Giving up sugar...help needed!

[Dizzywizz]

I need to lose weight! I weigh 74kg/11.6 stone, I've lost about 2.5 stones since giving birth nearly a year ago and got 4kg/5lbs to go to get to my pre ds 2 weight but I was still holding a lot of weight from ds 1. Basically I want to go down to about 9.5 stones which Is about 61.5kg so still some way to go.

My problem is sugar. It used to be chocolate but the Dr put me on orlistat which you cannot eat fat on, so it did not take me long to realise sugar does not have fat, so I have been gorging on any low fat/no fat junk I can find. I have been on orlistat nearLy 3 months and am supposed to be at 67.5kg now so I am not doing very well.

I think my only choice now is to give up sugar. I can't find much useful info through Google and wanted to see if anyone has any experience...I don't want to buy a book if it just basically says go cold turkey - has anyone else given up sugar, and what did you do?

(And I do need to lose the weight, I have MS and am in a lot of pain, losing weight should help reduce this). Thank you anyone who read through this essay!

My advice would be get off the diet pill and the fake diet food and start eating REAL FOOD.

As you have an autoimmune disease, that's probably even more crucial! Low fat processed crap= low in vitamins and minerals and so many crucial vitamins are found in fat. I can't beleve someone with MS has been put on a fat blocking drug!

Why not have a wee look at the blog site for Marksdailyapple, do a little reading (it has a searchable archive). There is an autoimmune protocol version of the diet, and many have found big improvement or even remission to serious autoimmune conditions (yes, including MS). It may help you both with your health and your weight (obviously your health is more important).

Good luck :)

Thank you RCM, I will have a look.

There are quite a few diets which people say can help MS, back when I was first diagnosed I tried a few however my MS just got worse and worse and I think it made me disenchanted, maybe I should have a look and see if there is any recent credible reports of diet helping...my Neuro says not though but I guess anything is worth a try. Thanks again :)

Btw I do take multi vits plus vits b & d, fish oils and eve prim I just have to take them 2 hours from the orlistat

If you want to cut out sugar head over to biwis low carb boot camp.

It is really all about eating real food.

Nothing processed to begin with.

You will feel rubbish in the beginning but don't confuse that with your MS getting worse.

Good luck.

There is also the I Quit Sugar thread, quite long now!

The author of the I Quit Sugar book, Sarah Wilson, suffered from an autoimmune disease (can't remember which one) and her symptoms improved hugely after she quit sugar.

I gave up sugar 5 months ago, it was hard at first but after a while I didn't even crave it. I feel much better.

Eating real food with tons of nutrients, overcoming your desire for sugary food, cannot fail to have benefits. Sugar is horribly addictive and gives you no nutrients whatsoever. Quitting cold turkey is hard but after you break the addiction you will wonder how you used to eat all that rubbish.

Thank you QL5 and Hippospot, I will check those threads out.

I think I am going to give eating 'real' food a go - I found marksdailyapple particularly inspiring. Only lost half a stone on orlistat in 3 months, and actually that was all in the first month!

Could a book like Food Hospital be an inspiring read for you?

See the whole thing as a life-long shift towards healthy eating for health reasons? The weight will almost certainly come off slowly but surely (and stay off, if you stay on a whole food diet).

If you feel healthier and lose the sugar cravings (not overnight, but in a few weeks) then you'll be less tempted to eat rubbish.

And you're not making any companies rich in the process - liberating!

I also believe it's harder to overeat home-cooked healthy food. Whereas anything processed is designed to make you crave more (addictive - that's how they make money).

Good luck

I completely agree with Raw, get off the pills, eat real food with good fat and quit sugar. Giving up fat and sugar has been shown to be virtually impossible in any case - we are designed to seek a certain amount of pleasure and satisfaction from food and you just aren't going to get this on a low fat, sugar free diet! And not only is it unsustainable, you won't be healthy on it - good fat is essential for health. Get this from raw nuts, cold pressed oils, avocados, oily fish, olives and dairy. Sweetness should come from natural sources (fruit, a little honey, sweet veg).

As well as Marks Daily Apple check out Dr Hyman's work with diet and disease.

drhyman.com/

Dr Hyman on autoimmune disease