by Willijan » Sat Mar 18, 2017 1:57 pm
I have a different take on this. If you are sticking to the McDougall diet except for small amounts of sugar, you are not failing, you are succeeding. Sugar is bad for you, but think of the fact that you are not eating animal foods, oil, and high fat foods. How many people do you know who are successfully doing that?
Craving desserts is my hardest problem on this diet, too. Here are several ways I have tried to deal with it:
1) For breakfast, I eat sugar sweetened fruit on my oatmeal, because just fruit is enough to make me gag. Eating fruit with sugar is a step forward for me. (When I was 9 years old, my family celebrated when I finally ate the filling in a pie--blueberry.) I cook 3 lbs. of frozen blueberries and add 2 T. sugar. It lasts about 4 days. Or 15 apples, stewed, with 1/3 c. sugar added; lasts a long time.
2) I eat desserts that don't have sugar in them. There is a great recipe on the Straight Up Food website for baked oatmeal with apples. I use the date sweetened option. Not the best, but better than sugar or fat.
3) I have found that eating green vegetables actually does help me crave sugar less. And lose weight! (I am 5'4.5", and I started the diet at 127 lbs. Now I weigh 115 lbs, which I am thrilled with.) I eat large servings of asparagus, zucchini, green beans, collards, spinach, peas, sugar snap peas. They taste good to me now, and I was amazed to find they cut down on my sugar craving. My husband learned to like them too.
Remember, if you just keep trying different things on the diet, and doing the best you can, you will gradually change. In the meantime, don't beat yourself up. That makes it harder to succeed.