How to beat your sugar cravings?

I love sugar! LOVE it! MMMM,I could brown sugar by the spoonful! Sugar, candy, syrups, cookies, candy coating, MMM

I just say 'no." I still crave sugar, honestly, I just learned that having these cravings won't kill me so I can say no to them. But I still let myself have as many sweet treats as fit in my eating plan!
I'd rather eat the sweets (just a little less) and have to say no to some of the cravings than to go 'NO more sugar ever' so my body eventually stops the cravings.

Some sugar usually cures the craving ....

I"ve had success with the South Beach Diet, which is a low-carb plan. I'm not saying you should do SBD or even that it would work for you, but I suggest getting a copy of the book (your local library probably has it) and read what it has to say about carbs and sugar, and maybe even attempt to follow Phase I. The key to the first phase of SBD is getting the dieter off the carb/sugar roller coaster. You feel you need carbs so you eat something sweet, it gives you a rush, but then you crash and crave carbs and the cycle goes on all day. That has to stop. The SBD book has a good discussion of it, and even if you decide not to try Phase I, reading about it can help you understand what's going on in your system.

If you do try Phase I, one thing it doesn't really stress is hydration. Make sure you stay hydrated, it helps.

sugar does not make you fat...

eating excess calories over maintenance does...

assuming you have no underlying medical condition you can eat sugar and I would not worry about tracking it..

Yep, this. If you really want it, just make room for it in your calories and eat it.

(edited for typo)

sugar does not make you fat...

eating excess calories over maintenance does...

assuming you have no underlying medical condition you can eat sugar and I would not worry about tracking it..

Absolutely. And carby/sugary foods are often very calorie dense. Everything in moderation, but understand that the makeup of sugary foods makes moderation difficult.

When I really need a sweet fix, I'll have a square of Ghirardelli dark chocolate. One square is only about 65 calories but it seems to really satisfy my sweet tooth. And it's not enough calories to create one of those blood sugar spikes that leads to another craving in an hour.

This might not be the answer you want but...just stop eating sugar all together!

I was caught in a cycle of yoyo dieting for years and the final solution was to stop eating refined sugar and most simple carbs all together. It took me 4 days of feeling pretty terrible, but eventually my body detoxed itself and I began to crave nutritious food like salad, chicken, veggies and fruit. For the first week or so of eating a whole food or non processed diet it may take some time to get over food cravings. I drank lots of water and took Tylenol for headaches. I eventually permitted myself to chew sugar free gum because I was desperate to quit smoking. After a couple months off smokes I quit the gum. I am now free of all refined sugar and artificial sweeteners. I still eat plenty of fruit and good portions of complex carbs like brown rice and starchy veggies. I never cheat on the sugar and I don't crave junk food at all. I sleep great and have energy off the charts. I've lost about 50 pounds in 7 months. I don't even consider going back I feel so good.

I don't really feel like I'm dieting. I just feel like I've finally discovered how to take care of myself. Good luck!

I am just going to say no to this one...

So sugar makes you not want to eat chicken???

Oh and FYI carbs have sugar in them...

Again, I urge the original poster to read the South Beach Diet book. Phase one is pretty much what the first quote says: eliminate all carb/sugar dense foods for a couple weeks. Some people get into that roller coaster habit of feeding their carb cravings, crashing, and feeding them over and over again. Carbs in themselves are not bad. But certain foods give the blood a sugar rush, followed by a sugar crash, and it becomes a tough cycle to break. One way to do it is just to break altogether from the foods that contribute to that rush-crash-rush-crash cycle, then reintroduce carbs in a more controllable manner.

I would not cut it out, just cut it down, I have and still am losing weight. Sugar is not evil. Sugar is in practically everything so you cant cut it out completly, you can chose what you want to eat or not. Honey and Stevia are good substitutes for sugar if you need something sweet...

Maybe have some nuts or dark choccie on hand, justa few squares may help.

Yes, absolutely. Find foods that have only limited sugar, or almost no sugar, and snack on those. But beware you don't feed a different craving on a rush-crash basis.

For me it was like smoking. The longer I went the easier it got. I have cravings, but sugar isn't one of them. We've had the same small bag in our pantry seemingly forever.

Sugar and sweets are my one downfall. I literally have no trouble controlling any other kind of foods. Sugar also stalls my weight loss, even back in my calorie counting days when I use to eat well within a range that should have kept me losing. I can eat more food, and lose, when I cut out sugar. Just the way my body has always worked.

I'll tell what worked for me finally, after struggling since I was a kid.

Abstinence. I had to get to the point of eliminating sugar completely, and eventually all fake sugars that tasted sweets. Deprive your body of something long enough and it will stop screaming. I once went an entire year without consuming sweets.

I now know that I can take, or leave, them. I am not afraid of them anymore, which has made all the difference in the world. I just finally took them off the "forbidden" list, which actually went a long way toward eliminating my tendency to fall into weeks and months worth of hoarding mentality, as I always had the "start tomorrow" mentality; I'd better eat them now or I will never be able to eat them again.

I keep sweets now as something I'll allow myself everyone once in awhile, but when I do I don't control myself AT ALL. I enjoy them to my heart's content, but make sure to get right back on track into my abstinence when I'm finished. I'll have cravings for a day or two, and them my body just stops craving sugar all together.

I did not, and at this point will not, do sweets in moderation. Too much of an achilles heel now and I've accepted that. It's all or nothing with me, and I've just become comfortable, and very proficient, and working within my own personal limitations.