A sugar free month - anyone else fancy giving it a go?

[HearMyRoar]

I Have been thinking about giving up sugar for a long time now but haven't really felt ready. I have decided that now is the time and so am aiming for a sugar free month from the 6 january.

I figured starting with a month seemed less scary then giving it up forever and reasonably achievable... I hope :o

Still working out my rules but currently they are:

No sugar
No sugar substitutes
No processed food with any sort of sugar or sugar substitute in

So pretty simple so far. I am not giving up the carbs so still eating rice, bread, etc (I am nowhere near ready for boot camp). Also planning on still eating lots of fruit though probably not juice. All this is open to negotiations and suggestions.

Anyone fancy joining me? Go on....please... Anyone...

Well I survived yesterday's crisis, and have remained sugar free...I'm just really trying to stick with it in the hope that I'll reach that magical state where sweet things just won't really appeal to me. I don't totally believe that this will actually happen, but I'm trying to give it my best shot. At the moment I'm still desperately missing it, but hopefully this will change.

I'm fairly annoyed that I didn't check the ingredients of the curry mix DH used to make sugar this evening. Of course it had sugar in. Irritating!

I've been spending some time today reading labels and I was surprised and fairly horrified at what it's in. My mum had some posh passata (chair de tomate) and it's in that. Ditto some oatcakes. I mean, why?

Interesting to see stuff all over the media today about sugar being as bad as tobacco.

Oops, I mean to make dinner, not make sugar. There's a good Freudian slip!

I know what you mean wom its in everything! It took me ages today to find some ham that was sugar free as a change from cheese sandwiches. Really you wouldn't think it would be so hard to just find some meat to go in some bread that wasn't coated with sugarsugar, even the precooked chicken has it in

Sugar in chicken and ham? FFS. I need to check my labels much more carefully.

Well done Beryl, I was sugar free until yest eve when I got given a hot cross bun and ate it even though I didn't want to. So cross with myself but at least it wasnt chocolate I guess. It really is about an attitude change isnt it.... Need to stay strong! !

I was craving creme brûlée of all things this afternoon. I think it is the pure sugar that sits on the top and my body is getting desperate!

Fortunately there wasn't any in the fridge and I found some cheese and nuts to fill me up instead.

Off to stay with mil for a couple days. This is going to be a challenge!

Actually is a creme brulee (sod the accents Nettee) really that bad? Depends.

I get an itch around my bellybutton with yoghurt thing, it is just to wean me off sugar eg chocolate, I can't be doing it for the long haul. The Total yoghurt from Tesco doesn't seem to have much sugar, it's 4g per 100 and loads of protein it says.

Again, cheese is one of those things that technically is high protein and no sugar, but come off it. It still gonna be fattening, still you can use it to wean yourself off.

This might spur you on:

It's an american paediatrician explaining exactly how sugar, well fructose and sucrose, is so harmful (chronically it is as bad for your liver as is alcohol. Who knew?). And how a calorie of sugar makes you put on more weight than a calorie of something else.

The accents on brûlée just appear - I was quite pleased as I hadn't a clue where to put them. Less than 4.7 for dairy is fine as it will be lactose.

Good luck with your mother is law - hope she isn't a feeder!

Thanks for the link

It is Hear My Roar /
Who has a Mother in Law

Stick with it all - after a while, the cravings do stop (so I've been told !!).

I've had huge cravings today - but stuck with it until now - munched on 3 slices rye bread (yuck!) - but a huge improvement on a packet of biscuits which I would have done by now.

Weight loss should come - surely ??

Anyone still around?

I had an immensely challenging day yesterday, but managed to avoid the sweet stuff. Very pleased with myself :).

I'm still lurking, and have given up bread in the week, and sugar in my tea so far!! when you start looking for sugar, its everwhere!! I'll have a think about what to give up next - im not sure where my next largest sugar intake comes from.

Caved in yesterday unfortunately but back on the wagon today.
Blaming non sleeping baby and a birthday party.
Did some more reading last night and now even more convinced sugar free is the only way to go.
Shocking how much sugar is about.

Ok, I am joining you. I don't exactly need to lose weight (although 2kg would be fine) but I do want a healthy lifestyle and sugar isn't part of that. I avoided sugar before when I had (adult) dental braces as I didn't want to get decay in the parts I couldn't brush. Over a year, I lost a fair amount of weight and became a little too thin actually, partly because I also ate less generally as braces are quite restrictive, but it must have had something to do with the sugar too...I was trying to eat to put on weight by the end, but still failing.

Out to a dinner party tonight - will have to turn down pudding. I can do that.

First attempt at baking with dextrose today and the result is some rather bitter but passable brownies. I intend to try ketchup and ice cream over the next few weeks.

Good luck at the party.....

I have sinned - in the form of a bag of mini party rings. They were delicious and I seriously don't think I can cope without sugar!

Im still here..... just! I really really under estimated exactly how much sugar I actually eat. I'm at most 2kgs over what I should be but have sugar I.e cakes biscuits etc at least once a day and at least one line of that bloody purple chocolate every evening without fail. I'm dreaming of sweet things, during the day my mind is switching to sweet day dreams all the time, its very very much harder than I expected. Aghhhh. My biggest worry is that I really love home made cakes and totally love the taste of Cadburys... i can't imagine them not in my life. How will I get over my true loves and not pine for them forever?

Rats, failed yesterday (slice of birthday cake as pudding at birthday dinner party). I don't even like sweet things but feel social pressure to eat them.

A new day today :-)

I know mulberry that's exactly how I feel! The thought of never having a sweet treat again is ridiculous, I'm going for the cutting down option, otherwise I just obsess about all the things I want and can't have all day.

Sorry - didn't mean to sound discouraging then. I should have stuck with the gradual Potatoes not Prozac approach, but at least I've given cold turkey a good shot. The funny thing is, now that I've given myself 'permission' to eat sweet stuff, I haven't even had any today, but it's nice to know I can if I want to, and it's stopped me obsessing.

Good luck to those continuing

Hi all, haven't had a chance to catch up on the thread so will do later. Managed the weekend with mil in not too bad shape. Had to have a slice of birthday cake but made it as small as possible and then felt horrid afterwards so really it has strengthened my resolve. Probably ate quite a bit of hidden sugars as well but all in all I am pretty pleased with myself.

Beryl, I would feel the same if I was committing to no sugar ever, that's way too much, but a month I think I can do. After the month I'll see how I feel. I've tried cutting down but I just don't have the will power to just have little bit. I'm an all or nothing sort of person I think. No sugar is ok for me as it then isn't even an option so I can just sort of blank it out.