Need serious help with SUGAR!!!!

perseverance14

"Well honestly the best thing you can do is understand it's not an addiction. There's no physical need there, the way there is with nicotine or even alcohol. "

But I have known alcoholics who when they quit drinking ate sugar instead. I had a freind who went to AA years ago and she wasn't over it until she stopped drinking AND substituting it with sugar.

I read posts that say it is an addiction, posts that say it is not. Having battled with it too, from my perspective it can be a habit or an addiction. Having ice cream every night after dinner can be a habit, eating a piece of chocolate and not stopping till 10 or more later is more like an addiction (those are both examples from my past life) and because of what I have seen with more than one alcoholic I have known, I wonder if sugar plays into some of the same "sensors" that alcohol does?

Just a thought.

jonnythan

<snip> Here I know, you take some photos of how my brain lights up when you put some cookies in front of me and lets see what the brain of a heroin addict looks like in the same scenario lol.

You are confused between the differences in addiction and what is considered normal brain activity. Everyone's brain "lights up" (lol) when they experience pleasure. You have made it clear that you have never been addicted to heroin. (or anything else) If you had ever suffered an addiction, then you would never compare it binge-eating disorder, etc.

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S22/88/56G31/index.xml?section=topstories

QFT. Unless you’ve spent weeks in bed, sick from withdrawals from going cold turkey from a substance that actually causes physical symptoms when you stop consuming it, please DO NOT compare sugar with drugs. It's insulting to those of us that have overcome such addictions. Thx.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12055324

Repeated, excessive intake of sugar created a state in which an opioid antagonist caused behavioral and neurochemical signs of opioid withdrawal. The indices of anxiety and DA/ACh imbalance were qualitatively similar to withdrawal from morphine or nicotine, suggesting that the rats had become sugar-dependent.

Did you look at the methods? The rats were starved, then given an enormous amount of sugar, then injected with a drug used to fight opioid withdrawal.

runway22

great tips, thanks!!

tracywintn

There are 6 pages to this thread and I didn't read anything but the OP-so forgive me if this is already in there. I am also a major sugar fiend and have to just stay away from it (a little is never enough-it's a snowball effect for me). I have found the sugar free jello (5-10 cals depending on which flavor you get) satisfy my sugar cravings and don't do any damage to my daily calorie limit. Good luck!

parkscs

The problem is that people can use it as an excuse.

"I have an addiction."
"I was diagnosed with obesity."

It takes away personal responsibility.

Perhaps that's where we see things differently. I don't view someone saying "I have an addiction" as diminishing their personal responsibility whatsoever.

jonnythan

The problem is that people can use it as an excuse.

"I have an addiction."
"I was diagnosed with obesity."

It takes away personal responsibility.

Perhaps that's where we see things differently. I don't view someone saying "I have an addiction" as diminishing their personal responsibility whatsoever.

Well frankly you don't seem to have a good handle on addiction or psychology in general, so your opinion of the implications of whether it's an addiction don't mean much. You even said something about people being "stupid enough to get addicted to drugs." That was painful to read, dude.

bcattoes

Show me someone that goes through withdrawal symptoms similar to drug or alcohol addicts and watch them be "detoxed" and then MAYBE i will consider food addiction a real thing.

Why would the symptoms have to similar or as severe? Giving up smoking does not have similar symptoms to a heroin addict giving up heroin, yet few would argue that both were addictions.

Few would argue? Anyone "in the know" would agree that nicotine addiction is more severe than heroin addiction. Nicotine is the most difficult drug to quit. In fact, NIDA used to have a chart on this...

That was more or less my point. They are both addictive, but the reactions are not similar.

I don't really have an opinion on whether one can be addicted to sugar other than I doubt there is sufficient research for anyone to say deifinitively one way or the other.

parkscs

Just being honest. I have yet to meet someone who was physically forced into smoking cigarettes or sticking a needle in their arm for the first few times. If you're stupid enough to go that route, knowing what we know about those substances, then I have little sympathy for the recovery process not being fun. If you mess up and get addicted, fine, but own your mistakes and deal with it. Whether you call it an addiction, a habit, a compulsion or whatever other term you want to use, the answer is the same: if you want to get past it, you need to suck it up and deal with it.

As for not grasping psychology, I think it's more that my opinion on modern psychology starting to show itself, but no need to derail the thread any more than it already is.

Gemmz2014

I see. Well there goes that idea!

I don't know if my problem is an addiction but I can tell you, I have been addicted to certain things in my life and I know for a fact that if one of them was in front of me now, I would really have the urge to do it.

Do I have the urge to eat sugar? Yes, in certain situations though. Work.. always. Home... not so much.

You're confusing addiction/dependence with desire for something pleasurable and an absence of self control.

And, for those who have actually had a real dependence/addiction or dealt with those who have done so, yes, it is wholly insulting.

But, please, feel free to point out what other bad habits you have the removal of which would cause physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms severe enough that psychiatric medications need to be administered to prevent death during detox from it.

Don't get me wrong, I am actually questioning myself if sugar is addicting.

I have never had to take psychiatric meds to quit an addiction. I did cocaine for 9 months straight. Just stopped. This was 30 years ago. I also quit smoking cold turkey. I never ever crave a cigarette. yuk!!

msf74

and walk happily away either. I have to eat it until they are done.

So you basically binge on it. This might sound weird...but that's a great thing. Why? Because unless it's progressed into a full blown disorder (which it seems is not the case) there are some readily accessible techniques which you can use to keep it in check (using your pre frontal cortex - your conscious brain - to control the unconscious habits ingrained in your more primitive mid brain.)

I would suggest checking out books by Kathryn Hansen, Gillian Riley or Josie Spinardi for techniques you can use to get this under control once and for all.

oc1timoco

I had two fundamental rules.
1) If it don't move, eat it.
2) If it does move, eat it until it stops.
There were days the stuff I ate tasted like a crap sandwich but I didn't care, I just ate it . I don't think there was a day in my life when I was hungry. Sure I was ready to sit down and eat but I'm talking about hungry, like a starving dog hungry. The things that I ate and how often I ate had nothing to do with hunger or the nutritional value of my food. Eating was a symptom. No matter how many times I went into battle against the symptom, the real problem was just over the horizon. I was in denial over what my problem was and it was not pleasant to " fix" that problem.
I still have problems but my arms are not swinging like a windmill in a hurricane to get food in my mouth. Fix problems not symptoms

Gemmz2014

If you're stupid enough to go that route, knowing what we know about those substances, then I have little sympathy for the recovery process not being fun. If you mess up and get addicted, fine, but own your mistakes and deal with it. Whether you call it an addiction, a habit, a compulsion or whatever other term you want to use, the answer is the same: if you want to get past it, you need to suck it up and deal with it.

God, I hope you don't ever meet anyone that is "stupid enough" to try an addicting drug.

parkscs

If you're stupid enough to go that route, knowing what we know about those substances, then I have little sympathy for the recovery process not being fun. If you mess up and get addicted, fine, but own your mistakes and deal with it. Whether you call it an addiction, a habit, a compulsion or whatever other term you want to use, the answer is the same: if you want to get past it, you need to suck it up and deal with it.

God, I hope you don't ever meet anyone that is "stupid enough" to try an addicting drug.

Why, do a lot of recovering addicts consider their decision to begin using drugs a smart move? Give me a break. We've all done stupid things that we knew were unwise, and yet we did them anyways. At least for me, I look back on those decisions and say wow, wasn't that stupid.

Gemmz2014

and walk happily away either. I have to eat it until they are done.

So you basically binge on it. This might sound weird...but that's a great thing. Why? Because unless it's progressed into a full blown disorder (which it seems is not the case) there are some readily accessible techniques which you can use to keep it in check (using your pre frontal cortex - your conscious brain - to control the unconscious habits ingrained in your more primitive mid brain.)

I would suggest checking out books by Kathryn Hansen, Gillian Riley or Josie Spinardi for techniques you can use to get this under control once and for all.

Great! Thank you!

Gemmz2014

If you're stupid enough to go that route, knowing what we know about those substances, then I have little sympathy for the recovery process not being fun. If you mess up and get addicted, fine, but own your mistakes and deal with it. Whether you call it an addiction, a habit, a compulsion or whatever other term you want to use, the answer is the same: if you want to get past it, you need to suck it up and deal with it.

God, I hope you don't ever meet anyone that is "stupid enough" to try an addicting drug.

Why, do a lot of recovering addicts consider their decision to begin using drugs a smart move? Give me a break. We've all done stupid things that we knew were unwise, and yet we did them anyways. At least for me, I look back on those decisions and say wow, wasn't that stupid.

You hit a nerve. Most kids try drugs. Who's to say who will become addicted? I don't think a teenager/young adult is stupid for trying drugs. It's not a smart decision, no, but you don't know why they tried it in the first place.

Gemmz2014

I had two fundamental rules.
1) If it don't move, eat it.
2) If it does move, eat it until it stops.
There were days the stuff I ate tasted like a crap sandwich but I didn't care, I just ate it . I don't think there was a day in my life when I was hungry. Sure I was ready to sit down and eat but I'm talking about hungry, like a starving dog hungry. The things that I ate and how often I ate had nothing to do with hunger or the nutritional value of my food. Eating was a symptom. No matter how many times I went into battle against the symptom, the real problem was just over the horizon. I was in denial over what my problem was and it was not pleasant to " fix" that problem.
I still have problems but my arms are not swinging like a windmill in a hurricane to get food in my mouth. Fix problems not symptoms

Very very interesting!! Thank you for sharing. :-)

WendyTerry420

I see. Well there goes that idea!

I don't know if my problem is an addiction but I can tell you, I have been addicted to certain things in my life and I know for a fact that if one of them was in front of me now, I would really have the urge to do it.

Do I have the urge to eat sugar? Yes, in certain situations though. Work.. always. Home... not so much.

You're confusing addiction/dependence with desire for something pleasurable and an absence of self control.

And, for those who have actually had a real dependence/addiction or dealt with those who have done so, yes, it is wholly insulting.

But, please, feel free to point out what other bad habits you have the removal of which would cause physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms severe enough that psychiatric medications need to be administered to prevent death during detox from it.

Exactly. I used to have a problem eating too much sugar, but I overcame it by getting my head on straight and willfully changing my behavior. Now I *can* eat sugar in moderate amounts without eating it all up until gone. I changed my habits.

What made the difference? Knowledge and will power. Those two don't matter a hill of beans though if undergoing a detox and suffering withdrawal syndrome.

kballard66

I still eat things with sugar. Everything in moderation!

KristinaB83

Chocolate protein shakes curb my sweet cravings pretty well.

AllyBooMommyof2

LMAO..... Damnit! My *kitten* is still there! I laughed so hard too!! It must have been that serving (you know the whole the whole thing of oreos !) Life is too short, laugh a little.