It all started Sunday evening with us watching a documentary from 2015 called Sugar Coated. I know that I eat too much sugar, and I drink too much sugar. After doing a bit of research, I found that the recommended max for women is 25 grams of sugar per day. One can of Dr. Pepper has 40 grams of sugar. I was drinking an average of 4 cans per day. That’s 160 grams of sugar per day, not counting any other sugar I might consume during the day and there was plenty.
While I’m not much in the mood for a low carb or low this or that, kind of diet, I know that I need to cut so much sugar out of my diet. I need to lose weight! I need to do whatever I can do to make sure I stay healthy as I get older.
While not going cold turkey to cut out all Dr. Pepper, I’ve calculated that 4 ounces per day will be about 13 grams of sugar and if I’m pretty careful, I can stay under the 25 gram max. I’m not so much worried about naturally occurring sugar as found in fruits and veggies, though I am limiting my fruits to 3 or 4 servings per day. I think cutting out 120+ grams of sugar from the soda is going to make a world of difference. If, after going that route for a few months, I find I need to cut back more in order to lose weight, I’ll re-evaluate then.
Dinner
For dinner tonight, we had tuna salad in avocado halves, carrots, tomatoes and a few almonds. Usually I put sweet pickle relish in my tuna salad. I left it out today and didn’t miss it. The salad had chopped onions, celery, a bit of chopped apple, but less than I normally would put, chopped boiled eggs and mayo.
Mostly for my own reference, I started a blog called Cutting Sugar. It truly isn’t to convince anyone else that what I’m doing is right, or to be a wealth of information on healthy eating . . it really is for my own reference so I can look back in six months or a year and see where I was on May 16, 2015. and how I got to where I hope to be on May 16, 2017.
Linda in NE says
Good for you for trying to cut down on the sugar in your diet. As if the sugar isn’t bad enough, there’s all the high fructose corn syrup in pretty much everything processed. It’s good you raise and preserve as much of your own food as you do.
dezertsuz says
Great idea. It sneaks up on you in everything! I’m trying to limit it to no more than 10 grams at a time, and it’s actually not too hard. It means having a juice glass of OJ in the morning instead of a big glass, and other things like that, but it does make a difference. I don’t drink many sodas, thankfully, but that is a lot of sugar you can cut easily! Go, Judy! I’m rooting for your healthier lifestyle.
Bon says
You go girl. My doc told me yesterday that I need to lose weight and exercise. I know cutting back on my sugar intake will help a lot. But then here is that exercise thingy. Oh boy.
Theresa says
I’m keeping a food diary, and trying to keep track of carbs. I’m trying to keep the total amount under 100 grams a day. I’ll check out the other blog.
Dianne Smith says
I need to watch this movie and make major changes also!
JudyL says
You were the first one who got me to thinking about too much sugar.
Diane Steele says
Good for you! I curtailed my over active sweet tooth a year ago by convincing myself that sugar is poison–and I truly believe that. It worked for me.