Sugar Cravings
NebularNeko
Posts: 20 Member
Any tips on curving sugar cravings or maybe even some help dealing with withdrawal? I am trying to cut a lot of fake sugar out of my diet... And I've been addicted to it for as long as I can remember. I get real irritable if I don't have my chocolate when I crave it. Or sometimes even horrible migranes.
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Have a little bit of chocolate within your calories. Many people on here do that every night.11
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Different things work for different people. What works for me is just cutting highly sweetened foods cold turkey. After about two weeks, the cravings stop, my tastebuds adjust to natural sugars and added sugars don't even taste good. Those two weeks are no picnic, though.
I eat a piece of dark chocolate every day, as well as fruit and Greek yogurt, and coffee with almond milk and cinnamon, to satisfy my sweet cravings.8 -
not sure what you mean by "fake" sugar but as others have said - either build a little into your diet or buckle up and have plenty of water.
I will eat added sugar and have done the whole way of loosing weight just less of it and less often However I cut all added sugar from my diet for 3 months to kickstart me into weightloss and change my mindset. What helped me was every time I felt a "craving" was to drink water.6 -
Many people get sugar cravings just before a migraine hits so that might be your migraine problem.
As to reducing sugar, you've got to find what works for you. I prefer to have a small amount when I want it because denying myself too much makes me binge later. Sometimes, if it doesn't fit my calories for the day, I remind myself that it's not a forbidden food and I can have it anytime just not this precise moment. I've also been swapping lower calorie sweet things that I like for higher calorie sweet things that I'm more likely to over eat. I only keep the lower calorie ones in the house and if I really want the higher calorie ones (like chocolate) I can have them, but I have to go out to get them and I only buy a single serving. I've found my consumption of sweet things has gradually gone down over time.2 -
Depends on the type of person you are. Do you work well with abstaining or incorporating smaller portions into your diet. For me, I cannot cut foods out of my diet that I love... it drives me to binge. So I save 10 to 15% of my calories for treats. And then I focus on protein and fiber. Also, I eat a lot of fruit.7
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Did you try fruit for sugar cravings? I eat apples or pears when I crave for sweets, and try to stay away from all processed foods2
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Organics fudge bar is my treat every night before seven o'clock. Following your diet by being 80% compliant/20% other,is the ratio that my dietitian suggested. Works for me. Real food not processed.0
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YepItsKriss wrote: »whats an "other" tho? lol.. thats kinda vague
Not really, it means try to stick to your eating plan 80% of the time and allow yourself 20% (such as holidays, special events, vacations) to eat a little more or eat foods you wouldn't normally include in your diet.4 -
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I've been completely off refined sugar and wheat *including all sugar/wheat-containing products* since June. They tend to feed each other addiction-wise. I never thought I'd be able to manage such a thing.
Sugar addiction is tough and withdrawals can be similar to drug withdrawals. It takes anywhere between 2-5 weeks to break the addiction cycle. Try completely cutting all refined sugar and sugar substitutes for one month. Subs will trick your body into wanting more. Natural fruit is fine in moderation.
After the month, you'll still have occasional cravings. But they'll be tolerable. Good luck!18 -
For me, making it a point to eat 2-3 servings of fruit daily helped me reduce cravings for higher calorie, less nutrient dense sweets. As a bonus, over time the varied and more subtle/complex flavors of fruit made a lot of the oversweet, commercial so-called "treats" taste simplistic, blah and boring - totally not worth eating. YMMV.2
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For me, making it a point to eat 2-3 servings of fruit daily helped me reduce cravings for higher calorie, less nutrient dense sweets. As a bonus, over time the varied and more subtle/complex flavors of fruit made a lot of the oversweet, commercial so-called "treats" taste simplistic, blah and boring - totally not worth eating. YMMV.
Sadly im the exact opposite lol when i eat fruit i do it early in the day just before errands because it gives me 1-1.5 hours of energy and then im starving and its for more sweets. I have to follow my fruit up with a high protein meal an hour or so later and even then if its just a touch to late in the day i find i want more and more sweet uncontrollably at night. Its heart breaking i love fruit smoothie cups and nicecream lol.
Iv taken up an obsession with peanutbutter i make from peanut flour its sweet but more high protein and low sugar gives me the sweetness without the insatiable night hunger. Not sure what im going to do if i get tired of peanutbutter (is that possible?)0 -
side note...recently just rediscovered pineapple. Holy hell how did i let that slip through my mind for so long. With the weather getting cold the pineapple blended into a smoothie cup with frozen berries is delightful. It hurts my mouth though cant eat it nearly as much as id like xD1 -
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YepItsKriss wrote: »im glad you mentioned the pineapple cause the liquid reminds me of boogies
hahaah it thickens really quick like a slushie xD So tropical and yummy. stupid mouth burning acid1 -
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cutting sugars out cold turkey has helped me in the past... you'll feel like poop for a while but the body adjusts. some natural fruit and true dark chocolate are good.2
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i have chocolate every day just about
if you want a sweet fix but not totally empty calories, have some fruit. grapes are one of my favorites for sweet semi mindless snacking.
but i still have chocolate every day LLOLOLOL0 -
I’m getting mixed messages in your post so I hope you will break this down for me.
- Are you craving sweet things?
- Are you eating a varied diet otherwise (protein, fruits and vegetables)?
- Are you trying to cut regular sugar from your diet as well as artificial sweeteners?
Chocolate has a few things going for it that makes it so appealing. Besides sugar it has fat, caffeine, antioxidants and tryptophan.
Caffeine withdrawal which is in colas, coffee, and chocolate can also trigger a headache.
Fat is highly appealing and satiating. Are you trying to avoid fat too?2 -
I'm going to quit sugar cold turkey. I can't eat it in small amounts. Hopefully this should help me as I've done it before.3
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YepItsKriss wrote: »
It did work last time. How do you know it didn't work? I'm sorry your comment is confusing???3 -
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YepItsKriss wrote: »I'm going to quit sugar cold turkey. I can't eat it in small amounts.
You said you are going to do this
Hopefully this should help me as I've done it before.
You said you did it before. However, If you have already done it once, if it actually worked, you wouldn't be needing to do it now.
I quit cold turkey last year when I lost a lot of weight (a lot of which I regained because I ate junk food). I notice that I can't stick to my calories and eat sugar within reason. It makes my cravings worse. It did work before and the reason that I started eating sugar again was because I just did as it was summer and I like to enjoy foods with my family. I chose to eat sugar and hence I haven't managed to control my cravings. I also find it hard to stay under my calories. Problem? I guess you can't seem to realise that we are all made differently and I'm only saying what works for me.3 -
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YepItsKriss wrote: »Well actually, looking at it from an outside perspective you are actually creating your problem.
You quit sugar but have off times. Holidays.. and now the summer. So essentially when you stop eating something for a long period of time and then bring it back in, generally it creates a lack of control because you were simply avoiding it for a while, you didn't learn anything to help you stop eating it in excess. Its like putting a bandaid on a gunshot wound. If you are not going to do anything but avoid a problem, its not going to go away, you need to teach yourself new behaviors.
Or maybe people recognize that its a lot easier to remove certain things while dieting and then incorporate it back in as they transition to maintenance. Hell, i do it with several items. And i managed to lose and keep off the weight for 5 years. Only really now am i trying to cut further, so i cut that same items.6 -
YepItsKriss wrote: »
It did work last time. How do you know it didn't work? I'm sorry your comment is confusing???
Didn't work 'cause you're here looking to do it again
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