We've gone SUGAR-FREE! tribe - Page 12

[Stevie]

My favorite sweet treat is a granny smith and a kiwi chunked, add the obligatory squirt of lemon juice and a squirt of good honey, toss to coat and then toss in a small handful of really good granola (no sweetners added)
Toss and eat.
Very yummy; the kids love it too. I did not, however, eat this till after the first 7 days.

I would definitely love the banana bread recipe! The kids and I love to make banana bread and I haven't found one I like without any refined sugar added.

[litlwons]

Hi! I am so happy to of found you! I am struggling with a sugar addiction, that has been making my life difficult for years, possibly decades. I don't struggle with my weight, sugar effects my moods, I can be a real "rager" and it has been affecting my relationships for years. My mother was a alcoholic, which I know is how her sugar addiction manifested itself (when she wasn't drinking she was eating candy uncontrolably) and my father ended up having type 2 diabeties at the age of 58. I had gestational diabeties with both pregnancies (first one undiagnosed). I have tired to off sugar quite a few times, but it has found its way back into my life. So here I am again! I have been off sugar stricktly for about 10 days (today is day 10) and so far so good. I have had a few rough days and now I am dealing with a toodler who dosn't want to sleep anymore, so I can't really tell what is sleep deprivation and sugar withdrawl.:

I am hoping to add back a little bit of sweetner eventually, some agave and maple syrup, but it is a slippery slope for me.

I am worried about my health and the health of my family. I am fortunate to not of been raised with soda pop, so never developed a taste for it. My DH though was and he introduced it to DS1 (6 now), and now he loves it. My family history is not good for this sugar gig and I want my kids to not have a "issue" with it all, but I guess part of that will be thier own path.

I can eat so much ice cream in one sitting. As a child my sisters and I would eat dry jello right out of the packet as well as cup fulls of whipping cream out of the can. I always had access to candy and cookies are a weak spot as well. After eating too much sugar (not sure what too much is ) I wake up the next day with a hangover feeling, or I don't eat quite a few meals in a row and then I hit an emotional bottom.

Well I won't ramble on any more. Thank you for being here!
I am going to go read lots of this thread!

Kathleen

[babygrant]

Kathleen. I'm on day 6 now I believe, or maybe 5 so I'm just starting our like you. Hope you can find the support I have found with this group!

[PrairieBohemian]

Welcome Kathleen!!!!!!!!!

Way to just open up and confess! Doesn't it feel great to know we've all been there too?

I can really relate to a lot of what you said. My mom was also an alcoholic (but also a heath fanatic and raised us on whole wheat and carob). When she quit drinking, she hit the sugar BIGTIME. She even had licorice stashed under her bed. Unfortunately she gained probably 50 lbs after she quit drinking and smoking and hasn't lost it after 10 years. It was embarrasing how sugar-addicted she became after not even letting me have sugar until I was 4.

I don't really struggle with my weight either (I've had a fairly stable weight most of my adult life--other than when i was vegan and GAINED 20lbs); it manifests itself much more as mood imbalances. After almost 2 months sugar-free I can assure you I am much more stable emotionally.

We are so glad to have "newcomers" to our group. We've all been through (or are in the midst of) the headaches and irritability of withdrawl. Many of us are on the other side and I am now at a point when I CAN use nutritive sweeteners without abusing them!

Good luck on your journey--we're only a mouse-click away!

[HRC121799]

I'd love the banana bread recipe!

Kathleen welcome! I don't struggle with my weight either, but sugar had been affecting my moods & my energy. I felt like a slug and on edge.

My in-laws were here for the holiday. Dh spoke to MIL before they came and asked her to not bring any junk food/candy. So what does she show up with?

2 chocolate advent calenders, a bag of marshmallows (came free with the movie she bought for the kids), a "snowman mix" with hot chocolate, marshmallows, chocolate chips & a chocolate flavored candy cane.

Gee, thanks. I let the kids have the hot chocolate, I let little ds suck some of his candy cane, but after a few minutes he left it on the floor so I threw it out. Older ds, he didn't even notice his candy cane being gone. I should have had her take home the bag of marshmallows. I have the advent calenders in the closet, the kids haven't seen them yet. It was bad enough they had soda & m&m's at the movies yesterday. Then I feel like the bad guy when I say "no". They still have halloween candy left, we don't need to add more!

I don't think she was even thinking about it though, I think she thought "well I won't bring sugary cereal or licorice like I usually do" and the holiday stuff didn't enter her mind.

Ugh, just had to vent. I hate sounding all grinch-like.

[litlwons]

Thank you so much for the warm warm warm welcome! : I really want to be successful at this this time. I just know I will be so much better off for it, as well as my family.
Stevie-
It is good to know you and your family ate "rat poison" as well. Dry jello, it boggles my mind.

After I posted last night I was cleaning up around my house and found a large drink cup, like the ones you get at the movies or fast food. I asked mt DH and DS1 who it was, thinking it was from my DH's friend that was over. My DS1 said it was the cup that he brought home from the movies when a neighbor took him to see a movie with his buddy the night before. I was just floored... my DH said that I shouldn't be shocked, not many think like I do. I so want my sons to not be addicted to this sugar stuff, but in our society it is tough.

Well one step at a time... I don't want to BAN all sugar because my DS1 will become even more preoccupied with it!


Thank you all for your warm welcome again!

[HRC121799]

Kathleen, that's one thing I'm NOT going to do, is take it away completely, then they'll go nuts when they're old enough to buy it for themselves (I should know, I did it when I was younger, I'd buy tons of candy and hide it in my bedroom). I just don't like the huge overload of it all at once, all day long. I don't want them to become addicted.

One thing, I make juice with one part juice concentrate, 1.5 parts water, and then when I give it to them I add sparkling water. Little ds calls it soda.

[babygrant]

So today I ran out of bread AND oatmeal so I had a bowl of cereal that had sugar in it and OMG I have the worst migrane

[saratc]

Welcome, Kathleen!

OMG, it sounds like everyone did so well over Thanksgiving! I splurged and made a pumpkin pie using honey, rapadura and stevia, but I did use whole wheat for the crust. Other than that, we did real good.

Babygrant, I get pretty ill too when I have white sugar. I think it was around the 3 or 4 week mark when I not only was no longer craving sugar, I could no longer tolerate it. Makes ya think what else it's doing to you. I don't get headaches, but I get heart palpitations. My sister in law, whom DH and I got to quit sugar gets big headaches now from sugar.

[litlwons]

Does anyone have Candida issue from being addicted to sugar? I am dealing with the reality that it is a contributing factor to many "symptoms" I am having. I know I have to deal with it. I am hoping going off sugar alone will help because I don't think i am up to a total candida diet, since I am nursing my toddler like a million times a day and i don't think i could go with out all the food.

I am sort of stuck...

Saract-
I love your siggy.... but it worries me becasue I know my grandmother didn't eat so well.

[PrairieBohemian]

A Dance with the Devil

Can you believe it? After 2 months sugar-free I thought I was safe. It was pretty easy without sugar in the house and THEN last night I found a tiny little Lindor ball from Halloween hiding in the cupboard. Lindor chocolate truffles were my biggest weakness. OMG, its hard to write this but I want to be HONEST about my struggle here...

So I put the tasty little in the freezer to solidify the melty (bad)goodness inside and when it was ready, I popped him in my mouth. WOWZERS it was good. I would have been ok if I had stopped there but I didn't. Dh had bought sme chocolate earlier in the day and I asked if I could have some. So, following the near orgasmic pleasure of the Lindor ball, I ate about 5 M&Ms which brought me minimal pleasure and one Twix stick which can only loosely be called choclate. It was so disgustingly sweet and empty tasting. So I thought I was done at that. Then I saw dh had cut up a Coffee Crisp into fragments and I ate a few of those before the night was over.

In total, I ate about 1 chocolate bar worth of sugar. This would have been nothing 2 months ago. I told myself I wouldn't feel guilty but I did manifest a nasty stomach ache for myself. And holy moly did I get BITCHY coming down. I am worried about having to "detox" again but I am not putting my attention there. I am going to eat a greasy grilled cheese sandwich (on sprouted bread) this morning and battle potential cravings with a toxic dose of fat.

I am so sorry to have to write these words this morning. I certainly learned I still an addict and need to work on my vigilance!

[babygrant]

T

[PrairieBohemian]

Originally Posted by babygrant

T

Awe, thanks A!

Did you love Lindor truffles too?

[babygrant]

no, i dont like the texture. bleck.

[PrairieBohemian]

Originally Posted by babygrant

no, i dont like the texture. bleck.

LUCKY!

[HRC121799]

{{{hugs}}} well at least you fell off the wagon with something you love,lol. Hope that sandwich helped!

re: candida, I had problems in the past (thrush when little ds was a baby, couple of bouts of candida in the past few years), I read everything about "not feeding the yeasties" and everything. I think my body really, really can't handle as much as I throw at it as far as carbs/sugar (well not so much the sugar anymore since I'm trying to keep it out, but the carbs still...).

If I could have anything for Christmas, I'd ask for a personal chef. Then I would never worry about what to eat!!

[Anna06]

babygrant, hope your feeling better. I battle with headaches as well. But you are doing great.

animus_silvae.....your human girl. that's from all of us. I hope you don't have to go through detox again. Sort of sad that sugar has so much power.

I also wanted to ask you a question. (If I may) You mentioned you use to be vegan.....what made you change? I toy with the whole ideal of what should I eat all the time. I'm trying to be vegetarian now, but find it hard because I'm always hungry and I wind up eating something with sugar. There is so much information out there about any diet you want...wow.

I did eat the sugar laden pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving... and the day after. Then I had a bowl full of Cool Whip..... Other than that I did great. Considering there is some great chocolate here and real EggNog oh and really good vanilla ice cream. I think I did great.

Also welcome to all the new ones. Great to see so many of us sugar junkies (sorry speaking for myself only) together.

[PrairieBohemian]

Originally Posted by Anna06

I also wanted to ask you a question. (If I may) You mentioned you use to be vegan.....what made you change? I toy with the whole ideal of what should I eat all the time. I'm trying to be vegetarian now, but find it hard because I'm always hungry and I wind up eating something with sugar. There is so much information out there about any diet you want...wow.

Well that is opening up a big can of worms for me. I've answered the same question from time to time all over MDC. How can I sum it up? Let's try...

I originally was vegetarian during the summer when I was treeplanting as a temporary cleanse while living and working in the wilderness. One year I just stayed vegetarian and then I began to read the vegan propaganda about it being the cleanest, purest, healthiest and most environmentally-conscious way to live and eat. I bought into it COMPLETELY. Oh I was so preachy too. The problem was there wasn't a disclaimer in any of the propaganda to say "veganism will not work for everyone all the time".

Veganism did not work for me.

I actually GAINED 20 lbs in about 4 months while training for a marathon. My skin was HORRENDOUS and I lost my period after having very regular moontimes my whole life. I was also sugar-free/refined carb free during part of my veganism. I also developmed bulimia somewhere in there. Everything was a mess.

In retrospect, I really don't know how to separate the mental illness from the physical illness. I just know veganism did NOT work for me and I feel very betrayed by the vegan community who told me losing my period was just "my body adjusting" and my bad skin "was detoxing from animal poisons". I don't believe this--I was very sick.

I now believe in the NT/Weston Price philosophy of eating. Sprouting, fermenting and eating whole foods and grass-fed meats and eggs. I'm not fanatic but use it as my platform in dietary choices. My dh is also on the SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) to address his major digestive issues and NT works well with that. I am currently at a healthy weight ~120lbs and 5'3" and I feel energetic and balanced. My skin is also great, btw!

If you are interested, there is a Traditional Foods forum not so far away!

If you have any other questions, ask away!

[Anna06]

for animus_silvae

Wow, thank you so much for answering. I had no ideal. I totally respect you for doing what is right for you. Thank you so much for sharing. I have read the NT thread sometimes, but I read the veg/vegan threads too. : Which keeps me going back and forth in my head. It doesn't take much to keep me:

Anyway none of them promote sugar.

I should check out the Specific Carbo Diet for dd, she has many special needs.

Again, deepest thanks. I have a lot to think about. Besides sugar.

[Siennaflower]

Hi everyone, just checking in. Thank you for the warm welcomes

I did a ton of research and came up with some recipes that I am trying out right now. So far I have done alright food wise but today I had a revelation...I was taking my vitamins and as I was chewing on a Viactiv I realized it was the sweetest thing I'd had all day. Well of course, it has sugar in it Its a small amount and $10 a container so I will finish it and buy regular calcium vitamins when they're gone. But thats just a testament to how many things have sugar in them that we don't realize (or maybe it was just me, which is possible too ).

I have been having slight headaches which suck but I know that means I am on the right path. The cravings are wild and I find myself daydreaming about Skippy peanut butter and a spoon...how long will this last lol?