Sugar in everything!!!

howtomake

I've been staying away from sugar since end of Jan. Still have the bit of honey though. But now that I'm looking for it, I seem to find that sugar is put in everything, mayo, mustard, etc :rolleyes:

Anyway just ranting.

yosser hughes

howtomake wrote: »

I've been staying away from sugar since end of Jan. Still have the bit of honey though. But now that I'm looking for it, I seem to find that sugar is put in everything, mayo, mustard, etc :rolleyes:

Anyway just ranting.

What differences have you noticed in your body since you gave it up? Just wondering.

howtomake

yosser hughes wrote: »

What differences have you noticed in your body since you gave it up? Just wondering.

Well I managed to lose maybe an inch or two around my waist, but its been hard to tell because I've been injured. But I think if I was injured AND eating my normal amounts of sugar I would've actually ballooned instead of losing some. I do have to admit I think being in serious pain for the first couple of weeks in the beginning, helped me not even think of missing sugar, then I just took it from there.

I do get the occasional cravings but I thought I would be much worse off, like when I gave up alcohol for Jan, I love wine, which incidentally also has sugar but I'm no martyr;).

For serious cravings, I started eating goji berries with cashew nuts, for some reason it is fills my need for chocolate. I have raisins in my muesli so that adds sweetness there, started to have some honey with sugarless PB on a ryvita if I really feel like a sweet snack. And fruit also gives me enough sweetness, as well as roasted sweet potatoes. My eating still needs a few tweaks here & there though.

Susie_Q

Goji berries and raisins are full of sugar. Honey has pretty much the same effect on the body as refined sugar as well. I give you a C+ for your efforts though

allthedoyles

We got this is Tesco and its great - 100% Fruit

howtomake

Susie_Q wrote: »

Goji berries and raisins are full of sugar. Honey has pretty much the same effect on the body as refined sugar as well. I give you a C+ for your efforts though

Guess I should be more specific that I gave up white sugar.

Ha like I said I'm no martyr, but its been one of the most effective things I've given up, and just around the time I needed to. If I ate the same amount I was before my injury, I know I would be quite a bit heavier. Bad enough I can't get back to my usual activities for awhile, but gaining weight would've added another problem on top of it. So its been kind of nice to lose some.

Brian?

Try living in America, the 3rd ingredient in whole grain bread here is sugar. I have to pay 5 dollars in a health food shop for a loaf of sugar free bread for my son.

Dotcomdolly

Giving up refined sugar is a great step, especially as you cut out so much other junk food when you do. Fair play to you. I think the c+ comment is unfair and pretty mean-spirited tbh.

pecker1992

Susie_Q wrote: »

Goji berries and raisins are full of sugar. Honey has pretty much the same effect on the body as refined sugar as well. I give you a C+ for your efforts though

i agree with the above post thats an unfair comment

honey and refined sugar are miles apart....theres a huge difference between a spoon of honey and a spoon of sugar!!!

yes goji berries and raisins have a high sugar content....they also have a high fibre content


nobody will 100% give up all sugar in there diet.....thats a foolish thing to even consider given the sugars that all things such as fruit milk and vegetables......imo anyone that can just cut refined crap from their diet deserves an A+..well done!!!

yosser hughes

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

Giving up refined sugar is a great step, especially as you cut out so much other junk food when you do. Fair play to you. I think the c+ comment is unfair and pretty mean-spirited tbh.

I agree. Giving up sugar is quite difficult. I used to take sugar in tea and coffee and found it extremely hard to do without. So fair play OP.

howtomake

Thanks guys. Ah its ok, its hard to really convey things properly on the internet:). I still should've said white refined sugar so there would be no confusion. I'm probably eating about 85% less sugar than I was.

Now I have to work on the bread stuff, clogs my nose. I'll wait to give myself an A+ when I've tackled that.

Briankeating, didn't realise you were in the States, but yes I can imagine. Way way way back, when I was there I found corn syrup in lots of things too. What about making your own bread? I might start making my own mayo.

I think I just need to start making a list of foods that contain these hidden sugars. I really really miss Heinz ketchup though, that was one of my trigger foods. Just put some ketchup, mayo with chips & breaded fish in front of me and :eek::eek::eek:

saa

No one ever got fat from eating an apple :pac:
I stopped worrying about if I'm eating sugar or carbs and made a list of trigger foods and surprise surprise most of those were high sugar foods! I don't get down on myself for having relatively healthy for having sugar in it although I wish it didn't, I applaud myself for not having high sugar items such as cereal bars, gosh what was I thinking I bought 5 boxes of 6 before and they were gone within half a week, never again!

Gummy Panda

briankeating wrote: »

Try living in America, the 3rd ingredient in whole grain bread here is sugar. I have to pay 5 dollars in a health food shop for a loaf of sugar free bread for my son.

One of the lads said this to me in work and I couldn't believe it. He says they put HFCS into everything. The US lads he knows love eating Irish bread and Kerrygold butter when they come over. Apparently Kerrygold butter is available in US and some sort of expensive organic speciality food item.

Dotcomdolly

Gummy Panda wrote: »

One of the lads said this to me in work and I couldn't believe it. He says they put HFCS into everything. The US lads he knows love eating Irish bread and Kerrygold butter when they come over. Apparently Kerrygold butter is available in US and some sort of expensive organic speciality food item.

Oh yes, you always hear about it on American paleo sites/podcasts - Kerrygold imported grassfed butter.

gud4u

howtomake wrote: »

I've been staying away from sugar since end of Jan. Still have the bit of honey though. But now that I'm looking for it, I seem to find that sugar is put in everything, mayo, mustard, etc :rolleyes:

Anyway just ranting.

Maybe this is a whole thread of it's own and I don't want to hijack yours, but,

How did you start, I have to cut out refined sugar as a necessity to my health but have to say i'm struggling. There are many factors involved for me, my endocrinologist said I'II be diabetic by 40 if I don't change.

I'm lucky i don't like pasta or white bread but there are plenty of other demon foods to choose from:o

Dotcomdolly

This is a great article
http://www.stumptuous.com/how-to-dump-sugar

howtomake

gud4u wrote: »

Maybe this is a whole thread of it's own and I don't want to hijack yours, but,

How did you start, I have to cut out refined sugar as a necessity to my health but have to say i'm struggling. There are many factors involved for me, my endocrinologist said I'II be diabetic by 40 if I don't change.

I'm lucky i don't like pasta or white bread but there are plenty of other demon foods to choose from:o

Great idea! Yeah sure, lets make a thread just about cutting out sugar, even if its only just certain types of sugar. I actually had this idea of a making spicy sweet potato sauce to replace ketchup. I'd say start off small, as saa said, maybe find a trigger food or snack/meal, or pick something you know you eat too much of.

confusedgirl

Pink lady apples are very sweet so I find they are great for sugar cravings. Whole fruit is the best really. Dried fruit like raisins and fruit juice are healthy but they've a higher GI and won't really keep you full. Oh cinnamon in porridge is a really good tip, you only need to use about a quarter of a teaspoon in your porridge or else it will taste too sweet. I also find some vegetables are sweet too like beetroot, sweetcorn, carrot, parsnip, turnip etc.

You have to watch out for any chemicals ending in -ose as that's sugar eg dextrose, sucrose. There are sugar alcohols too like malitol which are sweetners, not actual alcohol. Malodextrin is also a sugar. Also glucose syrup or high fructose corn syrup. I found it really helpful learning how to read food labels, to know what the chemicals in them actually were! I would also stay well clear of sweetners. Aspartame is in a lot of diet products and its meant to be carcinogenic. Aspartame can act like a laxative and can cause gastric complaints. Sugar is in things you don't expect like canned baked beans, salad cream, ready meals, cereals even the "healthy" ones like Special K, All-Bran, Weetabix. 5g of sugar per 100g or less is considered low sugar and 15g of sugar per 100g or more is considered high sugar.

I also think its worth mentioning that salt is in pretty much everything too-ready meals, processed soups, bread, soy sauce, stock cubes, crisps, ice cream, aromat, garlic salt, cereals. 0.3g salt per 100g is considered low salt and 1g salt per 100g is considered high salt as we're only meant to have 6g per day maximum. A lot of products don't display salt which is NaCl/Sodium Chloride, they just display the sodium/Na bit so you need to multiply the sodium number by 2.5 to get the actual amount of salt in the product. I found salt really hard to cut out too.

kerash

I'm using myfitnesspal for the past 3 weeks and i'm always over in my sugar allowance. I'm eating more fruit and it's mostly coming from that. Is that really bad? Nutritionist told me to include up to 7 portions of fruit and veg a day... Bananas, grapes, berries, goats milk yogurt and skimmed milk are some of the worse culprits.

SteelyDanJalapeno

pecker1992 wrote: »

i agree with the above post thats an unfair comment

honey and refined sugar are miles apart....theres a huge difference between a spoon of honey and a spoon of sugar!!!

yes goji berries and raisins have a high sugar content....they also have a high fibre content


nobody will 100% give up all sugar in there diet.....thats a foolish thing to even consider given the sugars that all things such as fruit milk and vegetables......imo anyone that can just cut refined crap from their diet deserves an A+..well done!!!

I'd disagree with you there, Honey and sugar cause pretty much the exact same insulin response in the body,

boomtown84

TiltedBrain wrote: »

I'd disagree with you there, Honey and sugar cause pretty much the exact same insulin response in the body,

Are you saying the insulin response is a bad thing? Nutritionally they are miles apart...which is what he was getting at.

banshee_bones

I cut out sugar for two weeks a few months back and I couldnt believe it, theres sugar in everything! Seriously, I nearly lost the plot wandering around the meat section in Marks and Spencers trying to find something to eat for my lunch and I picked up some chicken pieces and I looked at the ingredients and somehow they had managed to baste or cook the chicken pieces in brown sugar. :rolleyes::eek:

It's very hard so fair play to you for sticking it out

Gummy Panda

banshee_bones wrote: »

I cut out sugar for two weeks a few months back and I couldnt believe it, theres sugar in everything! Seriously, I nearly lost the plot wandering around the meat section in Marks and Spencers trying to find something to eat for my lunch and I picked up some chicken pieces and I looked at the ingredients and somehow they had managed to baste or cook the chicken pieces in brown sugar. :rolleyes::eek:

It's very hard so fair play to you for sticking it out

It's used to brown the chicken. There is barely any on it

banshee_bones

Gummy Panda wrote: »

It's used to brown the chicken. There is barely any on it

The pre-packed stuff on the shelf? Well sugar was listed on the ingredients and I was off sugar so wasnt taking chances.

howtomake

I made a spicy roasted sweet potato sauce. Basically cut up the sweet potatoes, roasted them in the oven until they were soft, pureed them with some dried chilli, tiny bit of broth & coriander. Who needs ketchup, smetchup I say.

Also need to make my own pasta sauce. Got some little tomatoes from Lidl, they were actually very sweet, so just roasted with a touch of sea salt, until they got a bit squishy and had that with some pasta (& buckwheat pasta at that). I've cut down on the wheat stuff this week, and my nose has been pretty much uncloggy the entire week. But still won't say no to some nice homemade bread, if anyone is offering.

Also digging grilled red onions till they get sweet.

Anyone know where one can get sugar free chocolate (powder, baking squares, etc)? And not the kind that has fake sugar?

SBWife

boomtown84 wrote: »

Nutritionally they are miles apart...which is what he was getting at.

Since when?

Honey is pretty much sugar from another source with another name.

rocky

SBWife wrote: »

Since when?

Honey is pretty much sugar from another source with another name.

... and sugar is great!

It is known.

pecker1992

SBWife wrote: »

Since when?

Honey is pretty much sugar from another source with another name.

yes honey is sugar..not all sugar is bad..they are a mile apart and its blatantly obvious....the saturated fats in coconut are far better for you than other saturated fats......that does not mean its the same as the fat from the edge of a steak..there is a big difference....same goes for honey and refined sugar..for example...do you really think if i was to ingest all my sugar from honey and you got yours from high fructose corn syrup that the outcomes would be the same?????

rocky

pecker1992 wrote: »

...the saturated fats in coconut are far better for you than other saturated fats......that does not mean its the same as the fat from the edge of a steak..there is a big difference....

in what way are they different ?

pecker1992 wrote: »

..for example...do you really think if i was to ingest all my sugar from honey and you got yours from high fructose corn syrup that the outcomes would be the same?????

Depends on the quantities... 1 tsp of sugar or honey have the same outcome, i.e. fcuk all.

If you eat 350g sugar a day and think by switching to honey you somehow have a better diet, you're deluded...

howtomake

BAH, had pizza the other night, of course there was added sugar in it. Forgot that usual tomato sauces would have some sugar added to it. So back to homemade pizzas for me, they taste much better anyway.

howtomake

My first Easter without chocolate. Still have not been able to find chocolate without the sugar or without fake sugar either.

Jarren

www.lindt.com/int/noswf/eng/products/excellence/excellence-99/

Dotcomdolly

howtomake wrote: »

My first Easter without chocolate. Still have not been able to find chocolate without the sugar or without fake sugar either.

It is really an integral ingredient I'll be joining you in a chocolate free Easter

SunnyDub1

Prob going a little off topic here but for me I like things sweet.
Don't eat much foods that have sugar in it but when I'm having coffee and porridge especially I find I have to sweeten it up a little so I use Canderel.

What are people opinions on this stuff ? Is it just has bad as sugar ?

Thanks

howtomake

SunnyDub1 wrote: »

Prob going a little off topic here but for me I like things sweet.
Don't eat much foods that have sugar in it but when I'm having coffee and porridge especially I find I have to sweeten it up a little so I use Canderel.

What are people opinions on this stuff ? Is it just has bad as sugar ?

Thanks

I have no idea really. Is that fake sugar? Don't think I've ever had it. I would only occasionally have a diet 7up now & then but that's usually it.

On another note, found another food item with some sugar snuck in it...wraps/tortillas. Tesco has a seeded one with no extra sugar but it has lots of other stuff in it:rolleyes:. Tried making my own with ground oats, flaxseed & 2 eggs, er, well sort turned out alright. It was more like a very thin pancake rather than a wrap but did the job of holding stuff in it.

accensi0n

Jarren wrote: »

www.lindt.com/int/noswf/eng/products/excellence/excellence-99/

I bought this a while ago, thought I was eating a crayon, horrible. Decided to use it to make a chocolate mouse instead which turned out pretty nice.

saa

SunnyDub1 wrote: »

Prob going a little off topic here but for me I like things sweet.
Don't eat much foods that have sugar in it but when I'm having coffee and porridge especially I find I have to sweeten it up a little so I use Canderel.

What are people opinions on this stuff ? Is it just has bad as sugar ?

Thanks

Personally I don't think having the fake stuff once in a while isn't the end of the world but I avoid it as I don't feel like I can trust sources, are they crazy health industry money spinners everything will give you cancer buy my book or here's some research funded by Splenda, Splenda is totally safe!

I was thinking about buying a fructose based sweetener but I don't use it really enough sweetness in milk for my coffee, oh and I will be cruxified for saying I drink milk on this forum but its the same half a litre lasts me ages because I don't think its that good for me but damn I can't drink black coffee.

Ah plenty of controversy, a lot of people say its fine as it doesnt seem to do anything to the body in the short term but if its a chemical sweetener it is still a chemical you're ingesting and I am not convinced about the research like if there was a risk or a question mark about it I'm sure Coke has the power to keep it quiet, like the HFCS is aokay crap.

metamorphosis

accensi0n wrote: »

I bought this a while ago, thought I was eating a crayon, horrible. Decided to use it to make a chocolate mouse instead which turned out pretty nice.

Respect the cocoa - you gotta work your way up!!!

I remember buying my first 99%. It was in Long Island in NY. I figured if i liked 70%, I'd like this. Went outside, split a bit of it with a friend and dug in. For the first few seconds, I could taste nothing. Then it hit - it tasted like tar. I brought the rest of the uneaten bar back into the girl behind the counter where i bought it and told her it was a present from Ireland, and to enjoy it.

4 years later and i love the stuff.

Vooice

I agree, 99% Lindt is flipping heavenly. I progressed up from 70 to 85 too, it must be a gradual enough adjustment to flavour. All I know is that it's fantastic. Deep and smoky and chalky. Sometimes I dip it in minty tea first and then taste the chocolate rainbow!

howtomake

The Lindt 99% still has sugar in it though, right? But I'm not going to be fussy on this one, I'll try it and if it triggers the monster in me I'll just stop.

I nearly caved into peanut m&m's last night, I could seriously eat a whole pounds worth of the stuff. I usually just have it at the movies but even just then, I go overboard. They promptly left the house the next day, phew.

And must stop thinking about chocolate mousse, thanks a lot accensi0n;)

howtomake

I tried to fool myself. Went out for dinner, was starving, had a nice healthy salad with some fish, except I'm pretty sure their 'caramelised' onion had extra sugar.

Dotcomdolly

schwartz chines 5 spice seasoning - sugar is #1 ingredient! GRRR. My chinesey omelette was not chinesey.

rocky

howtomake

rocky wrote: »

It is the first sign of the apocalypse, it being 2012 & everything.

Just got back from Zurich, chocolate & pastries everywhere, ooo it all looked so good. Luckliy I'm too broke to afford anything in that country. 11 EU for a bite size piece, yeah right:rolleyes:

howtomake

Soups now, sigh. Left my lunch at home and had this really mad craving for creamy tomator soup. Went to Tesco. Every single one of them sugar. So decided to go for another type, like vegetable, but still sugar sugar sugar,
and dried glucose syrup, really, why, why do they need to put dried glucose syrup in the soups. Finally found a creamy 'shroom , but not what I was after.

Dotcomdolly

howtomake wrote: »

Soups now, sigh. Left my lunch at home and had this really mad craving for creamy tomator soup. Went to Tesco. Every single one of them sugar. So decided to go for another type, like vegetable, but still sugar sugar sugar,
and dried glucose syrup, really, why, why do they need to put dried glucose syrup in the soups. Finally found a creamy 'shroom , but not what I was after.

and every friggin stock cube & stockpot in my cupboard (excpet the marigold, but that has crazy sh1t in it too)
Sugar pushers.

howtomake

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

and every friggin stock cube & stockpot in my cupboard (excpet the marigold, but that has crazy sh1t in it too)
Sugar pushers.

What's marigold, is it that boullion powder? and what's the crazy stuff in it?

Dotcomdolly

howtomake wrote: »

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

and every friggin stock cube & stockpot in my cupboard (excpet the marigold, but that has crazy sh1t in it too)
Sugar pushers.

What's marigold, is it that boullion powder? and what's the crazy stuff in it?

Yes, theres palm oil and some dairy derivative (can't rem what) in it. Not whole30 compliant for me anyway and I was hoping it would be.

howtomake

Bah I'm bad. I'm letting wine slide on my no refined sugar list, as long as its dry wines. But last night I had wine that you could just taste the sugar, I just hope its not a slippery slope for me.

mill12

kerash wrote: »

I'm using myfitnesspal for the past 3 weeks and i'm always over in my sugar allowance. I'm eating more fruit and it's mostly coming from that. Is that really bad? Nutritionist told me to include up to 7 portions of fruit and veg a day... Bananas, grapes, berries, goats milk yogurt and skimmed milk are some of the worse culprits.

Myfitnesspal says i have an allowance of 28g of sugar per day.. today just with fruit alone i hit 40g before lunchtime.. banana, strawberries, i kiwi and a small apple...does that sound right??

saa

mill12 wrote: »

Myfitnesspal says i have an allowance of 28g of sugar per day.. today just with fruit alone i hit 40g before lunchtime.. banana, strawberries, i kiwi and a small apple...does that sound right??

Yeah I find I eat on average 40-50 grams of sugar eating fruits and complex carbs and have no problems or worries, the fruits is fructose mostly water and lots of vitamins unless you're having 3.5-4 small servings of fruit a day, I personally do not believe in restricting my fruit intake but I have started trying to introduce more veg snacks.