Trying To Cut Down On Suger Intake ?

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I'm always looking to cut down on the sugar, shits not good for ya. Recently my health conscious daughter brought this stuff home. Makes a delicious cafe mocha, no more sugar in the coffee. Great in smoothies too. Its totally taken the place of sugar in my mornings. You might get the same mileage.

 

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Thanks for sharing. 

 

I'm still trying to wean myself off of sugar, which I started eating in copious amounts during my recent road trip. 

 

It's a tough craving to break. 

70% dark chocolate helps... never been a soda drinker, but i do like those cucumber and mint dry sodas, as well as the occasional ginger beer.. it's a win just to avoid high-fructose corn syrup!

coffee additives are definitely low hanging fruit, along with "pop"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh9nNJrQoWo

I've been trying to avoid refined sugar since June.

I gave up my daily habit of a cocoa bar after lunch, which meant I was 100% caffeine free, after having kicked coffee a few years ago.   No more trips down the cookie and ice cream aisles at the grocery store.  It's hard though.  Sugar is omnipresent.  I used to love a Chobani Greek Yogurt every morning, until I read the ingredients.  I read ingredient labels more thoroughly now.  Almost all the carbohydrate foods I love, potatos, rice, flour, are converted into sugar as your body metabolizes them.   I've cut back on them all.   I avoid white flour and eat multi-grain bread, brown rice, and am eating more yams.  My beer and liquor consumption has cut back to almost nil.   I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables with meat or fish.  I don't drink fruit juices anymore, and just eat an orange instead.

It took about a week for my appetite to adjust, but you get through it.  I was at 275 pounds and am near 250 now, and am trying to get under 220.   The reduced weight has had a huge effect on reducing pain in my bum knee.  It's nice to fit in my clothes more easily and to hear people comment that I've lost weight.  The lack of sugar and caffeine, paired with lots of stretching/yoga and a daily workout has had a generally calming effect on me.  I have better focus and am better at taking things in stride.  In a city like Seattle, where so much of the population is wired, it's noticeable.  

<< The lack of sugar and caffeine, paired with lots of stretching/yoga and a daily workout has had a generally calming effect on me.  I have better focus and am better at taking things in stride >>

Absolutely noticable difference in me too and I've only eliminated the sugar for about a month now. Always exercise a couple hrs a day on yardwork or just walking. I'm off dark roast coffee but don't get in the way of me and my organic medium roast, you may lose a limb. 

 

I gave up my daily breakfast burrito. Made at home -two fried eggs, cheese, some sort of potato, and whatever beef or bacon was leftover, wrapped in a white flour tortilla of course. It traveled well to work and reheated nicely on the dashboard of the truck.   

I now eat legumes in a thermos. Plant based breakfast. 1-2$ will make a pound of dry beans that provides easily for the entire week.  Feeling much better after consuming. Not tired and no heartburn. Sometimes a piece of fruit accompanies the meal.  But......Fruit is still sugar.

I opted out of meat at breakfast years ago. And greasy morning eggs have been replaced with a Stone Wave Micro Cooker.

A few times a week its smoothies for breakfast --

Frozen mango, lots of whole milk yogurt (any fat free or % milk is worthless), fresh grated ginger from the freezer, a banana, then any leftover fruit from the day before (strawberrys, blueberries, cantaloupe, a squeeze of lemon or lime, watermelon, whatever ya got) , with coconut water as the liquid  --   ALL ORGANIC 

Evenings are green smoothies with Kale and/or Spinach and/or Swiss Chard and/or Beet Greens with the coconut water. 

Lots of nuts instead of chips too, walnuts, pecans, cashews.

Good job people for making the effort. You feel better and your loved ones get to have a better you hangin around

This shit's really good is smoothies too ---

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I struggle with a sweet tooth and sweets and carbs in general. I'm really trying now to cut back on my sugar intakes, but I'm going one step at a time. I've never had a problem with alcohol, but I stopped drinking any at all like a month ago. It really is the most poisonous and toxic of all the drugs and it's just gratuitous calories for no real purpose. 

Now I'm onto desserts and sweet stuff and the like. I also have a hard time with rice and pastas. Apparently, this a genetic thing. There are people out there whose intestinal flora really craves carbs and sugars, and people whose flora doesn't. I'm trying to reshape my gut flora to adjust accordingly, so every night I'm drinking a shot of homemade yoghurt with real live bus in it. It's kinda gross but really good for you. 

I would warn against some of the things I've read in here, too, for whatever it's worth. Every person is different of course but:

Smoothies in general are a bad idea, or so says my doctor wife who works in nutrition and nutrition related areas. Basically, the lack of any cell wall in the fruit means you're just injecting a massive dose of sugar right into your veins. Regardless of the fact that it's fructose, it's still so much and so many calories that ultimately it overloads your system and can produce fat anyways. Raw fruit is always the way to go.

Beans are also basically pure sugar, as are all carbs. Now, beans are healthier though, because you have to chew and break them down in your system - digest them. On the other hand, bean soup is basically just sugar to the veins. Pastas, since they are already broken down for you, is just a shot of sugar straight to the brain. White rice is close behind.

So yeah, gut flora. Have you noticed that some people go nuts for sweets and others don't care? My wife and son would much rather eat a steak than a piece of cake, or a pasta dish, whereas my daughter and I would both be eyeballing that cake. Plus, coming from depressive and anxious genetic stock and having battled with these mental illnesses throughout my life, I find that what I eat GREATLY influences my emotional state. Alcohol is no good generally, and sweets and pastas make me feel shitty, too. Salads and proteins, on the other hand, make me feel energetic and happy. Weird.

So yeah, keep on fighting the good fight against those sugars...

You are correct, everybody's metabolism is different. The key is to try and be a plant and have a neutral ph. About 10 years ago I had a major breakdown in my digestive system -  the main cause was me being 50lbs overweight. Took about 6 months of smoothies ( base smoothie is mango, banana and yogurt), and the over the counter probiotic Align to get it back. Dr said the things that helped rebuild me the most was the mango and banana, ultra good for the guts. Now 10 years later I'm down 40 of the 50 and hope to kick another 10 now that I'm working on the sugar.

PS -- NEVER USED WHITE BLEACHED REFINED  SUGAR that you ate by the spoonful as a kid, on top of your Frosted Flakes + Capt Crunch.

 Unrefined organic Coconut Sugar should be the only kind in your house. 

Almost forgot -- Winter Squash is A Biggie !

A huge part of my gut overhaul. Acorn, Butternut, Buttercup, Spaghetti, Hubbard, Red Kuri (Hokkaido) are all really good for your stomach. Loaded with Selenium. Dr said that shits great for the guts. Hope this info helps

just to add something to the pic ras posted - "alkalizing" is BS...there is absolutely no evidence you can change the ph of your body by doing things like drinking alkaline water or taking things that claim to alkalize the body, and no evidence it would have any beneficial effects even if it could.

for me personally, im only worried about sugar as it relates to the gut microbiome. i recently cut waaaaaay back on sugar, and from what i can tell there isnt any conclusive evidence that any kind of sweetener does not effect the gut microbiome...stevia has some studies that says it does not, some studies that say it does. ive found the best balance between eating the food i like and maintaining a healthy gut microbiome is to forget about trying to find alternative sweeteners, and to just consume regular old cane sugar in very small amounts. sometimes i still drink a soda or eat some cookies, but i am perfectly happy trading in a bit of health and longevity to revel in some worldly pleasures. i like food to much, i could never just get used to a super healthy diet as some people do...id always be wondering if some new hypebeast burger joint is really as good as they say, or if the new flavor of tates cookies is any good, and just for me, that kind of self restriction and repression of one of the greatest joys of my life and one of the pillars of human society - good food - just isnt worth a few extra years or a bit of extra energy during the day.

the one dietary and health related issue i do try and be stringent about is not doing things that could contribute to neurodegenerative diseases. i will not be one of those old guys who doesnt know his name or who his kids are. i have a necklace with a vial on it...inside of that vial will be a lethal dose of a poison that will let you go relatively painlessly...if i ever start showing symptoms of neurodegenerative disease in my old age - provided there is not some new cure or treatment discovered by then - ill start wearing the necklace every day. one day my mental state will get bad enough and i will use the vial before i dont know who or where i am.

I have cut back my sugar intake, only cream in my coffee now, and I drink the sugar free gator aid mostly. But I will still do regular sugar over any fake sugars, and also real butter over any type of substitutes, this is civilization after all. 

 

M-F I snack on pistachios, licorice, and slim Jim’s from when I get to work in the am and until I leave at 4:30. I usually eat a piece of meet for dinner or go without. I will treat myself to some sugar free popsicles at night instead of ice cream. You can tell I do not read many diet books, but have dropped 50 since last December 

I remember when I used to put two sugar packets ina cup of tea.

Now I spread one out over three cups.

Virtually no HFCS.

>>>>Lots of whole milk yogurt (any fat free or % milk is worthless)        Switched to whole dairy a few years ago, never looked back.....

“The way milk comes from a cow, there’s a balance of fat, protein, and natural sugar,”

 “When we micromanage that natural nutrition by decreasing the fat, we increase the sugar by volume while also throwing off the balance that’s most advantageous to digestion and absorption.”

Full-fat dairy is a rich source of nutrients beside fat, said Dr. Kiah Connolly, a board-certified emergency medicine physician at Kaiser Permanente and health director of Trifecta.

“While whole-fat dairy products do contain saturated fats, they’re often still richly nutrient dense. Whole-fat dairy often contains the highest content of these nutrients, and while it does have saturated fat with bad cholesterol (LDL), it also provides good cholesterol (HDL) which can offset the negative effects of the LDL.”

I love

Daylight’s  posts

and often agree.  How are His cognitive skills still functioning so well after.....

And nice thread team Phil 

 

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I have no idea about alkalizing water Larry, I do know its totally possible to adjust your body's ph by putting good stuff in it. 

A pH of 7 is neutral. Those levels vary throughout your body. Your blood is slightly alkaline, with a pH between 7.35 and 7.45. Your stomach is very acidic, with a pH of 3.5 or below, so it can break down food.

 

pH Imbalance: Acidosis, Alkalosis, Diagnosis, and Treatment
https://www.healthline.com/health/ph-imbalance

 

Grandmas say a teaspoon of vinegar a day is good for you.

<< Smoothies in general are a bad idea, you're just injecting a massive dose of sugar right into your veins. Regardless of the fact that it's fructose, it's still so much and so many calories that ultimately it overloads your system and can produce fat anyways. Raw fruit is always the way to go. >>

 

Oh long winded one, your statement is somewhat baffling. You seem to disagee with my recommendations of fresh fruit smoothies, then you say raw fruit is the way to go. Who you trying to confuse, you or me ?  The sugar you get from fresh fruit (smoothies) breaks down easy in your system. Its the processed sugars that are the devil and should be avoided.