Has anyone given up sugar and do they look younger?

[DonkeysYears]

I'm feeling ugh this week. Cold, grumpy and I feel I look bloody ancient. I'm thinking about giving up sugar in the hope of my face improving.
Has anyone done it? If so, do you look younger? Is it really worth giving up lovely lovely chocolate??

I would really like to know how I can eat Greek yoghurt without gagging. I love yoghurt and eat it every day for breakfast. I can do Greek-style but I know that doesn't have the v low carbs that the real stuff has. Is there any particular brand that is especially good - I have tried Total and I have almost vomited, it is so thick and intense. Where am I going wrong please?

It's not compulsory to eat Greek yoghurt if you want to eat low carb you know!
You can have eggs / bacon / fried mushrooms / leftover supper / omelette / cheese and cold meats / kippers / smoked salmon etc etc for breakfast...

giving up sugar and upping fat

It's the second part that's good for your skin. Thing is, a high-fat diet with loads of sugar's likely to make you both lardy & spotty (but with supple skin) so it's better to reduce the simple carbs - sugars - in your diet and be lavish with the butter :)

DO NOT use sugar substitutes! They're the work of the devil and, among other things, will make you diabetic in the long run. Fruit has tons of sugar in it, but at least it takes some effort to digest so it's not going straight into your bloodstream.

tbh, you can google anything +ageing and find thousands of scare stories. You should check for peer-reviewed studies before you believe it all.

i gave up sugar in tea and lost a stone

The thing is Queen all other low carb veggie breakfasts seem to involve cooking, which is not conducive to my having to leave home at 7am to go to work!

Haha, I've just noticed the Mumsnet video link over there --->>>
"Davina's top tips for going sugar-free"

Here you go again!

GarlicIsCh, you are right: you can find scary stories for anything. The sad news however, is that there are peer reviewed articles a-plenty damning sugar.
Sugar creates a 'pro-inflammatory environment' in your body. This is Not A Good Thing. Never mind the flipping ageing thing.

A question for those who have given up sugar completely rather than cutting down - what do you do when you eat out or eat at friends? Or when you're out and need something quick for lunch?

Isn't it restrictive in restaurants? Do you have to ask about every dish?

I have aldi Greek yoghurt with manuka honey. Manuka honey has a strong flavour so you only need a teaspoon. I'm thinking of ordering some coconut manna from amazon to try with it as well.

pinkfrocks are you me???
I also gave up processed sugar over twenty years ago, and have explored petty much all the substitutes. Does it make you look younger? No idea but I'm 44 and have been mistaken for someone much younger loads of times. Could be genetics, but i do it for health reasons as it just makes life easier without it.

So when this thread has been saying "cut out sugar", it means refined sugar, right?

Truffle, some of the low/no carbers pare any sugars down to invisibility. That, imo, is hard work and raises spectres of dietary deficiencies. Evangelists can be found on the slimming board, if you want to see how they do it.

Cutting out refined sugar, by contrast, is incredibly easy if you don't mind paying a bit more for your sweet treats and/or making your own (and cutting down on them, obvs.)

You can get bogged down by investigating all the different info about sugars: invert sugar, for example, is A Bad Thing but jam is invert sugar, and so is runny honey. Well-made jam and honey are not Bad Things in themselves. We are made of carbohydrates, and so is the food we eat. If you knock out 'processed' sugar, sugar-alikes and sugar substitutes, you'll be doing your body a favour and possibly lose some weight :)

Annoyingly, I've been doing this since my early teens so cannot miraculously lose a stone by making this simple change! Lots of other people can, though, and it is easy.

That's why I was a bit confused, because cutting out refined sugars seems doable, but cutting out all sugars seems ridiculous - especially once you start to include plant sugars and dairy - even Greek yoghurt (mentioned on this thread) contains sugars!

The fear of natural sugars just seems quite similar to the whole frantic handwringing over 'chemicals'.

Agreed :D But we still don't need to add sugar to everything, or much at all really.

No, you're right, we don't. But adding sugar to say, tea, is obviously not good for you. To cut this out and then praise the weightloss from "cutting out sugar" is a bit feeble.

I have given up sugar because I can't eat it in moderation. It's fine if added to a savoury dish, 2 tsp between 6 people is not going to feel overly sweet. I don't eat fruit - dried or fresh because the sweetness drives me crazy and I just want to eat more. But again fruit added to savoury is fine.
It's easy to negotiate eating out or eating at friends because I just don't have pudding and often I'll have the cheese.
I can't speak for anyone else but for me consuming sugar in large quantities with little or no control is clearly not healthy for any aspect of my body and given moderation doesn't work for me and abstainance is a breeze by comparison, I know which one I feel better choosing.
The approach that Davinas book takes makes no sense to me - recipes for sweet things using honey, dates etc would tempt me as much as a bar of Galaxy.....cold turkey is the only way to get rid of my sugar demons, I wish it wasn't so.

I watched a programme with those twin doctors Alexander and Chris Van Tulleken- One gave up fat and one sugar- both with negative effects.
It was extreme though, not just a case of eating less biscuits and cakes.
it was really interesting.
If your interested Google them, there are some articles on it too. Personally although I've cut down a bit on sugary foods it did not make me want to take it further, quite the opposite.

I eat breakfast at work often so Then I just take an avocado and some blueberries. Easy if boring every day.

My skin does have more of a luminosity when I go completely sugar free. But the things that make the biggest difference to my skin are drinking lots of water and eating lots of smoked salmon and avocados.

wow, that two minute video was solid statements of the bleeding obvious.

no-one eats no sugar in some form. It's like going chemical free - utter nonsense.

to summarise the top tips:

don't guzzle biscuits
don't swill energy drinks
try to cook from scratch with fresh ingredients where possible
don't eat low-fat food (the only one that possibly isn't obvious)
remember that slebs are not in business for your health, or indeed theirs.

there. Saved you some money!

I try to do no processed sugar during the week. I started doing this a couple of years ago and have noticed a huge difference to my weight and skin. I still eat 3-4 portions of fruit (and about the same of veg) every day but obviously avoid chocolate, biscuits, cake etc. Some other changes:

no alcohol in the week (Mon-Fri)
natural yogurt instead of fruit yogurt
almonds, carrot sticks or avocados for snack instead of biscuits
extra veg with dinner instead of potatoes/rice/pasta
2-3 litres of water a day, almost no caffeine (1-2 green teas a day)

At the weekend I do have some sugar, but don't go crazy either. I usually have a slice of cake or a brownie at some point. I will sometimes have a pudding if out for dinner but not always. I try to have good quality dark chocolate in the house instead of milk chocolate and might have 4-6 squares over the weekend. I drink a bottle of wine over the weekend, instead of the 4-5 bottles I was drinking a couple of years ago My stomach is now pretty flat ( exercise helps too of course) having been hugely distended a couple of years ago and my face has changed hugely - I lost the double chin and discovered cheekbones! I recommend cutting back if you're at all interested

Wow @Lottapianos!

Well I've made a start today. I had Weetabix and a banana for brekkie (I know Weetabix has sugar in it, but it's one of the lowest for cereals). Just had avocado on toasted rye bread for my lunch and it was yummy. Got some Greek yoghurt with blueberries for later. I drink Rooibos tea and have had water during exercise this morning. And if things get desperate, I've got some Green & Blacks dark choc leftover from Christmas...

It's not actually that difficult is it?

You've still got chocolate left over from Christmas?

This thread isn't for me, is it?