David Gillespie - Early days

29 Oct 2009 5:17 PM

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Reply # 237331 on 236850

Karen

David Gillespie wrote:
This of course will make the process of withdrawal much slower. But its better than not being able to do it at all.

Hi All. That makes sense. I have been on and off the wagon for almost a year now and can't beat it for more than 6 weeks at a time. The slow cut down sounds a good idea. The last 2 weeks if I had a sugar craving I started having fruit toast or a scone and eventhough they are not good they are a lot better than the sweets, chocolate or icecream etc that I would have gone for. I know that is not quite what you suggested but all my sugar eating is impulse driven. I'll see if this way I can slowly decrease the severity of the cravings.

09 Nov 2009 2:35 PM

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Reply # 241910 on 221226

Deleted user

I still find things quite challenging despite having cut down on sugar 2 years ago (no desserts ever etc). That (plus spending hours at the gym every week) worked for about a year, and I lost about 40kg. Now I eat virtually no carbs of any kind (and still spend hours at the gym), but the rest of the weight (about 25kg) still isn't shifting, and there are still times when I would die for a glass of orange juice. It's depressing. At least I'm extremely fit now (resting heart rate of 61 beats/minute), but being a normal size would be nice after so much effort.

11 Nov 2009 5:54 PM

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Reply # 243609 on 241910

Deleted user

Nicole Foss wrote:I still find things quite challenging despite having cut down on sugar 2 years ago (no desserts ever etc). That (plus spending hours at the gym every week) worked for about a year, and I lost about 40kg. Now I eat virtually no carbs of any kind (and still spend hours at the gym), but the rest of the weight (about 25kg) still isn't shifting, and there are still times when I would die for a glass of orange juice. It's depressing. At least I'm extremely fit now (resting heart rate of 61 beats/minute), but being a normal size would be nice after so much effort.

Hi Nicole,

Eat an orange instead, I to lost weight successfully, about 20kg. but unfortunatly no one made the sugar connection for me, when I look back the eating plan I was on had no sugar. Just lots of good fresh foods. I have managed to loose about 6kg in 3 months, but I just feel fantastic, I have lots more energy and motivation to do stuff, things I used to enjoy and stopped are now coming back to me. Stick with it live life and one day you will realise that the last bit of your weight will go.

Helen

14 Nov 2009 7:31 PM

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Reply # 244937 on 221226

Deleted user

I hardly eat fruit - it's almost all too high carb. Sometimes I have a couple of berries, but that's about it. If I eat anything sweet I end up with horrendous carb cravings later. It's just not worth it. I get my phyto-nutrients from veggies instead (no starchy root veggies though).

The psychological aspects are the hardest to change (eg the food as reward system and living to eat rather than eating to live). They interfere with trusting one's satiety signals. Basically it's very difficult to overcome a screwed-up relationship with food once it has developed to the scale of an eating disorder.

By the way David, I was just reading your section on exercise today. While I agree with your basic position that exercise alone is no weight loss strategy, I would point out that exercising (specifically resistance training) can prevent the body from consuming lean muscle mass as one loses weight (ie making it get rid of fat first). Lean muscle tissue consumes additional calories all the time, not just while one is working out (unlike plain cardio). Personally I have never found that exercise made me hungry. If anything the endorphin rush is an appetite suppressant.

16 Nov 2009 5:37 PM

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Reply # 245648 on 221226

Deleted user

Almost 18months ago I read sweet poison and was inspired to get the sugar monkey off my back. Over 4 weeks I lost an amazing kilo per week - without feeling like I was missing out on much at all. It was so easy and simply that I thought, hey, why not have the occational sugary treat on weekends? No suprises for guessing what happened next! So I just read the book again for inspiration and was wrapped to find this forum so I can share my progress. This time around I am 6months pregnant with my first and would love to pass on a fructose free life to my daughter.

Just a question if anyone knows - I love soy milk but notice most brands contain sugar - would it be lactose or just normal sugar added to make it taste better?

17 Nov 2009 5:17 PM

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Reply # 246210 on 221226

David Gillespie

Unfortunately soy milks also must go. Milk requires sugar if it is to taste anything like milk. Soy milk manufacturers generally use cane sugar instead of lactose. This of course immediately removes soy milk from the list of acceptable drinks for someone wanting to break a sugar addiction. Here’s some popular Australian soy milks with their sugar contents. A small glass (250ml) contains this much sugar (1 teaspoon of sugar is 4.2 grams): VitaSoy (original): 8.75g Bonsoy: 6.5g Soy Life (original): 6.2g Sanitarium So Good (regular): 5g Australia’s Own Organic: 5g (of organic sugar of course) So Natural (original): 4g Soya King: 2.5g Eliminating soy milk doesn’t mean that milk is off the menu however. Rice milk is a kind of grain milk processed from rice. It is usually made from brown rice and they don’t normally need to add sugar. The sweetness in most rice milk varieties is generated by an enzymatic process, which turns the long chains of glucose molecules (which is what rice largely is) into sugars, especially glucose. Some rice milk varieties may still be sweetened with sugar, so take a close look at the ingredient list to make sure there is none added. The label will say it is about 4% sugar but this is normally just glucose. The ingredient list should pretty much consist of water, rice, oil and salt with no sugar.

18 Nov 2009 1:16 AM

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Reply # 246357 on 221226

Deleted user

Thanks David, that is really helpful!

Do you know of any brands that are considering labelling or have labelled their products 'fructose free'? Would be a great business for a manufacturer! You hear of people buying 'gluten free' even though they don't have coeliacs, assuming gluten must be bad. At least with fructose free their assumptions would be correct and it would be a great way to raise interest in fructose.

Maybe David you should bring out your own range - you could be the Dick Smith of fructose free :)

10 Jan 2010 8:23 PM

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Reply # 266524 on 221226

Deleted user

Feeling horrible 2 day only! have been addicted to sugar for over 30 years- I have been able to "control" weight with super human exercise effort but the old body is giving up and the weight has piled on.

Can only get better from here.............

10 Jan 2010 10:46 PM

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Reply # 266569 on 221226

Deleted user

Good luck Jacquie! I just fell of the wagon again over xmas (damn xmas pudd and custard!) but back on track again.

Once you see the results though it is very inspiring and gets easier and easier

11 Jan 2010 4:45 AM

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Reply # 266647 on 221226

Deleted user

David, your comment on soy milk has thrown me - it didn't occur to me that fructose was sneaking into my diet via 'healthy' soy milk. I would really appreciate a sugar guide on milk substitutes and even dairy substitutes in general - it seems very difficult to avoid dairy on a low-fructose diet.

I assume that the 'lactose free' UHT milk would be sweetened with fructose - can you confirm?

I've been on very low (or so i thought!) fructose diet for over 3 months now and have lost a couple of kgs. I've been having about 1/2 cup of soy milk with oatmeal and fruit for breakfast - but i'll have to swap that for rice milk now!