How to ween yourself off sugar?

Nitxinha

I have been off of sugar since this feb and my body is looking much better since i cut it out. 3 out of the 10 servings of fruits and veggies are fruit, and I ensure that my daily cal intake is balanced on a 40/30/30 split. this lets me have a lot more control.

Also, I make sure I do not bring anything home that would entice me to eat and when I go shopping I ensure that I eat before I go. That makes it less likely for me to grab peanut butter m&m's at the checkout.

I cut it out temporarily as I think that it should not be something permanent. Once I start adding it in again, I will ensure to buy single servings only as a "weekly treat"

Hope it helps.

ashleeliza

thankyou for all your responses, I think I am just going to have to go cold turkey! I went without sugary based foods the last 2 days, felt fine. Went to my nan's today, thought i'd have two chocolates from a box and now I just finished my sixth digestive with a cup of tea, I just can't stop when I start unfortunately.

Of course I don't want to not ever eat sweet foods again, I'm just worried if I go cold turkey when I next decided to have something, I'll binge even worse.

Ivey87

I experience sugar withdrawels too. To me, it is in the same category as craving a cigarette.

1223345

thankyou for all your responses, I think I am just going to have to go cold turkey! I went without sugary based foods the last 2 days, felt fine. Went to my nan's today, thought i'd have two chocolates from a box and now I just finished my sixth digestive with a cup of tea, I just can't stop when I start unfortunately.

Of course I don't want to not ever eat sweet foods again, I'm just worried if I go cold turkey when I next decided to have something, I'll binge even worse.

I believe you CAN get to a point of control. Once you feel what happens in your body when you go back, you may not want it much anyway. Personally, with most junk food, not just sweets, I find that after eating something like say.... a slice of pizza, or a fast food hamburger, My heart rate goes up and it feel like my heart is beating "hard" with each beat, like you can actually see my shirt move because my heart is thumping hard and fast. It is very unpleasant. I avoid junk sweet or otherwise because of the physical discomforts that follow. If you need support, just holler, we are here to support and motivate when the going gets tough.

emilylanham917

I've always been a sugar fanatic. When I was pregnant I ate so many reese cups that I can't hardly stand to look at them today. When I started to change my lifestyle, one of the first things that had to go was the high amounts of sugar in my diet. By tracking my sugars, I was able to really see just how much I was eating in a day. It was an insane amount. I slowly started to wein myself down, I buy the domino light because I don't 100% love stevia, but mixed with a little sugar it's fine and much better than the other artificial sweeteners. I also cut out coffee creamer with sugar and only buy sugar free, that was a big kicker for me. It's ok to have a little bit of sweet here and there, but I try to cure my sweet tooth with more natural sugars like fruits. Good luck! Cutting back on sugar is not an easy thing to do! My advice is to try to cut down a little at a time!

marissa81579

Unless you have diabetes or another medical condition, there is no reason to track or limit your sugar intake. Sugar is a carb. Track your overall carbs.

Qft

yeah i agree with this.

I wholeheartedly disagree with this. Sugar causes insulin to be released quickly into the bloodstream. Insulin release promotes fat storage, thus weight gain. Sugar causes tooth decay. Sugar interferes with neurological processes - causes sleepiness, decreased short term memory and impairment of brain's ability to solve math problems, for instance. This all relates to complex processes that break down when sugar is eaten by the bacteria in your intestines. A study in a medical journal found that people who got >17% of their calories from sugar had higher levels of triglycerides, a type of fat in your blood. Triglycerides can cause heart disease. Triglycerides are formed when your body stores excess sugar (it gets changed into fat for storage). Behavioral issues including depression, can be worsened by high sugar intake. High sugar can increase your risk of yeast infection because yeast thrives in sugar environments. Cancer cells also love sugar and there is starting to be more evidence of connection between sugar and cancer risk. Carbs are not all alike.

Sactown900

I've always had a sweet tooth, who hasn't? But for the past few months I feel i've become a complete sugar addict. I'd rather have a pack of biscuits rather than actual dinner and find myself snacking an awful lot on sugar products. I've tried to eat more fruit to stop eating so much junk but I find it doesn't actually work,
what do you do to prevent overeating sugary junk?

It's totally a mental thing honestly.
No food is inherently "good or bad" for you per se, it really depends on the overall.

If you're ultimately looking to kick sugar, eating a lot of fruit is probably not the best way to go about doing it. What makes fruit sweet is fructose, think of fructose as "fruit sugar".

I myself have a sweet tooth too. Really once I cut out most of the sugar from my diet, I was craving it like crazy for a while. It didn't take long to pass though.

Be stubborn about it!
It's really that simple.

Loving sugar, I told myself (with my 2nd dessert on 12/31/12), "Tomorrow I will add NO sugar or wheat products in myfitnesspal routine." I thought I would miss COSTCO muffins, Apple pies, coffee with cream and sugar and (OMG!) Birthday Cakes, but 26 lbs later, I don't. "Clean Eating" rocks.

Sactown900

im asking you seriously. sugar withdrawals? for real? come on.

For real. Headache, mood swings. It lasts for a maximum of five days, I believe. The first time I quit sugar, I went through this.

True. I felt awful, but now fruits for dessert are SO GOOD, I can't imagine apple pie and ice cream after dinner

susanswan

I just read an article that said sugar is NOT addictive...it's probably everything else they put in the food that becomes addictive...lol...

I used to eat sugar out of the sugar bowl when there was nothing else close enough to satisfy that sweet taste. I don't believe it and never will.

Maybe it doesn't affect everyone that way. I can drink a beer and not want another one. But set me in a room with a cake and a knife and it will slowly keep slicing away at the cake until I am too sick to eat more or someone else comes in the room. Sugar is very addictive for me. Refined grains are one step away from sugar, and those are addictive to me, too.

I am much happier working towards gaining independence from food cravings. Sugar as sugar does not serve the body well. The body can convert what whole food you do eat into the "sugar" that it needs. period.

susanswan

Stevia - I love it! I never use sugar now.

Me, too. Unfortunately just listened to a lecture talking about the possible link to kidney damage and heart disease. Giving yourself "sweet" no calories does not solve any health problems or potential health problems.

djrn144

I have found that if I eat more protein and a bit more fat it helps with the sugar cravings. they don't go away overnight but are definitely reduced. Only you know .what the right balance is for your body. For myself, any large amount of sugar seems to trigger a binge which lasts way too long for my liking so i avoid it at all costs. we are all different and need to listen to our own bodies. why are so many people in these forums ready to jump all over people when they have honest questions and concerns? Doesn't seen very productive or positive to me. Continue on each one's personal journey and if you can help someone great, otherwise, can we be a bit more respectful?

Confuzzled4ever

Cold turkey.. sucks.. and you'll get a headache.. but it's done and over with in a few days.. best way.. watch it when you do eat something sugary (not talking about fruit of course) cause you can pick it back up quickly. and it sucks everytime

Sugar is the most addictive substance there is.. and it's in everything.. good luck

MSFRDC

If the sugar cravings are correlated with your mood - i.e., you crave more sugar when you're feeling down - sheer willpower alone will not cut it. Read up on balancing carbs, proteins, etc.. I liked the book The Serotonin Power Diet -- from the library and now use that approach -- plus a couple of vitamins -- to beat back my sugar cravings. It's actually not a diet per se at all: it explains why some of us have serious sugar cravings and offers a logical way to deal with it.

Hezzietiger1

When I eat more natural sugar (fruit) I crave fake sugar a lot less.

Sactown900

My family switched to fruit as dessert on 1/1/13, but I just went Cold Turkey the same day on ANYTHING with white sugar or wheat in it.

Four months later I finally do not miss all those "Pink" boxes in the break rooms of my six-story office building.

Onesnap

Right now I'm drinking orange seltzer instead of orange soda. It's the little things...

I also can't have fake sugar and use things like maple syrup and raw honey instead of sugar.

Akimajuktuq

Unless you have diabetes or another medical condition, there is no reason to track or limit your sugar intake. Sugar is a carb. Track your overall carbs.

I just love this kind of thinking, so common amoung the "calories in/calories out, quality of food doesn't matter" crowd.... even though a diet too high in sugar can CAUSE type II diabetes, cancer, heart disease, etc, why reduce sugar to PREVENT illlness? Keep eating sugar like a mad man/woman and then deal with the damage later. But I guess that's the kind of thinking that keeps big pharma happy. Brilliant.

I am severely metabolically damaged from years of low fat, high carb, calorie restricted dieting (which led to binge eating disorder) and following a "healthy" grain based diet most of my life. Now I have to eat a very restricted diet to repair the damage. Wouldn't prevention be easier? I think so.

MyChocolateDiet

I weaned myself off of caffeine over the course of a year.

SUGAR, however ---whole 'nother story. Whenever I quit that it's cold turkey.

It takes 3 days to start feeling okay without it, and the 3rd day is the worst:

1st day, you're all gung ho. So easy.
:indifferent: 2nd day, it's getting a little harder but still manageable. Will power comes into play.
:huh: 3rd day you will want to eat everything sugar or carbs and maybe even a pillow. Just don't.

Compensate with some cheese when it gets real bad. If you go over your cals 1 day, it's not gonna kill you, but starting over and over might. So just power through that 3rd day letting yourself be satisfied on other foods and for some reason one little inch of cheese has a magical effect on the perception of hunger, or carb cravings. On the 4th day you'll be like "sugar? what sugar?" And that's when carbs will be easier to handle. (complex carbs like brown rice, wheat breads/tortillas/etc.) You're home free. And on the 7th day he rested. LOLs. The end.


p.s. Keep in mind that after that a little sugar won't kill you or restart the cravings again, but a lot might. You will want to keep a very close eye on just how many sugars are in EVERYTHING (honey in wheat bread, sucrose in salad dressing, etc.), because if you get too sugary again, you'll have to go through all this to quit again. Personally, I see nothing wrong with sugar in moderation and I have some in my current diet. A former diet I did restricted sugar completely and that's how I got all this experience falling off and back on the sugar wagon repeatedly. Not fun.

andyisandy

Unless you have diabetes or another medical condition, there is no reason to track or limit your sugar intake. Sugar is a carb. Track your overall carbs.

Qft

yeah i agree with this.

I wholeheartedly disagree with this. Sugar causes insulin to be released quickly into the bloodstream. Insulin release promotes fat storage, thus weight gain. Sugar causes tooth decay. Sugar interferes with neurological processes - causes sleepiness, decreased short term memory and impairment of brain's ability to solve math problems, for instance. This all relates to complex processes that break down when sugar is eaten by the bacteria in your intestines. A study in a medical journal found that people who got >17% of their calories from sugar had higher levels of triglycerides, a type of fat in your blood. Triglycerides can cause heart disease. Triglycerides are formed when your body stores excess sugar (it gets changed into fat for storage). Behavioral issues including depression, can be worsened by high sugar intake. High sugar can increase your risk of yeast infection because yeast thrives in sugar environments. Cancer cells also love sugar and there is starting to be more evidence of connection between sugar and cancer risk. Carbs are not all alike.

yeah....no ::face palm::

bonniecarbs

That's a problem, I know. I was raised on sugar. No kidding, raised. That's how we ate in the Gulf and in New Orleans. This past year I have cut out all of the "bad carb" foods with sugar. I allow myself two glasses of sugar sweetened green tea a day. I don't miss the candy, soda, cakes, etc. Since I know I cannot cut out my tea, I am very satisfied just having that, and the calories in both glasses equal two slices of bread. Good luck to you.