So I finished Dry January 30/31 days. Not a slip up but intentionally had a drink on Sunday with friends we hadn't seen for 8 months. And whilst I found it a 'challenge' on the 3 or 4 social occasions during the month I have to say most of the time I didn't really think about it. Mainly because I'm not a regular week night drinker.
Having lost 2.5lb in Jan despite not drinking didn't feel that successful. I put it down to eating more bread. Weirdly I seemed to develop a craving for it. So I'm ditching it in February. I suspect this will have a greater impact on my weight loss success than not drinking alcohol.
Anyone care to join me?
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SportyGirl75
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@anna61 I think it will be quite hard for me too but I'm giving it a go - rather that than sugar-free Feb which I don't quite get as what counts as sugar? Is it the white powder sucrose we all know or does it include all sugars like glucose, fructose, maltose etc etc. That would mean cutting out most vegetables as well as the obvious sweets, biscuits and cakes
The Cancer Research's Sugar Free February is about giving up drinks and foods that have sugar added to them, but aren’t often a good source of bre or nutrients.
So you can continue eating foods that are naturally high in sugar like fruit.🍏🍎🍐🍊🍌🍓🍇🍒🍑🍍🥝
I went sugar free - basically no white stuff, and no alternatives (sweeteners, fruit juice etc). Sugars in fruit and vegetables are acceptable, because of the added vitamin and fibre benefits, but fruit should be limited to no more than 2 portions a day (and preferably consumed with a meal).
My main problem with bread is what I put on it! That 90 kCal slice of superseed bread becomes 'garnished' with jam, peanut butter, chocolate spread etc and triples the calories! So if I cut it out completely I should reduce my empty calorie intake and use it for more useful food like the veggie sausages, poached eggs and baked beans I've had for breakfast today 😊
About fifty years ago I used to listen to Professor John Yudkin on the radio and one thing in particular has stuck in my memory, he was very much against processed butter substitutes and said that you should eat butter which was a natural substance and that if you limited the amount of bread you ate you would automatically reduce your fat intake also. In those days I was slim so it has taken me awhile to follow his advice! It's worth Googling him if you have time, his research into sugar destroyed his career but he is now vindicated.
I have his book "Pure, White and Deadly, (or how sugar is killing us)", which was reprinted recently. Ignoring his advice has been a total health disaster.
Yes I've read it, and am convinced that sugar is the route of all evil - but there is the everything in moderation aspect. Unfortunately my Mum got sucked in to the bandwagon of fat being the enemy in the 80s when I was a child and we were brought up on a low fat and probably inadvertently higher sugar diet. I don't have a particularly sweet tooth, but we have been weaned on to sugar against our knowledge by the food manufacturers, and like the tobacco industry has had to take responsibility for how it pushed smoking on the public I believe the big food companies have a similar responsibility.
For a long time I restricted my family's egg intake and now that is out of the window! I also changed my aluminium saucepans for stainless steel as they (aluminium) were thought to cause dementia.
I'd love to join your challenge of giving up bread during Feb.!
Like you I did dry January for 30 of the 31 days. I have to say I was so disappointed that I didn't feel that much better! I had a lot of social occasions, including my birthday, and still stuck with it.
I love bread and would love to see how it affects my weight loss efforts. Will be good to reduce the butter intake as well.
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