kimberly rae's Journal, 04 December 2014

Hi Kimberly, I noticed you said you were "sugar fasting", how exactly do you do that? I mean, obviously you probably don't eat sugar but how? It seems like everything has sugar in it these days. Sugar is a big problem for me, especially in sweet tea (my ultimate weakness). I would be interested in hearing how you go about sugar fasting. Thanks!  

I too am dropping cane sugar, honey and fructose laden products from my diet. That means no sweets, and limiting my fruit intake to 1 a day!  

Dear Southerngirl, about sugar fasting. I am not a super Nazi about it. I might have ketchup or some crackers or cereal, but I always look for under 3 grams per serving on the label. Then I use the very natural sweetener Stevia in the Raw. Now, I realize it takes some getting used to. But its guilt free and that means the world, honestly. I do allow fruits in my diet because they are just great for you. Let's be real. Miss Thighsbegone can agree with me that you don't want to eat only fruit but I allow more than one especially in my smoothies and apples and berries are just great no matter what. Bananas are a bit high so I like to eat only one a day, if that. And Southerngirl, you can't eat processed. its laden. Just eat meat and tons of vegies and fruit a bit of whole grains in a nice olive oil type sauce or dressing, just for three days, go without. I promise after that you'll be on easy street. AND Just don't take that first bite! My fast is meant to go til I make my friend her birthday cake on the 14th. But maybe just start with a week and see how you feel. There are no real rules. Just do it. 

Good luck, thighs and southern! 😊 it is rough at first, you might crave something sweet in a big way. Convince yourself to be strong and work thru it for as long as you can. The bad sugars will keep calling you, but their cries will get more and more quiet or further away until you don't even feel the hankerings much anymore. Except for homemade choc chip cookies once ina while. 😋 

We all have our different ways of giving up sugar, SouthernGirl. For me and my husband, we keep ourselves to under 10 grams of added sugar a day. If the ingredient list says SUGAR (of any kind, honey, molasses, cane sugar - all count!) then we have to add up the total grams for the day and they must equal less than 10. If the ingredient list does not contain any variety of sugar, it can have any number in the sugars column of the label and it is OK. (Except bread, because we know that sugar goes into making bread so we just use the actual sugar number for bread regardless of what the ingredients say). Fruit is OK in our diet. My husband used to be a total sugarholic and he has lost about 15 - 20 pounds so far. He actually lost weight over Thanksgiving, if you can believe it! The weight is just falling off. It's changed our lives for the better. Once you leave it behind, you might indulge occasionally but your body will punish you for it so it is usually rather short-lived. We give ourselves one day a month to splurge and if we don't use up all of our 10 grams in a day, we bank those grams as "points" and can save them up and buy ourselves a treat now and then. We also have it set up that specific holiday meals and family vacations don't count either. This eliminates the awkward, "I can't eat that" problem.  

I try to stick to the mantra, fresh is best! Whenever possible I cook from fresh and avoid processed foods. That way, I can control the amount of sugar and fat in my food plan. That said, I know that I can't always be in strict control; life happens and sometimes, I'm traveling (like yesterday) or I am not at home (like today). Learning balance has been a huge part of my journey. Good luck! We are all here for you.  

I like the idea of keeping the sugar under 10g. I think I could do that, but not sure. I know if eat any breads except the nut breads or coconut flour bread, I'm done for. I can't stop at just one piece. I say can't, but should say don't. I eat it until it's gone. Under 10g is a really neat idea.  

Thanks for all the advice and tips! I'm not really a big sugar person, at least when it comes to things that you KNOW have sugar in them, cakes, cookies, breads (ok, I love bread), candy, things like that. I'm more of a salty person (bad too, I know =( ) but occasionally when I look at nutrition facts my jaw drops at the amount of sugar that's in things that are more salty, than sweet. It's ridiculous!!! I think my problem with giving up sugar, or cutting way back, will be sweet tea. I'm from SC and I've grown up drinking nothing but ST. I quit soft drinks (coke, pepsi, mt.dew, etc) about 4 years ago and haven't touched them since, and I gave ST up for Lent last year, I made it 40 days without touching the stuff but I was about to go crazy without it. And there's so much sugar in just one glass of ST it's just mind boggling, sometimes one glass is two or three days worth of sugar. Ugh, why does good food have to be so BAD ='(  

I know how good sweet tea is. Maybe, what if you said, "I'll try having no sweet tea for three days... If I feel better, than I'll try using Stevia in the raw instead." It's not for lent this time, its for feeling better about who you are. You'll have to make it yourself. Just an idea if you're really serious about losing weight. If you only have a few pounds to lose than no worries... If you can watch the movie 'Fed Up' or any lecture by Dr. Luskin on You tube...  

Southerngirl, I would suugest making your own unsweetened, adding sugar youself, and very gradually cutting back the spponfulls. Eventually, less sugar will taste just as good. Also agree w kimberly that some natural sweeteners are quite good. I'll be rooting for you!