So if you don't eat added sugar then what on earth do you do for pudding?

[gettingtogreat]

It's all very well this no-added-sugar healthy eating lark, but three days in and I am at a loss for my pudding options.

Am I destined to a lifetime of Greek yoghurt and fruit for afters??

Sorry OP, none of my post above is to do with your original question. Just wanted to throw my hat in for the pudding eaters.

I adore stewed or baked apple. That'd be OK for no-added sugar.

I have never thought about having pudding every day. In our house pudding was for Sundays....because we have a roast early and dont want to cook another meal that day (usually have a toasty or something later if i get peckish.) Now i feel like i might be missing out ... but i usually dont have pudding in a restaurant either because im too full!

I googled "Why do I crave something sweet after dinner" and came across an interesting page which explained it perfectly for me. www.mindbodygreen.com/0-21758/why-you-crave-sweets-after-a-meal-how-to-stop-it.html

I started on a diuretic diet due to Intercranial Hypertension (long story and hopefully a temporary condition.)
So I cut out all sugar (plus a low sodium diet, 500mg which is all your body needs, taking into account the naturally occurring sodium in foods), no caffeine, plenty leafy greens etc.
Initially I thought I'd be impossible and a miserable existence but it's been pretty easy. I don't have much will power usually but my motivation is either do this or take pretty horrible medication that I'll have to wean myself off eventually or suffer excruciating head pain.
Point is, you can have a perfectly happy existence without pudding everyday.
I've also lost 9lbs over the course of 5 weeks. I'm still eating a good amount of food and a couple of packs of salt and shake crisps with out the salt ...oh and wine.
I'm not skinny but I'm not overweight either. I was teetering on the edge of being overweight before this.

We have pudding every day too, after our main meal in the evening. I'd rather eat a slightly lighter meal then have healthy pud for variety! Size 10/slim husband.

Yogurt & fruit isn't what you're after (but we do have this a lot!)
Avo choc mousse.
Banana loaf with no added sugar
Sprinkling toasted flaked almonds (supermarket bought) on things livens it up.

No. 1 pud is frozen banana blended with spoon of natural yog and very slightly defrosted mango chunks/cherries. Ice cream!!

We always have pudding! Even breakfast needs pudding. Though very often it is fruit - especially at breakfast time (OK always at breakfast time! - but pudding at breakfast sounds good!) then it is quite often fruit or low fat yogurt at lunch and on a weekday evening.
I like fruit and merigue nest. Test its added sugar. But it's a lot of sweetness and crunch for much less sugar than say biscuit or cake.
We do have a 'sticky toffee' pudding style pud most Sunday's! But only really then or when with friends for a meal & even then it's more likely to be cheese cake!!

As someone else said further up the thread, surely if you're trying to cut out added sugar, then you'd start with cutting out puddings (apart from unsweetened fruit). Puddings are a habit rather than a necessity.

I grew up with puddings but we don't eat them regularly now. My 4 year old might have a yogurt, fruit or jelly but only if he has eaten enough dinner. My DP is slim but I'm not - size 14, just post baby.

But if I do have a pudding I want something gooey and creamy! Make it worth while.

Puddings are a habit rather than a necessity.

"Puddings are a habit rather than a necessity."

Sorry, but I agree with this. I have a sweet tooth these days and am now rather glad we haven't got into the habit of having pudding after every meal or I would be the size of a house.

Also, I am too full from my main meal to make room for pudding anyway.

I hardly ever eat puddings. I lowcarbed for years, and really notice sweeeeet now. I don't have a sweet tooth anyway, and would rather have a packet of crisps. (Size 8/10)

Another point - I really really really don't understand why school dinners have to include puddings. In these sugar-enlightened times (long time coming!) they should have a piece of fruit, or perhaps a starter (savoury) or even cheese and crackers. Why the cakes/biscuits/ice cream/puddings?

I have pudding of some sort almost every day but varies from something healthy (!) fruit and yoghurt or something naughty like cake but I have always stayed a size 8-10 (pre kids I was more of an 8)

You need this website. Link is to my particular favourite...
www.ditchthecarbs.com/2015/05/22/low-carb-mug-cakes/

It never occurs to us to have pudding.

I'm surprised it is a big deal for people.

I agree habits are hard to break though. The only thing you can do if you do want to break the pudding habit is to change your routine slightly.

When the boys were little and went to bed at 9.00pm DH and I got into the habit of having a chocolate bar every night to share. After a few months I realised it had to stop. So asked him not to pick some up on the way home from work. The first week was the hardest but you get through it even though something felt like it was missing!

Sorry, but I agree with this. I have a sweet tooth these days and am now rather glad we haven't got into the habit of having pudding after every meal or I would be the size of a house.

Only if you think ‘pudding’ has to be something full of fat and sugar.

*Whois
*
pudding
A cooked sweet dish served after the main course of a meal

So most puddings will by definition be high in sugars. Unless it's high in artificial sweeteners and other processed crap.

nenning that would be true if I followed the dictionary definition of pudding. However I think lots of us don't feel the need to do that, and it's clear from this thread that people use the word "pudding" to refer to the often sweeter food they eat after their main meal, which includes fruit or yoghurt.

Most of us Brits will use 'pudding' as the name of the last course of the meal, rather than just a foodstuff in itself...... I understand a lot of forriners might understand the word differently though! For me fruit or yoghurt is most definitely a pudding!

No pudding here either.

Sometimes we'll have fruit if there is nice fruit that needs eating. Or a bit of dark choc with a cup of tea after dinner. But "proper" puddings are only for when we have guests or in restaurants.

I was brought up with very little sweet food and haven't developed a sweet tooth. For which I'm very grateful, and trying to do the same for my DC.

In case that sounds joyless - we eat a LOT of cheese, salami, meat, nuts, creme fraiche, full fat yoghurt and other fatty foods. Eating fat doesn't seem to make me fat in the same way as sugar ...

I suspect lots of people have pudding but wouldn't open the thread as its about sugar free ones... I usually have 2 Galaxy ripples after dinner or something like that. That's my pudding.

2 Galaxys? Isn't that like a whole meal worth of calories again?

350 calories.. That's like a second lunch

Probably. I don't worry about it. I probably should but then I've got far more things to worry about and on the whole my diet is very good and I don't drink at all or smoke etc etc. I think mumsnet is a bit of a little bubble when it comes to the whole sugar free / weight watching stuff. Most people I know in real life aren't like that. I'm not hugely overweight either - size 14 and been that size for the last 20 years.

2 galaxy's?! I'm not at all precious about sugar but that's a lot of calories for a pudding.

Fairylea that's weird you should say that, because I see MN as a bubble too - but in the opposite way.
To me, everyone on here seems to eat cake and sugary crap and be constantly on about wanting to lose weight... whereas IRL I don't have any friends who would ever eat pudding at home.

nennyrainbow

Ok so I'm not following the exact definition of the word pudding. I use it to mean 'something to eat after my main course'.

I had an apple cut up into slices last night. Sunday I had a peech cut up into pieces with a dollop of plain yog and a few mint leaves shredded. Saturday I had a mini magnum. So shoot me.