Reducing sugar intake in 2015

[Sashiko]

Inspired by this thread, it seems that quite a few of us want to reduce our sugar intake, and we're all more likely to be successful if we have a bit of support.

What's your weakness? What's your goal? Tips from anyone who has already done it, and links to useful / interesting articles on the subject are very welcome!

Aside from the known health benefits, I'm really hoping that reducing sugar will help my moods, as I do get really irritable and it only recently occurred to me that it could be due to blood sugar spikes / crashes.

My plan is

1. Stop taking sugar in tea and coffee (approx 5 tsp per day)
2. Alcohol on weekends only
3. Attempt to reduce carbohydrates
4. Reduce sweet treats (although these are not a big part of my diet, I do like to bake now and then.)

Who's with me?

I defrost a small amount of frozen berries and stir them through my porridge and top with a bit of natural yogurt to jazz it up and make it sweeter and creamier.I find the idea of golden syrup or brown sugar that I used to add already seems too sweet.Christmas has been a bit of a blip but I've certainly eaten far less chocolate,cake and sugary stuff than usual as my taste buds have started to change.

Marking place here

I would love to stop taking in sugar via chocolates/cakes/scones/biscuits etc and would definitely like to lose 10lbs by Easter addicted to the damn stuff

I've already lost 9lbs- albeit very slowly - but have definitely fallen off the diet wagon at Christmas.

Nearly reached for a yoghurt after supper tonight, but as someone said earlier in this thread - yoghurt is choc-ful of sugar - don't really like the plain stuff.

Have you tried Greek yoghurt- such as Yeo valley?
It's lovely and creamy with no sharp taste like ordinary plain yoghurt. It's slightly higher in fat - and calories- but fat's not that bad for you now anyway.

I have a couple of tablespoons with blueberries. Lovely!

I love fruit with yoghurt and honey as a dessert, or even as lunch in summer. I have a yoghurt maker, and the kids seem to like the plain yoghurt with a bit of honey, but the texture is always slightly grainy. I think I'm doing something wrong but not sure what, so I haven't used it in a while. Might have to have another look at that.

I've been 100% sugar free in hot drinks today, but did have oven chips tonight, and wine after kids in bed, so no halo for me today. I was in the kitchen just now though, and was getting that "ooh, I wonder what I could munch just before bed?" feeling. I resisted, but it sort of surprised me how much of a habit it has become.

I failed on the first day - couldn't resist the last can of coke in the fridge. At least it's gone now, can't drink it if it's not there.
How did you give up Diet Coke golden ?! cold turkey or cutting down? I've managed to cut down to 3 a week (with the occasional lapse - over Christmas has been almost daily) but can't seem to ditch it altogether.
I've switched to Greek yogurt too - I really like it and just eat it as it comes.

Sashiko, I staved off the last munch before bed last night too, and I felt better for it. Normally I'd have had a small bar of chocolate, or similar. I just went to bed instead. I really didn't NEED anything.

I gave up fizzy drinks about 15 years ago, they are sooooo bad for us. I miss them a little, but I made myself a Pinterest board about quite how awful they are for our health, and I have not given in.
I went cold turkey re the fizzy drinks, Shetland (I know you didn't ask me!) - I don't do well doing things in stages, I have to be all or nothing. But it works for me.

Porridge this morning with no added sugar, though I do use soya milk which is a little sweeter than dairy anyway, so perhaps a bit of a cheat!

I cut out diet coke 3 years ago, just went cold turkey. I can't wean myself off things, it's all or nothing for me! First few,days were absolutely awful then got easier. Still miss an ice cold diet coke though

I never liked diet stuff, but man, Cherry Coke, Dr.Pepper, plain old Coke, Irn Bru - yes please!

If I get to 80, maybe I'll start drinking them again! :)

Oh gawd, I really fancy a cherry coke now!

Sausage bap for lunch... not great eh? But no sugar in tea or coffee, and although I can't say I love it, it's bearable if I REALLY want a brew.

I think things will get easier next week, when we're back in a normal routine. When we're out and about with DH we could end up anywhere for lunch.

Hi I need to do this too. I don't have sugar in tea or coffee, but have an after dinner Muller corner/ biscuit habit I need to cut out, and I have a feeling I might have to bite the bullet and go low carb, as I love bread, and it has tons of sugar and refined carbs.

I'm starting proper on Monday when kids are back at school, and the Christmas food has been eaten. I think the trick is to have plenty of healthy food in the house. I try to buy better quality fruit to tempt me.

Banana cinnamon porridge for breakfast here which was ok (prefer it with honey and/or brown sugar), then had a headache come on about 11am and am wondering if it's sugar withdrawals. I had a meal deal from boots for lunch as was out in town and risotto for dinner. I've snacked on peanuts and caved for dessert and had a greek yog / honey thing. Headache faded a bit!!

I felt a bit stuck for what to snack on when I was out and about! I got crisps in my meal deal and although low-ish sugar they aren't v healthy. And nor are the peanuts. But what on earth else could I have grabbed whilst in the high street??

I'm still compiling my lists of meals. I'm doing our meal plan and food shop tonight so happy to post of people would find it useful? I would also appreciate a critique!

Am planning on snacking on oat cakes and rice cakes. Not very exciting! Maybe with some peanut butter on top although that will make them very dry. I love my snacks, god this will be hard. Might try making some low sugar flap jack things.

Although I need to go cold turkey I will have to do it a step at a time. Will start with no sweets or sugar in my.coffee for the first week then gradually take something off each week.

I'm joining too , I meant to start yesterday but have failed with Christmas foods around the house so I'll start tomorrow after a trip to lidl to stock up on non sugar things , and to do a pile of batch cooking of veggie curries etc for the week ahead. I've got about 20~25 pounds to lose.

I'm finding evening the worst, even after eating a decent healthy meal - I might have to start going to bed at 7 pm!

I spent the whole of yesterday evening thinking about food, and I wasn't even hungry! I did manage to steer clear of the sweet stuff, even though there are 2 mince pies left that wouldn't stop looking at me!

I tried oat cakes as a snack but they just taste like porridge so that's no good for me - although they were fine for lunch with hummus etc so at least they won't go to waste. I bought some fancy crackers which taste fine dry so I've been snacking on those.

Snacks- I try to take a snack with me if I'm out. Usually a Gala apple ( sweet) and a few nuts wrapped in cling film. I might also take a packet of oat cakes. If I'm at home I might have an oatcake with a smear of honey, which is cheating but it's a tiny amount over the day.
If I'm hungry in the evening I might have another apple- only 60 calories and at least there's some Vit C in it.

My problem is craving something sweet after a meal. It's as if my body needs it (honest) - just a little something and then I feel balanced again. Problem is on some days a little something snowballs into more.

Any tips for avoiding this???

I bought a book called I Quit Sugar which I didnt then follow which said you shouldn't snack between meals anyway. She says you should drink lemon water or have a spoonful of coconut oil if you are hungry. I think the idea is that if you reduce your sugar intake and up the fat and protein, you shouldn't get the sugar crashes that make you hungry between meals. I didn't have the motivation to stick with it long enough to find out if that's true though!!!

I've had bacon and eggs for breakfast but no toast or cereal. I'm aiming to go cold turkey for 4 days and then see how I go!

Increasing the protein is supposed to be the key apparently. The book I read (sweet nothing) said nothing about snacking really, other than appearing to have shares in oatcakes! she said that it was only sugar you needed to worry about, not fat at all.
Bacon and eggs sounds like a good breakfast!
mingingintherain have you tried having fruit or Greek yogurt after a meal rather than something you might be tempted to have more of?

Well have managed 2 days so far with no sugar and am feeling ok! Have had omelettes for breakfast then has a picky lunch of halloumi prawns and salad and last night had a chicken stir fry with brown rice which was lovely!! Then snacked on oat cakes and olives when I have wanted something to nibble on with lots of peppermint tea in between!

I find going cold turkey easier as I can't just stop at 1 biscuit or piece of chocolate.
Are people still eating bread? Or cutting down on that too?

I think Shetland is right, from what I've read it's the protein that fills you up. I also think it's better not to snack, if possible, but from experience I know that once you're in a habit, it's very hard to break. When I was working in an office, I would get hungry every day around 10.30, because that was when the snack man turned up, but when I wasn't working, I could easily get to lunch time without even thinking about food.

Last night's dinner was pork (loin steaks) with broccoli, carrots and mash. Normally I'd have had a big dollop of mash but last night, I had less mash and more broccoli, as well as the carrots. I did sort of feel like I'd have preferred more mash, but I'm sure I'll adjust.

I'm finding myself wanting snacks too, even after a good dinner. I assume that's just sugar cravings. I did succumb and had a tiny nibble off the corner of a piece, thinking that maybe just a taste would see it off. I think it worked, obviously would be better not to have had any though.

GoldenSunny Days I don't eat lots of bread anyway, but I am trying to reduce the amount of wheat / grains I eat as well.

I am trying to plan meals for this week, any suggestions? Bearing in mind the rest of the family are eating as before.

Thanks shetland I haven't but I should. Insane really as I cut fruit up for children after their evening meal but I never eat any myself. Would much rather something chocolate or biscuity. (Usually eaten with my back to the kitchen or my head in the fridge so no one spots me )

that's me too mingingintherain Apple and banana for the kids, biscuit with my head in a cupboard for me.

You're doing well golden - 2 whole days is great! I've had bits here and there, much less than normal but not managed to get rid of it completely. I've not had coke since Thursday though - which is pretty good for me, and there is none in the house so I can't fail today!

I'm going for cutting down rather than cold turkey, but I'll consider that if this doesn't work. I cut bread out almost completely a year ago and feel a whole lot better for it - I haven't been worrying about pasta or anything though. 1 step at a time.
My plan at the moment is 3 cans of coke a week, and cut out all other crap completely. If that brings my general sugar cravings down, then I'll cut the coke down further and start to worry about white pasta and rice etc then.

Presebtly feel like i am inhaling the tangtastic haribo in advance on Monday.god my body is going to go into shock!