Giving up sugar. Have you done it?

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts · 28-10-2019 02:53AM

wakka12 wrote: »

But all natural foods have some sodium naturally occurring.When I calculate all my foods on cronometer on days Im just eating completely whole foods its still not that far off the 1500 mg advised by medical professionals for optimal heart health. Sodium is a necessary micro nutrient like any others, we just talk about it more and consider it as different because its one you can taste and it tastes good. The whole issue is that sodium is one micro nutrient most of us get wayyy too much of. So saying its necessary so dont bother too much about amounts is almost meaningless to say, there is absolutely nobody on earth who doesnt get enough sodium unless they are fasting and doing huge amounts of sweaty exercise daily and not replenishing at all, but several billion probably get so much it damages their health, to some extent. So sodium should definitely be watched, it is ridiculously easy to ingest very unhealthy quanitities. Simply being aware and cutting back will just bring you down to the baseline level representative of amounts foods in nature , there is literally zero chance of you getting too little sodium in your diet, especially the modern western one

Considering doctors were until very recently still pushing the food pyramid and some probably still do, I take their diet advice with a pinch of salt. Pun intended. I think we can easily take in more than the naturally occurring amounts and do no harm.

Here’s a few interesting articles and they are far from the only one. The science is shaky enough on how damaging salt is:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-the-war-on-salt/

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/09/03/547827356/has-salt-gotten-an-unfair-shake-sodium-partisans-say-yes?t=1572226906451

If we stuck to the amounts naturally occurring in food, many meals would be very bland because added salt used properly is a flavour enhancer, like pepper. Life truly is too short for bland food. None of us avoid processed foods either. If you eat dried pasta or noodles, you eat processed food. Ditto bread. In sensible amounts, it’s not the enemy.

AllForIt wrote: »

I read some time ago that giving up salt has caused some ppl to be sodium deficient and is causing health issues in some ppl.

I think if one's diet is good then there is absolutely no reason to give up seasoning one's food with salt, as you say ODB. If one is eating crap food regularly then that is much more of a problem than the extra salt.

Yes, and excessively salted food is very unpleasant. It’s about balance and also accepting that people’s palettes differ, even if they are healthy eaters. I’m not one of those people who doesn’t provide salt on the dinner table when I cook for others. Some people like just a little extra sprinkle and that’s fine by me.

punisher5112 · 28-10-2019 03:02AM

When I was at my worst I use to have a tray of coke in my boot.
Then go home and could easily down a 2 litre bottle.

I would eat cakes, chocalate and even pile sugar on cereal, 7 spoons in the tea and so on.

I gave up the coke about 3 years ago and my head was lifting for at least 3 days if not more.

Weight didn't really go down as I just ended up eating more chocolate etc.

Ive joined slimming world, have cut out cakes, chocalate and much more but can still have something nice on occasion.

No lie it's difficult but also mentally challenging and very hard to be honest.

I have to keep telling myself I've a new job if I can shed 4 stone in the next 3 months which is something that's pushing me and hopefully I'll make it.

Graces7 · 28-10-2019 06:48AM

Diet is fascinating.

I have wildly erratic unstable blood sugar levels because of the CFS/ME. They tested me for diabetes many times as it runs in my family. I can feel it abating. And carry some chocolate at all times.

And with so many food intolerances etc with this illness cutting anything out is not feasible. Bulky food eg fruit is limited etc. Issue here is eating enough in a day at all. So often it means something dense and intense and processed.

In the evening I check back over the day and top up if I am way below safe levels.
As I often am. Old age needs little and often also

Other illnesses as we read so poignantly here have different approaches and disciplines. Wonderful self discipline!

The art is knowing what your own body needs and balancing that with enjoying food and life with those needs. As I do; love what I can eat. No guilt about what I eat. No weight issues. Hate the " sugar phobia" thing. Someone kindly bought me a treat at one craft fair; loaded with cream and strawberries atop a waffle... Man on the next stall glared at it and me then declared, "FAT AND SUGAR! " as if I had robbed the bank! He sold seaweed...

suicide_circus · 28-10-2019 07:44AM

i did it for a couple of months, its just too much effort tbh you have to plan and read ingredients and you cant really eat out. i did feel great after the initial week or two but aint nobody got time for dat.

BeerWolf · 28-10-2019 07:44AM

Me? Give up sugar...?

NEVER!!

28-10-2019 08:14AM

Yeah, I got rid of almost all sugary stuff because of a diabetes scare a few years ago. Soda water was the game changer. Once I got rid of my cans of coke, everything else was easy.

prunudo · 28-10-2019 09:04AM

In my 20s i would have had 2 sugars in coffee (drank maybe 4or 5 cups a day) with biscuits or chocolate, drank a fair bit of soft drinks and was fond of pint bottles of cider. All in all way too much sugar. As I hit 30 I cut it all out bar the odd biscuit with sugar less coffee.
Fast forward 10 years and while I still don't have soft drinks, cider or sugar in coffee I've noticed the biscuits and chocolate creeping in again. So time so cut them out again. Its funny how over time 1 biscuit or sugary snack becomes 2 becomes 3 etc etc.
But I always find this time of year hard to stop the cravings, not just with the crap around the house for Halloween and then Christmas but I find with the colder days its like the body is yearning for fatty sugary foods to insult the body.

Greyfox · 28-10-2019 09:22AM

For me giving up sugar is a lot harder than given up salt, alcohol or sex. For me a bar of choc or biccies with tea is prob the most underratted thing in the world. Last month I set 3 days, Tues, Thursday and Sunday where I'm not allowed any treats and for meals I need to try to avoid things high in sugar like sauces. It's working but still get the cravings but telling myself tomorrow i can have some works. I have a no choc allowed in the house which is really tough but it must be done as if it's in the house I'll definitely mill into them. When I eat choc I also eat slower where before the bar would be gone and you've only had 3 sips of tea. On the days I eat choc it's 1 bar or equivalent a day max.

Graces7 · 28-10-2019 11:39AM

Greyfox wrote: »

For me giving up sugar is a lot harder than given up salt, alcohol or sex. For me a bar of choc or biccies with tea is prob the most underratted thing in the world. Last month I set 3 days, Tues, Thursday and Sunday where I'm not allowed any treats and for meals I need to try to avoid things high in sugar like sauces. It's working but still get the cravings but telling myself tomorrow i can have some works. I have a no choc allowed in the house which is really tough but it must be done as if it's in the house I'll definitely mill into them. When I eat choc I also eat slower where before the bar would be gone and you've only had 3 sips of tea. On the days I eat choc it's 1 bar or equivalent a day max.

I only ever eat two or maybe three squares in a day; that is enough for me. Never a problem doing that. There is always more there but do not want more

28-10-2019 12:32PM

Switch to like 85% chocolate. It's lovely.

wakka12 · 28-10-2019 12:56PM

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

Considering doctors were until very recently still pushing the food pyramid and some probably still do, I take their diet advice with a pinch of salt. Pun intended. I think we can easily take in more than the naturally occurring amounts and do no harm.

Here’s a few interesting articles and they are far from the only one. The science is shaky enough on how damaging salt is:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-the-war-on-salt/

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/09/03/547827356/has-salt-gotten-an-unfair-shake-sodium-partisans-say-yes?t=1572226906451

If we stuck to the amounts naturally occurring in food, many meals would be very bland because added salt used properly is a flavour enhancer, like pepper. Life truly is too short for bland food. None of us avoid processed foods either. If you eat dried pasta or noodles, you eat processed food. Ditto bread. In sensible amounts, it’s not the enemy.

Yes, and excessively salted food is very unpleasant. It’s about balance and also accepting that people’s palettes differ, even if they are healthy eaters. I’m not one of those people who doesn’t provide salt on the dinner table when I cook for others. Some people like just a little extra sprinkle and that’s fine by me.

I have read some interesting articles about salt not being as unhealthy as originally thought, same with saturated fat..red meat..eggs, and a lot of other things. But I take it that there is something Im missing, tbh. Doctors are all very well trained and very intelligent people, if there was new evidence showing salt to not be unhealthy any longer I am of the belief that they would know about it before me and know a lot more on the topic so Ill take advice through them rather than the internet, theres no reason why they would want the population to limit salt intake without a strong case. A lot of studies on the internet can be manipulated to make people believe whatever they want, I guess thats why you seem to get quite a few large scale studies with almost contradictory results. Doctors ,I hope, see through that and give better quality advice.Im sure you could find some 'articles' or 'studies' that show candy and chocolate arent as bad as we think or that their damage is overrated or whatever you want to prove, theres somebody out there with some information to back you up, its just important to recognise that that doesnt mean it invalidates the stronger body of research its questioning

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts · 28-10-2019 03:07PM

wakka12 wrote: »

I have read some interesting articles about salt not being as unhealthy as originally thought, same with saturated fat..red meat..eggs, and a lot of other things. But I take it that there is something Im missing, tbh. Doctors are all very well trained and very intelligent people, if there was new evidence showing salt to not be unhealthy any longer I am of the belief that they would know about it before me and know a lot more on the topic so Ill take advice through them rather than the internet, theres no reason why they would want the population to limit salt intake without a strong case. A lot of studies on the internet can be manipulated to make people believe whatever they want, I guess thats why you seem to get quite a few large scale studies with almost contradictory results. Doctors ,I hope, see through that and give better quality advice.Im sure you could find some 'articles' or 'studies' that show candy and chocolate arent as bad as we think or that their damage is overrated or whatever you want to prove, theres somebody out there with some information to back you up, its just important to recognise that that doesnt mean it invalidates the stronger body of research its questioning

Some are better than others. And the fact that many were pushing the food pyramid until very recently is enough to make me dubious. They’re not dieticians. A good way to show that nutrition isn’t their forte is that they will often give patients advice to lose weight but provide barely any guidance on how to do so. In a past illness and my current, I’ve been referred to dieticians to talk about food-related things. It’s not fully in the doctor’s purview, it’s a whole other qualification.

As for doctors being intelligent, once you get the marks to get onto the course, its content isn’t impossible. There are tougher degrees. I just don’t put doctors on a pedestal (with good reason) and I think too many people still do. They are just human people.

And dismissing a study you don’t agree with, even if it’s a high quality study is pretty Homer-esque: “Oh people can come up with statistics to prove anything Kent. Forty percent of all people know that.” How large is the body of science that says salt is bad? And how much of it is good science? Remember that the ‘eight glasses of water a day’ diktat was borne of a misunderstanding. And linking saturated fats to heart problems is far from the gospel it’s treated as.

Rezident · 28-10-2019 03:09PM

I don't eat sugars (apart from the odd piece of fruit) Mon - Thursday. I do have a bit as a treat at weekends as it makes me happy and I do plenty of exercise so I burn it all off fast.

You don't need sugars though, all you need is protein and fat! And good fats will keep you full for so much longer than sugars.

I am absolutely amazed that it is the year 2019 and people are still going on about 'low-fat' as if it' was a good thing. Obviously certain bad fats (like trans fats) are very bad for you but good fats are so good. So unfortunate that it means the same word as obese in the English language! And so wrong.

RedParrot · 28-10-2019 04:19PM

I used to have two sugars in my tea and I used to drink a lot of tea too. I used to have sugar on top of cereal too. I experienced a dental fracture last year in a back tooth. I cut it all of that out. All them sugars in tea and on breakfast, all gone. It was like pressing a switch after that dental fracture. Biscuits and chocolates are rare for me too. I got a box of chocolates for my birthday earlier in the year. There was temptation staring at me for weeks and then I caved and had one, then another.

mr_fegelien · 28-10-2019 05:35PM

How much sugar do you people eat daily? I would eat around 300g of sugar. Both added (into tea, juice, smoothies) and from pre-made food/snacks in the store.

I've heard that's not healthy as the RDA is about 30g a day so I'd be eating over 10x the daily limit.

28-10-2019 05:51PM

mr_fegelien wrote: »

How much sugar do you people eat daily? I would eat around 300g of sugar. Both added (into tea, juice, smoothies) and from pre-made food/snacks in the store.

I've heard that's not healthy as the RDA is about 30g a day so I'd be eating over 10x the daily limit.

1100 calories a day from sugar is fairly atrocious to be perfectly honest. That's around two fifths of your recommended daily calorie intake coming from basically drinking 8 cans of coke.

igCorcaigh · 28-10-2019 06:07PM

mr_fegelien wrote: »

How much sugar do you people eat daily? I would eat around 300g of sugar. Both added (into tea, juice, smoothies) and from pre-made food/snacks in the store.

I've heard that's not healthy as the RDA is about 30g a day so I'd be eating over 10x the daily limit.

Almost a third of a bag of sugar each day?
Wow.

punisher5112 · 28-10-2019 06:17PM

mr_fegelien wrote: »

How much sugar do you people eat daily? I would eat around 300g of sugar. Both added (into tea, juice, smoothies) and from pre-made food/snacks in the store.

I've heard that's not healthy as the RDA is about 30g a day so I'd be eating over 10x the daily limit.

You are addicted...

Try and come off it even a small but at a time.

I couldn't have tea without it or cereal.

Dam I use to put it in youghurt.

suicide_circus · 28-10-2019 06:33PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Switch to like 85% chocolate. It's lovely.

you can train yourself to like it but on first tasting 99% of people will find it rank

Dr. Bre · 28-10-2019 06:34PM

Giving up the sugar daddy more like

suicide_circus · 28-10-2019 06:35PM

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Almost a third of a bag of sugar each day?
Wow.

its pretty standard in Tanzania

r93kaey5p2izun · 28-10-2019 06:43PM

I try to eat healthily but have found from experience that if I cut something completely I won't stick to it, so I don't avoid sugar completely. I don't add sugar to anything (tea/coffee/cereal) but I usually have one sweet treat per day (mini malteasers/m&ms). According to My Fitness Pal I eat 40-50g sugar per day. I'm ok with that and don't feel the need to reduce it.

wakka12 · 28-10-2019 06:59PM

Social Medium wrote: »

I find it bizarre that the conventional nutrional advice we've been getting over the last few decades actually causes more harm to people.

Avoiding saturated fats actually causes more harm to people. Saturated fats are very good for you. (This does not include trans fats, they should most definitely be avoided).

Consuming vegetable oils is harmful and should be avoided. Conventional advice has recommned vegetable oils.

Wholegrains hold little nutritional value, in fact they usually contain lectins or anti nutrients which are harmful.

Red meat is plentiful in nutritional value and should be consumed, not avoided as per conventional advice.

Eat as many eggs as you want, eggs are nature's multi vitamin.

Polyunsaturated fats are actually the fats to avoid, so put down those fish oil supplements you have been told are healthy.

Little is ever said of the foods containing the most nutritional value such as liver, shellfish and bone broth. There seems to be far too much emphasis put on foods such as kale and blueberries.

Too much emphasis is put on running when discussing exercise. Too much long distance running is harmful to the body. Have a look at long distance runners vs 100m sprinters, who looks healthier. The focus should be on high intensity training, weight training and mobility training.

Some of this advice is good but others, not , just seems like your opinion on some points really. It takes an absolutely massive amount of long distance running for it to become 'unhealthy' or damging, and looking healthy and being healthy are not the same thing, how healthy somebody looks is also subjective. Some people think extremely lean bodies look healthiest, to many people average body fat looks healthiest, some people think curves look healthy. If the majority of the population ran much, much ,much more than they now do they would infinitely healthier , not unhealthier. But thats not to say weight training isnt also very important

Eggs are amazingly nutrient dense and youd think that would mean theyre very healthy but if that were the case, every study would show that they are positively correlated with reduced mortality, like things like legumes, berries, vegetables, but its not the case. Again you cant say that eggs are healthier than kale or blueberries as there is absolutely no evidence that is true.

DJIMI TRARORE · 28-10-2019 07:05PM

Any one Remember a programme on ITV a few years back called Sugar Free Farm,6 Celebs on a farm for 2 weeks completely sugar free,not even allowed to eat apples or oranges. The effect on some of them was mad,mood swings,lack of energy massive weight loss etc. Its not an easy thing to do

angel eyes 2012 · 28-10-2019 07:06PM

Another sugar addict here - mostly chocolate. I don't like sugary drinks and I don't add sugar to tea. I cook everything from scratch but I still have at least 2 stone to lose. I could give up takeaways or alcohol forever no bother, but chocolate is my achilles heel. Most of my family smoke and I've stopped encouraging them to quit as not only is it a waste of time but a sugar addiction can be just as serious and as difficult to quit.

I have skipped meals for chocolate no bother. I find one day difficult to go without it. We don't actually have any at home. I find the challenge is in work especially coming up to Christmas.

Some of the posts on this thread are very inspiring, I'd love to go a week without it. And yes, I eat fruit to try to replace the chocolate but I still end up eating the chocolate anyway. I have a very busy role in work and sometimes the easiest food to reach for is a bar of chocolate or a chocolate biscuit. Any useful tips would be great.

scamalert · 28-10-2019 07:36PM

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Elemonator · 28-10-2019 07:46PM

I did it a few years ago and maintained it up until about a year ago. The first few weeks were difficult, really really difficult. It’s an addiction. Eventually after a few weeks the cravings subsided and I returned to normal. Dropped 20kg over the course of about five months. I felt clearer in my head, my mood was better, I was sleeping better than ever and had more energy. Got back into it when a big lot of exams were coming my way and I was trying any sort of food to stay energised. It took hold again and now I feel like **** all the time again. Working my way back now but it’s not only an addiction but a routine also. Very difficult but you get there eventually.

twowheelsonly · 28-10-2019 07:53PM

Pac1Man wrote: »

Not really to be honest. It would never take a lot to satisfy it anyway. Have you tried substitute the craving with fruit? I know it sounds dull but the next time you want something, guzzle about 3 or 4 ripe strawberries and see if the craving is still there.

The only problem with that is that fruit is natures sugar

Deleted User wrote: »

Switch to like 85% chocolate. It's lovely.

Dark chocolate in the fridge and take a square when you have bad cravings. Sorted for the day !! You won't eat the whole lot in a sitting anyway - unless you're really bad :P

Greek Yoghurt is another great one. Natural, full fat butter. Good old reliable rashers and eggs. Loads of eggs !

wakka12 · 28-10-2019 08:02PM

Social Medium wrote: »

I didn't say that eggs are healthier than blueberries or kale, but I'm going to say it now, they are healthier. Although I don't like the term healthier, it's not specific enough.

That's the problem with the studies over the past 40 years or so, they are poorly designed and with erroneous conclusions. Often correlation is confused with causation, or other factors are over looked.

For example, a study could find that those who eat more less red meat live longer on average than those who don't and conclude that red meat causes people to die younger. What the study doesn't take into account is that those who eat less red meat are also less likely to smoke and drink alcohol excessively.

So the quality of studies you typically see regarding nutrition is garbage.

So youre going to dismiss studies of at least some validity in favour of your own opinion? I dont think that these type of studies are without issue but surely its better than choosing what to eat based on my own feelings

Upforthematch · 28-10-2019 08:45PM

Greyfox wrote: »

For me giving up sugar is a lot harder than given up salt, alcohol or sex. For me a bar of choc or biccies with tea is prob the most underratted thing in the world.

How did you get on with giving up salt, alcohol & sex?

Giving up sugar. Have you done it?

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