No More Sugar.

[RhythmSpring]

I'm sure you've heard the idea before, but I'm like, totally serious this time.

Try going 10 days without:

Sugar, (that includes beet sugar, brown rice syrup, corn syrup, stuff that has, um, sugar)
Sugary fruits, even berries (try only one green apple a day or less)
Sugary veggies, mainly beets
Honey
Bee Pollen
Maple Syrup
Stevia
Artificial Sweeteners
Simple Carbohydrates, even brown rice, oats

...not even a quarter teaspoon. Unsweetened tea, here I come!

I've cut down on sugar in the past, and it's been helpful, but recently I decided to see what it would be like with absolutely NO sugar, save for some granny smith apple (no more than one a day) and the natural sugar in carrots. Here is what I've found after 7 days:

My emotions are stable, simply put.
My mind is clear, ditto ditto.
I am far more grounded, strong and sturdy in mind, body and spirit.
Along with the feelings of rootedness, I find myself high on life. Music is better, relationships are vastly improved.
My voice has dropped to a stronger, more resonant tone.
My inflammation (rheumatoid) is down.
My fatigue (rheumatoid-related) is dissipating.

In the beginning, and still now to a certain extent, I had to deal with sugar cravings/low blood sugar of course. This is NOT to be remedied with carbohydrates, or even food. Sit with your feelings and thoughts: you feel irritable, uneasy, ungrounded, like something is missing. Perhaps you are anxious, even panicky. Negative thoughts pour into your mind, interfering with your flow.

When we are hungry with low blood sugar, we get these negative feelings, but they usually aren't justified; they're just from craving sugar. If you allow them to be, without subverting them once more by satisfying your cravings, you will find out what REALLY bothers you. What you really need to change or do to be happier, more well. I find that low blood sugary hunger is a great spiritual teacher--difficult but rewarding if you have the patience and willpower. I find that the stability and peace achieved from resisting sugar/carb cravings far outweighs the momentary pleasure from satisfying them.

We don't need sugar. I'm not advocating that we avoid all sugar all the time, but I do recommend seeing how you feel without it for 10 days--just to see what kind of effect it really has on you.

Be well.

 

[malakaix]

Thankyou for posting your experiences RythmSpring, i might give this a go.

I've never gone 10 days but i have cut down my sugar in-take in the last couple of months and i also noticed more stable emotions, clarity and a general sense of well being. It's easy for me to feel 'on-edge' or restless and sugar exacerbates that immensely, that's an interesting insight into the cycle.. much like nicotine which i've managed to kick for a year now and feel no craving for it at all, and now i can breathe! My emotional balance has been thrown all out of whack for so long that im willing to change-up my diet; when i've skipped meals in the past due to whatever circumstance and i've had nothing to eat all day, apart from feeling hungry and low on energy i am emotionally centered and clear.. and it was then that i realized the huge impact food can have on your mental and emotional states for better or worse.

I also cut-down on milk, so black sugarless tea it is!

 

[ColtDan]

Excellent thread, very interesting, thankyou. never realized sugar has such an effect, might try this some time

 

[attempt4]

Great post my friend. Sugar is something I have also looked extensively into as I used to consume INSANE amounts of it.

I am currently all over the place emotionally, almost suicidal again. My anxiety has been through the roof. I don't consume much processed sugar at all, but do consume a lot of carbs in the form of brown rice and wholemeal bread. I shall try this NO SUGAR AT ALL for 10 days and see how it goes.

So, so, so many people don't realise the severity of sugar addiction and the psychological impact it has upon us. It really is one of the most potent drugs out there, in my humble opinion but it's absolutely everywhere and thus it's negative connotation disregarded in many ways.

I really like your idea about low blood sugar being a great spiritual teacher. That's a great way to look at it. I get UNBELIEVABLY jittery, anxious, shaky and jelly-like legs if I don't eat anything for about 4 hours, let alone eating any sugar. It distresses me no end and I find I must constantly keep on top of eating a shit-ton. I am going to try to view it in the same light as you starting tomorrow and accept, almost meditatively, each physiological symptom and face it head on.

Thank you!

 

[ColtDan]

yeah its crazy, over christmas i went from my usual very healthy food to binge eating on sugary things like mad, ended up craving them, almost like i was getting kind of addicted to sugar or something, very fucked up. also felt ill and grotty afterwards, too much cake and chocolate etc felt rough as fuck. then still carried on eating the next day. dunno how people can eat that crap all day every day. junk food is disgusting over rated, short lived shitty "high" or "drug" or whatever the fuck it is

 

[ugly]

I don't think I can go 100 % sugarfree, but I've just recently read a study about it and much of what you say is subtantiated with research. I feel strongly that I should put this into practice and see how far I can go.

Great thread.

 

[ageingpartyfiend]

Am also on the same kinda tip, well, defo want to anyway.

Refined sugar is just a nasty drug that the majority of the western world is addicted to. It looks like a drug, has zero nutritional value, produces profound mood chanhges and is highly addictive.

I've always had a sweet tooth, but when I knocked nicotene on the head 6 years ago I just dived headlong into a massive vat of sugar and, almost three stone later, am just about sticking my head out of that vat and gasping "no more!".

As with all addictions, denial is the first obstacle. I'm almost through that, except I'm still putting the total abstinance I feel I need off until I have a couple of weeks with not much to do and when I can tolerate a low mood without it getting in the way of other people's headspaces - not an easy thing as I work in mental health.

So, am looking at Easter when I get three weeks holiday. Until then I intend to cut down hugely though.

Am expecting sugar to be a much harder addiction to beat than my previous addictions, amphetamine and tobacco

 

[addictivepersona]

I really like your idea about low blood sugar being a great spiritual teacher. That's a great way to look at it. I get UNBELIEVABLY jittery, anxious, shaky and jelly-like legs if I don't eat anything for about 4 hours, let alone eating any sugar. It distresses me no end and I find I must constantly keep on top of eating a shit-ton. I am going to try to view it in the same light as you starting tomorrow and accept, almost meditatively, each physiological symptom and face it head on.

I too like what you originally said about low blood sugar. Lately when I start feeling as though I'm running on empty, I take a deep breath and give myself time to think before I react to whatever is going on. So much easier said than done. When I get hungry, I get incredibly bitchy and irritable. A couple months ago, my girlfriend bought me some chromium which is supposed to help alleviate drastic blood sugar drops. I also got a glucometer from my doctor after I mentioned the chromium to her. From my experience, the chromium does help a lot, but after doing research on it, it is not something I like to take every day. I have yet to get a real "low" reading (under 60 or 70) on the glucometer, but I have gotten an 80, which is normal, but I felt low. So, who knows.

/Rambling. Basically, I just wanted to say major props to you guys who have gotten sugar out of your diets. For the most part, I don't eat much straight sugar (and I don't eat any HFCS or whatever else is in processed foods), but I do eat a good amount of fruits (both dried and fresh) and I eat a lot more carbohydrates than I probably should. Following a relatively strict plant-based diet, it's hard to not eat a lot of carbohydrates. :-/

 

[CHiLD-0F-THE-BEAT]

I feel the same way about caffeine. To me it's a drug all too many people throw down their throats, and don't even think about the effect it has on their health - not to mention the extreme addiction that results almost instantly.

I admire anyone who can cut sugar out of their diet. I really don't think I could do it..

 

[ColtDan]

^ agreed, so many people i know hammer coffee and energy drinks all day. some of them say "some days coffee is the only thing that gets me through the day" what the fuck. addictive shitty teeth staining short lived smelly utter crap of a drug. infact ive gotten myself a little coffee habit recently, only a few cups a day though, too many cups and i end up with heart palps and a weird mini come down/crash/whatever.. reckon the heart palps are something to do with all the mephedrone abuse over the years. triggers them off


that reminds me.... been eating too much fruit recently, all the sugar from that cant be any good. gonna completely cut out the fruit this week, i usually eat loads of salad and veg so the vitamins etc from that should be enough

 

[malakaix]

some of them say "some days coffee is the only thing that gets me through the day" what the fuck. addictive shitty teeth staining short lived smelly utter crap of a drug. infact ive gotten myself a little coffee habit recently, only a few cups a day though, too many cups and i end up with heart palps and a weird mini come down/crash/whatever..

Yeah tell me about it, it's VERY ingrained into a lot of people's morning rituals.. and then once it begins to wear off throughout the day it's amped back up with more coffee or worse 'energy drinks'. People at my work would go through 3-4 huge energy drinks just to get through the day which is a scarey thought. I stopped drinking coffee all together a little over a year ago after drinking too much one day, and was left feeling extremely scattered, irritable and feeling like i was crawling out of my skin. These days i'll drink tea in the morning which only contains a minimal amount of caffeine but it's enough.

I've also started drinking a big glass of cold water as soon as i wake-up; i never realized how much water your body loses during sleep.. so i was always waking up with headaches.

EDIT: I just realized how difficult this may be, everything! seems to contain sugar.. i suppose there is a difference between the natural sugars and processed/added sugar.

 

[RhythmSpring]

^ Not really a huge difference, actually. While processed/added sugars are indeed worse than natural sugars, natural sugar still gives you that "spike" of blood sugar. Stay away from all dried fruits, bananas, even berries. People switch over from cookies to fig newmans and bananas and think they're doing themselves a favor, when in reality they've just changed the source of their sugar injection. The fewer processed foods the better, too. Like I said, for my no-sugar experiment, the only fruit allowed is no more than one granny smith apple a day, and preferably zero.

I've been drinking a big glass of water when I wake up too now for about a year--it makes a difference. It also reduces cravings for cold cereal. Part of why we like cereal in the morning is that we feel the milk quenching our morning thirst (in addition to the sugar spike).

Another good habit to get into is to not eat at night after 9pm, to let the digestive system rest and do its thing well while you sleep. 12 hours between the evening meal and morning meal is optional to let the body do its proper repairs. But I digress.

 

[Shimmer.Fade]

This might not be a horrible idea for the short term, but I would like to remind you all that carbs should make up the majority of a person's daily caloric intake (~55-60% ). The rest should be about 25-30% fats and 10-15% proteins.

While it is true we don't need table sugar, we absolutely 100% do need carbs. I am no nutritionist, but I would never advise someone to completely cut out such an important part of a healthy diet. I would advise them to eat more healthy carbs, and to try to cut out things like table sugar (saccharose/sucrose), candy, liquid carbs, white bread, and sugary breakfast cereal.

I think it is important for you all to make a distinction between healthy and situationally unhealthy carbs. Healthy carbs often come with other essential nutrients (hence not empty, unhealthy carbs), and take more work from the body to free them up.

Also, I would stay away from something like this in combination with even semi-intense exercise. Being familiar with the molecular workings of the human metabolism I know my body needs a ton of healthy carbs (try burning 4-6k kcal in one day without having eaten carbs).

 

[twentysix]

I wouldn't consider myself that healthy, as I have countless allergies to foods, but I have moved to a diet like this out of seeming necessity. I can't properly process fructose anymore, which is in most fibery foods in amounts/ratios to glucose (too high) that I can't handle. I dealt with a lot of problems trying to juggle the right foods for me, and I just wasn't in a good state. Always felt sluggish, and struggled with light-headedness frequently. I can now say certainly that I eat about 12-15 grams of sugar/carbs a day in the food I eat, and about 120-150 grams of protein, and uhh..fat.. how much fat. 160-200 grams in the apparent perfect ratio of types of fat... of that approximately 7-9 grams of it is GLA (gamma linolenic acid), which apparently signals the body to burn fat for energy. I've been on this diet for months now. I do find my mood is more stable than it was, in regard how food effects me. I'm smiling more. I enjoy music more. I'm naturally dancing with it, in enjoyment.

I also notice that when I did eat carbs, I tended to over-eat. They triggered binges.

I won't try running a marathon, but I'm never fatigued.

 

[Shimmer.Fade]

Wow you eat well under a half kilo a day. I normally eat that much in one meal.

Nutrition is a highly individual thing reliant on many different variables. If that approach is working for you then go with it, the high fat/medium protein/low carb diet does work well for some (though a 50-60% fat/20-25% protein/15-30% carb ratio is what I usually see).

 

[twentysix]

Yea, its more about a half pound exactly- sometimes more. So a little over a half kilo

I want to say I wish I could eat more. My body weight is steadily around 145-150, where in HS at my peak it was about 10-15 lbs more, eating a ton more. It seems no matter what I stay in this range. I knew I was eating very little, but I believe what I do eat must be utilized more optimally than many foods that I've ate.. and its still around 2000 calories, what I do eat.. my days fluxing between 1700-2200 cals.

 

[ColtDan]

Yeah tell me about it, it's VERY ingrained into a lot of people's morning rituals.. and then once it begins to wear off throughout the day it's amped back up with more coffee or worse 'energy drinks'. People at my work would go through 3-4 huge energy drinks just to get through the day which is a scarey thought. I stopped drinking coffee all together a little over a year ago after drinking too much one day, and was left feeling extremely scattered, irritable and feeling like i was crawling out of my skin. These days i'll drink tea in the morning which only contains a minimal amount of caffeine but it's enough.

I've also started drinking a big glass of cold water as soon as i wake-up; i never realized how much water your body loses during sleep.. so i was always waking up with headaches.

EDIT: I just realized how difficult this may be, everything! seems to contain sugar.. i suppose there is a difference between the natural sugars and processed/added sugar.

yeah i get that, if i intake too much caffeine i feel irritable and grotty

ironically the people i know that drink energy drinks all day are also hypocritically "anti drug" and they "despise" drug users... fucking idiots. cant be very good for their kidneys either. infact the thought of going through that much energy drink is cringeworthy. so much sugar in that crap. infact i reckon those stupid drinks are pretty dangerous. and the irony of drugs like cannabis being legal yet shitty energy drinks being legal never fails to puzzle me, crazy world

drinking water when waking up is a very good idea, i usually drink around a litre for breakfast, average around 4/5 litres a day. kinda overkill but sod it, feeling healthy and skin is looking pretty good considering the amount of booze and stuff i drink

 

[euphoria]

I feel the same way about caffeine. To me it's a drug all too many people throw down their throats, and don't even think about the effect it has on their health - not to mention the extreme addiction that results almost instantly.

I admire anyone who can cut sugar out of their diet. I really don't think I could do it..

Agree about caffeine. It's a dirty drug in my opinion. Although my anxiety medication makes me extremely sleepy during work hours, so I need a little bit of caffeine in the mornings to wake me up and help me get alert. I switched over to black tea, I have 1-2 cups in the morning and I find it has little to no crash like coffee does. I love iced tea too... I will make iced tea of any kind of tea, doesn't have to be caffeinated. And unsweetened!


I do notice when I bring sugar back into my diet (particularly around the holidays) I get REALLY irritable on a daily basis. And when I wake up, I am craving something sweet almost immediately. The first couple days of cutting sugary foods out are difficult, but after that it does get a lot easier. And as far as the low blood sugar thing, I've dealt with that during times in my life, and if I was going to eat a carbohydrate for a snack, I'd make sure I had something with protein in it as well. Like instead of a handful of multigrain crackers for a snack...I'd also have a slice of cheese with it. Or instead of having only a piece of fruit, I'd have fruit and yogurt or something. It does help stabilize blood sugar if you're consciously adding protein-rich foods to every small meal throughout the day.

 

[Darksidesam]

I can't completely go without sugar, so i cut back and replace sugar on my cereal with honey.

I was actually wondering myself what the effects would be on our bodies if we had no sugar at all, however i do love my banana and oat smoothies after a workout :D

 

[ColtDan]

doesn't cereal have sugar in it? most of them have quiet a lot in

only real sugary things ive eaten today are jam on toast this morning, and a big banana earlier. cutting it down. dont think ill cut out bananas though, they make me feel good