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?

[Dowser]

Day 12 for me and coasting along.

It does get better.

Skin looks better don't think I've lost weight though.

Innards are a lot calmer.

[CurrerBell]

I did this through Lent after reading Robert Lustig's book "Fat Chance: The Bitter Truth About Sugar". Really interesting book. One thing I've been trying to do since then is to eat more whole fruits and whole grains, and to never touch juice.

The thing I found eye-opening is that the breakfast cereals I'd considered "healthy" were loaded with sugar. I now eat a lot of plain porridge and Shredded Wheat, or I have wholemeal toast with Marmite or humous. Weetabix has a low amount of sugar compared with most cereals (4%-ish), so I thought that was ok, and I still eat baked beans in moderation... my personal limit is to avoid foods containing more than 4% sugar, as I found trying to cut out sugar altogether too restrictive.

Having said that, I have fallen into bad habits since Easter so will be following this thread for some new motivation!

[peachypips]

Welcome new people!!

I recommend the Sweet Poison Quit Plan for tips, I have cut out all sugar apart from whole fruit and the sugar found naturally in milk.
For breakfast I have plain oats with nuts and a tiny bit of coconut oil. For lunch I have a sandwich, or bread with soup (check ingredients for added sugar), or salad, or crispbreads with humous and avocado; for tea I cook from scratch and then snacks are nuts or veg or plain yoghurt.

Has anyone noticed their skin is better? I suffer from adult acne and I've had no spots since I started and my skin feels softer and nicer. Hoping it lasts!

[SoftKittyWarmKitty]

I think that cutting out sugar altogether would be way too restrictive, so I like CurrerBell's idea of sticking to less than 4% sugar as I think that's a bit more achievable.

I'm not a fan of cereal for breakfast anyway, although I like a bowl before bed if I'm hungry. Think I'll stick with Bitesize Shredded Wheat from now on as it's very low sugar. As I don't like cereal for breakfast I have things like wholemeal toast, jam on toast (obviously v sugary!), porridge, beans, cheese or egg on toast, crumpets or toasted teacake. Yesterday I had two slices of ham with scrambled egg and today was porridge with raspberries and blueberries.

What's wrong with cordial and nuts? Just looked at the cordial we've got (Robinsons) and it's only 0.7g per 100g, so is very low sugar. Surely nuts are completely natural and full of good fats with no added sugar?

[Dowser]

That's just it. If you have a low metabolic rate like I appear to have, nuts are very calorific.

I think I have my balance right. Just not losing weight.

[msrisotto]

The GI Index is good for finding out how quickly different food is digested into sugar, in case anyone's interested.

[Milllli]

That's what I was getting at with regard to the pasta comment mrs

[Milllli]

kitty eating naturally as possible is the way to cut out sugar that is not found naturally in food. Sugar though is natural in its origins and raw cane juice is the most natural but its the way that processed white sugar and corn syrup is put into processed food that I think causes the problems. Maple syrup is ok in my book and contains 54 antioxidants. It is my sweetener of choice and I also use honey which has lots of vits and minerals too. I referred to how foods high on the GI list cause similar affects in the body to sugar . MrsRisotto has linked to it. To me though its important to eat as natural as possible but also to eat foods you love as life would be very dull if you don't enjoy what you eat.

[BeachyKeen]

I went for a hike today and took apples and water instead of granola bars and powerade. little things.

[Dowser]

We had some store bought m and s apple sauce with pork last night. Well I tasted it and declared I wasn't eating it.

Too sweet!

Welcome Connor. Did you lose weight in three weeks?

[Hamsolo]

Hello, can I join in? I did the I Quit Sugar plan in Jan, and have signed up for June. I lost a tonne of weight, and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I stuck with it pretty well. I still haven't had any sugar other than from occasional fruit. I am beginning to get really bored though, so could do with some extra motivation!

[AliaMairns]

Had a pretty good weekend really. I tried a Caramel Nibble and the feel of it coating my mouth and sticking to my teeth made me feel ill.

Still not sure if I am doing well regarding less obvious sugars so I need to do my research.

Not sure if I mentioned but when I asked on the IQS facebook page, I was told I should be aiming for foods with less than 5g of sugar per 100g and no added sugar.

[hippospot]

Please can I join?

I have ordered the I Quit Sugar book and also Davina's book, but having read the reviews of both I shall be avoiding all the recipes with honey, maple syrup etc. My understanding is that they are just as bad as sugar.

I read "Fat Chance" a few months ago and have been mulling it over ever since. Although my diet is 95% good, it is 5% cakes and biscuits, and my hormones and skin are terrible. My weight is fine, however.

I'm on day 3 and haven't told anyone that I've given up sugar (and also white flour - mostly). I make my bread in a machine and it's 70% wholemeal, 30% white flour. I will try other recipes but in my experience the bread with 100% wholemeal is pretty damned heavy!

My difficulty I think will be not eating too much dairy, since I know that this makes my skin spotty. I will try to limit it to 2 pots of natural yoghurt and a scraping of butter or maybe a bit of cheese per day. I also don't want my diet to be too heavy in meat/fish, since for environmental reasons I don't like to eat too much. The trick will be finding vegan snacks that are filling! So far I have come up with:

veg sticks and hummus
avocado
nuts
olive pate on rye crackers
mixed seeds
nut butters on rye crackers

Please PLEASE share your snack ideas! I just don't know if I can get enough (satisfying) calories from all that.

Thanks

[hippospot]

The other thing is that I'm going to try and stick to 2 or 3 pieces of low-fructose fruit a day. I cannot imagine a life without fruit so this is my best compromise, and I'll eat fruit with protein to try and keep my blood sugar stable.

[AliaMairns]

Hi hippospot

Not sure if they are to everyones taste ( or if they are particularly good for me) but I have a pot of chickpeas that I keep in my desk. They were dried, covered in salt, pepper & paprika and then baked for a while. They could do with being slightly crispier but handy to have to dip into

[Abraid2]

I love chickpeas! Good idea.

[Abraid2]

Avocado is filling, especially just a tablespoon on wholemeal bread.

[hippospot]

Did you make the chickpeas? How? Sound good to me!

I've thought of another - miso soup.

Also olives.

Home-made popcorn flavoured with spices is technically sugar free but I have a feeling it has a high GI, perhaps someone can advise me?

[peachypips]

Hello all. Still going with no sugar and I am getting a bit bored too! I miss having a fruit yoghurt or an ice lolly for pudding.

I have oatcakes for snacks, or veg sticks with humous. Might have a look in health-food shop for some ready mate snacks. Sunbites are nice, but they may well have sugar in, I haven't checked yet!

YY to not having maple or honey hippo. They are as refined as cane sugar unless you have your own bees!!!

[AliaMairns]

Just a bog standard tin from asda

[msrisotto]

God I couldn't give up all that hippo! Are you eating enough, filling foods 3 times a day? That and keeping busy are the best way for me to avoid snacking. There's no point being hungry as well as feeling deprived, it'll break your willpower.

I'm on day 6. So far so fine surprisingly! I took a bottle of water with a few raspberries/blackberries/blueberries from a frozen forest fruit mix and a lemon balm leaf to work today. It was lovely!

I have had this before though, abstain for a while then got bored of being 'good'.

[peachypips]

Bum just checked sun bites- they have fructose :-(

[msrisotto]

Popcorn is ok hippo. You can check the GI of almost anything here: www.glycemicindex.com/

Popcorn has a GI of 55

Low GI
0-55

Medium GI
56-69

High GI
70 or greater

[hippospot]

I don't plan to go hungry! But I do need to have enough sugar-free stuff I like in the house to fill me up and keep me going. I do a lot of exercise and am a healthy weight already, so I can't afford to lose weight plus I will be very grumpy if I get hungry.

One thing I will say is that I'm only on day three but I've already noticed that when I am hungry I am hungry rather than trembling or getting a headache from low blood sugar! It definitely feels different. I've always had problems with low blood sugar and terrible PMS, and I have known deep-down for a long time that too much sugar in my diet didn't suit me.

I have always eaten 3 meals + 2 snacks a day, I genuinely believe this is what suits me, and I plan to keep this pattern.

"Letting go" of my sweet tooth feels quite huge. I wonder if I can actually do it. I have always justified eating cakes and biscuits to myself by a) exercising a lot and b) staying slim despite the cakes etc (the rest of my diet is very balanced).