quitting sugar testimonals

[Daisy-oliviaWentcher]

Can anyone tell me what their experiences with quitting sugar has or has been like and if it is sincerely recommendable?

[lchf]

Can anyone tell me what their experiences with quitting sugar has or has been like and if it is sincerely recommendable?

 

Absolutely recommendable and highly beneficial. Sugar is complete poison and if you are able to quit it indefinitely you will reap a great deal of reward for your health.

 

Recommendation though.. If you are used to a lot of sugar you may notice horrid dips in your energy and experience cravings from hell. In that case you need to find a way to satiate yourself so you are not so reliant on carbohydrate throughout the day. The best way to do that is to drastically up the fat content of your diet. Animal fat, good oil, coconut oil, organic dairy if you can handle it, EV olive oil etc. Avoid vegetable/canola/sunflower oil and margarine as that is also total garbage for you. You may want to wean yourself off it but make your you up your fat content as you do.

[Clarence_Boddicker]

I had quit sugar & HFCS for around 6 months, before something horrible happened to me & I fell off the no sugar wagon. Nothing magical changed, other than a bit of weight gain when back on the sugar/HFCS. I'm a guy & I don't think men in general are as sensitive to their diet as females are. For example, I also quite caffeine for the same time period, then started up again. Caffeine has very little effect on me. After no caffeine for 6 months, drinking one can of soda didn't make me feel light headed or cause my heart to race. I didn't notice any difference in how I felt.

[Robert Z]

I cut out virtually all carbs and have seen dramatic improvements in my health, including the loss of joint point, ending a lifelong heartburn problem, a virtual end to blood sugar issues, 70 pounds of weight loss, improved energy and stamina, and perhaps most striking, I NEVER get sick any more. I haven't been sick for four years. I used to get sick twice a year like clockwork.

 

I used to eat about 10-20 Rolaids or Tums a day. I haven't needed any antacids for four years either. I am convinced that bread was causing a lot of my heartburn.

 

 

I now think of sugar as something akin to poison. I still enjoy a treat now and then but virtually eliminating sugar from my diet was the best decision I ever made.

Edited September 21, 2015 by Robert Z

[mammasita]

I cut out sugar, grains, starch, wheat back in May - I feel AMAZING. Never have heartburn, no inflammation, sleep like a baby and have lost weight as a side effect

[camillalev]

For everyone who has cut out sugar/carbs what are your diets like? Also what does sugar encompass.. Just sugary sweets or also try foods that can have sugar snuck in somehow, like ketchup?

[Robert Z]

With the exception of my whey protein mix, I try to eat only natural foods; no processed foods. In addition to sugar, this will dramatically reduce your incidental salt intake. There are ridiculous amounts of salt in processed foods, not to mention the dozen or more preservatives, coloring, and ingredients that aren't even food.

 

I eat lots of vegetables, meats, cheeses, nuts... yogurt, eggs, lots of peppers...

 

Since I went on this diet, I don't need a freezer for anything but ice... and booze for guests.

Edited September 22, 2015 by Robert Z

[ufo8mycat]

where does fruit sit?

 

Also to add diets high in HFCS is a uniquely american thing. Other parts of the world don't consider sugar quite as poisonous.

[GemmaUK]

Ketchup is loaded with sugar.

 

Fruit is better than processed sugary foods as it has natural sugars but it's still sugar so is still best in moderation.

Smoothies are also very high in sugar content as is all fruit juice.

 

Sugar is hidden away in most processed foods especially those which state 'low fat'. Often the calorific value is just the same or even higher than the normal full fat food.

[mammasita]

Fruit is natures candy. I stay away from most fruit, exception being tomato, avocado and berries occasionally.

 

I use alternative sweeteners like stevia, birch xylitol, monk fruit if I bake, along with almond flour, coconut flour, or ground flax. LOTS of fat: coconut oil, real butter, lard. Lots of grass fed meats and non starchy veggies.

[Robert Z]

Fruit is natures candy.

 

 

That is exactly how I see it now. Fruit has way too much sugar for me to tolerate.

 

 

Compare especially the glycemic index and total sugars for fruits, compared to vegetables other than starches and beets.

Glycemic Index List of Fruits and Vegetables

[mammasita]

where does fruit sit?

 

Also to add diets high in HFCS is a uniquely american thing. Other parts of the world don't consider sugar quite as poisonous.

 

I disagree with that, Sweden is very much on the LCHF bandwagon.

 

Low carb reads as low or no sugar.

 

Sweden Becomes First Western Nation to Reject Low-fat Diet Dogma in Favor of Low-carb High-fat Nutrition

[ufo8mycat]

HFCS = High Fructose Corn Syrup

 

LCHF = Low Carb High Fat

 

two different things.

 

Many countries don't add sugar to everything. So the impact of cutting out food groups is ameliorated.

[Robert Z]

HFCS = High Fructose Corn Syrup

 

LCHF = Low Carb High Fat

 

two different things.

 

Many countries don't add sugar to everything. So the impact of cutting out food groups is ameliorated.

 

 

Fruit is not an entire food group. There is nothing in fruit that you can't get from vegetables. To me the issue is not that fruit should be completely eliminated [except for people like me who don't tolerate sucrose well], rather that it should considered a treat. And if you don't eat a lot of sugar fruit will taste like candy.

[Robert Z]

Sweden Becomes First Western Nation to Reject Low-fat Diet Dogma in Favor of Low-carb High-fat Nutrition

 

Hah!!! There has been increasing interest in LCHF for the treatment of diabetes related issues as well as for cancer treatment [LCHF may help to cure cancers] but this is huge! It's about time.

“I’ve been working with this for so long. It feels great to have this scientific report, and that the skepticism towards low-carb diets among my colleagues has disappeared during the course of the work. When all recent scientific studies are lined up the result is indisputable: our deep-seated fear of fat is completely unfounded. You don’t get fat from fatty foods, just as you don’t get atherosclerosis from calcium or turn green from green vegetables.”

 

Nyström has long advocated a greatly reduced intake of carbohydrate-rich foods high in sugar and starch, in order to achieve healthy levels of insulin, blood lipids and the good cholesterol. This means doing away with sugar, potatoes, pasta, rice, wheat flour, bread, and embracing olive oil, nuts, butter, full fat cream, oily fish and fattier meat cuts. “If you eat potatoes you might as well eat candy. Potatoes contain glucose units in a chain, which is converted to sugar in the GI tract. Such a diet causes blood sugar, and then the hormone insulin, to skyrocket.”

 

There are many mantras we have been taught to accept as truths:

“Calories are calories, no matter where they come from.”

“It’s all about the balance between calories in and calories out.”

“People are fat because they don’t move enough.”

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”

“Of course these are not true

 

 

And not only obesity and diabetes issues, LCHF appears to prevent, delay, or even cure cancers. I have to wonder if the increasing cancer rates go back to HCLF diets promoted since the 1970s - essentially the Pritikin Diet.

Edited September 23, 2015 by Robert Z

[mammasita]

HFCS = High Fructose Corn Syrup

 

LCHF = Low Carb High Fat

 

two different things.

 

Many countries don't add sugar to everything. So the impact of cutting out food groups is ameliorated.

 

I know the difference, I was commenting on

Other parts of the world don't consider sugar quite as poisonous

[thefooloftheyear]

There are a lot of factors and no two people are the same, with regard to this topic....

 

My dad used to consume nothing but carbs....White bread, pasta, soda, coffee with half the cup full with refined sugar, etc...Aside from occasionally eating some broccoli-rabe, Never saw him eat anything resembling fruits or vegetables..

 

Maintained 170 lb body weight(5'11") his entire life...

 

I can do pretty much the same thing, but I don't...I tried to limit complex carbs but its impossible...I feel like shyt unless i consume a fair amount of carbs including simple sugars..(I'm 223 at an actual measured 13/14% bf) My strength goes down the toilet and I am fatigued..I also think its much harder to maintain muscle mass without some carb intake(esp complex carbs) and women are more susceptible to problems with carb intake than men are as they naturally have less muscle to support...

 

Its best to just avoid refined sugars and watch fruit intake...i believe people consume too many fruits thinking its really healthy...Its something you need to watch carefully..

 

As always...results vary...

 

TFY

[ufo8mycat]

I know the difference, I was commenting on

 

Ah, thanks for the clarification. But the report doesn't apply to the general population. The recommendation is for people with diabetes. So I am still of the view that sugar is not poison and LCHF is not recommended or successful for everyone.

 

I went and had a read of the report and it is a good meta-analysis of the data, But the report itself notes some gaps and limitations

 

“…it’s not possible to draw any conclusions about the relationship between a low-carbohydrate diet – regardless of fat content – and cardiovascular disease. Here we could apply the precautionary principle, and advise some restraint on saturated fat intake, as long as the documentation of the long-term effects are inadequate.”

 

Also discussed that LCHF diets are most effective over the short term (no more than 6 months) with a BMI over 30.

 

So for me, who has a BMI of 22, there is arguably little to advantage to a LCHF diet. So the advice that "sugar is poison" should be stated in context - no?

 

Sugars should be consumed at low levels if your BMI is over 30 and you want to lose weight. For it is low carb, not no carb. So yes, an effective treatment of chronic conditions related to obesity.

 

But it is worth noting, Sweden has not changed its dietary guidelines to recommend low carb high fat.

 

The authour of the SBU report was at pains to point this out:

 

“First, I would like to stress that we do not do guidelines, only systematic reviews and health technology assessment reports,” he says. “Second, we have earlier focused on patients with diabetes and now obese persons, not the general population.”

 

an interesting article in Nature on the preventing obesity in kids

 

International Journal of Obesity - Interventions to prevent obesity in children and adolescents: a systematic literature review

[Robert Z]

So the advice that "sugar is poison" should be stated in context - no?

 

 

Not really. Of course the biggest problem is the amount of carbs in typical diets, and especially simple carbs. But in fact, completely independent of ketogenic diets, some scientists are now arguing that sugar should be regulated like a drug. It is responsible for more deaths and disease than smoking.

 

Coffee can kill you too, in sufficient quantities. The problem with sugar is that we have sufficient quantities. We crave sugar because it used to be hard to find. But with a virtually unlimited supply we are killing ourselves.

Edited September 24, 2015 by Robert Z

[Robert Z]

There are a lot of factors and no two people are the same, with regard to this topic....

 

 

I heard one comment taken from a medical conference on this. The idea discussed is that people who have a strong family history of heart disease might be best served by a HCLF diet. Those with a strong family history of cancer might be best served by a LCHF diet.

[ufo8mycat]

There is not a shred of good evidence that links dietary sugar to cancer. There is one often circulated article that when you go to the source is actually a journal article on the glycogen update of cancer cells in tissue update (that is, different cancer types use different amounts of glycogen to differentiate).

 

I work in health in medical research and have done so for much of my career in various capacities. No credible "scientist" is seeking regulation of sugar. ( would you need a doctors prescription if your BMI is over 30?)

 

There is so much discussion of "big sugar" but "big wellness" is free to spread untrue information and still make a million.

[regine_phalange]

My mum did. Her gut is better than ever and she has almost no trace of cellulite (which she had before). She's over 66.