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Hello TL.
I generally don't think much about the food that I eat, but lately I've been getting mood swings and stomach cramps/aches. This has been to the point where I feel I must do something about it myself.
This blog serves as an initiative to share with someone my attempt to find a way of living without sugar. In terms of actually achieving that, I am not far off already. I lead a pretty healthy lifestyle (apart from a lack of socializing and sitting in front of the computer) which relies on a lot of good foods. However, my family (dad and mom) has a history of food allergy which literally plagues one's moods and daily living. I have begun to experience this over the past few years myself, and want to do something about it. There are many options, but the most immediate involves myself taking action to give up sugar.
The curfew as it were will be structured along a month's length, from now until the 23rd of March. During this time I will not eat anything that contains sugar. Just thinking of the foods I normally eat, I basically must find alternatives to all of them, regular bread being the most obvious and difficult exclusion.
At this point my staple food to fall back on will be rice. I'm not an expert on food but I can eat just about anything that will help me stabilise on a sugar-free diet. I also have a good stock of vegetables to eat, and of course I will be eating meat in the evenings.
So I'll be updating this post once a week with my experiences.
Thank you and here's to another goal.
Edit: To clarify, the kinds of sugars I will be avoiding include all added sugars. As Excomm said, these are things like sucrose, fructose and dextrose. These are the main culprits.
Basically, this means I can eat fruit. Also, I have been eating brown rice thx Uranium.
Week 1
+ Show Spoiler +The first thing I noticed undertaking this was the heavy food cravings at night. Even if supper was a good meal, half an hour later I would feel really hungry. I had noticed this before but not to its extent, as previously I would just eat some more  . That took about 4-5 days to wear off. I also in general felt pretty shitty. Not lacking in energy per se, but craving and aching. Also, I never knew boerewors (SA equivalent of sausage) contained sugar! This is like my favourite food. There are probably places that will do it without, but I put my foot down in this instance to eat some on Friday night. Aside from that and some homemade pizza (the tomato sauce had added sugar, lol confessions), I've been eating mostly rice and vegetables in the afternoon, fruit in the morning and meat, rice and veg in the evening. Also, popcorn... A week later I'm feeling pretty good. A lack of sugar has definately cleared my thinking, thanks to fewer mood swings, but I think I need to incorperate more veg into my afternoon meals, since rice ain't cutting it.
Week 2
+ Show Spoiler +
It feels amazing to say that I have already completed two weeks of this challenge. The last few days were quite difficult. I was not sure how I felt or whether diet change was working at all, but today I feel so much better than the same time a week ago.
My cravings for sugar-based foods at this point are just about zero.
 
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Hong Kong9154 Posts
On February 24 2012 01:55 Grumbels wrote:
Bread has sugar?
Yes, it's part of most, if not all, bread recipes.
OP, you should add anything that contains High Fructose Corn Syrup; more things use that than sugar, and it's probably uniquely worse.
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I would avoid using the term sugar since there are sugars in almost anything you eat (ex. rice is almost entirely made up of carbohydrates). I understand what you are trying to cut out of your diet though. Foods with added sugar for sweetener (fructose, dextrose, etc.) can cause things like mood swings, headaches and upset stomach.
As someone who has been trying to eat less "processed" food myself my best advice is to go with dark colored fruits and vegetables as well as milk with whole grains to fill me up. Fish is also very good in moderation. You should also try to observe what time of day you are not feeling well because changing the times and amounts you eat can also affect how you feel during the day. Good luck with your diet plan!
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United States24700 Posts
I think you need to eat some 'sugar' in order to get the nutrients you need, but most people eat way too much. If you look at the labels of everything and add up the grams of sugar, the amount a healthy person should have is ~40 grams/day. I find it difficult to stick to that sometimes though (1 can of soda alone is your day's sugar :p)
Sugar from fruit is less problematic than refined sugar.
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Does your pretty healthy lifestyle involve exercise? If it doesn't it's not really healthy regardless of what you eat.
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On February 24 2012 01:59 itsjustatank wrote:Yes, it's part of most, if not all, bread recipes.
Not really =( For example, in France for bread to be termed 'French bread', it is required that only water, yeast, flour, and salt be used in the recipe. Please don't misinform. There are plenty of breads that would be allowed.
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This goal is so easy. Just use splenda and drink diet sodas.
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Drink water.
Eat greens and fruits for your carbs and source of energy. Feel better than most people.
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FYI white rice is almost as bad for you as bread and sugar, consisting of simple carbs which are easy for your body to break down. If you want to eat healthy, you need to be eating brown rice.
I also decided to give up sugar and other simple carbs a while back, and now I just eat Chipotle twice a day. Brown rice + beans + meat + vegetables... one burrito is a complete meal and good for me too. Obviously the tortilla has some amount of processed carb calories but it's insignificant in the whole.
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On February 24 2012 02:17 willll wrote:Show nested quote +On February 24 2012 01:59 itsjustatank wrote:On February 24 2012 01:55 Grumbels wrote:
Bread has sugar? Yes, it's part of most, if not all, bread recipes. Not really =( For example, in France for bread to be termed 'French bread', it is required that only water, yeast, flour, and salt be used in the recipe. Please don't misinform. There are plenty of breads that would be allowed.
This is why I would avoid the term "sugar." Flour is another ingredient that has a very high carbohydrate (sugar) content. It is impossible to eat a sugar free diet unless you eat and drink nothing but foods made with chemically altered sugars (the ones present in "sugar free" products) which would mean you would be eating 100% processed foods. You can suffer the same "withdrawl" effects with chemically altered sugars that you can with naturally present sugars.
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On February 24 2012 02:28 matiK23 wrote:
Drink water.
Eat greens and fruits for your carbs and source of energy. Feel better than most people.
Fruit is completely full of sugar, eat oats for carbs.
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On February 24 2012 01:59 itsjustatank wrote:Yes, it's part of most, if not all, bread recipes. OP, you should add anything that contains High Fructose Corn Syrup; more things use that than sugar, and it's probably uniquely worse.
That's a North American thing. The rest of the world largely uses real sugar as a sweetener.
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On February 24 2012 02:43 Zurles wrote:Show nested quote +On February 24 2012 02:28 matiK23 wrote:
Drink water.
Eat greens and fruits for your carbs and source of energy. Feel better than most people. Fruit is completely full of sugar, eat oats for carbs.
Yes but they contain nutrients that are beneficial to one's health. If you're going to avoid sugar, avoid the processed crap.
+1 on the oats suggestion.
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I highly doubt you can go on a diet that's 100% sugar free. The better way is to limit the amount of sugar you consume each day, and if you can, lower it on a weekly basis.
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On February 24 2012 02:54 matiK23 wrote:Show nested quote +On February 24 2012 02:43 Zurles wrote:On February 24 2012 02:28 matiK23 wrote:
Drink water.
Eat greens and fruits for your carbs and source of energy. Feel better than most people. Fruit is completely full of sugar, eat oats for carbs. Yes but they contain nutrients that are beneficial to one's health. If you're going to avoid sugar, avoid the processed crap. +1 on the oats suggestion.
Agreed on the oats. I used to eat oats straight out of a can. Here's a link to the brand I ate: Link
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Hey OP, I must say I sympathize with your efforts. You see, we walk the same path. After starting university I started eating a lot more 'junkily' than I would have at home. Thing was that it was easier to get access to and dirt cheap. Also, I was a swimmer back in high school, so I was used to having to eat a large amount of carbs since competitive swimming is extremely energetically consuming, so I would get hungry easily and needed more nutritional satisfaction. But shortly afterwards I had a realization as to how much sugar I was actually eating. After I did some estimates, it turns out that I was eating about 120-150g of processed sugar a day.
Now, I'm not overweight at all, and I'm fit, but my whole life I've been deathly scared of ever getting diabetes, since if I did it would essentially put a stop to all my life's ambitions. So after I realized that I was really pushing myself with my sugar intake, I decided to change for the better. Since, I have only allowed myself a maximum of 30g of processed sugar a day (to put this in perspective an average can of soda contains about 42g of process sugars). Of course, this doesn't count fruits or vegetables, because natural sugars are a lot less stressful on your insulin response than processed sugars, such as high fructose corn syrup. Also, you need those foods for their nutritional value.
Ever since I underwent those changes in my diet, my life has drastically improved. Seriously. The first week was really hard, since I had huge cravings and desires and I even felt a little depressed. But after that, boy, was life great! Food tasted soooooo much better, I could taste new undertones that I couldn't taste when I was still on my sugar-laden diet. I felt A LOT less tired, which was almost to be expected because sugar gives highs and then lows. Overall, my mood was a lot more improved, and I felt happy more often. Best change of my life.
So yeah, OP, good luck on your journey! You will not regret it in the end, and hopefully your new found habits will carry on with you past that deadline!
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On February 24 2012 01:46 Cortza wrote:
I generally don't think much about the food that I eat, but lately I've been getting mood swings and stomach cramps/aches. This has been to the point where I feel I must do something about it myself.
What does this have to do with eating sugar? How is sugar consumption related to mood swings and stomach cramps? You could have an ulcer or worse, go to a doctor!
Also, much of the "information" that has been so far offered up are factoids. Yes, consuming large quantities of any simple sugar is bad for you as they are high in Calories. Taking in too many Calories on a daily basis obviously leads to weight gain, obesity, and many health conditions that research shows obesity can greatly increase the risk of. If this is what you are concerned about, then I agree lowering your consumption of sugars would reduce your daily caloric intake and can be beneficial.
But there is really no evidence that high fructose corn syrup (or any processed sugar) is any more unhealthy than sucrose. source There aren't really many confirmed unhealthy side effects of sucrose intake aside from increased Caloric intake; though tooth decay and increased triglycerides (something you probably don't have to worry about at your age) are among them. source
Basically limiting your intake of simple sugars is a good thing and can help you lose weight. But don't expect to become a picture of health without exercise and a good diet.
And for goodness sake, if you are getting regular stomach cramps GO SEE A DOCTOR!!!!!
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On February 24 2012 04:09 TheToast wrote:Show nested quote +On February 24 2012 01:46 Cortza wrote:
I generally don't think much about the food that I eat, but lately I've been getting mood swings and stomach cramps/aches. This has been to the point where I feel I must do something about it myself.
What does this have to do with eating sugar? How is sugar consumption related to mood swings and stomach cramps? You could have an ulcer or worse, go to a doctor! Also, much of the "information" that has been so far offered up are factoids. Yes, consuming large quantities of any simple sugar is bad for you as they are high in Calories. Taking in too many Calories on a daily basis obviously leads to weight gain, obesity, and many health conditions that research shows obesity can greatly increase the risk of. If this is what you are concerned about, then I agree lowering your consumption of sugars would reduce your daily caloric intake and can be beneficial. But there is really no evidence that high fructose corn syrup (or any processed sugar) is any more unhealthy than sucrose. source There aren't really many confirmed unhealthy side effects of sucrose intake aside from increased Caloric intake; though tooth decay and increased triglycerides (something you probably don't have to worry about at your age) are among them. sourceBasically limiting your intake of simple sugars is a good thing and can help you lose weight. But don't expect to become a picture of health without exercise and a good diet. And for goodness sake, if you are getting regular stomach cramps GO SEE A DOCTOR!!!!!
Thank god! Someone actually brings some relevant information. Where ever you have been getting your nutritional information from, stop it. Your body needs sugar, maybe not a lot but it does need some. You'd be stupid to avoid all sugar. Your problems may be a dietary issue, but perhaps it is reacting to other things that you are consuming. If you want to avoid health issues simply limit yourself in terms of junk food. No chips, no candy, no coke/pepsi. That's not to say you can't have a coke say once or twice a week but I can tell you regular consumption is definitely not helping your diet.
Also before you go and assume your problem is sugar or something else, go talk to someone who actually knows what the fuck they are talking about. See your doctor and tell them about your symptoms and they will recommend you to someone who specializes in dieting.
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EPT
