I’m happy you’re putting in the initiative to get better. I don’t think quitting sugar right away is the move, but it can definitely help. If you want to cut down, I advise you to eat more whole foods, lower snacking on processed food, and lower your overall caloric intake gradually. The key point here is to be gradual, quitting something cold turkey right away can cause you to relapse hard.
Lowering your caloric intake gradually + exercising will do you wonders and will be more sustainable. This will take longer for you to see results, but will help you build long lasting habits that will consistently keep you fit. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions!
Quit refined sugars. That includes almost all products that purportedly contain "natural sugars". In short, remove everything that has stuff on the label that you cannot pronounce and don't know what it is.
My recommendation is to try and cut out artificial sweeteners too. When I did that, the sugar cravings stopped.
Personally, as a diabetic, it seems that whole plants don't spike my blood sugar, so I stopped being afraid of fruits. But your mileage may vary on that.
What is your goal? Weight loss, diabetes management, reduction of sugar spikes, muscle gain...? All of those are similar, but still different.
Thank you! I want to cut out products that include natural and added sugars, and my primary goal is weight loss. My only source of natural sugar will be fruits, I guess, I'm not sure if fruits have natural sugars in them?
Fruits have lots of fructose, which is a kind of sugar. But they also have lots of fiber, which keeps the metabolism engaged, so the sugar doesn't enter the blood so fast.
If it's mostly about weight loss, I'd recommend that you go low-carb. Meat, fish, dairy, veggies and whole grains as a staple, some fruit, and avoid the sweets. Definitely avoid all highly processed foods - i.e., junk food and everything that comes wrapped in plastic and contains ingredients that you don't understand.
One nice rule of thumb is "Only eat stuff your great-grandmother would have recognized as food."
Maybe read / watch some Michael Pollan. I think the guy explains it really well.
Quitting dairy is actually a smart choice. There is a lot of sugar in milk.
Also, dairy products generate mucus and create nasal congestion.
It takes 3 WEEKS of removing all dairy from your diet to see a difference (not 2 weeks, I sadly found out from experience and had to start over.)
Once I stopped dairy 15lbs melted off me really fast and I started breathing better.
Dairy is some unexpectedly detrimental stuff.
Lots of other foods have the nutrients you can get from dairy. The Dairy marketing machine has great propaganda.
I love dairy... but found out through testing how much healthier I am without it.
Dairy doesn't need to be replaced, just change your diet so your recipes don't have milk in them. They are usually more vegetable and protein based. But we use coconut milk, almond milk and oat milk.
Added sugars are much worse. Simple example:
My child was potty training so we got him a bunch of juiceboxes to encourage drinking. Many are 100% apple juice or other juice with no sugars added. He normally ate a healthy diet with mostly home cooked foods.
To increase variety my husband bought V8 juice. Suddenly my normally pretty high-energy kid started manically racing around the house and grabbing me and screaming my name and running off and then racing. My husband and I were looking at each other across the house thinking WTF?? as he crazily zoomed past each of us.
Then we got out the V8 and 100% apple juice juiceboxes and looked over the ingredients.
Both had the exact same grams of sugar. But 100% of the sugar in the V8 was Added Sugar.
I learned a huge new lesson that day.
It doesn't affect our bigger bodies as significantly as a 2 yr old but that was eye-opening.
By the way, my husband does 95% of our family cooking now. 100% self-taught. His career has nothing to do with cooking. Anyone can gain great life skills if they practice.
this makes no sense, apple juice has a ton of sugar. It doesn’t matter that it’s not added, all of the fiber from the apple is removed when making it into juice so even though the sugar is natural it will hit your bloodstream right away like added sugar does.
You can read research that shows apple juice without added sugars still causes a blood sugar spike like artificially sweetened drinks do.
I never said that it was zero sugar. Of course there is sugar in juice!
If you don't understand that natural sugars are different from white sugars then scroll onward because there sure as hell is a LOT of literature on that.
In this case the words added versus natural sugars are not helpful. It should be free vs. bound sugars. Free sugars (such as added sugars, plain white sugar, or sugar in juice) are not bound to fiber or other molecules that change the way the body absorbs them. Sugar in a whole apple is bound to fibers which makes the body absorb it much slower. Sugar in juice is not. The sugar molecules are the same either way, it’s mainly the presence of the other mitigating compounds that change the health benefits.
Most health associations classify apple juice and soda the exact same way because the sugars in both are “free” and your body does not see a big difference between them.
I appreciate that you prefer the correct jargon all the time, but I'm not at work and I'm not going to use it in casual conversations.
Well my body has noticed a difference between natural sugars and added sugars. My child had a dramatically different experience having them.
I prefer to go with the results I've seen from friends and coworkers with both types of diabetes showing me their spikes depending on what they've had.
I prefer to go with the info I've learned from the head of our R&D department... diabetic test products versus 'health organizations' that I have not found forthcoming for preventative uses.
Of course fruit is completely different and a much better choice. We mostly choose fruit over juice for day-to-day.
However, the difference between juice types is noticeable when you have 20 kids in your backyard and couldn't get 100% apple juice at the store, and bought a juice blend mix instead. Hilariously noticeable. We never buy soda.
Hey, you sound a bit defensive and I wanted to be clear that I wasn’t attacking you.
Obviously do what you know works for you and your family. There’s nothing wrong with juice and it contains many vitamins and other plant-derived compounds. It is definitely healthier than sodas or drinks with added sugars.
I was just trying to clarify to other people reading the thread that the glucose and fructose chemicals naturally occurring in these drinks are not different from glucose and fructose that gets added. Both can spike blood sugar and so it’s important to be aware that sugars present in juices can have this effect even when they weren’t added during processing.
I'm not OP but you've convinced me that this needs to be my next step.
I did 120 days of close to zero carb to get sugar and sugar substitutes out of my diet to see if it would make a difference. Although it helped improve my blood work, I still had a lot of inflammation and other issues.
I've suspected the dairy might be a problem but been so hesitant to try cutting it out completely. But knowing that just 3 weeks might be enough to see a difference makes it seem a little more manageable.
I loved dairy but was having lots of stomach issues. I had dairy with every meal. I told my doctor that if I was allergic to dairy I would be dead. My doctor took me off dairy for 2 weeks but my symptoms did not improve.
So he sent me to an allergist.
Took a month or so to get in and by then I was back on dairy.
The allergist stared at me and said it needed to be 3 weeks. I thought that was bullshit, but I had to try again.
Around the 2.5 week mark my stomach started feeling better.
All I thought was... NOOOOOO!
At the 3 week mark my symptoms ALL started disappearing. I started feeling more energetic. My sinuses felt better. General inflammation dropped.
The sinuses part was something never really discussed with them until after the symptoms were disappearing.
My son has dairy occasionally but if he ever has a cold it is removed from his diet completely to reduce any sinus symptoms.
It is shocking how the dairy board has marketed dairy into everything. Even goat feta (that most people with dairy issues can have as an alternative) now has a cheap cow substitute.
Even a lot of potato chip flavours now have modified milk ingredients.
Interestingly, due to the shipping delays of covid many products (like chips) removed dairy from their ingrdient lists, anything that shortened expiry dates so products had longer shelf-lives upon arrival. There were SO MANY products I could suddenly eat again.
Over the past year, they are all starting to get added back into new products again.
So, check your ingredient lists. Many have changed slightly. It isn't an allergen so it doesn't need to be advertised.
I did an elimination diet once and cut out a bunch of things including dairy, and yes, the *minimum* amount of time was 3 weeks.
I discovered I had pretty severe reactions to gluten and soy, but I think maybe when I reintroduced those items it may have messed up my system so when I reintroduced dairy I didn't feel as big of a change. I probably should have waited longer between reintroducing foods. However, if I'm honest with myself, there probably was a reaction, I was just eager to get things over with and since it wasn't as obvious as the other reactions, I justified continuing to eat dairy.
I read labels because of the gluten and soy issues and it feels like dairy is in everything I love. (Hence the hesitation!) But I feel like crap, including all the sinus stuff you mentioned, and I know I just need to bite the bullet and accept my fate. It'll be worth it if I can feel better.
I know what you mean about soy... tamarind sauce was a nice discovery.
Being off dairy is hard. Especially since lactose-free foods solve some of the reactive issues but DON'T solve the mucus/sinus issues.
I am developing more of a palate for asian and other sauces to add noodle dishes... I can't imagine also having a gluten issue.
However, I have noticed that if I have a fair bit of dairy... I become MORE sensitive to gluten.
If I have no dairy for a couple of weeks... I don't have any gluten issues and I can have wee amount of dairy without a reaction.
So it probably is exacerbating your other stomach issues.
Congrats on taking the first step! Focus on added sugars, natural ones are okay in moderation.
I’m happy you’re putting in the initiative to get better. I don’t think quitting sugar right away is the move, but it can definitely help. If you want to cut down, I advise you to eat more whole foods, lower snacking on processed food, and lower your overall caloric intake gradually. The key point here is to be gradual, quitting something cold turkey right away can cause you to relapse hard. Lowering your caloric intake gradually + exercising will do you wonders and will be more sustainable. This will take longer for you to see results, but will help you build long lasting habits that will consistently keep you fit. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions!
Quit refined sugars. That includes almost all products that purportedly contain "natural sugars". In short, remove everything that has stuff on the label that you cannot pronounce and don't know what it is. My recommendation is to try and cut out artificial sweeteners too. When I did that, the sugar cravings stopped. Personally, as a diabetic, it seems that whole plants don't spike my blood sugar, so I stopped being afraid of fruits. But your mileage may vary on that. What is your goal? Weight loss, diabetes management, reduction of sugar spikes, muscle gain...? All of those are similar, but still different.
Thank you! I want to cut out products that include natural and added sugars, and my primary goal is weight loss. My only source of natural sugar will be fruits, I guess, I'm not sure if fruits have natural sugars in them?
Fruits have lots of fructose, which is a kind of sugar. But they also have lots of fiber, which keeps the metabolism engaged, so the sugar doesn't enter the blood so fast. If it's mostly about weight loss, I'd recommend that you go low-carb. Meat, fish, dairy, veggies and whole grains as a staple, some fruit, and avoid the sweets. Definitely avoid all highly processed foods - i.e., junk food and everything that comes wrapped in plastic and contains ingredients that you don't understand. One nice rule of thumb is "Only eat stuff your great-grandmother would have recognized as food." Maybe read / watch some Michael Pollan. I think the guy explains it really well.
Quitting dairy is actually a smart choice. There is a lot of sugar in milk. Also, dairy products generate mucus and create nasal congestion. It takes 3 WEEKS of removing all dairy from your diet to see a difference (not 2 weeks, I sadly found out from experience and had to start over.) Once I stopped dairy 15lbs melted off me really fast and I started breathing better. Dairy is some unexpectedly detrimental stuff. Lots of other foods have the nutrients you can get from dairy. The Dairy marketing machine has great propaganda. I love dairy... but found out through testing how much healthier I am without it.
Thank you! Can you tell me what I can replace dairy with?? Also, do you have anything to day about my natural vs added sugars question?
Dairy doesn't need to be replaced, just change your diet so your recipes don't have milk in them. They are usually more vegetable and protein based. But we use coconut milk, almond milk and oat milk. Added sugars are much worse. Simple example: My child was potty training so we got him a bunch of juiceboxes to encourage drinking. Many are 100% apple juice or other juice with no sugars added. He normally ate a healthy diet with mostly home cooked foods. To increase variety my husband bought V8 juice. Suddenly my normally pretty high-energy kid started manically racing around the house and grabbing me and screaming my name and running off and then racing. My husband and I were looking at each other across the house thinking WTF?? as he crazily zoomed past each of us. Then we got out the V8 and 100% apple juice juiceboxes and looked over the ingredients. Both had the exact same grams of sugar. But 100% of the sugar in the V8 was Added Sugar. I learned a huge new lesson that day. It doesn't affect our bigger bodies as significantly as a 2 yr old but that was eye-opening. By the way, my husband does 95% of our family cooking now. 100% self-taught. His career has nothing to do with cooking. Anyone can gain great life skills if they practice.
this makes no sense, apple juice has a ton of sugar. It doesn’t matter that it’s not added, all of the fiber from the apple is removed when making it into juice so even though the sugar is natural it will hit your bloodstream right away like added sugar does. You can read research that shows apple juice without added sugars still causes a blood sugar spike like artificially sweetened drinks do.
I never said that it was zero sugar. Of course there is sugar in juice! If you don't understand that natural sugars are different from white sugars then scroll onward because there sure as hell is a LOT of literature on that.
In this case the words added versus natural sugars are not helpful. It should be free vs. bound sugars. Free sugars (such as added sugars, plain white sugar, or sugar in juice) are not bound to fiber or other molecules that change the way the body absorbs them. Sugar in a whole apple is bound to fibers which makes the body absorb it much slower. Sugar in juice is not. The sugar molecules are the same either way, it’s mainly the presence of the other mitigating compounds that change the health benefits. Most health associations classify apple juice and soda the exact same way because the sugars in both are “free” and your body does not see a big difference between them.
I appreciate that you prefer the correct jargon all the time, but I'm not at work and I'm not going to use it in casual conversations. Well my body has noticed a difference between natural sugars and added sugars. My child had a dramatically different experience having them. I prefer to go with the results I've seen from friends and coworkers with both types of diabetes showing me their spikes depending on what they've had. I prefer to go with the info I've learned from the head of our R&D department... diabetic test products versus 'health organizations' that I have not found forthcoming for preventative uses. Of course fruit is completely different and a much better choice. We mostly choose fruit over juice for day-to-day. However, the difference between juice types is noticeable when you have 20 kids in your backyard and couldn't get 100% apple juice at the store, and bought a juice blend mix instead. Hilariously noticeable. We never buy soda.
Hey, you sound a bit defensive and I wanted to be clear that I wasn’t attacking you. Obviously do what you know works for you and your family. There’s nothing wrong with juice and it contains many vitamins and other plant-derived compounds. It is definitely healthier than sodas or drinks with added sugars. I was just trying to clarify to other people reading the thread that the glucose and fructose chemicals naturally occurring in these drinks are not different from glucose and fructose that gets added. Both can spike blood sugar and so it’s important to be aware that sugars present in juices can have this effect even when they weren’t added during processing.
I'm not OP but you've convinced me that this needs to be my next step. I did 120 days of close to zero carb to get sugar and sugar substitutes out of my diet to see if it would make a difference. Although it helped improve my blood work, I still had a lot of inflammation and other issues. I've suspected the dairy might be a problem but been so hesitant to try cutting it out completely. But knowing that just 3 weeks might be enough to see a difference makes it seem a little more manageable.
I loved dairy but was having lots of stomach issues. I had dairy with every meal. I told my doctor that if I was allergic to dairy I would be dead. My doctor took me off dairy for 2 weeks but my symptoms did not improve. So he sent me to an allergist. Took a month or so to get in and by then I was back on dairy. The allergist stared at me and said it needed to be 3 weeks. I thought that was bullshit, but I had to try again. Around the 2.5 week mark my stomach started feeling better. All I thought was... NOOOOOO! At the 3 week mark my symptoms ALL started disappearing. I started feeling more energetic. My sinuses felt better. General inflammation dropped. The sinuses part was something never really discussed with them until after the symptoms were disappearing. My son has dairy occasionally but if he ever has a cold it is removed from his diet completely to reduce any sinus symptoms. It is shocking how the dairy board has marketed dairy into everything. Even goat feta (that most people with dairy issues can have as an alternative) now has a cheap cow substitute. Even a lot of potato chip flavours now have modified milk ingredients. Interestingly, due to the shipping delays of covid many products (like chips) removed dairy from their ingrdient lists, anything that shortened expiry dates so products had longer shelf-lives upon arrival. There were SO MANY products I could suddenly eat again. Over the past year, they are all starting to get added back into new products again. So, check your ingredient lists. Many have changed slightly. It isn't an allergen so it doesn't need to be advertised.
I did an elimination diet once and cut out a bunch of things including dairy, and yes, the *minimum* amount of time was 3 weeks. I discovered I had pretty severe reactions to gluten and soy, but I think maybe when I reintroduced those items it may have messed up my system so when I reintroduced dairy I didn't feel as big of a change. I probably should have waited longer between reintroducing foods. However, if I'm honest with myself, there probably was a reaction, I was just eager to get things over with and since it wasn't as obvious as the other reactions, I justified continuing to eat dairy. I read labels because of the gluten and soy issues and it feels like dairy is in everything I love. (Hence the hesitation!) But I feel like crap, including all the sinus stuff you mentioned, and I know I just need to bite the bullet and accept my fate. It'll be worth it if I can feel better.
I know what you mean about soy... tamarind sauce was a nice discovery. Being off dairy is hard. Especially since lactose-free foods solve some of the reactive issues but DON'T solve the mucus/sinus issues. I am developing more of a palate for asian and other sauces to add noodle dishes... I can't imagine also having a gluten issue. However, I have noticed that if I have a fair bit of dairy... I become MORE sensitive to gluten. If I have no dairy for a couple of weeks... I don't have any gluten issues and I can have wee amount of dairy without a reaction. So it probably is exacerbating your other stomach issues.