Help! Terrified to give up sugar! - Page 2

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by AdalynsMama

So I'm wondering, how does everyone feel about grains? No bread, no rice, no quinoa??? What about legumes??

Personally grains like wheat, oats and rice are just as bad for me as sugar, even in their whole forms, so I remove them also. I do keep potatoes on occasion, and whole corn as well as legumes.

[Magelet]

yay abimommy!! you can do it!

wrt grains, we eat lots of grains (when it's not pesach.) We try to soak or ferment them first, and pretty much eat all whole grains (not 100%, yet, we're getting closer every day though. My goal is to be 100% soaked whole grains, with the exception of 1-2 loafs of white flour challah on shabbat. 1-2 depending on the size of our family. 1 loaf for two of us, maybe we'll do more when we have kids. I just.... whole wheat challah isn't the same. It's a special treat, even if it is once a week. It's a special holiday food for shabbat, the only time we'll eat white flour.)

We eat fermented oatmeal regularly, we do lots of brown rice (just bought a 20 lb bag.) We're trying to soak it more often. (trying to remember to keep some soaked rice in the fridge. We do some whole wheat bread (not yet 100% whole wheat, it gets closer every time DP makes it), mostly not sourdough, but some sourdough. We also eat LOTS of beans and always soak them first.

It's a work in progress, however we both seem to do really well on legumes and grains, and they stretch our budget so we eat a good amount.

[elizawill]

a couple of months ago i gave up sugar, most animal products, caffeine, etc. the first 4 days were very hard (as i had caffeine withdrawls), but i feel great now. i personally still have "sweets", but it's now in the form of fresh fruit, smoothies, or bread with a hint of molasses, oatmeal with cut-up fruit, etc. my diet is very balanced & it consist of whole grains, fresh fruit & veggies. water is what i drink most of the time, with the exception of some water kefir & a smoothie each morning (which drinking water so much was the hardest part for me, but now that's all i crave). i also try to make my own food whenever possible & i've found this to help a lot. honestly, i think our bodies are much easier to re-train than we think... much easier than i anticipated honestly. i've even lost weight, and that wasn't my goal at all. i feel fabulous. you can do this!

[AdalynsMama]

Thanks so much for all of the support!!!

So far, so good! It's been 29 hours without sugar. I keep telling myself, it's not that I can't eat sugar. I don't eat sugar. It's who I am. Mind games are working! Went to costco last night purchased lots of nuts and frozen berries. Boiling eggs from FILs chickens as I type. Excited to start feeling better!!

[oiseau]

I really need to give up sugar, but I'm really reluctant (not quite scared though). I've done it once before and I managed ok. That time was complete cold turkey. The problem I have right now is that I'm finishing up chemo/radiation and sometimes it's so tough to want to eat anything at all, so I don't want to restrict a whole category of food and be stuck with nothing at all I can/will eat. So I'm thinking of waiting until my treatment is all done and then going cold turkey. I just need to get my fiance on board so we don't have sugary treats still lurking in the cupboards.
Anyway, thanks for all the advice everyone is posting. It makes me feel better to think that I will be able to use fats as my comfort foods during the transition (I mean that in a responsible way, not that I'm going to switch from bingeing on sugar to bingeing on fats...). I think it'll also help that lots of yummy fruits will be in season by the time I'm ready to quit sugar, so that's a consolation too.
(I'm sounding like it'll be the end of the world.... I know it'll just be a few rough days. I'm just bad at having the will power to sustain major dietary changes)

[Hokulele]

I am SO with you on this. Sugar is overtaking my life, my moods, everything. I just consumed more than 1/2 an entire package of mint cookies and then sat down at the computer and looked up sugar addiction... and here I am.

Not only have I known I need to deal with this addiction, but I am nursing a little one so I need to do it NOW!

After reading several reviews, I just ordered two books online:
- Suicide By Sugar: A Startling Look at Our #1 National Addiction by Nancy Appleton and
- Potatoes Not Prozac: Solutions for Sugar Sensitivity by Kathleen DesMaisons

I plan to take it slowly because I do not have the will power to do anything cold turkey. I SAHM right now so I have no accountability to other adults most of the day. I doubt I could control myself if I just said NO SUGAR from this point on.

I bought agave to put in iced tea. Normally I drink my iced tea non-sweet but I thought maybe if I could sweeten it with agave maybe that will help cut my cravings? I plan to have lots of healthy snacks available - carrots, apples, etc etc. Then when I want to reach for a sweet thing, I will make myself eat a healthy item first. Often that helps me cut the craving and/or I get distracted by something else before I'm done with the snack so I don't return to the kitchen to get cookies.

And, of course, I need to rid my house of all the temptations. Not easy after my kids have been to several egg hunts that involved candy. I hide it from them and then eat it myself. I often put candy and cookies that I find around the house in DH's work bag. He doesn't like them and he teaches so he give them to his students (should I feel guilty about that?)

[Magelet]

I don't think that agave is a good sweetner to use. It is controversial, with some people still saying it is the greatest sugar, however there is new evidence that it is actually very refined, and acts much like high fructose corn syrup in the body. Personally, if you like it unsweet, I'd keep it unsweet, however, if you feel a need to add extra sugar, maybe try some honey or maple syrup.

[carfreemama]

Congrats on 29 hours!!

I'm trying, too. I am 42 and TTC and I have heard that sugar is a fertility-buster. Big motivation there, at least. Everyone talks about how healthy my diet is. It's true I don't drink soda or eat actual candy, but I've never met a homemade cookie or chocolate I didn't like. It's still sugar! Plus I have an ice cream maker.

My strategy is to absolutely spoil myself with the other foods I really love. For me that's bean dips, sweet potato and beet chips, guacamole...all home-made, etc. I am stocking the freezer and cupboard.

I've found that I really want a sweet break midafternoon, before I go pick up dd from school. So I am having a decaf coffee (giving up caffeine, too!) and one dark chocolate, fair-trade vegan Easter egg. When those are gone...

I would say make a list of all the absolutely fantastic other foods that are a true treat for you and splurge on them, if you can. I have been sticking to my plan for 3 whole days.

So is this the sugar-free support thread?

[Sol_y_Paz]

I thankfully have never been way into sugar (salty and fried more so) but after learning all about what a PET scan is and how it was founded and what it is used for I am pretty confident sugar feeds cancer and adds just another reason to avoid it to my list. When I giving up things I know are bad for me, I take a second and write a list of all the reasons it is bad and research why it is bad, for me, that cements it in my mind and helps me relate it to what is really is all refined and stripped of life. Good luck to you.

[ssantos]

I agree with carfreemama, this should be the sugar-free support thread.

I am addicted to sugar, and I have been inspired by this thread to eat healthier. I am 42 with two small children, and if I want to be around (and healthy) to see them have kids, I know I need to improve my diet. From the library I checked out "Good Calories, Bad Calories," "The Sonoma Diet," and "Real Food: What to Eat and Why." These books are very inspirational. I need the cold-turkey approach and this is my first day. I am doing it the way the Sonoma diet recommends - no refined carbohydrates (only whole grains) and nothing with any form of sugar in it for 10 days. That includes fruit! This is to try to lose your sugar cravings. After 10 days, you can eat fruit, but there is no going back to sugar and refined carbs.

Whenever I eat things that are very sugary, I never seem to get the sugar high but I always get the sugar low. I am going to pay attention to see if this makes a difference.

Good luck to anyone else trying to stay away from sweets (chocolate may be my downfall).