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Author
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Topic: I Want To Go Off of Sugar!
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Nephthys
Moderator Posts: 1141
From: California
Registered: Oct 2001
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posted May 14, 2004 11:17 PM
 
Every day I want to go off of sugar. Every day I have a struggle because of temptation, low willpower and cravings. Sometimes I can be good all day but then after dinner,..........look out!!!!  My Chiropractor is all holistic and said, "don't buy it". Yeah, well easier said than done when you live with other people who buy it. I know what is right to eat etc., but how do I psyche myself not to eat the items with sugar? For example, I went off of chocolate last November and I don't have any problem with that, because in my mind, chocolate = migraine. It was great going off of chocolate, because it eliminates a lot of things I can't eat. I love cookies the most, my downfall. Anybody would you like to give me any advice or secrets? Thanks.    IP: Logged |
TINK
Knowflake Posts: 638
From: New England
Registered: Mar 2003
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posted May 14, 2004 11:49 PM
Nephthys  If you figure it out please share. I've been trying for years. Red meat, white meat, cigarettes, alcohol - quit them all with no real problem. But sugar I just can't seem to master. Why is it so hard? IP: Logged |
Nephthys
Moderator Posts: 1141
From: California
Registered: Oct 2001
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posted May 15, 2004 12:03 AM
My Chiro says he buys the Panda natural licorice at Whole Foods, and dried fruit. When he wants a sweet, he *sucks* on some dried fruit (not chew, to make it last longer and I guess "suck" out the sugah)  He said one night he had guests over and served the organic baby carrots for snack. HA HA HA He said they said, "what is this cr*p!?" He tells me to eat the baby organic carrots and no-salt popcorn for my after dinner snack. Yeah, like that's going to satisfy those cravings. I eat those carrots with my lunch every day. I've been buying yummy fruits from the farmers market. We have the yummiest cherries and strawberries. But when I want a cookie, I WANT A COOKIE! IP: Logged |
TINK
Knowflake Posts: 638
From: New England
Registered: Mar 2003
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posted May 15, 2004 12:18 AM
Is this man human?IP: Logged |
pixelpixie
Knowflake Posts: 2471
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted May 15, 2004 02:57 AM
My friday night, satisfied, drunk self says.~ what about stevia? You can have the sweet taste, but substitute stevia for sugar. Applesauce ( fructose) sweetened cookies.. my friend has this great whole food pumpkin sweetened cookie recipe, she got it from a "kids healthy cookbook"... Maybe I will get the recipe. Yeah right.. easier said than done. I love sugar. mmmmmmmmmmm chocolate....... but you know, I am trying to help.. everyone needs a little cookie.IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 17535
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted May 15, 2004 03:50 AM
Even Linda had to have her mouse cookies.  ------------------
"Never mentally imagine for another that which you would not want to experience for yourself, since the mental image you send out inevitably comes back to you." Rebecca Clark IP: Logged |
trillian
Moderator Posts: 1826
From: The Boundless
Registered: Mar 2003
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posted May 15, 2004 08:59 AM
I'm with pixel, I use stevia a lot.I avoid sugar, eat it only rarely, but no hard and fast rules. At a wedding, if there's cheesecake, I indulge. It is hard, because sugar is a hidden ingredient in so many things. Having tomato sauce when out to dinner? Chances are, there's sugar in it, used to reduce acidity. I love natural candies that I get at the health food store, made with carob and nuts and greens...they're yummy. Now when I do eat sugar, those things taste too sweet to me. Take your time. Avoid sugar, and in time, you will probably lose your taste for it. Good Luck! IP: Logged |
Nephthys
Moderator Posts: 1141
From: California
Registered: Oct 2001
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posted May 15, 2004 03:15 PM
 Is stevia natural? I don't use any of those chemical junks like aspartame or sweet-n-low. For example, sugarless gum is full of chemicals. (fake stuff) IP: Logged |
pixelpixie
Knowflake Posts: 2471
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted May 16, 2004 07:18 PM
Stevia is natural, which is why I suggested it in the first place.( I think it is from a tree?) When I wanted to lose weight after my last pregnancy, I grabbed Suzanne Somer's books. I followed most of her guidelines, as they made sense to me.. (with my own indulgences for my happiness and sanity) I, unfortunately, got in the habit of using artificial sweetener, but it is simply habit, and readily available.
You can buy powdered fructose, and such at health food stores.. but it is sugar.. just unrefined.... not like the granulated sugarcane stuff.. it's still all sugar though.
Suzanne Somers has a product ( last I heard) she dubbed "somersweet" it is all natural, and a healthful alternative to sugar, and won't be stored as pesky fat.
I haven't seen it in Canada, but then, I haven't been ardently looking, although I should. You probably have it available where you are though....
Hey, I am gonna google it. Why not?!IP: Logged |
pixelpixie
Knowflake Posts: 2471
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted May 16, 2004 07:22 PM
Here's info.... http://www.suzannesomers.com/Products/tapes/Somerswt.asp IP: Logged |
Nephthys
Moderator Posts: 1141
From: California
Registered: Oct 2001
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posted May 16, 2004 08:42 PM
I buy Organic Cane Juice crystals in place of sugar for baking, but I really don't need a "sweetener" for anything. If I make oatmeal I use honey for the sweetener. Today we bought some gorgeously delicious dried plums from the farmers market, in addition to fresh cherries, strawberries, peaches, apples, etc.  So let's see if I can avoid those cookies tonight Will check out Suzanne's link Thanks IP: Logged |
divinia
Knowflake Posts: 250
From: The Crossroads of America
Registered: Mar 2003
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posted May 17, 2004 10:03 AM
Dear Nephthys:I have almost no willpower right now and am pretty much addicted to sugar. I find that drinking black coffee helps to curb my cravings somewhat. I'm not sure how. ------------------
Sincerely,
divinia What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness? -- Jean-Jacques Rousseau IP: Logged |
ariestiger
Knowflake Posts: 124
From: UK
Registered: Jan 2004
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posted May 30, 2004 04:16 PM
You need to fill up on carbohydrates. Lots of grains etc., nuts and seeds, vegetables, fish, meat etc., some fruit but no more than 3 pieces a day.
I recently had a Food Sensitivity Test done as I suspected systemic candida, turned out I was dead right, I can't eat sugar or any very sweet or fermented products, i.e. honey, molasses, soy sauce, tofu, yeast & yeast products, yoghurt, cheeses (but I'm okay with milk and butter), mushrooms, tomatoes, bananas, oranges, most alcoholic drinks, chocolate and coffee. Symptoms of the candida do come back if I eat any of the abovementioned foods.
I was told that to get rid of the candida completely I would have to go on this REALLY draconian diet which would have excluded fruit and so barred me from one of my supreme pleasures in life, strawberries and cream, for anything from 3 months up to 3 years, and that a reoccurrence of the candida might still occur at any time after that. At that point, I decided to draw the line. I dug my heels in and thought, NO WAY am I going on the full-blown candida diet, life's too short. I was told in no uncertain terms by people familiar with the condition that I'd never get rid of it unless I followed the candida diet, but I still thought, well, I have the power to make a choice here. And why, I thought, SHOULD I necessarily go on an anti-candida diet and torment myself for ages, just so I could resume eating junk food again when the condition had cleared up? I became rather fed up with practitioners, whether from the conventional side of medicine or otherwise, telling me one thing and another, as if it was obligatory that I had to follow whatever course of action they suggested. Since I like to delve into these things, and question practitioners, I wasn't convinced that some of them necessarily had the authority to prescribe the right course of action for me.
So, I have opted to control the candida rather than kill it outright, by viewing the changes in my diet as a "diet for life". People think I'm crazy but I am actually quite comfortable now with NOT eating sugar, I find I can do without it.
Cutting out sugar and very sweet foods DOES make an awful lot of sense. I am trying to follow a diet similar to a "prehistoric" diet, I suppose you could say, eating everything in its freshest state possible, and excluding the abovementioned foods - because, after all, prehistoric man did not have an awful lot of sugar in his diet - fruit wasn't even as readily available as it is today. So the amount of sugar we consume in our modern diets is way in excess of what we need.
I used to be addicted to bananas, I felt the need to eat at least one or two a day, and used to pig out on dried fruit or chocolate if it was available. In my case, I was feeding the candida. As the candida diminished as I excluded these foods, so too did my cravings. Now, I no longer feel the need to eat between meals or "snack". PLus, although already skinny, I have lost ALL of what flab there was on my thighs, and don't need to exercise to maintain my figure - all I need to do is go out for long walks. Maybe with someone with a fuller figure the results would be even more dramatic. My dental hygienist told me of a woman on a full candida diet who had lost 3 stone in 9 months - and who had reduced occurrence of gingivitis (as I had). Reason: NO SUGAR.
So persevere! (Maybe get a Food Sensitivity Test done, like I did - they're pretty accurate.)
AriesTigerIP: Logged |
ariestiger
Knowflake Posts: 124
From: UK
Registered: Jan 2004
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posted May 30, 2004 04:31 PM
Oh - BTW -
My husband does the shopping and cooking. He is quite good about it, and buys a lot of stuff for me, but also a lot of stuff for himself - like cheese-flavoured crisps, chocolate, alcohol, fudge brownies...
If I get a craving - I just think of the symptoms I get, and think NO, I MUST BE GOOD. I often ask my husband, can I have one of your chocolates, and he says NO in no uncertain terms. I ask him several times, do the little-girly "please" thing and he still says NO. Then I say, no, well, I suppose it wouldn't be such a good idea, and leave off.
Other people are not so helpful. I try to tell them I'm on this diet, I have made lists of what I can't eat, yet they still PERSIST in saying, oh well, would you like some salad dressing? yes, it's got vinegar in it... would you like some sugar?chocolate? etc.??? go on, just have a little, it won't hurt you, and I think, look, I am not fooling around here, your health might not be an issue to you, mine is to me, and that's where we both obviously differ.
My aunt is the type that will eat a monster bar of chocolate, or a whole bowl of sugar. She is very large for her height, and showing symptoms of diabetes. My mother, on the other hand, has had lifelong problems with anorexia, and virtually lives on vitamin pills. You do not need to be either way. A healthy diet, of the type I described in my last post (plus milk is fine, you need the calcium), is perfectly adequate. And BTW, I don't believe in vitamin supplements either, I think the concentrations are far too high, and probably damaging to health in the long run.
Excuse me for sounding a little opinionated here...but I really FEEL strongly about people eating a good diet...
AriesTigerIP: Logged |
Nephthys
Moderator Posts: 1141
From: California
Registered: Oct 2001
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posted May 30, 2004 04:37 PM
Dear AriesTiger,I have always thought I might have the Candida. So a food sensitivity test is what showed that you have it? Wow, going off fruit in the summer would be really hard for me. We just bought the yummiest plump golden rainier cherries from the farmers market. It's not fair that you can't have natural fruit. I also love apples and strawberries.  and apricots and nectarines. and watermelons and cantaloupes. I do eat a lot of complex carbohydrates like brown rice and oats, and sprouted grain bread. I buy Ezekiel bread. I do eat raw nuts. Last night I made some vegan cookies and instead of sugar used real maple syrup and honey. They turned out excellent. Anyhow thanks for all your info! IP: Logged |
ariestiger
Knowflake Posts: 124
From: UK
Registered: Jan 2004
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posted May 31, 2004 04:39 AM
Hi Nephthys,
Yeah, the food sensitivity test pretty much showed it up. I am sensitive to all the foods that aggravate Candida, and found that when I cut them out my symptoms disappeared. That's not to say that the candida has disappeared completely, but it's nice not to have to deal with the symptoms on a regular basis! Some women can have symptomless candida, so it might be a good idea to have a test done, do the recommended diet, adn see how you get on.
Oh - I forgot - you can't eat bread on this diet either. Not with yeast, no sourdough, not made from sprouted grains either. People ask me what I eat, but I manage well on Ryvita and puffed corn thins. You don't notice the absence of bread after a while. I don't know how the Mongolians cope, they seem to live on about four variations of fermented mare's milk!!!
I couldn't exist without fruit either though, I would be completely behind advocating as natural a diet as possible. I personally would say that it's okay to eat fruit, but perhaps to limit yourself to no more than 2-3 pieces of fruit per day. (You really have to MAKE yourself do this!!!)
Good luck -
AriesTiger IP: Logged |
Nephthys
Moderator Posts: 1141
From: California
Registered: Oct 2001
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posted June 08, 2004 01:01 PM
Just wanted to give an update; I've been doing better to cut out sugar. I've been using honey and pure maple syrup when needed for sweets. I found some cookies at Whole Foods made with honey and maple syrup, and some chewy granola type bars made with only honey. AriesTiger, thanks for all the info IP: Logged |
Nephthys
Moderator Posts: 1141
From: California
Registered: Oct 2001
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posted June 08, 2004 01:02 PM
OH! Forgot to mention, organic apple sauce (without any sugar, of course) is really good after dinner when you want a dessert! IP: Logged |
loe
Knowflake Posts: 12
From: stockholm, sweden
Registered: May 2003
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posted June 08, 2004 03:09 PM
Hi Nephthys
It s not so easy in life when you re trying to beat unhealthy habits and cravings. But everything is possible if you really want. You have to learn to say NO. And as you say no over end over again, to sugar in this case, your body will loose it s sugarcravings, or at least have a more healty need for sugar. I remember once when I was serving food to a diabetic (I didn t no he was) and he couldn t almost eat the food because it was to sweet. I had only added a little bit of sugar to the sauce, and a "normal" person wouldn t react, but as he was used to no sugar, it tasted to sweet. What i want to tell you with this story is that, if you cut down your sugarintake you will get more sensetive to the sweet taste. Wish you good luck.IP: Logged |
Nephthys
Moderator Posts: 1141
From: California
Registered: Oct 2001
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posted June 08, 2004 09:02 PM
Thank YouIP: Logged | |
Lindaland
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