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?

Ice cream fail this afternoon. (Took DD to a birthday party, there was ice cream for mums & dads too. Would have been rude not to.) And the cake was huge, so DD and I brought home a piece each. And now DH has gone out to get pizza. Pretty much a massive fail today! But the party was at a soft play place with trampolines, so I've done about an hour's bouncing, that's got to count for something.

Still no sugar in tea or coffee though.

I do like the idea of gradual phasing out, cutting out just a small category like yoghurt, rather than a blanket ban.

Had a Lidl shop today, bought full fat Greek yogurt, nuts, lots of fruit & veg.

Tripped up with a chocolate bar bought while getting petrol

I was reading a book called' quit sugar' in Waterstons today and was horrified to discover that your average fruit yoghurt has ) teaspoons of sugar in it and that an average glass of fruit juice has as much sugar ad a glass of coke!

I meant 6 teaspoons of sugar!

I went visiting a relative not realising it was her granddaughters birthday, so had to have a slice of cake and some biscuits, so epic fail on first day, but didn't have my usual sweet after dinner

I have a glass of orange juice every morning, it really refreshes my mouth.

Any suggestions as to what I can replace this with?

I highly recommend cutting back on sugar. I cut out processed sugar during the week last year, although I have massively fallen off the wagon over Xmas. So I still ate about 3 portions of fruit a day, but swopped fruit yogurt for natural, snacked on almonds, absolutely no biscuits cakes or choc, and had no carbs with dinner most week day evenings. Alcohol at weekends only and then well within weekly recommended limit. Bit of good quality dark choc at weekends only. Weight fell off and my face completely changed shape - lost double chin and discovered cheekbones. Also increased exercise but think that diet is most of it.

Looking forward to getting back to it next week!

theonlyone I know what you mean about the refreshing taste of OJ. how about eating an actual orange ( I bought some today to make it a plan for me) and then some cold water with a splash of lemon juice?

I water my OJ down. Started off with 2/3 OJ and 1/3 water and now it's more 50/50 or 40/60. I can't have pure OJ now, it tastes way to concentrated for me.

was horrified to discover that your average fruit yoghurt has 6 teaspoons of sugar in it and that an average glass of fruit juice has as much sugar as a glass of coke!

Yep that's pretty common knowledge- at least amongst the 'anti sugar' brigade!

My suggestion is- read the labels. Even 'healthy' foods like soups have added sugar- my favourite for emergencies ( usually make my own) has 5 teaspoons sugar per half carton. (Carrot soup) Have now stopped buying it.

I have just had my morning brew, with no sugar in. Today is going to be a more successful day, I am determined!

morning,

Have just had avocado mixed with onions and cherry tomatoes on toast for breakfast was lovely!! also managed day 3 yesterday with no sugar and although i had a headache yesterday afternoon, it secretly made me a little bit happy as at least i was detoxing from all the crap that i have been eating!
theonlyone- How about warm water with a splash of lemon in it? or like some one said slowly watering it down.
pinkfrocks- have also started looking at the labels and somethings have a silly amount of sugar in don't they and especially things that you don't expect!!
Good luck everyone today

Breakfast was 2 scrambled eggs on a slice of cheese, cherry tomatoes, soya milk coffee, 1 Orange.
Snack, a handful of mixed nuts.
Lunch is cooking, Brown rice, a quorn fillet, spinach. Just had a green tea.

I am on a roll

I'm keeping a food diary too but more as a plan for future week's and a shopping list, my downfall is spontaneous snacking. Just because it's there. I've resisted food plans before as feeling too constraining but really I need this structure, it's the happy go lucky approach that's leading me off the rails every single day!

I chop up a small piece of fresh ginger and a slice of lemon put in a mug of hot water.Then leave it to infuse and drink it when slightly cooled.It's really refreshing and wakes me up - I often chew a bit if the softened ginger - not everyone's taste ,and a bit fiery but leaves my mouth and teeth feeling lovely and clean.Hopefully will give my immune system a boost.
Slipped up a bit today and had a fruit yogurt and and a couple of chocolates.And yesterday ate the mini Xmas pud I got in my stocking.But aiming to be really good all week now.

I sort of slipped up yesterday as I had a coke I hadn't planned to - but I'm allowing myself 3 a week so so long as I don't slip up again I can still be ok.

Brekkie- 2 scrambled eggs. No toast. Hot water. snack - so far- 4 olives. Tiny mouthful of left over mince pie- about 1/5th of one!

Lunch will be 1 avocado on watercress and spinach salad then an apple.

Afternoon snack will be walnuts.

Dinner tonight is grilled salmon with veg, then greek yogurt with blueberries.

Yesterday was ok for me, no slip ups in terms of chocolate or sweets, but I don't really eat those day-to-day anyway. Drank my teas & coffees with no sugar. Had forgotten about a birthday meal we were going to last night, it was chinese so perhaps not the healthiest, but I didn't overeat, just had a reasonable portion and two glasses of wine.

Thuis morning I had a handful of nuts & raisins and half a slice of brown toast (would have been a whole slice but child stole it), and then two boiled eggs for lunch. I know that seems like a pathetically tiny amount of food, but I don't normally have breakfast anyway, and the two boiled eggs at lunch time were surprisingly filling! Dinner tonight is going to be savoury mince, mash, carrots & spinach, so I'll have plenty of mince & spinach and less mash and carrots. If I snack between now and dinner it'll be more nuts or an apple.

Now I'm off to google baking without sugar as DD is pestering to do some baking.

Watch the raisins- dried fruit is incredibly high in sugar and ought to be on the 'not allowed' list.

Re. baking- I know kids love baking but at the same time I firmly believe that anything baked should be an occasional treat ( cake, biscuits etc) and kids should be steered towards cooking per se, not necessarily baking.

If they have to bake , scones are very low-sugar and something that are on the diabetes 'allowed' list so long as the sugar is reduced.

Does anybody have porridge for breakfast? I'm running out of breakfast ideas ( scrambled, eggs, poached eggs, fried eggs etc etc) but the thought of eating porridge without jam or sugar sounds vile! I've bought some coconut milk with no added sugar. Do you think if I made it with that it would have a bit of sweetness in it? I don't want to waste it!

I've been reading this thread and thought I'd de lurk to say hi!

Think I ate too much sugary rubbish in the run up to Xmas, and (sorry if TMI), got horrible thrush over Xmas. Have been on no sugar (or yeast for me either at the mo) since Boxing Day, so doing well, but finding it hard whilst still surrounded by a mountain of Xmas goodies!

With regard to porridge, I make mine the night before - put the cold milk and oats in a jug, then add dried fruit - I chop up about 3 dried apricots between me and DS, so not a huge amount, and sometimes I add a sprinkling of cinnamon.

Leaving it overnight makes it go really creamy (even though I only use skimmed milk), and even a small amount of dried fruit really sweetens it up. Also saves time in the morning as I just nuke it in the microwave!

pinkfrocks I know dried fruit isn't great, but I'm not a huge fan of nuts on their own, and it was that or a chocolate biscuit. (One of the last lingering Christmas ones lurking.) Small steps, etc.

If you're baking something that's not sugary, then surely it doesn't necessarily have to be restricted to treat status? We've just made some savoury herby biscuits, no sugar in them whatsoever. Couldn't they be part of lunch, with cheese etc? Can't say what they taste like yet, they're still in the oven.

Scones are a favourite here, although IOM there is nothing sadder than a scone that's not sweet enough. MIL bakes them with very little sugar, and it's enough to make me weep. I'd honestly rather go without. (Which is what I'm doing.)

She is only 3yo, and has been given the Ella's Kitchen recipe book for Christmas, so we're going to look at making some of the things in that.

you're right- non-sugary stuff that's baked is fine.

I've developed a love of walnuts, brazils and almonds which seem tasty without raisins.

Scones, I agree, are tricky- the temptation with a non-sweet scone is to pile is high with strawberry jam!

Previously the only nuts I ate were salted or dry roasted, so it's a bit of an adjustment ? I'll work towards eliminating the dried fruit.

The savoury biscuits are tasty, a little dry, but that's more than likely due to my tampering with the recipe because of store cupboard issues. DD likes them anyway so that's good.

fancyanotherfez, I don't know how strict you are being with this, but I am happy to have honey or agave nectar with my porridge (naturally occurring, unprocessed so abides by my rules). Agave is actually low GI and sweeter so I use less of it. If you want, just start measuring out how much of whatever sweetening ingredient you use and start cutting it down gradually as you get used to it.