Is it possible to lose a sweet tooth?

mochaphobic

I struggle so much with my sweet tooth, even to the point of eating more tomatoes or carrots than I would have just to find the "sweet one" to finish my snack off with. It's crazy! And when we've got unhealthy stuff around, it's even worse. I know from past history that I can't go cold turkey with anything and I really do have to get this "tooth" under control, so does anyone have suggestions for me?

(Yes, I am a soda drinker and I'm working on cutting that out. I was down to 4 oz a day but on vacation lapsed with all the fast food we ate. I'm working on it again.)

My typicals:
flavored water (our water here often tastes chemically and I don't like it but I like it better than bottled water.)
my diet soda (see above)
spiced gumdrops ~ 2-6 a day
graham crackers lately or vanilla snaps or other base for cool whip ~ to create frozen mock ice cream sandwiches
gum or breath mints
granola bar or cereal bar
cookies (I try to buy the high fiber, oatmeal or otherwise healthier version of cookies but I do have 5 kids who love cookies so the regular cheap sugar/oreo cookies are here sometimes as well.)

My emergency stash in my purse in case of low blood sugar problems: usually a couple gum drops or pieces of chocolate as they will raise my blood sugars pretty quickly and then I can eat something else (high fiber) to stabilize them. I don't have too many problems anymore but I tend to yo-yo more when I have had a bad week or two of eating sweets, and especially around Christmas when we are surrounded with cookies, cakes, pies, etc and nearly all my family's birthdays.
I do eat greek yogurt mostly but I can't stand it plain so I eat the fruited kinds. I used to eat the other yogurts ~ I hope I'm eating better with the greek?

To be honest with you all, if you read this and your first reaction is to stop buying the sweets altogether, that isn't going to happen. Like i said, I have 5 kids and a husband, and while I'm trying to eat well for myself and to set a good example for my family, I am not going to "punish" them by restricting them to my diet. I don't want the kids to grow up with certain foods being off limits because mom doesn't want them in the house (unless those foods are dangerous to them.) I had that as a child and once I was on my own I went crazy eating what had been off-limits ~ with negative consequences. I want my kids to learn to eat with moderation so with that said, I need to learn to curb the sweet tooth myself and not make that choice for them.

So, are there any healthier substitutions suggestions or ways to cut that sweet tooth down gradually please?

vibrantval

When I first started my journey this was a big prob to me I started out drinking smoothies like a whole blender full and eventually my cravings for sweets subsided not disappered but not self-sabotage either
Try a ripe banana like a lil spotty because those have the natural sweetness in them, add strawberries or raspberries, milk and ice, I usually would add blueberries cinnamon and vanilla extract or use a vanilla soymilk.
I would go through a bunch of bananas a day at one point! 4/5/6 idk how many but its something that helped me a lil bit.
I also eat a tablespoon of Nutella almost everyday. Just plain on a spoon when I feel like chocolate or something sweet.
Good Luck to you hope you found this a lil helpful.

mochaphobic

I love fruit smoothies ~ I'll have to try having some of those more often. I wish I could still eat bananas! I did, up until this spring when I was diagnosed with a banana allergy. Still not sure if I am really truly allergic or not but I haven't challenged it yet. I'm also allergic to egg whites (not that they are sweet) but just throwing that out there since I guess I won't be eating meringue cookies anymore either.

momto1g1b

I haven't lost my sweet tooth at all... the only thing I can do is not buy any sweets otherwise I will just gobble them all up. I eat a lot of fruit, and I also make myself a chocolate/banana smoothie every day and I count that as my treat. Today I also made frozen banana 'ice cream': slice and freeze 2 medium bananas, then chop up in the food processor. Then add 2T of natural peanut butter and 1T dark chocolate chips, then process again until smooth. Tastes so yummy, and with the peanut butter I use it makes 3 servings of 153 calories.

ETA: I posted before I saw that you're allergic to bananas! Another frozen treat I've been making this week is making flavored greek yogurt into popsicles - the lemon flavor tastes just like sherbet!

mochaphobic

I haven't lost my sweet tooth at all... the only thing I can do is not buy any sweets otherwise I will just gobble them all up. I eat a lot of fruit, and I also make myself a chocolate/banana smoothie every day and I count that as my treat. Today I also made frozen banana 'ice cream': slice and freeze 2 medium bananas, then chop up in the food processor. Then add 2T of natural peanut butter and 1T dark chocolate chips, then process again until smooth. Tastes so yummy, and with the peanut butter I use it makes 3 servings of 153 calories.

My girls would love this! Any thoughts on what I could use to substitute for the banana tho?

momto1g1b

No, sorry I haven't tried anything else

crazylikefox

I love diet soda and I love sugar. I do find one of the best things in life is a Dt. Pepsi and a candy bar. It wasn't till later in life that I really experimented and discovered the link. If I have a diet soda, my sugar cravings go through the roof. To curb my cravings for sugar, I want to give diet soda up so that I only drink it when I'm dining out. I think that will help me a lot personally... maybe you as well?

SLambertAlaska

(unless those foods are dangerous to them.)

One could make the argument that sugary foods ARE dangerous to them. Your kids have a high likelihood of growing up with the same sweet habit you have unless you help them change those habits while they're young. You may not want to change your husbands diet - he is a grown up, after all, but You Are The Parent, so you can decide what your kids get to eat. And they will get used to it and it will seem normal.

good luck!

Awkward30

is what keeps me going.

I guess that the way I see it, as long as the sweet stuff has nutritional value, it isn't a cheat or anything I need to worry about. So this peanut butter on fruit, pretzels, or bread happens damn near every day in my diary. Other sweet craving things I have are different nutrition bars, like Clif bars or fiber one bars. I do think that relying on convenience food is less than ideal, but oh well. I'm less than ideal and okay with it.

Also, sweet riot makes cacao nibs that are not very yummy, but chocolatey... so I eat like 4-5 of them and it fills my chocolate craving (each one is like 1 cal) without giving me anything bad.

Debbe2

I found that when I cut out diet soda and artificial sweeteners (diabetic) and other sugars in general my satisfaction started to be met by spicier foods. I really enjoy spice or heat in my food and it seems I just enjoy flavorful foods. Sweets i often enjoy now are things like berries or yogurt. Also my calcium chews are sweet and delicious. :smooched:

Mellie289

I used to have a real sweet tooth. I kind of outgrew it -- no more starting the morning with sugary cereals or a doughnut. That makes me shudder to think now. As an adult, I do like sweets still, don't get me wrong, but not several times a day like I did when I was younger.

I don't crave sweets at all anymore really since trying to eat only healthy unprocessed foods and having fresh fruit as my dessert at dinner time. I've grown to look forward to a mango or some melon for dessert in place of cheesecake, but I do still like those special meals out with cheesecake as a treat.

Eileensuv

I was told once that I might have candida yeast because I crave sweets. I bought a candida cleanse from the natural food store and it did help my cravings for quite awhile. I think I need to do it again though.:flowerforyou:

SingeSange

I have a sweet tooth as well and I crave Coke every day. When I drink it it's like every cell in my body breathes a sigh of relief (addicted much?). Someone else mentioned that maybe you could only drink your diet soda when you go out... I know that's what I've done as well. I don't keep Coke in the house and when I crave one I have to walk to the store and buy one. Only one. When I go out to eat, which I try not to do more than once a week now, I can have, and only one, Coke.
I love peanut butter and found a good recipe on the recipe forum for making a peanut butter spread with yogurt which is Waaaay less calories and it's tasty too!!
Also, instead of sweetening things with sugar I now use Agave syrup. It's very sweet so I use less but can still get the sweeter taste with certain foods if I feel I need it. I'll mix the agave syrup with plain greek yogurt to get a sweeter taste. I try to stay away from the fruit flavored yogurts because of the fructose in it, although I do have one fruit flavored yogurt that I eat as a treat once in a while. I also don't buy anything with aspartame in it as I find it makes me crave more and more sugary things.
I don't envy you trying to stay away from the sweets when your kids and hubby still are eating it in the house, but if you can find some tasty substitutes, hopefully it will help you, and maybe they'll even switch to the healthier substitutes too. : )
Good luck!!

cathy2cc

I grew up eating a large chocolate bar every day when I lived at home so I know what you mean. I joined myfitnesspal a month ago and have lost my chocolate craving almost entirely. My after dinner sweet was a 100 calorie Nestle Parlour chocolate on the outside and vanilla ice cream inside, treat. I also have strawberry shortcake with Gay Lea low fat whipped cream. Another great sweet snack is watermelon. I think eating lots of fruit has gotten rid of my chocolate cravings. Good luck and don't give up hope, I think it can be done.

PandaCustard

I still have a huge sweet tooth but it's not nearly as bad as it used to be. Fresh applesauce with cinnamon and sugar-free pudding are lifesavers.

Pebble321

I definitely haven't lost my sweet tooth, but I am getting used to things that are less sweet.
For example, I'll add banana or apple to my porridge in the morning instead of apple or banana, I'll snack on fruit or boiled eggs or nuts more often than sweet treats (though i still enjoy muesli bars, home made oatmeal slice or muffins etc).
If i make a coffee or mocha I don't add sugar - the milk makes it sweet/tasty enough.

I still really enjoy chocolate and lollies (sweets) and cakes and eat more of them than I should, but I'm lucky that my husband doesn't like sweets or desserts so I don't buy them for home. I try to treat them as a treat - or a "sometimes food" as the Cookie Monster says!

Bonny619

I had the worst sweet tooth EVER. I would have stashes of chocolate hidden away. Once I broke that habit my weight started coming off but I found my secret sweet snack that I have almost every single night and it's less than 200 calories.

1/2 cup fiber one cereal
1 sugar free pudding cup.
Mix that all together and add sliced strawberries.

I'm telling you this has SAVED me.

ninamariesanchez

Hi I have a really bad sweet tooth too. I have tried drinking smoothies and eating peanut butter with crackers or bread but sometimes for me thats not enough. I even buy me like tootsie roll bags so that when I get that craving I have me a couple. I have all kinds of food in my house due to kids also so it gets kinda hard. I try to cut back as much as I can but sometimes I fail miserably. So I am still trying to figure out what works within my calorie range. My doctor told me not to cut anything out just portion control. because if i go and eliminate everything I am going to be worst off so I have been on MFP for 6 mths and it has been very hard to change some eating habits but I am still here. Good luck to you and all of us!

arcticfox04

Hersheys 60% dark chocolate is my weapon of choice.

That and I'm a bad person and like to fancy the Mexican Bottle Coca-Cola it has Sugar instead of Corn Syrup.

KaidaKantri

It's totally possible to lose a sweet tooth. Before I started the healthy lifestyle, I would never turn down ice cream, or any sweets. Now after about 1 month of eating healthy, and still allowing myself the occasional sweet, i find that I don't really much care for ice cream and so forth anymore. So yes, it is possible. It is hard to cut out. It's best if you allow yourself that occasional treat. It will help you stick to your healthy lifestyle in the long run

amielovesjesus

I can totally relate - diet soda does that to me too. I think it is the aspertame, but diet sodas with Splenda don't do that as much. You could try experimenting with that.

teachertmb

After I had gallbladder surgery I developed a real aversion to any fake sugar. It actually made me nauseous. As a result, of course, I completely stopped drinking diet soda and any and all Products made with any of the various kinds of fake sugar.

For some reason I have since noticed a real decrease in my craving of sweets. It is certainly not gone. But I find that I am very satisfied with a very small sweet item instead of wanting a huge sweet dessert. I am satisfied with a single piece of mini candy or one cookie. My advice: try not consuming any of the fake sugar products. Maybe it will help.

issyfit

I lost mine after 2 weeks of phase 1 of the South Beach plan.

pkw58

I have lost mine. The only sweet I desire is Yoplait Honey Vanilla Greek Yogurt, it's on my daily diary… but I did switch to a high protein low fat diet - The Dukan Plan. It also killed my desire for bread , pasta, rice or potatoes…. I don't use artificial sweeteners either. Raw Apples feel like a sugar rush when I eat one. ( I am on the stabilization phase of the diet now). I can tell you I use to never pass up a cupcake or chocolate, now they look and smell wonderful, but Ihave a visualization in my head that if I eat one the fat will reappear - like a popcorn kernel exploding puffed up! - so I pass on actually eating one.

coconutbuNZ

Cake. I love cake. Eat one piece and I want another. It's a trigger. Don't eat sugar and eventually the craving will go away.

alexandra0690

I haven't lost my sweet tooth at all... the only thing I can do is not buy any sweets otherwise I will just gobble them all up. I eat a lot of fruit, and I also make myself a chocolate/banana smoothie every day and I count that as my treat. Today I also made frozen banana 'ice cream': slice and freeze 2 medium bananas, then chop up in the food processor. Then add 2T of natural peanut butter and 1T dark chocolate chips, then process again until smooth. Tastes so yummy, and with the peanut butter I use it makes 3 servings of 153 calories.

ETA: I posted before I saw that you're allergic to bananas! Another frozen treat I've been making this week is making flavored greek yogurt into popsicles - the lemon flavor tastes just like sherbet!

YUM!

Just try and eat more fruit. Pineapples, oranges, pomegrante, green apples, strawberries, cantelope.....YUM!
Thats what I do.
P.S. I cant have any sweets in my house.
I will binge eat it all in a day.
I almost have zero self control.
The easiest thing for ME is just walking past all the cookies ect. at the store.
Anyway goodluck,

mochaphobic

I found that when I cut out diet soda and artificial sweeteners (diabetic) and other sugars in general my satisfaction started to be met by spicier foods. I really enjoy spice or heat in my food and it seems I just enjoy flavorful foods. Sweets i often enjoy now are things like berries or yogurt. Also my calcium chews are sweet and delicious. :smooched:

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I am working on cutting out the diet soda (I can see where it def triggers cravings!) and I realized that sweetened cereal for breakfast also triggers cravings. I'm trying out a few new breakfast foods to see how they help since that is a trigger for me. I don't eat a lot of fruit (mostly because my kids eat it before I can get some. LOL!) but I think I will try to include fruit into a daily snack and see if that doesn't help the sweet tooth a bit. I love the idea of fruit and yogurt smoothies too.

mochaphobic

I had the worst sweet tooth EVER. I would have stashes of chocolate hidden away. Once I broke that habit my weight started coming off but I found my secret sweet snack that I have almost every single night and it's less than 200 calories.

1/2 cup fiber one cereal
1 sugar free pudding cup.
Mix that all together and add sliced strawberries.

I'm telling you this has SAVED me.

I might have to try this ~ it sounds yummy! Plus, it has the carbs that I'm supposed to eat before bed to keep my blood sugar levels stable during the night. My wheels are def. thinking here...

tnrunningnurse

Sounds like a sugar addiction and the only way to break it is to quit cold turkey. I have heard if you cut out all processed sugars that you will eventually quit craving them.

angiezturn

I had a physical a few months back. One of my main issues was my cholestorol being very high. The doctor said sugar is a big contributor of cholesterol (which I didn't know!!). I told him I had an issue with sugar and my sweet tooth. He advised more 'clean eating, and start to eliminate bad carbs from my diet. I guess "bad" carbs your body can become addicted to. The addiction to these carbs leads to a 'sweet tooth' meaning your body is wanting these carbs. So, short story. I started eating cleaner and pretty much eliminated most processed foods. My sugar cravings have gone down by probably 80%.

caraiselite

in ketosis on a low carb diet, my sweet tooth disappears completely - within a week.