The FastDay Forum

Just back to 5/2 with a successful fast yesterday, so I carefully counted the calories I'd had today - I know that with 2 fast days in a week and 1800 / day on the other days I almost certainly lose weight. 1800 it is - well, 1790 but I'm horrified to realise almost 600 - 1/3 of the total - was sugar. Sugar in coffee; sugar in cake with icing at work; 2 tubes of sugar sweets; meringue pudding after dinner. And the even scarier thing is today's eating pattern wasn't really unusual! I'd dimly realised that a lot of my calories come from sugar, but I've never counted it up before.

Please don't tell me scary stuff about what I'm doing to my health with a high-sugar diet - I'm pretty sure I don't want to know! I'm going to try to go without sugar for the next 3 weeks to see if I can. Has any other sugarholic out there ever cut sugar for a while? How did it go? Was it hard? Did you feel you had less energy as a result? Did you feel better for it? Did you lose weight?

I have been sugar free at several different times in my life, up to a couple of years. Though I'm not willing to do that now (except for light days), I did lose weight, and after the withdrawal phase had more energy. Fortunately, my sweet tooth has lessened since I've gotten older, plus I like coffee and tea plain.

[wildmissus]

@WarriorPrincess, I have the same monster within me. My monster is big and ugly and very dominant, it has major tantrums if it doesn't get what it wants. I have read the books about sugar and this forum and I do know what it does but that monster is just so over powering. In the early days of fasting when I was so desperate to lose weight and I hit a plateau I tried the Dukan Attack - eating protein only for 5 days. In the 5 days I lost 5 lbs and I felt great for that reason and because I managed to ignore my monster but I also hated it, I felt miserable eating that way. What I would like to do is get my monster under control - a bar of chocolate once a week as a treat instead of twice a day and 'I'll be good tomorrow'. This week I'm trying to focus on getting more veg into me in the hope that I'll fill up and not wake up my monster. Good luck with your quest and keep up updated.

I cut out sugar in drinks with no problem when I was a teenager very many moons ago- in fact I hate most sweet drinks now. As for sugar in everything else- afraid not- biscuits and cake still feature, I can refuse sweets but still buy myself chocolate. Then there's the sugar in fruit and alcohol.....oops.
I'm maintaining now and-sorry- I don't think too much about it, but I did cut right down when I was still trying to lose.

If you give up sugar and artificial sweeteners you will be amazed how sweet the good stuff tastes - yes, Brussels sprouts, roasted pistachios, spinach ...

[Tracieknits]

I am in the same boat as @Wildmissus -- I have been eating insane amounts of sugar. I know it's unhealthy. I know it's the source of my weight problems, but I don't know how to stop. The monster is strong and quite demanding.

OK - @ferretgal & anyone else who's been there, how long's 'the withdrawal phase' & what's it like? Cravings? Mood swings? Depression? I'm eating fruit (a handful of grapes & a tangerine so far today, not a pounds of it) Will the fruit stave off 'the withdrawal phase'? And if not, should I plan for 3 days (acceptable) or 3 weeks (back to the drawing board!)

Gah, there's no way to know what it will be like for you. I found it to be more mental than physical. However, I do know that I can't eat something sweet (like pancakes) without having significant protein with it, first meal of the day (which may be later, as I often don't have breakfast). If I do, I feel icky and lazy all day, kinda like I drank too much. I don't know; it's certainly good to try and not eat too much sugar...but cutting it entirely (unless diabetic), maybe not the best idea. Read my blog for more on my thoughts on this.

From my personal experience and having tried to reduce sugar and carbs with much difficulty I now believe the key is increasing fat intake whilst reducing sugar. There is more and more information about insulin production but I am no scientist so won't try and explain but take some time to investigate, made sense to me.
Only when you start looking for full fat milk, yoghurt, cream, cheese etc and real food that has not been processed or manipulated do you realise how much the big food corporations have to lose if people actively move back to real food.
Finally eating smaller higher calorie satiating meals with high fat made fasting much much easier for me.
Hopefully I don't upset too many people but this is my humble opinion.

@warriorprincess. I have phases of going for a long time without sugar and then drift away. I always regret it and it takes me a couple of days to reset. Going cold turkey is by far the best way of doing it and increasing fat at the same time to keep you satisfied. Some good resources in respect of meal planning whilst going sugar free are https://iquitsugar.com/ and http://whole30.com/. You don't need to spend money to access the ideas on these sites - that is entirely optional.

Dr Mosely this morning http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34878148

What about sweeteners? Are they better for you than sugar?

What about sweeteners? Are they better for you than sugar?

Personal choice I think. Anything chemical cannot be good for you. Stevia is mentioned in the MM article, although you have to be careful it is not populated with other chemical sweeteners. Personally I don't like the aftertaste. Xylitol is my favorite substitue although as a rule, I try to avoid.

I haven't cut sugar out of my diet and don't want to! However, in the last three years (nearly) I have cut down enormously on the sugar-containing foods that I used to eat. I no longer make a pudding every day - it's a once or twice a week event nowadays. I don't eat a 200g bar of Cadbury's Whole Nut in one sitting - not even in two or three sittings! Our biscuit and cake consumption is down by about 80% and I have only bought an individual chocolate bar once or twice since starting this WOL in Jan. 2013.
That said, I know that if I had to spend ages looking for hidden, or unhidden, sugars in food and drink items, it would turn this WOL into just another tiresome 'diet' for me.
We each have to find our way through this maze of food/diet/exercise etc. information which is out there and if giving up sugar feels right for you, then go for it!

[carorees]

I agree with the other posts that you need to go cold turkey and also increase fats. Sugar is known to have an addictive effect on the brain, especially combined with fats so it is really important to ensure that you're not just increasing fats without cutting out the sugar!

Sugar is half fructose and half glucose. The fructose component is turned into fat in the liver and, if you have a high carb diet, the fat stays there causing fatty liver disease and worsening insulin resistance. The glucose component spikes your blood sugar causing insulin release which worsens insulin resistance and also turns the glucose into fat which is transported in cholesterol packets to your fat tissues for storage. When your blood glucose is high, the glucose attaches itself to proteins such as cholesterol damaging the cholesterol and making it much more likely to clog your arteries.

There is increasing evidence that artificial sweeteners disrupt your gut bacteria favouring the strains that are associated with obesity and metabolic disorders and, as ferretgal says, if you cut out sugar your tastes will change so you need less sugar to satisfy your sweet tooth...changing to artificial sweeteners will stop this from happening.

As to how long it takes to get over the cravings, it can be quick and it can be long...best plan for months to be on the safe side. As to whether you can eventually have some sugar without triggering cravings, you'll just have to experiment (but not until you have lost the cravings first!)

Good luck!