To think giving up sugar is so hard?!

[OrangeLavenders]

This time last year I weighed 9 stone 10! I was 12 stone a week ago and have dropped half a stone in a week.

Nothing drastic, just no constant snacking and calorie counting my meals (I'm very short so my personal calorie deficit is around 1200 calories).

But I can't give up the sugar. I have DRASTICALLY reduced my intake but I can't see the day out without having something sweet to nibble on if I feel too dizzy. I can only describe it as a withdrawal process.

How hard is it to quit sugar cold turkey? I'm worried as I find it incredibly hard. I have a DC with additional needs and a lot going on so it seems all the more difficult to be in 'the zone' as the withdrawal seems greater.

Am I just being ridiculous?

I forgot to add, when I gave up sugar, I took up eating good fats! And still lost over 3 stone.
Try and eat natural, fresh and clean.
Dr Mosleys books are really useful

Yanbu

Sugar is really difficult to give up and many are addicted to it just like a drug

Going cold turkey might cause withdrawal type symptoms so it might be better to do it gradually. Start with removing any food items from your diet with added sugar and stop eating or drinking anything to which you usually add sugar to make it nice (tea, coffee, strawberries etc.)

Then once you're used to that go full no sugar

How do you actually give up sugar? Surely there are sugars in everything? What's the best way to start?

For me, I just don’t have much that tastes sweet!

Rarely eat chocolate, cake etc anymore. Don’t drink juice or squashes, mostly water or tea, and sweet drinks taste horrid to me now.

If I want a sweet thing it’s usually a piece of fruit- maybe every other day.

I do have the odd thing- a bit of sweet chilli sauce on a stir fry occasionally, or an ice lolly in a heatwave. It’s rare now though and often doesn’t hit the spot like it used to.

I can “get away” with that amount without it opening the trapdoor to my cravings- experience tells me that if I push it much further than that I just make life harder for myself again!

Not a very scientific answer, sorry, but it works for me :)

@BenoneBeauty

How do you actually give up sugar? Surely there are sugars in everything? What's the best way to start?

Most wont give up naturally occurring sugars (such as those in fruits and veg)

I thought people did give up fruits etc - might try it then as think I could manage everything else.

For me I give up all fruit except occasionally the lowest sugar berries and lemon or lime in cooking or sparkling water, most starchy carbs, will limit higher sugary carbs, obviously no alcohol/sweets/artificially sweetened food and drink. Very low carb overall.

Berries are low carb. Bananas are high carb, lots of sugar. Best way to cut down sugar is to avoid processed foods and obviously the sugar you add to thinks like tea and coffee. Ideally you want to eat in a way that doesn’t spike insulin. That’s why many of us practise intermittent fasting. We eat two meals a day, no snacks, and fast for at least 16 hours. Then insulin isn’t spiked and fat is burned instead.

I did this a few years ago. I found I was grinding my teeth a lot at first but after a few weeks it stopped.

Stick with it OP! I lost loads of weight and felt great - l loved the control I had (that was addictive) and the power I had to say no.

Oh, I also used to eat a shedload of biscuits - packets at a time. I found oatcakes with butter were a good alternative, gave me the ‘crunch’ I was looking for.

I have got to do it! Well done to you

Some fruits are lower in sugar. Raspberries are 4-5g per 100g which is about 2/3 of a punnet. Strawberries are similar. I think watermelon is quite low too. Lemon and lime are obviously really low so you can use them in sauces/marinades/dressings etc quite a bit.

Meant to add that I also went cold-turkey, hence the teeth grinding.

I also wouldn’t recommend artificial sweeteners of any kind - you want to kill the craving for anything sweet so it’s counterproductive to use them IMO. (I’m not a big fruit eater either which helped me.)

I gave up refined/processed sugars for lent last year, I won't lie, the first 2 weeks were horrific!

After that it was a breeze.

I wish I'd stuck to it because I felt like I had so much more energy all the tome and I slept better!

Interesting thread. I have tried proper low carb and didn't get past the first few days of feeling absolutely dreadful. I desperately need to lose weight though and maybe I could try cutting out added sugar. Its so hard though.

It’s so hard. I did it for 2 months and gave up all processed foods too. No sweetness as they just continue the cravings for something sweet. I did eat the occasional date and cashew homemade balls if I really couldn’t stand it.
I upped my good fats and all natural foods- loads of protein and veg to fill up plus nuts and veg sticks and hummus to snack on.
It was hard but my god did the weight drop off. Never looked so thin and that was just after 4-6 weeks. Also my skin looked so smooth and clear- didn’t need foundation!
I mostly kept it up for around 1 year but bad habits started creeping in after that

Except to feel horrible for the first week

Aldis no sugar chocolate. Jusr recommended on another thread. I'm getting all evangelical about it!

According to the sweet poison theory, you only need to give up refined fructose. This includes honey (refined by bees) and table sugar (Sucrose). Fruit is ok (not refined) - although worth considering the fibre:fructose ratio. (Berries are better than apples and bananas). Glucose is ok - and is made quite quickly in the body every time you eat carbohydrates anyway. Lactose is also ok and is the naturally occurring sugar in milk.

Once you know what you are avoiding you read food labels and keep the refined sucrose content below 5%. So it isn’t completely giving up sugar but massively cutting down. It is hard with withdrawal symptoms etc but it isn’t that hard from a practical point of view.

@SerenadeOfTheSchoolRun

According to the sweet poison theory, you only need to give up refined fructose. This includes honey (refined by bees) and table sugar (Sucrose). Fruit is ok (not refined) - although worth considering the fibre:fructose ratio. (Berries are better than apples and bananas). Glucose is ok - and is made quite quickly in the body every time you eat carbohydrates anyway. Lactose is also ok and is the naturally occurring sugar in milk.

Once you know what you are avoiding you read food labels and keep the refined sucrose content below 5%. So it isn’t completely giving up sugar but massively cutting down. It is hard with withdrawal symptoms etc but it isn’t that hard from a practical point of view.

That sounds manageable and not as restrictive as complete low carb.

It helps if you are expecting the headache and know what it is, also the gnawing empty feeling which is sugar withdrawal pretending to be hunger. No reason you can't take a paracetamol for the headache. Eating won't help the empty feeling but it does go away.

Eating won't help the empty feeling but it does go away.

This applies to everything!

The same happened to me when I have up caffeine. Terrible headache for maybe two days and then I was fine.

I cut out sugar and after a month the stuff just tastes nasty. Crack on.