Today I had a brulee cake. Good luck with your no sugar diets, nerds.
Today I had a brulee cake. Good luck with your no sugar diets, nerds.
Sure! Now, I won't lie to you - I tend to have a fairly large carb intake, and that's something I'm looking at reducing this month while everyone else is working on cutting the sugar out first. I try to get my energy kicks from fruits and... well, a TERRIBLE caffeine addiction, but a lot of what I eat now that I'm backing away from fast foods again is relatively healthy.
I do partake in a fair bit of pasta when I want to feel full and need some carbohydrates to burn at a quick pace - I'm trying to follow my friend's "let your body burn your fat" no carb guidelines, but I work on my feet for 9-12 hours a day and it won't be an instant change for me.
Things like ramen (which has two grams of sugar in a single package!) will often get mixed with vegetable stock (which contains another two grams of sugar!) and I'll add in a bunch of spices and dice up some peppers, without using the flavor packet that comes with the ramen. Sometimes, I will toss the noodles in the wok after I'm done, just to brown it up a bit. This is on the higher end of the sodium scale, and it'll cause you to retain a lot of water (leading to bloating and eventual fat if not washed out of your system with excess hydration and exercise-ish), so it's not something you'd want to do for every meal.
I will also do a lot of cooking with tri-color noodles. This way, only a third of the noodles are flour-based, and the others are tomato- and spinach-based. This is a great way to fill up with a lower carb count.
Much of the time, though, I'll make sandwiches and use mustards instead of mayonnaises (ha, fun saying out loud) or ketchups - or if I want to skip the bread, I'll plug in the box toaster, and make wraps with sandwich meats and cheeses. Take a slice of ham (avoid the delicious Black Forest ham if you can, because it's got a high sugar content from additional flavor) and spice it up with some salami or turkey or something else, and break up some cheese, toss a bit of mustard and roll it up. Toothpick it, stick it in the toaster oven for a couple minutes, and boom - low-carb "sandwich" wraps ready to go.
I also LOVE salads. You can't make everyone like the green stuff, and for some it's an acquired taste, but I love salads with carrots and a handful of plain croutons. Use romaine and spinach instead of iceberg so you can get some actual nutritional value out of it, and avoid fatty or sugary dressings like ranch and certain vinaigrettes. Many times, I'll just use a dash of white wine vinegar (shockingly NO sugar despite the expected ingredients) and I'll squeeze a quarter or half lime (based on salad size) and add black pepper or Tony Chachere's salt-free creole seasoning. Now you've got a delicious salad that is packed with flavor and it's pretty much negligible on the calorie and carbohydrate charts. Shred up some turkey or chicken, or hell, grill a little bacon, because it's not unhealthy when allowed to drain off properly and used in moderation. Full meal, and quite satisfying.
Looking to remove sugars without necessarily straying from carbs? Making (or ordering) sauceless pizza is actually a decent way to do that. Tomato sauce has a bunch of sugar, and sadly it's not all just natural stuff. Alternatively, when you make your pizza at home, dice some tomatoes and cover them in cheese. It'll be like having sauce without having all the excess crap. Want it to taste more like pizza sauce? Add oregano.
I've got more where this comes from.
I live by a rather strict mantra of "Don't Diet; Eat Smart." Curb your cravings by substituting for similar ingredients, and you'll find yourself able to make better choices without having to hate yourself for it. As long as you are happy with yourself and your body, it's okay to eat enjoyable things!
Oh, and I get my caffeine injections via unsweetened tea. If I'm at home, I brew my own. In a gallon container, it's six bags of black tea and two bags of green tea. Tons of flavor, plenty of caffeine, and ... I don't think there was another thing.
Carbs are my main problem, as well. I've come to realize that my sugar intake isn't much of a problem at all.
Nearing the end of the second day and still going! I've had some cravings, but it hasn't been that bad. I imagine it might get worse for a couple of weeks before it gets better, though.
I'm very impressed Shorty! You go girl.
Excellent work.
Good stuff! As long as you can make it through the cravings it should be much easier. Keep in mind that it will, in fact, get easier, and you'll be fine.
Ugh, without sodium there just isn't any point in eating.
Don't forget about me! I think we're in day three now, I think.
It's going well. I mean, besides me substituting soft drinks for squash (the drink), I think my sugar intake is slightly lower than before.
I've never had a problem with my sugar intake as I don't have sugar in my tea, or add sugar myself. The only danger for me in this challenge is purely the sugar innately in products, so I've been checking labels more often to see the percentage of sugar in there, to make sure I'm not having too much.
I'm mainly doing this challenge to show Shorty support. I'm glad to see that she's doing so well!
Thanks for everyone's support! Still going strong. Been relying on mangoes when I'm looking for something sweet once day but other than that, it doesn't seem to be affecting me much in the sense of withdrawals.
Been tracking my intake on fatsecret.com and my sugar count for today is 13 grams, which is all from fruits and vegetables! Feels pretty good.