The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

[satz123]

Re: The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

I'm in again NS _ I'll get the other sugar fiends on the Army thread over here.

[lifechange]

Re: The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

Hey there, NS, Satz, maybe Mr. V..
I'm in with you.. I won't count days or promise myself that I won't eat sugar ('cause as you know, I'm concentrating first on my af count) but I will promise to be more aware of what I'm eating and how it affects me.. as you mentioned in the army, Satz, I also don't have a "normal" relationship with sugar, meaning, in my case, that I tend to overindulge to the point of making myself feel like crap.. I'm watching again, these first weeks af, that if emotional stuff comes up, procrastinating, boredom, feeling overwhelmed, I turn to sugar.. hasn't happened that often but then the holidays haven't helped..:happy2: So I made it to the gym which helps immensely and have a fridge/pantry full of healthy foods.. Ready to go.. Thanks for pulling up this thread again..xx

[NoSugar]

Re: The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

For alcohol, it had to be cold turkey and 100% for me but it wasn’t (and isn’t) the same experience with sugar. I know I eat some because I eat apples, berries, etc., which contain it. However, I never feel driven to eat 10 apples or a pint of berries like I used to plow through a BOX of cookies. If the sugar comes from real food, it usually isn’t a problem.

Just like with wine, if one is never enough - if the food is too “more-ish” for me, I remove it from my life. It’s also important not to let a mistake become a binge. If I “messed up” and ate a cookie, I used to use that as an excuse to give up entirely, eat horribly, feel AWFUL, and start over the next day (much like with giving up wine).

After a while, my sense of taste changed to the point that foods I used to eat compulsively no longer taste very good. It turns out that that “too sweet” means really gross. I had over my life developed a huge tolerance to “sweet”. Now that I’m sensitive to it again, a little goes a LONG way and stopping after a bite or two of a treat isn’t a big deal. And I usually don’t want any. Fruit and even nuts like cashews now seem amazingly sweet and tasty.

If if you give it 30 days, your taste buds should have started to recalibrate and the feeling of desire/need should be gone or much less. I found it better not to eat stevia or artificial sweeteners so that could happen but that’s of course up to each person.

The main goal is to get to the point that we feel like we’re in control and in charge of what we eat - which is pretty much the opposite of addiction.

I’m glad some people are interested in running this experiment :smile:.

[Ginger999]

Re: The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

Enjoyed the video, NS. I'm planning to watch the next one. As a vegan, I rely entirely too much on carbs. Also, since my recent "experiment" with AL and back to AF, I've really been hitting the sweets again. Dang! I feel crappy so I know it's time to get all the way back to a healthy lifestyle. Thank you for your wisdom.

[NoSugar]

Re: The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

It must be much harder for a vegan, [MENTION=20929]Ginger999[/MENTION] given how much meat and cheese I consume. There is pretty good information about eating a low-carb vegetarian (I'm not sure about vegan per se) diet on the Diet Doctor website. Given how active your lifestyle is, I'm sure you want to feel as healthy and energetic as possible! Sugary carbs pretty much put me in a food coma so they just don't give me the life I want (and deserve :smile. Hope you have a great 2019! I'm so glad you came back :hug:

[Ginger999]

Re: The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

I'm so glad to be back! I have been feeling like crap, low energy, body aches, etc. I believe it has everything to do with sugar! Time to kick it to the curb!

Thanks for the welcome back, [MENTION=18725]NoSugar[/MENTION]. I'll check out that site too.

[JackieM]

Re: The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

Nice to see so many people interested in reducing sugar/carb intake. I decided to run that experiment in May of last year and have not looked back. I went in thinking I would try it for three weeks. After the three weeks were up I felt so much better that it has become a lifestyle change.
Like NS, my response to anything even moderately sweet has changed. Things like macadamia nut butter, raspberries and dried coconut taste incredibly sweet to me now. I do consume some sugar alcohols (monk fruit, erythritol) but only on occasion.
The first couple weeks were rough for me. I wish I would have known that I needed to up my salt intake and supplement with electrolytes. Once I figured that out, things got much easier.
I encourage everyone to give it a go.

[Ginger999]

Re: The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

[MENTION=18464]JackieM[/MENTION], what electrolyte product do you use?

[JackieM]

Re: The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

I use Ultima. It is available on Amazon and iherb. Super Supplements used to carry it but I am not sure they still do. It has zero sugar, zero carbs and I like the taste. The cherry pomegranate flavor reminds me of black cherry Kool-Aid. I also like that it is available in single serving packs. Super convenient for hiking or just to keep in your purse.
I was amazed when I started researching electrolyte products. Many of them are full of sugar, carbs and artificial crap.

[Ginger999]

Re: The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

[MENTION=18464]JackieM[/MENTION], thanks for the recommendation. I'll check it out on Amazon.

[Ginger999]

Re: The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

Two days sugar/refined food free. In just two days I feel so much better. Why do I keep going back to putting that crap in my body? Hopefully, I'll figure that out some day!

[NoSugar]

Re: The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

I hope some of you are up for giving 2019 a shot to be healthier, happier, and more full of energy :smile:.
@Ginger999 and I were chatting and it made me think about how I would make these changes in my life if I were doing it now, with the information I've gained.

1. Remove alcohol and be solid in sobriety. (I removed sugar/carbs first and then drank more, pretty much the opposite of what many people here have experienced). If eating sugar stops you from drinking, go for it in the short run. If eating sugar just triggers alcohol cravings, as it often did for me, avoid it.

2. Remove/decrease added sugar which will almost by definition result in reduced highly processed or refined foods because part of the processing is to add sugar! A side benefit of this is a reduction in consumption of seed oils (corn, cotton, soy) which aren't really a great thing to eat, either. Overall carb intake will probably go down, too, because the carbs we tend to overeat travel with sugar.

3. Like @JackieM said, increase salt and other electrolyte intake if you are feeling poorly and/or peeing a lot. Salt, like saturated fat, is not the devil we've been told it is.

4. Increase the time between meals naturally (and don't snack!). As you eat less sugary stuff, hunger lessens because you're no longer sending the signal to your brain that a famine is imminent and you'd better stock up! Sweet carby snacks cause the blood glucose rise which triggers insulin which triggers a blood glucose crash and the feeling that you must eat or die. It's a good mechanism to keep us alive in the wild but not so great in our world.

5. Eat only when hungry. For me, this is a couple of times a day, usually within an 8 hour window. However, if I wake up hungry, I eat. It's good not to do the same thing everyday and keep your body guessing! Overtime, you will become attuned to what you need to eat and when. The key is to give yourself fairly long stretches of low insulin, allowing your body to function as it was designed to do.

6. Some people, like me, may need to reduce carbs even from whole foods to achieve maximum health. But this doesn't have to be the first step and for many people, a whole food diet is sufficient. Many people with prediabetes or diabetes are undiagnosed. A glucose meter is pretty cheap. I was shocked to discover that although my fasting blood sugar was creeping up and becoming a concern to my doctor, my post-eating concentrations were frankly diabetic. In the US, only fasting values are checked unless there is evidence of a problem so most of us don't know we are wrecking our bodies with what we eat.

7. If you're trying to lose weight, rely on a measuring tape or a favorite pair of too-snug pants more than a scale. You'll probably notice changes that are not reflected in body weight (which isn't a very sensible metric anyway).

I hope you'll give it a try. It certainly won't hurt you and you might find that you can feel happier, stronger, and more energetic by changing the fuel you use.

All the best, NS


PS: L-glutamine can be helpful w/ sugar cravings - allow 1 500 mg capsule to dissolve under the tongue. I only used it a couple times per day at most but in general, it isn't toxic. Not a good idea for people with cancer, though (then again, neither is sugar!).

[NoSugar]

Re: The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

This is how we all can head into the new year :smile:: Olly Murs - Going into 219 like 😂🤣👍🏻👌🏻💯

[narilly]

Re: The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

I just found this thread and I am IN!

[JackieM]

Re: The Sugar Free Challenge - Who is in??

Ginger- awesome that you are already feeling better. Use that as motivation to keep going. I too have questioned (countless times) why I did things that made me feel like total and utter crap.

JackieM