Sugar Addiction
MrsK912
Posts: 9 Member
I need help. I am what most people consider a very healthy person. I workout 6 times a week (Insanity) and I am training for a marathon. I don't drink anything but water and the occasional beer or glass of wine. My BMI is about 21-22 which is in healthy range. My problem: I am completely and totally addicted to sweets. I cannot turn them down. I am not talking about a small candy bar once a day. Since Monday, I've eaten six very large greasy cookies, two dense brownies, apple pie, and three servings of ice cream. I see the treats (work, mostly - ice cream is all I have at home as far as sweets) and I have to have one. I eat it, love the way it tastes, and have another. This is not an issue of me being hungry so I eat what's available. This is a sugar craving/addiction. Has anyone gone through this? Otherwise I am a very healthy person and I fear that these sweets are ruining my Insanity results. I complain to my husband about my stomach fat and I'm sure it's continually getting worse because of these sweet treats. Any advice to wean myself from this?
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I"m a total sugar addict as well. I can never stop at one, I always have to have more
I found what worked was to simplmy get all refined sweets out of the house, and ice cream is to never be in the freezer! If we do have lollies or chocolate, I chuck it in the 'junk food box' for everyone else in the family to eat.
I also switched to dark chocolate-that really helped as well.0 -
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I have an answer but you're not going to like it.
Cold turkey. Like any addict, you need to say no to your trigger. Get rid of all added sugar. For the first 4-5 days you'll feel like you have a mild case of the flu, with a rip roaring headache. Then something magic happens -- you'll feel so much better, your cravings will stop and you'll be so proud of yourself.
I know because I'm a sugar addict and while I've done cold turkey several times, I go back to my drug again and again. And I hate it.
If forever sounds like too much of a commitment, commit to 30 days. When you start to crave sugar, have some mint tea or go for a walk. Good luck!0 -
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Are you logging it? Does it fit in your daily...or weekly calories and macros? Can you just say no, or do you need rehab? Are you spending rent money or car payment money on your next fix? Or is your major problem that sweet things taste good and you like eating them?0
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I have some advice! I love sugar too. I get my sweet fixes from cocoa dusted almonds (emerald makes them and you can even get them in 100 calorie packs.0 they're dry roasted and not fried and taste like chocolate without being covered in chocolate! its wonderful.
another thing i've discovered to help me were vitamuffins! you can find them in the frozen food section. They're 100 calories, and packed with vitamins. I have them when I am craving chocolate cake (I get the chocolate ones!)
I also recently discovered air popping pop corn in the microwave. I do it plain and just add a small amount of dark chocolate chips and shake it up. Tastes so good.
just little fixes to help with the sweet tooth! hot chocolate helps (you can make your own healthier hot chocolate with cocoa and stevia..)0 -
Lol, no, I am not wasting my rent money to get a hold of sugar0
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I have an answer but you're not going to like it.
Cold turkey. Like any addict, you need to say no to your trigger. Get rid of all added sugar. For the first 4-5 days you'll feel like you have a mild case of the flu, with a rip roaring headache. Then something magic happens -- you'll feel so much better, your cravings will stop and you'll be so proud of yourself.
I know because I'm a sugar addict and while I've done cold turkey several times, I go back to my drug again and again. And I hate it.
If forever sounds like too much of a commitment, commit to 30 days. When you start to crave sugar, have some mint tea or go for a walk. Good luck!
This helped me as well! When you cut back added sugars you'll also notice a lot more when you do eat a bunch of sweets. You won't feel very great and it promotes staying away from junk even moreso.0 -
I have an answer but you're not going to like it.
Cold turkey. Like any addict, you need to say no to your trigger. Get rid of all added sugar. For the first 4-5 days you'll feel like you have a mild case of the flu, with a rip roaring headache. Then something magic happens -- you'll feel so much better, your cravings will stop and you'll be so proud of yourself.
I know because I'm a sugar addict and while I've done cold turkey several times, I go back to my drug again and again. And I hate it.
If forever sounds like too much of a commitment, commit to 30 days. When you start to crave sugar, have some mint tea or go for a walk. Good luck!
This helped me as well! When you cut back added sugars you'll also notice a lot more when you do eat a bunch of sweets. You won't feel very great and it promotes staying away from junk even moreso.
I just went cold turkey as well. I also cut out processed carbs, because your body treats them like sugar, which can trigger sugar cravings.0 -
If you're hitting your calorie and macro goals, don't worry so much about it. I like ice cream. In fact, I've eaten 4 pints of ice cream in the last 6 days. Unless I start gaining weight, I don't see it as an issue. I still hit my macros. Just work your treats into your plan. If you truly can't fit them in, then you may have to work on eliminating them. Otherwise, humans have been eating sugary sweets for hundreds, if not thousands of years. There's nothing wrong with it.0
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I have some advice! I love sugar too. I get my sweet fixes from cocoa dusted almonds (emerald makes them and you can even get them in 100 calorie packs.0 they're dry roasted and not fried and taste like chocolate without being covered in chocolate! its wonderful.
another thing i've discovered to help me were vitamuffins! you can find them in the frozen food section. They're 100 calories, and packed with vitamins. I have them when I am craving chocolate cake (I get the chocolate ones!)
I also recently discovered air popping pop corn in the microwave. I do it plain and just add a small amount of dark chocolate chips and shake it up. Tastes so good.
just little fixes to help with the sweet tooth! hot chocolate helps (you can make your own healthier hot chocolate with cocoa and stevia..)
All of her suggestions are awesome and usually do the trick for me too. I would keep the snacks mentioned above, especially the Emerald almonds (which also come in a cinnamon/hint of brown sugar dusting), at your desk so that you substitute those whenever you are tempted.
There are also Quest Bars, which are essentially clean protein bars made of fruit, whey and nuts, that help fulfill my sweet cravings. My two faves are cookie dough and apple pie..SO GOOD!0 -
I have an answer but you're not going to like it.
Cold turkey. Like any addict, you need to say no to your trigger. Get rid of all added sugar. For the first 4-5 days you'll feel like you have a mild case of the flu, with a rip roaring headache. Then something magic happens -- you'll feel so much better, your cravings will stop and you'll be so proud of yourself.
I know because I'm a sugar addict and while I've done cold turkey several times, I go back to my drug again and again. And I hate it.
If forever sounds like too much of a commitment, commit to 30 days. When you start to crave sugar, have some mint tea or go for a walk. Good luck!
Unfortunately, this. I'm in the same boat... luckily after my first time cold turkey, when I did relapse it wan't as badly. And I'm no longer addicted to chocolate (still love it but I can say no/not have it now). I try not to have too many sweets but what can I say? I'm a sweet lil' gal. Gotta get my fix to fuel it.
No, that's no excuse, lol.
Another thing I've done is to start using Stevia in the places where I would normally have used sugar (though I'm hearing now that Stevia isn't as great for you as once thought? Not sure of the details but I'll finish off my bottle before finding the next thing).0 -
Lifelong sugar freak here. I would eat just about any candy or chocolate I could get my hands on for years, going back to early childhood. Unfortunately sugar can create some pretty nasty cravings and I found that it usually ended up being the saboteur of many diet attempts. In fact, when I first joined MFP last November and started logging, I kept falling back into the same old habits of sweet-eating after meals and wine/beer 2-3 nights a week.
Very soon after I started taking a Magnesium supplement in January, I realized my cravings for sugar (and, incidentally, alcohol) dropped dramatically. I was curious and did some research and found that there is some science that shows a relationship between Magnesium deficiency and cravings.
Mg has lots of great health benefits (and is regarded as safe for most people) besides this. It's a natural calming agent for all your organs, so it helps with sleep, cramps, blood pressure, nerves, constipation...the list goes on and on. I have personally seen all these benefits, and more. I honestly think if I had not started taking Mg I wouldn't have been able to accomplish the changes to my diet that I have (and have never even come close to doing in the past). I still drink alcohol but no longer crave it for stress, and I also have less stress to boot! I eat foods with sugar but I no longer crave candy and sweets the way I used to.
Sure, going cold turkey and kicking sugar to the curb are great in theory, but it is so much easier to make a change if you have science on your side.
I don't sell anything and receive no benefit from this, other than hopefully helping someone discover a really useful mineral that not a lot of people know about. I can only speak to the product I use (which I chose based on online ratings). It's called Natural Calm and can be found on amazon or at your local health food/vitamin store. It is simply powdered Mg Citrate that you dissolve in water and consume before bedtime. There are no other ingredients in the product (except the flavored versions) and like I said it's very safe to take at the recommended dose. The benefit to this format is that it's quickly absorbed by the body and provides immediate benefit. It doesn't make you sleepy or foggy, but instead helps your mind relax so that you're not laying awake with racing thoughts that keep you from sleeping.
I'm happy to share more about my experience if anyone is interested, but just wanted to share an alternative in case you may have some of the other issues I mentioned above in addition to the cravings0 -
I need help. I am what most people consider a very healthy person. I workout 6 times a week (Insanity) and I am training for a marathon. I don't drink anything but water and the occasional beer or glass of wine. My BMI is about 21-22 which is in healthy range. My problem: I am completely and totally addicted to sweets. I cannot turn them down. I am not talking about a small candy bar once a day. Since Monday, I've eaten six very large greasy cookies, two dense brownies, apple pie, and three servings of ice cream. I see the treats (work, mostly - ice cream is all I have at home as far as sweets) and I have to have one. I eat it, love the way it tastes, and have another. This is not an issue of me being hungry so I eat what's available. This is a sugar craving/addiction. Has anyone gone through this? Otherwise I am a very healthy person and I fear that these sweets are ruining my Insanity results. I complain to my husband about my stomach fat and I'm sure it's continually getting worse because of these sweet treats. Any advice to wean myself from this?
You are not alone!! I too am a sugar addict . Im not sure that there is any real substitute unless you like fruits and dark chocolate, perhaps angel food cake and frozen yogurt. I dont know :ohwell:0 -
I have an answer but you're not going to like it.
Cold turkey. Like any addict, you need to say no to your trigger. Get rid of all added sugar. For the first 4-5 days you'll feel like you have a mild case of the flu, with a rip roaring headache. Then something magic happens -- you'll feel so much better, your cravings will stop and you'll be so proud of yourself.
I know because I'm a sugar addict and while I've done cold turkey several times, I go back to my drug again and again. And I hate it.
If forever sounds like too much of a commitment, commit to 30 days. When you start to crave sugar, have some mint tea or go for a walk. Good luck!0 -
I love sugar too. I would just say to try hard and not have any in the first place, since you can't just have one. Ice cream in your home- throw it away! Stay away from the treats at work, breakrooms! Abs are made in the kitchen, if you want a flat tummy it's totally ALL about what you eat! Perhaps that can motivate you.0
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I am a sugar addict too. Ciao Bella Greek Froyo! It's low in calories, 0 fat and has calcium and protein!0
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Unfortunately, sweets (especially chocolate) can stimulate the same response in the brain as heroin in some people. I am one of those people I had to completely remove any form of refined sugar from my diet. I make treats at home using honey and maple syrup instead of sugar. I have learned that I cannot have it in my home. An amazing thing happened once I was rid of sugar. I didn't need it anymore! I am free! I can now enjoy an occasional treat when I am out without triggering the need for more! It took about 4 months of being completely sugar free before I even attempted to try to have any when out. I feel way better and the treats actually taste WAY better when they really are a treat and not an everyday thing.0
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