A little background first.....I was following the WW program and was living and dying by the scale and couldn't tell the difference between 1 100 calorie pack of cookies and 10, so I made up a program for myself...no caffeine, no sugar, no refined carbs, and I don't weigh myself...and I feel GREAT!!!! Lots of energy and I am sleeping really well! I was looking for recipes and came upon a website that made me realize that I was really close to following sugar busters, so now I want to tweak my plan a little and follow SB!

My question is about fruit...are there fruits that you aren't supposed to eat? I know about bananas, but not sure about anything else. Can you suggest any good websites that could give me more SB info? Thanks so much in advance!

Jane

Jane,
I'm not the authority here, and it looks like this isn't a very active board from the dates of the recent posts, but I'm exploring too and just found this site: (wouldn't let me post link - google Sugar Busters and go to Newbie Tips)
Currently, I am doing South Beach but I don't see a drastic difference between SB (south beach and SB (sugar busters) except that there is no Phase I with Sugar Busters.

I was reading my book, YOU: On a Diet today looking for influence or ideas and also searching around the internet. I think (though need to think some more ) that I may make up my own diet, like you mentioned. I have a really hard time believing that pineapple or a few raisins or yogurt is "bad."

I wonder if there are others out there who kind of studied all of the diets and came up with a personalized plan that worked? I'd love to hear from those folks. I also log my food on The Daily Plate so I have a running log of calories eaten over the past month+ so part of me believes that you do need to feed yourself with the best foods possible while watching volume!

I'm in week 5 of South Beach and wondering if I'm not doing myself a disservice by avoiding grains. I have lost 11+ pounds and don't want to undo the progress I've made...so I need to be very, very careful!

In the Sugar Busters book, they list watermelon and pineapple as no-no's. Bananas are okay as long as they still have green on the peel.

Why haven't you move to Phase 2 of SBD? Phase 1 is to be short term. You need to eat whole grains, just not an abundance of them.

Quilter, I did move out of Phase I but not into Phase II enough to start grains. I added small amounts of fruit. I have started some ww grains this week and I am making up my own diet (lifestyle) rules now, so I can't even say I'm on South Beach. Heck! I just had 6 baby carrots! Dr. A would be appalled!!

You would probably love sugar busters. Basic plan is this: For each meal, you should have a protein and two servings of fruits/veggies, incorporating one or two whole grains in the day. WHOLE grains. For instance, a typical day might include:

Breakfast: Two eggs scrambled and some strawberries and cantaloupe
Snack: peanuts
Lunch: Turkey sandwich on WW bread with lettuce and tomatoes and an apple and yogurt
Snack: Triscuits and cheese
Dinner: Grilled boneless chicken breast with a giant salad

Its important to add at least two snacks to keep the hunger from triggering starvation mode.

The trick is to read labels for ingredients, avoiding (of course) High Frutcose Corn Syrup, added sugars of all kinds, enriched flour, white rice and white potatoes. Fruits/veggies to avoid are bananas (unless they are still greenish) pineapple, beets, corn (and corn products like cornmeal). Surprisingly, it is mostly important to read ingredients for the added sugars because lactose is considered to be a healthy sugar, so cottage cheese may be high in grams of sugar but have no added sugar...its because of the lactose. Fruits...same thing. Reading ingredients is key.

A lot of people see a parallel to South Beach and its true that low carb equals low sugar, but the emphasis is on the sugar intake, not on the carb intake. With sugar busters, you are avoiding insulin bumps, which adds to fat storage and all that.

If you are thinking about it, you should see if its available at your library or buy the book at the bookstore. It is a simple and truly healthy way to eat.

TTFN!!

Tech,
It sounds pretty good. I may need to back up and try it. Meanwhile, after growing irritated with SBD, I developed my own rules today and wonder what folks think of them. Do they need to be more rigid?

• Eat every 3 hours (to keep insulin low and never be ravenous)
• 3 meals @ approx 400 cal and 3 snacks at 100 cal (1500 cal)
• Have protein at every meal/snack (except night snack which will likely be SF pudding)
• Avoid white potatoes and corn-based products when possible
• Eat lean meats and low fat cheeses
• All grains should be whole grains, when possible
• No fruits or vegetables are "off limits"
• Increase low fat and fat free dairy consumption
• Try to limit diet soda to 1/day
• Walk daily, weather permitting
• Have a "blow" meal once per week - entree of my choice, with dessert

These are taken from some of the diets I've tried before and what I'm trying to do is put together something I can LIVE with - long term. I think these are good principles, BUT...will I lose weight? These are the best of the 3-hour diet, You: On a Diet, SBD, and BFL.

Today I did this plan. Had an unfortunate morning which involved a McD's egg mcmuffin. Low-carb yogurt for snack, salad and blueberries for lunch, cheese stick LC yogurt for snack, and chx and sweet potato fries & carrots for dinner. Now I could eat my right arm off!!! I have my pudding left to eat. I wasn't hungry during the day but now...ugh!

I suppose I should give it more time but at this point, I really don't know what to do. Go back to SBD? Try SB? Stick to my own rules? Have a big bowl of ice cream? (fortunately, none here so that won't happen).

I appreciate all of your advice.