How to curb sugar cravings?

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Does anyone have any ideas for curbing my sugar cravings? That is the biggest problem that I face with my weight loss. I never used to care so much about sweets until I got pregnant 3 years ago and ever since I can't go through the day without almost binging on any sugar I can get my hands onto. I try not to buy too many temptations so they aren't in my reach at home but I go to work and there is always cookies or cake or doughnuts and no matter how hard I try to either ignore it completely or just have "a little" I almost always go overboard. I don't want to have these unbearable cravings anymore because after I eat sugar I start to crave other things that are horrible for me. It's a terrible cycle. If I get through a day where I stay away from the sweets it's a pretty good day because I don't really give in to anything else and I feel great. For some reason though the next day I'm right back to my bad habits. Please help!
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Replies

  • angiechimpanzee
    angiechimpanzee Posts: 536 Member
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    Stop eating sugar. Tell yourself that every day you go without eating sugar it becomes easier and easier.

    I have the same problem. But staying away has helped tremendously. Even if I do give in sometimes now, I'm much quicker to bounce back. Get it out of your system as much as possible & you'll stop craving it, I guarantee you.
  • EndlessSacrifice
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    Try to incorporate at least two servings of fruit into your diet each day. For me, eating fruit definitely helps me crave sugary cookies, cakes, brownies, etc. much less often. Treat yourself to one baked good each week. Don't buy it from the store. Bake it yourself. Websites like chocolatecoveredkatie.com have tons of healthy treats that you can indulge in without feeling too guilty. Don't cut sugar out completely. That will just have you craving it even more, and it'll eventually result in a binge.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    Reducing overall sugar intake and eliminating all processed sugars for about 3 weeks should help. After that, keep them at a very moderate level. That 3 weeks is hard but it can break the cycle for many.
  • today6212
    today6212 Posts: 86 Member
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    honey crisp apples are really sweet, juicy and crunchy
  • idateacher2
    idateacher2 Posts: 5 Member
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    You may be caught in a nasty insulin cycle. Eat sweets, insulin floods, fat is stored, triggers cravings for more, repeat. Detox from the carbs. Then what works well for me is alternating 15 net carb snacks with 30 net carb meals. Of course, I am smack in the middle of a sugar binge so what do I know, other than I need to follow my own damn advice!
  • EndlessSacrifice
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    You could also allow yourself one or two pieces of dark chocolate per day if you're craving chocolate. Dark chocolate is high in antioxidants and is much healthier than milk chocolate/white chocolate. Hershey's makes dark chocolate nuggets which are about fifty calories each.
  • julimonster
    julimonster Posts: 243 Member
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    Stevia drops instead of sugar, I had a rabid sweet tooth that I thought would be my diet-undoing until I started using it
  • Clew
    Clew Posts: 910 Member
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    People scoff at this but I truly think sugar is an addictive substance. Not in the same sense as nocotine or heroin maybe, but the more you eat the more you want. And it takes some real guts and determination to "give it up". As others have said, if you can just stay away from sugar and sweeteners (yes, sweeteners too) for a few weeks you'll be surprised how much better you'll feel and how much easier it will be to refuse it.

    Best wishes! :flowerforyou:
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    You could also allow yourself one or two pieces of dark chocolate per day if you're craving chocolate. Dark chocolate is high in antioxidants and is much healthier than milk chocolate/white chocolate. Hershey's makes dark chocolate nuggets which are about fifty calories each.

    Substituting one sugar for another doesn't eliminate cravings. Same with the earlier suggestion about Honey Crisp Apples. The person who posted regarding the sugar detox knows what they are talking about. That is the only way proven to eliminate the cravings and not just manage them with substitution.
  • amann1976
    amann1976 Posts: 742 Member
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    wish i could help but i am about to head out to cvs to buy bags of candy to aide in my addiction.


    btw nobody is perfect you are not going to be able to give up everything nor should you have to... i watched a youtube video with this dude who is ripped and he was talking about what he ate and how often he ate blah blah blah and he said he has 2 golden oreos with his meals.

    of course i cant find the video right now

    so just try to take everything in moderation and you should be ok.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    People scoff at this but I truly think sugar is an addictive substance. Not in the same sense as nocotine or heroin maybe, but the more you eat the more you want. And it takes some real guts and determination to "give it up". As others have said, if you can just stay away from sugar and sweeteners (yes, sweeteners too) for a few weeks you'll be surprised how much better you'll feel and how much easier it will be to refuse it.

    Best wishes! :flowerforyou:

    There is some research that shows that an abundance of sugar activates the same area of the brain that recreational drugs do.
  • mercymarque
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    Try eating fruit to cruve ur sugar craving... Use your will power and just say no. Once you see the changes in your body you will thank yourself. I have this problem and I have children to that can have sweets... I buy healthy snacks 100 cal fruit snacks and cakes. I'm to the point where I don't need them. I may have a resse peanut egg which is 90 calories... not to deprive myself
  • lieselLalor
    lieselLalor Posts: 169 Member
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    Thanks everyone. Fortunately for me I'm one of a small group of people who doesn't really like chocolate. It's everything else that I love. I think the only hope for me is to detox the sugar. Any more detailed ways of going about that?
  • Lunarokra
    Lunarokra Posts: 855 Member
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    This is me too, i crave sweets badly.

    Thanks all for the good advice.
  • JraeL91
    JraeL91 Posts: 38
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    When I get those crazy cravings I make a smoothie, or help my self to a naked juice (like a smoothie but with added nutrients and already to go in a bottle...get at any store). Since they tend to come along at work making snacks at home ahead of time helps, putting individual servings in zip-lock snack baggies, and always drinking a full 8 oz of water with each snack. Using an artificial sweetener may help wean off the sweets. Drinking any tea or black coffee. Or brushing my teeth when I get craving helps because I don't like the taste of mint mixed with my foods. :)-hope this helps.
  • cgfol1
    cgfol1 Posts: 179 Member
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    I cut all sugars out of my diet four weeks ago. The only way I could see it working was to go completely cold turkey. That meant no table sugar, no natural or artifical sweeteners, no honey.

    I check all things I buy at the supermarket for sugar and if they contain sugar I dont buy. Its amazing what it is included in i.e. sauces, peanut butter, rice/corn cakes, cereals etc.

    At the start it was really hard, I am at university so a study day was always accompanied by a bag of lollies or something else sweet. I found that eating carrots of all things has been my saviour. Some days I will have four. And the longer you go without sugar the sweeter they taste!

    I have lost weight, my skin is amazingly clearer and I have so much energy. Plus I dont ever experience the post-sugar high slump
  • josteponmulehair
    josteponmulehair Posts: 1 Member
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    Fruit. Be sure to eat fruit every day-BEFORE you get the sugar craving.
  • demhareis
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    STEVIA! You must discover the wonderfulness of stevia. It is a natural sweetner from the Stevia plant that does not add a glucose load to your blood sugar levels, nor does it put additional burden on your liver like artificial sweetners. (Do look it up on Wikipedia if you want to know more about how it works. It's like, metabolic brilliance.)

    You can use it as you use regular table sugar (sucrose) in drinks, baking and more.

    Ditch any pre-processed foods, like storebought anything, and make your own. You can control how much is in the house, and you can control the nutrition content. Make a batch of about four oatmeal cookies with Stevia. Use these for when you get the munchies.

    We all get cravings from time to time. I get horrible cravings around That Time of the Month. The secret to defeating them is having a game plan to deal (not ignore, not fight) with the cravings. Have the proper foods on hand that will ease your cravings without blowing out your blood sugar.

    My nutritionist taught me this trick: Whenever the craving for something sweet hits me, I make a hot chocolate out of a tablespoon of cocoa powder, a spoonful or two of stevia and light milk (well, 100ml of milk, and one and a half cups of water). It's big, it's filling for the next half hour or so, and it's a perfect treat to help fight the cravings. By the time I start craving again, it's a regular mealtime (I eat every 2-3 hours or so, small, light meals), and I can indulge in normal food.
    ____

    Sugar is addictive, due to the high fructose content. Fructose is not processed like the beneficial glucose our bodies and brains need, but is processed through the liver like alcohol. The body does trigger cravings for it.

    This is a biological remnant from the days when fructose marked nutritious foods (like fruits and vegetables, etc), and the body came to recognise what was good for it. But then along came manufacturing and refining and the removal of all things nutritious, and the addition of sugar (including fructose, which is present in sucrose or table sugar), which made the body want to crave it more and more.

    Get rid of processed foods from your life. Avoid refined sugars, even honey, and source the majority of your nutrition from whole foods, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains. If you must use something to sweeten, use stevia.
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
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    Does anyone have any ideas for curbing my sugar cravings? That is the biggest problem that I face with my weight loss. I never used to care so much about sweets until I got pregnant 3 years ago and ever since I can't go through the day without almost binging on any sugar I can get my hands onto. I try not to buy too many temptations so they aren't in my reach at home but I go to work and there is always cookies or cake or doughnuts and no matter how hard I try to either ignore it completely or just have "a little" I almost always go overboard. I don't want to have these unbearable cravings anymore because after I eat sugar I start to crave other things that are horrible for me. It's a terrible cycle. If I get through a day where I stay away from the sweets it's a pretty good day because I don't really give in to anything else and I feel great. For some reason though the next day I'm right back to my bad habits. Please help!

    Like others have said here. It's hard. I had to stop sugar for health reasons (low thyroid and adrenal fatigue) and started on this quest several years ago. It's hard at first but it gets easier. I still have a sweet tooth like crazy and stevia has been my life saver. Sometimes I use products like sugar free maple syrup (on occasion) to add a richness to certain foods. I've used a dab of raw honey on toast with cinnamon, vanilla stevia in yogurt, english toffee stevia in coffee and tea, etc. Some things I totally want more after I'm done but tell myself I can have more tomorrow.

    I still eat my treats on occasion and I just got back from vacation where I had desserts, but I'm back and having none no problem. Once you get adjusted it's no big deal, but I've found since I'm not used to sugar I can't have it on an empty stomach or it makes me feel yucky, like I want to flush it all out with a gallon of water. I find it's best to have protein first now, and do like grandma always said, dessert after dinner only! LOL Also I find that even though I always want more it's best to stick with one serving or it makes my feel yucky. I always feel like I need to flush it out with water now anyway.

    You will really notice a difference in how you feel once you adjust. I feel so much better not having it as part of my normal diet. Just a treat now and then only.

    Best of luck to you! -Bobbie
  • shinkalork
    shinkalork Posts: 815 Member
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    yea go with fruits..like melons (all), banana, etc... they are sweet but it's Fructose so it's good sugar...STILL you need to reduce your sugar like many said before me...So use fruits to help you take less and less....
    It worked for me...Was huge fan of M&M's etc.... and I don't even go near it anymore...