I’m going to avoid what I’m calling “blatant sugar” for the rest of June. By this I mean all the yummies - candy, cookies, cake, Starbucks cinnamon chip scones (!), basically anything that could list sugar in its top 5 ingredients. I’m not going out of my way to make sure not one grain of sugar crosses my lips - just working to significantly reduce the amount of simple carbs I eat. Anyone want to join me? Post here when the no-sugar-blues get you down!! I am sure the cravings, for me anyway, will be very strong at the start! Here I go, starting .... now!
I’ll join you in this. I hardly ever eat sugar any more but when I do, it’s not the sugar withdrawal that gets me, it’s the sugar hangover. Giving up processes sugar is a great way to get your diet on track. Next thing you know, yummies will be fresh fruit, baby carrots and other crunchy veggies, and sugar snap peas will satisfy your sweet tooth.
I once went 2 years straight with NO sugar. I’m quite proud of that(despite the fact that I was extreme, I wouldn’t even eat tomato sauce with sugar). It’s probably why I didn’t get diabetes by now, haha!
Ella, you know this is just EXACTLY what I needed. I went shopping the other day and was determined to get only things that were either neutral or beneficial. I want to improve my diet further, and I think this mini-challenge will help me out a lot.
So I’m going to cut down on foods that are high in refined sugar. We’ll do this together, guys!
This morning was already a challenge for me! I was out of my usual oatmeal and so had to figure out an alternative. Normally I’d just go to Starbucks upon getting to work, but - seeing as just about all their food is bad for me - I’ve sworn off Starbucks for the rest of the month too! It took some thinking but I found an acceptable, if not perfect, alternative - some pasta salad I had leftover from yesterday. Better than a cinnamon chip scone, though! Better FOR me that is.
How about you guys? Doing well so far? I suspect the first few days are the hardest!
I’m in. Since I’ve started tracking my calories and nutritional intake, I’ve very surprised at how much sugar there is in the healthy foods we eat already. Fruit is a given, but non fat milk? Wow. I don’t find myself gorging on sweets and candy anymore...but I’d like to try and cut down on my sugar intake and try and replace some of my fruit for veggies.
As for me ... did pretty well, until I remembered I was going out for drinks to celebrate a friend’s getting her masters! Drinks had sugar in them. Ah well, that’s behind me, just a bump.
Okay - I’m going in to work this morning and I know there are going to be muffins there - those giant muffins that are about 800 calories each! To get myself ready, I’m going to imagine what those muffins are made of. Beware, this isn’t for the faint of heart! So, what looks like crystalized sugar on top is actually ... glass. It will cut my throat if I eat it! The muffins themselves are made with flour that was scraped up off the floor after a flood, so it was all moldy and full of vermin. Things that look like chocolate chips or raisins ... also from vermin, if you know what I mean. Plus, those muffins are always so greasy and make me feel yukky. When I look at the muffins this morning I’m going to think to myself, I could have a giant, yummy, healthy salad instead of half of one of those muffins! I could have a salad with hard boiled egg and lots of spinach and veggies and some sliced up turkey and a little salad dressing and STILL have calories left over. Is that muffin worth it? So not worth it! That muffin represents an unhealthy path. I’ve chosen a different path. I’m on a totally different, divergent path, and if I want that muffin then I have to backtrack to get it, and I don’t want to backtrack because on the path I’m on, I’m closer to my dreams. I don’t want to walk away from my dreams, I want to walk toward them. That muffin is a DREAM KILLER!!
In speaking of equal.....I’ve heard many reports of how your body metabolizes sythetic sugars, (equal, aspertaine etc).
Does anyone know the pro cons of those…
Speaking of Starbucks, I used to order a triple Grande Caramel Machiatto with and extra pump of Vanilla.....lately, just ordering a tall (small) drip, with some equal and non fat milk.......I had a Caramel Machiatto while we were in North Carolina (my daughter works at Starbucks), and it was sooooooo sweet , I couldn’t finish it!
I have a friend who gets migraines any time he has one of the synthetic sugars. These sugars are the right isomer (think molecular mirror image) of the natural sugar. They work fine in providing a sweet taste that is very close to natural sugar, but they don’t fit the enzymes that metabolize the sugars to convert them to energy or fat stores.
I think they are fine in small amounts, but I don’t think It would be very good to consume large quantities. They don’t help us curb our taste for sweets. I’ve found that by eliminating processed sugar from my diet as much as possible, my overall desire for sweets has decreased to the point where I can’t even eat much.
Tom - I know what you mean when you have something with lots of sugar - it is tooooooo sweet
I’ve heard a lot of controversy on the artificial sweeteners - and discussions can get heated enough, apparently, that that topic is banned on one list I was on. I think it’s worth it for people to learn more about these sweeteners before they consume a lot. There are some convincing studies out there that indicate it’s better to just use plain sugar, or not to use anything.
As for me, I’ve made the decision that I want real whatever it is. I don’t want sugar substitutes; I want to use less real sugar. I don’t want carob; I want to eat really good chocolate, just less of it. Making quality my main choice, and simply using smaller quantities. Real food just feels better in my body. I too get headaches from some artificial sweeteners; my mom gets ... well, we’ll call them “digestive difficulties” from others. Not worth it!!
My brother eats Splenda thinking that it’s not unhealthy. But any of those artificial sweeteners, theyr’e absolutely toxic. It’s one thing I pretty much won’t consume anymore, personally. Aspartame especially will give me a tremendous headache and really alter my mood. I would definitely say go ahead and eat regular sugar. But I also like to use whole organic sugar, because it has real nutrients, it’s actually good for you. And it’s not expensive.
I’ve had some amazing chocolate from the healthfood store. It’s a bit expensive, but hey it’ll keep a person from eating too much of it. It’s not made from carob or anything, it’s real and glorious!
But I think I’ve done extremely well this whole time because nothing else I had for the past 5 days was “extra”, besides the cake. So I’m quite pleased with myself.
