I haven't ever tried to give up sugar, but I did make a radical change to my diet last November: I gave up dairy. Kiera was a very colicky baby, and showed immediate improvement when I tried cutting dairy out of my diet. (Some colicky babies are sensitive to cow's milk protein in their mothers' diets.) So no milk, butter, cheese, or ice cream; I also read labels and avoid anything with casein or whey.
The motivation was surprisingly easy, and I'm never tempted to cheat: a baby who doesn't scream for hours every night is a heck of a motivator.
The effects on my diet patterns generally were kind of strange. Especially early on, I snacked much less, especially if I was away from home -- unless I was really hungry, it was just too much trouble to track down something I could eat. Also, it's much harder to eat out.
Although I was not tempted to cheat, I found myself feeling incredibly deprived over Christmas when I visited the in-laws and could literally not eat a single dessert. At home, I keep a stash of dairy-free chocolate chips to snack on any time I want a treat. In fact, my consumption of sugar has gone way up since I had to eliminate dairy: I used to reach for cheese and milk to satisfy late-night munchies, now I almost always reach for something sugary.
I've been losing weight steadily, but I'm breastfeeding, and for me that's Nature's Miracle Eat-Anything-And-Still-Lose-Weight Diet Plan.
Anyway. Dairy was a major part of my diet right up until last November 7th or so. The keys for me were finding substitutes for certain items. I drank milk every night with dinner; initially I switched to cider, and when cider season was over I switched to water. We rounded out a lot of our meals with bread and butter; now we eat pita and hummous. And I needed alternate treats to keep me from feeling deprived.
I would encourage you to eat a lot of fruits -- we're coming into summer now so a lot of good stuff is available. Even as someone who eats refined sugar, spring strawberries taste intensely sweet to me; so do pineapples and lots of other fruits. You might also try substituting some interesting/novel snack foods for your munchies times -- something that's good in a totally different way, like fresh popcorn with salt, or a little bit of good cheese on crackers.
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Date: 2004-06-09 10:10 pm (UTC)The motivation was surprisingly easy, and I'm never tempted to cheat: a baby who doesn't scream for hours every night is a heck of a motivator.
The effects on my diet patterns generally were kind of strange. Especially early on, I snacked much less, especially if I was away from home -- unless I was really hungry, it was just too much trouble to track down something I could eat. Also, it's much harder to eat out.
Although I was not tempted to cheat, I found myself feeling incredibly deprived over Christmas when I visited the in-laws and could literally not eat a single dessert. At home, I keep a stash of dairy-free chocolate chips to snack on any time I want a treat. In fact, my consumption of sugar has gone way up since I had to eliminate dairy: I used to reach for cheese and milk to satisfy late-night munchies, now I almost always reach for something sugary.
I've been losing weight steadily, but I'm breastfeeding, and for me that's Nature's Miracle Eat-Anything-And-Still-Lose-Weight Diet Plan.
Anyway. Dairy was a major part of my diet right up until last November 7th or so. The keys for me were finding substitutes for certain items. I drank milk every night with dinner; initially I switched to cider, and when cider season was over I switched to water. We rounded out a lot of our meals with bread and butter; now we eat pita and hummous. And I needed alternate treats to keep me from feeling deprived.
I would encourage you to eat a lot of fruits -- we're coming into summer now so a lot of good stuff is available. Even as someone who eats refined sugar, spring strawberries taste intensely sweet to me; so do pineapples and lots of other fruits. You might also try substituting some interesting/novel snack foods for your munchies times -- something that's good in a totally different way, like fresh popcorn with salt, or a little bit of good cheese on crackers.