What's your advice to control the urges to eat sweets?

Abby_C2014

If I am craving some things, I make a healthy recipe similar to it.

Orphia

lseed87 wrote: »

I'm in team moderation but I feel that there might be healthier sweets out there too. Or have dark chocolate, peanut butter or something like that to end the cravings. Also water could help too.

Nah, it's not healthy to deprive yourself of things you love. Deprivation just leads to bingeing and yo-yo-ing.

Moderation is having the things you love in reasonable amounts.

Loganmmontgomery

Atkins snacks!!!

kommodevaran

Orphia wrote: »

lseed87 wrote: »

I'm in team moderation but I feel that there might be healthier sweets out there too. Or have dark chocolate, peanut butter or something like that to end the cravings. Also water could help too.

Nah, it's not healthy to deprive yourself of things you love. Deprivation just leads to bingeing and yo-yo-ing.

Moderation is having the things you love in reasonable amounts.

Nothing is "fattening", a calorie is a calorie and all that, I will defend moderation and not cutting out anything you love - but:
Find out if you love the things you crave, or if you just crave them. I haven't had chocolate, chips, ice cream, cookies, candy for 6 months and the cravings are almost gone. I don't miss any of it, not the cravings, and not the junk. I prefer real food and I eat a lot better. I can't believe I'm alone in this.

Unknown

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KateTii

I find moderation is the best key. Over the past couple of months i've found that including snacks in my day is the only way to not only 'treat my sweet tooth' but stay on track for the rest of my life. I'm not willing to give up lollies, chocolate, chips, ice-cream etc. But what I do crave has changed. Instead of wanting any lolly, I want a certain type of lolly. I will no longer eat the kinda-nasty but sugary lolly just because it's there, but i'll wait and get my favourite type.

I do also wait until after dinner and i've had all my "filling food"/main meals for the day and THEN use my leftover calories on sweets/snacks. Less guilt and it means I never miss dinner because I went a bit too heavy on the turkish delight.

ncfitbit

JannickOcampo wrote: »

This is all good advise people. I'm fighting it, and so far I am doing well. The only candy I can't resist is, Red Hots. They are so good... low in calories, but I eat the whole box....
Please add me as your friend for mutual motivation. We are in this together ; )

Hmm, that's an interesting one! It does seem like it would be easy to keep eating them. I couldn't stop eating the "Mike and Ike's" candy we gave out for Halloween last year so I have decided not to have those around this year. For me, the serving size is not worth the calories, so that's the only reason I'm deciding to forego them. If you really want to keep eating them, maybe put them into individual serving sizes so you will consciously decide how many servings you will have.

I've discovered that a certain snack size chocolate, although it's not my absolute favorite kind, is totally satisfying for the calories and feels like enough of a treat that I can work it in to my day on many days.

For a substitute, if you wanted to go that route, I wonder if cinnamon flavored tea would give you that fix when you didn't really want to spend the calories?

trishk82

Last night, I cut up some strawberries and a banana and put a little cool whip on it. It was really good and healthy. It satisfied my sweet tooth. Another idea is looking up healthy dessert options/alternatives on Pinterest. I absolutely love Pinterest!

Timelordlady85

I try to eat just a portion of what I really want or just avoid it all together and have something healthier that still helps my cravings.

cbnorris

veephil31 wrote: »

I love the fiber one bars or yasso bars. If I allow myself one of those at night, I seem to be good. For a while I was eating a yasso bar every night (it tastes just like ice cream, though made with Greek yogurt and very low cal). That kept me on track all day. After about a month of that, I don't need a bar every night and don't have much trouble staying away from candy/cookies.

I got the coffee chocolate chip yasso bars... omg... soooo good!

ExRelaySprinter

I've recently cut down on eating sugary treats (i.e doughnuts, candy etc).
When i feel like something sweet, i'll now have some fruit.
Although, at that "time of the month" - i had to have some Chocolate.

smile_2k2

For me I love chocolate...now, I get dark chocolate, instead of having the full bar, I take 1-2 pieces and work it into my calorie counting.

lemurcat12

kommodevaran wrote: »

Orphia wrote: »

lseed87 wrote: »

I'm in team moderation but I feel that there might be healthier sweets out there too. Or have dark chocolate, peanut butter or something like that to end the cravings. Also water could help too.

Nah, it's not healthy to deprive yourself of things you love. Deprivation just leads to bingeing and yo-yo-ing.

Moderation is having the things you love in reasonable amounts.

Nothing is "fattening", a calorie is a calorie and all that, I will defend moderation and not cutting out anything you love - but:
Find out if you love the things you crave, or if you just crave them. I haven't had chocolate, chips, ice cream, cookies, candy for 6 months and the cravings are almost gone. I don't miss any of it, not the cravings, and not the junk. I prefer real food and I eat a lot better. I can't believe I'm alone in this.

This was completely true for me. I changed my diet a bunch in 2003, including realizing that I ate a lot of stuff because it was there and easy, and not because I really loved it. I still might think I was craving it, in the right circumstances, but it didn't take long for me to realize that other foods would satisfy the craving just as well and that in fact I preferred many healthier options (in terms of how they fit into my overall diet) to some of the stuff I'd been eating. (For example, I'd go grab a quesadilla from a local place for a quick lunch, because I like spicy. Once I started being more choosy about food I'd make my own or save the desire for a time when I could go out for a really good Mexican meal and had calories to waste. It wasn't difficult to replace the old choice with something else.) I also found that once I started eating better chocolate I didn't really want the old candies (although I do like chocolate still and moderate it fine).

However, I'll note that I gained weight back (although not for quite a while) despite eating a healthier overall diet, so that alone doesn't work for all of us.

amandadunwoody

I had half a serving of my favorite ice cream with my lunch. I am in the portion control camp. Don't give in to any tempting sweet though, only the faves. IFYM - if it fits your macros - then eat it. I even fudge that sometimes to - if I'm within my calories, forget the macros.

kspirit

Yup. I like sweets, mainly pastries. I do not deprive myself from eating them. I eat less of it or try to pick healthier alternatives. I've learned to bake using healthier choices of ingredients. And wiser choices. For example instead of a snickers bar, I will eat only a mini snickers. Fruit helps too. A banana dip in chocolate or have it with 3 dark chocolate kisses, yogurt with fruit, 1 oatmeal cookie with coffee etc. You really have to find what works for you. Also for I try to limit how many sweets I have in a day. Some days are better than others. . And when I started doing that I begun to lose weight. Good luck and don't give up!

AnnPT77

+1 to portion control/moderation. But also to satisfying (not 'not quite as good') substitutes, and to learning more about *you*.

Biggest thing: Think, and experiment. Everyone is different. Try some things to see how *your* body works.

I found that my cravings for added-sugar sweets went away when I started making whole fruit a regular part of my diet (diet = way of eating forever), two to three times a day. Eventually, super-sweet things started tasting kind of . . . not good. And I could perceive (perhaps incorrectly ) the sugar rush hitting, followed by the crash. Not fun anymore. But I still fit the birthday cake into my calorie goal if it's a friend's birthday.

Eating lots of carbs, it turned out, made me crave more carbs. I'm not "low carb", but when I avoid what I consider to be carbs that aren't nutrient-dense enough to be worth the calories at my calorie goal, I don't have the carb cravings. Eating more protein helped me feel more satisfied.

But this is just *me*. Some people are happier still eating sugary things in smaller portions, or in a big portion on a rare day, as long as they fit in their calorie goal. Some can't feel satiated without carbs.

Read (or ask) about the variations other people are doing with meal timing/size, distribution of carbs/fat/protein, and more; and about satisfying substitutes for your trigger foods - as you are doing. You'll figure out what works for you.

kshama2001

JannickOcampo wrote: »

Probably many of us crave sweets or savory stuffs that sometimes make us end our diet; how you cope with these feelings, what's your advice?

I don't have cravings anymore now that I've reduced carbs and increased protein, and budget for a small treat after dinner. If I am careless and eat too much carbs in relation to protein during the day, I will crave carbs until the next morning.

I don't bring trigger foods like M&Ms, Oreos, Girl Scout Cookies and pints of Ben & Jerry's into the house. B&J makes 4 ounce mini cups in flavors that are not my faves, and they are safe in my freezer for weeks on end.

Bars of chocolate can be a problem for me, but I can eat one 70 calorie Ghiradelli square and stop. I can also measure out 70 calories of Ghiradelli chocolate chips, eat those, and stop.

I make baked goods on Fridays or Saturdays, so I can bring half to my mother and brother when I see them on the weekend. My fiance and I have a few portions, and I send the rest home for his mother.

I'll make a batch of Nigella's Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies and just cook enough for one serving for B and me, and freeze the rest of the batter.

When I make a batch of muffins, I eat some, give some away and freeze the rest.

kshama2001

lseed87 wrote: »

I'm in team moderation but I feel that there might be healthier sweets out there too. Or have dark chocolate, peanut butter or something like that to end the cravings. Also water could help too.

Ya, B was a Kit Kat guy but I have converted him to Ghiradelli squares. (I still have a bag and a half of Kit Kats leftover from last Halloween.) I never found Kit Kats satisfying, because what my body wanted was chocolate, and KK just don't provide enough of the real thing. So, 70 calories worth of Ghiradelli satisfy me, while 210 calories of Kit Kats do not.

TeaBea

yesimpson wrote: »

I only go for the really tasty stuff, and not every day. Instead of the three portions I truly want, I only have one.

This^

Moderation for me. I need to manage sugar before I get to goal weight.....or the weight will come back.
I'm more selective with my treats now.

Elimination is great until the day you want to eat it again. Sugar free is not a rest of my life thing.

kristen6350

I've found that if I don't have any for 14 days, I don't want them any more. Now, I'm usually a member of team moderation, but when I'm starting to "get in the zone" I make myself not have any for 14 days. Because if I don't want them, I don't eat them and I don't have the problem.

lakshva

There was a time I cldnt imagine finishing my lunch without a bar of chocolate. And then one day the shop in my office building closed down.
No I didn't walk to next building to get one. As days went by I ended up forgetting about chocolate.
The shop is back now, but I'm out of that habit.

kshama2001

lakshva wrote: »

There was a time I cldnt imagine finishing my lunch without a bar of chocolate. And then one day the shop in my office building closed down.
No I didn't walk to next building to get one. As days went by I ended up forgetting about chocolate.
The shop is back now, but I'm out of that habit.

That's pretty much how I stopped smoking clove cigarettes when I was 16 - I moved to an area where they were not sold within walking distance and by the time I got my license and a car, I was out of the habit.

When I was tapering down on sweets, I started having one small piece of dried fruit after a meal, but eventually got to where I didn't feel the need for that either.