Stop SUGAR Support Thread

Cherilynn64

Wow, Kaara, I'm glad you posted that - I was starting to wonder if I was crazy, ha! I'm thinking, I'm making diluted lemonade, no sugar added....water and lemon....and I don't have a sugar craving. Weirdness! But hey, works for you and me, so who says we're not on to something? :-)

Kaara

Lemon purifies the liver so maybe that has something to do with it.  We are detoxing our systems of all the sugar we've had over the years.

AmyIsStrong

I am back on the bandwagon. It has been a bad few months in terms of sugar for me. How much do I wish I could be one of the people who can eat just a little. But alas, that's not how I am.

I have been taking 1000 mg chromium picolinate at the suggestion of someone on this thread (I think) and it helps very much. Also, now that it's been a week or so without eating anything sweet at night (which is my ONLY time I struggle with this), I am thinking about it much less.

I bought a new kind of herb tea - it's called something like 'gingersnap' and has a ginger/lemon taste and it is helping a lot.

I definitely sleep better/feel better when I am 'off' sugar.  Hope I can remember that.   

Kaara

AmyIsStrong:  Good for you!  The longer you avoid the sugar, the less you will crave it.

Anonymous

AmylsStrong- It's encouraging to hear the chromium picolinate (how about we call it CP?) works!  That was on my shopping list today!

OK, my DH (God love him) knows I've been struggling with the weight thing and the sugar thing so decides to surprise me with........(wait for it).....a pint of Ben & Jerry's.  I just looked at him and said, "You're killing me here!"  Poor guy looked like a deer in the headlights.  I truly think he didn't get it.  So now I've spelled it out- Please don't bring sugar into the house unless it's for you and you lock it up in your workshop!   

Kaara

Kaate33:  The mean well, but they are clueless!  Give him a book or article to read on how sugar feeds cancer so he will understand why you can't partake.

Moonflower83

Great thread!

I have to join, I try to reduce sugar as much as I can. I don´t sweeten my tea or coffee, sometimes I just add agave syrup if I need it to be sweeter. Then I try not to buy sweets at all so there is no possibility to eat candy if I don´t want to leave the house  :-)

Sometimes it is very hard especially when I´m invited or at the mall. So I allow myself to eat sweets/candy/cake at the weekends, but not too much of course. Otherwise I could not manage it.

AmyIsStrong

I have been getting any treats/snacks for my DH of only stuff I don't like so it doesn't tempt me.  He loves his ice cream, but that really doesn't 'call out' to me much so he can get what he wants. For a while I was baking on Sundays so we'd have snacks (semi-healthy oatmeal cookies and stuff) for during the week. But they are WAY too easy to reach for, and then one becomes four and that is BAD.

So no more baking unless it is something to take out of the house. I love to bake, so whenever we go to a tailgate or potluck or party, I always volunteer to do the dessert and then do something decadent. Then, if I really want, I can have ONE piece and leave the rest there. 

I remember when I had trick/treaters at my previous house, I used to get Reese's cups b/c I don't like them. That way they wouldn't tempt me.  But at our house now, we get NO kids and if we do buy candy, we end up eating it all. So now we don't even buy one bag. 

Kate - I do think our men want to make us happy, and they (sometimes) think short-term rather than long-term. So to him, the ice cream was probably a nice gesture.  Hopefully now that you've made it CLEAR, he will go along. Good for you for resisting. I did laugh a little imagining the look on his face though. 

Anonymous

Amy- Who said I resisted?  LOL!

Lilah

LOL Kate!

Cherilynn64

Amy welcome back and Moonflower welcome aboard.....i'm 6 weeks at no white sugar overall and no cokes and I'm doing ok...it's hard, but I do find it got much easier after a couple weeks. Sugar junkie my entire life, it's tough to give up! Good luck!

Kaara

Last evening I had a couple of bites of carrot cake (healthy...right?) and had such dreams last night that I knew it must have been from the sugar overload!  Was it worth it...yeah!

Cherilynn64

You go girl ;-D  Once in a while is a nice reward! But I have been off sugar now 2 months and I am just waiting for that first cookie or cupcake to go booooing myself, ha!

Kay_G

I stopped sugar many months back. Haven't had a diet coke since March. I think getting off it made the sugar cravings go away. Now I can actually eat it once in a while, but not go over board and I really think it's due to giving up the diet coke. I was addicted, probably had about four a day. I've lost 35 pounds and now for the first time in my life, doctor is actually telling me I should gain a little weight. Feels unnatural.

Kaara

Kay:  Amazing what just dropping the sugar can do...I've lost about 20 pounds but I gave up white carbs as well.  What is it they say..."you can't be too rich or too thin"....lol.  I think it's ok as long as you are healthy.

Kay_G

I reduced white carbs a lot too. That probably had as much or more to do with the weight loss as the sugar. And I am exercising. I think the ps is worried I'll lose the new breast since it's made of tummy fat if I lose any more. She doesn't want to see her hard work ruined. LOL

LuvRVing

Kay - that is the one thing about DIEP reconstruction...those breasts will fluctuate in size as you gain or lose weight.  I have worked to gain back what I lost during chemo (about 5 pounds).  Now I need to stay about the same until August when I have my recon surgery.  It's going to be a balancing act, but I will probably allow myself a couple of small ice cream cones now that warm weather has arrived.

Anonymous

Was it this thread where someone recommended the app "My Fitness Pal"? It is awesome! It's free and really easy to use. You enter your goals, your food and exercise for the day and it tells you if you're on track. I find I'm rethinking my food choices now that I'm accountable to someone- even if it's just my IPad. LOL! You can even share info with other friends trying to do the same thing.



Question for everyone- I keep hearing that Stevia is ok as far as artificial sweeteners go. Is it any better or worse than all the others? I can't quite give up a little sweetness in my tea in the morning. Is it better to just do regular sugar, and a few extra calories, than artificial stuff? Or is Stevia considered "natural"?

Kaara

Stevia is ok according to all my sources.  I use it in my tea.  Use it sparingly though, because too much and it can taste bitter...at least it does to me.

goforhope2011

Hi you all,  I second what Kaara wrote.  I use Stevia and it is tasty. I believe it is a plant.

But, I have a 'normal' friend who didn't like it--she is hyper organic and she mentioned the bitter taste. 

But some people use it in baking et al.  For me, it is a great substitute cause I can't take artificial sweetners.  My digestive tract doesn't like them!

Cheers, Hope

AmyIsStrong

So two good breakthroughs for me on this never-ending battle - thought I'd share.

Two nights ago I made DH a bowl of vanilla ice cream with sliced strawberries and whipped cream on top. I was somewhat tempted, but I kept thinking about how bad the hot flashes are at night when I eat sugar in the evening. And then suddenly it wasn't so hard to skip.  I made a cup of apple cinnamon herb tea (no sugar) and sipped on that, and I was FINE.

Then today, trip to Trader Joes (it is far from us, so when I am in near it, I stop in) - DH wanted something chocolate from there, so I bought their peanut butter cups.  I HATE peanut butter so they won't tempt me AT ALL.   

Feeling happy about those two accomplishments. And neither was THAT hard - it just is a matter of making up my mind, I guess.

Keep on, ladies! 

(Edited because I can't spell!) 

Anonymous

Amy- I didn't realize there was a sugar/hot flash connection.  Now I'm going to be even more diligent about the late night snacking and see if things improve.  Thanks and way to go with the willpower!

Kaara

Hummm...I didn't know about the sugar connection either.  That might explain why I had hot flashes the other night after I ate some dried apricots.  They do have sugar in them.  The real test will be tonight because we went out for my boyfriend's birthday dinner and I had a glass of champagne and some sosrbet for dessert:(

Lilah

Kate - yes I recommended the app.  I use it to track calories and carbs... and, really, any app will do that.  I think the act of having to write it down makes you really think about what you eat... and it becomes a fun game to control what you eat, etc.  Plus mine also allowed me to set goals, etc.  Glad you are liking it!

Anonymous

Lilah- Thanks for the recommendation.  It's been a real eye opener!  Not just with sugar but everything.  I never really gave much thought to what I ate, or the calorie count, but now that I am- YIKES!  Just had dinner and still have 400 calories before I hit my goal.  Woo hoo!

Cherilynn64

I tried coconut sugar to substitute for white sugar and made a banana bread with blueberries I tossed in. It is actually very moist and good and I couldn't really tell much of a difference with the diffeternt sugar. I think it's a little heavier flavor but it's tasty and I was like, cool, more options!

My problem is I need to GAIN weight, and since the cancer I have completely changed my diet. Unfortinately all the carbs and white pasta and white bread and Dr Pepper and junk food kept weight on me...now that I'm eating lots of fruit and salads and veggies and less bread and pasta and very little sugar, I can't gain any weight. I'm adding hemp protein powder to smoothies but other than that I'm not sure what to do to put weight back on. 

Kaara

Well ladies...there is definitely a connection between sugar consumption and hot flashes.  After my glass of champagne and dessert last evening, I was awake several times with hot flashes...kicking the covers off and on!  It may not have been worth it to have the sweets:(

edited for typo 

AmyIsStrong

I had read about the connection btw hot flashes and sugar consumption on this board somewhere. And since then I have really noticed it. 

Lilah

Cheri -- wow I wish I had your problem (I have NEVER had the problem of needing to gain weight).  I should think the high calorie foods that aren't white?  Like, for example, whole wheat pasta... or avocados come to mind.  Things that are high in fat, basically.  I wonder if it would help you to see a nutritionist for better advice?  (I know this advice is probably pretty poor).

Cherilynn64

Lilah, that's not poor advice and it's something I have already thought of. We have a lot of naturopathic doctors due to a naturpoathic college here, and I got a recommendation today for a specific one who deals with breast cancer. My genetics is all thin family members and until the cancer I ate anything I wanted. But I'm glad I'm eating healthier - and I LOVE pasta and have tried the whole wheat kind and it wasn't bad, so I'll load up on that again and see what happens. And then hopefully the ND will have some nutrional advice.