are always normal so i think my diet is the issue.

If i cut out all sugar, will i honestly notice much of a difference in my overall health? What, if any benefits did you notice after cutting out sugar and how long until you noticed the effects?

Watching with interest

I've recently joined a women's gym and started a self imposed diet. I'm 3 stone over weight.

I eat crap, my diet is very sugar heavy.

I cut out all sugar, ie cakes, biscuits, treats, chocolate etc. In 16 days my energy levels were up, I'd lost 6 lbs and 6 inches from my waist, tummy, hips and upper arms.

Slacked a but over Christmas, back on it Wednesday.

I’d try to cut down rather than cut out. I’m not a fan of elimination diets; even sugar - although I might be a lone voice in this. An easy way to start would be to swap certain meals for lower sugar versions. For example, I used to have cereal for breakfast but now I have Greek yogurt, blueberries, nuts and a bit of honey. So still contains sugar, but far less.

Yes. I felt better, had more energy and lost weight. Try following The Blood Sugar Diet by Michael Moseley - that gives very clear and easy to follow guidelines (I'm not getting any back-handers for this, honest).

I always feel so much better for not eating sugar, it's so bloody hard to stick to though and I always fall of the wagon eventually.

The first few days are rough and then after about a week I start to feel much better. Clearer head, less hungry, and without the crashes I get when eating sugar.

It's worth it, I only slipped up this time as its xmas and the kids had been poorly.

Yes, makes a massive difference to how you feel. Cut down rather than eliminate at first though, and don’t forget about all the stuff your body turns into glucose once you’ve eaten it

It makes no difference to me and I don't loose weight. I didn't eat any processed sugar for 2 years and I lost nothing and felt the same. I then ate no carbs for a whole year and only lost 4 pounds.

I'm now vegan and eat mostly vegetables, tofu, soya and grains. I still haven't lost any weight but I feel much better. Low carb diets make me feel terrible with no energy.

I went keto in Feb and have lost 3 stone. I find I'm rarely hungry now and my energy levels are very stable throughout the day. It doesn't work for everyone but I've found it amazing. If you have a sweet tooth, you can still have things like Halo Top ice-cream and make cake from almond flour and Stevia.

While there may be other stuff going on, your appreciation that you consume too much sugar is a start.
Sudden changes rarely work so to begin with cut out all obvious and unnecessary sugar, Sweets, desserts with meals, biscuits and cakes and sugar in drinks would be the obvious thinks to knock on the head.
Use stairs rather than lifts if applicable, just a bit more exercise.
I would give these measures a go for a few weeks then consult your doctor if things persist.

I am overweight, I need to lose about 2 stones. I just think it's impossible, unless I starve myself. Losing weight was easy when I was younger.

I'd really like to try cutting sugar out as I have several risks of health that would be benefited plus I am exhausted all the bloody time

I do get a bit confused by it though if I am honest

It's the hidden sugars that throw me , does anyone know if I'd see a benefit to removing processed food , fruit and obvious big ticket sugar items (cakes doughnuts etc?) I am aware that there may be unseen sugars but would the above help?

Sorry OP don't mean to hijack but I'm wondering the same as you

You need to cut all carbs, not just sugars. Carbs in bread, rice, potatoes, root vegetables just turn to sugar in your body.

Like a PP, I found that elimination diets are often really difficult to maintain because I needed something food-related to look forward to!

However I did try and cut as much sugar out of the diet as possible, and use sugar substitutes where I can. Combined with the gym and a better all round diet it's helped me lose 7.5 stone in just over 2 years

I think people eat too much sugar and it can't hurt to cut it down. I wouldn't give up fruit though, as I think it would be too hard to go cold turkey and fruit has nutritional value.

Depends what else you do - and what you mean by cutting out sugar.

Sugar-free 'junk' food is still junk.

And, recipes that are styled as sugar-free but have brown rice syrup, agave syrup or similar are all still recipes with sugar under a different name.

I did keto for 6 months and felt great. Broke in nov because of work and I cannot believe the shit that's come back into my life.
Palpitations: 1 hour after eating sugar or 4 hours after alcohol
Hot flushes: age dependent obviously but I didn't get them when I wasn't eating sugar
Night sweats: as above
Aching hips and ankles: as above
Indigestion/ heartburn: as above
Anxiety: as above ......

So yes, sugar makes a massive difference to my life. I'm scheduled to go back on keto (with dp) as soon as I have control over my own food again: jan 2, but I've already cut back drastically on sugar to reduce some of the worst effects(the palpitations, night sweats and anxiety).

Definitely. It's hard at first as your body is so used to having sugar in the bloodstream so you will 'crash' and struggle, but I find having caffeine (black coffees) and eating healthier have me more energy in the end. Our bodies don't 'need' much sugar at all, really we should only be eating the naturally occurring sugars in fruits etc.

So no carbs (fair enough I get that) no fruit no other sugars , I personally can't have high fat for health issues

Am I being dull here ? What do people actually eat?

Eponymous I recognise a lot of those symptoms so think it would be helpful but I genuinely don't quite understand what can be eaten on a daily basis

Following (while I finish off some quality street 😬 )

I cut refined sugar and lost weight but I'd be lying if I said it was just down to the sugar. It definitely helped, but I became generally more health conscious because of it I think.

Yes, do it. I found that doing the Blood Sugar Diet (which is low carb, not just low sugar) made me sleep better, have more energy, stop aching joints, and feel happier, as well as lose weight. I was able to come off my anti-depressants and I joined a gym for the first time ever in my life because I wanted to.

In reply to the concerns about elimination diets, the reality is you won't ever eliminate all sugar, because so many foods naturally have small amounts of sugar. In the Blood Sugar Diet, Michael Mosley suggests a good rule of thumb for fruit: eat fruit that (can be) grown in this country, not tropical fruit. Apples, berries, plums etc are much less sugarific than mangos, pineapples etc.

Sugar is evil - end of. So the most you can eliminate it from your diet the better.
4g of sugar is a teaspoon of sugar, so whenever I pick something up in the supermarket or on my online shopping I work out how much sugar is in the food, it's quite scary.
Natural sugars are obviously much better for you but I was told by my oral health hygienist to only eat sugar, progressed or natural with a meal, as sugar decays your teeth & gums for 2 hours after you've eaten it. So if you have a meal with a bit of sugar, that's 2 hours of decay, then a snack, another 2 hours etc - so that's something to be wary of too.
The fat free foods that we are drawn to eat because they 'fat free' are CAKED in sugar. You're better to eat the fat (as long as it's not high in saturated fat)
I would suggest reading a book on nutrition to try and get a better understand as it is literally a mine field!!!

@gettingbackonmyfeet if you have to have a low fat diet, then you shouldn't consider a low carb diet without talking to a doctor in detail about it. The main foods on the BSD are protein, fat and veg. I generally have full fat yoghurt with blueberries for breakfast, cheese, nuts and an apple for lunch, and then some kind of meat with veg for dinner.

He's very clear that if you're hungry, you probably need more fat. He recommends full-fat dairy, for example, and using olive oil in cooking. And he's VERY clear that this diet is not suitable for everyone.

Why do low carb and no sugar diets work for some people and not for others?

Because some people have a real sensitivity to carbohydrates that others don’t have.