For the first 3.5 months of this year I was completely off artificial sugar. That meant fruit was ok, but any kind of dessert wasn't. It was hard initially but after a couple of weeks it was easy. I didn't feel the craving to eat dessert like I always did. I also felt much better and more productive now that my insulin levels were more stable than before. On my previous diet I had regular sugar highs and lows (which of course meant more sugar), and it was great to be rid of that.
If anyone wants to try this and finds it too difficult initially, please stick to it for at least two weeks! It gets easier!
At my doctor's urging, I've cut out added sugar and switched to a high fiber diet. I eased into it. First I cut out the category of things that are mostly made of sugar: dessert foods, ketchup and many salad dressings, most breakfast cereals. After about a month of that, I additionally cut out things that have sweeteners as an ingredient. This would have been impossible without adding lots of high fiber foods, because most American food has sugar high on its ingredient list. I eat a lot of fresh / frozen fruit and vegetables, rice, nuts, and steel-cut oats now. I use my spice cabinet a whole lot more than I used to. As a result, I feel much healthier and I lost ten pounds without trying and without feelings of hunger.
I'm telling this story because I find my current diet quite delicious and fulfilling, and I want people to know that eating healthier food doesn't have to be about self-denial. This is especially true if you're willing to spend some money on good foods. Nor does it have to be all-or-nothing, ostentatious asceticism. I'll eat a slice of cake at my kids' birthday parties, and I'll eat what's offered me at a friend's house. I probably won't have seconds though, because after mostly abstaining from sugar, I can't handle eating too much of it at a go.
While you can press sugar out of sugarcane and beets yourself, you need extensive enzymatic processing to convert corn into sugar, specifically high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS): https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/modern-foods/the-... (grain of salt: link contains some GMO fearmongering)
So no, added sugars typically aren't synthesized de novo from chemical elements. But the industrial production of HFCS from corn feedstock is artificial in every sense of the word.
I tried cutting out sugar several times passing on fruit, even vegetables like carrots.
I never managed to do it for more than a week. Now I try to do what you have done and don't eat desserts, chocolate, etc. And eat processed food sparingly.
It was around 2-3 weeks for me, too. I went off sugar last year for 3 months and lost some weight. The problem I always have that eventually I had a little, then a little more, repeat, until I'm having it several times a week. It's insidious.
Awesome, congrats! I'm at 2.5 years of no artificial and as close to 0 "natural sugar" as possible. I don't have any fruit and I don't drink milk but have the lactose in cheese sometimes. I also have tomatoes sometimes so there is a little glucose in that. Generally, if I could, I'd have 0 -ose completely.
It's done wonders for my A1C and weight. It definitely gets easier after the original weaning. Now it doesn't even take thought or effort and I have no regrets at all.
One interesting milk option is Fairlife. It's processed to have more protein and no lactose [0]. Some health bloggers object to the process, here's a summary [1]. Overall I think it's a solid product.
Thanks! I've heard of this but never really researched it. I don't object to the process but I drink carageenan free heavy cream to achieve a similar taste/texture with no protein.
No. I have been very close to pure carnivore for over 2 years. I hate that I have to eat some spinach and broccoli but it's way easier than liver and brain regularly.
No fruit. Barely any vegetables. Doctors have checked my blood quarterly for years and I'm healthier than ever before. :shrug: I'm not saying it works for everyone, please don't take this as a reason for you to do the same. If you're not T2 diabetic or extremely morbidly obese, there's no reason to cut out sugar.
If anyone wants to try this and finds it too difficult initially, please stick to it for at least two weeks! It gets easier!