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Low-carb diets

Share advice and experiences of following a low-carb diet.Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

Low sugar diet advice please

11 replies

RoseGold24 · 21/11/2022 07:57

Hello, wasn't sure the best place to post this so fingers crossed!

I am a massive sugar addict and have a huge appetite in general. My motivation is not so much weight loss (although that would be a nice bonus!) but eating lower sugar has been recommended to me for fertility. Also trying to lower dairy.

I think my aim is more cutting out processed sugars rather than everything, but I don't want to overdo fruit etc. Here is today's menu, just wondering if anyone could offer any comments or suggest alternative snacks (I know I'll be desperate for cake come 2pm!)

B: 1 tablespoon porridge oats
Coconut yogurt
Handful of blueberries
2 tablespoons of flax/sunflower seed mix

Snack: 2 boiled eggs

L: homemade lentil soup
2 x pieces of rye and sourdough bread
1 x Apple

Snack: 2 x jumbo snack a jacks salt and vinegar

D: dhansak (with lots of veg) & 55g (dry) basmati rice

Thanks in advance!

OP posts:
Cormoran · 22/11/2022 03:48

Who gave you dietary advice? I am totally with you on the reducing sugar, but if you end goal is fertility, reducing your saturated fat in favours of fish, plenty of vegetables, whole grains might give you a more targeted diet.
I might be bias because I am from there, but I believe the Mediterranean diet which focuses on real food, might be the most recommended to increase fertility. Put away the ultra processed snacks such as snack a jacks, and grab a pear if you really have to snack. Often we snack out of habit more than hunger. Or cook a few bunches of asparagus and leave them in fridge. Coconut yoghurt also goes through a lot of processing, maybe a good old plain greek yoghurt with frozen berries that have simmered in a small pot to melt into a sauce

Reduce your rice for a lighter evening meal. Have rice just two nights a week and the same with soup, have more soups, maybe add a spoonful of nutritional yeast. Try two tablespoons of quinoa instead or at the very least try red, black, brown rice. Try to swap very sauce-rich dishes for oven roasted or pan grilled piece of salmon, prawns, and so on. The frozen section for fish has always some good offers.

Less sugar is great, combine it with less industrial, and more plants.

Lemie · 22/11/2022 03:59

I cured my sugar addiction by eating for maximum nutrition at each meal. Every meal contained a decent portion of protein and as many veg as I could find and a small amount of non-processed carbs. Sugar addiction went away & a bonus was 1 stone weight loss. I was never hungry as I ate until I was full each meal.

RoseGold24 · 22/11/2022 07:35

Thanks @Cormoran and @Lemie ☺️ Reducing sugar was advice from my acupuncturist as I have 'damp' which is exacerbated by sugar. I've always I knew so much about nutrition but I had moved towards a more intuitive way of eating since previous eating disorders left me obsessed with food. I felt so free eating what I wanted but of course I know all that sugar is not good. I think you're right @Cormoran the Mediterranean diet is probably the best for everything, including fertility. I really need to get a bit more organised with prep. I'll struggle to move away from potatoes and towards whole grains but needs must!

OP posts:
RoseGold24 · 22/11/2022 07:35

*thought I knew so much about nutrition

OP posts:
Cormoran · 22/11/2022 20:00

There is a massive difference between a potato, boiled, cut into cubes, and dressed with red onions, chopped parsley and olive oil, and a transformed potato product such as crips. Potato becomes only problematic when combined with high fat and salt as in hot chips. Nobody can overeat on boiled potatoes with no butter, no oil, no cream, no salt. You would just eat 1, but a family bag of crips, no issue for me to finish one without even realising it.

I don't get the high this, low that , whatever it is , be it low fat, low carb, high protein, ... it makes no sense, especially since people twist claims. Carbs means nothing. It can be a bag of cherries or a Mars bar. Same with fats. It can be an avocado or fried KFC chicken.
The only benefit I can see from that is that people are forced to buy fresh because industrial product have a combination of several macros, and then people feel better and think the macro was the issue, when it was the food.

The transformation of food is the issue. Even basic staples, like bread. The supermarket loaf, soft and squishy , no difference between white or brown, so transformed, or a yoghurt, that is no longer a yoghurt but a cold dairy-inspired product.

Looking after your fertility is only the first step, because it will followed by - hopefully - a pregnancy, and then a baby that will eat food.

Think big and long term, try new vegetables, news salads, soups for dinner , without tons of bread of course, and for the snacks, have an apple on Monday, a pear on Tuesday, an orange on Wednesday and so on . Snacking on boiled eggs sounds so weird. Have a soft boiled egg for breakfast, or an omelette with spinach for lunch, but mid morning, 2 or 3 hours after breakfast, it is not hunger or if it is, your breakfast is wrong.
Flaxseeds are great for breakfast, and quite filling especially when combined with oats. Try rolled oats or steel cuts instead of powdered ready porridge. Soak them then night before and keep in fridge ready for you in the morning.

I don't know much about acupuncture or being damp (????), but sugar is in most products that come out of a factory (even baked beans have sugar or stevia in the no-sugar version) , so that is a good piece of advice, but I was enquiring about reducing dairy, because unless you eat another source of calcium, it might be problematic.

Take joy in trying new recipes and new vegetables, or new way of cooking them. Experiment in doing your own bread, combine dark rye with wholemeal flour (even spelt) , half the weight of flour in water, a bit of salt and yeast.

I hope you will be successful in your conception xx

Cormoran · 22/11/2022 20:13

Can I add something about the "sugar addiction" . Unless you grab the packet of sugar from the pantry, and eat spoonful of sugar straight out of the bag, or the jar of jam and again, stuff it straight with fingers or spoon, it is a processed food addiction.
It is when you combine sugar with fat, that it turns us nuts. Sugar and cream for ice cream, sugar and butter for cakes, sugar and fats for chocolate, and so on.

This is meant to free you and give you strength that you can overcome it. Believing you have an addiction, underpowers you. Sure, sugar in brain lights up but it is more complicated than that. It is also the food culture that encourages us to snack in front of tv, or builds up habits, about having a little something several times a day.
These snacks, savoury or sweet, have been engineered in every single aspects from mouth feeling, to touch , to the perfect combination of how to make you eat more of them.

But real food can be delicious too.

RoseGold24 · 28/11/2022 20:09

Thanks @Cormoran ☺️I've been trying new recipes and avoiding processed food. Fingers crossed I start to feel the benefit soon!

OP posts:
ScornedChicken · 28/11/2022 20:14

Looks good OP at first glance. I cut out sugar as much as could. Done it for about a year now. Loving it. I still have things like grapes and raisins instead so I do have sweet in the form of those. Surprised at how doable it became after initial first month. Went over your post quickly so will look in more detail at it and report back.

ScornedChicken · 28/11/2022 20:20

Ok so fine tooth read (don't know why I didn't do that to begin with). I'd swap the rice for brown rice if it was me (takes ages to cook). I'd cut out the snack a jacks I mean they aren't terrible but I'd try stick to maybe rye bread. I'm not a dietitian only going on what helped to keep me going for longer. Everything else seems fine, as long as you are getting enough calories. I take a multi vitamin and bulk up on veg which you mentioned anyway. Avoiding processed like you said, is great. Looking for tips from this thread myself, things I hadn't thought of!

RoseGold24 · 28/11/2022 20:35

Thanks @ScornedChicken good shout on the brown rice! It's the mid-afternoon slump that I'm struggling with. I've also ditched the Diet Coke. That used the be my afternoon treat when trying not to eat sugar. But I know Diet Coke is just as bad!

OP posts:
ScornedChicken · 28/11/2022 22:57

I agree on the diet coke @RoseGold24 . I hadn't realised how crap it made me feel. I've recently chucked the diet coke. Gone down to a couple of cuppas a day (can't quite give that up haha). I've started drinking more water (wasn't very good with that but getting better). My body got used to the no sugar eventually especially when I stuck to protein based snacks about 2-4pm.

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