AIBU to think giving up sugar is really hard? If you’ve done it, what do you eat?

[Hallomother]

I really want to do this as I get bad migraines and think sugar is a trigger. I never used to eat much aside from natural sugar but during lockdown went a bit mad and now feel so
Lethargic and sluggish.. but I seem to crave it!!

What kind of thing do you eat if you don’t eat sugar? I want to put a bit of a plan together

Dark chocolate

DH gave up sugar
He eats peanut butter or dark chocolate if he needs a sweet fix

I had to go cold turkey after been diagnosed as T2 diabetic.

If I really crave something sweet, I'll have a few squares of dark chocolate or a small serving of frozen berries with cream.

I have to watch carb content too, so try to have nice olives in the fridge, a snacktub filled with cubes of cheese, and some walnut halves....... anything that doesn't make you feel that you're going without. I avoid sugar free treats like sweets/chocolate like the plague as it's overly sweet and has an unfortunate laxative effect

I did a variation on Atkins once and gave up all sugar and carbs over 4g or something of I recall. I basically had lots of cheese! I felt awful on it. It did lose a stone very quickly and my skin got a lot better. But I had to stop it as my insides had gone haywire

Raspberries or strawberries and cream are surprisingly low sugar. Almonds are tasty with a slight sweet taste.

Alternativly just don't eat sweet things, meat, eggs dairy veg.

If sugar is a trigger is carbs? It's the same thing chemically but might not have the same effect because of fiber content or something. Just something to keep an eye on if the headaches still appear.

Same here, really good quality dark chocolate, you just don’t want anymore than a square or two.

When dh and I need to lose a bit of weight we don’t buy a single sugary thing, it’s too tempting to keep it in the house, we just buy dark chocolate. It only takes less than a week and the craving goes!

I gave up refined sugar, so could still have fruit.

I had a smoothie every day with fruit, veg and oats. Oat cakes with peanut butter and blueberries. Meals were pretty easy as I like to cook from scratch anyway. Also I put honey in my tea.

I was going from a can of fizzy juice and sweets every day. Had really bad withdrawals and craved chocolate. Got a headache on day 3 which was on and off for 5 days, then it was fine.

I lasted 5 weeks and it changed my outlook on food in a huge way.

Good luck

I went low carb, after approx two weeks all cravings go completely. We’ve a ton of chocolate and crisps in the house and I don’t literally even think about it. When I’m not low carbing I can eat a lot and not feel remotely full and feel focused on it if it’s in the house till I eat it.

So I don’t have a sweet fix as I don’t need one. Instead I notice the sweetness now in other things, so for example a tomato I ate tonight tasted sweet.

I've just made myself get into the habit of eating something savoury when I crave sweet things.

So cheese, cocktail sausages, peppers! Even a chicken drumstick.

Took a few weeks/up to a month to retrain me but I'm so glad I'm off the treadmill of mainlining chocolate every night.

I have full fat Greek yogurt with berries and nuts. I also freeze this in the ice cream maker.

Big fan of very dark chocolate spread with good crunchy peanut butter and sprinkled with sea salt. Sometimes I add whipped cream (from a bottle). No sugar or carbs (well not much) and a little bit fills me up without triggering my sugar addiction.

I've just eaten some crunchy peanut butter spread on slices of sweet red pepper. Much nicer than it sounds!

Have a read of the low carb bootcamp threads. I've been following this plan for two months and don't crave sweet stuff at all. The other night I had the opportunity to eat loads of cakes, I just wasn't interested.

I eat meat, fish ,eggs, green veg and salad, a limited amount of cream, full fat Greek yogurt and cheese, and some berries.

Not only have I lost weight but my eczema has cleared up and I feel loads better in myself.

I gave up refined sugar over a year ago and these are my ultimate go-to recipes when I crave something sweet (they both taste as good as “normal” sugary desserts in my opinion!):

www.justataste.com/5-minute-healthy-strawberry-frozen-yogurt-recipe/

detoxinista.com/flourless-peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-blondies/

Good luck!

When I quit sugar, I don’t crave it at all so I never feel like I missing out.

So many people said to me “but don’t you miss x?” and my point was always “why would I miss something I don’t crave? I never feel like I’m deny myself so once you’ve killed your sugar demon you won’t have the cravings and it’s much easier.

@Morningstar66 I think carbs might be. I used to low carb before DS and had hardly any migraines but I find it SO hard to low carb with a toddler because I’m always grabbing a quick slice of toast or some cereal etc

I have gestational diabetes and have to follow a strict no sugar/low carb diet. Breakfast is usually Greek yoghurt with berries and nuts/seeds, or eggs with a small piece of low carb whole meal bread, lunch is usually a salad with protein, dinner fish and veg or some sort of curry/stir fry with a small amount of rice or new potatoes. Lots of nuts, cheese, olives, hummus, sugar free jelly as snacks. It’s a very healthy way to eat, I’m 29 weeks pregnant and have only put on just under 3kgs so far. But it is boring, eating out is difficult, no take aways etc

Do you mean refined sugars and processed foods? I have a very low consumption of those foods for the same reason as you - migraines.

I generally only eat fruit, veg, meat, pulses, oats, rice and seafood. I don’t eat any bread, pasty or bakery type foods aside from the very rare treat. Mentally I find it just easier to limit myself to no processed foods and concentrate on getting variety within those categories.

I snack on raspberries, strawberries, carrots and apples. I shop every few days to make sure I always have some in the fridge.

Porridge oats and unsweetened almond milk for breakfast (or regular milk would work, I just don’t like the taste of milk!), or an apple if I’m in a rush.

Cold new potatoes are great for lunch and salads. Tinned tuna, frozen prawns (I buy the cheap ones and defrost in warm water, not sure if you’re supposed to do this), avocados, and those frozen baked potatoes you cook for 4 minutes in the microwave are all quick lunch ideas.

If I cook chicken or salmon for dinner I make extra to have for lunch the next day.

The cravings go within a week. I still get migraines around my period, but I only get about 1 in the second half of my cycle now.

I could do with some tips too. Eating chocolate makes me happy but now that I am approaching 40 and I can see my waist line is getting bigger I really need to boot this habit to the curb.

This is all really useful thank you. Yes I mean refined sugars and carbs.
My eating habits are terrible at the moment, lots of takeaways and convenience foods and I’m really feeling it.

It’s really hard. But once you are in the swing and been doing it for a couple of weeks, the cravings do reduce a lot.
Almond butter with oat cakes, cashew nuts, plain Greek youghurt with berries, very good quality dark chocolate (must have a very high cocoa content for it to be low sugar)
An apple. The occasional small banana with no sugar almond or peanut butter on, handful of almond. The occasional date if I really feel a craving but they are high in natural sugars so only occasionally

My husband actually can't eat any sugar, both sucrose and fructose. He’s ok with glucose. He just doesn’t have the ensigns to process any sugar.

Because of this, I base meals around: meat, dairy, most greens, white vegetables (not parsnips) and complex carbs. Chicken with creamed spinach and wholemeal basmati rice.

The hardest thing I find/notice is how much sugar is put into things, that normally you would not add sugar to - mayonnaise, pre-made carbonara, pulled pork, even veggies. So it makes ready-meals out of the question. Food out is generally steak and french fries.

If you want to stop sugar, cook from scratch.

Low fat and low salt general means added sugar. Fats ok (everything in moderation)

Happy to give more meal ideas.

Saying that my daughter and I both love lasagna, ragu and pudding.

I like Lizi's granola with full fat Greek yoghurt. I just switched to full fat everything, I love the supermarket baked in store seed/multigrain loaves/sourdough, two doorstop slices with butter for breakfast. It's been a revelation, I'm not hungry all the time and my excess weight gradually disappeared without me having to do any exercise (I'm quite lazy). I don't really eat much fruit, I have the odd kiwi or apple.
DH says I live on carbs. I do love toast...

Someone I work with have up meat because of migraines and is now vegetarian. She said it has rapidly reduced her migraines.
Regarding sugar it’s only as I am getting older that I am finding it harder to keep it out of my diet. I can go a couple of week without it and then BAM just eaten a full big sharer bar of chocolate. I have decided I need to go completely cold turkey on the stuff. It’s at work I find hard to not eat. Deciding to add extra cheese to my salad to fill me up more in hopes I don’t crave anything sweet.

When I first started, I took it back to basics and thought of a plain post-war sort of diet. Not rations, just thinking of the type of food people would eat. Protein, complex carbohydrates, vegetables and fats. That really helped me.

I don't eat any sugar or carbs. I have fruit but very rarely, as a treat. I eat fish, meat, avocadoes, kimchi, courgettes, onions and garlic and occasional other veg (no root veg). At the moment I have dairy also, but I feel better when I don't have it and plan to cut that out again soon. It's basically a 'ketovore' diet. It's hard at first but after a while it just becomes normal.

For a treat I will make something like 'fat bombs' with coconut butter, almond butter and 100% dark chocolate. Or I will have some berries or melon. But fruit contains a lot of sugar and I find if I start eating too fruit much I'll get sugar cravings, so I tend to avoid it.

It's quite extreme as diets go but I'm never hungry, have lost loads of weight (6 stone) have loads of energy and have helped improve a serious health condition, so well worth it for me.

I'm on Atkins or heavanly chocolate if I want a treat. Both nice.

I'm so glad you posted this, thank you. I am also mainlining chocolate and sugar, I've gotten fatter and fatter but I've tried and failed to lose so many times I've all but given up.

So, if I was going to give up refined sugar and keep an eye on carbs, are porridge oats with a bit of peanut butter acceptable?