I Quit Sugar - anyone up for this?

[Cappster]

I tried quitting sugar during January and it was really good - I lost a few pounds, ate really well, felt very good (after initial detox )

I need to do it again but it would be really good to have a bit of support

Any takers?

Hi everyone!

Joining the thread (very) late after peachy recommended going no sugar to improve my skin.

I consume far far far too much sugar- I'm a student and with deadlines and exams recently I have been pigging out on biscuits/sweets/ fizzy drinks. I tend to cook my food from scratch so it is mainly snacking with me.

I have two worries that I would be very grateful to get some advice on!

1. what do people do for breakfast other than porridge, particularly when short on time?

2. I bring my lunch into work- does anyone have any good recipes or suggestions for a quick and easy lunch that I can pre-prepare?

Thanks so much!

Hi Mr405

Good questions. I have porridge now (used to be nothing) with blueberries, I get up early enough to have time to make it (2 and a half mins in the microwave). From preparing, cooking and eating, its about ten minutes. You are worth ten minutes, eh? . Hopefully someone will post some great quick breakfast ideas you can try.

For work lunches I make my own soup, that way I can have control of what's in it (usually any veg left over in the fridge). Or for a change, wholemeal wraps/bread with salad and some sort of protein. What I have stopped doing is eating biscuits, cakes, chocolate, sweets, anything with added sugar. I do eat fruit (recommended sugar intake is equivalent to 6 teaspoons of sugar) if it is in its natural state (not juiced because the fibre is a very important part of the fruit).

I stopped eating sugar less than a week ago and at first had a headache (bad for the first day) but feel better now. I don't know if it will lead to weight loss but I do know that my liver and pancreas will thank me for giving them a break, and at my age (50+) I really need to get a grip. it's about blooming time

I like a protein breakfast as I don't eat wheat or cereals.

If you are dashing off to work in a morning. Cook an omelette the night before add in your left over veg from supper, onions, peas , mushrooms that sort of thing.

When cooled wrap it up and stick in fridge . Makes a lovely tortilla . We take these on the plane . We also make sandwiches using ham slices wrapped round a bit of cheese, or spread with soft cheese and a slice of red pepper.

Hummus with some cut up veg as a dip is also very good.

Five weeks and one day no chocolate etc....

Mmmm, Dowser, that does sound yummy. Dowser, five weeks and counting with no chocolate and sugar, what changes have you seen in your health?

Overnight oats are good for breakfast too, although I used to use jam to counteract the sharpness of the greek yoghurt. Not sure what to replace that with, maybe banana.

Anyways, I'm back! I had a 2 week holiday where I paid no attention to the no sugar rule so i'm starting from the beginning again. I was looking forward to getting back to it though, weirdly.

That's OK, MrsRisotto, hope you had a smashing holiday. I'm away in July for three weeks (free alcohol ) heaven knows what I'll be eating .

Sometimes for breakfast I have an adaptation of French Women Don't Get Fat book's "miracle breakfast cream" (ignore naff name) except I leave out the maple syrup

natural yoghurt
oats
1 tbsp seed oil
2 tbsp ground almonds
small bit of chopped fruit eg kiwi

I haven't been able to bring myself to give up fruit totally - but I've cut down to two pieces a day.

Otherwise for breakfast I have scrambled eggs on toast.

Three weeks and I can't believe I've been able to overcome my sweet tooth. Main benefit so far is glowing skin and no spots.

I feel like I'm eating lots of nuts, eggs and natural yoghurt - all of which I do love. Not bored yet. Cutting down on fruit is forcing me to eat more veg which is surely a good thing.

Glad to find this thread!
I've gone sugar-free before (for 2 yrs!) but DC/pg/bf etc has got in the way.
Now am really keen to get back on the wagon. I am an addict, can't just have 1 biscuit have 5 etc. 1 sweet thing makes me seek out more...
It's day 1 for me. Started with shredded wheat WITHOUT usual sugar on top.
Nairn oatcakes and smoked salmon for lunch. An apple (I won't go fruit free, it's more the confectionary crap I want rid of!) And just had roast lamb dinner.

What I really struggle with is lunch ideas to keep me full... As am a bit of a bread head as well Will need to banish the bagels!

Thanks for the suggestions!

I'm visiting my parents this weekend so planning a fresh start to cut all sugar out when I arrive home tomorrow- not looking forward to my cupboard cull of delicious sugary treats!

hippospot I'm so pleased to hear it's all going well and your skin is looking much better! How long was it before you noticed?

Oy oy sugarfrees!!! Hope you enjoyed your holiday msrisotto. Speaking of which, I might have risotto this week!

Aloha mr405 - welcome!! It took four days for me to notice the difference in my skin.

Quick breakfasts- shredded wheat with milk and some berries, or home made muesli. I have raw oats, mixed nuts and ground seeds with milk.

notnow - I am a bread head too. I wonder if that's why I haven't been losing weight. I have 2.5 stone to lose argh.

Oh and lunch ideas - four ryvita with Tesco half fat peri-peri humous and an avocado sliced on top is LOVELY.

Lidl high protein rolls are yum too with homemade soup. I usually have salad with lots of interesting things in like olives, capers, bacon, sliced egg, tomatoes, nice lettuce, sliced roasted pepper etc.

Some tasty-sounding quick breakfast alternatives to porridge here. I think that planning is the key to success, so I'll make sure to have the ingredients handy in the cupboard to make them. Peach I saw that peri-peri hummous at Tesco today but didn't get it because I thought it might be too spicy (had a bad experience with a peri-peri sauce a couple of years ago lol).

It's not that spicy- just the right amount. I'm a bit addicted!

Thanks! On my travels I discovered Tajín, a Mexican salt/spice mix and also, became addicted to Chimichurri, an Argentinian sauce for practically everything. V healthy and absolutely delicious! Highly recommended.

Thanks Numpty. I have very old skin. It's 63 years old so it's never going to be wrinkle free but it's smooth. ( I also make my own skin cream!)

My innards are feeling much better. I suffer with ibs and was getting god awful cramps when sugar was playing such a huge part of my diet so that has subsided considerably.

I have the occasional g and t, an apple a day and if I fancy a splash of sauce on a few chips I'll have it but the crap has goneM

Thanks for the lunch ideas
Today I had shredded wheat for breakfast, and made a salad with feta and olives with a slice of wholemeal toast and hummus for lunch. Handful of grapes after and have just had a rice cake as a snack

Feeling positive! Did have aching legs and ankles yesterday, withdrawal???

What's in chimmichurri then ms?

And in skin cream dowser ?!

My legs didn't ache....

Mostly Parsley, garlic, oil, wine vinegar or lime juice and chilli flakes (to taste). Here's a recipe I used to recreate it, although it's one of those where you can chuck in other herbs and adjust it to taste. Chimichurri recipe It's particularly good with steak but almost any meat or fish would be good with it and it's good with bread as a dip.

Right. So I'm having steak with chimmichurri and risotto this week!!

And I'm about to try the cream thing 'op thread.

Help! I'm still sugar free but really struggling with pregnancy nausea. All I want to eat is bread and chocolate. Salad and veggies are turning my stomach. Help me to stay on track please!!! Has anyone tried making any chocolate alternatives? Think there are some in the iqs book....

Hi Esssss, urgh I remember pregnancy nausea; (not 'morning' sickness because it seemed to happen all day) it really impacted on my life and I actually weighed less right after the birth of DD than I did before I conceived her.

I don't know if you should stop eating bread if it makes you feel better to be honest. Choose something brown/wholegrain/seeded because that will break down more slowly than a white alternative, and help the liver and pancreas process it. Chocolate? If it helps with the nausea use the best quality dark; it's less sweet than the cheap milk chocolate.

Mostly though I would say that just eat less sugar than you did before you realised it's danger to your health. You're not dieting, just making small changes. You don't need to cut out all sugar all at once, just make those changes when you're ready.

What's your estimated date of birth?

My craving was for spring cabbage. I had it twice a day.

Thanks Absent! Spring cabbage is a very healthy craving I wish I had that. In my last pregnancy it was frozen yoghurt (not ice cream) I haven't given up bread but I had been limiting myself to rye bread and sour dough but I want normal bread toast! And I think I'm going to have to give in to the choc craving - I had tried some sugar free choc from the health food shop but then read that it's sweetened by malitol and apparently that's a no no. So extra dark chocolate it is!! I'm due end of January so it's still very early days.

I buy a tin of lavera cream. It costs about £7 in holland andbarrett.

Here is the story behind it.
www.pravera.co.uk/lavera-natural-cosmetics/about-lavera-natural-cosmetics

I use it as my base and tip it into a mixing bowl. Next I add coconut oil. It's solid at room temp so remember it will melt down on your face.

I beat that in , then I add sheabutter . This tends to be waxy so warm it over a bowl of hot water. Mix that in with a little spring water. You could just leave it there but as I have agood store cupboard of various oil I add jojoba, avocado, evening primrose and wheat germ oil is a goodpreservative. Finally iadd about 10 drops of frankincense oil. Give it all a good stir.

Leave a small pot where you use it most and the rest put in a bigger pot inthe fridge.

I can't give exact measurements. It's just an experiment and see how you like it approach.

After using a hot cloth on my face I the smear on the cream. Leave it for a while and tissue off residue before putting on make up. Some of you might prefer it for body use only or nighttime inthe face but with older skin iuse it morning and night as my skin doesn't have that tight feel that I was getting with other creams.

Could you eat darkchocolatebrazils. You get the chocolate and a healthy nut withit.

I think there is definitely a right time for making dramatic changes to our diet and lifestyle. It hadn't been the right time for me before because I had a lot on my plate - work/education/moving house etc.

Is now the right time for you Esssss? You don't want to make things harder on yourself than they already are... just a thought. Congratulations :-)