I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

I'm not a diet person - I don't know much about all this stuff but I figured I'd share my experience in case anyone is interested...

About three weeks ago, a little less, I spoke with my acupuncturist about my weight. I'm not overweight by overweight standards but I feel as though I have put on about 12-15 pounds over the course, slowly, of about two or so years. One day, I was like "this is weird, my clothes don't look as good as they used to on me, but I'm eating Special K bars, and other 'low calorie' stuff and working out like twice a week here and there so what's the deal??". After speaking to Bert, the acupuncturist, about it he commented on what I eat. I said, it's really not a large amount of food - cereal in the AM, a special K 100 calorie bar as a snack during the day, a sandwich for lunch, something basic for dinner like chicken with some lemonade - I don't really drink soda, maybe once a week, and I'll have a Carnation Instant Breakfast - figuring it has vitamins in it, it's good for you.

Well, turns out once Bert told me, I realized that the entire time thinking I was doing so much "right" - actually, I was doing a lot wrong! Bert said one word, SUGAR. I was kind of puzzled - he told me to look at the labels of everything at home, that a lot of what I was eating, although 100 calories, or low calorie, or whatever are processed and contain a ridiculous amount of sugar. He told me that anything over 5 grams on the side is out of control high. He said picture spooning in mouthfuls of sugar straight from the Domino bag - that's what it is like to eat anything with like 10 grams of sugar, etc. That it's like eating four spoonfuls of straight sugar. And that your body doesn't know what to do with that so it just converts it straight to excess fat - and it's like no matter what exercise you do, it doesn't get it off. It reduces your muscle tone, and I've always been athletic so I've always been toned. And, I'm a size six, so for me, to start putting this bit of weight on made a big difference in how I looked and felt. And it's not like I'm not healthy or in good shape - and it's not like I'm eating "bad" by bad standards.

So, I figured let me do an experiment... Try reducing, because cutting out completely is so hard to do, but try to drastically reduce my sugar intake. I said I would do it for three weeks, NO EXERCISE at all during that time, and see what happens. I went home, I found out right away that the little bit of what I thought was harmless Country-time Lemonade I was having was a HUGE amount of sugar, in one gulp. And that the Special K chewy bars and 100 calorie packs and 100 calorie bars I thought were so great, TERRIBLE - they have a RIDICULOUS amount of sugar in such a small amount. The Carnation Instant Breakfast?? ONE POUCH: 27 GRAMS!!!! AHHH I pictured myself just eating like 11 tablespoons full of pure sugar BLECH!!!

At Starbucks, my iced tea/lemonade mixed drink sweetened - I reduced it to very lightly sweetened, so one pump of sweetener vs. SIX. That was a huge difference and I can still enjoy the drink. I abolished soda - no soda at all because it is just the worst for sugar. Just lightly sweetened or unsweetened iced tea and water. And make sure it is all natural otherwise that diet crap is just as bad in other ways.

Oatmeal - I thought I was being good, it has a little bit of brown sugar in it - a little bit was over 13 grams for just one tiny pouch. So, I went with regular plain oatmeal and I put some cinnamon in it for flavor which is better for you.

There's nothing worse than cereal - I thought I was being so good, but cereal is the enemy! God even stuff you think is good for you has an insane amount of sugar in it. So, looks like PLAIN special K, multigrain cheerios, plain cheerios, Puffins (my fave), and Kashi are the way to go for low to no sugar...

Now I eat: in the morning, eggs if I want, or one of the good cereals, an organic blueberry waffle with cinnamon sprinkled on top or maybe just a HINT of low sugar syrup b/c it's OK to have a little, then before lunch some cheese, triscuits (a great snack, NO sugar) and hummus. At lunch boar's head turkey, ham, and hummus on a whole wheat wrap - sometimes I add lettuce or tomato. Then, for dinner whatever - as long as you are making it and it is for dinner, and not from a can or a box it should be fine, most dinner stuff is not going to contain sugar unless, again, it is processed, canned, or something like that. Just look at labels. More snacks include popcorn. I found a cookie I like that, for a cookie, is pretty good on sugar - Milano by Pepperidge Farm. I eat one or two for my snack and it is less than 6 grams of sugar for THREE so that's pretty good for a cookie! Popcorn is another great one - no sugar.

Just doing that, JUST THAT, and not an OUNCE, I mean NO exercise which is unlike me and I lost 12 pounds in three weeks... just under three weeks and now the size six is a little loose. The important thing that Bert pointed out, now, by taking the sugar out ALMOST completely, my body breaks everything else down better, my metabolism speeds up as a result, etc. and I'm not really even doing anything! lol

Next week, in week four, I'm going to re-introduce my working out which is what I used to do with basically no result. I usually do one or two 45 minute spin classes a week, I run for about 20-30 minutes twice a week, and I do the elliptical for the same duration. Now, Bert said my body should tone up like crazy because the sugar isn't screwing with my body's ability to tone.

I'm not sure how many inches or anything like that - again, I'm not a dieter, I'm not the kind of person that ever really does anything like this but I'm not getting any younger and I think my metabolism always supported whatever I ate before - crazy sugar or not - but now that is beginning to slowly change so I had to examine why. Sugar is my enemy. It might be different for everyone but Bert told me that sugar is probably the biggest culprit in everyone's diets. It's just because it is in EVERYTHING and especially the stuff that claims to be easy on the waist.

There's also a TON of stuff you can eat I'm not listing here - greek yogurt, I hate it by DH loves it - just check the label - some regular yogurt has a ton of sugar so it's actually bad for you but the greek stuff is usually good... but you'll find yourself SHOCKED that there's sugar, and such a large amount, in some things and you'll find yourself surprised at what doesn't have any sugar at all. Natural or organic peanut butter --- and jelly too believe it or not -- is a great alternative to their super sugar counterparts that aren't labeled organic.

Oh and fruit - see, fresh fruit has sugar in it - but it is not the kind of sugar that is the enemy - it is natural sugar which is fine for you - as long as it is not processed in juices - but in fresh fruit form, I have eaten a ton of melon, cantaloupe, apples, etc. during this three week period and it has no effect - so, natural sugar in fresh fruit is great for you.

Hope this helps people - it sure as helllll has helped me, I feel fantastic, I have SO much energy, and I didn't have to make crazy changes to my life.

Oh and alcohol- lots of sugar in wine, one of my favorite things - I cut it out completely the first week to get my body back to a happy place lol then I brought it back, one glass twice a week - and the good thing is, after three weeks down, because I cut it out in so many other places I can probably do three glasses a week if I really wanted but I don't need to. Now I don't drink anything else - I hate beer, hate mixed drinks, and all that so I'm thinking if my fave thing was a margarita I'd be in trouble lol. Everyone's different.

Good luck everyone! If anyone takes a look at what their eating and applies this, let me know how you make out! I just wanted to share hoping it would help someone like it helped me. I wish Bert had told me this so much sooner - I was kind of miserable for a while there!

Message edited 10/16/2012 3:21:27 PM.

I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

Yes, this is basically low-carb dieting.

If you don't eat things that provide energy (sugar) then your body will instead burn its energy reserves (stored fat).

Re: I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

The first 2-3 days you have low energy as your body is still looking for NEW energy - but after your body realizes, "I guess nothing new is coming in, let me just use what I have here..." then you get an energy increase.

Re: I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

Re: I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

thanks for the info. Snacking is my enemy. I am a huge snacker! I am going to check the sugar counts on my snacks

I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

great work!!!! the results are amazing! and i bet you feel great! i def ban all those cereal bars type items or snacks from my house. we do stock up on hummus which we eat with pretzel crisps or carrots, air popped popcorn. I always feel bad when we have last minute guests b.c we never have beverage type items in our house. just water and milk. no juice or ice tea etc. but i dont want that stuff in my house. i rather eat my sugar via cake or ice cream than drink it. another rule of thumb in my house, i do not buy any low fat/no fat/low cal products of any sort. they are just bad for you and they substitute with ingrediants like hfcs or other fillers. for salad dressing, i do balsamic vinegar with oil. i am an obsessive label reader and i try to avoid processed anything. i notice that just doing this really makes a difference in our household. i feel like ive been able to maintain myself as i am getting older. i am 32. i do not exercise though! i have 2 kiddies and work FT. That is one area i would like to improve. that and i do admit i have a sweet tooth at work. my goal is to stock my mini fridge here at work to with snacks to curb my chocolate cravings. we have one of the .25 m&m machines. even if it is a small handful a day, that adds up! so, that is my goal, to frequent that machine once or twice a week and not everyday like i have been. good luck with your journey!

Re: I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

Thanks for the info! I eat way to much sugar in disguise as healthy foods like oatmeal, the homemade pumpkin bread I've been making and a bunch of other stuff everyday. I need to cut back!

Re: I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

thanks for posting this!!!!

Re: I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

Thank you for posting! I was utterly shocked that the Organic Probiotic VANILLA yogurt I was eating every day has 26 (!!!!) grams of sugar in it!

Re: I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

Thank you for posting this. While I pride myself as being a healthy eater, I never pay attention to sugar. I have been frustrated with a weight plateau this past year. I took a look after reading this at my Greek yogurts and energy bars.... They both have over 22 grams of sugar!!!! I eat both everyday. Probably with my soy milk and everything else I have up to 60 grams of sugar a day!!! No wonder!

I am going back on my fitness pal and tracking my food again and keeping an eye on my sugar intake! I will keep you posted!

Re: I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

I am def going to look into doing this as well! You have inspired me!

I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

You have inspired me too!!! My favorite Special K Cereal Bar has 6 grams of sugar... and my favorite nonfat Greek yogurt has 17 or 18 :( :( What am i going to do? I love that yogurt, it has 13 grams of protein and helps fill me up for breakfast... What Greek yogurts have little sugar? I can't stomach plain yogurt... :(

Re: I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

Re: I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

Re: I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

Thank you so much!!! You have inspired me as well!!


Question...what about honey? Can I add honey to plain greek yogurt? Is that bad?

Re: I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

Re: I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

Wow, forgot to check back to this thread for a bit, but just remembered and did - so glad everyone is doing so well. It has really changed my life! DH and I were just in the store today and talking about it again, he went through what I would eat in a simple day without realizing how much sugar was in each item - OMG by the end of the day, it was like at least 50+ grams of sugar - and that's easy to do, I wasn't even eating much!

To answer the honey question -- my acupuncturist who is also a nutrition expert says that honey isn't really "bad" - I mean, it's just different. It's a natural sweetener - and it contains a natural form of sugar. It's not perfect, but it is nowhere near the Domino stuff. Same thing with fruit - like, I don't shy away from fruit because yes there's sugar in it but it is natural and your body can process that vs. the sugar we all know which it cannot.

Still going strong with my low to no sugar lifestyle and I'm now down 17 pounds but more than anything - I went down a whole dress size and slimmed all over. I STILL have not gone back to exercising! I told myself I would a few weeks ago but then I got busy with work, had a small cold (no big deal) and then Aunt Flo came so it was like delay after delay. Now that I'm back to normal, this week, I'm going to inject the gym. My acupuncturist told me that will really boost me into overdrive - that it'll help slim everything and tone everything. He said, you'll see how nice and toned you'll get now!

Oh, to my horror, I discovered that milk has so much sugar in it So, I've been TRYING to look for alternatives - like rice milk, soy milk, etc. But even some of those have sugar. So, what I do is I buy organic 1% and just eat it in small amounts - with a little bit of cereal. OH breakthrough! I discovered a cereal with ZERO sugar!! It is Fiber One plain cereal - kind of looks like the shape of gerbil or hamster food, very bland but let me tell you- it'll keep you regular! It's amazing! And I really like the taste - you could always add a few raspberries or strawberries to it too. But I like it the way it is, I thought I was going to have to force myself to it eat but no

GL everyone and keep updating - so glad everyone is doing well with this. I love, more than anything, the fact that I don't really have to kill myself to do this - I'm not missing anything, I still allow myself say a piece of pie on Thanksgiving, but overall I've cut it down so much without really sacrificing and feeling like I'm missing out on a lot of things. That's the best part and what makes it so easy to stick to!

Message edited 11/25/2012 8:17:18 PM.

Re: I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

Re: I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

Almost all dairy products have tons of sugar in them. Yogurt is crazy!

I just looked at old food logs on my fitness pal. I never paid attention to sugar since I kept my calorie intake within the limit, but.... I consumed anywhere between.... Brace yourself..... 100-180 grams of sugar a day!!!!!!!

When I started watching a little more, I went down to 60 for a long time.

Now, I am trying hard to keep it under 30, but I go over a few, but it's nowhere near what I used to ingest. I must admit.... It's really hard for me, because I lived on yogurt, Clif builder bars, and fruit. Not to mention autumn wheat cereal, instant oatmeal, and rice milk. Had to give all that up. Found yogurts with 6 grams... A little better, since the ones I was eating were 22. Give up rice milk, and have unsweetened coconut milk instead. I'll check out fiber one. I found oatmeal with less than 1 gram per serving. Gave up fruit but will have half an apple a few days a week. I won't give up my daily coffee with soy milk though. At least not yet.

This week, it's my birthday. I always get a Crumbs cupcake on my birthday and Mother's Day. I'm still letting myself have it. So that day will definitely be a splurge day. But I swear.... In a little over a week i feel and see a HUGE difference. because i eat less daily, I feel ok splurging since the total numbers in a week are so much less (I had a piece of pie and ice cream this weekend for thanksgiving)

Again, thank you for sharing this. I figured I would I've it a try since I was getting so frustrated at all my hard work, and the plateau I was going through!!!

I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

Sugar is sugar regardless of the source our body knows that it is sugar which is a form of carbohydrate. Just because something is natural does not change its chemical composition. All the body knows is sugar is composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen- the amounts of these individual molecules is what determines the type of sugar not the source. A nutrition expert should have some basic knowledge of high school chemistry and not give false information to clients. Fructose is the sugar found in fruits, veggies and honey- this includes Sugar cane! The diet plan you are following is a low carbohydrate diet and that is why you are having success. Congrats on your success!

Re: I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

Re: I want to share my experience with changing my eating habits:

Posted by DaniRella

Posted by MrsG823

Sugar is sugar regardless of the source our body knows that it is sugar which is a form of carbohydrate. Just because something is natural does not change its chemical composition. All the body knows is sugar is composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen- the amounts of these individual molecules is what determines the type of sugar not the source. A nutrition expert should have some basic knowledge of high school chemistry and not give false information to clients. Fructose is the sugar found in fruits, veggies and honey- this includes Sugar cane! The diet plan you are following is a low carbohydrate diet and that is why you are having success. Congrats on your success!

Alright then! I guess I should have prefaced it all by saying that my experience is my personal experience - based on what I'm going through and my interpretation / opinion of that -- I get bits of advice from my acupuncturist, I get other bits from other people, and I try to interpret that and apply it to my life. Then, I had a lot of success doing what I was doing - not really knowing the true science of it all, as I'm not a scientist (that's DH lol) but all I know is eating what I was eating before, I weighed more. Eating what I'm eating now, I weigh less. And since I eat a good amount of fruit, I have seen no negative effect where if I eat a Special K bar, I do. Who knows, I am just a regular person sharing my story - hope it helps people.