How did you manage to cut out the sugar?
 

Hi all,

I've been seeing a lot of posts about how sugar and carbs fuel binges, which I have experienced, and of course I have heard of/tried some of the diet programs that minimize carb intake for weight loss. My sugar addiction is so bad that even when I don't buy sugary foods in an effort to keep temptation at bay, I will eat plain white sugar out of the canister with a spoon to satisfy the craving (as ashamed as I am to admit it).

But my question is, given the suggestion of cutting out sugar altogether to keep cravings at bay: how do you REALISTICALLY and practically carry out elimination of sugar and empty carbs from your diet, when faced with everyday challenges of work, kids, relationships, etc??

Maybe this goes hand-in-hand with my addiction to/relationship with sugary foods, but I feel like the stress of trying to plan healthy, balanced meals is just too much on top of everything else, and I don't even have kids. I can only imagine how much more difficult it is when you're planning meals that suit everyone in the family. Especially when it comes to saving time and being so ravenous after work that I have to have something quick and easy available for dinner... cutting out sugar would eliminate a lot of my go-to frozen meal choices.

So my question for those who have gone sugar-free or carb-free or gluten-free or whatever: how do you manage it realistically given a busy lifestyle?

I find that if I eat the same foods on a regular basis, planning is super easy. I usually rotate between the same 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches and like 8 dinners. Once I have a healthy "meal" planned, I will use it over and over again so that way I don't have to take more than 10 minutes to plan my weekly meals.

As for cutting out sugar, I think its a process. Most people can't just cut them out cold turkey. I know a lot of people cut out soda first, than after they are comfortable with that they will cut another sugary item out. You never want to be carb free. I was peaking around the carb counters forum and see that some usually eat about 20 carbs a day. I calorie count using my Iphone which also tracks my carbs. I average about 100 a day (even tho my app says I can have 180) and am still losing weight. I want to lower my carbs, but even all my healthy food have carbs. I know I would probably fail miserably on a low carb diet so I think I am going to stick with calorie counting.

As for the busy life style, you just need to make time for it. If you sit down and spend 1 hour (and I'm sure it wouldn't even take that long) and make a plan for the whole week, you'll realize that eating healthy doesn't take much time at all. Are you able to spend one day on an upcoming weekend and cook? You than take those cooked meals and freeze them in single-meal sizes and you now have healthy frozen meals!

Initially, I had to just go cold-turkey. I knew I couldn't control myself around sugar, so eliminating it altogether, initially, made things easier in that it was easier than having to satisfy myself with just a *little* sugar.

I was lucky, though -- I haven't had any severe cravings. The mild cravings I have had I've dealt with by distracting myself with involving activities that didn't involve food.

At this point, I can treat myself to a few bites of chocolate or ice cream once a day without going crazy with cravings or binging.

Honestly, I cut it out cold-turkey at first too, then I had a chocolate bar and it started a crazy rampage of eating anything I want. Just try and find your way, I know for this time, I'm going gradually. Find what works best for you!

I started drinking more water and eating fruits and my sugar cravings completely went away.
I constantly had to have something sweet in the house and after I started doing that I noticed I didn't want them anymore.

Sorry if I write a novel. This is a BIG issue for me with PCOS/IR -- blood sugar management and I feel strongly about it. :D

CLEAN THE KITCHEN. Get it all out of there. Resist buying once at the store, then you don't have to resist a hundred times at home.

That was my strategy. I remember pacing around like a bear, cranky, opening the fridge going "there's nothing to eat!" and slamming it shut and pacing some more. There was plenty to eat. There just wasn't what I wanted -- sugary cereals or breads or crackers. You really do go through withdrawal when you clean up your diet.

Def kick High fructose corn syrup out for GOOD. Even if other sugars eventually come back. For PCOS/IR me? Not only does it set off a blood sugar wigginz, it also sets off this deep ravenous HUNGER. I do not know why, I just know I don't process it correctly. I'm not sure anyone does.

I'll take a full sugar Blue Sky soda and stop at one can, but HFCS Coca Cola? I can't stop! If I must have soda, the blue sky is a better calorie spending than the calorie expensive cola because I CAN stop at one. Not that soda of any kind is healthy. But we do have to spend calories wisely.

So getting the HFCS was big for me.

I also stuck to fruit while going cold turkey. Keeping a few cans of pears in pear juice in the freezer helped. Because I could thaw them enough to get out of the can by running in hot water. Then blender it up to a decent sorbet texture. I could get the sweet hit without too many calories.

Other than the juice in the pear cans, I cut out drinking juices while cold turkey. Even those without HFCS -- juice slams into your blood sugar too fast and can trigger. Now that I'm calm I can have fruit juice but I still measure it out in a measuring cup. 1/2 cup to 1 cup and no more.

Apples with peanut butter helped. Nuts in general help -- but NOT coated or candied ones. Stick cheese helps in cold turkey time.

Same with keeping watermelon, canteloupe, and honeydew in stock. Eat half the whole bloody thing for the sweet, but it didn't damage calories too bad.

But when going cold turkey from sugar? I'd sacrifce the diet and calorie watching and meet the sugar goal first. THEN worry about calorie management for weight loss once the sugar monkey is off your back. Sometimes it's too hard to diet for weight loss AND cut blood sugar triggers both at the same time.

When I got past the cold turkey GRRRRRR place, I could be more reasonable about bringing back the old foods and really monitoring what set me off or not.

Raisin bran cereal and oatmeal got a pass back in, but instead of the 20+ year habit of just cereal and milk for breakfast daily I started matching it with some turkey sausage or egg if I had it. I also started working the eggs into the week and not just on weekends so my breakfast scene was better balanced.

OJ had to be monitored carefully but I'm ok with low sodium v8 so that came in at breakfast time. It's handy in the 6 oz cans!

Cheerios was mostly ok, but borderline. Sometimes set me off, sometimes not.

Corn flakes? Rice Krispies? Not esp coated in sweet, but they set me off on a binge. So just not welcome back, HFCS free or not.

Ditto cereal bars. I can tolerate a protein Luna ok, but I keep it rare.

Bread? So far sourdough, rye, nature's own wheat 40 cal, the wheatier arnold breads. Don't set me off for blood sugar, but still have to watch the portions.

Croissants? White? Raisin bread? I can scarf a bag/loaf so best avoided. No naan bread. No bagels. Tortilla I do ok, but I suspect it's because I eat those with proteiny fillings like beef or chicken. I never eat those like just toasted like sliced bread or bagels.

Pasta itself doesn't bother me but what the recipe using it might. The sweets thing. Macaroni salad is on my trigger list. Spaghetti sauce is fine but macaroni deli salad is too sweet for me to take.

Crackers? Best avoided. I have no cracker control.

Cookies? So obviously not coming back. Def no cookie control! That includes bar cookies like brownies.


I either get Simply Dressed or Annie's brand salad dressing or make my own olive oil/balsamic ones. There's a lot of HFCS in bottle dressings. Watch the other condiments for HFCS. I rather go full fat version that light. Fat and protein both help slow a blood sugar spike.

Rice is borderline. No having it naked without a paired protein. Sushi rolls sometimes don't pair ENOUGH protein in there with the rice so I have to watch those.

I also struggle with cake. I don't want any, I don't bake any, but at birthday parties it is ubiquitous. I am finding going in already having a good size protein food first, and scraping off frosting and eating a few bites to be polite usually saves me. Then I throw it away and stay the **** away from the food table!

Alcohol? I drink rarely and it's planned because I take meds. So I never overdo that despite like fruity foo foo drinks the best.

Candies? I just don't buy. Most if it has HFCS and it is high sugar to hide the poor quality. I'll binge out on milk chocolate with HFCS but do fine with small bits of organic Green & Black dark chocolate as a treat. A green and black bar lasts me ages because I only want 2 or 3 little rectangles broken off. I'll eat a whole Whitman's sampler 1 lb box in a day or two. It's totally the HFCS. When people give me those as gifts I give them away or throw them out ASAP. I've learned that lesson!

DH loves his junk food and he's tall and lanky. HFCS doesn't seem to set him off like me but I don't think it is good for anyone. He's not ready to quit his junk food so I just get him flavors I hate. I don't like dr pepper. I don't like red OR blue doritos. So he gets his crap, and I don't have to be tempted. Also keep all that in a basket on top of the fridge so he can reach it easy but me and kid don't have to look at it or be tempted.

She's developing the AN patches on her elbows and I worry she has inherited the PCOS. We won't know for sure, but her doc agrees on the AN so best she not develop a taste for the stuff in the first place. I teach her party food for actual parties -- soda, chips, cakes, etc. She can have them then and she's fine with that. She knows daddy cheats and eats party food on regular days.

I try to sweeten my own drinks. Sometimes we do smoothies or whole juices, but most of the time I want to drink water. Or tea. Both kid and like the fruity celestial seasonings teas hot or cold. 1 tsp sugar will do and it's a lot less than already sweetened tea you buy in bottles. We also drink green. She's the tea drinking-est kid I ever met! .

Some sorbet sets me off -- I watch for the HFCS in there. Talenti brand I can take and control the portion fine. Generally I get Breyer natural vanilla. The whole family likes that, it doesn't set me off like other flavors or brands. Child wants her naked. Spouse puts syrups on his. I have mine with 1/2 tsp cinnamon over it. I like the taste and cinnamon can help with blood sugar weird. In the past ice cream was a problem for me, but eaten this way I'm ok.


Learn to pair up with a protein food when you eat your carbs at meals. "The Insulin Resistance Diet" book is good at explaining this.

Over time you lose the taste for sugar as your tastebuds recover.

Things that used to taste good are like "ACK! TOO SWEET!" Believe me on this! Things like broccoli that didn't seem sweet before? They suddenly seem a touch sweet. Stuff like cookies? They will REPEL you where they used to draw you in. Portion control is a lot easier with healed tastebuds.

It's getting over the hump that's rough. And losing HFCS was key.

Just get over the hump however it is you have to do it, and take YOUR notes when you bring things back one at a time and you discover your OWN trigger list.

But don't stress out about dieting to lose AND removing sugar at the same time if it is too hard. Again -- it is ok to get the sugar monkey off your back first, and then diet for weight loss after that if that way is easier to handle.

A.

I tried cold turkey and it didn't work for me. This time it seems to be working better because instead of focusing on what i can't have, i focus on what i CAN have. I feel a lot less deprived. So it's not that i CAN'T eat bread...but i tell myself i'd rather eat fruit, or vegetables, or meat, or cheese. Eventually you start to prefer these things...or at least forget about how much you loved sugar. But you have to try hard not to think about sugar.

Two things for me to start out with. No sugar in coffee and no bread. It's been almost two weeks and I feel a little better. Next week I'll add some more exercise or... take away something else.

Google 'Paleo desserts'. Many sugarless options.

The other thing i've been noticing lately is that if i don't overeat, then i don't need a HUGE variety of foods. Eating fruit, nuts, veggies, meat, and cheese makes me very happy. However, when i used to overeat...then those foods would seem so boring...naturally, because when you eat a lot of them, then they get old, and you want other stuff. If you only eat them when you're physically hungry, they don't get old--they continue to taste good and satisfying.

I think that's why, in the past, when i tried to break off my sugar addiction, it didn't work because i allowed myself unlimited amounts of meat/cheese/nuts. I was just continuing my pattern of overeating. After eating half a jar of peanut butter, even that would taste boring, and i'd want SUGAR.

Cold Turkey. Food doesn't control my life. Nothing I do revolves around food. I'm on an IF plan and only eat in the evening where *I* can control my choices instead of outside influences affecting what I eat. I'm not tempted to mindlessly snack during the day because it's not an option at all for me and I'm not hungry anyway. I don't keep any of that stuff in the house, either. I make excuses if it's available so I just had to remove it completely. I'm strict with myself, because I have to be. It may not work for everyone, but it works for me.

Hey all, I've taken something away from all the advice on this thread, thank you! I struggle A LOT with sugary stuff.

Body- I hear ya when talking about having sugary stuff in the house. I went through childhood eating sugar right out the canister, I must have gone through pounds of the stuff a week, now I don't really do that unless I am really low! But in trying to stop that habit I now binge on anything sweet!

I am hoping I am strong enough to give it up and get to a place where I can control it. I am amazed that tastebuds can change! I might try the concentrating on the sugar thing first and then the weight loss!

Thanks all! Have a great evening!

:)

Cold turkey...I cut it all out at once. I felt awful and it took me 4 weeks to detox. I had massive cravings....but once I got it out of my system, I can't stand pop etc any longer...
It just takes a lot of willpower. :hug:

I am on the Atkins diet which requires cutting out all sugar from everything in the start. The thing about sugar is its found almost everywhere so when your on diets that your still eating things like bread, fruit, milk and such its still there. I am not saying that those diets are bad but for me (I have really bad sugar cravings too) I just quit I mean I just forced my self to have no sugar no more than 20 carbs a day mostly from veggies and I got rid of all of it. I bought sucralous to replace the other sugar and what snacky stuff I do have to keep around for my kids I just have to use will power not to eat. It works for me because with the atkins diet unlike low cal if you slip you basically screw up all of the work you have done to get to ketosis and thats not worth it for me because sometimes its no fun not being able to eat what ever I want so I didnt go x# of says eating this way just to start over for one binge kwim? I am just starting this and it hasn't been a lifestyle for years like many other have. I know its hard but sugar is addictive in its own way and just like a lot of other addicting things some times you just have to go cold turkey and fight the cravings while other times you have to ween your self off but for sugar cold turkey worked the best for me.

and I must say that if you buy any sugar substitute be prepared to still have some cravings because it causes them in a lot of people I limit my self to very little anything with fake sugar and willpower has to get me the rest of the way

I had this same issue with pre packed foods being way to salty. I had been eating very and I mean very natural with little salt and then took a bite of some prepacked potatoes I made for the rest of the families dinner dear god! SALTY! I dumped the pan in the trash went and bought real potatoes and swore never to buy that crap again! Thank god our tastebuds can change!