GIVING UP SUGAR!
I changed health plans this year and my new Doc ran a bunch of tests.. one tells me that I am pre diabetic... not a place I want to be... So with a lot of thought and effort, I decided to give up sugar and all things that outwardly contain sugar... you know the stuff, cookies, ice cream, cake and the like. I started on July 12th 2010. It is now nearing the end of October and I am still sugar free and discovering all sorts of positives to being sugar free... I don't have the 2:30 in the afternoon sleepies anymore the bags under my eyes are gone and next week I go to the Docs for another blood draw to see if there is any improvement.. wish me some luck! |
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| Man, it is really tough to give up sugar!! I do not have the blood sugar issues but I do think that sugar is causing inflammation in my body. I have given it up in the past, for months at a time, and I felt so much better. I need to do it again. Thank you for the reminder. Good luck on your blood test.  Hope to hear that you are out of the pre-diabetic range.Laurie and Oscar |
I applaud your very healthy decision  That must be really tough, and not just in the beginning. Interesting about the sleepies and bags...I have both. Hmmmm, maybe a great new years resolution to attempt. Good luck tomorrow!! |
| Wow, giving up sugar is a biggie! Good luck with the lab work, Leslie - let us know the good news |
| As a Type 2 Diabetic, giving up sugar really isn't anywhere near as hard as you might think. You can do it. Just stick with it. Remember the trick is to give up "Processed" sugars. Natural sugar in fruits and some veggies is nowhere near as dangerous as the processed type. |
| Thanks for the support! the upcoming season will be the true teller of how well I have succeeded in this endeavor. if you are planning on this let me know and I can give some pointers... |
| You are very strong!!! So proud of anyone who can give it up! |
| You know not to sub extra carbs for the missing sugar. Carbs are good, excess are bad. Good job on the sugar. |
| I use brown rice and whole wheat bread.... and not much at that. I have become very aware of all the starches/carbs on a plate.... We cook nearly all of our own meals from scratch.... I have become the slow cooker queen... and they are lean meats and veggies and beans.... I do eat more fruit than before.... but not a lot and I use berries with plain greek yogurt... for snacks.... |
| Congrats to you Leslie. I'm in the contemplative stage of giving up sugar so your post provided me with a bit more motivation. When you say sugar, what exactly have you given up (other than the obvious cookies, candy, pastries, etc.)? |
| Paula that is a great question... Sugar is in so much of what we eat... In the begining I just picked the obvious stuff, like you mentioned, cookies, candy, cake, pie, jelly/jam, syrup and the biggie for me, sugar in my coffee... Those were the first targets. Once I had that undercontrol I then began targeting the stuff we eat without thinking, the sugar in yogurt, and other prepared foods. Like I said I just did the obvious stuff first and coffee was the hardest for me, because I was using more and more table sugar in my coffee and found myself eating (craving) all kinds of sweets that I would not normally eat... so all that got eliminated. I tried all kinds of artificial sweetners too and I also stopped using nutrasweet in general. So I had Splenda and Sweet & Low and Truvia to make my choices from. Truvia gave me such bad gas that when I was at work and didn't have a dog to blame it on.... it got kinda dicey... so I stopped using that one and stuck to splenda... the big problem was coffee. I love my coffee and I don't really drink that much of it, but I just couldn't stand the taste with artificial sweetners... Then I was talking to a gal who is a long time Diabetic and she suggested I try Agave Nectar. Wow, now I have my one cup of coffee daily with the nectar and I'm happy again. Agave has a lower glycemic index than regular table sugar... So now I read labels and look for the grams per serving for sugar to be 3 or under and I stick to serving sizes too. The upside to all of this, besides the bags under my eyes going away, is that I am generally more satisfied after I eat, and I find that I eat less, crave less, and just don't want to eat all the time... I feel satisfied after most meals, sounds kind of funny from me, but I really do! I know we are about to enter a very "sweet" time of the year, starting with Halloween... and ending at Easter.... So wish me luck, but so far no problems.... |
| In my efforts to be more healthy, I sought the advice of a dietician. I asked her to teach me how to read labels. She said: 'I can teach you how to read a label, but really, if it has a label, it is probably not real food. Apples don't have a label, a piece of unprocessed chicken does not have a label, etc.' She suggested that, when I shop, I ask myself 'Is this really food?' as I put as I put an item in my cart. Of course, I deviate from that strict behaviour often (luckily, I have convinced myself that wine IS food), but the contents of my shopping cart have started to shift. One thing that she said to watch out for is anything that brands itself as 'low' (low fat, low sugar etc.). She said that if it is low in fat, it will be high in sugar, low in sugar it will be high in salt, and so on. She said to use the real thing (I think that we were talking about sour cream and butter at the time), just use less of it. She also said that any yummy thing, like cakes and cookies, that you make at home will almost always have less salt, fat, and sugar than store bought. Mind you, she has never had my chocolate mousse, which contains nothing but butter, real whipped cream, eggs and cocoa. I am intrigued by what you say is a connection between sugar consumption and inflammation. I would be interested in hearing more about this connection. |
| I hope it goes well. I have been cutting out sugar in my diet again. I love sugar but I always find it funny once I stop eating it that I don't crave it as much. |
| Hi Kim! Here's what I learned about sugar and inflammation. When I went for my physical three years ago, everything in my blood work looked great EXCEPT my C-Reactive Protein (CRP), which measures inflammation in the body. I had been experiencing shifting, intermittent pain in joints, muscles, etc. as well. My doc sent me to a Rheumatologist, who told me that a couple of things can cause a high CPR, including eating refined sugar and simple carbs. Too see how this affected me, I cut out all refined sugar (and all sugar substitutes), as well as all processed foods, bread, rice, and pasta, pretty much what Tyler's Mom did. (Hubby and I "eat clean", basically lean meats, fruits, nuts and veggies. I can't tell you the last time I had deli meat or a sandwich! We make almost everything from scratch.) Turns out sugar was a contributing factor, as my CPR came down over time, and the pain seemed to abate somewhat. For me personally, the only way for me to cut back on sugar is to give it up entirely. I also found that drinking diet soda only made me crave sweets, so I gave that up as well. (I never understood addiction until I gave up Diet Coke. I am being totally serious. It was actually tougher than giving up chocolate! I still crave Diet Coke every single day.) Unfortunately, I fell off the sugar wagon when my dad was ill, and once I had a little, it was all over. Now, it's time to give it up again. Thanks again, Tyler's Mom, for putting it back on my radar. Laurie and Oscar |
| I agree with what Laurie says about the joint inflammation and joint pain, but even beyond the joint pain, which I did experience, the one that was visible were the bags under my eyes. Just a tired looking skin and bags. I took a cell phone photo of myself just before I gave up sugar and one about 45 days into the process. Honest, the second shot I look YEARS younger... Also like someone else mentioned, it was all or nothing. I still eat a little pasta, no white rice, and no white potatoes. For the most part we cook everything at home. There are several reasons for that, one is that it is cheaper to eat home made meals and my husband was laid off last December, second, I care for my mom in home, so I must have meals in home and I need to be aware of her diet due to some meds. So for us, it is so much easier to maintain what we eat and be conscious, as Mady pointed out, what goes in the cart. I have become a label reader and aware of what goes in my cart, in my pantry and on my plate. I am however, really worried about the next few months at work, everyone bringing in sweets and goodies... I have had a steely resolve since July, I just want to keep on going... wish me luck and keep my efforts in your best thoughts! |
| Interesting results from my Doctor appointment. You work really hard to do better things for yourself, you watch what you eat, take the stairs, you know and then you get the results... didn't loose a single pound, and my cholesterol is up... only 2 points, total number is 176. So she wants me to start using statins to reduce my numbers. My BP was actually pretty good... the only good thing, even my damn potassium wasn't up enough... Oh well, the really good thing is that I did not relapse... still no sugar, still walking and still thinking it will help.... |
| Congratulations!! I wish I had your willpower! Keep up the good work! |
| You might not have lost a single pound because you are building some lovely muscle, which weighs more than fat. Try not to look at the scale, just focus on how your stamina is improving and you feel stronger. As for the cholesterol and having to take medication, well, after David (non-smoker, bikes to work every day, mid-30s in age, never had any health problems at all) had his heart attack in September, I learned from his cardiologist that some folks just have the genetics that make it hard to manage cholesterol purely with diet. He explained that your body makes 85% of its cholesterol, with diet accounting for 15%, so some folks, even if they are vegan marathon runners, still have to take cholesterol medication. Not fun to think of taking medication for the rest of your life, but at least such medication exists and can help! |
| Isn't 176 not a bad number? Do you know the breakdown of LDL and HDL? your HDL might be too low or your LDL too high. How about those Triglycerides? |
Tyler's Mom, stay strong! I know how frustrating it is. No matter what I do, I cannot lose weight. Even eating clean (no sugar, virtually no simple carbs), counting calories and working out 6 days a week hasn't done it for me.  I have been to doctor after doctor, and no one can figure this one out.I'm wondering why they want to put you on a statin at 176? Are your triglycerides high? I thought a total cholesterol of 200 was the magic number, and you are well below that. Having just been through the ringer with her hubby, Mady's mum has it right. So much of cholesterol is genetic. My hubby takes Crestor, as high cholesterol runs in his family. (He eats clean and works out like maniac, and now weighs less than his college weight.) He could eat nothing but tree bark and still need Crestor, and I could eat nothing but junk and my cholesterol would be fine. Laurie and Oscar |
| Also, it's only been a couple of weeks since your first post... was that when the first test was? IT can take a bit for the numbers to come down. Did they order an HbA1C? that number would be interesting, as it is an indicator of your average blood glucose level over the preceding 3 months. You should start to see some encouraging improvement after just a couple of months off the sugar, on the exercise!. |
| Congratulations to everyone who has made the change to go sugar free! I feel newly inspired to revert to my old ways. The thought of losing the bags under my eyes alone is enough to make me clean up my act! My numbers used to be stellar but the last time they were checked, I was marginal. Mostly I am sure because of the excess baggage I picked up along the way. In the early years of my adulthood and marriage, we were meatless and ate very 'pure' is what we called it. Now, I think it's called 'clean.' Totally a money thing at first. I couldn't afford meat or anything processed and I had so little money for food that I had to make every single penny as full of nutrition as I possibly could. No white sugar or flour, except for the occasional batch of cookies (home made) or birthday cake. As kids came along and grew, we gradually fell off the wagon, adding first fish and chicken and later some red meat. Hubby dislikes poultry so that was never a big thing. I'd be just as happy if I never ate red meat again, or no more than a few times a year. But my confirmed vegetarian hubby has become a staunch grill master. Funny: our youngest son, who used to say at every new menu item: this would be much better if it had meat! is now a confirmed vegetarian. For years, I made home made cookies and still only very, very, very rarely buy any. Never was a soda person. Not a coffee drinker and I rarely drink tea anymore, either. But occassionally, there's candy. Or chips. Ice cream (my real downfall). Sigh: time to climb back up on that wagon! |
| Well Ron, my total number is not bad, as you pointed out... My risk factors come from something called Syndrome X or metabolic syndrome. This is where your BP is high, large waist measurement, high sugar, bad ratio between your ldl and your hdl, being post menopausal. I hit most if not all of these issues. So giving up sugar is great, but it's not apparently the whole enchilada... I need to go on statins to also lower my bad ldl and exercise to raise my ldl numbers... and a bunch of other stuff. I guess I thought doing something dramatic like modifying my diet to eliminate refined sugar, would make a significant difference. The reality is that it will take much more modification of what we now know as Leslie/TylersMom than giving up sugar. Well it's better to find out now and get on the band wagon pre heart attack than after... So, stay tuned. I signed up for a class on Metabolic Syndrome on Dec 6 at 3:30... good thing I'm have Carpal tunnel Surgery and will be off work for most of December and half of November.... |
After my Pacemaker implant 2 weeks ago I had a follow up visit with one of my Docs who reveiwed my latest Labs from 3 week ago and "suggested" I consider taking a statin for my cholesterol which was only 132 Total! My ratio was also outstanding and I questioned WHY! I was told it would be a good preventitive. I always fall back to the advice of our "Family Pharmacist" (our son) who has always told Mom & Dad, to avoid taking any medications as long as you can. I told that Dr. I would rather talk with my Cardioligist and hear his opinion. IT WAS ONLY 132!  |
| It might have more to do with the pacemaker surgery. Hey, I don't want to be put on Statins either, but I also don't want to suffer a stroke and not be able to enjoy life.... so I'm going to do it... |
| Tyler's Mom, thanks for the info on metabolic syndrome. I guess my doc never brought it up to me as I don't have any of the risk factors, except large waist measurement. (BP tends low - normal, cholesterol levels and ratio good, normal blood sugar). I know how frustrating it is to do something you think is HUGE and will have positive repercussions, and then have it not register at all with your body, either on the scale or in the bloodwork. I gave up sugar (refined and artificial), bread, all fried foods, rice, potatoes, processed meats, and the hardest thing, Diet Coke. I did a crazy extreme exercise program called P90X, working out 6 days a week. Hubby did the same. In three months, I lost only 7 lbs, my total cholesterol stayed the same (though my ratio improved), and nothing else changed. Hubby lost over 30 lbs., down to college weight with 6 pack abs (hubba hubba  ) and his cholesterol dropped like a stone. UGH!!!But here's the thing. Even though I can't see it on the scale, or in my bloodwork, I KNOW that I am much stronger and healthier for giving up all the things I did. None of those things were doing me any good, and some were downright harmful. That has to be good enough. So hang in there and know that even though you might not see the results, your body is still better off without refined sugar. Keep the faith. You are doing great. Laurie and Oscar, the Sugar-Free Sheepdog |
| Laurie and everyone! Thanks for the support! I am not going to go off the sugar wagon and am slowly adding many of the same things to my don't eat list... and adding other things that are better for me. I will be adding Omega 3, steel cut oats and other sources of fiber. Adding more avacados, nuts (not walnuts, I'm alergic) did you know that an avacado has 30% more potassium than a banana??? and all this time I have been taking a hard boiled egg with me to work for bfast every morning for probably a year... or more.. besides the eggs I eat on the weekend... well by by to the daily egg.... I don't eat much in the way of bread anymore, rarely eat a white potato, only eat brown rice, use only olive oil, and now that I have completed my Physical Therapy for my bad back, I am walking more and moving more. You know it's true, I have done all this stuff and the only visible sign I have, is the lack of puffy, baggy eyes... hummm, yep good enough for me... at least righ now. I'm all good in the hood, I'm not going to freak out and give it all up... it's all about getting healty and that does not always mean looking like you did when you were 24yo.... yea, like that would ever happen again.... Let's keep this dialog going, share what we learn on this road to recovery (of our health)! |
| To all of us who work hard yet don't see visible results, I offer this pearl of wisdom from my allergist. I told him I quit smoking 2 years ago and don't feel any better. He said you don't feel better, but your insides are better, meaning my heart and lungs and blood and tissue and all the stuff we don't see. So I think that's true of any lifestyle change for the better. It may not show on the outside, but we're healthier on the inside. We're all beautiful, with or without the bags and the extra weight and the hip to waist ratio!  |
| Your Dr. is right, it's all on the inside. I gave up the "smokes" in 1988, July 18th @ 4:18pm to be exact... Cold turkey too. I do feel better for not smoking and I know I smell better too. While I would like to add a but... here, the reality is I am enjoy better health for the effort. I think at about the same time I quit smoking, I became insulin resistant... put on all the weight from not smoking and have never been able to lose it... because I didn’t realize that I was suffering from other metabolic issues. It's not about weight now, I mean, I would love to lose these extra, near 100 pounds that I tote everywhere I go… but if I can affect better health in my choices, I will take it. I am scheduled for a Pre Diabetes class on December 6th! I am looking forward to learning something new. I already prepare a menu and shopping list every Saturday morning and bring my lunch and breakfast to work each day. My expectation is to learn better ways to eat and cook for my situation and ultimately for my family. Let’s share tips and advice…. |
| I sent an email to my Doc and told her that I eat eggs nearly every day.... For Breakfast I take a HB egg to work and often have eggs on the weekend with my hubby. She is pulling the statins right now and I will make some dietary changes to see if we can get some results and retest in 6 to 8 weeks. No more eggs. Woo Hoo! My thought about the eggs were that I could easily bring a high protein breakfast to work... So now I will have to think of something else. I think low fat Greek Yogurt with frozen unsweetened berries might be a good sub. Have any of you tried Greek Yogurt? It is amazing... once you try it, you will not go back to regular yogurt. |
| I am not a fan of Greek yogurt. To me it tastes like sour cream, which I like on baked potatoes. Can you eat cottage cheese? One of my favorite breakfast in 2% cottage cheese (Breakstone's) mixed with vanilla, cinammon and Splenda (or whatever sweetener you choose, or none at all!). Tastes like a cheese danish minus the pastry. I also like a whole wheat English muffin (Thomas) toasted with peanut butter on top. Does the egg subsititute (like Eggbeaters) produce the same effect as eggs? If not, you could scramble those and add some fat free cheddar (just a sprinkle). That's another of my faves, with Morningstar sausage (I think those are TVP) cooked, diced and added to the eggs. |
| I wouldn't be adding any meat substitute products to your diet. They mess up hormones, which makes things like insuling resistance worse. I have a similar condition, so I know all about all this junk (minus the weight issue). |
| Thanks for the suggestions for "meat Substitues" , but I don't really like them and In my research lean protiens are fine. I can have two eggs a week, that is good for me, I was eating so many eggs because it was easy to take a HB egg to work for breakfast... Now I eat low fat greek yogurt with berries and a little sweetner. Or oatmeal or other oat bran cereal. I also didn't know that my LDL was such an issue... had no idea. Helps when you know what is wrong, that is why just cutting sugar was not doing the trick. I needed to look at many more issues and address them all. With Metabolic Syndrom, it is a multfaceted issue. I am a meal planner, so I can keep ahead of what I need to have in my diet. With my husband being out of work, he does the cooking per what I have on the menu, it will work out fine. We do a lot of cooking with the crockpot and we eat a lot of chicken. and a lot of veggies too. I have to watch the eggs, take omega 3/6 and 9 and excecise! If I get determined about something, then I can do it... it is like giving up sugar. This week we have had cake, dark chocolate truffles, donuts twice and cookies in the office. I was not even tempted, didn't have a crumb of any of it. I am darn proud of myself for this week! Next week I will work as hard and hope I have the same strength. I am trying to eat as close to natural is I can and for me that means preparing our meals from veggies, grain and meat, it's cheaper. I'm also becoming an advocate of smaller portions... on some stuff that is hard for me... I love my veggies. My next blood work is in 6 to 8 weeks, so sometime in early to mid January. We will see where we are at that point, I will be sure to share with you the results... I am hoping that this is the right direction... |
| I have faith in you!!! |
| thanks Ron! the support is deeply appreciated. This has been one heck of a week, I had carpal tunnel surgery on Monday morning. i love cooking fot tday, but thi nyear had to hang up my tongs and let Lee do it. my hand does not hurt so much now, but in the beginning, different story altogether. still no sugar! and have given up most bread. Down to 2 eggs a week, wonder what else I will have to give up? |
TylersMom wrote: ... wonder what else I will have to give up? I will tell you after Valentine's day  |
| Ron, what is happening on Valentine's Day? Hope all is well. Leslie, thanks for reminding me that sugar is so unhealthy for us. I took the plunge and gave up sugar, bread, rice, and potatoes the week before Thanksgiving. (Hubby and I cooked dinner for 36 people.) It was brutal, but I figured that I'd rather start getting healthy before the fattening holiday food, rather than after. So, no mashed potatoes and hubby's homemade gravy, no stuffing, no cranberry sauce, no rolls with butter, no pumpkin pie, no apple slices........ I ate turkey and steamed broccoli. It was tough, but I made it through. My hubby is still enjoying all the leftovers though, so I have to be vigilant to stay on track. He offered to eat the same way I am, but there's no reason he shouldn't be able to enjoy all of these things in moderation, as he is in great shape. (He's not a big sweet eater anyway, so after he finishes off the pies, there won't be any other sugary things in the house anyway.) Thanks Leslie. You've started me off on a healthy road again. Laurie and Oscar |
| wow Laurie! way to go! a couple tips I learned: For the few things I cant bear to eat unsweetened or with artificial sweetener I use agave nectar. it has is much lower on glycemic index than sugar and used in moderation. If you need to lower cholesterol try steel cut oats and drink orange juice or eat oranges with it, it enhances the cholesterol lowering properties Steel cut oats take a little longer to cook, we are about to try a crock pot method with dried fruit. hey Ron, what is special about Valentines? besides the obvious |
| LOL, I was just joking that there might be something else you'd have to give up, but I wouldn't wanna bum you out before Valentine's Day. It was just a joke! Look. If all this dieting and whatever doesn't make you live longer, you could give up.... relations. That might not make you live longer either, but it will seem longer.  |
 I don't think the hubby would be laughing as much at your suggestion...... I might be out on my ear...... |
| I have attended my two Pre Diabetes classes. The class is conducted by a licensed dietitian, the good new is that giving up sugar is great! woo hoo. The bad new is that it isn't enough when you have Metabolic Syndrome. Apparently when you have Metabolic Syndrome, a multi-faceted issue, you have to go at it with more ammo... I have joined Curves, and I am watching my portions... meaning that I am plating smaller portions.... I will share my results as they come, I will be doing blood work in mid January. Lets hope that the numbers are improved.... Merry Christmas to all of you! |
| Good luck to you!! Exercising is always a good idea. I hope you enjoy Curves - I hear many good things about it.  |
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