I listened to a Ted Talk at the weekend about what effect sugar has on the body. For a person who can eat three chocolate bars in one sitting, can enjoy a Belgian bun with her afternoon cup of tea and enjoys a couple of glasses of wine in the evening several times a week (😳) I decided to try and give my body a break. This morning I had a plan. I'd a) walk the dog b) have breakfast and an hour later c) run. A and B were completed with ease. It was after B that things went awry. Little jobs kept cropping up which totally got in the way and I failed big time. However, I decided that enough was enough as far as things getting in the way of my plans so when I got home tonight I decided I'd go for my first 'run in the dark'!
I tried New Morning Run With Headspace. Apart from all the chat about how good it is to run first thing in the morning I enjoyed the suggestion to live in the moment so I gave it a try and found it useful. So thirty minutes running in the dark and through the puddles was a new experience. I'd prefer to run in the daytime but I'm finding now that I can actually run at any time of day (as long as my body is fuelled) so I'm learning all the time. PLUS my day was fairly free of sugar. Onwards and upwards. 🙂 The only scenery I saw tonight - village lights and the moon!
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59er
Graduate10
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Cutting down on sugar is one of the best things you can do. The less you have, the less you crave it. What starts off as taking huge willpower will become habit, just like eating 3 bars of chocolate was. You don't actually need tons of sugar for energy.I like the Headspace runs. Paying attention to detail makes the run so much better. As Coach Bennett says, 'It's about running and it's not about running '.
I have to admit that I feel a lot calmer. I do sometimes get what I call 'sugar lows' - feeling weak and a bit shaky - generally when I've been active and not eaten so hopefully this will stop and my blood sugar levels will remain constant. As for the mindful runs I'm all for meditating on the move 🙂
good morning 59er, I’ve just read a book which was recommended on here - Why we eat (Too much). Absolutely fascinating book about our reliance on the Western diet and why we crave those foods. Definitely worth a read.
Sounds interesting. I went on a plant based diet for just a couple of weeks last year.In that short time I felt great, lost weight (obviously) but found it very hard to sustain. Can you remember the author's name?
Dr Andrew Jenkinson. He is a bariatric surgeon so comes at it from a different angle. It is basically cutting out sugar and vegetable oil, as much as possible and reverting to how we used to eat ie no processed food and cooking fresh instead. It’s one of those books that certainly makes you think for a while afterwards.
Love it!First rule of plans: have a plan ready for a change of plans, like Matt Hancock!
Second rule of plans: don't listen to perfectionists before planning your plan.
Third rule of a plan: plan always to only take note of the positive outcomes of a plan.
I'm feeling silly and didn't plan this reply! Does it show?
Have a great day.
On a more serious note I have an interest in the beer industry and love French red Languedoc wines. But I'm not sure whether it's an age thing but I now hardly drink and only when it is to complement a great experience and then modestly. I just don't miss it and appreciate the experience even more.
As a consequence of this my weight has been steadily reducing over the last two to three years. (2 stone) Alcohol calories are truly empty calories. So when I had a health event this year, still overweight I might add, the indicators that might have been alcohol(or tobacco) related were absent. Cholesterol, diabetes/ fatty liver etc. Only weight and age were attributable factors. It's hard to explain how helpful that was for my recovery because in the absence of any mental health support, it was good not to have multiple fingers of blame pointing right at me however incredulous the professional looks were at the data in front of them!!! They of course might not have pointed the finger and been compassionate too, but I'm sure I was in a better place for recovery.
And in the absence of don't do this and that and no help I found through these pages C25K.
Thanks for your post as it's enabled me to access another piece of my jigsaw!
Great that your health has been completely turned around. Yes, the alcohol is just empty calories and as I've recently put on half a stone it won't do me any harm in cutting it down/out. I just need to PLAN (🤣) my meals more efficiently so that I don't grab a chocolate bar when I get peckish and I'm out on the move.
I know where you’re coming from regarding the chocolate although the most that I’ve eaten in one go is half a bar (but it was a large bar, measuring about 1’ * 8” and weighing about 1kg). Anyhow, these days, I’ve learnt to avoid chocolate and cake etc. I tend to snack on raw nuts and rye bread.
Sounds like you’re well no the way to getting rid of the sugar in your diet and well done on heading out for your run this morning.
I’ve been reading Metabolical by Dr Robert Lustig (it could have been his Ted Talk that you watched. It aligns pretty well with what others have written replying to your post.
Well done you! That looks to be a really evocative run
As for the sugar... we really do get used to none... it takes time... but we do, and so many other natural things to add sweetness if needed. Small runner in training and I made an apple sponge pudding yesterday,,, she wanted to try out a new microwave version ( very eco friendly), 8 minutes, and just using the apples themselves for sweetness...another favourite, Nigella's clementine cake... but we never add the sugar
Thank you Oldfloss! For both the encouragement and the recipe ideas 🙂 One of my problems now is dealing with the saboteurs! A friend bought me a Canoli yesterday stuffed with pistachio cream 😋😬 and my husband who went shopping and bought me back some mince pies! 🤦♀️
OldflossAdministrator60minGraduate in reply to 59er
Oh gosh. .its just changing you whole eating thought patterns...still treats but different ones.With all sorts of issues within the family over the years, a daughter with a gluten allergy a husband with genetic related Type 2 Diabetes., we changed our eating habits..and have stuck with them .The arrival of small one , granddaughter, 6 years ago, added to the mix. Very, very limited processed food..and very innovative and exciting
When I was about 10 or 11,back in the late 60s/early 70s, my older brother read a book 'Pure White and Deadly' by John Yudkin. He was telling me about it and asked me how much sugar I ate. Having limited pocket money to spend on sweets the answer was 'not much'. He then asked me how many cups of tea I drank each day and how many sugars. I used to take 2 sugars, maybe 5 or 6 cups daily. He spooned 12 teaspoons of sugar into a cup. I was so horrified at the sight of that much white sugar that I stopped taking it in tea from that moment onwards.
I just did a quick calculation of the size of the mountain of sugar that's sitting in a warehouse somewhere because of that small decision, it's over a tonne 😱
I was the same! Two sugars in my tea. I cut down gradually and haven't taken sugar for years. It's amazing how many things have sugar in though - It's a tricky task but I figure cutting ANY out is a step forward 🙂
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week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
How did your parkrun or (not)parkrun go?