Sugar detox, anyone want to join?

[ElvenDreamer]

I've decided that in order to make anything stick healthy eating wise I need to do a decent sugar detox, so 4 weeks starting tomorrow I will be doing the following: Days 1-3 only protein, basic green leafy veg and healthy fats eg nuts. No fruits, starchy veg such as corn, peas, sweet potatoes and squash, no dairy, grains or alcohol.
Day 4 add 1 apple, 1 dairy food, some higher sugar veg such as carrots, and high fibre crackers.
Week 2 add in berries, a second serving a day of dairy, starchy veg.
Week 3 add grains such as barley, quinoa and oats and more fruit such as grapes and citrus.
Week 4 2 more starches allowed a day including bread and rice

This is massively paraphrased from a website plan I found and there was the option to add red wine in somewhere, the site I got it from is here www.mindfood.com/article/one-month-sugar-detox-a-nutritionist-explains-how-and-why/ so people can read the whole thing. (Have found the same on other sites too.)

Anyone want to join me?

Please don't make me do this alone!!

Wow, that's dedication! I can't join you as I'm doing low FODMAP but I wish you well.

Thanks @SpindleWhorl , you too 🙂 Only time will tell if I do have the dedication required!

I'm on Day 20 and I think the first few days were the worst, tbh!

Not having a good day today but there's some distracting 80s music on the radio ...

I'll get back in the mindset tomorrow.

Actually, just to add, the low FODMAP diet I'm doing does really cut out a lot of sugar.

A few fruits are allowed, but in quite small amounts at a time. So, a few berries, not the whole punnet. A few raisins - 13g max! And no 'stacking'! You pick one or the other.

So it is a bit of a shock tbh!

Morning, i have also started my 30 days of giving up sugar, i have put on 7 lbs in the last couple of months eating too much chocolate and biscuits. My general rule is to eat foods with less then 5g of sugar per 100g. I dont really eat fruit except for blueberries or grapefruit probably once or twice a week and also i have some home made yoghurt and splash of lactose free milk in my morning coffee.

Good luck @diet2021, if that's the right thing to say?

How do people deal with cravings? I had one last night for a Snickers! I messed about on MN and went to sleep instead. Rock and roll lifestyle, me.

Good luck everyone! So far today I had 2 eggs with a bit of black pepper and some baby leaf spinach for breakfast plus a black coffee, and then a leafy salad with a handful of nuts and seeds, a little vinegar to dress it for lunch. Really quite hungry now! Have been out most of today today which is keeping me distracted but it will get harder this evening I suspect, I have a list of jobs ready to distract myself...

Day 1 done, tried to snack on veg sticks with hummus and egg white omelettes today to distract myself from thinking about chocolate.

Oh God I thought about it... But I needed more time for mental prep . I hope you find it easy and wish I had your determination!

@EmergencyPoncho you are welcome to join in a few days late once you've thought about it! I'm not going to lie, I should have held off a week and planned a bit better, not enough stuff in the house I can eat 🤣 but I was keen to get started and do the difficult days before my work goes mental in 2 weeks time.

Well, day 2 is done mealwise, eggs for breakfast again, salad with tuna for lunch and a chorizo, butterbean and leek bake for dinner - this I was doing for the whole family so just had to make one end of it without the breadcrumbs on!
I have a HIIT class tonight, that's going to be interesting as normally I'm starving after and currently no idea what to eat, all I know is my normal massive plate of cheese isn't appropriate....
@diet2021 how has day 2 gone for you? Good call on the hummus, I need to make some, putting chickpeas to soak as we speak.

My DS made four boiled eggs last night, he ate the yolks on toast and I had the whites with a bit of stir fry veg & gluten-free soy sauce. I can really taste things now I'm dumping the sugar and high fat.

[quote ElvenDreamer]@EmergencyPoncho you are welcome to join in a few days late once you've thought about it! I'm not going to lie, I should have held off a week and planned a bit better, not enough stuff in the house I can eat 🤣 but I was keen to get started and do the difficult days before my work goes mental in 2 weeks time.

Well, day 2 is done mealwise, eggs for breakfast again, salad with tuna for lunch and a chorizo, butterbean and leek bake for dinner - this I was doing for the whole family so just had to make one end of it without the breadcrumbs on!
I have a HIIT class tonight, that's going to be interesting as normally I'm starving after and currently no idea what to eat, all I know is my normal massive plate of cheese isn't appropriate....
@diet2021 how has day 2 gone for you? Good call on the hummus, I need to make some, putting chickpeas to soak as we speak.[/quote]
Erm that's very kind!! God I really should, I'll have a proper look and think tomorrow. Keep us posted!

@SpindleWhorl I love that you shared the eggs, teamwork! Interesting about the taste of things too, that's exactly what I'm hoping for.

Day 2 not too bad, cold omelette on the way too work, chiken ,humus and loads of veg sticks for lunch and snacks and turkey bolognese with konjac pasta for dinner, cup of decaf tea now as craving dark chocolate!

Ok, day 3 has been hard work, feeling a bit lightheaded frankly and never wanted to eat a potato or a raspberry so badly in all my life! BUT I have made it through the day, tomorrow should get a little easier as the rules adjust on day 4 of what I'm following and I can tell you, I've never been so excited to have a high fibre cracker, apple, and milk in my coffee 🤣

How is everyone getting on? Day 3 and 4 have been really hard, constantly thinking about chocolate. Unfortunately i got tempted and had a bite of my boyfriends chocolate chip cookie on day 3 ,but have come to my senses and didn't have any more like i usually would have done. I need to make some egg white omelette or muffins to snack on today. Roll on day 5!

@diet2021 well done on stopping yourself with the cookie, I had a similar moment with nuts and raisins last night, stopped myself at 2 raisins and just had some nuts.

Day 4 and 5 have been ok, I am able to have oatcakes and 1 portion of dairy (have prioritised milk in my coffee) and a bit more veg variety now which has made it all more bearable. Typically having eggs for breakfast, salad lunch, piece of chicken or fish with veg for dinner, snacking on veg sticks or oatcakes with hummus, apple slices on oatcakes, or nuts. Biggest challenge will be the weekend as husband cooks and also tends to have a baking session at some point, plus he thinks me doing no sugar is just hilarious, sigh.

[quote ElvenDreamer]@diet2021 well done on stopping yourself with the cookie, I had a similar moment with nuts and raisins last night, stopped myself at 2 raisins and just had some nuts.

Day 4 and 5 have been ok, I am able to have oatcakes and 1 portion of dairy (have prioritised milk in my coffee) and a bit more veg variety now which has made it all more bearable. Typically having eggs for breakfast, salad lunch, piece of chicken or fish with veg for dinner, snacking on veg sticks or oatcakes with hummus, apple slices on oatcakes, or nuts. Biggest challenge will be the weekend as husband cooks and also tends to have a baking session at some point, plus he thinks me doing no sugar is just hilarious, sigh.[/quote]
How has your weekend been sugar wise. I found the last couple of days very difficult and craving dark chocolate. Today hasn't been too bad as have been busy at work so didn't think much about chocolate. Tomorrow will be day 9!

So 1st day of week 2 done, now I'm allowed 2 potions of dairy a day and can also bring in berries and it makes all the difference. I had homemade plain yoghurt for breakfast with raspberries and blueberries from the garden and it tasted amazing! Normally I would have sweetened it a bit with honey or stevia. I found that I've not craved the chocolate in the same way today and my taste buds are so much more alive today. I an struggling without grains though, really would like to be able to have an occasional piece of bread or some whole grain rice, roll on next week!

Ok, so it all collapsed a bit yesterday, an intense e e ise class in the evening then I just lost the plot a bit and ate a load of cheese and nuts and raisins. I have decided that another full week of no grains at all is simply not practical with the amount of exercise and work I do so have started today with egg on toast. Toast is from homeade wholewheat bread though so I know exactly what is in it and I refuse to feel guilty!

I haven't posted as have been busy for the last 3 days, although i must admit Thursday wasn't what i wanted it to be, after 3 terrible nights with not much sleep i collapsed too and had one square of 85% chocolate and some crackers and nuts. Friday and today have been sugar free so far. I think my sweet cravings are disappearing slowly as normally i wouldn't stop at just one piece of chocolate.

Well, I'm not sure where I'm at with it all, my disaster day continued into the rest of the week. It's been a stressful week and I just comfort ate. BUT, while I ate too much, it was not all about sweet stuff, I wasn't craving chocolate for example I don't think, I genuinely believe that 1st major intense detox week really helped that. Think I'm going to do a couple of strict days again to just cleanse my system and then carry on where I left off at week 3.