Sugar gluttony, emotional eating, easy rewards

EccentricDad

I have a weakness. Before I started my new food lifestyle I was a sugar glutton. Cakes, doughnuts, cookies, chocolate, candies, you name it, I was stuffing my face with it relentlessly. The dopamine/glutimate rush from the constant rewards coming in my mouth caused me to have mad ADHD symptoms and it caused my insulin levels to always be peaked. I was storing fat left and right because my glycerol stores were always packed to the brim and I never exercised to deplete my stores. Around April of 2012 I started a gluten free diet due to suspicions that my GERD and ADHD and arthritis was a result of gluten. At the same time, I quit caffeine, sugar (including fruit), all grains, chocolate, sex, and anything else that gave me that "dopamine/glutimate rush". My new life began and it was PURE HELL.

After 7 months of being on this lifestyle, I lost 80 lbs and I have much better control over my body/brain. But Thanksgiving, when all the pies and cakes were put in front of my face, I had a moment of weakness and binged. It took me a week to recover from all the symptoms that manifested from the binge; I was having brain fog, indigestion/gerd, stomach pains, and my arthritic pains were coming back... I finally stabilized my body but then I came down with a stomach bug and started binging again. When I recovered from the bug, it was Christmas dinner time and here come the pies and cakes again...

I realize that my sugar gluttony is a result of me trying to get a cheap reward with no effort. We all do it actually. Men want easy sex from women who put up little resistance, women want easy romance/gifts without having to put forward any effort to get it. Gamers play video games with easy achievements so they can feel rewarded with prestige. Channel flippers change channels in order to find the PERFECT tv show. The list is really infinite the ways that us humans do minor tasks and expect a huge payout. Sugar is mine. But I need for it to stop, I need to reward myself some other way and stop having my emotional need for self satisfaction get the best of me.

Today, I know all of my glycerol stores are full from the potatoes, candy, and excessive carbs I've been eating since Christmas break started and the kids got out. I am low carbing for the next few days to empty my stores and get rid of the water weight and the bloating. But my question to everyone is this: What can I replace my sugar gluttony with to provide myself a self satisfying reward without affecting my health? Emotional eaters are normally people who aren't nice to themselves, what do you think I can do to improve my relationship with myself so I can overcome this sugar addiction?

EDITED FOR SPELLING.

mockchoc

You sound exactly like me. I'm going to low carb it too for a while starting day after tomorrow to counter-act my excesses.

I hope you get some good replies.

Edited to say except for the sex part.

karendee4

I went way off track so I can relate. I ate just a few bad foods. Sugar and too many carbs. Once I started I had a hard time stopping. I feel like I am addicted to food.

I used to replace those emotional feelings with exercise, bubble bath, reading etc. It worked well for the first 100 pounds of weightloss. Now I stopped coping and need to find other things to do when I am emotional.

We need other ways to cope other than food. Anything works. Reading, writing in a journal....you have to find something you like to do. Any hobbies? if so those help a LOT

EccentricDad

Surprised no one had any advice.

Anyone know of easy rewards that are healthy and worthy of being addicted over?

mockchoc

Surprised no one had any advice.

Anyone know of easy rewards that are healthy and worthy of being addicted over?

Exercise & sex is all I can come up with.

jlo9871

Mercy! I swear you were writing this post about me! Thinking about "worthy rewards" that could replace this one is almost impossible. That's not to say you couldn't *try* one of many suggestions; however, most are not going to give you that instant gratification high. Bowling league, bike riding, Wii Fitness games, scrapbooking (HA!), learning to play an instrument, learning a foreign language, write a cookbook filled with your best meals, etc.

ObtainingBalance

Around April of 2012 I started a gluten free diet due to suspicions that my GERD and ADHD and arthritis was a result of gluten. At the same time, I quit caffeine, sugar (including fruit), all grains, chocolate, sex, and anything else that gave me that "dopamine/glutimate rush". My new life began and it was PURE HELL.

Whatever did you quit all of that at once for!?
Fruit...grains...chocolate... sex... ANYTHING that gave you pleasure? No wonder you fell later... that's like setting yourself up for failure. Just saying. The problem isn't those things, it's how we abuse them and use them as coping mechanisms.

Your weight isn't the problem, your binge eating isn't the problem - it's what triggers you to do them... "look beyond the behavior".
I don't believe that the dopamine and reward signals are "bad", the body has them for a reason. We were designed to enjoy things, it's just we need to find balance in our life. Just my perspective.

what do you think I can do to improve my relationship with myself so I can overcome this sugar addiction?

[/quote]

If sugar is a HUGE struggle, then try to cut back on it again... if cutting it out is the only way you can control yourself, then try it out for awhile... but habits can't be ditched unless you replace them with other stuff. So, make a list of things that you enjoy, that help you destress.
Find healthy things that give you pleasure. It's good for you.
listening to music will release dopamine, and that isn't bad. Listening to music might distract you from doing something self destructive (exp: binge eating, drug abuse, drinking, etc.)

A lot of people overuse things to lose self awareness. Is there anything in life you are trying to avoid?


I saw on another website something about binge eating:
"binge eating is motivated by a desire to escape from self-awareness. Binge eaters suffer from high standards and expectations, especially an acute sensitivity to the difficult (perceived) demands of others. When they fall short of these standards, they develop an aversive pattern of high self-awareness, characterized by unflattering views of self and concern over how they are perceived by others. These aversive self-perceptions are accompanied by emotional distress, which often includes anxiety and depression. To escape from this unpleasant state, binge eaters attempt the cognitive response of narrowing attention to the immediate stimulus environment and avoiding broadly meaningful thought. This narrowing of attention disengages normal inhibitions against eating and fosters an uncritical acceptance of irrational beliefs and thoughts. The escape model is capable of integrating much of the available evidence about binge eating."

In short: Binge eating as escape from self-awareness.


I can't give you a list of alternatives, you have to come up with things you enjoy .But good luck with that.
I have done it before, and to be honest... it feels very weird at first. Don't give up.
Doing these things may feel uncomfortable at first. Change always feels 'weird' because you are shifting your usual response to your thoughts and emotions.

mockchoc

Around April of 2012 I started a gluten free diet due to suspicions that my GERD and ADHD and arthritis was a result of gluten. At the same time, I quit caffeine, sugar (including fruit), all grains, chocolate, sex, and anything else that gave me that "dopamine/glutimate rush". My new life began and it was PURE HELL.

Whatever did you quit all of that at once for!?
Fruit...grains...chocolate... sex... ANYTHING that gave you pleasure? No wonder you fell later... that's like setting yourself up for failure. Just saying. The problem isn't those things, it's how we abuse them and use them as coping mechanisms.

Your weight isn't the problem, your binge eating isn't the problem - it's what triggers you to do them... "look beyond the behavior".
I don't believe that the dopamine and reward signals are "bad", the body has them for a reason. We were designed to enjoy things, it's just we need to find balance in our life. Just my perspective.

what do you think I can do to improve my relationship with myself so I can overcome this sugar addiction?

If sugar is a HUGE struggle, then try to cut back on it again... if cutting it out is the only way you can control yourself, then try it out for awhile... but habits can't be ditched unless you replace them with other stuff. So, make a list of things that you enjoy, that help you destress.
Find healthy things that give you pleasure. It's good for you.
listening to music will release dopamine, and that isn't bad. Listening to music might distract you from doing something self destructive (exp: binge eating, drug abuse, drinking, etc.)

A lot of people overuse things to lose self awareness. Is there anything in life you are trying to avoid?


I saw on another website something about binge eating:
"binge eating is motivated by a desire to escape from self-awareness. Binge eaters suffer from high standards and expectations, especially an acute sensitivity to the difficult (perceived) demands of others. When they fall short of these standards, they develop an aversive pattern of high self-awareness, characterized by unflattering views of self and concern over how they are perceived by others. These aversive self-perceptions are accompanied by emotional distress, which often includes anxiety and depression. To escape from this unpleasant state, binge eaters attempt the cognitive response of narrowing attention to the immediate stimulus environment and avoiding broadly meaningful thought. This narrowing of attention disengages normal inhibitions against eating and fosters an uncritical acceptance of irrational beliefs and thoughts. The escape model is capable of integrating much of the available evidence about binge eating."

In short: Binge eating as escape from self-awareness.


I can't give you a list of alternatives, you have to come up with things you enjoy .But good luck with that.
I have done it before, and to be honest... it feels very weird at first. Don't give up.
Doing these things may feel uncomfortable at first. Change always feels 'weird' because you are shifting your usual response to your thoughts and emotions.
[/quote]

That is an awesome response and so true about it being an escape from self-awareness. It's hard to work out what you are trying to escape from though.