Sugar addiction....

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  • ajaxe432
    ajaxe432 Posts: 608 Member
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    I may not be physically addicted to it but if feels like it has a strong hold on me. I know this might sound super dramatic but it's the best way I can describe it. I don't drink much soda but I love cookies, cakes, donuts etc. I will do great for a few days then splurge on something and then it's all downhill again. I have gained control over all other aspects of my eating except this part. I am just looking to find people who can relate to what I am going through.

    I know that the change starts with me...
    Sugar is not the answer(unless you are taking it 3 pounds a day)! Stay within 20% deficit on your TDEE and you will be fine!
  • ajaxe432
    ajaxe432 Posts: 608 Member
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    When did you finally realize you had a problem?

    When it started affecting your work, when you sold your TV for a sugar cube, or when you gave a bj for a sugar packet?

    I'm not proud of some of the things I've done for a sugar cube.
    I dont know why, this one got me! Well played!!!
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
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    I may not be physically addicted to it but if feels like it has a strong hold on me. I know this might sound super dramatic but it's the best way I can describe it. I don't drink much soda but I love cookies, cakes, donuts etc. I will do great for a few days then splurge on something and then it's all downhill again. I have gained control over all other aspects of my eating except this part. I am just looking to find people who can relate to what I am going through.

    I know that the change starts with me...

    Get rid of the "all or nothing" mentality. Having a few cookies every day and hitting your calorie goal can go a long way toward controlling the splurges.

    Yep. Severely restricting anything will likely lead to a binge.
    If you think that it is truly binge eating you should see a professional.

    ^ We have a winner!
  • ajaxe432
    ajaxe432 Posts: 608 Member
    Options
    You stop eating it. You say no. And you don't vilify it. It's not the sugar's fault. Sugary foods aren't bad, and they aren't the devil.

    I had to stop eating sugar for about a month before the cravings stopped. I cut WAY down on bread and tried my best to eliminate all processed foods. I had a piece of fruit after every meal to retrain my brain and cravings that after dinner I didn't want ice cream, I wanted a peach. When I do want something sweet, I eat a piece of fruit. When I want something salty, I have some almonds or cashews.

    Yesterday I had a small slice of cake, and I have no cravings for more. It was enough for me.

    Ultimately, you stop eating sugar the same way that you stop being overweight. You have self control and say 'no'.

    Um, how did you stop eating sugar but ate fruit?

    Have you ever heard someone ask 'Oh god. I'm so addicted to fruit! How do I stop eating it?!' No, because it's the processed sugar that tends to have addictive qualities. They're two different kinds of sugar, so no need to be the 'but its all sugar' guy.
    what kind of "addictive " qualities of you referring to?

    There's a chemical that companies put in processed sugar to keep us hooked. Science.
    For my knowledge, can you direct me to a source, or the source you used to determine this theory?
  • AprilMae1975
    Options
    I may not be physically addicted to it but if feels like it has a strong hold on me. I know this might sound super dramatic but it's the best way I can describe it. I don't drink much soda but I love cookies, cakes, donuts etc. I will do great for a few days then splurge on something and then it's all downhill again. I have gained control over all other aspects of my eating except this part. I am just looking to find people who can relate to what I am going through.

    I know that the change starts with me...

    Get rid of the "all or nothing" mentality. Having a few cookies every day and hitting your calorie goal can go a long way toward controlling the splurges.

    I like this.....I need self control. One usually turns into two or three. Doing that a few times a day is the bad part.
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
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    Go cold turkey from refined sugars.

    Or

    Reduce the amount you eat each day.

    Either will work.
  • mag131
    mag131 Posts: 542 Member
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    When did you finally realize you had a problem?

    When it started affecting your work, when you sold your TV for a sugar cube, or when you gave a bj for a sugar packet?

    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:


    :laugh:

    I really shouldn't laugh at it, because there was that one time I really wanted a Klondike Bar..
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
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    When did you finally realize you had a problem?

    When it started affecting your work, when you sold your TV for a sugar cube, or when you gave a bj for a sugar packet?

    I'm not proud of some of the things I've done for a sugar cube.

    Once I found myself crawling around a horse stall trying to find one that had been left behind. That's when I traded my sugar addiction for alcoholism because it was more dignified.
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
    Options
    When did you finally realize you had a problem?

    When it started affecting your work, when you sold your TV for a sugar cube, or when you gave a bj for a sugar packet?

    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:


    :laugh:

    I really shouldn't laugh at it, because there was that one time I really wanted a Klondike Bar..

    Pssss! You. Yea, you.

    I got Klondikes.

    In my freezer.

    What kind ya like?
  • maillemaker
    maillemaker Posts: 1,253 Member
    Options
    I may not be physically addicted to it but if feels like it has a strong hold on me. I know this might sound super dramatic but it's the best way I can describe it. I don't drink much soda but I love cookies, cakes, donuts etc. I will do great for a few days then splurge on something and then it's all downhill again. I have gained control over all other aspects of my eating except this part. I am just looking to find people who can relate to what I am going through.

    I know that the change starts with me...

    I can relate 100% and there is no need to apologize for how you feel. As you note, food addiction probably is not physical (physiological) but there are most definitely food behavioral addictions.

    Behavioral addictions have been slow to make it into the DSM but binge eating is now in DSM-V. So now is gambling, and Internet and sexual addictions are now listed in the appendix.

    '"The new ASAM definition makes a departure from equating addiction with just substance dependence, by describing how addiction is also related to behaviors that are rewarding. This is the first time that ASAM has taken an official position that addiction is not solely "substance dependence." This definition says that addiction is about functioning and brain circuitry and how the structure and function of the brains of persons with addiction differ from the structure and function of the brains of persons who do not have addiction. It talks about reward circuitry in the brain and related circuitry, but the emphasis is not on the external rewards that act on the reward system. Food and sexual behaviors and gambling behaviors can be associated with the "pathological pursuit of rewards" described in this new definition of addiction.

    We all have the brain reward circuitry that makes food and sex rewarding. In fact, this is a survival mechanism. In a healthy brain, these rewards have feedback mechanisms for satiety or 'enough.' In someone with addiction, the circuitry becomes dysfunctional such that the message to the individual becomes ‘more’, which leads to the pathological pursuit of rewards and/or relief through the use of substances and behaviors. So, anyone who has addiction is vulnerable to food and sex addiction.[19]"


    - American Society of Addiction Medicine. (2011). DEFINITION OF ADDICTION: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS. http://www.asam.org/pdf/Advocacy/20110816_DefofAddiction-FAQs.pdf

    This behavior has run in my family for years. I remember growing up hearing my mother joke about food saying, "If some is good, more is better!" It's exactly the way I have approached food my whole life.
  • Bigjuicyhog
    Bigjuicyhog Posts: 61 Member
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    It isn't an addiction until you have snorted a line of sugar off of the Kool Aid Man's *kitten*.
  • JoyeII
    JoyeII Posts: 240 Member
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    There's no such thing. Just get your diet figured out and fit in moderate amounts of foods you enjoy.

    Not "addiction" per se, but sugar dependence has certainly been proven. http://www.princeton.edu/pr/news/02/q2/0620-hoebel.htm
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    I need help overcoming my sugar addiction. I would love tips from anyone who has been through this and broke the addiction.

    It probably isn't really an addiction so much as a habit. I have a pretty major sweet tooth and generally crave something sweet after lunch and dinner. I also have a hard time not eating certain things if they're in my house and with other things, if I have that first taste I want more and more.

    So, I don't keep those things in my house at all (and if I HAVE TO have them there, I avoid that first taste). For the little sweet craving, I learned to substitute. After lunch pretty much every day, I have six squares of Green & Black's 85% cocoa dark chocolate with some peanut butter (optional). It's the ONLY dark chocolate I can stand. It isn't as bitter as others, but still not a lot of sugar. And it's so rich that that little bit is more than enough.

    I end every evening with a fruit smoothie:

    1 cup blueberries
    1/2 cup each of raspberries and blackberries
    1 banana
    1 Tablespoon Peanut Butter & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams
    Ice

    Blend and top with LIGHT whipped cream. 16 grams of fiber and a ton of vitamins. And so yummy.
  • scottaworley
    scottaworley Posts: 871 Member
    Options
    I may not be physically addicted to it but if feels like it has a strong hold on me. I know this might sound super dramatic but it's the best way I can describe it. I don't drink much soda but I love cookies, cakes, donuts etc. I will do great for a few days then splurge on something and then it's all downhill again. I have gained control over all other aspects of my eating except this part. I am just looking to find people who can relate to what I am going through.

    I know that the change starts with me...

    Get rid of the "all or nothing" mentality. Having a few cookies every day and hitting your calorie goal can go a long way toward controlling the splurges.

    I like this.....I need self control. One usually turns into two or three. Doing that a few times a day is the bad part.

    Honestly, it's starting to sound like disordered eating. I would definitely talk to a counselor about it.
  • mag131
    mag131 Posts: 542 Member
    Options
    When did you finally realize you had a problem?

    When it started affecting your work, when you sold your TV for a sugar cube, or when you gave a bj for a sugar packet?

    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:


    :laugh:

    I really shouldn't laugh at it, because there was that one time I really wanted a Klondike Bar..

    Pssss! You. Yea, you.

    I got Klondikes.

    In my freezer.

    What kind ya like?

    Whoa...where'd my clothes just go?!?

    Caramel pretzel...name your price.
  • scottaworley
    scottaworley Posts: 871 Member
    Options
    You stop eating it. You say no. And you don't vilify it. It's not the sugar's fault. Sugary foods aren't bad, and they aren't the devil.

    I had to stop eating sugar for about a month before the cravings stopped. I cut WAY down on bread and tried my best to eliminate all processed foods. I had a piece of fruit after every meal to retrain my brain and cravings that after dinner I didn't want ice cream, I wanted a peach. When I do want something sweet, I eat a piece of fruit. When I want something salty, I have some almonds or cashews.

    Yesterday I had a small slice of cake, and I have no cravings for more. It was enough for me.

    Ultimately, you stop eating sugar the same way that you stop being overweight. You have self control and say 'no'.

    Um, how did you stop eating sugar but ate fruit?

    Have you ever heard someone ask 'Oh god. I'm so addicted to fruit! How do I stop eating it?!' No, because it's the processed sugar that tends to have addictive qualities. They're two different kinds of sugar, so no need to be the 'but its all sugar' guy.
    what kind of "addictive " qualities of you referring to?

    There's a chemical that companies put in processed sugar to keep us hooked. Science.
    For my knowledge, can you direct me to a source, or the source you used to determine this theory?

    I read it on a blog somewhere
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
    Options
    There's no such thing. Just get your diet figured out and fit in moderate amounts of foods you enjoy.

    Not "addiction" per se, but sugar dependence has certainly been proven. http://www.princeton.edu/pr/news/02/q2/0620-hoebel.htm

    Did you even bother to read the article?
  • AprilMae1975
    Options
    I need help overcoming my sugar addiction. I would love tips from anyone who has been through this and broke the addiction.

    It probably isn't really an addiction so much as a habit. I have a pretty major sweet tooth and generally crave something sweet after lunch and dinner. I also have a hard time not eating certain things if they're in my house and with other things, if I have that first taste I want more and more.

    So, I don't keep those things in my house at all (and if I HAVE TO have them there, I avoid that first taste). For the little sweet craving, I learned to substitute. After lunch pretty much every day, I have six squares of Green & Black's 85% cocoa dark chocolate with some peanut butter (optional). It's the ONLY dark chocolate I can stand. It isn't as bitter as others, but still not a lot of sugar. And it's so rich that that little bit is more than enough.

    I end every evening with a fruit smoothie:

    1 cup blueberries
    1/2 cup each of raspberries and blackberries
    1 banana
    1 Tablespoon Peanut Butter & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams
    Ice

    Blend and top with LIGHT whipped cream. 16 grams of fiber and a ton of vitamins. And so yummy.

    Great ideas....thank you :)
  • ajaxe432
    ajaxe432 Posts: 608 Member
    Options
    You stop eating it. You say no. And you don't vilify it. It's not the sugar's fault. Sugary foods aren't bad, and they aren't the devil.

    I had to stop eating sugar for about a month before the cravings stopped. I cut WAY down on bread and tried my best to eliminate all processed foods. I had a piece of fruit after every meal to retrain my brain and cravings that after dinner I didn't want ice cream, I wanted a peach. When I do want something sweet, I eat a piece of fruit. When I want something salty, I have some almonds or cashews.

    Yesterday I had a small slice of cake, and I have no cravings for more. It was enough for me.

    Ultimately, you stop eating sugar the same way that you stop being overweight. You have self control and say 'no'.

    Um, how did you stop eating sugar but ate fruit?

    Have you ever heard someone ask 'Oh god. I'm so addicted to fruit! How do I stop eating it?!' No, because it's the processed sugar that tends to have addictive qualities. They're two different kinds of sugar, so no need to be the 'but its all sugar' guy.
    what kind of "addictive " qualities of you referring to?

    There's a chemical that companies put in processed sugar to keep us hooked. Science.
    For my knowledge, can you direct me to a source, or the source you used to determine this theory?

    I read it on a blog somewhere
    Cool, thank you.