[ectoplasm]

We stopped buying raw sugar as well as things with added sugar at the grocery store. We also stopped buying juice and obvious junk food like potato chips. We still buy whole milk and bacon and cheese and pasta.

It was hard at first, but we still have sugar in various forms around the home to use on occasion. We're buying more fruit now too, but eat less than it takes to make the juice we eliminated.

We're losing about one pound per week, with no change in activity levels. So that's crudely about 500 calories per day, each. We have sweet things for social reasons, or to celebrate. The trick is just to avoid buying them so you can't eat them when you get hungry. Once we get down to our target weights I imagine we'll buy more.

It's really quite shocking when you stop buying sugar, just how many of your usual purchases you end up putting back on the shelf.

[awjr]

Sugar is an odd substance. It's made up of glucose and fructose. Glucose tells your body to store fat and "use me" while your liver is converting the fructose to fat.

[david-given]

At least where I come from, domestic use sugar is almost entirely sucrose. Glucose and fructose are available but they're very much specialist products (for baking, jam-making, etc). They're certainly not something you put into tea.

[awjr]

Sucrose breaks down into glucose and fructose. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucrose

[abainbridge]

Sucrose is composed of glucose and fructose, connected by a single chemical bond. That bond is quickly broken after the sucrose enters your body. As a result your body reacts to sucrose in broadly the same way as it would to a 50-50 mixture of glucose and fructose.

[yvdriess]

sucrose is an 50/50 glucose/fructose combination: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucrose

But yeah, it's all sucrose except for 'dextro energy' (glucose==grape sugar) or baking.

[scorpioxy]

So cutting down on the sugar should tell the body to use more fat as an energy source, yes? In your opinion, where can I read about this stuff without resorting to websites that make extraordinary claims about crazy diets without any scientific basis? Or do I have to stick to publications?

[Evgeny]

I suggest some of Lyle McDonalds articles for a start, for example

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/how-we-get-fat.htm...

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-fundamentals-o...

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-fundamentals-o...

In case you like his writing, he's the author of a couple of high quality books.

So cutting down on the sugar should tell the body to use more fat as an energy source, yes?

Actually, he answers that almost directly here:

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/nutrient-intake-n...

[awjr]

This is probably a good start http://thatsugarfilm.com/