Sugar Addict here with a question...
kamazza
Posts: 98 Member
so I'm a certifiable sugar addict, my profession even helps along with that as I'm a cake decorator 
so I'm trying really really hard to cut the sugar habit down to nil. I'm actually doing ok with it now that I'm getting a lot more serious. The scale wasn't moving as well as I'd like so I am really cracking down. But here is my problem, even onions have sugar in them!! How can I cut sugar down to nothing and still get my veg and fruit? I'm afraid my body won't know the difference between "healthy fruit sugar" and a junky chocolate bar type sugar. I'm not craving it as much as I thought I would so this is awesome but still...blood oranges just came into season and it's loaded with sugar! 
so I'm trying really really hard to cut the sugar habit down to nil. I'm actually doing ok with it now that I'm getting a lot more serious. The scale wasn't moving as well as I'd like so I am really cracking down. But here is my problem, even onions have sugar in them!! How can I cut sugar down to nothing and still get my veg and fruit? I'm afraid my body won't know the difference between "healthy fruit sugar" and a junky chocolate bar type sugar. I'm not craving it as much as I thought I would so this is awesome but still...blood oranges just came into season and it's loaded with sugar! 0
Replies
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May I ask why you are trying to cut sugar down to nothing? Your body needs some sugar to function.5
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ok, nil is exaggerating lol but lower is better because I was at the point where I couldn't function without eating something covered in sugar. like really addicted,
with my personality if I don't keep sugar as low as I can then I will eat it to extreme
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Maybe try reducing rather than eliminating sugar or just remove foods that have sugar added. Though as a former baker the idea of never tasting one of my products again just sounds miserable.3
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As far as the sugar itself, there is no difference between the "healthy" fruit sugar and the "junky" chocolate sugar. It's all the same sugar. The only difference is you'd get more nutritional value from the fruits and veggies. But your body deals with the sugar the same.9
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so I'm a certifiable sugar addict, my profession even helps along with that as I'm a cake decorator so I'm trying really really hard to cut the sugar habit down to nil. I'm actually doing ok with it now that I'm getting a lot more serious. The scale wasn't moving as well as I'd like so I am really cracking down. But here is my problem, even onions have sugar in them!! How can I cut sugar down to nothing and still get my veg and fruit? I'm afraid my body won't know the difference between "healthy fruit sugar" and a junky chocolate bar type sugar. I'm not craving it as much as I thought I would so this is awesome but still...blood oranges just came into season and it's loaded with sugar!
I don't think it's realistic or even desirable to try and remove all sugar from your diet.
My advice would be to change your strategy. Include fruits and vegetables in your diet, if you have issues with moderating your calorie intake around really palatable foods, I'd seek to either eliminate or substantially reduce those specific food items.
Just for example I'm willing to bet that if you had a bag of sugar and a spoon, you probably wouldn't start eating it straight from the bag because it's the palatability and food reward that you're craving, and while sugar containing foods tend to be higher reward it's not exclusively sugar that's a problem.8 -
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so I'm a certifiable sugar addict, my profession even helps along with that as I'm a cake decorator so I'm trying really really hard to cut the sugar habit down to nil. I'm actually doing ok with it now that I'm getting a lot more serious. The scale wasn't moving as well as I'd like so I am really cracking down. But here is my problem, even onions have sugar in them!! How can I cut sugar down to nothing and still get my veg and fruit? I'm afraid my body won't know the difference between "healthy fruit sugar" and a junky chocolate bar type sugar. I'm not craving it as much as I thought I would so this is awesome but still...blood oranges just came into season and it's loaded with sugar!
I don't think it's realistic or even desirable to try and remove all sugar from your diet.
My advice would be to change your strategy. Include fruits and vegetables in your diet, if you have issues with moderating your calorie intake around really palatable foods, I'd seek to either eliminate or substantially reduce those specific food items.
Just for example I'm willing to bet that if you had a bag of sugar and a spoon, you probably wouldn't start eating it straight from the bag because it's the palatability and food reward that you're craving, and while sugar containing foods tend to be higher reward it's not exclusively sugar that's a problem.
heh, I have eaten sugar straight from a bag when stressed or really craving. I guess I'm trying to kill the cravings for sugar and junky sweets and the only way I'm finding I can do that is by taking most of it out of my diet0 -
yep, I've done the wet spoon dipped in the sugar bowl thing0
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so I'm a certifiable sugar addict, my profession even helps along with that as I'm a cake decorator so I'm trying really really hard to cut the sugar habit down to nil. I'm actually doing ok with it now that I'm getting a lot more serious. The scale wasn't moving as well as I'd like so I am really cracking down. But here is my problem, even onions have sugar in them!! How can I cut sugar down to nothing and still get my veg and fruit? I'm afraid my body won't know the difference between "healthy fruit sugar" and a junky chocolate bar type sugar. I'm not craving it as much as I thought I would so this is awesome but still...blood oranges just came into season and it's loaded with sugar!
I don't think it's realistic or even desirable to try and remove all sugar from your diet.
My advice would be to change your strategy. Include fruits and vegetables in your diet, if you have issues with moderating your calorie intake around really palatable foods, I'd seek to either eliminate or substantially reduce those specific food items.
Just for example I'm willing to bet that if you had a bag of sugar and a spoon, you probably wouldn't start eating it straight from the bag because it's the palatability and food reward that you're craving, and while sugar containing foods tend to be higher reward it's not exclusively sugar that's a problem.
heh, I have eaten sugar straight from a bag when stressed or really craving. I guess I'm trying to kill the cravings for sugar and junky sweets and the only way I'm finding I can do that is by taking most of it out of my diet
Find a new coping strategy for stress. Find something you enjoy other than sugar to do when you are stressed. You said you eat sugar when stressed so the first step would be to deal with the stress and find something else you enjoy. What you describe as a craving could just be a habitual action, if you eat a candy bar everyday at 3 then your mind will tell your body it's almost 3 you have to eat a candy bar. It's not because you "need" it but because it's a habit and people feel comfortable with habits. Try to change the habit and next time you want sugar stop and ask why you want it.
I use to eat chocolate almost everyday and it got to the point my boyfriend would get me two or three candy bars a day. This pattern continued until I decided I wanted a change and I would eat one or even half of one and then read or play a game on my phone, anything to stay busy. on Friday he got me two packs of Reese's stuffed with peices and I only ate one pack and last night opened the other pack and shared with a friend, this was unheard of a year ago.
You don't have to eliminate any foods unless it's for medical reasons or you just want to. Take control of what you eat, make a choice and say I'm stressed but I'm not going to eat sugar from the bag, I've finished a can of chocolate frosting don't feel alone on this one, I'm going to take a bubble bath instead. When you take control it might help reduce any food related stress. Good luck.2 -
Just curious, OP. How much water do you drink a day?0
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Sugar is necessary. Added sugar isn't. Sugar in veggies is perfectly fine as the fibre in those products slows down the absorption of the sugar so you feel fuller for longer in comparison to say a chocolate bar where you get an immediate sugar high and then crash shortly after.
Chill fruit and veggies are a-ok!0 -
I reduced fruits for a while when I was trying to undo my sugar habits, but I never took it as far as onions. That's hardcore.
You didn't actually ask for general advice but, here's mine anyway:
1. Getting at least 20% protein has made a world of difference.
2. Not undereating helped immensely.
3. Regular exercise helped immensely.
4. Eating more food (not more sugar) during PMS cravings helped
This is not the Debate section so I won't offer an opinion on the use of the word "addiction".3 -
Ultimately you obviously should do what's sustainable for you, I hope my previous post wasn't coming across to suggest otherwise.
I just think that a diet high in vegetable intake and even with some fruit, and moderate to high protein is going to promote satiety to a great extent. And so there are sugar-containing foods that can promote satiety but certainly things like cupcakes won't.1 -
One thing you could do is look for fruits that have a low glycemic index. Fruits that have more fiber in them (like apples) will make you feel more satisfied than the same amount of sugar from a piece of watermelon, for example.1
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Ultimately you obviously should do what's sustainable for you, I hope my previous post wasn't coming across to suggest otherwise.
I just think that a diet high in vegetable intake and even with some fruit, and moderate to high protein is going to promote satiety to a great extent. And so there are sugar-containing foods that can promote satiety but certainly things like cupcakes won't.
Although I'm a huge fan of "sustainable" when it comes to dieting in the long term, I also think it's beneficial to many of us who got into a habit of over consuming sugar to, for a period of time, really cut ourselves off from treats (and other forms of sugar if we feel they could still cause a problem). Abstinence is easier than moderation. Change our habits and perhaps our gut flora too. It's far easier to try moderation once we've had some abstinence and some success under our belts.
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goldthistime wrote: »Ultimately you obviously should do what's sustainable for you, I hope my previous post wasn't coming across to suggest otherwise.
I just think that a diet high in vegetable intake and even with some fruit, and moderate to high protein is going to promote satiety to a great extent. And so there are sugar-containing foods that can promote satiety but certainly things like cupcakes won't.
Although I'm a huge fan of "sustainable" when it comes to dieting in the long term, I also think it's beneficial to many of us who got into a habit of over consuming sugar to, for a period of time, really cut ourselves off from treats (and other forms of sugar if we feel they could still cause a problem). Abstinence is easier than moderation. Change our habits and perhaps our gut flora too. It's far easier to try moderation once we've had some abstinence and some success under our belts.
I don't disagree provided that the abstinence phase is viewed as temporary abstinence for reasons of habit forming rather than "I can never have these foods again".
Ultimately though I think I agree with you on this more than I disagree. Moderation as it's typically defined anyway, being "just eat a little bit of this" tends to be a horrible strategy for many people.4 -
goldthistime wrote: »Ultimately you obviously should do what's sustainable for you, I hope my previous post wasn't coming across to suggest otherwise.
I just think that a diet high in vegetable intake and even with some fruit, and moderate to high protein is going to promote satiety to a great extent. And so there are sugar-containing foods that can promote satiety but certainly things like cupcakes won't.
Although I'm a huge fan of "sustainable" when it comes to dieting in the long term, I also think it's beneficial to many of us who got into a habit of over consuming sugar to, for a period of time, really cut ourselves off from treats (and other forms of sugar if we feel they could still cause a problem). Abstinence is easier than moderation. Change our habits and perhaps our gut flora too. It's far easier to try moderation once we've had some abstinence and some success under our belts.
I agree that for SOME abstinence is better, BUT for SOME people abstinence/restrictive causes them to binge on the restrictive foods later. One has to identify where they fall I think.
Coming from restrictive after restrictive diets (Atkins, juice fasting, no white, cabbage soup, slimfast) I would "fall off" and I would overate everything I restricted. When I fell off Atkins I ate potato after potato:). Sadly I would gain an extra 10 lbs each time.
So for ME restricting anything is not conducive to a healthy pattern of eating.
BUT I do not buy for my home family size bags of things I would overeat on like chips, cookies etc. I "moderate" by buying 1 single serving once in a while.2 -
I'm another who had issues with sugar. I call it addiction-like. I could not/ did not moderate it in most cases and ate from the sugar bowl too. If I did not eat carbs every two hours I shook. Visibly.
I know that technically it was not an addiction, but it wasn't typical of most people.
I went very low carb (ketogenic) in order to avoid sugar as much as possible. I also have insulin resistance so I had an extra reason to cut sugars.
As you know, carbs are basically sugar once it is broken down. Glucose, fructose and lactose. To cut carbs, I cut in this order:- Sugar (table sugar, candy and soda) and foods with sugar added ( I buy the brand without added sugar)
- Refined grains - all flour. I use a bit of coconut meal, flax, meal, hemp and chia
- Whole grains - corn, oatmeal, quinoa, rice
- High GI fruits - tropical fruits mainly like mango, dates, figs, and bananas; I severely restrict temperate fruits like apples and oranges. Berries are pretty LC
- Starchy root vegetables like potatoes, yams, carrots, onions, turnips
I eat lots of meat, eggs, seafood, nuts, full fat dairy (cheese, 14% sourcream, plain 10% yogurt), and veggies2 -
heh, I have eaten sugar straight from a bag when stressed or really craving. I guess I'm trying to kill the cravings for sugar and junky sweets and the only way I'm finding I can do that is by taking most of it out of my dietyep, I've done the wet spoon dipped in the sugar bowl thing
I've eaten sugar by the spoonful as well. Many, many spoonsful. I've also eaten 1-lb bags of chocolate chips in one sitting just to get the sugar rush.
For me the trick has been to (try to) cut out added/processed sugar as much as possible, but I do allow myself whole fruits because they are sweet and yet they have lots of vitamins and fiber. I try not to bake as often as I used to because I can eat an entire batch of cookies by myself. I switched to artificial sweetener tabs for my coffee. I still use honey in my tea, but just a small amount. I'm still a work in progress though.2 -
goldthistime wrote: »Ultimately you obviously should do what's sustainable for you, I hope my previous post wasn't coming across to suggest otherwise.
I just think that a diet high in vegetable intake and even with some fruit, and moderate to high protein is going to promote satiety to a great extent. And so there are sugar-containing foods that can promote satiety but certainly things like cupcakes won't.
Although I'm a huge fan of "sustainable" when it comes to dieting in the long term, I also think it's beneficial to many of us who got into a habit of over consuming sugar to, for a period of time, really cut ourselves off from treats (and other forms of sugar if we feel they could still cause a problem).
I agree that this can be a good strategy for some, and it was for me, since I tend to be an emotional eater.
OP, I am honestly skeptical than onions are going to set you off craving cupcakes unless you tell yourself they will. What you are perceiving as a "sugar addiction" is most likely about hyperpalatable foods plus, perhaps, taste preferences that are especially oriented toward the sweet (which usually has to do with past diet).
I do not believe that a diet low in vegetables is going to be a healthy diet unless you have some actual medical need to cut them (allergies, some people with Crohn's, etc.). Now, you don't have to agree or care about that, of course, but I'd recommend trying to have a structure for eating (eat fruit and veg with a meal, have a planned amount of food you are eating with the meal, something like that) and then seeing how it goes. Usually people don't have the same reaction to fruit or veg as to sugary sweets (which comes with a lot of fat).
Maybe you like sugar enough to eat it straight (the thought makes me shudder, but I get that people have different likings for that taste). Would you really consume lots of calories that way? But in any case fruit and veg shouldn't give you a quick hit like that. Essentially, in your body they won't be any different than any other carb as starches get broken down to sugar too.
Of course, you could also try keto-ing if that seems appealing.4 -
_Justinian_ wrote: »Just curious, OP. How much water do you drink a day?
I'm working hard at keeping up to 8 big glasses a day. I do well with that0 -
you are all so awesome. I'm glad I'm not alone in the need for sugar lol. I am working hard to get control of my diet and am doing ok so far. thank you for all the advice and insight
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Just cut out the refined sugars
Natural sugars you get from veg is fine.
I don't eat fruit as the natural sugars are quite high.
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Cut out complex carbs and processed foods. Processed foods are full of sugar (used as a preservative), nitrates and other nasty stuff.
I started by banning rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and my downfall of ice cream! After that I kept adjusting and modifying my eating.
Opt for fruit and vege that have a high fibre, low carb profile.
Avocado, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, courgette, silverbeet, cabbage.. theme here is 'above ground vege'.
Monitor fruit intake... berries are king. Fruit is not essential every day - I have about 125gms berries 3-5 times a week and sometimes add rockmelon, a few grapes or mango as a treat. Stay away from dried fruits!
Nuts such as macadamia, almond, pecan, walnut are your friends but again about moderation.. 30 grams a day is a good amount. I split that into 3 x 10 gram 'snacks'.
I have followed a low-carb way of eating for nearly three years and like to keep under 20 grams of net carbs a day.
Feel a lot healthier for it too and have lost 83lbs.-1 -
Cut out complex carbs and processed foods. Processed foods are full of sugar (used as a preservative), nitrates and other nasty stuff.
I started by banning rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and my downfall of ice cream! After that I kept adjusting and modifying my eating.
Opt for fruit and vege that have a high fibre, low carb profile.
Avocado, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, courgette, silverbeet, cabbage.. theme here is 'above ground vege'.
Monitor fruit intake... berries are king. Fruit is not essential every day - I have about 125gms berries 3-5 times a week and sometimes add rockmelon, a few grapes or mango as a treat. Stay away from dried fruits!
Nuts such as macadamia, almond, pecan, walnut are your friends but again about moderation.. 30 grams a day is a good amount. I split that into 3 x 10 gram 'snacks'.
I have followed a low-carb way of eating for nearly three years and like to keep under 20 grams of net carbs a day.
Feel a lot healthier for it too and have lost 83lbs.
Why cut 'complex carbs' ?2 -
The Low Carber Daily MFP group:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group
Not many in that group who eat sugar much anymore. Naturally occurring or added.0 -
As most everyone has said, you need sugar in your diet. Just try getting most of your sugars from fruits and vegetables, and cut back on the processed sugar/empty calories.1
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LaGata8484 wrote: »As most everyone has said, you need sugar in your diet. Just try getting most of your sugars from fruits and vegetables, and cut back on the processed sugar/empty calories.
This what I have adopted since January 1st & combined with a lot of swimming and being active I've kicked weight loss into gear.0 -
so I'm a certifiable sugar addict, my profession even helps along with that as I'm a cake decorator so I'm trying really really hard to cut the sugar habit down to nil. I'm actually doing ok with it now that I'm getting a lot more serious. The scale wasn't moving as well as I'd like so I am really cracking down. But here is my problem, even onions have sugar in them!! How can I cut sugar down to nothing and still get my veg and fruit? I'm afraid my body won't know the difference between "healthy fruit sugar" and a junky chocolate bar type sugar. I'm not craving it as much as I thought I would so this is awesome but still...blood oranges just came into season and it's loaded with sugar!
I don't think it's realistic or even desirable to try and remove all sugar from your diet.
My advice would be to change your strategy. Include fruits and vegetables in your diet, if you have issues with moderating your calorie intake around really palatable foods, I'd seek to either eliminate or substantially reduce those specific food items.
Just for example I'm willing to bet that if you had a bag of sugar and a spoon, you probably wouldn't start eating it straight from the bag because it's the palatability and food reward that you're craving, and while sugar containing foods tend to be higher reward it's not exclusively sugar that's a problem.
heh, I have eaten sugar straight from a bag when stressed or really craving. I guess I'm trying to kill the cravings for sugar and junky sweets and the only way I'm finding I can do that is by taking most of it out of my diet
You may indeed be one of the people who needs to drastically reduce sugar. Check out the Low Carb group linked above. Below is what worked for me to kill cravings. Obviously ignore the stuff that doesn't apply to you
1. Get sufficient sleep
2. Exercise regularly - when I get the happy hormones from exercise, I'm not prone to seeking them from food.
3. Get sufficient protein in relationship to carbs. I'm not low carb, but reducing carbs and upping protein worked for cravings for me. See also http://www.nutrition.org.uk/healthyliving/fuller/understanding-satiety-feeling-full-after-a-meal.html
4. Eat moderate amounts of fruit. This makes me less interested in higher calorie sweets.
5. Take a magnesium supplement. This can be especially helpful for women premenstrually.
6. Save foods like chocolate for after dinner, in small amounts
7. Stay hydrated
8. Have a calorie deficit that is appropriate for the amount of weight I need to lose. An overly aggressive goal can definitely lead to cravings.
9. Eat at maintenance when my appetite goes up premenstrually.2
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