Crushing Sugar Addiction
Replies
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LikeSeeds4Souls_ wrote: »MsJulesRenee wrote: »Does anyone else out there want to destroy their addiction to sugar? I have started my journey and I am looking for tips and connections from those who have succeeded in ending their addiction and those who are working through it like myself. I find there is an emotional, psychological, physical need to have sugar and my path to end it has been rough though I am only into it a few days. I would like to say I am in this for weight loss but really it is all I can do to go day to day and eliminate sugar meal by meal.
This is my story and my advice. I had a really well thought out answer that didn't load because the discussion was briefly closed due to the mods needing to intervene. The gist of it: When I started MFP I thought I was addicted to sugar as well. Now I have to laugh at myself because I finally realized, after a year, this was not true. I was in the habit of buying sugary drinks and food, I wanted them because that's what I was used to eating. I wasted so much time within that year trying to restrict myself, only to lose a couple pounds and put it back on when I binged. I dabbled in moderation during this time but never fully implemented it.
Now I am half way into my 2nd year at MFP, I started to fully moderate instead of restrict. Moderation is not a shortcut that most people are looking for- you will learn A LOT about yourself that you would rather have hidden, you will be emotional, you will have very bad days and even weeks, you will want to give up...but don't, it gets easier. Lost twice as much weight in a couple months than I did with a year of restricting. I didn't gain the ability to moderate food overnight, it took me almost 1 and a half emotional years to get it right. I still have a bad days, but I'm no longer chained to food how I was when I started MFP. You are right when you say you have to take it one meal, one day, at a time.
This is absolutely true. Moderation is key as well as trusting your own body to tell you when it's hungry and when it's had enough food. I believe only a small minority of people who go on diets and achieve their goals actually keep it off, the rest of the dieters will gain the weight back and some simply because of this restriction mentality that dieting promotes. Nutrition is not a fixed state of affairs it's constantly changing bad weeks, great weeks ect. I'll be interested to know who honestly things they can count every calorie they eat from now till their elderly years and maintain a happy life.
There are some foods, like peanut butter, that I have been able to moderate, pretty much effortlessly. With foods like Oreos, M&Ms, Girl Scout Cookies, etc, I'm better off just not having them in the house. I also did poorly at moderating all the treats I received for Christmas, and after a few days of this, gave the remainder to my brother. Unfortunately, I got more treats yesterday. Ay yi yi yi.0 -
WinoGelato wrote: »LikeSeeds4Souls_ wrote: »MsJulesRenee wrote: »Does anyone else out there want to destroy their addiction to sugar? I have started my journey and I am looking for tips and connections from those who have succeeded in ending their addiction and those who are working through it like myself. I find there is an emotional, psychological, physical need to have sugar and my path to end it has been rough though I am only into it a few days. I would like to say I am in this for weight loss but really it is all I can do to go day to day and eliminate sugar meal by meal.
This is my story and my advice. I had a really well thought out answer that didn't load because the discussion was briefly closed due to the mods needing to intervene. The gist of it: When I started MFP I thought I was addicted to sugar as well. Now I have to laugh at myself because I finally realized, after a year, this was not true. I was in the habit of buying sugary drinks and food, I wanted them because that's what I was used to eating. I wasted so much time within that year trying to restrict myself, only to lose a couple pounds and put it back on when I binged. I dabbled in moderation during this time but never fully implemented it.
Now I am half way into my 2nd year at MFP, I started to fully moderate instead of restrict. Moderation is not a shortcut that most people are looking for- you will learn A LOT about yourself that you would rather have hidden, you will be emotional, you will have very bad days and even weeks, you will want to give up...but don't, it gets easier. Lost twice as much weight in a couple months than I did with a year of restricting. I didn't gain the ability to moderate food overnight, it took me almost 1 and a half emotional years to get it right. I still have a bad days, but I'm no longer chained to food how I was when I started MFP. You are right when you say you have to take it one meal, one day, at a time.
This is absolutely true. Moderation is key as well as trusting your own body to tell you when it's hungry and when it's had enough food. I believe only a small minority of people who go on diets and achieve their goals actually keep it off, the rest of the dieters will gain the weight back and some simply because of this restriction mentality that dieting promotes. Nutrition is not a fixed state of affairs it's constantly changing bad weeks, great weeks ect. I'll be interested to know who honestly things they can count every calorie they eat from now till their elderly years and maintain a happy life.
I'd put better odds on long term calorie counting and eating all foods in moderation than I would cutting out large swaths of food like "sugar" for success and happiness in the long term...
I agree I don't believe in cutting out any form of food, that's restriction and we all know what that leads to... Binges. I reckon that's why most people on any form of eating plan never succeed.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »LikeSeeds4Souls_ wrote: »MsJulesRenee wrote: »Does anyone else out there want to destroy their addiction to sugar? I have started my journey and I am looking for tips and connections from those who have succeeded in ending their addiction and those who are working through it like myself. I find there is an emotional, psychological, physical need to have sugar and my path to end it has been rough though I am only into it a few days. I would like to say I am in this for weight loss but really it is all I can do to go day to day and eliminate sugar meal by meal.
This is my story and my advice. I had a really well thought out answer that didn't load because the discussion was briefly closed due to the mods needing to intervene. The gist of it: When I started MFP I thought I was addicted to sugar as well. Now I have to laugh at myself because I finally realized, after a year, this was not true. I was in the habit of buying sugary drinks and food, I wanted them because that's what I was used to eating. I wasted so much time within that year trying to restrict myself, only to lose a couple pounds and put it back on when I binged. I dabbled in moderation during this time but never fully implemented it.
Now I am half way into my 2nd year at MFP, I started to fully moderate instead of restrict. Moderation is not a shortcut that most people are looking for- you will learn A LOT about yourself that you would rather have hidden, you will be emotional, you will have very bad days and even weeks, you will want to give up...but don't, it gets easier. Lost twice as much weight in a couple months than I did with a year of restricting. I didn't gain the ability to moderate food overnight, it took me almost 1 and a half emotional years to get it right. I still have a bad days, but I'm no longer chained to food how I was when I started MFP. You are right when you say you have to take it one meal, one day, at a time.
This is absolutely true. Moderation is key as well as trusting your own body to tell you when it's hungry and when it's had enough food. I believe only a small minority of people who go on diets and achieve their goals actually keep it off, the rest of the dieters will gain the weight back and some simply because of this restriction mentality that dieting promotes. Nutrition is not a fixed state of affairs it's constantly changing bad weeks, great weeks ect. I'll be interested to know who honestly things they can count every calorie they eat from now till their elderly years and maintain a happy life.
There are some foods, like peanut butter, that I have been able to moderate, pretty much effortlessly. With foods like Oreos, M&Ms, Girl Scout Cookies, etc, I'm better off just not having them in the house. I also did poorly at moderating all the treats I received for Christmas, and after a few days of this, gave the remainder to my brother. Unfortunately, I got more treats yesterday. Ay yi yi yi.
I also had that predicament in terms of cakes and biscuits. I was unable to moderate those foods too until I started asking myself 2 questions before I ate the whole packet. Why am I eating this & Does this hurt or harm my body. It was a tough process but that helped massively.0 -
I have recently been going through the same thing. I have every side affect in the book when it comes to giving up sugar, headaches, irritability, muscle weakness, red eyes, and cold extremities. But after about a month I'm beginning to see the other side. To help get away from the physical addiction of sugar I cut out all carbs and even diary for about 2 weeks (anything that has or turns into sugar) So nothing would raise my blood sugar and trigger a sugar binge. I used advice from Dr Mark Hyman and his recipes to "detox" from sugar. It cured me from food sensitivity, tiredness, digestion problems, and arthritis pain. Hope your still doing well, don't feel bad if you fall into eating sugar sometimes, especially with it everywhere this time of year. The most important thing is that your eating nutritious meals most of the time. But if your like me, sugar might make you an emotional mess. I have lots of veggies, lean protein, nuts, and berries sometimes. I'm just now starting to add beans and whole grains like wheat and rice. Good luck and good job!0
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MsJulesRenee wrote: »Does anyone else out there want to destroy their addiction to sugar? I have started my journey and I am looking for tips and connections from those who have succeeded in ending their addiction and those who are working through it like myself. I find there is an emotional, psychological, physical need to have sugar and my path to end it has been rough though I am only into it a few days. I would like to say I am in this for weight loss but really it is all I can do to go day to day and eliminate sugar meal by meal.
This is my story and my advice. I had a really well thought out answer that didn't load because the discussion was briefly closed due to the mods needing to intervene. The gist of it: When I started MFP I thought I was addicted to sugar as well. Now I have to laugh at myself because I finally realized, after a year, this was not true. I was in the habit of buying sugary drinks and food, I wanted them because that's what I was used to eating. I wasted so much time within that year trying to restrict myself, only to lose a couple pounds and put it back on when I binged. I dabbled in moderation during this time but never fully implemented it.
Now I am half way into my 2nd year at MFP, I started to fully moderate instead of restrict. Moderation is not a shortcut that most people are looking for- you will learn A LOT about yourself that you would rather have hidden, you will be emotional, you will have very bad days and even weeks, you will want to give up...but don't, it gets easier. Lost twice as much weight in a couple months than I did with a year of restricting. I didn't gain the ability to moderate food overnight, it took me almost 1 and a half emotional years to get it right. I still have a bad days, but I'm no longer chained to food how I was when I started MFP. You are right when you say you have to take it one meal, one day, at a time.
Kudos to you!
I just want to underscore the importance of the hard work one often needs to do in order to be able to deal with their behavioral issues with food.
The first step in being able to do that is to understand that the issues you're having with food are behavioral though. And that is why I find this endless back and forth on addiction so incredibly frustrating. Anyone who thinks they're supporting someone else by saying, "Yes, you poor thing, sugar/fat/bread/whatever is just so addictive" is doing nothing helpful in the long run. Believing in foods as addictive substances (a notion that science does not support), and -- more to the point -- treating individual foods like addictive substances is simply putting a band-aid on a gaping wound.
The underlying behavioral issues will still be there, festering, waiting to manifest and cause issues.
We all have had our reasons for over eating. It does not matter WHAT we overate. What matters is finding out why we overate and addressing that within ourselves. It is only when we are truly ready to accept that the reasons lie within and we're ready to do that hard, hard inner work that we are really on the road to overcoming our issues with food.0 -
Does anyone else out there want to destroy their addiction to sugar? I have started my journey and I am looking for tips and connections from those who have succeeded in ending their addiction and those who are working through it like myself. I find there is an emotional, psychological, physical need to have sugar and my path to end it has been rough though I am only into it a few days. I would like to say I am in this for weight loss but really it is all I can do to go day to day and eliminate sugar meal by meal.
Check out Candida.
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I can't see your food diary.Does anyone else out there want to destroy their addiction to sugar? I have started my journey and I am looking for tips and connections from those who have succeeded in ending their addiction and those who are working through it like myself. I find there is an emotional, psychological, physical need to have sugar and my path to end it has been rough though I am only into it a few days. I would like to say I am in this for weight loss but really it is all I can do to go day to day and eliminate sugar meal by meal.
Are you tracking sugar?
It's really not hard to break the drive to eat it. You can break this in three days. If you track it, and keep it at 15g/day or less, and also track your carb intake, keeping it at 79g/day. Try it!
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Once again, I would like to remind everyone that the OP did not ask for the definition of the term 'addiction'. We all know that this is a highly contentious topic here - as well as an incredibly personal topic for most. What the OP asked for was advice from folks who have found themselves in a similar situation as her regarding how they handled things.
If you would like to discuss the definition of addiction, please feel free to start your own discussion, rather than taking someone else's request for advice off-topic.
Happy New Year,
JustSomeEm
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Thank you for all the advice and direct messages, 5 days in and I feel amazing - not completely free but each day the choices get easier. Also seeing a weight loss which is a pretty alright motivator
I've received some great tips from new friends who have been there and can relate. Cheers to a healthy 2016 everyone~ 0 -
Thank you for all the advice and direct messages, 5 days in and I feel amazing - not completely free but each day the choices get easier. Also seeing a weight loss which is a pretty alright motivator I've received some great tips from new friends who have been there and can relate. Cheers to a healthy 2016 everyone~
If it works for you, that's all that really matters. Personally though I don't worry about sugars much, there are a lot of sugars that just add up to essentially dead calories that could have been avoided. There are carbs I like just as much, and never had any desire to eat a whole box of at once either.0 -
Ugh, such a problem for me as well! I'm 20 days in not having added sugars (oh the candy!! I was eating an astonishing amount of candy!) I didn't get crazy with the restrictions on potatoes, bread etc the first week but by now have given those up and cut fruit as well. It took about 2 weeks to be able to not have to tell myself I just had to get through the next 10 minutes without sugar, let me tell you Christmas was rough! I however went to the dr 3 weeks ago for a checkup and had not been on a scale in awhile. I was shocked at how much weight had crept on and knew that sugar was mostly to blame. I lost 13 lbs in the first 2 weeks by only cutting added sugar, which is just crazy. I feel great through, the shaking between meals stopped, I'm less tired, my skin looks better and my clothes fit better! I've decided to keep working to loose some more weight but I just feel so great from getting from under the stupid sugar cravings. Awesome job on 5 days, the worst is really behind you, it gets easier every day!!!0
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When you have a sugar craving, eat a piece of fruit. There's sugar in fruit and yes, eating too much fruit is not ideal, but fruit is loaded with lots of other good stuff, so it's one hell of a lot better than eating the equivalent amount of sugar from donuts or something. I've never dealt with this issue personally but I would think that over time, substituting fruit for processed sugar will shift your taste over to healthier and healthier food, and after a certain period of transition it will be a lot easier to begin cutting down on your intake.
As for the ongoing discussion about whether sugar is addictive -- it's fine to say that people are cherrypicking evidence to support one arbitrary conclusion or the other, which is probably true, but it's worth pointing out that there's a lot of expert disagreement on this subject, with lots of experts asserting that it is. We saw a brain scan study a few months ago showing that the neural response of rats to Oreos is almost indistinguishable from their response to crack cocaine.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/18/rats-find-oreos-as-addictive-as-cocaine-an-unusual-college-research-project/
You can always argue about the significance of a study, but any way you cut it, this is a really disturbing finding.0 -
I'd say if you are craving sugar, look at your overall diet. I don't think cravings are normal and don't really have them myself. Do you eat a satisfying balanced diet with enough protein and calories? If not, fix that. Are you craving a dessert? If so, fit it in, nothing wrong with having sweets in moderation. Are you just generally craving sweet (which seems really uncommon, to be honest)? Sure, then, eat fruit, which is sweet and good for you. Probably you will want less over time. If logging, log the calories, as fruit can add up.
As for the addiction thing, it's silly. People like food, no shock, and fat scores as high as sugar.0 -
"WinoGelato wrote: »
If you have medical reasons to restrict sugars, that is different than labeling sugar as "addicting". Sugar is not addictive, just like no type of food is addictive. What many people find is that they have difficulty moderating their intake of certain foods, but when probing deeper, it turns out that it isn't the chemical substances of sugar that are the problem, it is highly palatable foods like baked goods or ice cream that people have difficulty controlling their intake arou well.
Pretty sure that's what addiction is...
addiction
Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
ad·dic·tion (ə-dĭk′shən)
n.
1.
a. Physiological or psychological dependence, as on a substance: a drug used in the treatment of heroin addiction.
b. An instance of this: a person with a sex addiction.
2.
a. The condition of being habitually occupied with or involved in something: My addiction to comic books disappeared when graphic novels came out.
b. The condition of using something on a regular or dependent basis: fossil fuel addiction.
c. An instance of one of these conditions: had an addiction to fast cars.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ad•dic•tion (əˈdɪk ʃən)
n.
dependence on or commitment to a habit, practice, or habit-forming substance to the extent that its cessation causes trauma.
[1595–1605; < Latin]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ad·dic·tion (ə-dĭk′shən)
1. A physical or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, such as drugs or alcohol.
2. A habitual or compulsive involvement in an activity, such as gambling.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Student Science, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved0
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