Day two with no sugar. Will my head explode??

[Running Mommy]

Ok, I have a confession. I'm an addict. Seriously. I am a sugar addict, and I'm convinced that it has a lot to do with my weight issues.
So yesterday morning I was riding with my friend Michelle. She has girth issues as well. We were struggling up a hill when I turned to her and said "thats it! we are going to make a change".
So we decided then and there that when we got back to the house we were going to pull out the Ironman body scan scale and face the facts. We also decided that we needed to give up sugar and processed foods.
I was doing really good until we decided to open the bike shop. As life got crazy my eating habits went into the dumper.
Well the scale doesn't lie, and as a result when I got on it I was up nearly 30 lbs over last year!!!
So yesterday was my first day with no sugar. I did really well, but I know today at the shop is going to be hard. There are jolly ranchers on the counter (a customer brought them in) and I know the Luna moons will be calling my name.
I just gotta be strong!
So for those of you who cut sugar out of your diet, how did you do it? And how long did it take before the cravings went away?
Also, any tips? I'm going to try the boiled tater trick in place of energy gels for my rides. But anything else?
I'm not a fan of eggs or cheese.
Thanks all. And stay tuned to see if my head explodes!

[csr1210]

When I ditched sugar, it took me about four days to feel decent. Unfortunately for me, all simple carbohydrates affect me like pure sugar - even some whole grain stuff, so I was eating fairly low carb overall (cooked alot of brocolli, spinach, and greenbeens). All that to say, if you find yourself having serious cravings or blood sugar spikes after a week or two, it might be something besides the more refined sugars setting you off. While I was off the "white stuff" (about 4 years), I felt great and had absolutely no problem maintaining a healthy weight without obsessing about food, but alas, we moved, I got lazy, and am once again a slave to sugar.

Good for you on taking the plunge! Truly, the first three or four days are the hardest, and then you adjust pretty fast. Later on, if I was craving sweet, I'd just have a little piece of sugar free chocolate for the emotional satisfaction. You only overeat stuff with sugar alcohol once! (well...maybe...twice)

Good luck on kicking the habit -- maybe you will inspire me!
Christy

[greenme]

Hi there,

I don't crave sweets but rather savoury things and have, in the past, been able to cut things out of my diet even if I like them because they made my stomache unhappy.

So what I did was just imagine that there was something gross about that item. So, for example, for those candies, I would imagine that some filthy little kid has hand his hands in there all over them. That would do it for me. Wouldn't be able to touch them no matter what.

How's that?

[GLC1968]

It generally takes me 3 days to get past the sugar cravings...and 4 or 5 to start feeling GOOD. Sugar detox, sucks!

Hang in there!

[teawoman]

I soooooooooo understand what you are saying! This is tough to do. I did it successfully for about 6 months and lost quite a bit of weight. ! Then I fell a bit off the wagon and have been maintaining. What helped me was eating the sweeter fruits and veggies, like nectarines, carrots, corn, fresh pineapple, bananas. That, and reserving once a week for a treat like a dessert (small hot fudge sundae or something like that). Some weeks I would dream about what the treat was going to be , other weeks I'd even forget to get one. But what was great was that I felt AMAZING!!!!! Very calm and zen and yet energetic. Oh, and the fake sugar stuff did *not* help. It created cravings.

Now I'm trying to do it again and it is *tough*. For me, it took about two weeks before I started feeling the benefits.

p.s. It took me longer than 4 or 5 days to adjust. Maybe a week and a half, during which I griped and complained a whole lot.

[ibcycling]

Good for you! I struggle with the same thing so I completely understand the sugar cravings. I don't do well when I just try to cut back on stuff without an actual plan to follow. Here's a couple things that seem to work for me.

South Beach - It's a healthy way to eat, not a "diet". There are 3 phases and phase 1 addresses the sugar craving problem. Phase 1 lasts 2 weeks and is fairly restrictive on what you can and cannot eat but it works wonders for me. Mostly it's a lot of veggies, beans, meats, and cheese. You're not supposed to stay on it longer than 2 weeks and if you are exercising a lot you do need to add more complex-carb foods. When I did P1 I added a fruit and grain on the days I rode and felt fine.

Right now I'm doing a 1 week detox diet from Leanne at www.savingdinner.com I love her menu-mailers and shopping lists so decided to give this a try to give myself a kick-start. I'm also wondering if I have a sensitivity to gluten and hopefully this will help me find out. Even though it's cutting out lots of stuff I love (coffee and chocolate!) it's only for 1 week and I know I can do that. I'm on Day 3 and feeling pretty good. Lots of salads and veggies with quite a bit of fruit.

Good luck!

Lora

[TahoeDirtGirl]

I feel your pain. It takes about 5 days when I slide from my normal eating to get back to eating non processed foods. Drink lots of water!

What I looked at was I found that weight watchers (and I think South Beach) has the same glycemic index ideas in that there are foods that are zero points with WW that appear to follow the low glycemic index (GI) scheme. Blueberries, strawberries, kiwi, and lots of veggies are zero. I don't follow the points plan by WW (it kind of reinforces eating processed foods which I don't like) but I adopted the list of zero point foods when I'm starting to get that weird "I gotta eat" hunger.

I think that is my problem today, I have no energy, NONE and I just want to lay in front of a fan. Someone please kick me. Time to put away the s'mores from July 4th!

[bmccasland]

RM - if you're trying to stay away from processed sugar in things, but fresh fruits and vegies are OK... then raw sugar snap peas. For me they meet the crunchy craving, are sweet, but still a vegie! I bring a snack ziplock bag of them to work to munch/crunch on. Almost better than cookies.

[KathiCville]

Another vote for sweet-tasting fruits and veggies! Sugar snap peas, baby carrots, raisins, pineapple, bananas, apples, melon, grapes, berries......Cherry tomatoes make a great snack in the summertime!

I also find that a handful of small cinnamon or honey graham cracker treats can be a good substitute for a candy bar or a piece o'cake---especially if I focus on eating one...at...a...time, not just tossing them down the hatch, LOL!! Setting out just a few, then putting the box AWAY is key! ......... Another combo I like is almost-unsweetened granola sprinkled with a little bit of fruit juice---just enough to moisten the granola. Sometimes I toss in a dollop of plain yogurt, too.

Good luck!

[han-grrl]

I completely understand -

the fact is


you need to ride out the wave.

Eat raw crunchy vegetables

chew gum

drink broth and warm tea...

PM me with your questions...

[Running Mommy]

I'm riding the wave.... sigh... I'm riding.
Just looking forward to feeling MUCH better!

[han-grrl]

Ok, i'm at home now - i was at work earlier so i had to type quick.

You will find once you cut out the sugar, that you won't need things to be as sweet - your baking, your coffee (or tea)...

Make sure you stay hydrated too.

and keep smiling you're doing great!

[tulip]

When I get sugar-crazy (not often these days, but in the past it was a big problem), I found it useful to brush my teeth when I was having a craving. Who wants to muss up a fresh mouth?

Alternately, I would eat an apple instead. I told myself to eat an apple BEFORE having the sugarsweettreat, but when I finished the apple, I found that I didn't want the sugarsweettreet afterall.

I've also found that eating an apple a day really helps with controlling my weight. It takes the place of sugary sweets for me, and if i don't have one, I miss it.

Oh, and I always have a big Mason jar of ice water with me to drink all day. Drink and fill it back up.

[solobiker]

RM I will join you in the challenge eliminating sugar from my diet. I am going on a 5 day backpacking trip next week so I will start when I return. Good luck to you!!

[elk]

it's worth having a look at a glycemic index.....which sugars )carbs) are jolting adn which are long and smooth....for instance watermelon is a jolter...cherries are the lowest (best) fruit on the index.

i need to do the same thing...at LEAST for me...use maple syrup or honey or guava juice instead of white sugar...

The good part is that it tatses so horribly cloying when you step away from it for awhile....

oh....and one other thing....being free from an addiction ALWAYS feels better than indulging it.