How does one give up sugar?

[Faith]

Sugar is in most everything. How do I go about giving it up? What will I snack on that does not have sugar?

Anyone else give up sugar? How do I do this?

[Joanne]

Hm. What's your reason? What is your motivation? Are you also going to give up refined carbs?

The short answer is that if you "give up" sugar, the craving cycle soon breaks and it's much easier.

For *me*, having unlimited access to meat/veggies/good fats keeps me satiated and supresses appetitite.

[Karin]

You mean refined sugar, right? And too much natural sugar? Technically speaking, you'll die with none:), but thankfully you can get them from digesting complex carbohydrates and from fruit. I say this with respect for the memory of my grandmother who was convinced people would someday again say that sugar is good for you. Since we're all homeschoolers, I'll add for any who don't know or remember this, glucose is what your brain needs, and that's a sugar in it's simplest form. Can you also tell I'm in the teach mode at the moment?

Here's how I gave it up just ignore the bossy voice if you like, but it's the voice I had to use with myself to do this, and I'm passing on my technique! Don't buy it. Don't buy substitute sweeteners, either, because if you do you won't retrain your tastes and, IMO, that defeats the purpose (bias: I don't like them, although I know many who do). Don't have it around, don't stop at any doughnut places, skip the aisles with candy, cookies, cakes, etc. Just don't eat it. Period. The longing for it went away in my case, but I will admit that I did this in my early 20s and that I temporarily got that sweet tooth back after having ds at 40. It was much harder to eliminate it the second time, but I did.

I will say, though, that I eat enough protein so that my blood sugar stays level. This not only reduces cravings for sugar it helps prevent some of my migraines.

[hana]

For me, reducing carbs and increasing protein makes a huge difference.

[Blue Hen]

The short answer is that if you "give up" sugar, the craving cycle soon breaks and it's much easier.

For *me*, having unlimited access to meat/veggies/good fats keeps me satiated and supresses appetitite.

That's exactly what I do too; low-carb.

[RoughCollie]

You can snack on cheese & crackers, popcorn, nuts & raisins, fruit, apples or pears & cheese, salami, crackers & cheese, applesauce (I make mine without sugar & you can buy it sugar-free), toast spread with sugar-free preserves (All Fruit) & butter, pizza, leftovers.

If you are giving up fruit, too, then just remove the fruit from my suggestions.

Sugar is in most everything. How do I go about giving it up? What will I snack on that does not have sugar?

Anyone else give up sugar? How do I do this?

[sdWTMer]

All I can say is NOT EASILY! I'm sorry I'm no help.

[beansprouts]

As Karin said, definintely avoid artificial sweeteners. They just make you crave the real thing.