Sugar.........

T

Teddygirl

Cathlete
Ladies I need your help,

Those of you who have eliminated Sugar & Caffeine from your daily diet. How did you do it and where would I start?

I usually use splenda in my coffee (1 cup a day) However, I use splenda in my cereals, oatmeal etc.. etc.. and anything that require sugar.

So, do I just cold turkey? Ss there a such thing as sugar withdraw and finally is there a replacement for sugar like honey. Help!

Teddygirl~
 
I'll share my experience with you. First let me say in my opinion sugar is an evil that ranks right up with drugs. I have tried and failed so many times at trying to kick the sugar habit. The longest I've been on the wagon has been 2-3 months. I then made the stupid decision that I could try it in moderation. Well, some people can do that, but I'm an all or nothing person I guess. I've read many books, tried weaning off, and also tried going cold turkey. Any way I tried I had withdrawal symptoms. What helped was to realize I was going to have them and find something to do when they happen. My most major symptom was tiredness because of the 'missing' carbs. Well, some of us mistake tiredness as hunger. Also what got me was the preoccupation with 'I can't have sugar so it was constantly on my mind'. My best result came with going cold turkey. When I did I was highly motivated to make it work. I haven't found that motivation since.

Good luck and if you find something that works, please share it with the rest of us!

Books I read were Licking the Sugar Habit; Breaking the Food Seduction; the Carb Addicts Diet; and others too.
 
I don't eliminate caffeine from my diet and I don't recommend it either. JMHO> Caffeine helps alot with workouts and is not really a bad thing unless you have too much of it. Sugar, well that is just a "no no" in my book. I started eating jello sugar free chocolate pudding to get thru. It really worked for me. Chocolate protein bars and shakes really help me now.

Charlotte~~
 
I wouldn't say you have to eliminate anything completely. I think that's not a very fun life to live if you get rid of everything you enjoy. Moderation is always the key. I like Splenda in my coffee but I don't cook or bake with it. I prefer real sugar for cooking...though we don't eat that much sugar to begin with. Now, if you're pounding pots of coffee and injecting sugar into your bloodstream directly, you may want to rethink your plan of attack.


"you miss 100% of the shots you never take"


Debbie
 
I haven't eliminated it yet, but most of mine currently comes from fruits, plus my one dessert a week. Sometimes I end up cheating on that though.

Honey is still sugar, just in a different form. And you get it in fruits, fruit juices, and also vegetables. So just remember that you can't eliminate it totally. You can choose the types of sugar you eat though - such as the natural stuff in fruits and vegetables.

Good luck!
 
Sugar is hard on your pancreas. Diabetics know this better than anyone. I wish schools would talk about how that candy bar your kid eats after school is basically a bomb to his pancreas. We all are concerned about not eating 'bad fats' because they cause hardening of the arteries. We also need to be concerned about all of the sugar American's eat everyday and how it affects the pancreas. This is why Type II diabetes is becoming more and more prevalent, especially in kids. And diabetes is such a dangerous disease. People who don't understand that are the ones who are still feeding sugar cereals to their kids every morning, and their fridges are well stocked with sodas and fruit juices. They are also the parents feeding candy bars and gummy worms to their kids for afterschool snacks and to keep them quiet in church.

Just stop eating sugar. It is in practically every processed food/snack item you buy at the store. If you stop eating sugar everyday, you will eventually not crave it anymore. Get your nutrients from real foods, not from box mixes or bags. Throw everything away that has sugar in it. When you're craving a snack eat vegetables and protein.

Read the food labels before you put the item in your grocery cart. Buy vegetable juice instead of fruit juices. Eat a orange instead of having a glass of orange juice. You will get more nutrients from the whole fruit PLUS the added benefit of the fiber from the pulp.

Think about what you are putting in your body. Elliminating sugar from your diet is easy. You just have to stop eating it. That isn't to say you can't have the occassional sweet treat. But have that treat AFTER you have eaten a meal of protein and fiber as the food will slow down the digestion of the sugar and then it's not such a shock to your pancreas. And limit those sweet treats to special occassion's. Your hips don't need that sugar and neither does your pancreas.
 
Thanks to all of you for your input on this matter i really appreciate it :) :)

I figure the best way is to cold turkey, NO problem. But, what do you use for your coffee as a sweeteners?

Robin, I will be buying sugar free snack and what ever else I can find for me sweet tooth as well :9

What about honey, molasses (sp) or is there anything at the health stores I can use for my coffee (cant do black coffee) and my tea's.

Actually, one of my plans is to quite drinking coffee I'm not even suppose to have caffein, doctor orders a year ago. I stopped and then started back. I really don’t think I’m going to have a problem with the coffee or caffeine. I am more concern about sweeteners for my tea, oatmeal, cold cereals etc…etc…

Teddygirl~
 
Hi

A lot of people use Stevia as their sweetner, it's natural.

I understand the caffeine problem, had to give up that coffee with caffeine. I cheat and have a little caffeine from my chocolate sometimes, which, of course, means I sometimes cheat on my clean eating.

Do try to give up the processed sugar and white flour products.

Good luck:)
 
Southbeach Diet Phase 1 helped me with my sugar/caffeine addiction. I habitually drank 1-3 Mountain Dews daily, along with at least one piece of chocolate (a candy bar, Little Debbie, cookie, something!). After having my baby and still having 15 lbs to lose, I felt I had to do something drastic. I got Southbeach Diet book & Ab Diet book. They helped a lot!

Now I'm in phase 2 & I'm finding out that I"m an all-or-nothing type of personality. I believe I will have to keep sugary snacks for a once a month type of thing...or else I'll be to square one real quick.

When in phase 1, you learn what type of foods have sugar (good and bad). I"m so happy that I did this!!! You can check out the book from your local library. It'll be the best 2 weeks of your life!! :)

Good luck!


**Melanie**
30lbs lost 3lbs to go

Jadon born 11/23/05
Justin born 1/17/04
Jory born 4/9/94
" Take care of your body like it will last a lifetime. Take care of your soul like it will last for eternity"
 
Teddygirl, I know how you feel! :) I spent last summer trying to do without sugar, and it is HARD! Only at first, though. The first week I was anxious and was insanely looking for anything sweet in my cupboards, so I did go through withdrawal, absolutely! It is just like any other drug. The only way that I could kick it was to go cold turkey. I tried weening myself, but that doesn't work at all. I would just want more and more. After the first week of going without sugar (by sugar I mean cake, pie, ice cream etc., I didn't cut out any fruit) I didn't want any at all, and when I saw other people eating something like that I had no desire to join them whatsoever! I did only one month to start, but after that month was up I felt so good and had so much more energy that I decided to go another month. I was able to lose between 5-10 pounds (I don't remember now) and when I had cake again it was so gross to me! I could taste the chemicals and preservatives. I imagine it would be the same for caffeine, too... at least the withdrawal part. I know a lot of people get headaches from withdrawal from caffeine.

I didn't use any substitutes (aspertame, splenda, sucralose) for sugar, and I still don't, but when I bake I sub sugar for turbinado, which is basically sugar in it's least processed and purest form - evaporated cane juice. It is a lot richer than sugar, so you don't need to use as much in recipes and it tastes very good when baking with wheat flour - it is what molasses is to syrup. :9 And when I wanted to eat something sweet, I would eat something sweet, I would just eat something that is NATURALLY sweet like berries or an orange. It killed the craving and is good for me! You can do it, you really can. :)

Because of the holidays I am having to start all over again with this! You wanna do a check-in so that we can encourage each other? Or we could just pm each other. :) We can do it!

HTH

Missy
 
Teddygirl-
This may not be much help, but I love drinking my coffee black without sugar, and I can't imagine adding sugar to cereal or oatmeal. I think it's just what your tastebuds get used to. I recommend just trying black coffee for a while and see if your tastebuds don't go thru a radical change. I'm with Charlotte, though, I'm not interested in giving up my caffeine! }(
-Nancy
 
When I feel like adding something a little sweet to my cereal or oatmeal, I use fruit...either apples or frozen fruit (no added sugar).

MMMM....good!

lisa
 
Sugar is also bad on the immune system. IMO, it has absolutely no redeaming values, and is a "non-food."

Natural substitutes for refined white sugar (depending on whether you need liquid or powder):

stevia (I like "stevia plus" for powder, which is a combo of stevia and inulin fiber)

agave nectar (low glycemic, from the same plant that tequila is made from)

date sugar (just dried, ground dates. Adds some flavor, but good in some baked goods)

rice syrup

barley malt syrup

maple syrup (not what some people are calling maple syrup...not that "maple-FLAVORED syrup" that is often no more than flavored high fructose corn syrup--which is even WORSE than refined white sugar)

apple sauce or juice (in baking)

Soaked and blended dried fruit (raisins, dates, etc.)
 
I think it's a good idea to eliminate or at least severly restrict COFFEE intake, but not necessarily caffeine. Green, white and black teas have caffeine, but less than coffee (which also contains carbolic acid, which interferes with the immune system by irritating the intestines).
 
Teddygirl, I gave up sugar but not caffeine. I went cold turkey. It only took me about 3 days to get over cravings. What actually helped me and this may have been psychological, but I had brown rice with lunch every day and it made my afternoon cravings subside. But I think the complex carbs in the brown rice made the difference.

Caffeine is not really an issue for me. I have some in the morning and then drink water from noon on.
Jo
 
Kathryn,

You are right ON about the many different kinds of sugar substitutes out there.

I just wanted to reiterate about how the equals, and other chemically altered sugars out there, are hurting our bodies. I've just learned about the high fructose corn syrup (hfcs) in our many many foods and drinks we buy at the grocery store. And how these foods cause all kinds of havoc to our bodies. Soon (I understand) manufacturers that use (hfcs) will have to be taken off the shelves of our stores. It is that dangerous.

In reality the hfcs causes cancer, blocks a hormone in our brains, so we don't know when we are full, therefore we eat two or three times more than we would have, plus it is addictive. There are many many risk factors.

I watched the NBC news about this on 2/2/06, they called it "Diet Sabbotage". I've also looked hfcs on the internet, you wouldn't belive the kinds of things this is causing us to go through. See for yourselves, it is really scary.

The sad thing is, what else is making us sick that are on the shelves of our supermarkets?

What I'm doing about it, is what everyone is trying to do also. Eat clean, wholesome foods. If you can afford organic, great, but if you can't, clean your foods when you get them home.

Sorry about being so long winded, I could still talk about this until I'm blue in the face, so I better stop now.

Janie

PS I love my coffee in the morning, black as black can be.
 
>Soon (I understand) manufacturers that use (hfcs) will have to
>be taken off the shelves of our stores. It is that dangerous.

I hadn't heard that, but it's a step in the right direction. In Europe, HFCS is virtually unheard of.

And there is a very close correlation between the appearance of HFCS and hydrogenated oils in the American diet and the obesity epidemic. These are two substances the body doesn't recognize as natural, so they do all sorts of nasty things.

I just wonder what they'll replace it with? Probably something cheap and just as questionable (though not yet found to be dangerous).
 
Thank you everyone :) :)

Missy - I'd love to do a daily check in. How about we try it for a month? When would you like to start. All is welcome ;-) :)

Teddygirl~
 
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