Anyone else cutting down on refined sugar?

[Blackpanthers]

Seeing if anyone else is doing the same. I've one huge withdrawal headache tonight. I try to eat natural foods and not sugar alternatives and I'm feeling it tonight. I couldn't even have a g and t. Ha!

Anyway the headache has made me all the more determined because sugar isn't good for my mood either.

If anyone has any suggested natural alternatives, I'd love to hear them
My go to is unsweetened chai tea or brushing my teeth.

Anyone else doing the same?

Yes but not for a couple of weeks.

Oh good. See you in a few weeks! Do you have a date set?

I started 4 weeks ago where I’ve cut out all fizzy drinks, choc and biscuits. I’ve had to do this as I have a headache condition which is triggered by caffeine and that kinda goes hand in hand with sugar. I haven’t really struggled to be honest as I’d just got to the point where I was having bed bound headaches weekly. 4 weeks in I’ve had no headaches. Except for the first week when I had the sugar withdrawal head.

Raspberries are the best thing as they are barely sweet but help take the edge off the headaches.

Great going BlueWidow. Glad to hear the headaches have gone. Any sugar withdrawal tips?

Thank you OohOoh. I will add raspberries to my shopping list next week. I have grapefruit and cherries this week.

I haven’t got any tips I think
Because my headaches are so awful
And we’re so regular that’s been ebough to get my act together. I’ve known this for years but still had the sugar. I’ve also cut out carbs so rice, pasta, bread and gone high fat (keto) that’s meant to help with appetite and I think it does and I’m not really wanting to snack.

OK. Glad you found a solution for you.

I eat a fairly low carb diet but nowhere near keto.

Yep! 🙋🏻‍♀️ Been going really well so far, just taking it a meal at a time and making sure absolutely everything I eat has no added sugar in it. Once I’ve got that down I might look to reduce especially carby other things, but I don’t really like bread or pasta in the first place. Just quietly going about it for myself and not making a big deal of it seems to be the key for me. I was even ‘good’ over Christmas but started properly afterwards. For me it’s to reduce inflammation but also I feel so nourished and calm!

We have similar goals Bendy. I like the calmness too and have inflammation challenges as well. Excellent work on Christmas!

I’m doing it again after managing for 7 weeks before Christmas... when it all went wrong!

I try to drink 3l of water each day, don’t let myself get hungry, snack on cheese, olives, nuts, celery with nut butter etc, drink coffee and the occasional Diet Coke if I’m desperate for a bit of sweetness, keep on with exercise - I am tired and grumpy though. This feeling disappeared after a few days last time.

After a while last time, I felt on an even keel all day, rather than having highs and lows and definitely had lots of energy. I find there’s not much pleasure in that way of eating though, it just makes me bored af food and have no desire to eat anything 🙁

I think whatever diet we choose should be sustainable Skinny. Can you make some modifications to yours?

You’re absolutely right blackpanthers. I’m going to get myself where I want to be and then gradually introduce certain things back in, but I need to break my dependency on sugar first.

Sounds good skinny.

When I was doing well last year, I had a diet break week every 12 weeks or so. You've reminded me I can plan for that because it is works well for me.

I should say diet break didn't mean going stupid. It was eating at just under maintenance calories.

That’s a good idea. If you can have a mini break and get back on it, you’ve got something to look forward to.

The low carb boot camp is due to start on 14/1 - I’ve lurked on it before, and it’s very informative and supportive.

I’ve been working today.... guess what my job is....... I teach cake decorating 😄 soooooo I definitely did eat some cake, but really not much at all and it was just force of habit. Really shouldn’t but everyone does just pop a little cut-off in every now and again. But I didn’t actually go to eat any until it entered my mind that I usually would!! So that was good, but annoying that I didn’t have enough willpower. And interestingly/pleasingly I didn’t actually crave any of the sugar or binge on it as I would have usually. Genuinely didn’t want any physically, it was more my mind/force of habit. But I had a sugar-free lunch and will do dinner too, breakfast was as well, and for the rest of my life I’m not going to have NO sugar, so it will be part of my life, especially given my job. But I’m glad I was restrained and didn’t crave it and am feeling so good from the past week that I’m motivated the continue! Loving this thread for motivation, thank you.

That's the plan skinny. Realisticalky I have a year of dieting ahead and I think the break is good for the metabolism as much as the mind.

Welcome back Bendy and well done on the awareness. at your job! I've no intention of cutting out sugar either. I believe I can handle it in small doses with a decently balanced diet that will works for me with carbs, fat and protein. Telling myself I can never have something just makes me want it more too.

I grew up in the low fat is better era and last year I increased my fat allowance and reduced the protein and carbs and it made a world of difference because the satiety increased massively. I found I could enjoy food a lot more too. Of course that's what works for me and everyone needs to find their own balance.

I came on to start a quitting sugar thread and found this at the top 😀

I am going at it slightly differently. 14 years ago I gave up smoking using Allen Carrs 'The easy way to give up smoking ' and have not had, or craved, a cigarette since.

When looking for sugarfree books on Amazon I stumbled apon Allen Carrs 'Good sugar, bad sugar' and thought I had to give it a go!

So book arrived yesterday morning and I am about 100 pages in. One of the rules is that you MUST continue to eat as normal until you have finished the book. I have found myself today being repelled by my morning croissant, refusing a slice of Christmas cake at mil's, and having to force myself to eat dessert after dinner. It is bizarre but I really do not want to eat any sweet stuff and cannot wait to finish the book so I can stop! Same thing happened with the smoking.

My mind is completely blown as I usually eat sweet all day long.

I’m starting again tomorrow. I did it a couple of years ago and found it amazing. I lost two stones and two dress sizes without much effort.

I found full fat yogurt and grapes was my evening treat. It seemed to fill me and calm any (rare) cravings.

It's a bit disgusting..which is half of the point..but it worked for me in the past. When I was really craving something sweet and couldn't get rid of the craving, I'd eat whatever it was that I wanted, but I'd not swallow it. I'd spit it out in the bin. i only needed to do this a few times before I stopped because when you see it chewed up and in the bin, it REALLY doesn't look appetising! Often when we crave a food we have a mental image of it in our heads, so this changes that that image.

I've never had an eating disorder and if I had, I'm not sure I'd do this, but for me it works. I only ever did it at home though, for obvious reasons!

Soaring that’s interesting, I’ve been doing that lately but no as consciously as you it seems - if I’ve picked at something sweet I’ve then thought ‘no I’m not doing it!!’ And spat it out into the bin - but then not looked at it 😄 maybe I should. But I take that as a sign my willpower is growing!
My feet are absolutely killing this morning, and my knees (I have plantar fasciitis which is inflammation related). I just think if I weighed less I wouldn’t ache so much (I’m only 29 but feel about 70 since I had DS2 :( )

I tried on some of my work clothes today naively hoping they'd be so much looser than a few weeks ago and funnily enough they aren't. I ate pretty well over Christmas but wasn't active at all, deliberately but I'm feeling extra flabby as a result.

Main plans for this week coming are 4 lots of exercise, 5 servings of fruit and vegetables a day and cooking all my meals from scratch which prevents any hidden processed sugars. If I can achieve all that, I'll be happy.

Anyone else have any goals for the week?

I forgot. On the cutting down but not out t
sugar front I have some ginger tea arriving today and some fruit. Will enjoy those..

I've also checked how high sugar is listed in some of the ingredients I'll be using for cooking. All at the fine enough levels.

I'm also going to have some honey on a cracker today. I'll eat it mindfully and will enjoy it.

I didn't enjoy the honey crackers much at all. I'm not overly surprised because I prefer savoury foods for the most part. Eating it mindfully was a good idea because it enabled me to realise what I really thought of the food.

@Blackpanthers it is funny that you noticed that as I have just been reading a chapter all about this. The author believes that we are conditioned, by the food companies, to believe we enjoy sweet food more than we actually do.

So far today I have enjoyed a banana mid morning, not a breakfast person, and dh is preparing a tagine for lunch. I currently have no desire to eat anything but fresh food.

How is everyone else getting on?