Need serious help with SUGAR!!!!
Replies
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Hello!
I know what you mean - I CANNOT have snack foods around the house at ALL or I will eat the entire supply in a day or two (luckily my husband is the same way, so he doesn't have a problem with that). We just don't keep it in the house because we know the temptation is too great!
I used to buy and consume entire boxes of pop-tarts in one night. It's not that I would plan to eat the whole box - it would just sort of happen. When I would crave sugar, and I knew it was there, it was like I would get extreme anxiety about it - I couldn't calm down. And knowing that I had a box of sweet cereal in the cupboard? Or a bag of cookies? Forget about it! I could not calm down until I had eaten to the point of being sick. I knew then that was a problem, and it was a problem for a long time.
About 2 or 3 years ago, I finally realized something very important. You eat to LIVE - you don't live to EAT... I was living to eat. I realized that a HUGE amount of stress and anxiety that I felt in my everyday life was centered around food. Well that didn't make sense at all! Food is for survival - there are people who do not have the luxury of knowing where their next meal is coming from, and I am so lucky and blessed to know that I am not going to go hungry.
What I would suggest for you:
DO NOT STARVE YOURSELF - When you don't keep yourself satisfied, your body betrays you and wants quick energy ASAP (this means carbs - sugar) Filling up your belly with good foods will keep cravings down
WEIGH OUT YOUR OPTIONS - For example: you could either have a 6" subway sandwich OR two chocolate chip cookies for roughly the same amount of calories. The thing about it is - it is YOUR CHOICE - you can have EITHER, it's up to you! Knowing that you are in control when it comes to the choices is the best thing. There is no wrong answer. It is just "what would you rather have for the same amount?" One may be more filling, but maybe you would rather indulge. Totally fine!
KEEP SWEETS OUT OF THE HOUSE except for special occasions, and keep plenty of fruit around to satisfy your sweet-tooth in times of dire need (raspberries are great! Also granny smith apples with 2 tbsp. peanut butter - SO good!).
DO NOT DEPRIVE YOURSELF - But make your splurges count. AKA: DO NOT buy a box of pop-tarts and eat them alone at home in the dark. GO OUT FOR DESSERT INSTEAD! Have a delicious piece of chocolate cake and ENJOY EVERY BITE OF IT! Making yourself feel guilty about it will just add to the stress you already feel and make you crave MORE sugar.
BONUS: Share your dessert with a friend! It is a fun chat with someone you like AND only HALF the calories!
DRINK LOTS OF WATER! This will keep your stomach fuller. You won't feel you need to eat as much, and it will keep your body better balanced.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
Best of luck to you. You can do this.0 -
Studies have shown that sugar can be as addictive as drugs! You can google that. That being said, try to enjoy in moderation. Don't go cold turkey on it, or else any excuse can make you binge. treat yourself.. like I try to take one donut a month, a piece of chocolate(really tiny one) at the end of the day someday, three teaspoons of icecream when I crave it? It is really hard in the beginning, but slowly you get the hang of it, you'd be able to enjoy and stay in control as well.
Hope this helps!:flowerforyou:0 -
Studies have shown that sugar can be as addictive as drugs! You can google that. That being said, try to enjoy in moderation. Don't go cold turkey on it, or else any excuse can make you binge. treat yourself.. like I try to take one donut a month, a piece of chocolate(really tiny one) at the end of the day someday, three teaspoons of icecream when I crave it? It is really hard in the beginning, but slowly you get the hang of it, you'd be able to enjoy and stay in control as well.
Hope this helps!:flowerforyou:
Can you post said studies? inb4rodentstudies0 -
Studies have shown that sugar can be as addictive as drugs! You can google that. That being said, try to enjoy in moderation. Don't go cold turkey on it, or else any excuse can make you binge. treat yourself.. like I try to take one donut a month, a piece of chocolate(really tiny one) at the end of the day someday, three teaspoons of icecream when I crave it? It is really hard in the beginning, but slowly you get the hang of it, you'd be able to enjoy and stay in control as well.
Hope this helps!:flowerforyou:
Can you post said studies? inb4rodentstudies
Acg67 --> Watch the documentary Hungry for Change. It's on Netflix.0 -
Studies have shown that sugar can be as addictive as drugs! You can google that. That being said, try to enjoy in moderation. Don't go cold turkey on it, or else any excuse can make you binge. treat yourself.. like I try to take one donut a month, a piece of chocolate(really tiny one) at the end of the day someday, three teaspoons of icecream when I crave it? It is really hard in the beginning, but slowly you get the hang of it, you'd be able to enjoy and stay in control as well.
Hope this helps!:flowerforyou:
Can you post said studies? inb4rodentstudies
Acg67 --> Watch the documentary Hungry for Change. It's on Netflix.
I don't think Netflix qualifies as a "scholarly source"....0 -
Studies have shown that sugar can be as addictive as drugs! You can google that. That being said, try to enjoy in moderation. Don't go cold turkey on it, or else any excuse can make you binge. treat yourself.. like I try to take one donut a month, a piece of chocolate(really tiny one) at the end of the day someday, three teaspoons of icecream when I crave it? It is really hard in the beginning, but slowly you get the hang of it, you'd be able to enjoy and stay in control as well.
Hope this helps!:flowerforyou:
Can you post said studies? inb4rodentstudies
Acg67 --> Watch the documentary Hungry for Change. It's on Netflix.
With gems like this, "It’s not fat that makes you fat, it’s sugar that makes you fat."
LMAO, sounds like only the truly ignorant would get something from that propaganda0 -
Studies have shown that sugar can be as addictive as drugs! You can google that. That being said, try to enjoy in moderation. Don't go cold turkey on it, or else any excuse can make you binge. treat yourself.. like I try to take one donut a month, a piece of chocolate(really tiny one) at the end of the day someday, three teaspoons of icecream when I crave it? It is really hard in the beginning, but slowly you get the hang of it, you'd be able to enjoy and stay in control as well.
Hope this helps!:flowerforyou:
Can you post said studies? inb4rodentstudies
Acg67 --> Watch the documentary Hungry for Change. It's on Netflix.
Documentaries have agendas, and Hungry For Change is no different. It's not an unbiased literature review. Hungry For Change has been pretty thoroughly debunked.
Don't get your information from "documentaries." They are inherently highly biased. This applies to all documentaries. They're movies, not sciecne.0 -
Here you go:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2235907/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/connie-bennett/the-rats-who-preferred-su_b_712254.html
Here is also a detailed pdf: http://meagherlab.tamu.edu/M-Meagher/Grad Health Psyc 2012/Class 5 Addiction/Avena Food addiction review 2010.pdf
http://www.philmaffetone.com/sugar-addictioStudies have shown that sugar can be as addictive as drugs! You can google that. That being said, try to enjoy in moderation. Don't go cold turkey on it, or else any excuse can make you binge. treat yourself.. like I try to take one donut a month, a piece of chocolate(really tiny one) at the end of the day someday, three teaspoons of icecream when I crave it? It is really hard in the beginning, but slowly you get the hang of it, you'd be able to enjoy and stay in control as well.
Hope this helps!:flowerforyou:
Can you post said studies? inb4rodentstudies0 -
Here you go:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2235907/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/connie-bennett/the-rats-who-preferred-su_b_712254.html
Here is also a detailed pdf: http://meagherlab.tamu.edu/M-Meagher/Grad Health Psyc 2012/Class 5 Addiction/Avena Food addiction review 2010.pdf
http://www.philmaffetone.com/sugar-addictioStudies have shown that sugar can be as addictive as drugs! You can google that. That being said, try to enjoy in moderation. Don't go cold turkey on it, or else any excuse can make you binge. treat yourself.. like I try to take one donut a month, a piece of chocolate(really tiny one) at the end of the day someday, three teaspoons of icecream when I crave it? It is really hard in the beginning, but slowly you get the hang of it, you'd be able to enjoy and stay in control as well.
Hope this helps!:flowerforyou:
Can you post said studies? inb4rodentstudies
I think you forgot to mention that sugar can be as addictive as drugs in rodents, as that is what the links you've provided support.
From your very first link
"What this review demonstrates is that rats with intermittent access to food and a sugar solution can show both a constellation of behaviors and parallel brain changes that are characteristic of rats that voluntarily self-administer addictive drugs. '
So enlightening0 -
Here you go:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2235907/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/connie-bennett/the-rats-who-preferred-su_b_712254.html
Here is also a detailed pdf: http://meagherlab.tamu.edu/M-Meagher/Grad Health Psyc 2012/Class 5 Addiction/Avena Food addiction review 2010.pdf
http://www.philmaffetone.com/sugar-addictioStudies have shown that sugar can be as addictive as drugs! You can google that. That being said, try to enjoy in moderation. Don't go cold turkey on it, or else any excuse can make you binge. treat yourself.. like I try to take one donut a month, a piece of chocolate(really tiny one) at the end of the day someday, three teaspoons of icecream when I crave it? It is really hard in the beginning, but slowly you get the hang of it, you'd be able to enjoy and stay in control as well.
Hope this helps!:flowerforyou:
Can you post said studies? inb4rodentstudies
So there's some evidence that rats can display some elements of dependence on sugar. And fat.
So........0 -
I too have battled with sweets all my life. It is a habit, for me. It's like I have to have it. It makes me feel better. I am currently trying to work on it. I figure I am almost 30 years old, I don't have forever to work on this...I need some support, and you do too. You are not alone on this.0
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There is no end to arguments, I read a lot about this, forwarded from a friend studying genetics, PHD?
So, well, there can be speculations....that's a part of any new experiment..
Rodents have always been used to test medicines, lab experiments etc.
"Rodents are used as models in medical testing is that their genetic, biological and behavior characteristics closely resemble those of humans, and many symptoms of human conditions can be replicated in mice and rats. "Rats and mice are mammals that share many processes with humans and are appropriate for use to answer many research questions:.
^^that?0 -
There is no end to arguments, I read a lot about this, forwarded from a friend studying genetics, PHD?
So, well, there can be speculations....that's a part of any new experiment..
Rodents have always been used to test medicines, lab experiments etc.
"Rodents are used as models in medical testing is that their genetic, biological and behavior characteristics closely resemble those of humans, and many symptoms of human conditions can be replicated in mice and rats. "Rats and mice are mammals that share many processes with humans and are appropriate for use to answer many research questions:.
^^that?
So if you starve humans for roughly 3-5 days then give them ad lib access to sugar it might have addictive properties? Sounds like something that happens in the real world0 -
Like the studies on rats that have been given tumours, and then "scientists" stuff them full of GMOs, and nothing else, for weeks and then publish an alarmist weak correlation study that implies there's a connection between GMOs and the fact these rats exhibited tumour growth?0
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There is no end to arguments, I read a lot about this, forwarded from a friend studying genetics, PHD?
So, well, there can be speculations....that's a part of any new experiment..
Rodents have always been used to test medicines, lab experiments etc.
"Rodents are used as models in medical testing is that their genetic, biological and behavior characteristics closely resemble those of humans, and many symptoms of human conditions can be replicated in mice and rats. "Rats and mice are mammals that share many processes with humans and are appropriate for use to answer many research questions:.
^^that?
And yet the vast majority of drugs that get past the rodent stage never pan out in human testing. Odd, that.0 -
FWIW, I also have the sweet tooth from hell (I could eat jelly beans all day long, and wash 'em down with Coke). For some reason, 'tho, a fruit smoothie seems to do a pretty good job of satisfying whatever it is in me that craves sweets. I'll usually have a fruit smoothie for breakfast, and if another after dinner if I'm craving dessert. Can't say it would work for you, but something to keep in mind.0
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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...
Yep, yep. That was an awesome movie, btw.0 -
It would be too easy to say that one's willpower is lacking their ability to keep their hands out of the cookie jar, wouldn't it? Maybe if we sat some Twinkies does in the center of a bear tap. .. I would bet one could resist.0
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Studies have shown that sugar can be as addictive as drugs! You can google that. That being said, try to enjoy in moderation. Don't go cold turkey on it, or else any excuse can make you binge. treat yourself.. like I try to take one donut a month, a piece of chocolate(really tiny one) at the end of the day someday, three teaspoons of icecream when I crave it? It is really hard in the beginning, but slowly you get the hang of it, you'd be able to enjoy and stay in control as well.
Hope this helps!:flowerforyou:
Can you post said studies? inb4rodentstudies
Acg67 --> Watch the documentary Hungry for Change. It's on Netflix.
I don't think Netflix qualifies as a "scholarly source"....
Wut? I got my PhD from Netflix documentaries. I is a smarty!0 -
There is no end to arguments, I read a lot about this, forwarded from a friend studying genetics, PHD?
So, well, there can be speculations....that's a part of any new experiment..
Rodents have always been used to test medicines, lab experiments etc.
"Rodents are used as models in medical testing is that their genetic, biological and behavior characteristics closely resemble those of humans, and many symptoms of human conditions can be replicated in mice and rats. "Rats and mice are mammals that share many processes with humans and are appropriate for use to answer many research questions:.
^^that?
And yet the vast majority of drugs that get past the rodent stage never pan out in human testing. Odd, that.
And yet they still test on rodents. There's a big difference between saying a test is inconclusive for how a substance affects humans and saying a test is completely worthless or irrelevant to how a substance affects humans. If it was the latter, they would stop testing on rodents. In short, there are plenty of tests that do suggest at least the potential for addiction-like behavior with regard to sugar. Does this mean sugar should be considered equivalent to heroin? Of course not. But at the same time, such studies shouldn't be dismissed outright simply because they involve rodents.0 -
It would be too easy to say that one's willpower is lacking their ability to keep their hands out of the cookie jar, wouldn't it? Maybe if we sat some Twinkies does in the center of a bear tap. .. I would bet one could resist.
It may sound easy, but learning for oneself and doing it isn't actually easy. (especially the first 3 weeks)0 -
With gems like this, "It’s not fat that makes you fat, it’s sugar that makes you fat."
LMAO, sounds like only the truly ignorant would get something from that propaganda
So wait, you think that dietary fat is worse than sugar?0 -
With gems like this, "It’s not fat that makes you fat, it’s sugar that makes you fat."
LMAO, sounds like only the truly ignorant would get something from that propaganda
So wait, you think that dietary fat is worse than sugar?
Yes that is exactly what I meant. Wait, how did you even draw that conclusion from my statement?0 -
With gems like this, "It’s not fat that makes you fat, it’s sugar that makes you fat."
LMAO, sounds like only the truly ignorant would get something from that propaganda
So wait, you think that dietary fat is worse than sugar?
Why does any particular macronutrient have to be "bad"?0 -
I was curious and did a search for sugar addiction. I like to read. First search that caught my attention was a sight that would allow me take a quiz to find out if I am addicted to sugar.Took quiz and answered honestly. After wards I was told that I didn't have an addiction to sugar(DUH), but here is the funny part, a book was recommended and that I could benefit from it's knowledge on sugar consumption. Didn't I just take a quiz and didn't it say I was not an addict? So confused right now:huh:0
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With gems like this, "It’s not fat that makes you fat, it’s sugar that makes you fat."
LMAO, sounds like only the truly ignorant would get something from that propaganda
So wait, you think that dietary fat is worse than sugar?
Yes that is exactly what I meant. Wait, how did you even draw that conclusion from my statement?
Your dismissal of that quote seems to suggest you think that fat is more harmful than sugar. Sorry if I misinterpreted.0 -
Why does any particular macronutrient have to be "bad"?
I don't consider sugar to be a macronutrient. In my opinion, it should be avoided as much as possible in it's refined forms. When taken in via fruit and whole foods that have fiber and other health benefits, it's fine in moderation.0 -
My ex had zero self control sometimes. I mean, if we went to a bar, I could have one or two drinks and he would not stop chugging down the alcohol until he was stinking drunk. Then he would get mad when it was time to go. Usually cursed at the bartender when he told him it was closing time. What a jerk!
When we got home, that was when he really got mean. Don't even want to go into what the rest of the night included.
People said he was addicted to alcohol, but that is BS because he could go for several days without it and he wouldn't DIE. I mean, seriously, all he needed to do was learn to drink in moderation. I mean, how hard is it just to have one or two drinks then quit? He would get so mad at me because I could have only one or two drinks, or even not drink at all if I wanted to. It just wasn't that hard to do. Guess I just have more self control than he does.
Going cold turkey without it would be a bad idea, because that would just make him want it more. We all know that when you deprive yourself of something you enjoy, it just causes cravings for it.
If he was truly addicted to alcohol, then his body would die if he stopped drinking, right?
How hard is it to learn to have something in moderation?
Even losing 3 wives, kids, several jobs, car, license, etc, was not enough motivation for him to learn moderation.
Guess some people are just too weak minded. 0 -
Had a sweet tooth my entire life. . . .so I relate. . . when Im craving sugar. . .I go for Oranges, apples, pineapple instead. . . they have the sugar but are healthier and less calories, plus fiber and nutrients that cookies, cakes don't have.0
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