The Lemon Fool

CK,

I gave up sugar about 40 years ago. I was a coffee drinker then and stuck it out for a week. Then I thought, I can't do this and had a cup with my usual 2 spoonsful of sugar. God, it was awful, it was like drinking syrup. I never went back after that one awful taste.

Do consider getting away from teabags and using real tea.

Good luck with your attempt.

Roger

roger4 wrote:I gave up sugar about 40 years ago. I was a coffee drinker then and stuck it out for a week. Then I thought, I can't do this and had a cup with my usual 2 spoonsful of sugar. God, it was awful, it was like drinking syrup. I never went back after that one awful taste.

I had the same experience, also about 40 years ago. In the Health Authority canteen during the coffee break, there was much talk of how unhealthy sugar was and I decided 'That's it, then' and I stopped there and then (that's when I was impressionable, funny how the same arguments never did work re alcohol). I really haven't been able to stand coffee with sugar ever since.

Do consider getting away from teabags and using real tea.

I second that. And without milk, too, then you can actually taste the tea. It's amazing how even a dash of milk totally ruins a good cup of tea.

A slightly different take on this and it may just help.

I always was able to drink black coffee without sugar but the moment I added cream I had to have a spoonful. With tea (black/green/white) I always added one sugar and in the case of black, milk.

I then went to Istanbul last September where I drunk a lot of Turkish tea and followed my guide's recommendation of trying it without sugar. Well after a few days I was hooked. On return to the UK I continued to drink black tea without milk or sugar. I then gradually started to drink other varieties of tea (green/white/Earl Grey &c.) and found I wanted to drink these without sugar.

So just a thought. Perhaps it is easier to give up sugar in tea if you give up the milk at the same time?

Best of luck.

I don't drink tea, insipid, tried it once that was enough. ugh! Having said that, when I was in Hong Kong our host persuaded me to try some of his Jasmine tea. I found it strangely pleasant but when I got back to England and bought some Jasmine tea over here, one sip and ugh. I do however drink (some) herbal teas but not as much as I used to. Nowadays, the occasional peppermint tea is enough and even then preferably fresh peppermint, of which there are also varieties, from the garden or for shop bought my preferred brand, Pompadour.

Enough about my credentials, there are more than 3,000 varieties of tea so I suggest the starting point when giving up sugar in tea is to consider whether the variety of tea that you have been drinking would be to your taste were it not for the sugar. Apparently not. So I'd suggest finding a tea you like and then you won't need the sugar.

Tea-bags are convenient but rarely is the tea itself of high quality. Some useful info:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-445327/The-good-brew-guide.html

Having said that, kicking a sugar-habit can require a lot of will-power, depending upon your psychological state. Consumption of sugar (in all its forms) on a regular basis inflates your energy levels artificially. When you get to the stage at which you cannot manage whenever your energy levels drop to their natural state for you then you'll need a regular fix to keep yourself high. It's like topping up a car with petrol/diesel whenever the fuel tank needle shows any sign of moving downwards.

The same principle applies to tea and coffee: caffeine is a stimulant. Stimulating the experience of a high can be a pleasurable activity: your body isn't comfortable but goes along with what your mind wants so your physical systems become accommodating. Having become accustomed to the feelings, it can be mentally easier to carry on regardless and adjust to an erroneous set of circumstances rather than resist the temptation and experience the process of adjusting to a non-addictive state.

When I feel the need to kick a habit involving some sort of food, I classify the ingredient/food as poison. For me, thinking I am poisoning myself is enough of a deterrent.

Habit-forming takes about 3 days. Habit breaking takes about 21 days, 14 if you put your mind to it. And a much shorter period of time if you use ways and means that suit your temperament.

After six months of trying I'm down from half a teaspoon to a few grains in tea. I don't know why, but I find tea without any hint of sweetness quite unpleasant. Those few grains make all difference.

On a slightly different note, in an idle moment over Christmas I calculated my annual alcohol consumption equalled over two stones of extra weight. Compared to that sugar in tea pales into insignificance. No wonder bartenders ask "What's your poison?".

WrenChasen wrote:On a slightly different note, in an idle moment over Christmas I calculated my annual alcohol consumption equalled over two stones of extra weight. Compared to that sugar in tea pales into insignificance. No wonder bartenders ask "What's your poison?".

Blimey, you're not wrong. T'interweb says a bottle of red contains 625 calories (actually I'd feared it was more). So half a bottle a day @ 3,500 calories per pound of added body weight = 32.5 pounds a year.

It's no good. I'll have to cut back on runner beans or something.

BJ

WrenChasen wrote:On a slightly different note, in an idle moment over Christmas I calculated my annual alcohol consumption equalled over two stones of extra weight. Compared to that sugar in tea pales into insignificance. No wonder bartenders ask "What's your poison?".

Yeah but hang about. The sugar in alcoholic drinks is fermented into alcohol. There are a bunch of calories in alco drinks and, generally, the stronger the drink the more the calories. And the "beer gut" is a fairly common thing.

But surely the real problem there is the harmful effects of the calories and the alcohol, and not the sugar per se?

Anyone worried about their weight (or liver, or brain cells, or blood pressure) is probably not going to drinking large amounts of beer, wine or spirits anyway.

Lootman wrote:

WrenChasen wrote:Anyone worried about their weight (or liver, or brain cells, or blood pressure) is probably not going to drinking large amounts of beer, wine or spirits anyway.

Precisely. The problem is a glass (or two) of wine with dinner is considered perfectly acceptable these days and it's easy to forget the stuff has no nutritional value, can cause weight gain and damage your liver for good measure. Unless they have a medically diagnosed condition, few people will stop to consider the downside of their favourite tipple.

I do enjoy a drink, but really it's right up there with Mars bars and Coca Cola - junk your body just doesn't need or want.

WrenChasen wrote:Unless they have a medically diagnosed condition, few people will stop to consider the downside of their favourite tipple.

Au contraire, I give these points very careful consideration - and then conclude that the upside far outweighs the downside!

Cheers!

WrenChasen wrote:

Lootman wrote:

WrenChasen wrote:
Precisely. The problem is a glass (or two) of wine with dinner is considered perfectly acceptable these days and it's easy to forget the stuff has no nutritional value, can cause weight gain and damage your liver for good measure. Unless they have a medically diagnosed condition, few people will stop to consider the downside of their favourite tipple.

I do enjoy a drink, but really it's right up there with Mars bars and Coca Cola - junk your body just doesn't need or want.

I was looking into this the other day, having had it pointed out that wine contains all thirteen minerals essential to life. Well i reckon it is sixteen, but yes indeed the kilo or more of grapes needed for a bottle of wine contain numerous minerals. For example 40% of the RDA for potassium, 30% for manganese and so on. The vitamins are even better with 60% for B1 and 140% for K. However I can't be sure that vitamins would survive fermentation intact, whereas the minerals would be very likely to end up in the wine itself.

- K

Clitheroekid wrote:

WrenChasen wrote:Unless they have a medically diagnosed condition, few people will stop to consider the downside of their favourite tipple.

Au contraire, I give these points very careful consideration - and then conclude that the upside far outweighs the downside!

Cheers!

It has been shown that those who imbibe in moderation actually live longer than teetotallers!

John

redsturgeon wrote:It has been shown that those who imbibe in moderation actually live longer than teetotallers!

John

Didn't we argue correlation vs causation recently?

Mine's a pint, thank you. But not until this evening.

redsturgeon wrote:

Clitheroekid wrote:

WrenChasen wrote:Unless they have a medically diagnosed condition, few people will stop to consider the downside of their favourite tipple.

Au contraire, I give these points very careful consideration - and then conclude that the upside far outweighs the downside!

Cheers!

It has been shown that those who imbibe in moderation actually live longer than teetotallers!

John

Teetotal? Who's going teetotal?!

UncleEbenezer wrote:

redsturgeon wrote:It has been shown that those who imbibe in moderation actually live longer than teetotallers!

John

Didn't we argue correlation vs causation recently?

Mine's a pint, thank you. But not until this evening.

We did indeed and as you will see, my statement makes no claims in that regard.

John

I'm in my early 60's and have drank beer and wine regularly since I was a teenager. If I add up those calories my weight would be minus many hundreds of kilos doesn't really add up does it?

Fatrav wrote:I'm in my early 60's and have drank beer and wine regularly since I was a teenager. If I add up those calories my weight would be minus many hundreds of kilos doesn't really add up does it?

LOL, you've lost me there. You've heard of wines and beers that can result in weight reduction?

Now, as for that claim that having a drink can extend your life, I can affirm that the principle of your argument holds up magnificently. Thanks to the reverse-logic wonder of Kellyann Conway's "Alternative Facts", I can now prove conclusively that I am one year old, and heading back toward six months. My mum wouldn't have been too pleased to hear that news if she were still with us, but at least she'd understand the dribbling and the inability to stand up.

BJ

redsturgeon wrote:We did indeed and as you will see, my statement makes no claims in that regard.

Indeed. But the manner and context of your statement invite the reader to jump to such a conclusion. One might suppose you to be a practitioner of the art of deception.

Not that I should blame you. Probably. Have another pint (hic).

Like those up there after 3 weeks without I would expect you to now find sugar in tea disgusting.

If not, and you still don't like the taste, perhaps you actually just don't like tea.

I can drink tea black but prefer it with a light dash of milk. I drink coffee black - preferably Columbian.

When I was a kid I used to have a cm of sugar on my weetabix too. I would truly be sick if I did that today.

GrandOiseau wrote:Like those up there after 3 weeks without I would expect you to now find sugar in tea disgusting.

If not, and you still don't like the taste, perhaps you actually just don't like tea.

That was what I decided about coffee - I used to have it black with three sugars. In the end I just decided I was drinking hot sugar water and that I simply don't like coffee. So, now I don't have any coffee and I don't even like the smell.

But sugar in tea makes me gag. I am sure I can actually *smell* it as the tea approaches my lips.....and certainly even just a grain on the edge of the cup makes me a bit queasy.

Mel

But sugar in tea makes me gag. I am sure I can actually *smell* it as the tea approaches my lips.....and certainly even just a grain on the edge of the cup makes me a bit queasy.

Aaah, happy memories of a greasy spoon caff in Birmingham where I'd bought a mug of tea. "Do you take sugar?" the assistant asked as she handed me my tea.
"No," I said. "Don't stir it then," she replied.

BJ