I used to crave sugar constantly, but now most store bought things are too sweet for me. It took a painful month to lower sugar, but it was so worth it.
I admit, the scariest thing that made me decrease sugar was reading about the blackouts, how it can damage your liver and even the eyes. As a painter giving up most of sugar for my eyes was a no brainer. (I've got a floater thing that definitely scared me, but doctor said those get common with age D:)
This post is just my personal experience, I'm not a professional and I recommend doing additional research. :)
I quit "most" sugar almost 2 years ago, but then the unfortunate event happened and I was back on it. I believe sugar is as much of an addictive drug as coffee and unfortunately as kids many of us don't learn how bad it is. I'm horrified to think of how many sweets I constantly ate as a kid (it probably would have been worse if we ate current sweets). I was lucky my family did lots of incredible homemade sweets which weren't all sugar. Too many sweets are dirt cheap now and the companies are constantly looking how to min max ingredients at the consumer's expense. Unfortunately reading the ingredients regularly is the only way to combat this. I don't check everything at the shop, usually I read the ingredients at home while waiting for my tea to brew or waiting for some food to cook. Making it a habit helps, I'm too curious not to check what I'm eating.
I think this video reminded me why I stopped consuming so much sugar (when I was eating a lot again).
Moreover, enough sleep and good nutrition helps curb cravings. When I don't get enough sleep I definitely crave sugar (and feel moody). I have days when I eat more sweets but at least those are the exceptions now and not the norm. I eat other carbs like bread regularly, but I try to keep it balanced.
I always keep some fruits around and eat those first, and drink frozen fruit smoothies in winter. Apparently some companies sweeten the frozen fruits, so again, check the ingredients.
Cronometer.com
This is great to calculate your nutrients and calories. I don't use it regularly, but after a week I saw the patterns. Moreover, eating the rainbow foods seems to actually help. Way easier to remember than actual nutrients of each fruit and veggie.
Recommended maximum intake of added sugars
Men: 150 calories per day (37.5 grams or 9 teaspoons)
Women: 100 calories per day (25 grams or 6 teaspoons)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19704096/
My average used to be around 13tsp if I remember right. Now I'm around 6tsp average, I hope less, but there are always hidden sugars to consider. I eat one small sweet every day and since I buy less I can afford better quality sweets. It's hard to go back now, most Milkas taste gross to me, only Noisette is still good. Also it's surprising how many things have more sugar than you'd expect. I prefer homemade baked goods (when I feel like baking), so I can control the sugar in those.
Most sodas have 4tsp of sugar per cup D: Luckily I prefer quality teas.
I recommend lose leaf teas over bagged ones, you get better quality and way more of it. You just need to invest into one filter and there are many affordable ones. I love making my own mixes as well and I hope to grow my own teas some day.
Lowering the sugar in the tea was the hardest part. For a month I drank it with a grimace, but now I can't imagine adding more than a teaspoon and most of the time no sugar at all. Now I can actually taste the tea instead of sugar. 100% stevia helped the transition, but I don't really like the taste. Also most cheap stevias include fake sweeteners, so check the ingredients.
This is an old photo, and my tea collection is less impressive now, trying to finish all before buying more which is pretty hard. Tea loses quality with time and it's best to keep it in the dark. I don't have dark containers so I keep them in a drawer I don't open too often. The tea I'm trying to finish faster I keep on the counter. I prefer strong black tea over coffee, but I drink coffee if I need a stronger jolt.
Last but not least: Mindful eating.
This is a form of meditation where you focus on what you're eating and to take your time to actually appreciate it. This alone has helped me not overeat sweets as much. I notice much sooner when I'm satiated and once I'm done I don't wonder how the chocolate disappeared so fast :D I take my time just to enjoy the sweet and not do anything else. Try this at least once and I'd love to know what you think ^_^
Edit: I just remembered, 2 years ago I got my teeth fixed (after 5y no dentist), around 10 of them D: I fixed them without anesthesia, since they weren't too bad and I'm scared of needles. However, it definitely wasn't a pleasant experience and then I looked into sugars and then worked on reducing. I knew some things, but I actually thought I wasn't eating that much sugar back then, I was so wrong.
The cover image is my original oil painting art from 2014 I believe, it was a gift. Unfortunately back then I didn't take process pictures and even my final pictures were quite blurry. Blogging certainly helped me improve my art presentation.
yes, sugar is difficult to cut down on.
lately, i boil some milk and put semolina in, with some honey, and have it for breakfast. i find it helps, and is healthy too. maybe u could try with porridge instead of semolina, and see what happens?
love your drawing
It seems my comment didn't register :O
I like making something similar but with palenta and cooking or dark chocolate. I love oats with honey :) We mostly eat salty breakfasts now.
Thank you ^_^
I replaced sugar with honey. And it is way better because I rarely crave really sweet things. Once in a while. I do treat myself with sweets, but overall, I am careful. Sugar is addictive and it affects the brain and the cells.
I love honey with the honey comb (and pancakes) :D The only hard part is finding good honey.
True. Honeycomb... That is good
We cut some but not all sugar as it was one of the few things that helped when we were trying out different things with the adhd/autistic child. We apparently don't eat as much sugar as others which is kind of terrifying as I thought we had quite a lot D:
That's nice, have you found anything else that works for that? :)
At least now most fruits taste so much sweeter :D
Yeh as much as my kids like lollies fruit is plenty sweet enough for them and we usually have a lot of that in the house XD
^-^ What is your favorite fruit? :D
My favourite is mangoes. My partner usually gets them and all the other fruit as they're seasonally available, I don't know if the same rules apply with apples (as in if they're seasonal year round) or if my partner just makes exceptions for them because they're his favourite XD
Haha apples are also seasonal but usually the price difference isn't that big as other fruits, I love mangoes :D Sadly we don't have them in the shop right now, I iwsh I bought more when they had them. I love all kinds of berries ^_^
Pretty much none.
Only time I’ll ever use any is maybe a teaspoon in a big batch of spaghetti sauce. Always use honey if having tea or some drink that needs sweetener. Maybe a little in ice cream once or twice a month. Otherwise, only sugars I consume would be in natural fruits.
At this point, going back to anything with sugar tends to taste real gross and too much.
Just did over time. The less & less I used, the more my body felt better and worse it feels when I do have. Really let my body be the guide. Feeling shitty isn’t worth the taste for me.
Awesome!
I've noticed this as well :O It tastes different weird in a way. I use brown sugar for homemade stuff and way less than recipes, :)
raw coconut sugar is another great alternative that's supposed to be packed with vitamins & minerals as well. a bit of a different taste, but potentially worth a try...
That's cool, I have seen it I think, but no idea what I'd use it for :D
I have sugar sticks exactly measured 8gr each. I try to consume less than 30gr/day but yeah sometimes I am still not strict about it especially when I order takeaway from a restaurant. There's hardly food from the store that doesn't contain sugar,I am quite OCD with it sometimes. I have habit to check sugar ingredients in each packaged food and try to pick the lowest one.
Ohh I've seen sugar sticks here, I figured it's more like a decorative present. It was a bit overpriced for sure and it's usually white sugar. I prefer the taste of brown one and it's still cheaper than the sticks here :D
Probably not ocd, I think people should check the ingredients way more often, I'm shocked when some people don't even check the expiration at least here since I've found several expired things. (At least not lately, which is good)
oh yeah, it's definitely pretty sugar :D I like brown sugar for lattes, it's quite a thing in Indonesia these days.
If you've ever tried to quit sugar you have to watch this clip. One of the funniest things I've ever watched.