Kick the Sugar Habit

[wildbeast]

@Sailor Sam - I bet our taste buds also crave more sweet food regardless of where the sugar is coming from.  We're just wired to want sugar.  I've done a ketogenic diet in the past and did really well on it.  Unfortunately I fell off the wagon and went whole hog on sugar and carbs for a few years so now I'm back to square one.  I'd love to hear about your daily meals if you don't mind sharing.

Yesterday was my most challenging day so far.  I worked out, had a hearty breakfast, did some errands and a bit of work around the house and then I felt a huge sugar craving.

Brain:  I need ice cream!  (we have some in the house too)
Me:  Not gonna happen.
Brain:  Popcorn!
Me:  No.

And the cravings would not go away.  So I had a big salad with lots of protein and that took care of the cravings but then I felt really tired.  I lay down for about an hour and that helped.  I was hungry and tired and it manifested in sugar cravings.   

Today's breakfast was scrambled eggs.  No potatoes.  I needed to be somewhere this morning and it helped that I only had time for something quick.  I also skipped the pre-workout banana to save time.  For lunch I'll have salad with protein and hopefully I can keep this routine for the rest of the week.

[wildbeast]

Way to go, M.Darcy! You are doing fantastic! It is especially hard with the SO's aren't on board yet. How are you feeling being off of sugar for a week?

Thanks swick!  Let's see... until yesterday I was feeling really good being off sugar.  Hadn't really had too much craving and my energy levels have felt really nice and even.  I've been working out everyday and I think that helps.  I'm actually afraid to stop working out because I'm afraid my sugar cravings will come back.

My dh doesn't have a problem with overeating or with sugar, he can go months or years without touching the ice cream in the freezer even when I eat it every day.  So I figure he shouldn't have to suffer just because I have an issue with it.  He's a much healthier eater than I am.  I'm the one who bought the ice cream and I'm keeping it in the house so that I don't get panicky about feeling 'deprived' and turn to food to reduce my anxiety.  That's happened before.  I want to CHOOSE not to eat it.  There's a psychological difference for me in being able to do that.   That's my goal.

[Sailor Sam]

I'd love to hear about your daily meals if you don't mind sharing.

Oh sure, no problem. I don't like tracking macros, so I mostly eat meat and veggies. Keeps me under 20g net carbs, unless I do something really unusual. My go-to meals have been:

1. Deviled eggs, served in a red pepper cup

2. Baked salmon, with roasted brussel sprouts

3. Taco salad - ground beef, spring greens, onions & peppers, guacamole, salsa

4. Baked chicken thigh, with collard greens

5. Roasted broccoli (actually, big mistake to make broccoli the whole meal. Repercussions, or perhaps I should say the percussion afterward was intense)

6. Fisherman's Eggs - sardines, with baked eggs on top

7. Bok Choi w/ tahini sauce

8. Salmon (or tuna) salad, over greens

9. Braised oxtails, with stir-fry cabbage

Dairy makes me ill, so I don't eat any milk products. If you're intereted in more talk about keto, you could check out Orvell's journal. There's some good discussion starting around page 22.

[Stachey]

Sam, I agree about the substitute sugar.  A friend only uses substitute sugars in her baking and she makes these awesome chocolate chip cookies.  But if I eat any then I only end up craving more cookies, with sugar or not.

[wildbeast]

@Sailor Sam - thanks for the meal info!  I'll check out the ketogenic thread.  And I totally hear you on the broccoli and sound effects!  :)

@Stachey - how ya doin?

The last couple of days I've been having moderate sugar cravings and very low energy levels.  Even a couple of mild headaches.  I think it's the carb withdrawal kicking in.  I find myself really missing my morning potatoes. :(   Spinach is not a very satisfying substitute.

But on the positive side I also see some weight melting off now that my carb levels are lower.

Yesterday afternoon I finally got some of my energy back and I did some work around the house and today I've been working outside getting good and sweaty!  Oh yeah, we're having a bit of a heat wave so that might be contributing to the low energy moods.

Thank god for fresh fruit!

[Stachey]

Darcy it's good to hear your energy is back up.  Are you getting enough water?  I never think to increase my water intake when the weather is hot and my energy takes a hit as a result.

I've been adding some nuts or legumes to my veggies dishes and that definitely helped with the hunger pangs.  I've also been putting a little bit of coconut milk on cut up fruit.  The only craving I had was for graham crackers (!) which is bizarre...I've never craved graham crackers in my life.

[wildbeast]

I'd love to hear about your daily meals if you don't mind sharing.

Oh sure, no problem. I don't like tracking macros, so I mostly eat meat and veggies. Keeps me under 20g net carbs, unless I do something really unusual. My go-to meals have been:

1. Deviled eggs, served in a red pepper cup

2. Baked salmon, with roasted brussel sprouts

3. Taco salad - ground beef, spring greens, onions & peppers, guacamole, salsa

4. Baked chicken thigh, with collard greens

5. Roasted broccoli (actually, big mistake to make broccoli the whole meal. Repercussions, or perhaps I should say the percussion afterward was intense)

6. Fisherman's Eggs - sardines, with baked eggs on top

7. Bok Choi w/ tahini sauce

8. Salmon (or tuna) salad, over greens

9. Braised oxtails, with stir-fry cabbage

Dairy makes me ill, so I don't eat any milk products. If you're intereted in more talk about keto, you could check out Orvell's journal. There's some good discussion starting around page 22.

Hi Sailor Sam - I read a little bit on the journal and the keto food pyramid and have a question for you.  Since you don't eat dairy/milk products (which I should be avoiding as well), do you ever feel deprived on the fruit front?  I ask because right now fruit is my saving grace.  I eat either bananas or melon (honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon) daily to give me that feeling of indulgence.  On the days when I don't have it I feel deprived.  I notice the keto food pyramid only allows a bit of berries, which I don't find all that appealing.  Strawberries are loaded with chemicals unless you pay a fortune for the organic ones and blueberries just don't do it for me, plus they're expensive. 

Oh, one more question - the only difference I see between the keto and the Whole30 is the allowance of cured meats like salami, bacon and such.  Have you ever done a comparison between the two diets to see if they make a difference for you? 

[Sailor Sam]

Yo, Darcy! To answer your questions:

1. I don't personally miss fruit, but I think I'm atypical because I've always been more of a vegetable fan. There are a few foods I miss, but the longer I stay in ketosis (currently on day 75), the less I'm interested in any food. At this point, I'm eating to live, instead of living to eat. It's an interesting change, but I know a lot of people might see it as a negative.

2. There's actually a discussion on fruit over on Oro's journal, a few pages past where I originally directed you. You can read it here. The short answer is: if non-berry fruit is important, then you can find a way to consume non-berry fruit, and still be 'in ketosis'. The caveat is, you have to pay attention to what you're doing.

3. Fuck all food pyramids! They're all influenced by politics, and personal opinion. Figure out what works for you, and stick to it. There seems to be a growing societal gestalt that insinuates the idea that eating 'just right' will prevent people from declining into old age and ill health. Except 'just right' keeps changing, and the camps are hotly contended. Plus, you know, everyone has to die of something. Eating well is certainly better for longevity, but it's not the guarantee of vigorous old age it's being sold as. (This isn't a question, just me being pedantic and proselytizing).

4. Whole 30 vs Keto. The main difference between the 2 seems to be mostly philosophy - The Whole30 philosophy doesn't seem to endorse ketosis, while keto is, by nature, all about inducing and maintaining nutritional ketosis. Whole30 includes several carb dense roots veggies and squashes that will keep glycogen stores topped up, thereby preventing anyone from (or stopping anyone currently) burning mostly ketones. Many people who do Whole30 seem to end up in ketosis, but they aren't necessarily aiming for it.

4.cont. I tried Whole30, and it was fine from a bodily comfort standpoint, but I really chaffed at the idea that Whole30 was in charge of what I chose to eat. The gal from I Breath, I'm Hungry summed up the mental aspect much better than I can, so here is linky. I'm not criticizing the approach, and I know a lot of people love the framework. I just know that it drives me absolutely bugfuck within a few days.

Hope that helps.

[rubyunrailed]

Just noticed this thread and thought I'd chime in with my own experience.

In 2008, I decided to completely cut out refined sugar from my diet. I first tried the Winter before that but only lasted a couple days. I tried again in the summer, and every time I wanted a dessert I instead ate a peach, or a bowl of plain unsweetened yogurt with fresh strawberries and blueberries. That was enough to replace the sugar cravings. From then on, I cut out all forms of refined sugar, including drastic measures such as looking at the ingredient list of crackers, bread, yogurt, protein bars, etc, and avoiding anything with "sugar", "brown rice syrup" and the other half dozen names refined sugar has. I let myself still drink beer and cocktails, although my idea of a good cocktail is basically only spirits, no mixers.

The end result was in about 6 months I had lost 30 pounds, and I've kept up the habit since then and kept off the weight as well. I definitely consider this one of the best dietary choices I made.

[Rural]

From then on, I cut out all forms of refined sugar, including drastic measures such as looking at the ingredient list of crackers, bread, yogurt, protein bars, etc, and avoiding anything with "sugar", "brown rice syrup" and the other half dozen names refined sugar has.

Bolded above is a big deal. As I got the sugar out of my diet, I had to resort to making all of our bread because all the storebought stuff tasted so cloyingly sweet. I don't eat crackers other than saltines now because I can't be bothered to make them myself and the rest are so sweet. Have to watch it with peanut butter, too; we've gone to the natural stuff  partly because I can't bear the stuff with sugar added. It's not that I actively dislike the taste of sweets; I still eat a lot of fruit, and I grow and use some stevia. But I can detect sugar so much more effectively now that it makes things that aren't meant to be sweet just taste weird because they're manufactured with it. I can't stand McDonald's hamburgers because the buns are so sweet, for example,

[Stachey]

I think peanut butter was one of the first things I weeded out of my diet years ago because of the sugar content.  It's shocking the number of products with sugar in it.   

[stoaX]

3. Fuck all food pyramids! They're all influenced by politics, and personal opinion. Figure out what works for you, and stick to it. There seems to be a growing societal gestalt that insinuates the idea that eating 'just right' will prevent people from declining into old age and ill health. Except 'just right' keeps changing, and the camps are hotly contended. Plus, you know, everyone has to die of something. Eating well is certainly better for longevity, but it's not the guarantee of vigorous old age it's being sold as. (This isn't a question, just me being pedantic and proselytizing).

Amen - no one gets out of here alive!

[wildbeast]

@Sailor Sam - you made me laugh so hard!  Those are some strong feelings you have about the food pyramid and Whole30 trying to boss you around.  :)

I came to the ketogenic diet about 5 years ago while trying out Atkins for the first time.  I like how I feel on it and I followed the advice and found that several foods affect me negatively (a big one is dairy).  So the whole pyramid and 'rules' thing are just suggestions to me.  I'm the boss around here - just ask the hubby!  :)  I mainly wanted to see how I do on the Whole30 but now I'm thinking of going the keto route.  Fuck the rules and the pyramids!!! 

I'm already doing a couple of things differently anyway, like I'm avoiding root veggies and I gave up caffeine over a month ago.  And this morning I'm very happy because I'm finally seeing some real changes in my body, even though I've been eating a ton of watermelon because it's hot.    I've been working out for over 2 months but my diet was crap and now after 2 weeks I see a big difference.

Weird thing I noticed this weekend - I'm finding that I feel better when I separate out my foods.  Normally I'd have my protein in my salad but now that feels blech, and I want to eat the protein by itself.  That happened a few times.   I also find myself not really wanting what I've been eating and instead craving more foods that are snacks rather than a meal.  I've been working out everyday and it could be that my body just wants more protein.  I'm trying to remember if this happened last time but it's been too long.

[wildbeast]

Ok guys, I looked up the Atkins induction so I can get into the keto zone and I'll need to give up fruit and nuts for 2 weeks.  The nuts are not a problem since I just ran out of my pistachios. 

But the fruit is hard mentally.  It feels like a big jump, and it's making me nervous.  I've been making small but steady changes and that has worked well so far.  I'm nervous that panic will set in and that it will cause me to backslide all the way to the beginning.  Logically I know that worst case I just have a some fruit and no big deal, I'll be back to where I am now.  But it's hard to make my brain understand that and be quiet.

I also looked up the carbs on the fruit and was surprised to learn that bananas have like 5 times more carbs than the various melons.  I had been planning to phase out the melons and keep the bananas assuming that the melons were higher because they are so sweet.  But I guess the water content is the difference, the melons are actually pretty low carb.  So that was good news.  That gives me something to look forward to as soon as the 2 weeks are over. 

Writing this all out has actually made me feel better.  I'm not feeling as panicky and I'm starting to feel some excitement about trying this out.  And I'm feeling more confident that I can handle it.  The brain is a funny thing!



@Sailor Sam - do you know a good place to get the keto strips?  I haven't used them before but this time I want to see if I can have fruit while in keto since I workout everyday. 


 

[swick]

Hey Everyone!

I've been traveling a bit and been more concerned with just finding food I can eat vs. keeping it totally sugar-free so I think I need a reset.

I am going to be doing a Whole 30 In Sept, but thought this might be a good option for the rest of those who are doing the no sugar thing. Ditch the Carbs is doing a sugar-free Sept Challenge:http://www.ditchthecarbs.com/sugar-free-september/

Anyone interested?

[Stachey]

Hi Swick,

I've been doing really well with eliminating most of the sugary stuff from my diet but I'll check out the ditch the carbs site and see what it's about.  Thanks for the heads up! 

[dignam]

Since losing the 15-20 pounds from reducing sugar, I've sort of plateaued.  I'm still at a healthy weight, just want to shed a few more.

The main goal should be to keep added sugar below what you body can process in a day (without turning it into fat).  Granted everyone is different, for men it's around 37g daily, women 25g daily.  No reason to torture yourself and not allow any sugar at all.  IMO, little bits are fine.  A cookie here, a bowl of cereal there, big deal!  As long as it isn't a trend and you're not eating way more than you can process.

That said, a can of Coke has 39g of sugar...freaking insane!