Sugar free diet ideas please

[Peach9876]

I've pretty overweight, and I'm fairly convinced I'm addicted to sugar more than the typical cravings. I've tried to cut down but my will power is crap and the cravings are strong. I've decided it might be easier to just go cold turkey and cut out sugar altogether, so I'm here begging for ideas.

I need a few meals and snacks to start. Just to make things more awkward were pretty short on cash (so cheaper the better), DP is rather fussy, but I'm happy to stockpile some pizzas for him for back up and I don't eat meat. I'm not a strict vegetarian, so will occasionally have yoghurts with gelatine etc, but IIRC most gelatine containing products have sugar in anyway (which is why I eat them!) and occasionally eat fish.

I've got a meal out tomorrow night, so will be starting on Wednesday. I'm hoping that will give me enough time to empty the cupboards of foods containing sugar and some lovely MNetters to come along and give me some tasty suggestions.

And what about fruit/milk/all dairy? Okay in moderation? Cut it out for the first few weeks? A complete no go for a self diagnosed sugar addict?

So far I'm thinking

Breakfast: homemade bread (will it rise without sugar for the yeast?) and peanut butter (sugar free variety of course)

Lunch: Salad with ??? (no idea as yet, does cottage cheese have sugar in?)

Tea: cheese pasta bake

Snacks of fruit/veg sticks/sugar free yoghurt/???

Left to my own devices this diet is going to be really limited. Best do better to remember my multivitamins.

TIA

Well yes fruit does contain sugar but it's natural sugars. It depends how strict you want to be. If it was me I think I'd start by cutting out refined and added sugars and see how I go. For lunch something like boiled eggs or cottage cheese with your salad are fine..
Cheese pasta bake also fine, assuming you make it yourself. Sugar is added to lots of ready made sauces and meals.
Jacket potatoes perfect fuss free dinner, top with cheese, tuna, veggie chilli etc.
Fritata also good and can be eaten cold for lunch the next day.
If you eat fish a piece of fish cooked in foil with some spring onions and ginger with some veg.
If you are cutting all sugars veggie sticks, breadsticks and homemade hummus is a cook snack.

It really does depend on how strict you want to be but if possible you should cut back on hidden sugars too - carbs are broken down into glucose so you need to ideally cut the less healthy carbs - increase your veg but not too much root veg - more green leafy stuff...

Bread will rise without yeast but you need to allow longer rising times - French bread recipes are usually no added sugar and a rustic version with whole meal, seeds and grains is better still

And swap to full fat mayo instead of salad cream, ketchup etc....

Have a look at the Low carb threads on boot camp for ideas as well....

Unsweetened full fat yoghurt with berries in place of sugary fruit flavoured yoghurts is another good swap

Carbs raise your blood sugar and then trigger cravings for more sugar.

Fruit wise stick to berries as they are low in sugar. Eggs make really easy meals.

I knew MN wouldn't let me down! Thank you all!

So basically fruit wise is up to me, but beware the sugar.
Carby food (ie bread, pasta, potatoes?) might make me crave sugary stuff, so keep that low too.
Less of the nice veg and more of the icky stuff (not a big fan of greens, love root veg though).

I will have a look for the low carb threads, thank you for that suggestion. I didn't really think of sugar free as low carb, but I suppose that's exactly what it is.
I'm going to attempt a meal plan for the rest of this week and go shopping in the morning.

You've got the hang of it already blood - stock up on that icky veg

You can't cut out sugar. It's in everything and isn't necessarily bad - if you try and cut it all out, as you say, you're going to have an extremely limited diet which won't have all the nutrients you need.

Focus on cutting down on things with lots of refined added sugar - cakes, biscuits, yoghurts, bought sauces, cereals. Eat slow release carbs that don't cause a blood sugar spike then sudden drop - which is what can cause cravings for more sugary things (so wholemeal bread, pasta rice etc). Make sure you eat more veg than fruit; and eat whole fruit rather than juices or smoothies. Fish, lean meat and poultry, unflavoured nuts and seeds, eggs, bit of cheese (in moderation) all fine.

Be careful of anything 'sugar-free' - you'll need to have a good look at whatever they've added to make it palatable after removing the sugar (e.g. sweeteners, which can have a laxative effect in large proportions and has been known to cause cravings for more sweet foods).

As for giving up 'nice veg' - you are infinitely better off eating lots of 'nice' veg than you would be eating a big plateful of cheesy pasta bake.

TmiTuesday sorry, but that it completely incorrect, you do not need sugar at all. You can cut out all sugars and all sugar substitutes and still eat a varied and fully nutritious diet.

Peach, have a look at the low carb threads and boot camps to find excellent recipe ideas, inspiration, support and science-backed information.

It's a way of eating that can be difficult to start, but becomes very easy to live with.

I think a full exclusion of all sugar and sugar substitutes is best and limit fruit. (I had to do this to help with candida). I excluded dairy and gluten too for other reasons.

So, I had a maximum of two pieces of fruit a day, ate lots of vegetables, nuts, seeds, rice, potatoes, eggs, lots of water and herbal tea.

Once I had done that for 3 months, I introduced more fruit. I could not believe how amazing lemon, fruit and sparkling water tasted!!

I now eat lots of fruit and use dates, bananas and raisins to sweeten cakes, biscuits and snacks. I continue to avoid refined sugar or sugar substitutes.

All sugar?! So the natural sugars that occur in ALL fruit and ALL vegetables (such as fructose), ALL milk based products (like lactose), and ALL complex carbohydrates (which break down into sugars slowly when digested) can all be cut out can they? And still have a healthy diet?

That is utter and complete rubbish. Cutting out REFINED sugars (table sugar, the sucrose from sugar cane that is added to processed products far too much) is perfectly possible. But glucose (a sugar) is what gives human beings energy, broken down from more complex forms. It's what our bodies run on. Cutting it out is NOT A THING THAT CAN HAPPEN.

I didn't say cut out all carbohydrates. You can minimise carbohydrates to 20-50g per day by cutting out all simple carbs (sugars), all complex carbs, most fruit, most root veg, and still have a varied, tasty, satiating and completely nutritious diet.

sorry, it's late, the post should have read, refined sugar, as the next sentence says, I ate fruit and vegetables.

Also our bodies do not need to run on sugar. It is the fuel of choice because it is the most easily metabolised, but the body can make energy from other food components.