Cutting Out Sugar

Hey, does anyone have any tips on cutting out, or reducing sugar intake.
If anyone else wants to start eating healthy, would you like to form a miniature support group, exchange e-mails perhaps and help each other out over the rough patches? I myself have been battling most of my life with the inevitable sweet-tooth.
I am a vegetarian, but that doesn't mean that you have to be, and I strongly do not encourage eating disorders, I have seen what they do, and it is not pretty. The only thing is that I used to suffer from a mild case of pre-diabetes, and I want to make sure that it never comes back.
Well, thanks for reading. :-)

//T.L.//

I do have some tips that I can find in this book of mine;)

Just send me a mail if you are interested.
You can find it on my profile.

^^Thanks!

//T.L.//

I'm interested in joining!

As for cutting out suger, just try eating more fruit, but cut out juices because a lot of them have a lot of sugar (not just including natural sugars) and could make you crave more sweet things. But don't deprive yourself of sweets, because if you deprive yourself for so long then eventually you will end up binging.. at least that's what I'm like i don't know about you :)

Hahah. Well then, we'll need a name. Any suggestions?
What about The Organic Girls... but I'm not excluding boys, everyone needs to be healthy!

//T.L.//

Seriously!! I need to lose at least like, 70 pounds. No joke.

Did you cut out all kinds of sugar known to man (like even natural sugar found in fruits) or just general sweets?

It becomes easier after a while becasue your body becomes accustomed to it and you don't crave it.

Oh wow...I'm interested...I guess I am average in body but cutting out sugar is all about health, and putting off a few pounds. So what about this new deed guys!?

I also stopped eating sugar for...um, a few months, I think. But I slipped, and I haven't been able to get back on track.

Cutting out fruit sugars is not good, I don't think. Fruit in excess, though, can still be bad for you, but two, three pieces a day is good.
What I did is stopped eating all forms of sugar, like candy, chocolate, sugared juices, etc. I also stopped eating white bread, coffee, pizza, noodles and all things that had white flour in them. But I guess that by the time I had moved house, the diet had long failed.

The only reason that I managed to last that long was that I didn't think of it as a diet, but as a lifestyle.

The main problem is that this modern world mainly doesn't support you in a diet that is healthy... when you go to a party, for instance, everyone is eating junk-food...that's all there is.
People offer you birthday-cake, and you'd get a weird look if you turned it down, or if you didn't eat anything of the chips, candy, soft-drinks and stuff.

But I still believe that it can be done if you have support..so, well, if you guys would help me, I will also help you in every way that I can.
What do you say?

//T.L.//

I say I'm in! I know this will be hard but I am willing to do it! Do you have AIM or an instant messenger service? We can get started there, if not e-mail...or here.

Um...I have MSN.. does that help? And gmail, which has chat.. that's all. I still don't know what instant messenger is.. can someone enlighten me?

I'm glad that you're in, I say that it will a difficult path to take, but at least not a lonely one! :-D

//T.L.//

I have MSN, too!

And cutting out sugar and especially the white flour is one of the best things you can do for your body. Your body also needs fruit sugar to get energy.

A lot of good info people.

I guess I'll download MSN messenger and we can continue from there then guys! I'll let you know, possibly tomorrow, my username...then we can chat.

^^I may appear extrodinarily rude saying this, but the craziest people are the ones that keep on eating junk-food. No offense, but at least from personal experience, I know what it does to you. It is grippingly addictive, like an illegal drug, and it ruins your body, as well as your mind. I compared my poems from when I cut sugar out, and now, and the ones that I wrote while sugar-free were so aboundingly happy, they almost brought tears to my eyes... now I have started to write depressing stuff again. I want to be alive, to feel real, and strong, and to make all my pimples go away, to be healthy and beautiful... We all do, I suppose.
We need only start.

//T.L.//

You are absolutely right about that. I find I have no energy when I eat sweets and junk food. Although, I heard that your body needs a little bit of sugar, but I think that they were refering to the sugar that is already in food, like milk, fruit, etc. Things that you need. A little bit of sugar in those things won't hurt you if you don't go overboard, but the sweets and junk food just like Truest Lies said, really are addictive. I say once you're off it don't even start again unless you're in a desert somewhere absolutely starving with nothing else but a bag of cheetos (which is highky unlikely, but you gotta do what you gotta do to live.) You get my point :)

I cut out sugar a few months ago and lost 25 pounds in a little over a month. I had so much more energy and I was even writing more. I think your diet affects every aspect of your life and I applaud everyone who's taking part in this support group.

Thanks Holly. :-)

Okay, guys, if you want I'll send you a message, and then we can start chatting right away.
I've eaten less sugar today, and I feel proud, usually I've already gorged on cookies and stuff by now, but instead I concentarted on eating a good lunch and a cup of tea... good luck everyone.

//T.L.//

I think I lost like, 5 pounds since last week from nto eating sugar. But I don't know if I've been off sugar for a week yet.. wierd lol. Message me!

No, no. We're talking about sweets, junk food, and white flour.

Honey, fruit, vegetables, that's good. Aspartame is not.. after I stopped drinking diet coke, and all those funny artificial sweeteners that appear in gums and most diet foods, when I started again, I noticed that they actually do cause headaches. So I don't believe in them.
I think that fructose is the best, if you absolutely MUST have an artificial sweetener, but it's still too refined to be any good to your health.

//T.L.//

Stevia is actually the best artificial sweetner you can have. It comes from a plant so it's all natural, and there's actual minerals in it so it has a bit of healthiness to it, not just a sweet taste. You can get it at health food stores and i think you can get it at the supermarket, too.

I noticed too, when I quit drinking all pop, even diet, and then started to drink it again that I felt more bloated and had less energy. I don't think it gives me headaches, though. I hsould pay more attention to that hehe.. but it probubly does.

The other day I was craving a sweet real bad, but instead of going to get some I ate two plums. It instantly took my sweet cravings away!

I think thats because when your blood sugar is low you crave sweets that will instantly perk it up. But don't fall for it! Eat a fruit and it will go away in a flash!!

Hey, Lovely Bones, I sent you my e-mail, perhaps you could add me to msn, if you have it... that is great that you managed to avoid sugar that way. It happens to me all the time that I have a sugar craving, so I say "okay, just one chocolate bar" but by the time I've eaten that I need another sweet, and another. Fruits satisfies me much more, too. I just wish that I could remember that every time I buy a piece of candy.

//T.L.//

hey TL. I don't think I got it.. unless it didn't send yet lol. I'll wait till tomorrow.

Oops. Double post ;P

Oh. I sent it to you quite a few days ago. I will send it again. :-)

//T.L.//

Sometimes it shows up in junk-mail, so check there. :-)

//T.L.//

AHHH I want to join!!! I cut out soda/pop from my diet and I lost 20 pounds, so I think that if I had support i could do well!

Can i join??? i need to loos weight! i got a school prom coming up.. and i really wanna look great for my bf :)

Sure, everyone's welcome...

Okay, first off, if you wish to chat with me through msn, send me an e-mail with your address, or say so here and I will send it.

When is your school prom? And do you want to work on weight, shape or pimples?

//T.L.//

I still haven't got your email!!

I'll send you my email.

Well I can't be much help there. I like sugar, and I don't care if I get fat. I'll still eat Hershey's. :)

^^I will occasionally too... but I hate the pimples that I currently have, and what sugar does to my body.. I can't dare venture out in a swim-suit. Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the little bit of Hershey chocolate, but when you live on it.. now, that's bad.
I suppose it depends on the person. Some people don't seem to have the want to eat so much sugar, they can control it, and enjoy it in moderation. I, on the other hand, go out of control when it comes to sugar... it's not just one Hershey, it's the whole packet, washed down with something equally as damaging to my pancreas, and perhaps a bag of over-salted chips just for good measure.
If you eat raw foods, it takes the edge off of your cravings. Lately I have been walking around with a handful of sultanas in my pocket, and every time that I see a sweet and think "I just HAVE to eat that" I pop a sultana into my mouth. It works. I've walked past about five shops in the last two days and have managed to cut down greatly on sugar :-)

//T.L.//

yay!!! thanks //T.L//
but yeah .. erm.. in march i think.. it seems a long way off.. but i wanna be prepared.. its my first and only prom!! ... and i want to work on weight and shape!

my msn addy:: Naughtyxbutnice@hotmail.co.uk

That's my goal too, Kristy!! haha but I think mines in June.

sarahjoy456@hotmail.com

I'll just post it here cause I never get the emails lol ;P

Oh and TL, I understand your problem with pimples. But it's not always the chocolate. You're 13, right? It's just hormones, trust me. When you're around 15, they'll go away, or at least 'calm down'. That's what happened with me. Everyone gets pimples though, so don't be embarrased about it.

I like the honey in my coffee, too. My mother canned a lot of apples. Sugar can be addictive.

Hey, thanks guys...yes, I have a horrible problem with pimples. I still want to cut down greatly on sugar, because my theory is that sugar and other such chemicals mess havoc on your hormones, which in turn wreak more havoc on your skin (and your health in general.)

I'm so sorry that you never got my e-mails Lovely Bones, I sent about two or three, and I also sent it to a few others.. oh well, it didn't work, so I'll just say it:
Add me as crackers_fanfic@hotmail.com

Another thing that helps me a lot is that I adorable carrots, can seem to keep my hands off of them. Carrot juice also... it could be a deficiency of vitamin so-and-so in my vegetarian diet, but grrr, I hate it when people blame everything on your vegetarianism... I have seen meat-eaters in much worse shape than me.

Keep strong! To all of you who have decided to beat this societies pressure to be unhealthy!

//T.L.//

Added both of you, and anyone else who wishes to join the group, and needs some support, feel free to add me as well! :-)

//T.L.//