Any ideas of how to stop eating sugar

How do I get off sugar, cakes and other sweets? I don't have any idea of what to eat.

[Activity2004 Administrator]

Hi and welcome to the Healthy Eating group, Hidden . Please feel free to continue posting and commenting on the other members postings and/or comments, take a look at the Topics and Pinned Post sections for ideas and information, check out the Polls and Events sections, ask more questions and of course, meet the other members of the group. Everyone is very helpful and friendly.

For the question about sugar.... Everyone needs some sugar/carbs for keeping your brain and the rest of the body working the correct way. If you don’t have carbs/sugar, your blood sugar can go low (hypoglycemia). For me personally, I have to count carbs for each meal and snack because I have type 1 diabetes and use insulin for meals and bedtime doses. If I don’t count carbs, then I would take too little or too much insulin and that isn’t safe.

I hope this helps you.😀

[Cooper27 Administrator]

I just went cold turkey, started making more natural alternatives (like energy balls, or raspberries). It's about breaking the habit, and after a couple of weeks without, you don't miss it as much.

Fruit is a good alternative, but be wary of eating too much (1-2 portions a day max). I have fruit or nuts at times I'd have normally had a cereal bar for example, or a small bowl of frozen raspberries or stewed apple after dinner, instead of something sugary.

[Tunisia1 in reply to Cooper27]

I was eating sweets and cakes every day...I went cold turkey 2 weeks ago...must say it was very hard but as each day goes by it gets easier...it will be for you to.

[PhilFreeToAsk]

Why do you want to break the habit? It could be that you are worried about your health. If so, use that to motivate yourself into changing your diet. Just think, less chance of diabetes, obesity, ill health - more energy, better dental health. A new world awaits you so grab it with open arms.

[Hidden in reply to PhilFreeToAsk]

I'm over 15 stone and I eat anything sweet for breakfast and some days I skip breakfast.

[PhilFreeToAsk in reply to Hidden]

OK. I can see why you want to change. When I was having blood sugar problems the endo told me to ditch fruit juices and processed breakfast cereals (that includes weetabix which is too processed despite giving the impression of being healthy - that was my endo's advice).

For breakfast, I have wholegrain muesli with flaked almonds, sunflower and pumpkin seeds. It sets me up really well for the rest of the morning. I get a muesli base from my local health shop rather than buy alpen which seems to have a lot added including sugar. Also be careful of some dried fruits such as raisons which are high in sugar.

[Hidden]

I don't like musille and I can't really spell,so I like granola is that bad for me to can you add fruit to ready brek?

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to Hidden]

You can always add fruit to your breakfast if you have any fruits that are okay for you. Are you on any medications or do you have allergies to types of fruit?

[Cooper27 Administrator in reply to Hidden]

Granola tend to have a fair whack of sugar. Look at overnight oats or porridge, they're healthy and filling! I would tend to only sprinkle a small amount of granola over yogurt and berries (frozen berries are much cheaper to use for this)

[PhilFreeToAsk in reply to Hidden]

You can buy low sugar breakfast granolas in the UK e.g. from Jordans or Lizi. For you may enjoy this more than porridge.

I agree with Cooper27 that wholegrain oats porridge is better than ready brek. But given that your breakfast is overly sweet then a move to ready brek sounds better than what you currently have. Maybe you should try both types of oats and compare the taste? With ready brek why not add nuts and seeds? This will change the way carbs are absorbed and leave you fuller longer. The nuts and seeds will add a range of nutrients and healthy fats.

[deejames in reply to Hidden]

I would make porridge from scratch. Ready Brek has added sugar( I am fairly sure) . I add banana and seeds to mine but you can top with other fruit or yogurt.

I would make small changes ut regularly. Start with breakfast since that is first in your day. Then cut bisuits and so on.

You will definately start to feel better reducing your sugar but you will have to read the packet of any processed food. You will be surprised where sugar pops up and it is often disguised by other names. Glucose, dextrose, corn syrup, Maybe someone else can give a full list.

You are on the right track trying to cut down added sugar. Good luck with the journey

Dee

[TheAwfulToad in reply to deejames]

guys, ready brek and porridge oats are exactly the same thing. The only difference is that ready brek has smaller particles. In fact you can make your own ready brek by blitzing oats in the blender for 15 seconds.

It's true that some variants of ready brek have sugar added, but that's not really the point: a bowl of ready brek (or porridge) is a bowl of dextrins by the time it hits your stomach.

[deejames in reply to TheAwfulToad]

Porridge/ oats - fills you up, warms you up and helps a lot with providing fibre and assisting the elimination of waste. Ttastes great and is cheap and not damaging to produce.

Whats not to like

[TheAwfulToad in reply to deejames]

Well ... each to their own I suppose, but IMO it's awful stuff. It's like eating wallpaper paste. Personally I'd choose eggs and bacon over a bowl of grey glop, but maybe that's just me

For anyone trying to break a sugar addiction it's not an ideal choice, precisely because it gives you a rapid glucose hit. True, the GI for porridge is a lot lower than for, say, breakfast cereal, but it's still likely to cause sugar cravings.

I'd also debate whether oats are "damaging to produce". Oats absolutely CAN be grown sustainably, but mostly they're not, resulting in soil erosion and fertilizer runoff. But I guess that's a debate for another day.

When I was a kid I used to eat ready brek (the chocolate one), but it was only palatable because it had sugar in it...

[deejames in reply to TheAwfulToad]

On the contrary porridge made properly is delightful and keeps you satisfied until lunchtime.

As to each to his own the idea of bacon makes me shudder ! Eggs now are good, especially those produced by my own hens.

If we are to discuss crop growing then any cereal growing could, depending on the farmer, cause soil erosion etc. The farming methods are another debate.

Dee

[BadHare in reply to TheAwfulToad]

You must be amking your porridge wrong to think of it as grey slop!

I have a preferred brand of organic which is extremely tasty, & don't find it leads to sugar cravings.

[PhilFreeToAsk in reply to deejames]

These are the ingredients for Ready Brek: Wholegrain Rolled Oats (60%), Wholegrain Oat Flour (38%), Calcium, Niacin, Iron, Riboflavin (B2), Vitamin B6, Thiamin (B1), Folic Acid, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12.

Agree that making porridge from scratch is better. It concerns me when I see so many vitamins added such is in Ready Brek as it makes me wonder what they have taken out so that have to put them back in again.

[TheAwfulToad in reply to PhilFreeToAsk]

PhilFreeToAsk : 60+38 = 98%. Seriously, it's just retextured oats. They have to describe 38% as flour because that's what the process produces, but basically it's porridge oats. If you believe porridge is healthy then logically readybrek is only marginally less so (reactant surface area makes a difference of course).

I think they add the vitamins because that makes it sound "healthy", and they can continue flogging unhealthy crap to unsuspecting parents. It's not because anything has been removed. Grains don't contain much in the way of vitamins in the first place, which is partly why carb-dependent societies often have rampant deficiency diseases.

deejames : so jealous of you having chickens. I'd like to get some myself but they seem to be prone to predators (especially of the two-legged kind). Are they a layer breed or do you keep them for meat too?

[PhilFreeToAsk in reply to TheAwfulToad]

Thanks for the update. I like to add pumpkin seeds, sunflowers seeds, flaked almonds and cassia to porridge (which is a mix of organic wholegrains from oats, barley and wheat). Just having grains for breakfast seems too limiting to me and lacks food variety. The additional ingredients means I can reduce my carb intake but have something fulfilling for the rest of the morning.

The problem that I thought that the original post hinted at was they wanted something quick and easy, hence granola or ready brek. The next problem is making that transition away from unhealthy eating to a much healthier eating style. I am hoping all the posts would have opened their eyes to a range of options/advice available to make those steps to healthier eating habits.

[TheAwfulToad]

It sounds like you're facing a very common problem: if I take this away, what do I eat instead? The answer is either vegetables (which are mostly water, although they provide some carbs and vitamins) or fat (in the form of meat, eggs, dairy, or similar).

As for how to do it, I have to agree with Cooper27 here: just stop. Go cold turkey. The whole lot. And you do indeed lose your taste for it VERY quickly, although if you're a sugar junkie right now, you'll go through a week or two of feeling horrible. Personally I used sweeteners for a while in my coffee, but I ended up throwing 80% of the box in the bin. I only used about 10 sachets and then didn't need them any more. That's how fast you lose the taste for sweet stuff.

Be prepared for this to hurt a bit, but it's like pulling off a band-aid. Once it's done, you'll feel better than you have done in years. It'll be like a weight lifted off your shoulders (literally - you'll start losing bodyfat at a rapid rate).

It is very important that you crank down ALL your carbohydrates to a low level (white bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes) because these things are metabolised directly into sugar - glucose - and they're the main culprit behind sugar cravings.

Don't worry about going hypoglycemic or your brain shutting down. Your body stores backup fuel in the form of bodyfat: the glycerol backbone from fats is converted to glucose, and the fatty acids are used for fuel. It can do the same thing with dietary fat - in fact, you do need to increase your dietary fat considerably to get your body performing this trick in the shortest possible time. In any case, your body needs only a tiny amount of glucose for some very obscure functions (your corneas, for example, which are supplied with fuel by diffusion rather than blood circulation). Experimental consensus is about 50g glucose per day, 40g of which your body will make for itself (as long as you're not diabetic, or have liver disease - then things get a bit more complicated).

Just to be clear: 10g of carbs a day is NOT what you should be aiming for (apart from anything else, it's really, really boring). It's just an interesting factoid! Replace the stodge and sugar in your meals with vegetables, meat, eggs, and full-fat dairy, without getting obsessive about counting anything, and you'll achieve the desired result.

[amykp]

Yeah, I effectively eat zero sugar, and I have been doing it for a year. My only carbs come in the form of green veggies and nuts and the very occasional berry. It works out fine--in fact, your body does not NEED carbs the way it needs protein and fat. I have not lost energy. I've lost weight, so I feel better.

I do use splenda and stevia and erythritol (for baking) so I still enjoy sweet stuff.

The way you do it? You just do it. But you make sure to eat stuff you really enjoy instead--buttered eggs and nuts and evoo sautéed veggies w garlic and melted cheese...

And heavy cream in your coffee...

PS--I'm really extreme, but I have a neurological disease I'm fighting. You probably aren't. Add fruit to your full-fat yogurt!

Also, you DO feel crummy/low-energy when you start, for about a month. Your body has to adapt.

[Hidden]

Sugar addiction is hard to kick, binging even harder if you are on certain medications or going through stress etc. Visit sites where there are no 'eat me, I'm sweet and tasty" pictures to tempt you. It seems, "tasty" is often used on a certain site. It often mean, it has some food enhancers, be it certain unhealthy oil, sugar, ingredients soaked in sugar that you do not see the hidden sugar. Yes, it's a minefield. "Tasty" does not vertically mean it's good for you. I know it's easier said than done. Also, your DNA has a lot to answer for.

[andyswarbs]

My recommendation for removing sugar starts with not to expect overnight success. Slow reduction, replacing with full fruits where possible is key. Removing a taste for sugar can take three months and possibly a year.

On the other hand you need to have satisfying meals that result in a lack of feeling hungry. Any move you can make towards eating more fruit, veg, legumes, pulses etc will help here.

Finally reducing salt and fats & oils are also important because, similarly these have very strong impact on dietary choices.

If you follow my posts then you will see I advocate a whole-food plant based diet. My own experience is that I have little to no need to snack between meals. And of course, snacks can be a big source of sugars.

My final tip is to remove sugary foods from your home. If it is in the home it will end up in your stomach eventually, and that's a guarantee!

[BadHare in reply to andyswarbs]

Who was it that suggested clearing all the c**p from their cupboards, & giving it to people they don't like?