Question about sugar addiction

Bump I want to know the answer to that question.

I am a sugar junkie. I don't have any scientific data to spew, however, when I started my diet in May I simply stopped eating super sugary deserts/junk food/candy, etc. Prior to that I was eating massive amounts of cookies, candy, donuts, anything with SUGAR. After about a week of "withdrawals" like horrible headaches, the cravings pretty much stopped, UNTIL on Halloween I ate a Snickers fun size candy and then another one and another one and another. After that I threw all the candy away that was in the house as I now know that when it comes to super concentrated sweets I cannot do the moderation thing. I don't do anything close to low carb though, just skip the junk and try not to add too much sugar when baking/cooking. I can't imagine that with the super low amount you are talking about that you will have problems. I still go over my sugar allowance on MFP every single day, it's just that now I do it with "real" food.

Carbs beget carbs. Eating a sugary dessert spikes your blood insulin level while the sugar is processed, but then you run out of sugar to process and still have high blood insulin levels. This insulin finds nothing for it to bond with, which causes your body to think that you are low on sugar (because in our ancestral environment there weren't such things as cupcakes), which makes you crave sugar so you go in search of something sweet. Basically it is millions of years of evolution insisting that you must be starving because your insulin levels are higher than the available sugars suggest and thereby messing up your diet plans.
It used to be that fat and sugar were rare and our ancestors had to work hard to get them, which burned more calories. Our bodies learned to crave them so that we would be willing to expend the effort to climb that tree and get the sweet fruit, or hunt down the heavier (larger) fat carrying animals. Things like cupcakes and Snickers bars are super-stimuli. They push all of our ancestral craving buttons, but offer none of the nutrition that fat and sugar used to represent (healthy meat and nutritious fruits). One cupcake can be upwards of 500 calories. Do you have any idea how much meat that is? How many apples or oranges?
I tell you all of this because knowing it has helped me to say no to those things. It doesn't fix the cravings, but it gives me a mental anchor to hold on to when those cravings try to pull me into the local bakery.

I too am a sugar binger. That's not true of everyone, apparently, but for me it's all or nothing. When it comes to sugar (the white stuff, HFCS are the worst for me), there is no such thing as moderation. I have found it is better to stay completely away from it at all times. I find that even a small taste can set cravings in motion and then it takes a couple of days to clear out of my system. The only sugar I eat now is in whole fruits, vegetables and a wee bit of starchy foods like sweet potatoes and rice. Works for me. (Eating this way brought my fasting glucose down from 120 --not good-- to 73 --good-- so I am no longer considered pre-diabetic.)
Only you know how much you can have without starting those cravings.

Bump, very interesting.

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"My main reason for trying to avoid sugar is that it causes binging for me. I have never binged on fruit or vegetables however so I feel pretty safe to eat those. I guess I'm not sure if it's the insulin spike that makes me want to eat a whole packet of cookies and then look for more, or if it's just the taste of the food that renders me incapable of stopping (or very close to incapable).

The trigger foods for me are things like bread, pasta, cookies, cake, pizza etc. I know that there is no way I will ever be able to eat just one oreo!"
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I completely relate to this. I have been dealing with it for years, and in my case, I do NOT think it's the insulin spike that makes me want to binge on whole bags of cookies or loaves of bread. I think it's mental. I've gone low GI before, and it hasn't made much of a difference. In fact, restricting myself in that way, only made things worse. Just my experience, though. It's a really nice idea, but all it did was make me realize that my binging was not a result of what I was or wasn't eating throughout the day. I also don't think I was addicted to sugar. I actually think I was addicted to binging and the feeling of stuffing myself full of food.The fact that the sugar tasted so good, was just an added bonus. I had been doing it for so long (since I was a kid), it began to feel normal, and I couldn't end a day without doing it. It took a lot of mental retraining and discipline, to move forward and break the cycle. I really recommend the book "Brain Over Binge."

I do think you should try a low GI plan of eating - I am only telling you my experience, and clearly it works for many people!

I've found that for me it doesn't matter the source of the carbohydrate just the total amount that determines whether I have a normal appetite or not. Low GI, "good carbs" and the like had no impact for me -- total carbs is what I have to focus on. So those three teaspoons of sugar might be absolutely fine. Try it for at least three weeks and if you still have uncontrollable eating lower your carbs again and repeat.

When I started low carb I decided to try and keep my carbs under a 100g but that wasn't low enough. I aim to keep them around 20g - 70g now and I don't have any problems with that level of carbohydrate.

I find that artificial sweeteners trigger sugar cravings, also when my total calories are too low. So I am trying to eliminate artificial and refined sugar. Plus I have increased my calories over the last few weeks by 300 per day. So far cravings and binging have stopped.

I can relate! For me its all or nothing. About a yr and a half ago I dropped 100 lbs post baby #1, primarily by cutting out the processed foods including those treats. It was baby #2 that started up those cravings again and ate sugar snacks for about 9 mos. Now im working on adjusting my habits back, and wow is it hard! For me, I surround myself with lots of fruit options whe im craving sugar. Pomegrante helps when im craving candy because its soooo sweet. Wish you the best!

I'm with Ian_Stuart. Eating concentrated carbs leads to eating more concentrated carbs.

You will reset after week or so. Stay with it. Lots of protein and fiber.

You've figured it out. Make it happen.

bump

I completely relate to this. I have been dealing with it for years, and in my case, I do NOT think it's the insulin spike that makes me want to binge on whole bags of cookies or loaves of bread. I think it's mental. I've gone low GI before, and it hasn't made much of a difference. In fact, restricting myself in that way, only made things worse.

This is spot-on, and it's taking the issue in a direction that a lot of people tend not to look. Carbs are a great source of ready fuel, and the majority of people are able to eat them just fine. A lot of people who struggle with eating them in moderation tend to see the problem as being with the sugars themselves instead of their relationship to those foods. Greatly restricting trigger foods can even exacerbate the problem. If cutting out the sugars from your diet doesn't seem to fix the problem and it's truly interfering with your diet/lifestyle, if this is a true addiction, consider seeing a specialist who treats compulsions.

Yeah, not my experience. But if this is yours, okay.

ETA: actually, I don't see a lot of "I totally binged on bacon" or "OMG I just ate 25 pieces of sausage, I couldn't stop myself" posts.
But again, ymmv.

I went through an emotional time and starting emotional eating, which turned into binging. I still haven't developed a good relationship with food since. I wish I didn't mess things up. I was doing so well and making so much success until then. Now, I cannot seem to remember how it used to be possible. I cannot control myself around sweets. Once I have one, I have to have them all.