I’ve been feeling pretty crap lately, and I don’t think it’s coincidental that I’ve been ingesting large amounts of sugar. I believe it’s disrupting my sleep. However, I can’t really imagine my life without it. It’s a part of how I cope with life. How I deal with stress and how I celebrate.
How did you do it? What is it like?
I don’t think for me there is any such thing as moderation.
Did you find that also to be the case?
Just looking for others’ experiences here. I’m thinking of giving abstinence a shot.
Moi aussi.
I just decided to throw away the Xmas candy and spend a week making sure every meal was healthy. Unfortunately for Mrs Cad she has a sugar addiction so easy for me, hard for her.
I gave up sugar, cold turkey, in August of 2005, when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
Sometimes, it’s pretty easy. Other times, it’s danged challenging. I still really miss orange juice, donuts, Oreos, Kit Kats, M&Ms, etc., though the worst of the cravings for those did subside with time.
I now allow myself a very small amount every once in a while, such as a fun-size Kit Kat at Halloween. But, overall, I did adapt. The reality of “get your blood sugar in order, or things like amputation and blindness may be in your future” was pretty motivating.
My Aunt was recently diagnosed with Type II and I know the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. So I’ve been thinking about my potential future a lot.
But mostly I’m just. So. Freaking. Stressed. And willing to try anything that might help.
I have always had a pretty big sweet tooth. At one point I did give it up entirely for a while…wasn’t easy, but I started to notice how some foods tasted sweeter, like carrots for example, and other healthy foods tasted better too, and the cravings subsided easier.
I then started just moderating, but now rarely have sweets, and when I do, they taste horribly sweet to me. If I’m feeling a sweet tooth coming on, I drink a cup of herbal tea (like ginger, or sometimes licorice) which seems to satisfy me just fine.
As far as how I felt getting sugar out of my diet, once those cravings subsided, I started feeling better…I had better energy, and I didn’t get as hungry as often either. Not sure how it affected my sleep though, but I’m sure it helped.
ETA: a bit of caution regarding licorice root…it’s advised to avoid if you have high BP, but if your BP is fine, and you like the taste of licorice, it’s pretty sweet and can satisfy a sweet craving. I only drink it now and again, but I love it.
I was diagnosed with prediabetes a year ago and went on a major sugar- (and other carb)-reduction plan to attempt to reverse that before it becomes full blown diabetes. I have not gone full sugar elimination, just reduction, probably by about 75%. I’ve been pretty successful with that over the last year, including adding exercise. My A1C has gone down and I’ve lost 20 lbs.
One of my strategies has been to find a sugar substitute that I can work with in a variety of ways. For me, that’s been erythritol/monk fruit. I’ve been using this brand in my tea and for some baking as well. I’ve tried some keto baking mixes as well, like some no-sugar chocolate cake mix. I’ve also been adding more fiber to my diet to help even out any blood sugar spikes.
I’ve been making my own hot chocolate with straight cocoa powder + the fake sugar and vanilla extract and it’s quite good. 0 added sugar and even has a couple grams of fiber.
I hardly ever eat sugar. I don’t miss it at all. The older I get, the less I like sweetness. I prefer salty nowadays.
When I want a little sweetness, like in oatmeal or tea, I use a little Splenda, which to me is an acceptable substitute, but other people prefer other sugar substitutes. And I’ll add a tiny bit of dark muscovado sugar to my oatmeal, as it packs a ton of dark sugar flavor into a small amount of sugar. I do eat sugar occasionally in other forms like balsamic glaze.
I have a Sodastream, and sometimes use a non-sugar (Splenda) simple syrup to make slightly sweetened carbonated limeade or lemonade. I get it from a restaurant supply store. It’s called DaVinci sugar-free sweetening syrup, and Amazon carries it.
Decide you can’t have it then simply don’t eat it or anything containing it. Zero. After about 6 months you won’t miss it.
IMO any sugar substitute is a mistake. My concern is not that they are harmful chemicals (though some might be). The point is that IMO the only way you can stay off sugar for life is to eliminate the taste for it. Which you will make zero progress on if you’re continuing to feed your sweet tooth with the fake stuff.
Cut carbs. Sugar being one will be biggest if you’re that fond of it.
You’ll need some glucose. For muscle energy. And low glucose will make you feel very bad as well, and can kill you.
Get rid of the sweet foods, snacks and colas(the worst offender in my book). Keep juice for if you’re feeling glucose dropping. That’s a hard feeling to explain…clammy, flushed and cold at the same time is as near as I can come. Headache to follow.
Get a blood panel done. If you’re feeling really bad. You may be developing type 2. Believe me, catch it early if you can. If that’s what it is you’ll fare better knowing now.
Simple glycemic fluctuations are easier to deal with than Type 2 diabetes.
I gave up sugar on New Years. Kind of a resolution, but also/primarily because I figured it would be easy to track progress when starting on the first day of the first month that also happens to fall on a Monday.
I didn’t give up carbs. I still allow myself fruit and veggies and dairy and bread and pasta, but I’ve never been a big fan of those last two so those won’t really be an issue. Honey is also allowed but I very rarely eat that so, again, won’t be much of an issue.
What I did give up was simple carbs and sugar. So no candy, sweets, cookies, cake, ice cream, and similar junk. I’m a T2 diabetic and while I gave up a lot of that stuff when I was diagnosed, I didn’t give it all up / go cold turkey. Now I have.
I told my wife I would allow myself a treat when we went on a date night or on my birthday. So I might have some cake or ice cream 3-4 times a year. Those will be my only exceptions.
Its actually been laughably easy. Granted, its been only a week, but still I’ve had no cravings and I’ve not really been tempted to replace sweets with a substitute. There’s various sweets in the house and I’ve not been jonesing in any way. If anything I’m finding myself shying away from some of the overly artificially sweetened stuff I used to avail myself to. For instance, I was in the habit of drinking PowerAide Zero with some regularity during the day and last week found myself only wanting water or tea (which I drink with Splenda or, if drinking a green tea of chamomile, I take just plain). I’m keeping an eye out for LaCroix sales because Beef jerky and mixed nuts make a fine afternoon snack, as does yogurt, grapes, and berries. I think eating sweets was, for me, a habit thing more than a craving thing.
I quit smoking in 2007 and found it easy to do as well. Maybe I’m just wired weird.
Not sure this is information you are looking for, but if you buy really good coffee, or tea, you will not be tempted to mask the taste with sugar.
If, and based on your post it appears you do, find yourself addicted to it (same goes for booze, or anything), then obviously don’t buy or eat any. Like, literally do not have any around the house.
I don’t really have cravings for sugar. I’m livelong T1.
But I do crave some of the nostalgia for eating the fun snacky foods, like my sibs sucked up as children.
I’ve never more than sipped a cola and I find it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
My problem is amounts. I’m at the point now where everything is measured and weighed and timed. You don’t wanna get to that place. It’s very frustrating. A half of a banana is just curse worthy.
Huh! I’m gonna have to do a food journal. My first reaction when reading the op was, “I don’t eat a lot of sugar,” but thinking about it further, that’s just not true and I’m not really sure how much of the stuff I eat.
Unfortunately cola is one of my weaknesses. I freaking love the stuff.
For me, artificial sweeteners are definitely out. I’ve yet to find one that doesn’t upset my stomach, and consuming them feels just enough like sugar to trigger my desire for more food. I read somewhere that sugar primes you to feast.
I think to begin with, I’m going to eliminate any food whose primary purpose is to deliver sugar. That means no candy, soda, pie, chocolate, etc. I would still eat my morning protein waffles which have some added sugar. We’ll see how that goes.
I had an appointment scheduled for this last Tuesday, but I got COVID. Sufficed to say I’m going in for my (four years overdue) annual soon. I think my bad feeling is sugary foods combined with not enough sleep, but I will check myself out to be sure.
Well, we can try it together! I think it will be easy at first because I’ll feel better. The hard part will be when I am feeling better convincing myself a little won’t hurt here and there.
Good luck!
I have been drinking hot tea lately, no sugar, and I’ll keep up that habit every time I crave sugar.
It is remarkable how effective that is. Strong recommend.
Just the “Oh crap, if I eat that cookie then I have to write it down” effect is a strong deterrent. And once you’ve been good for a week, say, breaking that streak seems like a shame. Pretty soon that week is a month. The “don’t break my streak” effect only gets stronger as it gets longer.
I’ve done keto a couple times to lose weight, so I have gone without sugar for long periods.
I am not much of a ‘sweet tooth’ guy so I didn’t miss sugar too much, but I would occasionally get a hankering for something sweet. I don’t trust conventional sweeteners like aspartame, because, among other reasons (not the least of which is the nasty aftertaste), i think they ‘trick’ the body into thinking that actual sugar is being ingested, and releasing insulin (I am not a nutritional scientist, I’m just going by things i’ve heard or read, so take that with a grain of salt). So I used stevia and monkfruit for my coffee, the only daily thing I like a little bit of sweetness in.
Every great once in awhile I’d feel like something more dessert-like. For that i used erythritol, which comes in a granulated form like sugar, is good for baking, and tastes remarkably like real sugar in baked goods. So I’d make keto brownies or some surprisingly good homemade keto ice cream. But then reports came out that showed an association with erythritol and blot clot formation. So no more erythritol for me. YMMV-- my sister still uses erythritol and is not worried about the reports.
Someone in another thread here recommended allulose for a baking-friendly sugar substitute. I’ve tried it and it also makes some very tasty keto brownies and ice cream, but I found that large quantities like I’d ingest in a bowl of keto ice cream causes me some digestive discomfort. So I’m limiting allulose to a half teaspoon in my coffee with a couple drops of liquid monkfruit extract-- the combo comes closest to me to tasting like real sugar. I also use liquid stevia for some things, but the black licorice-like aftertaste means I only like it in certain things-- as a simple syrup substitute in mixed drinks it’s ok, but not coffee. Also, if you do get stevia or monkfruit, get the liquid extract-- the powdered form has erythritol added as a bulking agent.
Plain carbonated water is pretty good (and available from a variety of different mineral water sources and hence flavours: more salty, less salty, more alkaline, less alkaline…) if you love that fizz. Definitely no fluorescent raspberry flavour or corn syrup…
Beef jerky and mixed nuts make a fine afternoon snack, as does yogurt, grapes, and berries. I think eating sweets was, for me, a habit thing more than a craving thing.