Any tips for fighting off sugar cravings/emotional eating?

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  • mazmataz
    mazmataz Posts: 331 Member
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    Ah reading all of these carb/sugar binge posts is like scrolling through my brain. WE'RE NOT ALONE!!
  • mmipanda
    mmipanda Posts: 351 Member
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    If I feel like something really specific, I make a healthy version at home.

    Like the other day, for some reason I really wanted a thickshake from McDonalds. So I blended together some frozen banana, cocoa powder, almond milk & misc other stuff with ice. It tasted really similar, but not so sickeningly sweet (so better, imo), and it was only about 200 cals instead of 500+. craving satisfied without guilt or bloating.
  • Adamzf
    Adamzf Posts: 3
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    You need to go cold turkey on all sugars/junk food. The longer you go without, the less you will crave them. It's hard at first, but once you get over the hump, the craving literally disappear.

    Pretty much. At least until you can eat it in moderation. Some people can go with just giving themselves smalll amounts of it.. For most thats just gonna lead to you wanting more.
  • lydiaannepage
    lydiaannepage Posts: 172 Member
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    I give in to the sugar craving!!!

    But instead of a cupcake I make something like "fried" bananas (slice a banana, heat a non-stick pan on med-high heat with a small spray of cooking spray, cook the banana for a couple of mins each side, take off heat and put 1 tsp of water mixed with 1 tsp of honey on top of the bananas - let cool) it makes me feel like I got an AMAZing dessert without the guilt of a cupcake or mound of chocolate. Likewise a frozen banana put in the food processor with a little unsweetened almond milk makes an awesome "icecream". :happy:
  • madisonliddell
    madisonliddell Posts: 2
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    HUGE PROBLEM FOR ME TOO!
  • madisonliddell
    madisonliddell Posts: 2
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    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.

    This makes so much sense... I'd love to read some articles which delve into the science behind it...
  • babeontherun
    babeontherun Posts: 10
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    You need to go cold turkey on all sugars/junk food. The longer you go without, the less you will crave them. It's hard at first, but once you get over the hump, the craving literally disappear.

    This is the only thing that works for me.
  • allaboutthecake
    allaboutthecake Posts: 1,531 Member
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    Did I get this wrong....you are 6' tall, 31 yrs old, and your goal is to weigh 155 lbs??? :huh: :noway: :noway:

    Please correct me?:flowerforyou:
  • babeontherun
    babeontherun Posts: 10
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    Did I get this wrong....you are 6' tall, 31 yrs old, and your goal is to weigh 155 lbs??? :huh: :noway: :noway:

    Please correct me?:flowerforyou:

    That's in the normal range. My husband is 6' and 155 lbs and he looks perfectly healthy.
  • kikilita
    kikilita Posts: 91 Member
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    Sugar cravings STINK. I hate them!! I had it the worse with pop. Never been the biggest ice cream fan and dairy upsets my stomach. Also, IBS-- cakes and doughnuts generally upset my stomach (though I LOVE them, but now I always think of how upset my stomach will get and also will it be worth the extra weight I might gain from it). My killer is chocolate and peanut butter, omg, I LOVE chocolate chips with peanut butter-- to the point I will put up with the upset stomach the chocolate chips are gonna give me (dairy free one are waaaay too expensive). I finally got to a point where I would just pop popcorn and eat it when I craved chocolate chip and peanut butter. I know it sounds weird and the first couple days I probably had too much popcorn (but hey didn't eat half a bag of chocolate chips and three spoonfuls of peanut butter!) And from there, I would eat less popcorn-- probably been over two weeks now and I might eat half a bag of popcorn now and save the other for the next day to carry incase I get munchies throughout day.

    Also, started to just drink flavored water (crystal light) and green tea with some caffeine to ward off my pop cravings.
  • ehimass
    ehimass Posts: 92 Member
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    Thanks for all the replies and suggestions, I have read them all and have come away with some good ideas.

    I think it's not just the carbs for me, it's chocolate. Chocolate Cake, Chocolate cupcakes, and choclate candy bars are my kryptonite. I won't go to the stores that sell these anymore, nor will I visit the vending machines at the hotels on my business trips again. I know I must stop it or I will end up obese like I was before.

    I went cold turkey on pretty much all sweets for a long time but I think I know what might've caused my recent relapses. I started eating these "protein bars" called boundless nutrition oatmega bars. Each bar has 8g of sugar and 190 calories (14g protein, 23g carbs, 6g fat). I had just one per day for a long time, as a snack. Then I had a few days starting about a month ago where I went nuts on my stockpile of them and would eat 5-6 per day. Now I've graduated to the hard stuff - the cupcakes, candy bars etc.

    I think I need to replace the protein bars with grilled chicken or fish I can make at home and hopefully that will help keep the taste for sugary carbs out of my mind.

    Luckily today was a good day for me nutritionally and exercise wise....I'm on a 2 week business trip and I think if I can really focus and force myself to stay away from the sweets and carbs I can get back on track and get to my goal of 155 lbs and 10% body fat. It's going to to take a lot better dietary discipline than I've had lately though.

    As to why 1500 calories.....just trying to to cut down to 155 and that's about what MFP says I need to eat to lose 1.5 pounds per week. I'm trying to keep my protein high and am lifting heavy to try to minimize LBM loss. 1500 is a goal, not something I am able to do every day as this post is proof of. Maybe I should set a more realistic goal?
  • allaboutthecake
    allaboutthecake Posts: 1,531 Member
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    Am sorry....I got...nothin'. Guess still trying to wrap mah head 'round 155 lb. (Don't mind me...am tired)

    But can tell you, if you stick with a piece of deep, dark intense chocolate square, like Lindt is a good brand, or Godiva, it does have a satisfying savoring smoothness to it. If you can, look for Artisan Chocolatier in your town....they make brands like Lindt & Godiva taste like chocolate chips :laugh:

    Artisan Chocolates are tiny, so they pack a powerful intense flavor-infused punch.

    A trick I used to do when I wanted to go get a cheeseburger or a diet coke? I'd take those couple bucks and purchase a lottery ticket or a scratch ticket instead....along with a newspaper. Something about taking a quarter and scratching off those tickets while flipping thru a paper helped me to feel "satisfied" of NOT getting the cheeseburger or the diet coke. :wink:
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    Maybe I should set a more realistic goal?

    i think so.

    in fact, i think that if you were able to have a treat or two a day, you might be happier and able to control binges. and losing 1.5 lbs a week is tough, and usually only possible when you are a lot heavier. you look like you have a pretty small frame to begin with. are you certain about your ultimate weight goal?

    i love peanut m&m's. but instead of having a few bags a day, i'd buy the 1lb bag, and scoop a 1/4 cup in a baggie with some almonds and craisins, and i'd have a good trail mix that would satisfy my cravings.
  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
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    You can make healthy treats. There's a ton of recipes out there.. I can't handle a lot of sugary or fried foods. So I bought an oil less frying (fried chicken without the oil! Cant' go wrong!!) and I experimented with all kinds of recipes until I found low or no sugar ones that were like eating dessert and healthy. Heck i'm still experimenting. I will also eat a square of high percent dark chocolate. Try quest protein bars. .I love the brownie ones heated up, rolled flat and topped with natural peanut only pb! It's so good! You can also use the cinnamon roll ones, heat it,roll flat and top with plain greek yogurt mixed with nutmeg and cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice.. or whatever flavoring you like. I also discovered I like cottage cheese mixed with a little sugar free jam or protein powder.
    I've heard good thing about the cookies made from bananas and oats, but have not yet tried.

    I mean.. if you want sweets, but don't want to eat the sugar, just do a little research. there's a ton of healthy sweet tasting recipes out there. chocolate covered katie has awesome dessert recipes, but i'm unsure of sugar content. So you'd have to check. Skinny taste is another awesome site.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    Dude you lost 125 lbs. Way to go.

    Just don't buy them, if you know you can't stop at one. Or make healthier substitutions (how about a chocolate brownie protein bar, for example, instead of a chocolate cupcake?).
  • Cinloykko
    Cinloykko Posts: 117 Member
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    i have to battle the same thing. I am addicted to sugar and the cravings are INTENSE!!!

    Try not to even buy them.... if thats possible. I KNOW i will not have the willpower to not eat this type of stuff, so i try not to have it at all. (however, i am currently living at home with my family and they are constantly buying these things. in that case, i tell him to hide it from me)

    Think of sugar as your worst enemy... its like crack. once you have a little taste, you become hooked. other people say its all about willpower, but i think its so much more than that. its a real addiction!
  • dafydd_brown
    dafydd_brown Posts: 11
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    I eat a small amount of quite dark chocolate and that *sometimes* does the job. I don't like chocolate much darker than about 70% so I usually have a bar of this in the cupboard. Even when I want to eat loads of sugar I don't want to eat more than two lines (20g). This is still about 100 calories but better than eating a whole bar of milk chocolate. The other thing that can help when you want something sweet is to have a low calorie hot chocolate (if you don't mind stuff with sweeteners in it). Failing that, making sure that you're feeling full from the healthy meals you eat is very important for me. If I'm full up on cottage cheese and vegetables then I don't have any room for sugary rubbish!
  • dafydd_brown
    dafydd_brown Posts: 11
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    A trick I used to do when I wanted to go get a cheeseburger or a diet coke? I'd take those couple bucks and purchase a lottery ticket or a scratch ticket instead....along with a newspaper. Something about taking a quarter and scratching off those tickets while flipping thru a paper helped me to feel "satisfied" of NOT getting the cheeseburger or the diet coke. :wink:

    I don't mean to be a buzzkill or anything and maybe people can cope with this stratgy without going overboard but I don't think it's healthy to substitute one compulsive behaviour for another! I'm not sure that 'Gamble yourself thin' is the best advice even if that's not really what you meant!
  • soontobeskinnytbird
    soontobeskinnytbird Posts: 10 Member
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    I'm with you on this......totally. Ha ha. What I'm trying is to log everything really honestly on MFP. Previously if I gave in, I just stopped logging so it kind of helped me to forget and not face my issues. I am now logging everything (I know I won't do this forever but I need to at the start) and then really asking myself if the chocolate / wine / crisps / whatever were really worth the zillion calories I used up? The answer is usually no and I'm hoping I can eventually work this out BEFORE i eat the crap rather than AFTER.

    It's going to be a long haul but I'm not in it for the quick fix anymore.....:laugh:
  • femmecyclist
    femmecyclist Posts: 27 Member
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    It's true that carbs beget carbs and restricting food, making lists of safe and bad foods is a recipe for binging even on the "safe" foods (which seems to have happened with your protein bars). It's a tough road to lose and maintain, to have balance in your life. This is probably something you will struggle with your whole life.

    With regards to emotional eating, you need to figure out what you're trying to substitute food for. What needs are not being met. Are you lacking in your self care? Sometimes when I'm feeling low and hard done by I definitely think, hey, I deserve this latte, this cookie, this chocolate, because I've had a bad day. But there are other ways for me to meet those needs, to feel like I'm pampering myself or doing something I deserve just because - taking a hot bath with some candles, dropping into a hot yoga class. If you're lonely, recognize that feeling. Acknowledge it. It's okay to have feelings - I know this is going to sound totally cheesey but I definitely recognize how I have used eating and binging to dull those sensations, to stuff those feelings down and help ignore them. For me, binging is rarely about the food itself, and has everything to do with how everything else is going in my life. You can try all of those other things - the glasses of water, eating enough protein, not buying things that tempt you, cutting out sugar to cut back on cravings, but at the end of the day if you don't deal with the emotional aspect of binge-eating you will continue to binge.

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