Need serious help with SUGAR!!!!
Replies
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I have no problem resisting sweets. If I had to cut out refined sugar for a month (not that I would), I could do it with minimal irritation. It's the salty things that I have trouble staying away from. I love salt!
I like salty mixed with sweet. :flowerforyou:0 -
Sounds like we all need to open a dictionary and look up addiction.
Well there's your problem: you're getting your information about addictions and psychology from a dictionary.
Open up a copy of the DSM V and start reading.
I googled DSM V and food addiction and found this. Perhaps you need to read the latest edition.
"
DSM-V Acknowledges Food Addiction
2013/08/18 admin
DSM-5 CoverThis past May, The American Psychiatric Association unveiled its updated Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V). The inclusion of Binge Eating Disorder as a diagnostic category bodes well for the eventual recognition of food addiction as a substance use disorder in future editions of the manual.
The following is an excerpt:
“Binge Eating Disorder:
A. Recurrent episodes of binge eating. An episode of binge eating is characterized by both of the following:
a. recurrent episodes of binge eating, in which binge eating is defined as eating in a discrete period of time, (e.g. within a 2-hour period) an amount of food that is definitely larger than what most people would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances, and
b. a sense of lack of control over eating during the episode (e.g. a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating.).
B. Three of the following:
a. Eating much more than normal.
b. Eating until feeling uncomfortably full.
c. Eating large amounts of food when not physically hungry.
d. Eating alone because of feeling embarrassed by how much one is eating.
e. Feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed or very guilty afterwards.
C. Marked distress regarding binge eating.
D. The bingeing occurs as least once a week for 3 months.
E. The binge eating is not associated with the recurrent use of inappropriate compensatory behavior as in bulimia nervosa and does not occur exclusively during the course of bulimia nervosa or anorexia nervosa…..
Specify current severity:
The minimum level of severity is based on the frequency of episodes of binge eating (see below). The level of severity may be increased to reflect other symptoms and the degree of functional disability.
Mild: 1-3 binge-eating episodes per week.
Moderate: 4-7 binge-eating episodes per week.
Severe: 8-13 binge-eating episodes per week.
Extreme: 14 or more binge-eating episodes per week.”1
Health professionals familiar with food addiction, as well as self-assessed food addicts, will immediately notice that many, possibly a large majority, of cases of food addiction fulfill all the characteristics of Binge Eating Disorder and that most late- and final-stage food addicts display severity equivalent to “severe” or “extreme” Binge Eating Disorder. In the introduction to the Feeding and Eating Disorder section of the DSM-5, this is acknowledged:
“Some individuals with disorders described in this chapter report eating-related symptoms resembling those typically endorsed by individuals with substance-use disorders, such as strong craving and patterns of compulsive use. The resemblance may reflect the involvement of the same neural systems, including those implicated in regulatory self-control and reward in both groups of disorders. However, the relative contributions of shared and distinct factors in the development and perpetuation of eating and substance use disorder remain insufficiently understood.” (DSM-5, p 329)
This recognition of food as a substance-use disorder in the diagnostic manual is of extreme importance. It gives clinicians encouragement to look for a psycho-socially caused eating disorder, a biochemically caused food addiction, or both. It also means that in the treating of Binge Eating Disorder, both the traditional treatment for eating disorder (i.e. therapy, mindfulness training, and medication) and traditional addictive-,model treatments (i.e., abstinence, education about chemical dependency and preparation for 12-Step-type aftercare) should be covered by health insurance reimbursement as appropriate to the clinician’s diagnosis. This principle obviously applies equally where binge-eating co-occurs with anorexia and/or bulimia. Here too, the binge eating may have psychodynamic roots, be caused by biochemical addiction or both.
These conclusions align completely with the observations of Dr. Charles O’Brien, chairman of the Substance Use Work Group of the DSM-5. As we reported earlier, in his letter to the Food Addiction Institute, Dr. O’Brien wrote:
“We share your interest in understanding how eating behaviors can take on characteristics that strongly resemble the behavior of individuals who abuse substances such as cocaine. It is likely that this resemblance reflects the fact that neurobiological systems involved in processing of reward are disturbed in both disorders. The problem is that, at present, the precise nature of these disturbances and how the neurobiology of eating disorders resembles and differs from the neurobiology of substance-use disorders is unknown. We, and the members of our Work group, wholeheartedly endorse research to understand this important overlap.” (foodaddictioninstitute.org. July 2012)
We replied that The Food Addiction Institute favors introducing food as a Substance Use Disorder on an experimental basis – as Binge Eating disorder was published in the DSM-IV-TR – to encourage clinical and scientific experimentation. Meanwhile, we encourage clinicians to look not only for psycho-social, trauma-based eating disorders but also for biochemical cravings that may be caused by consumption of a specific food or foods. Each needs to be treated differently, and the most complex cases often satisfy criteria for both psycho-social eating disorders and food addiction.
American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, pp. 350-352. Arlington, VA, American Psychiatric Association, 2013. [↩]"0 -
Fancy the pants off :laugh:
Okay, so I'm secretly binging and Channing Tatum walks in, yes, I would stop and I would hide it! Why? How embarrassing is that? Now if I were 125 lbs and binging, I don't know if I would be as embarrassed.
Right. What Mr Tatum does is to bring you consciously back into the moment and you realise "I don't want to do this right now."
What this tells us is that if you feel a compulsion to eat you can take a step back consciously, stop and say "this isn't what I want to do." However what is also important is that you say to yourself that you make the choice not to do so and understand what the reward is for pursuing that course of action (higher self esteem, better mood, better energy etc) rather than the "reward" you get from binging. Over time you will create an aversion to binging and replace it with an attraction to more psoitive outcomes.
This is a (very) simplified version of one method you can use to get binging under control depending on its severity.0 -
"Yes, you can get addicted to sugar, sweet foods, and white-flour products (which your body responds to as if they were sugars). This addiction is physiological and affects the same biochemical systems in your body that are affected by addictive drugs like morphine and heroin.
You can actually get "high" on sugar. Eating it can make you feel euphoric immediately. If you don't have your regular sugar "fix," you can experience withdrawal symptoms, such as irritability, headaches, and other flu-like symptoms. Your body can become physiologically dependent upon the effect the sugars have on you."
Here is the link to the rest of the article: http://www.radiantrecovery.com/addicted.htm0 -
OMG!! I am so glad that I read this post and all of the replies! I too am addicted to sugar and need to find ways to cut out my sugar habit!!!
I once read that I could substitute "sugar" with honey or agave....Then I found out that Honey is the LAST thing that a diabetic should have.....
Artificial sweetners......no thanks! I tried Truvia and actually liked the taste of it. Then I stopped and tried getting back on it but now I can't stand the taste of it especially in my coffee.
I can do unsweet tea (hot or cold) but I need to add sweetner to my my coffee.....
My loves: Milk Chocolate, KK Glazed Doughnuts, Homemade Pound Cake, Oreos, Chips Ahoy, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Cream Puffs, Brownies, Ice Cream.....like I really can go on.....:blushing:0 -
It only takes 21 days to form a habit...stop eating sugar cold turkey and by day 21 you won't even crave them anymore! That's what I've been doing and it's definitely working
I am going to do this!
The idea that a habit takes 21 days to break comes from a self-help book. It's not rooted in any scientific study.
Studies have actually shown, depending on one's personality, it can actually take between 30 and 75 days for this to happen (breaking or building a new habit), with 66 days being the average. But even then, you don't have to do it for 66 consecutive days.
http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/hbrc/2012/06/29/busting-the-21-days-habit-formation-myth/0 -
But if someone think it's an addiction, so what. Who are we to say what is or isn't? I know for a fact that I get the same feeling from sweets as I did from cocaine, pure pleasure. Can't stop at one line, can't stop at one cookie.
I think people who suffer from binge eating / compulsive over eating absolutely deserve to be treated with compassion and empathy. It can be a horrendously hard struggle to overcome. It is also certainly true that there is some degree of overlap, from a behavioural aspect, between it and addiction.
However, clarifying it isn't an addiction is important because if you do not classify it properly you send people down the wrong path when it comes to techniques to recover from it or make the path unnecessarily long or complex.
I think that is why you posted this. You are looking for ways to eliminate/reduce cakes, cookies, candy from you diet. You have been given advice on the social, mental, and physical reasons why this is hard to do. I applaud your effort to get junk food out of your diet. For what ever reason when you eat something high in fat, sugar, and salt you want more or it not less. The trick is to find something else so you avoid them in the first place easier said than done. Please do not be hard on yourself. You are not alone in this difficulty. This is a marathon not a sprint.
Addiction implies loss of control or powerlessness to overcome unless it is through abstinence in the main. The ability to overcome binging does not require abstinence at all (although short term avoidance can be useful) and people very much do have power to control it - in fact it is critical that people understand that they have the power to control their compulsions rather than their compulsions having power to control them when recovering.
That is why I mentioned before that it is spectacularly good thing sugar is not an addiction given how prevalent it is in modern food.
Funny you mention this. I know I have the power to control my compulsions. I have done it before in 2008 and 2009, gave up sweets for Lent for 40 days! Haven't been able to do it since, tried but always gave up.
I think you posted this because you know how hard it is to give up cookies, cake, and candy. You are looking for ideas and support on how to do this. I applaud you in you effort. You have realized that when you eat something high in fat, sugar, and salt you want more not less of these. Moderation does not work for you with these foods. Now how are you going to come up with plans to avoid or handle these foods when you cannot avoid them . What have others done to avoid these foods? Some of the posts do give you ideas. Good luck. I know you can do this.0 -
Fancy the pants off :laugh:
Okay, so I'm secretly binging and Channing Tatum walks in, yes, I would stop and I would hide it! Why? How embarrassing is that? Now if I were 125 lbs and binging, I don't know if I would be as embarrassed.
Right. What Mr Tatum does is to bring you consciously back into the moment and you realise "I don't want to do this right now."
What this tells us is that if you feel a compulsion to eat you can take a step back consciously, stop and say "this isn't what I want to do." However what is also important is that you say to yourself that you make the choice not to do so and understand what the reward is for pursuing that course of action (higher self esteem, better mood, better energy etc) rather than the "reward" you get from binging. Over time you will create an aversion to binging and replace it with an attraction to more psoitive outcomes.
This is a (very) simplified version of one method you can use to get binging under control depending on its severity.
So I need to take a step back and discount all the voices in my head that tell me to indulge. It's what I do daily but the voices always win.0 -
But if someone think it's an addiction, so what. Who are we to say what is or isn't? I know for a fact that I get the same feeling from sweets as I did from cocaine, pure pleasure. Can't stop at one line, can't stop at one cookie.
I think people who suffer from binge eating / compulsive over eating absolutely deserve to be treated with compassion and empathy. It can be a horrendously hard struggle to overcome. It is also certainly true that there is some degree of overlap, from a behavioural aspect, between it and addiction.
However, clarifying it isn't an addiction is important because if you do not classify it properly you send people down the wrong path when it comes to techniques to recover from it or make the path unnecessarily long or complex.
I think that is why you posted this. You are looking for ways to eliminate/reduce cakes, cookies, candy from you diet. You have been given advice on the social, mental, and physical reasons why this is hard to do. I applaud your effort to get junk food out of your diet. For what ever reason when you eat something high in fat, sugar, and salt you want more or it not less. The trick is to find something else so you avoid them in the first place easier said than done. Please do not be hard on yourself. You are not alone in this difficulty. This is a marathon not a sprint.
Addiction implies loss of control or powerlessness to overcome unless it is through abstinence in the main. The ability to overcome binging does not require abstinence at all (although short term avoidance can be useful) and people very much do have power to control it - in fact it is critical that people understand that they have the power to control their compulsions rather than their compulsions having power to control them when recovering.
That is why I mentioned before that it is spectacularly good thing sugar is not an addiction given how prevalent it is in modern food.
Funny you mention this. I know I have the power to control my compulsions. I have done it before in 2008 and 2009, gave up sweets for Lent for 40 days! Haven't been able to do it since, tried but always gave up.
I think you posted this because you know how hard it is to give up cookies, cake, and candy. You are looking for ideas and support on how to do this. I applaud you in you effort. You have realized that when you eat something high in fat, sugar, and salt you want more not less of these. Moderation does not work for you with these foods. Now how are you going to come up with plans to avoid or handle these foods when you cannot avoid them . What have others done to avoid these foods? Some of the posts do give you ideas. Good luck. I know you can do this.
Yes, thank you. I am looking for a lot of support. I can lose 10lbs easy in one month from refraining from these foods. I don't know why I keep going back.0 -
If you cannot just eat a small portion of sugary things then you need to give them up. This is what I have done, I am trying to retrain my eating, the only sweet things I have are sugar free jelly, low fat yoghurt and fruit, other than that I don't tempt myself, as one taste makes you crave more. So after two weeks without, I don't crave it anymore, but when I do fancy something sweet I reach for a sugar free jelly or a piece of fruit. I make the sugar free jellies up four at a time and keep them in the fridge for when I need them. Good luck.0
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I love cookies. I can't buy any snacks or they'll be gone the same night. The fat-free sugar free ice creams not to bad if you want to try that. IDk, just don't buy it!0
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sugar is addictive, thats is proven by the oreos study0
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You have to step back and think about what you REALLY want. Do you want to eat all that junk right now or do you want to be slim & healthy in the near future? It's like saving money you can spend all your money the day you get it and be broke till next pay or you can put half away & start saving for a goal - vacation, retirement or whatever. It's all about choices. It's your choice whatever you choose you have to answer to yourself regarding the consequences.0
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So I need to take a step back and discount all the voices in my head that tell me to indulge. It's what I do daily but the voices always win.
This tells me you either have a deprivation mindset going on, don't feel like you have a free or valid choice to eat what you desire out of fear, have elevated them to the status of "forbidden fruit" thereby giving them artificial power or have a perfectionist mindset (I cannot eat a single one or I have failed.)
You will do well with a structured approach such as Overeaters Anonymous or the techniques outlined in Kathryn Hansen's "Brain over Binge" or one of Gillian Riley or Josie Spinardi's books.
I am confident though that you can get this under control.0 -
So I need to take a step back and discount all the voices in my head that tell me to indulge. It's what I do daily but the voices always win.
That's because you use addiction as an excuse for lack of willpower.0 -
Reading through the comments I see so many different options avaiable for people that are prone to like sugar..ALOT. I can only speak for myself as I have no evidence to back up theories one way or another...just experiance.
I struggle with sweets every day. I try to avoid them because it is so very difficult to limit them for me. I have eaten a 90% dark chocolate bar in it's entirety ( you know the ones with like 4 servings) while thinking it did not taste all that great ( love dark chocolate usually just not this one)...anyway I have gone through the bakery section at the grocery store and literally experienced physical symptoms of my heart racing, my saliva increasing, my mind fighting as to weather or not to pick up the ..donuts, cake, cupcakes, cookies, does not matter what it is, I usually want this. I have called friends while in the section to get me out of there. I know that sounds absolutely insane, but it is true, I think I even smell better when I am the bakery section (not a bakery mind you, the low quality ones often in local grocery stores) so no the quality does not have to be there. I can not tell you if this is addiction or not, what I can tell you is that when I eat said products my mood is lifted, I feel such stress relief and a calmness. Eating sweets just feels good to me, it physically and emotionally effects me.
I know that I don't seem to be able to limit sweets when I am around them so it is easier for me to just avoid them. However I have done some things to give me the sweet I so often desire, because if I don't, I end up trying to replace and eat lots of other things, none of which helps. So you can avoid completely and the cravings will subside but you have to be diligent, never having one thing touch your lips that has sugar, I also added artificial sweeteners (did this for a year and lost alot of weight), but lets face it, this is not realistic to live your life typically. I will replace sweets with frozen banana's put in a magic bullet with hershey's special dark cocoa and it seems to curb the cravings without the sugar and I don't feel bad. I also use protein powder and that can help my cravings.
Good luck, I don't think there is any one perfect piece of advice you must find your own way. Read everyone's comments as it looks like there are lots of great comments and make something that works for you...Good luck, I hope you find something that works, as for me it is a daily struggle that sometimes I win and sometimes I don't but I hope to never stop trying.0 -
So I need to take a step back and discount all the voices in my head that tell me to indulge. It's what I do daily but the voices always win.
This tells me you either have a deprivation mindset going on, don't feel like you have a free or valid choice to eat what you desire out of fear, have elevated them to the status of "forbidden fruit" thereby giving them artificial power or have a perfectionist mindset (I cannot eat a single one or I have failed.)
You will do well with a structured approach such as Overeaters Anonymous or the techniques outlined in Kathryn Hansen's "Brain over Binge" or one of Gillian Riley or Josie Spinardi's books.
I am confident though that you can get this under control.
It's interesting you mention "perfectionist" mindset. I am like that with documenting my calories as well. I'm constantly starting over or looking for better ways/methods of documenting. I am only this way when it comes to dieting.0 -
Which both are still laced with sugar. "Addicition" isn't your issue. Lack of control with sugar calories are.Right now I'm replacing the sugar with fruit and honey.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
Which both are still laced with sugar. "Addicition" isn't your issue. Lack of control with sugar calories are.Right now I'm replacing the sugar with fruit and honey.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Oh, stop that making sense thing! :laugh:0 -
sugar is addictive, thats is proven by the oreos study
There is no "oreos study." There's a press release about an experiment saying that rats appear to prefer eating Oreos about as much as they like getting picked up and injected with heroin.
Of course, the study is unpublished. No data has been released. No experimental methods. No statistical analysis. No peer review.
Just a press release from a professor.0 -
Okay let me ask this:
A person who is addicted to say cocaine or heroin, would use dirty needles or unsanitary conditions even if it meant harming their life to get their fix.
If I sprinkled sugar on dog poo, and a sugar "addict" didn't get their fix today, you think they'd eat it? Apparently there are some who are comparing sugar "addiction" to that of cocaine and heroin, so speak up.
Waiting to hear from "addicts" that would.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
Fancy the pants off :laugh:
Okay, so I'm secretly binging and Channing Tatum walks in, yes, I would stop and I would hide it! Why? How embarrassing is that? Now if I were 125 lbs and binging, I don't know if I would be as embarrassed.
Right. What Mr Tatum does is to bring you consciously back into the moment and you realise "I don't want to do this right now."
What this tells us is that if you feel a compulsion to eat you can take a step back consciously, stop and say "this isn't what I want to do." However what is also important is that you say to yourself that you make the choice not to do so and understand what the reward is for pursuing that course of action (higher self esteem, better mood, better energy etc) rather than the "reward" you get from binging. Over time you will create an aversion to binging and replace it with an attraction to more psoitive outcomes.
This is a (very) simplified version of one method you can use to get binging under control depending on its severity.
So I need to take a step back and discount all the voices in my head that tell me to indulge. It's what I do daily but the voices always win.
In all seriousness, you might want to consider therapy. If you can't overcome the compulsions on your own, there's no shame in enlisting the help of an expert whose job is to help people change their behaviors.0 -
It's interesting you mention "perfectionist" mindset. I am like that with documenting my calories as well. I'm constantly starting over or looking for better ways/methods of documenting. I am only this way when it comes to dieting.
That's because traditional "dieting" is next to useless as a weight loss tool and dieting mentality sets people up to fail. All it does is make people fatter over time.
Arbitrary restriction, deprivation, fear, guilt and shame are poor foundations to build and long and healthy relationship with food or your body. It just doesn't work over the long term.0 -
Really IMO to fix this sugar "addiction" all one needs to do is eat this:
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
Okay let me ask this:
A person who is addicted to say cocaine or heroin, would use dirty needles or unsanitary conditions even if it meant harming their life to get their fix.
If I sprinkled sugar on dog poo, and a sugar "addict" didn't get their fix today, you think they'd eat it? Apparently there are some who are comparing sugar "addiction" to that of cocaine and heroin, so speak up.
Waiting to hear from "addicts" that would.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Now there's a very interesting way of looking at it. I'm Impressed.0 -
Really IMO to fix this sugar "addiction" all one needs to do is eat this:
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Throw in some toast and Sunnyside up eggs and I'm so in!0 -
Fancy the pants off :laugh:
Okay, so I'm secretly binging and Channing Tatum walks in, yes, I would stop and I would hide it! Why? How embarrassing is that? Now if I were 125 lbs and binging, I don't know if I would be as embarrassed.
Right. What Mr Tatum does is to bring you consciously back into the moment and you realise "I don't want to do this right now."
What this tells us is that if you feel a compulsion to eat you can take a step back consciously, stop and say "this isn't what I want to do." However what is also important is that you say to yourself that you make the choice not to do so and understand what the reward is for pursuing that course of action (higher self esteem, better mood, better energy etc) rather than the "reward" you get from binging. Over time you will create an aversion to binging and replace it with an attraction to more psoitive outcomes.
This is a (very) simplified version of one method you can use to get binging under control depending on its severity.
So I need to take a step back and discount all the voices in my head that tell me to indulge. It's what I do daily but the voices always win.
In all seriousness, you might want to consider therapy. If you can't overcome the compulsions on your own, there's no shame in enlisting the help of an expert whose job is to help people change their behaviors.
I've already started 0 -
"Yes, you can get addicted to sugar, sweet foods, and white-flour products (which your body responds to as if they were sugars). This addiction is physiological and affects the same biochemical systems in your body that are affected by addictive drugs like morphine and heroin.
You can actually get "high" on sugar. Eating it can make you feel euphoric immediately. If you don't have your regular sugar "fix," you can experience withdrawal symptoms, such as irritability, headaches, and other flu-like symptoms. Your body can become physiologically dependent upon the effect the sugars have on you."
Here is the link to the rest of the article: http://www.radiantrecovery.com/addicted.htm
I wish that were true. Sugar is a lot cheaper than street drugs. :laugh:0 -
Okay let me ask this:
A person who is addicted to say cocaine or heroin, would use dirty needles or unsanitary conditions even if it meant harming their life to get their fix.
If I sprinkled sugar on dog poo, and a sugar "addict" didn't get their fix today, you think they'd eat it? Apparently there are some who are comparing sugar "addiction" to that of cocaine and heroin, so speak up.
Waiting to hear from "addicts" that would.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Great point, niner!0 -
If I sprinkled sugar on dog poo, and a sugar "addict" didn't get their fix today, you think they'd eat it? Apparently there are some who are comparing sugar "addiction" to that of cocaine and heroin, so speak up.
That reminds me of the scene in the film "Trainspotting" when Renton drops his drugs down the toilet in a club which hasn't been cleaned in an eternity and he goes about retrieving them...0
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