The FastDay Forum

There seems to be a lot of hype at the moment with regards to sugar being 'addictive' and a 'poison'. The more I've read/heard about this, the more I'm genuinely considering giving it up.

I found a copy of John Yudkin's book 'Pure, white and deadly' in my uni library, so I'm having a read of that now. The fact that ceasing the consumption of sugar (or at least seriously decreasing it) *could* decrease your chances of ending up with certain diseases, slow down the ageing process, make you feel more awake and energetic and make you loose weight, makes giving it up a no-brainer... a bit like the similar 'hoped for' benefits of 5:2...

Has anyone else successfully removed sugar from their diet? Or is anyone else considering it?

H x

I removed excess sugar from my diet as reasonable after the new year as part of the South Beach Diet and have consistently lost weight every week since(about 1.5-2lbs a week). Also have much more energy as my blood sugar is more consistent throughout the day. Lastly, when I picked up 5:2 fasting beginning in May, the fasting days have not been bad (no headaches or anything) because in my opinion I am not having sugar cravings/withdrawls. What it boils down to is avoiding excess treats, soda, and items made with white flour, white rice and white potatoes even on feasting days. I do indulge once in awhile for special events but try to limit the itake of those items. I don't stress out about a little added sugar in sauces or dressings, and obviously still eat fruit(But limit it to 1 serving a day), and don't stress about lactose in milk because its not a bad sugar. The problem is when you do eat a treat, you will feel the cravings kick in again to overindulge and you have to fight it - And it does pass with a bit of time.

I haven't gone cold-turkey, but I have tried to reduce my intake of all processed foods. This cuts out a lot of sugar. I like a nice chocolate treat occasionally though, so I'm not sure I could ever cut out sugar completely.

Are you also cutting out things that are naturally sweet, like fruit?

I changed my woe to low sugar two years ago and I agree with Guitar1969 although the only fruit I eat is berries whilst I have weight to lose. Its a controversal subject but it suits me even my GP warned of having too much sugar in an article in our village mag, so the message is slowly getting through to the medics, I no longer get nagged at for eating natural fats. My blood results are good and I have now lost 5 stone 1 st with doing 5:2. Give it a go and let us know how you are getting on.
Chris x

apparently it's some sort of National Diabetes Week, possibly in more than one country. Anything happening where you are ?

Like Hummingbird I am reading the book 'Pure White and deadly' and although I've always been aware that sugar is not the healthiest thing you can ingest, by far,it has only been in the last year or so that I have made a supreme effort to reduce my intake of it by a greater degree. I love chocolate so I never thought I would find this easy and in the very beginning it wasn't but I now rarely eat it in spite of having a fridge full of it.

I do feel better, have more energy and feel that I've done myself a great big favour by limiting my sugar intake and like Chiso57 I eat natural fats.

Ballerina x

Hello

Thank you for all of your responses

I think I'm going to give a low-sugar life a go, but I anticipate it being a gradual change rather than going cold turkey as I a) have some things in my kitchen that contain sugar, like sweet chilli sauce, jams and I think I even have some custard powder somewhere... and as poor, lowly, PhD student I can't afford to be chucking perfectly usable food out and b) I'm not sure how sociable going without sugar is? I think sometimes I will consume it, e.g. If I'm at a dinner party and someone has made a lot of effort over a dessert, I'd feel really guilty, not to mention dull, turning it down.

From my (limited) reading, it does sound like living this way, eating some sugar very occasionally, possibly will make it a bit harder (having to ween myself off again after each 'hit'), but I think it might be more sustainable in terms of not being a pain to anyone else. I'm already veggie and feel really guilty (+ hugely appreciate it) when people cook a meal that I can eat, so asking people to start being sugar free may be a step to far. Cue turning into billy no mates .... I jest

I think I'll still have things like fruit and honey in moderation, but when sugar has been added as an ingredient I'll do what I can to give it a miss!

It will be interesting to see how it goes. I'm making an effort to eat less sugar already but will make a more concerted effort as of next week as I'm about to have 5 days of being with OH's family at a wedding.

H x

I have occassional sugar, as you say to be sociable, and don't find it hard to stay off it in-between times.

GoodLuck