Sugar Eaters Anonymous

CraftyGirl4

Hello, my name is Amy, and I am addicted to sugar.

(all: "Hi Amy.")

Ok, seriously, though...there needs to be a support group for people trying to avoid sugar. I eat plenty in the form of fruits, vegetables and whole grains...but I work for a dessert company. Yes, you read that right. A dessert company! We supply desserts all over North America and are expanding to overseas locations as well. It is so difficult to avoid the sugar when it's everywhere...literally!

Anyone else feeling this?

ashleyh3156

I completely understand....I was thinking I were one of those "people" who could just eat the occasional bowl of ice cream, until I find myself dipping in for seconds. And then one mini twix turns into 3, been contemplating avoiding it completely because I tend to binge on sugary foods as well as refined carbohydrates.

tritta01

hi my name is Trista and i'm also addicted to sugar!! :laugh: wish there was a way to cut it out completely but i just try to "treat" myself every once in awhile... i work at a coffee shop most of the drinks are LOADED with sugar... and we sell bakery that are always very tempting....but been getting better at using the word NO to myself..lol:happy:

misstana

Well, I don't have a reason like you do, but I'm just a regular sugar addict! I probably wouldn't survive in that environment. Pair the sweet tooth with being a midnight snacker, and you've got a bad combo . I can't seem to shake the sugar urges. Open to any and all suggestions.

ppiinnkkmmoonn

i avoid sugar like the plague im one and moderation is not my friend so i had to take it out of my diet pretty much.

hostile17

Me too, it's my downfall.

Check out Potatoes not Prozac if you haven't already for helping with sugar addiction.

SLambertAlaska

I am also addicted to sugar when I'm eating it. When I can go 3 days without eating any refined sugar (torture!) then it gets easier to "just say no." But as soon as I eat some, then I'm back on the downward spiral again. It's a good thing I don't drink, because I'd probably get addicted fast . . .

Missylydia

chocolate bars are my cryptonite! Ya know, I'd be fine if there weren't a chocolate machine in the staff room at work, and my job's so boring, it's just too easy I eat totally clean otherwise!

sophiegr33n

I understand your pain! I work for an international candy store, four days a week, looking at all the delicious peanut-buttery American candy for hours on end. I get through the day by visualizing how disappointed I would be with myself if I gave into temptation. Taking a good 30 seconds to dwell on it. It makes me realize just how dedicated I am, and that I'll never reach my goals if I slip up. So I tackle my problem right at the source which is the snap decision to give in and nip it in the bud before cravings begin to set in.

sister_bear

I'm not addicted to sugar, but I have a sweet tooth. I *must* have something sweet now and again. Granola bars work sometimes. I've found that usually when I crave the sweets, I just need something in my stomach and a little bit of cheese satisfies me.

Sherbert is good, but I portion it out. Like buy it and then repack it into smaller tupperwares so that I can control how much I eat before I stick that spoon in there...

Shawna0101

I am slave to the sugar too, always hits me after dinner....if its not in the house I am fine because I won't go get anything from the store, but if its here I will eat it Still very much working on self control.

TwilaG

I am a complete sugar addict. When we plan dinners, the first thing planned is always the dessert. This is an example how my fammily thinks. One year for Thanksgiving we only had 11 people at the house and 10 desserts! I love sweets and I do have a hard time staying away from them. Too often I fall into temptation. We gave up buying box mixes. It wasn't long and one of my daughters was on the internet and figured out how to make things from scratch. I seriously need my mouth wired shut when it comes to sweets.

mericksmom

add me to the list. I can be good for a week then it hits me hard. And it doesnt make it any easier when I have loads of sweets around (husbands preg cravings....his twin sister is preg)

mvonk1016

Hi, my name is Melissa and I am a Sugar Addict. :blushing:

I try not to keep sweets in the house, because if there are they are in my mouth.

If I do buy sweets, I have realized it is better for me to spend the little bit of extra money and get the ones that are individually packaged. When it comes to sweets myself control is lacking. I also am an emotional eater, and with this, helps me realize just how much I have eaten.

If I make sweets, I try and give the most of it away. If I make cookies, I freeze the majority of the cookie dough and only make a few cookies at a time, that way they are not right on hand. However that doesn't always work because I LOVE raw cookie dough! Sometimes it is better if I just make them all and talk them to work with me or send them to work with my boyfriend.

It gets easier the longer I go with out sweets, but as soon as I eat them agian, the battle starts all over agian. Accountabilty partners have helped too, so when you eat somthing you shouldn't, you email or text your partner and tell them. Makes you think harder about if you really want to eat it.

Good luck!

Rowann

I'm quite bad for chocolate, but so long as I can work it into my calories I don't see any reason why not to have a little something most days.

At the moment I tend to plan out and log what I'm going to eat a few days in advance, and I always make sure there are a couple of hundred calories left over for something nice.

Once my son is in bed I tend to have my daily treat. At the moment I'm really loving the WW ice cream pots... they range 104 to 130 ish calories depending on the flavour. If I can't fit one of these into my calories I change what I'm eating to manage it!

If I couldn't have these treats I'd end up feeling far to deprived to be able to continue this journey...

Fat4Fuel2

I'm a total sugar addict. I always had candy in my house growing up, and my family taught me to bake from scratch at a young age. It's really hard for me to go a day without some sort of sweet. I've learned to deal with it and budget for it. I also try to eat something sweet at every meal (i.e. fruit, and greek yogurt with cinnamon splenda) This generally helps, but I do have a daily cookie. Don't judge me.

Sarabeth5

I'm right there with y'all! I'm on day 2 of no refined sugar, white flour, etc. I feel awful! I know that will all change in a few days and I can't wait!

Growe190

Hi everyone my name is Greg and I have been off of sugar for 20 days. Every year on New Year’s Day I make a commitment to abstain from sugar until I reach my goal weight. I have done it once in 30 years. I went from 318 pounds to 195 pounds, and then I bit into that 1st Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookie. And in much less time than it took me to lose it, I began to gain it back. Last year I hit my high at 322 pounds. All last year I struggled with sugar, up a little and down a little. I had some limited success and by the end of last year I was 302.7 where I stayed until I started MFP. At the same time I found MFP a friend had recommended the Jorge Cruise book the belly fat diet (dumbest name I ever heard) I'm embarrassed to tell people I read it. Anyway the book is mostly fluff. BUT, it promotes managing your sugar intake (GASP) in the book he states that most average people eat 195 grams of sugar a day (believe me I was nowhere near normal) He also states that we should eat about 15 grams of sugar a day. Other than that his diet is pretty much the same “manage your carbs diet that my doctor gave me when he diagnosed me with diabetes. However, when Jorge says all sugar he means all, including fruit. I now keep my sugar intake under 20 grams, (I know he said 15, 5 for every meal, but he left out the snack quota, and every diabetic must eat snacks to manage his blood sugar levels. I was maxed out on my metformin, next step was insulin injections. Weight lost in 3 weeks is 12 pounds.
In the last 3 weeks I have reduced my metformin dosage to half of what I was taking before, and getting better results than I was at the higher dosage. So along with the standard tracking offered by MFP, I track my sugar intake, and I have found to my surprise it's not that bad, now that I can avoid the invisible sugar, it makes it much easier to choose my sugar fix and keep at my goal level.

CraftyGirl4

I understand your pain! I work for an international candy store, four days a week, looking at all the delicious peanut-buttery American candy for hours on end. I get through the day by visualizing how disappointed I would be with myself if I gave into temptation. Taking a good 30 seconds to dwell on it. It makes me realize just how dedicated I am, and that I'll never reach my goals if I slip up. So I tackle my problem right at the source which is the snap decision to give in and nip it in the bud before cravings begin to set in.

I would lose it in that environment. Peanut butter is my favorite! Thankfully, at work we make very few peanut butter flavored items.

amyjeaninga

Count me as another sugar addict. I've been addicted to Coca-cola for ages. I've never managed to kick the habit permanently. Currently I'm drinking one Coke Zero a day, plus lots of water.

I also love cake, ice cream, and chocolate. A few weeks ago when I started MFP, the very first night, I had the worst chocolate craving at the end of the day, so I made some chocolate milk in the blender with cocoa powder and an artificial sweetener. It wasn't too bad. Now I allow myself a square or two of dark chocolate at the end of the day, or a tablespoon of Smucker's hot fudge drizzled over some fresh fruit (pineapple, strawberries, kiwi, peaches). I've found it's easier to limit myself with dark chocolate than with milk chocolate, and it's supposed to be better for you.

The other thing I'm trying this time is to allow myself one day a week when it's okay to eat a reasonable portion of a dessert - and my kids, too. I'm trying to teach them that moderation is important. Both of them had the idea that dessert after supper every night was expected and that it should be something sugary, not fruit. My eldest especially seems to have the sugar junkie "gene." He didn't like the idea of banning desserts entirely, but he was okay with the idea of making dessert once a week.

Still, it's surprising to see how many grams of sugar seem to be in the foods I log each day, even when I'm eating stuff that I don't think of as having sugar added. Cereal is a big one...even the stuff that isn't sugar-coated still has sugar in it. Greg, I applaud your efforts. I'm not sure I'd do well sticking to an eating plan without eating fruit (which is one of the reasons I had a hard time with Atkins when I tried it).

CraftyGirl4

Count me as another sugar addict. I've been addicted to Coca-cola for ages. I've never managed to kick the habit permanently. Currently I'm drinking one Coke Zero a day, plus lots of water.

I also love cake, ice cream, and chocolate. A few weeks ago when I started MFP, the very first night, I had the worst chocolate craving at the end of the day, so I made some chocolate milk in the blender with cocoa powder and an artificial sweetener. It wasn't too bad. Now I allow myself a square or two of dark chocolate at the end of the day, or a tablespoon of Smucker's hot fudge drizzled over some fresh fruit (pineapple, strawberries, kiwi, peaches). I've found it's easier to limit myself with dark chocolate than with milk chocolate, and it's supposed to be better for you.

The other thing I'm trying this time is to allow myself one day a week when it's okay to eat a reasonable portion of a dessert - and my kids, too. I'm trying to teach them that moderation is important. Both of them had the idea that dessert after supper every night was expected and that it should be something sugary, not fruit. My eldest especially seems to have the sugar junkie "gene." He didn't like the idea of banning desserts entirely, but he was okay with the idea of making dessert once a week.

Still, it's surprising to see how many grams of sugar seem to be in the foods I log each day, even when I'm eating stuff that I don't think of as having sugar added. Cereal is a big one...even the stuff that isn't sugar-coated still has sugar in it. Greg, I applaud your efforts. I'm not sure I'd do well sticking to an eating plan without eating fruit (which is one of the reasons I had a hard time with Atkins when I tried it).

I think that is such a reasonable way to do dessert. Hot fudge over fruit sounds wonderful. I am going to the store this evening and may just have to buy some of that to have when the sugar cravings get the best of me.

nicothepotato

My sugar addiction is the only reason I'm any kind of overweight. I don't eat much fat or white starches. Most of my meals are small portions, until I smell the sweets. I am a cook and a baker so I have so much trouble staying away at work. For home, I try not to buy candies or pastries but my fiance does. I've asked him to only buy sweets with nuts in them since I'm allergic. He's also learned that if the sweets don't have nuts he'd better hide them or they will disappear before he gets any. I don't have the ability to stop until it's all gone. I can dish a small portion but will keep on going back for more until it's all gone.

lhalstead76

I will drink some unsweetened vanilla almond milk (trader joes is awesome) when I'm wanting sweets, usually at night. But during the day, I fight it because I don't ant to put it down on my food log, and see it slapping me in the face. It's been keeping me in check. A snickers is like almost 300 calories. I have to be on the elliptical an hour to burn 500 calories, and I want to burn off the real food so the exercise counts, not just burn off a candy bar. Give me a week, and I will have to be looking for substitutes. I do buy this Gnu Fiber bar (chocolate brownie flavor) @ whole foods and it's got 12 grams of fiber, so it fills you up, and fiber is great for you anyway. Here's the nutrition label, check them out.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 bar (45g)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 140Calories from Fat 35
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 4g 6%
Saturated Fat 1g 4%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 30mg 2%
Total Carbohydrate 30g 10%
Dietary Fiber 12g 48%
Soluble Fiber 8g
Insoluble Fiber 4g
Sugars 9g
Other Carbohydrate 9g
Protein 4g 6%

suzooz

My name is Susan, and I'm a sugar addict.

I had to cut carbs cold turkey for a couple of weeks to break the sugar habit (South Beach Phase 1) . This really helped me cure it -- most of the time, I am able to say "no" to a sugary treat. My sister gave me 3 Snickers/Reeses eggs for Easter (my ABSOLUTE FAV!), and I still have 2 left. (YAY!)

Before everyone goes postal on me for a "fad diet" I have introduced whole grains and fruit back into my diet (Phase 2) - being careful to recognize my "sugar triggers." I have noticed that certain carbs will trigger my sugar habit, and if have too many, I am hungry all of the time. (today I had more than normal, and I have been hungry all day. Going to snack on protein tonight!)

I still have "treats" -- most of the time with sugar free versions, and sometimes I allow myself the real deal. Just depends on how badly I want it, and how much I'm willing to work out to get it!