Calling all sugar addicts!

Slim_strategy

oooh I'm a sugar addict, I always crave cake, chocolate, ice cream, sweet pastries, pretty much anything sweet XD (especially jam - I can't actually buy it because I can't control myself around jam)
but the past couple weeks I've really controlled myself, I wouldn't say I've cut out sugar but what I have done is to replace it with fruit and it's totally working and I feel better knowing that I'm enjoying my sugar from a healthier source and actually crave fruit as much as I would have craved cake (I don't go mad with fruit though 2-3 servings a day is satisfying) - my favourites right now ; pears, bananas + clementines
fruit with low fat natural yoghurt is awesome with a bit of honey for my sweet tooth ^-^ mmmm

JoanneC1216

MJterp just described my deal with simple sugar. When I quit, if I make it thru day 3 with no sugar I am fine until I decide to eat it again. Days 2 and 3 my body screams for it.

I dont expect people who dont have this issue to understand.

http://www.aol.com/article/2014/02/24/doctor-says-sugar-eight-times-more-addictive-than-cocaine/20837016/?icid=maing-grid7|maing8|dl1|sec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D446956

At least you can make it through day 3, it took me two weeks of no sugar (mainly chocolate and ice cream) before the cravings stopped.

I don't know if I agree that it's as addictive as cocaine, It's definitely easier and readily available.

psuLemon

I've got to admit it, I'm a sugar addict!

Has anyone read The Sweet Poison Quit Plan? Did it work? I've got to break out of this cycle! :explode: I know I'm an addict because I can go so many days with nothing and and I quite literally start jonesing for chocolate and I have an almighty binge and then feel gross!
I've read that sugar is as addictive as nicotine! Is there anyone on here that's managed to kick the habit?

Without sugar you'd die, true story

I would imagine you and she are not talking about the same definition of sugar.

No, I'm on about chocolate and cake and biscuits - processed sugar? Refined sugar?

OP, sugar addiction threads tend to get a little bit crazy as these have been discussed ad nauseum. Most of the studies are done on rodents and do not apply (especially since dosage given to rodents is about 80% of their body weight). What many of our discussed end up suggesting is people binge (more disorder vs addiction) or find comfort in hyperpalatable food. It is no secret that many women prefer chocolate or carb rich foods while men carb salty snacks. Essentially, everyone has a comfort food. Also, regardless if the sugar is processed or natural, your body will still process this the same.

Honestly, there are two major approach. One fit it in your calories or two go cold turkey and eliminate it. Personally, I fit foods I love into my calories. If I go over a little, I am ok because this is longer term for me. I found that restricting foods has caused me more issue than it's helped.

psuLemon

You really are being insulting. A simple visit to an OA meeting shows that food addiction and trigger foods are real. The people at the meetings will vouch for these concepts. I have seen it even in thin people I know. My sister who is 130 lbs still has foods that she pigs out on. My cousin who has always been thin will eat a lot of packaged cookies at one sitting. My parents have problems with sweets and potatoes. I have seen my son control nearly every food he eats but give him pizza or sweets and he pigs out. Why is that? Oh, my son is just 6 years old. Why do many kids pig out on sweets but not anything else?

Well everyone has foods they love and enjoy eating. There is nothing wrong with pigging out on a certain type of food on occasion as long as they aren't doing it daily and have enough activity to offset the large amounts of calories. And quite frankly, it's the parents job to ensure the children are eating enough quality foods so its more acceptable to have an occasional splurge. Heck, when I was in high school, I played soccer and ice hockey. I was able to bang out 3 big macs in one setting or an entire large pizza. I didn't gain weight because I was burning a ridiculous amount of calories a day. But when i ate at home, my mother didn't allow soda (only got that while going out to dinner), we ate many lean meats (lots of chicken) and I learned how to eat many low calorie items (yogurts, fruits, veggies, etc..).

For the most part, the way children eat is based on their parents habits. So if the parents never work with their children or take the initiative to stock healthier foods in the house, then it because an issue. But when the parents are proactive at stocking the house with lower calorie options, then children will succeed more often.

My point is, there are many reason why people go to meetings for addiction. Binge disorders can be one of those. Some find comfort in food due to emotional issues. It's getting to the route of why they eat certain foods to determine why they are in the meetings.

My FIL had premature liver failure two yeas ago. He was a two-a-day drinker. One thing he told me, many of those people in meetings were very similar. Some found alcohol as a way to relax and get to sleep. Some used alcohol to give over a drug addiction. Some had relationship issues. What I am trying to state, is many of these people weren't physically addicted to the alcohol but rather had an emotional attachment or used it as a coping mechanism. You can see this, because my FIL could go on a weeks vacations and not have an issue with giving up alcohol.

SunofaBeach14

if people are addicted to sugar then why are they not addicted to fruit? A banana should have the same affect on a sugar addict as a candy bar does...

Agreed. People are confusing physical addictions with binge eating disorder and other problems.

Slacker16

Countdown to the lock.

Thanks to psulemon for that post. A few points to add:

1 - here's the actual medical definition of substance dependance:
http://knowledgex.camh.net/primary_care/toolkits/addiction_toolkit/fundamentals/Pages/faq_dsmiv_criteria.aspx

Food problems can cause 5 of the 7 symptoms described, and only three are enough for a diagnosis, so analogies are apt.

2 - there are also obvious differences, primarily the fact that - even restricting ourselves to fat, salt and sugar - two of the three are necessary for survival and removing sugars from one's diet is perhaps not impossible but certainly inadvisable.

3 - actually, many addicts have very strong preferences for one type or another of their drug. No idea about cocaine since I have very little personal experience with it, but many opiate addicts only really crave one type of opiates and many alcoholics have only one drink they actually like.

Incidentally, I don't consider myself addicted but a baggie will elicit a deep "meh" whereas a jar of oil will result in me doing nothing else until I've burned through it.

4 - aside from the fact that not all the studies were done on rodents, I don't have the background in neuroscience necessary to evaluate to what extent the results can be extended to humans. I doubt any of the other posters do either.

Cliffs for TL, DR :
There's obvious differences between food problems and substance abuse, but there are enough similarities from a physical and psychological point of view that glibly dismissing the idea seems a little short-sighted.

4realrose8

I'm insulin resistant and I definitely have issues with sugar, whatever word you want to use to describe it. If I eat higher fat, moderate protein and lower carb and stay away from the processed sweet stuff, I can avoid going overboard.

Once I let the refined carb stuff in my body, it's extremely difficult for me to maintain control. Like someone else mentioned, I'm liable to eat the entire pan of brownies.

sillyvalentine

I don't know if it's a physical addiction or a mental one. If it's a physical addiction, quitting for a week will clear it right up. If it's a mental one, you need some willpower.

lamps1303

Unlike a heroin addict who would risk using a dirty needle or a cocaine addict who would snort spilled cocaine of a urine infested floor, I truly doubt any sugar addict here would eat any sugar laden product after abstaining from it for however many days, if I sprinkled poo on it. If you could, then maybe you are a sugar "addict".
Physiologically we use glucose for energy, so we're never "abstaining" from it anyway. Psychologically people adhere to habitual behavior until it's changed. Habitually "needing" sugar will keep people wanting it. IMO it's really not an addiction since you really can't moderate addiction.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
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But what if chocolate were illegal and the only chocolate or sweet treat of any kind was your chocolate with poo sprinkles. Are you positive no one would take it?

I think it would depend on the poo and the chocolate....American chocolate I'd probably just eat the poo.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: C'mon now Ghiradelli chocolate from SF is da bomb and US made!

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

This conversation is jokes!! haha. Great reading lol.

On a side note - If you've never had Galaxy chocolate (don't know if they sell it in the US) then you've not tasted amazing chocolatel. I love it...much better than Cadbury's!

jirocpa

YES! I've read the I Quit Sugar book, as well as David Gillespie's 'The sweet poison'.

It's an addiction - read her book, it's a fast read and will probably scare the hell out of you. My wife and I are getting off the stuff. It appears to ruin and affect every appetite control system your body has in place. What's worse is that the fructose in sugar and HFCS is turned straight to fat and doesn't trip your body's 'I'm full' switch, like glucose does. Gillespie's book is a little more technical, and gets into the biological stuff in more detail than Sara's book, but they're both must-reads.

Yes, read the book. Get it from the library, order it on your kindle, whatever. It will open your eyes.

As the book says, it's a harder addiction to break, in part because it's a lot easier to avoid nicotine and cocaine than it is the sugar that is almost universally shoveled into processed foods. Sugar also triggers that feel-good in your brain, much like other addicting substances.

kgeyser

YES! I've read the I Quit Sugar book, as well as David Gillespie's 'The sweet poison'.

It's an addiction - read her book, it's a fast read and will probably scare the hell out of you. My wife and I are getting off the stuff. It appears to ruin and affect every appetite control system your body has in place. What's worse is that the fructose in sugar and HFCS is turned straight to fat and doesn't trip your body's 'I'm full' switch, like glucose does. Gillespie's book is a little more technical, and gets into the biological stuff in more detail than Sara's book, but they're both must-reads.

Yes, read the book. Get it from the library, order it on your kindle, whatever. It will open your eyes.

As the book says, it's a harder addiction to break, in part because it's a lot easier to avoid nicotine and cocaine than it is the sugar that is almost universally shoveled into processed foods. Sugar also triggers that feel-good in your brain, much like other addicting substances.

I don't know where the author came up with that claim, but it is completely and utterly wrong. Fructose is not turned straight into fat. Because science.

lamps1303

Sugar is PALATABLE. This is why people have issues with it. It's not an addiction issue, it's an issue that it tastes good and people just keeping eating it till they get sick of eating it.

Fruit and vegetables contain sugar in them. If sugar was truly an addiction, then why aren't people gobbling down bananas, mangoes, tangerines, grapes, cherries, or even dried fruit all very high in sugar?

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

^THIS

psuLemon

YES! I've read the I Quit Sugar book, as well as David Gillespie's 'The sweet poison'.

It's an addiction - read her book, it's a fast read and will probably scare the hell out of you. My wife and I are getting off the stuff. It appears to ruin and affect every appetite control system your body has in place. What's worse is that the fructose in sugar and HFCS is turned straight to fat and doesn't trip your body's 'I'm full' switch, like glucose does. Gillespie's book is a little more technical, and gets into the biological stuff in more detail than Sara's book, but they're both must-reads.

Yes, read the book. Get it from the library, order it on your kindle, whatever. It will open your eyes.

As the book says, it's a harder addiction to break, in part because it's a lot easier to avoid nicotine and cocaine than it is the sugar that is almost universally shoveled into processed foods. Sugar also triggers that feel-good in your brain, much like other addicting substances.

You really should question the integrity of a book. Many of them cherry pick studies to sell a product. Fructose is converted to glucose by the liver. HFCS is ~ 55% fructose and 45% glucose and follows the same products. Regardless of the macronutrient, the basic laws of thermodynamics apply. I eat 3-5 helps of fruit daily, so if what you said was true, I would be obese. Calories in vs out is the only thing that determines weight loss..

http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/

http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-the-fructose-alarmism-debate/

HFCS - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20471804

QuietBloom

Sugar is PALATABLE. This is why people have issues with it. It's not an addiction issue, it's an issue that it tastes good and people just keeping eating it till they get sick of eating it.

Fruit and vegetables contain sugar in them. If sugar was truly an addiction, then why aren't people gobbling down bananas, mangoes, tangerines, grapes, cherries, or even dried fruit all very high in sugar?

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Yep. What he said.

QuietBloom

YES! I've read the I Quit Sugar book, as well as David Gillespie's 'The sweet poison'.

It's an addiction - read her book, it's a fast read and will probably scare the hell out of you. My wife and I are getting off the stuff. It appears to ruin and affect every appetite control system your body has in place. What's worse is that the fructose in sugar and HFCS is turned straight to fat and doesn't trip your body's 'I'm full' switch, like glucose does. Gillespie's book is a little more technical, and gets into the biological stuff in more detail than Sara's book, but they're both must-reads.

Yes, read the book. Get it from the library, order it on your kindle, whatever. It will open your eyes.

As the book says, it's a harder addiction to break, in part because it's a lot easier to avoid nicotine and cocaine than it is the sugar that is almost universally shoveled into processed foods. Sugar also triggers that feel-good in your brain, much like other addicting substances.

http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/

SkinnyGirlCarrie

I was having the same problem and did the Dr. Oz 3 day cleanse to "break" my habit after the holidays and it did work (at least for a bit! LOL, but even if I haven't been quite a strict since I first did the cleanse I think it overall has still helped and I def have not gone for as much sugary things lately and have found it easier to steer myself towards better choices)

geebusuk

I've read that sugar is as addictive as nicotine! Is there anyone on here that's managed to kick the habit?

I've read that food and health alarmism is as addictive as sugar!

Cheese is a bigger problem than sugar for me.
First off, I find the first week or so that I stop eating it is quite hard - after that I've got into the habit of not eating it.

I do go periods without sugar, but at the moment eat a fair bit - last night had an icecream roll and an economy swiss roll - both 'serves 4' all to myself. However, I'd just finished a 7.8 mile run and had already met my protein target, so having simple carbs makes sense and I'd prefer icecream and cake over some expensive sugary sports drink . (I was still under my calorie goal.)

However, I have just eaten 4 pears in a row. I'm terrible with ripe melon too - can never have just one slice/one half, it's always the whole thing.

Slacker16

One more thing and then I'm out:

Sugar is PALATABLE. This is why people have issues with it. It's not an addiction issue, it's an issue that it tastes good and people just keeping eating it till they get sick of eating it.

Fruit and vegetables contain sugar in them. If sugar was truly an addiction, then why aren't people gobbling down bananas, mangoes, tangerines, grapes, cherries, or even dried fruit all very high in sugar?

This is one of the most quoted posts in this thread. It's also one of the worst posts in this thread.

Tiramisu contains a lot of alcohol but alcoholics don't binge on tiramisu.

A slice of it might set off a craving for alcohol, but it won't result in wolfing down the whole cake. It will result in going to a liquor store and buying alcohol...

LRoslin

I once read Kathleen Des Maison's book, the Sugar Addict's Complete Recovery Diet. She had some very sound ideas, based on her work with recovering alcoholics. She noticed that nearly all of her clients, once they stopped drinking, ate more sugar than they used to. Alcohol turns to sugar in the body, so the sugar in the junk food they were eating was like a crutch for them.

I struggle with sugar cravings, and alcoholism runs in my family, so maybe there is something to this. I am all for moderation, but know that there are times when the sugar is just so tempting. Usually during times of stress, which is probably when most addicts would turn to the booze or drugs, I guess! I am thinking about giving up candy and desserts for Lent---I have done this before with chocolate and caffeine, and found it very helpful for my overall health. Des Maison's book has a very good diet plan and tips for avoiding added sugars.

ETA that that's not to say there isn't an emotional component to sugar cravings--it's not all physical, just like it isn't all physical with alcohol either. At some point the individual learns a substance "helps" with emotional issues and learns to turn to it. That's where the willpower comes in. Even after the DTs are gone, an alcoholic still has the emotional/psychological problems of dependence to deal with.

4realrose8

"Which brings us to sugar. Another fun substance, full of energy, made up of two molecules linked together: glucose (kind of sweet, and not that much fun), and fructose (very sweet, and a whole lot of fun). Glucose is a nutrient, although not essential—it’s so important, that if you don’t eat it, your liver will make it. But what about fructose? Is fructose a nutrient? As it turns out, there’s no biochemical reaction that requires dietary fructose. A rare genetic disease called Hereditary Fructose Intolerance afflicts 1 in 100,000 babies, who drop their blood sugar to almost zero and have a seizure upon their first exposure to juice from a bottle at age six months. Doctors perform a liver biopsy to confirm the diagnosis. From that moment on, they’re fructose-free for the rest of their lives. And they’re among the healthiest people on the planet. Alcohol and fructose both supply energy. They’re fun—but they are not nutrients. Strike two."

Source http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/01/the-sugar-addiction-taboo/282699/

My thoughts: Not everyone who drinks alcohol is an alcoholic. But alcoholics exist.

No everyone who eats sugar is addicted to it. But some people react to sugar, behaviorally and biochemically, in a very similar way as an addict.