The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

[Nursie]

The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

I'm all in! I didn't get a chance to read the whole thread yet, but learned in my most recent nutrition class that sugar is essentially toxic. Carbs turn into sugar and cause inflammation. I have been sugar free all day today. Working on carb restriction and no sugar.
I just feel like kicking everything's ass that hurts me!

[Underachiever]

The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

I don't have sugar problems as 98% of drinks were vodka and diet mountain dew. I just have other problems

[FallenAngel]

The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

Nursie;1477838 wrote: I just feel like kicking everything's ass that hurts me!

:H:H:H
That's the spirit! Go get'em girl!! :bat :boxer: :b&d:

[NoSugar]

The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

Nursie;1477838 wrote: I'm all in! I didn't get a chance to read the whole thread yet, but learned in my most recent nutrition class that sugar is essentially toxic. Carbs turn into sugar and cause inflammation. I have been sugar free all day today. Working on carb restriction and no sugar.
I just feel like kicking everything's ass that hurts me!

Hi, Nursie.

Is this a big dietary change for you or just tweeking how you already eat? My major diet change was in 1990 when I had to quit eating gluten. Since the gluten-free products at that time were 1: gross and 2: $$$$!!!, I just got used to not eating bread, cookies, cake, pasta, etc. So, the more recent changes over the last 12-18 months were not as difficult as they otherwise would have been.

My main motivator was to reduce my blood glucose which was creeping upwards over the years and finally reached a prediabetic level (despite what seemed to me and everyone around me a very good diet!! Turns out it was just better than the Standard American Diet - aka SAD!). However, the more I've learned (in complete opposition to my grad school nutrition education!!), the more I think we all need to rethink how we eat.

Please share tips and ask questions if you have any!

Great to see you, NS

[Nursie]

The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

Hey Nosugar,
I was gluten free and dairy free for such a long time. My health was phenomenal and I was working out heavily 4 days per week.
I still eat gluten but very little. I also buy mostly organic and have a co-op at my job. I want to be as healthy as I can be, so I can be my best me.

[NoSugar]

The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

Nursie;1478290 wrote: Hey Nosugar,
I was gluten free and dairy free for such a long time. My health was phenomenal and I was working out heavily 4 days per week.
I still eat gluten but very little. I also buy mostly organic and have a co-op at my job. I want to be as healthy as I can be, so I can be my best me.

Sounds like we are pretty similar although I eat dairy foods.

Be well!


NS

[techie]

The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

Underachiever;1477841 wrote: I don't have sugar problems as 98% of drinks were vodka and diet mountain dew. I just have other problems

That is NOT true. Diet soft drinks contain aspartame. You were not actually helping yourself...

Sugar Substitutes - What is Aspartame?

[Doggygirl]

The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

I am still in Canada at World Figure Skating Championships. I've lost track of the days (I guess that is how vacation is supposed to be LOL!) but I am still sugar free. It's hard to have an optimal (for me) diet in these conditions spending 12 hours per day in a sporting arena. However I have had NO SUGAR and that is a real achievement for me these days. I must be on day 6 or 7 or something like that.

When I get home next week I plan to keep up the no sugar commitment and get a lot cleaner with the rest of my eating - getting the carbs back where they need to be.

Committing here to stay sugar free has saved me many times at the concession stand this week!!! Thanks for being here.

DG

[NoSugar]

The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

Doggygirl;1478528 wrote: I am still in Canada at World Figure Skating Championships. I've lost track of the days (I guess that is how vacation is supposed to be LOL!) but I am still sugar free. It's hard to have an optimal (for me) diet in these conditions spending 12 hours per day in a sporting arena. However I have had NO SUGAR and that is a real achievement for me these days. I must be on day 6 or 7 or something like that.

When I get home next week I plan to keep up the no sugar commitment and get a lot cleaner with the rest of my eating - getting the carbs back where they need to be.

Committing here to stay sugar free has saved me many times at the concession stand this week!!! Thanks for being here.

DG

Hi, DG

When I have to spend a great deal of time in a concession-stand sort of places, I eat so many nuts I can barely stand them for a month afterwards!! :eeks:

Glad you've had success on the road -- if you can to it there, you can do it even more easily at home where you make the choices. Hope your vacation and the skating have been great.

Safe travels home! - NS

[Nursie]

The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

I still eat some dairy, I just limit it. I will never give up cheese! The dairy I do buy is organic as much as possible.
I have to admit to eating a giant cupcake yesterday in honor of my brother's birthday. :/
But it was delicious!
I have an article about the toxicity of sugar as well as all the other sweeteners. I will try to post a link later!

[friedabee]

The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

Thank you, NS!

I've been eating low-carb for a couple of years after a cousin was diagnosed with pre-diabetes. I agree with NS that overuse of AL seems to be carbohydrate metabolism gone wrong, due to the sugar cravings I experience when I abstain. I've found lots of great recipes for low-carb foods at Linda's Low Carb, as well as at paleo sites. Not only does low-carb eating help with weight loss, you feel super energized as you rid yourself of the highs and lows of sugar metabolism. I'll be following this thread. Thank you, No Sugar!

[Doggygirl]

The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

NoSugar;1478540 wrote: Hi, DG

When I have to spend a great deal of time in a concession-stand sort of places, I eat so many nuts I can barely stand them for a month afterwards!! :eeks:

Glad you've had success on the road -- if you can to it there, you can do it even more easily at home where you make the choices. Hope your vacation and the skating have been great.

Safe travels home! - NS

Hi all! Well, I'm back home and still sugar free. LOL I was at the grocery store yesterday and somehow donuts ended up in my cart. How did that happen??? :egad: Anyway, I thought of this thread and my SF commitment and put them back on the shelf.

This is truly so reflective of "how things were" when I was struggling to stop it with the booze. Ugh. I really need to remember that and NOT GO BACK to sugar!

NS - I hear you on nuts.

So I'm determined to keep it SF today.

DG

[NoSugar]

The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

friedabee;1480870 wrote: I've been eating low-carb for a couple of years after a cousin was diagnosed with pre-diabetes. I agree with NS that overuse of AL seems to be carbohydrate metabolism gone wrong, due to the sugar cravings I experience when I abstain. I've found lots of great recipes for low-carb foods at Linda's Low Carb, as well as at paleo sites. Not only does low-carb eating help with weight loss, you feel super energized as you rid yourself of the highs and lows of sugar metabolism. I'll be following this thread. Thank you, No Sugar!

Thanks for the link, Friedabee (Fried a Bee or Frieda Bee ?? :H ). DoggyGirl started this thread several months ago-- I was happy to find it, too.

I hadn't seen that website before - thanks!. We've been collecting recipes, many of which are fairly low carb, in the Real Food Recipe Thread (link below).

Last weekend I was rather lazy about what I was eating and consumed relatively more sugar than usual Sat. and Sun. Even though it was from real food (medjool dates, dried apricots, dark choc. coconut and cashew balls, etc.), I ate quite a lot and noticed a return of this really strange 'ache' (that is not the right word but is the closest I've come up with) in the back of my throat and in my chest that my brain reads as "I want a glass of wine". It happened in the late afternoon/early evening both days. (Had some really delicious L-Gln instead of wine ).

I don't think this was completely a self-induced phenomenon because it wasn't until later, when I was trying to figure out why that feeling, which has been rare lately, had come back fairly strong, that I took note of what I had been eating. Since then, I've returned to a lower sugar intake and the weird feeling has not returned.

I'm not securely AF enough yet to do deliberate experiments on myself in this arena but maybe someday I will (without "fixing" the ache with a drink, of course!!).

Hope everyone who reads this thread is having a great day!

[NoSugar]

The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

Doggygirl;1480875 wrote: Hi all! Well, I'm back home and still sugar free. LOL I was at the grocery store yesterday and somehow donuts ended up in my cart. How did that happen??? :egad: Anyway, I thought of this thread and my SF commitment and put them back on the shelf.

This is truly so reflective of "how things were" when I was struggling to stop it with the booze. Ugh. I really need to remember that and NOT GO BACK to sugar!

NS - I hear you on nuts.

So I'm determined to keep it SF today.

DG

Welcome back, DoggyGirl!

Was your trip fabulous??

Stay on the edges of the grocery store and those donuts won't have a chance to jump in your cart!!

When we were young, my sister ate 4 jelly-filled donuts and I ate 4 Bavarian cream donuts every Sat. a.m. after we did our chores. We didn't even gain weight then but we sure set up some nightmare metabolisms!!!

NS

[friedabee]

The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

And thank you to Doggygirl for the original sugar-free post! NS, I cringe today to think of what I ate as a child. I used to sprinkle sugar on white bread and eat it up. Loved the crunch of the sugar in my teeth, ugh. And jelly donuts! Don't get me started...! If you haven't read Gary Taubes's book "Why We Get Fat," it's a great read. Addresses sugar metabolism, and its role in weight gain and loss, which is what I'm after. The loss part. Great day to all!

Friedabee - "Free to Be!"