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

[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!