Runner with a serious sugar addiction
Replies
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Chocolate cheerios as a dry snack? Take you longer to eat than jamming it with a spoon and milk (more sensory satisfaction) and the multi-grain dark chocolate crunch cheerios are pretty darned good. For the record, I don't eat cereal often but we got a sample of this so I popped a few.
1 serving:
90 calories
1.5 g total fat (.5 saturated)
110 mg sodium
75 mg potassium
total carbs 20 grams (2 g fiber, 8 g sugar)
2 g protein
My husband assumed these were terrible but they are actually0 -
bump .... in to see what people have to say (without fighting) .0
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Afternoon all,
This is my first post on here, after a while of feeling pretty horrible about myself I wanted to share my thoughts and to hopefully receive some words of wisdom! I'm in a bit of a strange situation and would really love to know if any of you have shared this kind of experience.
I've always thought of myself as "big", even when I weighed less than I do now, partly because of my height (I'm 5"11). In 2010 I managed to lose 2 1/2 stone through Weightwatchers but now, despite doing way more exercise than I was back then, my weight has crept back up again. I'm currently 13 stone 8 lbs.
I started running in 2011 and have signed up for my first marathon at the end of this year (a terrifying prospect), however I definitely don't have the typical runner's physique! My issue is that I'm addicted to sugar, big time. Obviously so much so that it's undoing all the good I'm doing by exercising. Chocolate is my biggest weakness and despite managing to go cold turkey a few times I always end up having a massive binge then going back to my old habits. I really feel like it's controlling me and the mid-afternoon cravings are unbearable, I usually end up giving into them rather than saying no. Ideally I'd like to get to a point where I can enjoy the occasional sweet treat (the thought of cutting out sweets for the rest of my life feels quite sad!) without feeling like life has to revolve around my next sugar fix.
Is anyone else going through something similar? Any advice on how to get out of this rut would be much appreciated :-)
Louise
Only way is a zero carb sugar detox
Yad!
Sugar cravings can be a very real thing and very habitual and hard to break.
My advice will be try cutting most of the junk food, especially the ones that trigger the cravings.
Understand that its unlikely you have a physical need for the sugar based junk food and more likely a psychological draw (but that's fine it means you can work on that area of equation).
Try cutting it for about a month (it will be tough) but after a month when you feel the cravings are gone or drastically reduced, try re-introducing them in moderation.
You may feel like many that when you are at the point of re-introducing them you actually realise there is sometimes no point based on the nutritional return you get for the calories.
Good luck with however you do it.
riiiiiiiiiiight so you guys are advising her to do "zero sugar detoxes" and similar without actually checking how much she's eating to begin with?........... no, that's not remotely dangerous advice at all <--- sarcasm
I'm sure psychological addiction to sugary food is real for some people.........but most sugar cravings are a normal physiological response to eating too little, and doing a "zero sugar detox" will make that problem worse, not better.
The first question in this situation should be "how much are you eating?" and if the answer is a number that's not sufficient for training for and running marathons, the answer should be to "eat a lot more"
suggest sugar addiction (which probably does exist as a psychological addiction seeing as you can be psychologically addicted to pretty much anything) only after you're sure they're actually eating enough and that the cravings are not the result of undereating......0 -
Not going to disagree on Behavior Addiction (gambling is a good example). I just wanted to put out there that sugar as a substance isn't an addiction and that people shouldn't think that it is. That's all.
I think something that is tripping us all up in this particular facet of the discussion is that for people who tend to binge on sugary treats (and when I say "sugary treats" I'm talking about foods w/a sugar/fat combo such as cookies, chocolate bars, or ice cream), it matters little whether or not it is behavior-driven, substance-driven, both, or neither. The scientists may be overly concerned with these details (as they should be), but the people practicing compulsive behavior could give two hoots about the minute discrepancies and semantics. This insight is important when doling out advice to them.
And it's also very frequently overlooked that cravings for food can have a purely physiological basis as a normal, healthy response to eating too little.
You can't diagnose someone with a psychological problem unless you've ruled out possible physiological causes for the behaviour in question. Arguing about whether on not psychological addiction to sugar exists is entirely missing the point if the cravings in question are actually caused by undereating.
While I agree with you in theory (and thank you for pointing this out, I'm totally going to add this to what I've been saying), the OP in this particular case said, "Chocolate is my biggest weakness and despite managing to go cold turkey a few times I always end up having a massive binge then going back to my old habits." The words, "old habits", to me, indicates this person has been dealing with this issue a long, long time. They also indicated they've always been "big"....so it seems to me that the odds are strong they haven't been "undereating" all these years.
As a compulsive overeater I tend to recognize "signs" in posters on these threads. I always reach out to them in PM's. I've not had a single one tell me I was wrong. I'm not saying I'm perfect or anything. I'm just saying....it's not all in our heads - this stuff is very real.
That being said, I'm glad you said this because it'd be a good first step to first clarify with these folks whether or not this is a problem that just cropped up when they started dieting, or if it's been more of a life-long issue. This would help hone in on the real problem. Thank you, sincerely, for the clarification.0 -
Afternoon all,
This is my first post on here, after a while of feeling pretty horrible about myself I wanted to share my thoughts and to hopefully receive some words of wisdom! I'm in a bit of a strange situation and would really love to know if any of you have shared this kind of experience.
I've always thought of myself as "big", even when I weighed less than I do now, partly because of my height (I'm 5"11). In 2010 I managed to lose 2 1/2 stone through Weightwatchers but now, despite doing way more exercise than I was back then, my weight has crept back up again. I'm currently 13 stone 8 lbs.
I started running in 2011 and have signed up for my first marathon at the end of this year (a terrifying prospect), however I definitely don't have the typical runner's physique! My issue is that I'm addicted to sugar, big time. Obviously so much so that it's undoing all the good I'm doing by exercising. Chocolate is my biggest weakness and despite managing to go cold turkey a few times I always end up having a massive binge then going back to my old habits. I really feel like it's controlling me and the mid-afternoon cravings are unbearable, I usually end up giving into them rather than saying no. Ideally I'd like to get to a point where I can enjoy the occasional sweet treat (the thought of cutting out sweets for the rest of my life feels quite sad!) without feeling like life has to revolve around my next sugar fix.
Is anyone else going through something similar? Any advice on how to get out of this rut would be much appreciated :-)
Louise
Only way is a zero carb sugar detox
Yad!
Sugar cravings can be a very real thing and very habitual and hard to break.
My advice will be try cutting most of the junk food, especially the ones that trigger the cravings.
Understand that its unlikely you have a physical need for the sugar based junk food and more likely a psychological draw (but that's fine it means you can work on that area of equation).
Try cutting it for about a month (it will be tough) but after a month when you feel the cravings are gone or drastically reduced, try re-introducing them in moderation.
You may feel like many that when you are at the point of re-introducing them you actually realise there is sometimes no point based on the nutritional return you get for the calories.
Good luck with however you do it.
riiiiiiiiiiight so you guys are advising her to do "zero sugar detoxes" and similar without actually checking how much she's eating to begin with?........... no, that's not remotely dangerous advice at all <--- sarcasm
I'm sure psychological addiction to sugary food is real for some people.........but most sugar cravings are a normal physiological response to eating too little, and doing a "zero sugar detox" will make that problem worse, not better.
The first question in this situation should be "how much are you eating?" and if the answer is a number that's not sufficient for training for and running marathons, the answer should be to "eat a lot more"
suggest sugar addiction (which probably does exist as a psychological addiction seeing as you can be psychologically addicted to pretty much anything) only after you're sure they're actually eating enough and that the cravings are not the result of undereating......
Check my response where have I said zero sugar detox (only an idiot would make that statement).
I'm not even talking all sugar, get your specs on read it properly and see that it says cutting MOST JUNK FOOD.0 -
Afternoon all,
This is my first post on here, after a while of feeling pretty horrible about myself I wanted to share my thoughts and to hopefully receive some words of wisdom! I'm in a bit of a strange situation and would really love to know if any of you have shared this kind of experience.
I've always thought of myself as "big", even when I weighed less than I do now, partly because of my height (I'm 5"11). In 2010 I managed to lose 2 1/2 stone through Weightwatchers but now, despite doing way more exercise than I was back then, my weight has crept back up again. I'm currently 13 stone 8 lbs.
I started running in 2011 and have signed up for my first marathon at the end of this year (a terrifying prospect), however I definitely don't have the typical runner's physique! My issue is that I'm addicted to sugar, big time. Obviously so much so that it's undoing all the good I'm doing by exercising. Chocolate is my biggest weakness and despite managing to go cold turkey a few times I always end up having a massive binge then going back to my old habits. I really feel like it's controlling me and the mid-afternoon cravings are unbearable, I usually end up giving into them rather than saying no. Ideally I'd like to get to a point where I can enjoy the occasional sweet treat (the thought of cutting out sweets for the rest of my life feels quite sad!) without feeling like life has to revolve around my next sugar fix.
Is anyone else going through something similar? Any advice on how to get out of this rut would be much appreciated :-)
Louise
How much are you running?
How many base calories do you eat?
Are you eating back your exercise calories?
How many races have you done?0 -
Not going to disagree on Behavior Addiction (gambling is a good example). I just wanted to put out there that sugar as a substance isn't an addiction and that people shouldn't think that it is. That's all.
I think something that is tripping us all up in this particular facet of the discussion is that for people who tend to binge on sugary treats (and when I say "sugary treats" I'm talking about foods w/a sugar/fat combo such as cookies, chocolate bars, or ice cream), it matters little whether or not it is behavior-driven, substance-driven, both, or neither. The scientists may be overly concerned with these details (as they should be), but the people practicing compulsive behavior could give two hoots about the minute discrepancies and semantics. This insight is important when doling out advice to them.
And it's also very frequently overlooked that cravings for food can have a purely physiological basis as a normal, healthy response to eating too little.
You can't diagnose someone with a psychological problem unless you've ruled out possible physiological causes for the behaviour in question. Arguing about whether on not psychological addiction to sugar exists is entirely missing the point if the cravings in question are actually caused by undereating.
While I agree with you in theory (and thank you for pointing this out, I'm totally going to add this to what I've been saying), the OP in this particular case said, "Chocolate is my biggest weakness and despite managing to go cold turkey a few times I always end up having a massive binge then going back to my old habits." The words, "old habits", to me, indicates this person has been dealing with this issue a long, long time. They also indicated they've always been "big"....so it seems to me that the odds are strong they haven't been "undereating" all these years.
As a compulsive overeater I tend to recognize "signs" in posters on these threads. I always reach out to them in PM's. I've not had a single one tell me I was wrong. I'm not saying I'm perfect or anything. I'm just saying....it's not all in our heads - this stuff is very real.
That being said, I'm glad you said this because it'd be a good first step to first clarify with these folks whether or not this is a problem that just cropped up when they started dieting, or if it's been more of a life-long issue. This would help hone in on the real problem. Thank you, sincerely, for the clarification.
I'm not saying sugar addiction isn;t real (i.e. a real psychological addiction)... this thread just alarms me greatly because people are telling the OP to do "zero sugar detoxes" and the like without even knowing what she's eating to begin with. If it is the case she's undereating and craving sugar as a direct result of that, then all the advice about sugar detoxes and how to combat cravings and the rest is actually dangerous advice.
even if she's had problems with sugar addiction or complusive overeating prior to this, it doesn't mean that her current cravings etc are not the result of undereating. And in some cases people can be battling both.... if it is both then they first need to be sure they're eating enough so they're only battling the psychological issue0 -
All of the people advising a sugar detox, or cutting out junk food, or whatever, for an endurance athlete are out of their gourd and should stop giving such terrible advice on the forums. Good freaking lord. You have no idea what you're talking about and you're giving advice based not on nutrition or performance but whacked-out ideas you've learned from the popular media and stupid diet books.0
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Afternoon all,
This is my first post on here, after a while of feeling pretty horrible about myself I wanted to share my thoughts and to hopefully receive some words of wisdom! I'm in a bit of a strange situation and would really love to know if any of you have shared this kind of experience.
I've always thought of myself as "big", even when I weighed less than I do now, partly because of my height (I'm 5"11). In 2010 I managed to lose 2 1/2 stone through Weightwatchers but now, despite doing way more exercise than I was back then, my weight has crept back up again. I'm currently 13 stone 8 lbs.
I started running in 2011 and have signed up for my first marathon at the end of this year (a terrifying prospect), however I definitely don't have the typical runner's physique! My issue is that I'm addicted to sugar, big time. Obviously so much so that it's undoing all the good I'm doing by exercising. Chocolate is my biggest weakness and despite managing to go cold turkey a few times I always end up having a massive binge then going back to my old habits. I really feel like it's controlling me and the mid-afternoon cravings are unbearable, I usually end up giving into them rather than saying no. Ideally I'd like to get to a point where I can enjoy the occasional sweet treat (the thought of cutting out sweets for the rest of my life feels quite sad!) without feeling like life has to revolve around my next sugar fix.
Is anyone else going through something similar? Any advice on how to get out of this rut would be much appreciated :-)
Louise
Only way is a zero carb sugar detox
Yad!
Sugar cravings can be a very real thing and very habitual and hard to break.
My advice will be try cutting most of the junk food, especially the ones that trigger the cravings.
Understand that its unlikely you have a physical need for the sugar based junk food and more likely a psychological draw (but that's fine it means you can work on that area of equation).
Try cutting it for about a month (it will be tough) but after a month when you feel the cravings are gone or drastically reduced, try re-introducing them in moderation.
You may feel like many that when you are at the point of re-introducing them you actually realise there is sometimes no point based on the nutritional return you get for the calories.
Good luck with however you do it.
riiiiiiiiiiight so you guys are advising her to do "zero sugar detoxes" and similar without actually checking how much she's eating to begin with?........... no, that's not remotely dangerous advice at all <--- sarcasm
I'm sure psychological addiction to sugary food is real for some people.........but most sugar cravings are a normal physiological response to eating too little, and doing a "zero sugar detox" will make that problem worse, not better.
The first question in this situation should be "how much are you eating?" and if the answer is a number that's not sufficient for training for and running marathons, the answer should be to "eat a lot more"
suggest sugar addiction (which probably does exist as a psychological addiction seeing as you can be psychologically addicted to pretty much anything) only after you're sure they're actually eating enough and that the cravings are not the result of undereating......
Check my response where have I said zero sugar detox (only an idiot would make that statement).
I'm not even talking all sugar, get your specs on read it properly and see that it says cutting MOST JUNK FOOD.
if someone's struggling to eat enough, so-called junk food is actually not that bad for them. And telling someone who's undereating to cut out any kind of food is potentially dangerous advice. First fix the undereating. Then worry about the quality of the food. Macronutrient deficiency will damage your health much faster than micronutrient deficiency will.
marathon runners need to eat a crap ton of calories and so calorie dense foods are a good option to meet their nutritional needs.
this is one of the reason why I hate dichotomising food into "healthy" and "junk" because it depends on the situation and the rest of the person's diet. It's also why that famous swimmer guy eats a ton of junk food and still has 6 pack abs and a very strong, healthy body.... he'd be malnourished if he only ate the low calorie density foods that are recommended for sedentary people who are trying to not be morbidly obese any more.0 -
All of the people advising a sugar detox, or cutting out junk food, or whatever, for an endurance athlete are out of their gourd and should stop giving such terrible advice on the forums. Good freaking lord. You have no idea what you're talking about and you're giving advice based not on nutrition or performance but whacked-out ideas you've learned from the popular media and stupid diet books.
I'm still unsure where anyone has actually said sugar detox and cutting out junk food. OP says she has problem with chocolate and certain sweet treats mainly. Can't she cut chocolate and still eat pasta if she wants to hit her calorie needs?
ETA: Not saying anyone hasn't used the term, I just don't see it.
ETA2: I also think junk food is a relative term. Where some may believe bread is junk, others may not. It's hard to use that term with so many different thoughts about it. imo0 -
marathon runners need to eat a crap ton of calories and so calorie dense foods are a good option to meet their nutritional needs.
WORD.0 -
I get it. I love sugar. And I will definitely start to crave sugar if I have a treat every night. When I realize that I am just craving sugar because it is sugar, I'll decide to take a few days off. Usually by day 4 I'm back to "normal" again. For example, I love wine - and if I have a glass each night for a few nights in a row, I'll find myself wanting something sweet the next night. Habit. I figure it's all in my head, but usually if I avoid it by day 4 I'm not thinking about it anymore...
....and then can start the cycle again. :-)
I'm honestly very much a all-in-moderation person. If it fits in my macros, I eats. I have some days that appear to be full of bad decisions. But sometimes I am so busy at work I don't have time for lunch, so then having dinner and wine AND a Cadbury egg AND a peanut butter egg still fits in my numbers. And I'm okay with that.0 -
Afternoon all,
This is my first post on here, after a while of feeling pretty horrible about myself I wanted to share my thoughts and to hopefully receive some words of wisdom! I'm in a bit of a strange situation and would really love to know if any of you have shared this kind of experience.
I've always thought of myself as "big", even when I weighed less than I do now, partly because of my height (I'm 5"11). In 2010 I managed to lose 2 1/2 stone through Weightwatchers but now, despite doing way more exercise than I was back then, my weight has crept back up again. I'm currently 13 stone 8 lbs.
I started running in 2011 and have signed up for my first marathon at the end of this year (a terrifying prospect), however I definitely don't have the typical runner's physique! My issue is that I'm addicted to sugar, big time. Obviously so much so that it's undoing all the good I'm doing by exercising. Chocolate is my biggest weakness and despite managing to go cold turkey a few times I always end up having a massive binge then going back to my old habits. I really feel like it's controlling me and the mid-afternoon cravings are unbearable, I usually end up giving into them rather than saying no. Ideally I'd like to get to a point where I can enjoy the occasional sweet treat (the thought of cutting out sweets for the rest of my life feels quite sad!) without feeling like life has to revolve around my next sugar fix.
Is anyone else going through something similar? Any advice on how to get out of this rut would be much appreciated :-)
Louise
Only way is a zero carb sugar detox
Yad!
Sugar cravings can be a very real thing and very habitual and hard to break.
My advice will be try cutting most of the junk food, especially the ones that trigger the cravings.
Understand that its unlikely you have a physical need for the sugar based junk food and more likely a psychological draw (but that's fine it means you can work on that area of equation).
Try cutting it for about a month (it will be tough) but after a month when you feel the cravings are gone or drastically reduced, try re-introducing them in moderation.
You may feel like many that when you are at the point of re-introducing them you actually realise there is sometimes no point based on the nutritional return you get for the calories.
Good luck with however you do it.
riiiiiiiiiiight so you guys are advising her to do "zero sugar detoxes" and similar without actually checking how much she's eating to begin with?........... no, that's not remotely dangerous advice at all <--- sarcasm
I'm sure psychological addiction to sugary food is real for some people.........but most sugar cravings are a normal physiological response to eating too little, and doing a "zero sugar detox" will make that problem worse, not better.
The first question in this situation should be "how much are you eating?" and if the answer is a number that's not sufficient for training for and running marathons, the answer should be to "eat a lot more"
suggest sugar addiction (which probably does exist as a psychological addiction seeing as you can be psychologically addicted to pretty much anything) only after you're sure they're actually eating enough and that the cravings are not the result of undereating......
Check my response where have I said zero sugar detox (only an idiot would make that statement).
I'm not even talking all sugar, get your specs on read it properly and see that it says cutting MOST JUNK FOOD.
if someone's struggling to eat enough, so-called junk food is actually not that bad for them. And telling someone who's undereating to cut out any kind of food is potentially dangerous advice. First fix the undereating. Then worry about the quality of the food. Macronutrient deficiency will damage your health much faster than micronutrient deficiency will.
marathon runners need to eat a crap ton of calories and so calorie dense foods are a good option to meet their nutritional needs.
this is one of the reason why I hate dichotomising food into "healthy" and "junk" because it depends on the situation and the rest of the person's diet. It's also why that famous swimmer guy eats a ton of junk food and still has 6 pack abs and a very strong, healthy body.... he'd be malnourished if he only ate the low calorie density foods that are recommended for sedentary people who are trying to not be morbidly obese any more.
Healthy and junk are accurate enough disruptions of food (from one end of the spectrum to the other).0 -
Sugar isn't an ADDICTION. It would be unmanageable to "moderately" consume something someone is addicted to which is why alcoholics have to stay away from alcohol, cocaine addicts have to stay away from cocaine, etc. It's very palatable which is why many have a hard time giving it up or severely reducing it. But sugar is needed in the body so it's processed in the body one way or the other.
I think the best approach is to learn how eat what treats you like, but don't go overboard rather than abstaining completely from them. I've had way better results with clients maintaining weight loss with moderation approach, than from strict/abstinence approach.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
I understand what you mean, but I think that this depends on the model of addiction that you are using. In a purely medical/disease model, no, sugar would not be an addiction. The physical response to sugar would not be enough for an addiction to be elicited. This model categorises individuals into 'addicted' or 'not addicted', and can often be specifically attributed to neurotransmitters and their receptors (eg nicotinic receptors in smoking, opioid receptors in heroin).
However, in a psychological/social model of addiction, you could pretty much become addicted to anything that activates the mesolimbic (reward) pathway, including sugar. This also suggests that addiction is on a sliding scale. You might start with someone who feels a bit rubbish without their morning coffee (which is slightly different because coffee can also be physically addictive) and on the other end, you might have someone who has wrecked their life through gambling all day every day. When you consider that we are evolutionary primed to feel good after eating sugar, this can become problematic for some people.
In real life, no addiction will be one or the other models. Consider smoking: a physical addiction. People still smoke when they have nicotine replacement therapy. The physical addiction cannot be the cause for this: there is psychological or social input here. I do understand that there is a very big difference between sugar and substances, so perhaps a compromise would be to use the word 'dependency' for sugar.
A very interesting area, I think
Edit: forgot to mention social factors, eg social learning theory and other learning theories0 -
Healthy and junk are accurate enough disruptions of food (from one end of the spectrum to the other).
When the only tool you understand is a hammer, every project is a bucket of nails, I guess.
Tell me tennisdude. Have you ever run a marathon? What was your nutrition plan for this endurance event?0 -
All of the people advising a sugar detox, or cutting out junk food, or whatever, for an endurance athlete are out of their gourd and should stop giving such terrible advice on the forums. Good freaking lord. You have no idea what you're talking about and you're giving advice based not on nutrition or performance but whacked-out ideas you've learned from the popular media and stupid diet books.
I'm still unsure where anyone has actually said sugar detox and cutting out junk food. OP says she has problem with chocolate and certain sweet treats mainly. Can't she cut chocolate and still eat pasta if she wants to hit her calorie needs?
ETA: Not saying anyone hasn't used the term, I just don't see it.
it was suggested earlier in the thread and a lot of the advice was telling her ways to deal with "sugar addiction", combat cravings etc............ without any thought to whether she's actually getting enough calories to fuel her activity levels to begin with... it's like people just focussed on the words "sugar addiction" and were completely blind to the rest of the situation
how she gets the calories (pasta or chocolate) isn't the issue... the point is that if she's undereating then she's not suffering from "sugar addiction", the cravings and binge eating chocolate are caused by undereating and she needs to be sure she's eating enough to fuel her activity.... if she is then it's likely that these extreme cravings for stuff like chocolate will either go away completely or become a lot more manageable, and her calories will end up coming from stuff like pasta, rice, etc rather than chocolate (and nothing wrong with some of them coming from chocolate if she wants)0 -
Not going to disagree on Behavior Addiction (gambling is a good example). I just wanted to put out there that sugar as a substance isn't an addiction and that people shouldn't think that it is. That's all.
I think something that is tripping us all up in this particular facet of the discussion is that for people who tend to binge on sugary treats (and when I say "sugary treats" I'm talking about foods w/a sugar/fat combo such as cookies, chocolate bars, or ice cream), it matters little whether or not it is behavior-driven, substance-driven, both, or neither. The scientists may be overly concerned with these details (as they should be), but the people practicing compulsive behavior could give two hoots about the minute discrepancies and semantics. This insight is important when doling out advice to them.
And it's also very frequently overlooked that cravings for food can have a purely physiological basis as a normal, healthy response to eating too little.
You can't diagnose someone with a psychological problem unless you've ruled out possible physiological causes for the behaviour in question. Arguing about whether on not psychological addiction to sugar exists is entirely missing the point if the cravings in question are actually caused by undereating.
While I agree with you in theory (and thank you for pointing this out, I'm totally going to add this to what I've been saying), the OP in this particular case said, "Chocolate is my biggest weakness and despite managing to go cold turkey a few times I always end up having a massive binge then going back to my old habits." The words, "old habits", to me, indicates this person has been dealing with this issue a long, long time. They also indicated they've always been "big"....so it seems to me that the odds are strong they haven't been "undereating" all these years.
As a compulsive overeater I tend to recognize "signs" in posters on these threads. I always reach out to them in PM's. I've not had a single one tell me I was wrong. I'm not saying I'm perfect or anything. I'm just saying....it's not all in our heads - this stuff is very real.
That being said, I'm glad you said this because it'd be a good first step to first clarify with these folks whether or not this is a problem that just cropped up when they started dieting, or if it's been more of a life-long issue. This would help hone in on the real problem. Thank you, sincerely, for the clarification.
I'm not saying sugar addiction isn;t real (i.e. a real psychological addiction)... this thread just alarms me greatly because people are telling the OP to do "zero sugar detoxes" and the like without even knowing what she's eating to begin with. If it is the case she's undereating and craving sugar as a direct result of that, then all the advice about sugar detoxes and how to combat cravings and the rest is actually dangerous advice.
even if she's had problems with sugar addiction or complusive overeating prior to this, it doesn't mean that her current cravings etc are not the result of undereating. And in some cases people can be battling both.... if it is both then they first need to be sure they're eating enough so they're only battling the psychological issue
Totally agree w/you on the dangers of "zero sugar detoxes" and you're absolutely right that someone (ideally a nutritionist) should determine the OP's diet/macros to make sure the right amount of cals and carbs are being delivered to their system! Again, thx for the clarification. Communication is good.
All that being said, I do still believe the principals of moderation and/or abstinence would apply to someone training like the OP is. They can, for example, forego the chocolate that is tripping them up, but load up on fruit and quinoa instead. (I'm just throwing out ideas, here).
How about this for good advice to the OP?
1.) First speak with a nutritionist (and esp. someone familiar with diets necessary for heavy exercise training) to determine necessary and ideal calorie intake/macros.
2.) If you're nailing this but STILL finding yourself out of control with chocolate, try moderating with it and see if that helps curb the cravings.
3.) If you're moderating but STILL out of control, consider that you may be exhibiting addictive-like behaviors and might need to practice some methods that have worked for compulsive overeaters dealing with similar issues, such as abstinence from that particular food. This may be permanent abstinence or temporary until you can regain control.
4.) Repeat steps 1-3 until issue is under control.
How's that? 0 -
Healthy and junk are accurate enough disruptions of food (from one end of the spectrum to the other).
When the only tool you understand is a hammer, every project is a bucket of nails, I guess.
Tell me tennisdude. Have you ever run a marathon? What was your nutrition plan for this endurance event?
No but I have friends who have run the London marathon several times, the brother in law did a 3.24 in this years (he is a keen club runner). He does not fuel his running on junk food.
Starches and complex carbs yes, but he doesn't fuel up on a bar of galaxy before a run, so not sure on what your point is (blunt probably).0 -
First, there's no such thing as sugar addiction.
If chocolate triggers a binge for you (I understand), maybe try eating it with some protein or fiber. Or, try replacing it with something else, like fruit.
You could also experiment with low-carb/sugar free recipes that are chocolate flavored, but not full of the sugar that's causing your crash and cravings.
If you're a runner, and training for a marathon, you're going to need carbs, so I wouldn't go low carb.0 -
All of the people advising a sugar detox, or cutting out junk food, or whatever, for an endurance athlete are out of their gourd and should stop giving such terrible advice on the forums. Good freaking lord. You have no idea what you're talking about and you're giving advice based not on nutrition or performance but whacked-out ideas you've learned from the popular media and stupid diet books.
I'm still unsure where anyone has actually said sugar detox and cutting out junk food. OP says she has problem with chocolate and certain sweet treats mainly. Can't she cut chocolate and still eat pasta if she wants to hit her calorie needs?
ETA: Not saying anyone hasn't used the term, I just don't see it.
it was suggested earlier in the thread and a lot of the advice was telling her ways to deal with "sugar addiction", combat cravings etc............ without any thought to whether she's actually getting enough calories to fuel her activity levels to begin with... it's like people just focussed on the words "sugar addiction" and were completely blind to the rest of the situation
how she gets the calories (pasta or chocolate) isn't the issue... the point is that if she's undereating then she's not suffering from "sugar addiction", the cravings and binge eating chocolate are caused by undereating and she needs to be sure she's eating enough to fuel her activity.... if she is then it's likely that these extreme cravings for stuff like chocolate will either go away completely or become a lot more manageable, and her calories will end up coming from stuff like pasta, rice, etc rather than chocolate (and nothing wrong with some of them coming from chocolate if she wants)
I understand what you are saying but I feel that people, like myself, are just simply sharing their own personal journey and understanding of similar issues. There is no way at all through a forum post to truly assess what the real issues are. But she asked if anyone else had struggled with the same things, and those who have shared their experiences. The truth is, her issue could be one of the various issues that everyone has shared. She could be overeating, she could be under-eating, she could have a psychological issue. None of us know. I didn't share my post with her because I believe it is her issue. I just shared with her because I believe it could be and just wanted to share my thoughts.0 -
All of the people advising a sugar detox, or cutting out junk food, or whatever, for an endurance athlete are out of their gourd and should stop giving such terrible advice on the forums. Good freaking lord. You have no idea what you're talking about and you're giving advice based not on nutrition or performance but whacked-out ideas you've learned from the popular media and stupid diet books.
Wise words.0 -
Not going to disagree on Behavior Addiction (gambling is a good example). I just wanted to put out there that sugar as a substance isn't an addiction and that people shouldn't think that it is. That's all.
I think something that is tripping us all up in this particular facet of the discussion is that for people who tend to binge on sugary treats (and when I say "sugary treats" I'm talking about foods w/a sugar/fat combo such as cookies, chocolate bars, or ice cream), it matters little whether or not it is behavior-driven, substance-driven, both, or neither. The scientists may be overly concerned with these details (as they should be), but the people practicing compulsive behavior could give two hoots about the minute discrepancies and semantics. This insight is important when doling out advice to them.
And it's also very frequently overlooked that cravings for food can have a purely physiological basis as a normal, healthy response to eating too little.
You can't diagnose someone with a psychological problem unless you've ruled out possible physiological causes for the behaviour in question. Arguing about whether on not psychological addiction to sugar exists is entirely missing the point if the cravings in question are actually caused by undereating.
While I agree with you in theory (and thank you for pointing this out, I'm totally going to add this to what I've been saying), the OP in this particular case said, "Chocolate is my biggest weakness and despite managing to go cold turkey a few times I always end up having a massive binge then going back to my old habits." The words, "old habits", to me, indicates this person has been dealing with this issue a long, long time. They also indicated they've always been "big"....so it seems to me that the odds are strong they haven't been "undereating" all these years.
As a compulsive overeater I tend to recognize "signs" in posters on these threads. I always reach out to them in PM's. I've not had a single one tell me I was wrong. I'm not saying I'm perfect or anything. I'm just saying....it's not all in our heads - this stuff is very real.
That being said, I'm glad you said this because it'd be a good first step to first clarify with these folks whether or not this is a problem that just cropped up when they started dieting, or if it's been more of a life-long issue. This would help hone in on the real problem. Thank you, sincerely, for the clarification.
I'm not saying sugar addiction isn;t real (i.e. a real psychological addiction)... this thread just alarms me greatly because people are telling the OP to do "zero sugar detoxes" and the like without even knowing what she's eating to begin with. If it is the case she's undereating and craving sugar as a direct result of that, then all the advice about sugar detoxes and how to combat cravings and the rest is actually dangerous advice.
even if she's had problems with sugar addiction or complusive overeating prior to this, it doesn't mean that her current cravings etc are not the result of undereating. And in some cases people can be battling both.... if it is both then they first need to be sure they're eating enough so they're only battling the psychological issue
Totally agree w/you on the dangers of "zero sugar detoxes" and you're absolutely right that someone (ideally a nutritionist) should determine the OP's diet/macros to make sure the right amount of cals and carbs are being delivered to their system! Again, thx for the clarification. Communication is good.
All that being said, I do still believe the principals of moderation and/or abstinence would apply to someone training like the OP is. They can, for example, forego the chocolate that is tripping them up, but load up on fruit and quinoa instead. (I'm just throwing out ideas, here).
How about this for good advice to the OP?
1.) First speak with a nutritionist (and esp. someone familiar with diets necessary for heavy exercise training) to determine necessary and ideal calorie intake/macros.
2.) If you're nailing this but STILL finding yourself out of control with chocolate, try moderating with it and see if that helps curb the cravings.
3.) If you're moderating but STILL out of control, consider that you may be exhibiting addictive-like behaviors and might need to practice some methods that have worked for compulsive overeaters dealing with similar issues, such as abstinence from that particular food. This may be permanent abstinence or temporary until you can regain control.
4.) Repeat steps 1-3 until issue is under control.
How's that?
yes.... although I'm strongly inclined to think that the cravings the OP is experiencing will go away if she eats more. But if they don't then your other advice is very good.
I think people have just honed in on "sugar addiction" and focused on that without looking at the bigger picture of what's going on.... as sugar addiction is a topic that people like to bang a drum about (i.e. whether it's real or not) so they missed the fact that long distance running + intense sugar cravings is far more likely to be a case of inadequate nutrition than sugar addiction.... unfortunately people when they experience strong desires to eat so-called "bad" foods their first reaction tends to be to beat themselves up for lacking willpower, or to diagnose themselves with a psychological problem - if not sugar addiction then something like binge eating disorder or comfort eating... all of which are real disorders (the addiction one being psychological addiction, to distinguish it to physiological dependence such as you get with heroin, etc) ... but in a lot of these cases the cravings are the direct result of eating too little, and so the person becomes locked in a cycle of excessive restriction (which is often seen as a punishment for being "bad"/lacking willpower, etc) and then rebound overeating or binge eating, and trying to tackle it with psychological approaches or more restriction (e.g. going "cold turkey" from foods they blame for it) that are never going to work because the problem is from a normal physiological response to eating too little........ the solution in these cases is simply to eat enough that the rebound overeating or binge eating does not occur, and the person gets out of the cycle and is able to maintain a suitable deficit for fat loss, or eat the right amount to maintain a healthy weight, etc. Unfortunately this phenonenon, while extremely common, is frequently missed.0 -
Not going to disagree on Behavior Addiction (gambling is a good example). I just wanted to put out there that sugar as a substance isn't an addiction and that people shouldn't think that it is. That's all.
I think something that is tripping us all up in this particular facet of the discussion is that for people who tend to binge on sugary treats (and when I say "sugary treats" I'm talking about foods w/a sugar/fat combo such as cookies, chocolate bars, or ice cream), it matters little whether or not it is behavior-driven, substance-driven, both, or neither. The scientists may be overly concerned with these details (as they should be), but the people practicing compulsive behavior could give two hoots about the minute discrepancies and semantics. This insight is important when doling out advice to them.
And it's also very frequently overlooked that cravings for food can have a purely physiological basis as a normal, healthy response to eating too little.
You can't diagnose someone with a psychological problem unless you've ruled out possible physiological causes for the behaviour in question. Arguing about whether on not psychological addiction to sugar exists is entirely missing the point if the cravings in question are actually caused by undereating.
While I agree with you in theory (and thank you for pointing this out, I'm totally going to add this to what I've been saying), the OP in this particular case said, "Chocolate is my biggest weakness and despite managing to go cold turkey a few times I always end up having a massive binge then going back to my old habits." The words, "old habits", to me, indicates this person has been dealing with this issue a long, long time. They also indicated they've always been "big"....so it seems to me that the odds are strong they haven't been "undereating" all these years.
As a compulsive overeater I tend to recognize "signs" in posters on these threads. I always reach out to them in PM's. I've not had a single one tell me I was wrong. I'm not saying I'm perfect or anything. I'm just saying....it's not all in our heads - this stuff is very real.
That being said, I'm glad you said this because it'd be a good first step to first clarify with these folks whether or not this is a problem that just cropped up when they started dieting, or if it's been more of a life-long issue. This would help hone in on the real problem. Thank you, sincerely, for the clarification.
I'm not saying sugar addiction isn;t real (i.e. a real psychological addiction)... this thread just alarms me greatly because people are telling the OP to do "zero sugar detoxes" and the like without even knowing what she's eating to begin with. If it is the case she's undereating and craving sugar as a direct result of that, then all the advice about sugar detoxes and how to combat cravings and the rest is actually dangerous advice.
even if she's had problems with sugar addiction or complusive overeating prior to this, it doesn't mean that her current cravings etc are not the result of undereating. And in some cases people can be battling both.... if it is both then they first need to be sure they're eating enough so they're only battling the psychological issue
Totally agree w/you on the dangers of "zero sugar detoxes" and you're absolutely right that someone (ideally a nutritionist) should determine the OP's diet/macros to make sure the right amount of cals and carbs are being delivered to their system! Again, thx for the clarification. Communication is good.
All that being said, I do still believe the principals of moderation and/or abstinence would apply to someone training like the OP is. They can, for example, forego the chocolate that is tripping them up, but load up on fruit and quinoa instead. (I'm just throwing out ideas, here).
How about this for good advice to the OP?
1.) First speak with a nutritionist (and esp. someone familiar with diets necessary for heavy exercise training) to determine necessary and ideal calorie intake/macros.
2.) If you're nailing this but STILL finding yourself out of control with chocolate, try moderating with it and see if that helps curb the cravings.
3.) If you're moderating but STILL out of control, consider that you may be exhibiting addictive-like behaviors and might need to practice some methods that have worked for compulsive overeaters dealing with similar issues, such as abstinence from that particular food. This may be permanent abstinence or temporary until you can regain control.
4.) Repeat steps 1-3 until issue is under control.
How's that?
This! I like it!0 -
All of the people advising a sugar detox, or cutting out junk food, or whatever, for an endurance athlete are out of their gourd and should stop giving such terrible advice on the forums. Good freaking lord. You have no idea what you're talking about and you're giving advice based not on nutrition or performance but whacked-out ideas you've learned from the popular media and stupid diet books.
I'm still unsure where anyone has actually said sugar detox and cutting out junk food. OP says she has problem with chocolate and certain sweet treats mainly. Can't she cut chocolate and still eat pasta if she wants to hit her calorie needs?
ETA: Not saying anyone hasn't used the term, I just don't see it.
it was suggested earlier in the thread and a lot of the advice was telling her ways to deal with "sugar addiction", combat cravings etc............ without any thought to whether she's actually getting enough calories to fuel her activity levels to begin with... it's like people just focussed on the words "sugar addiction" and were completely blind to the rest of the situation
how she gets the calories (pasta or chocolate) isn't the issue... the point is that if she's undereating then she's not suffering from "sugar addiction", the cravings and binge eating chocolate are caused by undereating and she needs to be sure she's eating enough to fuel her activity.... if she is then it's likely that these extreme cravings for stuff like chocolate will either go away completely or become a lot more manageable, and her calories will end up coming from stuff like pasta, rice, etc rather than chocolate (and nothing wrong with some of them coming from chocolate if she wants)
I understand what you are saying but I feel that people, like myself, are just simply sharing their own personal journey and understanding of similar issues. There is no way at all through a forum post to truly assess what the real issues are. But she asked if anyone else had struggled with the same things, and those who have shared their experiences. The truth is, her issue could be one of the various issues that everyone has shared. She could be overeating, she could be under-eating, she could have a psychological issue. None of us know. I didn't share my post with her because I believe it is her issue. I just shared with her because I believe it could be and just wanted to share my thoughts.
but training for marathons + intense sugar cravings.... this doesn't raise a red flag for undereating being a likely cause? That's my issue. This was completely missed.
Even if it's a genuine psychological issue, it's imperative that you rule out hunger/physiological cravings due to undereating as a cause first, before you treat the problem as psychological. So no matter what the actual cause of the cravings turn out to be, undereating should be the first possibility considered. Rule that out first, then discuss psychological causes.0 -
I am in that boat as well. I love CANDY!!! Lemonheads and friends, peppermints life savers and things like that. I am not a big chocoholic but will have some occasionally. My cousin asked me to do the South Beach diet with her and she let me know that I could not have the candy. I took on the challenge. I had migraines for the first three days and they went away. After the first two weeks I got used to not having the candy. Then Lenten season came around and I kept it up. Now that it is over I have too learned only to eat candy in moderation. I limit myself to 60 calories a day and only if they fit into my intake. I also brush my teeth a lot when I feel cravings coming on especially after meals and during PMS when I want to binge. It is hard and is a struggle everyday but I am slowly learning to enjoy with going crazy. Good luck0
-
OP, I've run a marathon and several half marathons and I never achieved the "runner's physique" - in fact, I think I was actually worse off after the marathon because I put weight training on the back burner for all those months - no time due to all the running. And just because you're running 30+ miles a week, does not mean you have license to eat without tracking calories/macros. Unfortunately.
Back to the topic - You can also probably afford to have to have chocolate every day - it seems you've tried completely cutting it out/cold turkey which obviously doesn't work for you if you end up bingeing later. So why not try to have one piece of chocolate every day when that craving hits in the afternoon, or every night after dinner (or both, if your calories/macros allow it).0 -
Healthy and junk are accurate enough disruptions of food (from one end of the spectrum to the other).
When the only tool you understand is a hammer, every project is a bucket of nails, I guess.
Tell me tennisdude. Have you ever run a marathon? What was your nutrition plan for this endurance event?
No but I have friends who have run the London marathon several times, the brother in law did a 3.24 in this years (he is a keen club runner). He does not fuel his running on junk food.
Starches and complex carbs yes, but he doesn't fuel up on a bar of galaxy before a run, so not sure on what your point is (blunt probably).
I'll see your anecdote and raise you the fact that I can run fueled on Peeps and Cheez Its.0 -
All of the people advising a sugar detox, or cutting out junk food, or whatever, for an endurance athlete are out of their gourd and should stop giving such terrible advice on the forums. Good freaking lord. You have no idea what you're talking about and you're giving advice based not on nutrition or performance but whacked-out ideas you've learned from the popular media and stupid diet books.
Sorry is there a different opening post to this thread that I have missed?
Not sure where you have got the term endurance Athlete from, the op is starting training for a first marathon the end of the year (starting being the words you should focus on) not sure they are going to be pounding out that many miles to start with.
I'll take - jumping to huge conclusions - for 200 (derple jeopardy)0 -
All of the people advising a sugar detox, or cutting out junk food, or whatever, for an endurance athlete are out of their gourd and should stop giving such terrible advice on the forums. Good freaking lord. You have no idea what you're talking about and you're giving advice based not on nutrition or performance but whacked-out ideas you've learned from the popular media and stupid diet books.
I'm still unsure where anyone has actually said sugar detox and cutting out junk food. OP says she has problem with chocolate and certain sweet treats mainly. Can't she cut chocolate and still eat pasta if she wants to hit her calorie needs?
ETA: Not saying anyone hasn't used the term, I just don't see it.
it was suggested earlier in the thread and a lot of the advice was telling her ways to deal with "sugar addiction", combat cravings etc............ without any thought to whether she's actually getting enough calories to fuel her activity levels to begin with... it's like people just focussed on the words "sugar addiction" and were completely blind to the rest of the situation
how she gets the calories (pasta or chocolate) isn't the issue... the point is that if she's undereating then she's not suffering from "sugar addiction", the cravings and binge eating chocolate are caused by undereating and she needs to be sure she's eating enough to fuel her activity.... if she is then it's likely that these extreme cravings for stuff like chocolate will either go away completely or become a lot more manageable, and her calories will end up coming from stuff like pasta, rice, etc rather than chocolate (and nothing wrong with some of them coming from chocolate if she wants)
I understand what you are saying but I feel that people, like myself, are just simply sharing their own personal journey and understanding of similar issues. There is no way at all through a forum post to truly assess what the real issues are. But she asked if anyone else had struggled with the same things, and those who have shared their experiences. The truth is, her issue could be one of the various issues that everyone has shared. She could be overeating, she could be under-eating, she could have a psychological issue. None of us know. I didn't share my post with her because I believe it is her issue. I just shared with her because I believe it could be and just wanted to share my thoughts.
but training for marathons + intense sugar cravings.... this doesn't raise a red flag for undereating being a likely cause? That's my issue. This was completely missed.
Even if it's a genuine psychological issue, it's imperative that you rule out hunger/physiological cravings due to undereating as a cause first, before you treat the problem as psychological. So no matter what the actual cause of the cravings turn out to be, undereating should be the first possibility considered. Rule that out first, then discuss psychological causes.
No, I'm not saying that couldn't be a cause. I'm simply saying there may be other causes that others have suggested as well. I thought your suggestion to make sure she wasn't under-eating was a great one. And I didn't rule anything out, as I don't think anyone else did, because I'm not personally assessing her or diagnosing her. She just asked if anyone had similar issues with chocolate cravings and some of us who do shared ours. I think there has been great advice, yours included, to help her on her path to healthier living.0 -
All of the people advising a sugar detox, or cutting out junk food, or whatever, for an endurance athlete are out of their gourd and should stop giving such terrible advice on the forums. Good freaking lord. You have no idea what you're talking about and you're giving advice based not on nutrition or performance but whacked-out ideas you've learned from the popular media and stupid diet books.
Sorry is there a different opening post to this thread that I have missed?
Not sure where you have got the term endurance Athlete from, the op is starting training for a first marathon the end of the year (starting being the words you should focus on) not sure they are going to be pounding out that many miles to start with.
In fact if they are going from cold the first couple of weeks may be light jog/walk sessions.
I'll take - jumping to huge conclusions - for 200 (derple jeopardy)
OP has been running since 2011 and is currently training for a marathon.
You have one trick, and it's the wrong trick for this thread.0
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