Hi all,

I’m brand new to the forum and almost two weeks into the diet. I think I’ve got the hang of avoiding certain foods and replacing with heathier alternatives, and I have managed to completely cut out sweets, chocolate, biscuits etc which is nothing short of miraculous! However, through reading the book I have discovered that I am clueless when it comes to the sugar content of natural, non-processed foods. I know I can solve this by googling but I do have another question I hope someone can help with…is there a recommended daily allowance for sugar for this diet? I’ve had a fairly thorough skim of the book and can’t see anything. The recipes in the book are great but I’d like to swap in my own recipes and I’d feel more confident if I had a better idea if there were guidelines to follow in this respect.

Sorry for the ramble!

Thanks all!

Fran

Morning Fran. Pretty much none, I’m afraid! Carbs in some pulses, above the ground veggies, but no sugar as such. It gets easier, I promise!

Hi Bissell,
Many thanks for your very fast response! I’m a little confused if that is the case as many of the breakfast recipes contain foods with naturally occurring sugars such as berries, raisins, fruit juice etc.
I’m a veggie so I’m trying to be ultra careful to vary meals, hence my inclusion of the fruity breakfasts. Perhaps I should focus on the eggs plus veg type breakfasts? (Reluctant to do that as it would make most meal ingredients samey for me over the course of a week!).
Any thoughts would be much appreciated. 😉
Fran

Hi Frobbie
If you keep the carbs under control, won’t that also take care of the sugars?
Looking at nutrition info (waitrose is a frequent source), Nutrition info is set out as
Carbohydrate X.X
of which sugars X.X

Hi Frobbie,
I am veggie as well and have blueberries with full fat yoghurt and seeds every day. I did not eat any other fruit during the 8 weeks unless you count tomatoes which are really a fruit but we treat as a veg. I totally avoided dried fruits as they are very sugary for their size, and have not had fruit juice at all – I rarely drank it anyway as I preferred the whole fruit. It is important to keep up the 5 fruit and veg a day and that is 450g fruit and veg per day, so 30g berries is an part of that.
You will see labels saying X grams carbs of which y is sugars so sugar is just a type of simple carb that we need to avoid. Fruit also comes with fibre – which we need plus lots of other antioxidants.
For breakfast – what is important is that it fills you up for a good few hours. I initially tried eggs and Portobello mushrooms – I find that the full fat yoghurt, fruit and seeds is more filling; others find the egg breakfast best. Try to vary for a couple of days and which ever leaves you feeling fullest and stick to it. If that is egg – use the berries and yoghurt for ‘pudding’ later in the day.
Good luck.

Hi Frog and orchid,

Many thanks for your thoughts. I’ll keep an eye on carbs as I have been, and will experiment with the breakfasts as you both suggest.

I really appreciate everyone’s input – it’s so helpful to read other people’s experiences of the diet and how it works in real life!

Fran

Hi Frobbie,
Another veggie here. I mostly have egg brekkies, or none (if I’m not hungry in the morning I just extend my fast until lunch). I’m trying to keep my carbs under about 50g per day which is not always achievable as a vego but it’s something to aim for. With our consumption of legumes we naturally have more carbs than the meat eaters.
The book makes it clear on the fruits… berries are best and we should try to avoid the higher sugar things like mangoes and bananas. I still include the occasional piece of dark chocolate (and tonight made chocolate dipped strawberries… yum!).
I’m cooking more stir fries and soups since starting the BSD and make heaps of servings so the next day’s lunch takes no thought or calculation, it’s just leftovers. Otherwise I have hommus pots with veggies at lunch, or miso soup if brekky was big.
Planning ahead makes it easier and apps like MyFitnessPal let you track your weight loss and meals.
Good luck,
OzVeggy