[MongolianAbroad]

(03-31-2018 12:15 PM)The Stronger Sex Wrote:  

(03-31-2018 07:06 AM)Montrose Wrote:  

The body needs glucose, that is true, but it can make it from non-sugar carbs, proteins and fat. Sugar in diet is not necessary at all.

If your goal is to cut calorie intake, there are more rational and straight-forward ways to do it. It seems to me like a fad diet. All these cultish diet fads is what women do - for "Atkins" read "paleo". Unless you're an elite athlete, having a sustainable healthy diet is pretty straightforward. No need for fasting, "detoxing" or any of that lifestyley ascientific crap.

Go make the "eat snickers and potato chips" thread and post there, then.

Or the "rational and straight-forward way to cut calories" thread, whatever you want to call it, just get off this thread.

Put. This thread. Down.

This thread is for closers only.

[AcftW]

Not planning to cut out all sugar, but I’ll join in for cutting out fast food and energy drinks/soda. Red Bulls have been a weakness of mine for a while now, and it’s just a waste of money.

[Captain Gh]

A good book that will help a lot of folks on this thread is Allen Carr's Good Sugar Bad Sugar. I strongly believe fructose acts as a toxin for some people, and simply have to stop consuming it altogether like an alcoholic simply cannot "just have a drink". I recently realized I'm one of these people! Looking successful on the outside... but can barely maintain something for more than a Handful of Days before giving up! And I'm already Fit & don't drink! I'm only 3 days in... but I've not been eagerly tempted to head down the 7/11 to be some snacks thanks to my second reading of this book. If you guys have the ability to limit your consumption... then maybe a simple cut is all you need. In my case... gotta cut it out of my life for Good I Believe. I've had $60 cheat days multiple times in the past

Simple Sugar is my version of No Fap. All of the symptoms the guys over on the No Fap thread describe... is exactly me on simple sugars! The Science between food & the brain is still not fully known. Even with all of our technology... we only know about 10-20% of the Brain! Recently found this Gem describing how the daughter of the Famous Jordan Peterson Got off Anti Depressant, which she's been taking for 12 Years, by simply switching her diet to a Ketogenic Style Diet with Alcohol here & there.

For Guys who don't feel the urge to buy Sugar everyday & are still successful but not in shape... simply cutting out Grains might be a better & easier move! If I could splurge on Dark Chocolate while being in shape... I'd take it! Could Sugar consumption... like alcohol for some, or Porn/masturbation for some... could be a deterrent in their life? I assumed it at first... and now I'm certain of it. I've had untouched alcohol stashed in my kitchen for more than a year... and I Bust a Nut maybe 2x month! However not buying a sweet snack everyday, and avoid a $10-15$ cheat days... is excruciatingly Painful... with me being anxious like an addict. I'm in since I want to stop these $10 cheat days for GOOD!

[MongolianAbroad]

(03-31-2018 02:51 PM)Captain Gh Wrote:  

I've had untouched alcohol stashed in my kitchen for more than a year... and I Bust a Nut maybe 2x month! However not buying a sweet snack everyday, and avoid a $10-15$ cheat days... is excruciatingly Painful... with me being anxious like an addict. I'm in since I want to stop these $10 cheat days for GOOD!

Same here, no problem with alcohol, I can go months, or the rest of my life, really, without any.

But having a gas station close to me is dangerous, if it's walking distance and it has higher quality ice cream and a good variety of chips, sweet breads, and chocolates, it's over. I can go several days without it, but eventually, on a whim, I crack.

When you think about it, we're literally paying to hurt our health. It's insane unless you view it as an addiction, which is what it is.

That's interesting you mentioned Jordan Peterson's daughter and the effect on her. My brother suffered from allergies for years, then went on a paleo-ish diet with an emphasis on meats and veggies and not so much on fruits, and his allergies went away. He'd been suffering for years, and now they're gone. He also had migraines all his life, and those went away as well. So something was causing those issues, and we don't know what it was, but he's cool with being paleo or close to it for life now. Too many benefits.

He never had my sweet tooth, though, so he had an easier time with the switch. I eat paleo-ish, plus binge on junk food here and there, and that's what I want to remove.

I mean, I can hear the ice cream truck right now as I type this. Not running out. Not doing it.

Gotta cut it. Cold turkey.

[doc holliday]

(03-31-2018 12:15 PM)The Stronger Sex Wrote:  

(03-31-2018 07:06 AM)Montrose Wrote:  

The body needs glucose, that is true, but it can make it from non-sugar carbs, proteins and fat. Sugar in diet is not necessary at all.

If your goal is to cut calorie intake, there are more rational and straight-forward ways to do it. It seems to me like a fad diet. All these cultish diet fads is what women do - for "Atkins" read "paleo". Unless you're an elite athlete, having a sustainable healthy diet is pretty straightforward. No need for fasting, "detoxing" or any of that lifestyley ascientific crap.

I don't see how cutting sugar out of your diet is faddish in any way. I would posit that the majority of people out there who are overweight are so because of their sugar intake. Just see how much sugar there is in soda pop or "healthy" fruit juices which people consume like water. In fact, you'll have people tell you how much they hate drinking water because it has no taste. Then you add all the sugary crap that people snack on like chocolate bars, chewy candy and so on and its no wonder people can't lose weight. Sugar addiction is real and consuming it gives people a rush, a split second great feeling which people then feed over and over.

You can keep a normal diet with evenly split macros but get the sugar out of your diet and you won't have any issues with energy. Simple and complex carbs get broken down to glucose for energy as Montrose stated above. There is no need what so ever to consume sugar the way most people consume it. Fruit is ok because even though it has fructose, it has plenty of fiber which slows down the absorption of the fructose. I've never seen anyone get fat from eating too much fruit. Hell even a little taste of sugary treats here and there won't kill you but its not the way people normally consume it as they typically gorge on it.

Another not so often talked about bad effect of sugar is the havoc it wreaks on your teeth. That shit is so bad for your teeth, causing tooth decay resulting in expensive dental work. I eat very little sugar, some here and there but I mostly avoid soda pop, candy, chocolate, ice cream etc. Good thread, a lot of people would see progress just by eliminating sugary foods from their diet. Hope this thread takes off like the no fap and the alcohol threads.

[Yeti]

I'm in. In fact, I basically quit sugar about a year ago. I remember walking through the park and thinking that sugar just didn't serve me in any way.

I've always had a problem with sugar, and not necessarily junk food (I can abstain with no problem from eating greasy/salty/junk food, but I give in to sugar easily). Now I allow myself one day per month to have as much sugar as I want. Mentally, knowing that you simply don't eat sugar just makes life a lot easier and reduces a lot of mental stress. I simply don't eat sugar, so after I while I stopped thinking about it.

The problem is that giving in to a sugar craving was one of my ways to cope with stress and general boredom. So I've had to figure out how to manage everyday life without this crutch. It was a big challenge, but I managed to do it.

Cutting sugar/junk food is one of those 80/20 moves that will improve your life more than almost anything else. I won't say that the changes required are minor, though they might appear so. In fact, in my case, making this one change turned out to require a lot of other changes. For instance, I found that my sugar cravings were much harder if I was running on reduced sleep. So, I started sleeping more, which meant that I was in bed by 9 or 9:30, and up at 6am every day. This meant that I was home at a reasonable hour, no late nights out, etc. I got a car to get home earlier. This gave me free time to think of recipes to cook and eat healthier, thus making it easier to avoid sugar. I also made some changes to my general life to reduce stress, because I knew that stress would make me likelier to eat bad stuff. And so it goes. So this one little change really required me to kind of wake up, and become the person I had always wanted to be.

After a while off the junk, eating sugar again doesn't even taste that good. I almost want to stop eating the stuff after a few cookies or slices of cake. You ask yourself, what was I ever doing eating this shit en masse?

Best of luck to those with this challenge - it will make life so much better!

[ElFlaco]

For many people, sugar is an addiction of sorts. Your mind finds all kinds of reasons why it's okay to keep consuming it, despite your will. This is the concept of bargaining from drug/alcohol treatment.

Is it better to go cold turkey or cheat once in a while? If you have symptoms of addiction, then moderate use probably isn't going to work for you. There's an argument that allowing yourself to indulge occasionally keep you from just binging and ditching the diet altogether. See 'bargaining' above. Besides, once you're off sugar for a few days (2 to 10 days), the cravings decrease substantially. You just don't want it that much anymore. People resist that idea but they haven't put it to the test. That is the addiction talking.

[MongolianAbroad]

(03-31-2018 08:07 PM)ElFlaco Wrote:  

For many people, sugar is an addiction of sorts. Your mind finds all kinds of reasons why it's okay to keep consuming it, despite your will. This is the concept of bargaining from drug/alcohol treatment.

Is it better to go cold turkey or cheat once in a while? If you have symptoms of addiction, then moderate use probably isn't going to work for you. There's an argument that allowing yourself to indulge occasionally keep you from just binging and ditching the diet altogether. See 'bargaining' above. Besides, once you're off sugar for a few days (2 to 10 days), the cravings decrease substantially. You just don't want it that much anymore. People resist that idea but they haven't put it to the test. That is the addiction talking.

I've noticed that as well. When I've gone for longer periods off of it, the cravings go away.

So then at some point, I'll be at the store and see some junk food, and I'll be like, "I don't even have any craving for it, one candy won't hurt, let me grab some chocolate."

And then, bam, an avalanche, it starts with one and maybe right after or maybe the day after or whatever I'm binging again. That's how it's always gone down, very true.

My brother read somewhere that apparently there's some bacteria in your gut that feed off of sugar, and that's where the cravings come from, they want to be fed, the more you binge, the more of them there are, the more sugar you want.

But then if you manage to starve them out, then eventually those cravings go away. Until you binge again, then you make a little army of them and you're back to square one.

Something like that, it's an interesting concept.

[Winston Wolfe]

I have been quite the substance abuser for most of my adult life.

A few years ago, I was drinking massive amounts of alcohol, red bull and coffee and smoking massive amounts of cigarettes and weed. All at the same time.

Gradually, I have been taking care of every single one of them.

A few years ago I quit smoking weed.

About two years ago, I finally got rid of the damn red bulls (that shit truly is the devil and should be the very first thing you get rid of, including other pops like coke).

Then, what I thought would be the hardest one was actually the easiest: I quit smoking cigarettes after 12 years of massive consumption.

But what I didn't realize was that after quitting each of those, consumption of the others just went up and up. As if my brain was saying "at least give me SOMETHING dude!"

So after cutting out weed, sugar and nicotine, my alcohol consumption gradually got out of hand, as did my coffee consumption. Alcohol every night and at least 6 cups of coffee a day.

I've been a lurker on this forum for a very long time, and the reason I finally registered was to take care of the most problematic one of them all: I wanted to face my alcohol problems and participate in the drinking wagon thread.

So far, I have managed to not drink alcohol for almost 3 months. But guess what happened in the meantime? The only thing I still had left, caffeine, wasn't enough anymore. I started eating sugar again!

No red bulls, I simply refuse the stuff now, but I do find myself eating ice cream, chocolate and all kinds of that nasty processed stuff way too often.

I don't want to derail this thread to a personal journal and maybe this even warrants its own thread, but my body just seems to always need SOMETHING. It drives me insane.

It's almost as if someone else controls my body when I do it. I am aware of the fact that I am walking into a store to grab chocolate and other sweets. I am also aware of the fact that I shouldn't do it. But it doesn't stop me.

Then when I'm back home eating it, part of me feels completely disgusted while doing it and another part of me feels in heaven.

I am already half way dealing with my caffeine problem, but I am also in on this one. Time to get serious, no more sugars.

[Conquerer7]

I don't eat crisps or chocolate/sweets at all.

My weakness is that I like diet sodas similar to Coke Zero. I probably have 4 cans a day on average. I do drink a gallon of water a day easily though. In terms of alcohol I do enjoy a drink or two but never have more than 3 and enjoy the taste of certain drinks and the social aspect of going to the pub. I drink a lot less than I did a few years ago though and probably average two pints or two glasses of red wine (sometimes white) on average a week. I rarely if ever binge now.

I eat twice a day at lunch and dinner and would say out of the 16 meals I have a week 3 nights a week I end up having a takeaway when visiting or being with family/girl. So 13 meals are healthy in terms of steak, seafood, veg. I probably eat out once every couple of weeks aswell.

It's all about balance but to combat the diet sodas I have started having soda water + lime and over time I am starting to prefer meals such as steak and mushrooms made by me than a pizza from the takeaway. I find with junk good that you really want it for that initial first bite of goodness but it goes downhill from there in terms of taste and for your health.

I'm in!

[RawGod]

Enjoying my sugar-free snack foods today. Stay strong out there.

[Georges89]

(03-31-2018 08:22 AM)Spaniard88 Wrote:  

(03-31-2018 03:56 AM)Georges89 Wrote:  

Great idea, I'm interested.

I've been wanting to cut back on junk food for a while but it's become completely built into my life.

I always feel '1 month' away from having a much better body, but that dedication in my diet has always let me down.

Same here, I've reached my goals several times, up to 30 days of zero sugar, I think, and up to 6 months or so at a time of being extremely fit, like graduating first in my military class or maxing out on bench press, for example, but for the last 5 years or so, it seems like I'm always 2 weeks or a month away from my ideal form. I'm always so close, but then I binge on junk and there goes all the progress I make in that area, wipes out a week or two of discipline every time.

And the cycle repeats itself, damn sweet tooth, that stuff is addictive.

I'm thinking I may move abroad again in about 4 months, for a longer period of time than my prior moves, so it would be pretty cool to be my best self when I do! I've already accomplished a ton of my goals in other areas, but I seem to always sabotage myself in this area.

Even if it's only a few pounds, I want to stop. I notice I'm way more productive and clear headed when I'm on my non-binge days or weeks, and since I'm moving abroad and will be focusing on creating more remote income and dating beauties, I want to be at my best in both the physical and mental realm.

It's also good to give those self-discipline muscles a good workout. To start flexing them regularly.

I completely get you. One thing that has changed massively for me (I'm not as fit as you by the sounds of it) but I haven't drunk any alcohol in six months, save for 2 leffe belgian beers two weeks ago one evening. My stomach has got flat, all by itself. Obviously Iv'e been steadily working with my diet, but my diet hasn't been spot on at all. Quitting booze seems to have made a massive difference. I wonder whether its not only the fat but also that it swells the stomach due to inflammation etc..

Now I've moved away from booze (apart from the occasional 3-6 months one or two beers) diet is the next thing.

I realised my biggest problem tends to be sugary processed food like chocolate and cookies. Im going to start replacing them with fruit, bananas, strawberries, pears. Much healthier.

[Georges89]

(03-31-2018 08:42 PM)Winston Wolfe Wrote:  

I have been quite the substance abuser for most of my adult life.

A few years ago, I was drinking massive amounts of alcohol, red bull and coffee and smoking massive amounts of cigarettes and weed. All at the same time.

Gradually, I have been taking care of every single one of them.

A few years ago I quit smoking weed.

About two years ago, I finally got rid of the damn red bulls (that shit truly is the devil and should be the very first thing you get rid of, including other pops like coke).

Then, what I thought would be the hardest one was actually the easiest: I quit smoking cigarettes after 12 years of massive consumption.

But what I didn't realize was that after quitting each of those, consumption of the others just went up and up. As if my brain was saying "at least give me SOMETHING dude!"

So after cutting out weed, sugar and nicotine, my alcohol consumption gradually got out of hand, as did my coffee consumption. Alcohol every night and at least 6 cups of coffee a day.

I've been a lurker on this forum for a very long time, and the reason I finally registered was to take care of the most problematic one of them all: I wanted to face my alcohol problems and participate in the drinking wagon thread.

So far, I have managed to not drink alcohol for almost 3 months. But guess what happened in the meantime? The only thing I still had left, caffeine, wasn't enough anymore. I started eating sugar again!

No red bulls, I simply refuse the stuff now, but I do find myself eating ice cream, chocolate and all kinds of that nasty processed stuff way too often.

I don't want to derail this thread to a personal journal and maybe this even warrants its own thread, but my body just seems to always need SOMETHING. It drives me insane.

It's almost as if someone else controls my body when I do it. I am aware of the fact that I am walking into a store to grab chocolate and other sweets. I am also aware of the fact that I shouldn't do it. But it doesn't stop me.

Then when I'm back home eating it, part of me feels completely disgusted while doing it and another part of me feels in heaven.

I am already half way dealing with my caffeine problem, but I am also in on this one. Time to get serious, no more sugars.

WW, wow, you hit the nail on the head. I have this exact same issue. I quit smoking 2.5 years ago, I quit drugs, over a year ago. I quit booze for the last six months. I've even cut out coffee (apart from occasional decaff - it turns out my body is ultra sensitive to coffee for some reason.) I guess we should both give ourselves a pat on the back.

But certainly for people such as us, who have so-called 'addictive-personalities' for want of a better phrase, that need for a dopamine release transpires elsehwhere.

So diet has become the next area where my addiction has 'sprouted'.

I feel I'm at the final leg of getting my well-being and health really together. Its a long fucking journey. After quitting the chemicals (minus tea) I thought everything was going to be much easier. But I realised diet has a much bigger effect than I could have ever realised. The chemicals/alcohol can make you feel really shit..But the food is the difference between feeling so so everyday, and thriving.

[Ski pro]

I’ll be in once the ski season ends. You just can’t do 8 hour days up the hill on just salads.

Great thread idea though. I’ll be back in may.

[Caractacus Potts]

Count me in.

I've been working a lot of overtime for the past year and it isn't going to let up anytime soon. I got in the habit of stopping at 7-11 everyday (sometimes twice) and would refill my Super Big Gulp for just 99 cents!

It became an awful feedback loop: Poor/interrupted sleep>feeling lethargic>eating sugar and caffeine>spiking blood sugar>crash>more sugar and caffeine>repeat next day.

I've read that many addicts claim it is harder to kick sugar than it is drugs or alcohol. It is a socially accepted vice. People are always trying to bribe you with food. There was a thread here on RVF where a member talked about getting hired, retained, promoted because he was always the guy to bring donuts!

Here is the thread: thread-58912.html

I caught myself heading by my friend's desk on the way out of work tonight because he always has chocolates. I was on autopilot to grab a couple when I consciously told myself to stop and go home.

I will be checking in periodically to see how everyone is doing.

[realologist]

I bought a pop today and almost drank it but ended up giving it away. The only reason I bought was because it was half off. Either way first test passed.

[netguy68]

Started out clean last 2 days. No added sugars, carbs under 20g both days. Doing ok today, but about to board a plane for a 3 day business trip.

At least there is a fridge in the hotel - I can get some decent foods to help keep this going.

[Super_Fire]

I'm in.

I stopped drinking soda back in college, lost 10 pounds in no time, and now on the once-a-year situation in which it's offered to me I can barely drink it. Almost never drink alcohol, never buy chips or candy. I do drink coffee every day though.

But people keep giving me cookies and other sweet things, often I can't turn it down in the situation. Or giving my girl two dozen homemade cookies or peanut candy and her bringing them home. And they're tempting.

Anyway, I'm off them.

[MongolianAbroad]

Wrapping up day 3 of NJ.

My productivity keeps going up and I feel great.

So far so good.

[MongolianAbroad]

(04-02-2018 07:30 PM)realologist Wrote:  

I bought a pop today and almost drank it but ended up giving it away. The only reason I bought was because it was half off. Either way first test passed.

My mechanic gave me an easter egg with a bag of skittles in it yesterday. I smiled and said thanks, she's a great gal, but once she was gone, I threw them away.

Test passed!

[MongolianAbroad]

(04-02-2018 07:36 PM)netguy68 Wrote:  

Started out clean last 2 days. No added sugars, carbs under 20g both days. Doing ok today, but about to board a plane for a 3 day business trip.

At least there is a fridge in the hotel - I can get some decent foods to help keep this going.

Stay strong, men.

Hold the line, "Hold the line!"

[MrTickle]

I'm in. Hoping this thread is as good for me as the 1 year drinking wagon thread thread-30625.html. I've now been alcohol free for nearly 2 years thanks to that thread. Like the OP I have a sweet tooth and whilst my diet is pretty good I do end up slipping from time to time. I could do better.

Right, I've got a stock pile of easter eggs to give away to people I don't like.

[MongolianAbroad]

(04-03-2018 10:32 AM)MrTickle Wrote:  

I'm in. Hoping this thread is as good for me as the 1 year drinking wagon thread thread-30625.html. I've now been alcohol free for nearly 2 years thanks to that thread. Like the OP I have a sweet tooth and whilst my diet is pretty good I do end up slipping from time to time. I could do better.

Right, I've got a stock pile of easter eggs to give away to people I don't like.

That's pretty damn cool that that thread helped you kick alcohol. Would be very cool if this thread inspires a lot of us to improve our health as well.

So I'm wrapping up day 4 of No Sugar No Junk and I had to mention something, I started having dreams again. I mean I know supposedly we always dream but never remember our dreams, but the last two or three days I've had very vivid dreams.

Also, normally I have trouble going to bed, but these last few days I've actually been getting sleepy and then I just think "Oh, it's time for bed," and then I've been going to bed, getting a good night's sleep, and even waking up earlier than I need to and getting a little extra sleep. It's neat.

Normally I stay awake too late and then I regret it when I'm drowsy the next day, then sleep when I get home, then wake up, stay up late, and repeat the off balance pattern.

But these last few days have been very different, I'm getting really good sleep.

[RawGod]

Put a sugar in my morning coffee today. Still had a bag of brown sugar in my cupboard. Lesson learned - throw that stuff out.

Also, regarding lactose in milk, I'm personally going to avoid it. A no-added-sugar latte tastes really sweet to me.

[Hell_Is_Like_Newark]

(04-03-2018 08:00 PM)RawGod Wrote:  

Put a sugar in my morning coffee today. Still had a bag of brown sugar in my cupboard. Lesson learned - throw that stuff out.

Also, regarding lactose in milk, I'm personally going to avoid it. A no-added-sugar latte tastes really sweet to me.

Try using heavy cream in coffee instead of milk: Low in lactose (sugar) and high fat. IMHO, heavy cream makes for good coffee.

Went Keto a year and a half ago and avoid grains & sugar. Dropped 40+ lbs of fat and haven't had a migraine since the diet change (had migraines chronically since I was 14 years old).

Another 12 to 15 lbs and I will hit my goal of being 15% or less body fat.

Side note: For those of you that really need to lose weight, get a DEXA scan done. It will give you a very accurate estimate of how many pounds of fat you have, so you will know how much you need to lose.