SUGAR ADDICT about to go COLD TURKEY -Advice?

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  • warriorprincessdi
    warriorprincessdi Posts: 617 Member
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    I am terrible sugar lover. Candy? Yes please! Baked goods? Pass them my way! Chocolate? Oops, sorry... didn't mean to bite your fingers there....


    I usually crave the sweets in the evening, after my supper and after my logging is done. Its a nagging little voice that creeps in anytime around 830pm or after... It whispers ice cream promises and sugary white lies that I an not strong enough to resist most nights. I have been a junk-junkie my whole life. Always.

    I cannot help that I love sweets.... but I can improve the way I show that love! I am embarking on a challenge I set up for myself, it starts today and ends on June 18th. I have many fitness goals laid out and carefully planned for each day. I have food goals as well. For the next 62 days, I am going 'sugar free'.. In such a sense as no candies, cookies, cheesecakes or ice cream. No cappuccino, no pepsi... Basically I am cutting out my crutch-foods. I am hoping this will result in me losing the insane sugar cravings I currently have.

    HOW CAN I KEEP THE SUGAR CRAVING AT BAY!? Do you have any go-to snacks you fall back on when you really want a naughty dessert? I'm looking for some tips or ideas. Anything that will keep me from daydreaming of a caramilk bar in the evening!

    A zero carb diet sounds miserable, best of luck. If you're not going zero carb, you're not going sugar free...

    HOW MANY TIMES MUST I SAY IA M NOT GOING COMPLETELY SUGAR FREE??? Just cutting out the damn bars and icecream and crap :(
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    For the first three days allow yourself to eat your cravings away -- just not with carbs of any sort, even fruit. If it's the end of the day and you're going crazy eat eggs, meat and cheese whatever works just don't give in to the sugar cravings. After those first few days you're golden. The cravings will be greatly reduced and manageable. Give it a few weeks and they're completely gone -- at least on a low carb diet they are.

    I've been there and it's such a freaking relief not to be obsessed with food and uncontrollable cravings anymore it's worth the effort. Just get past the first few days however you need to. Best wishes.

    So much ignorance. Eggs have sugar, cheese has sugar. Don't eat any carbs, then suggests eating carbs. LOL
  • warriorprincessdi
    warriorprincessdi Posts: 617 Member
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    you know if you're eating fruit you're still eating a ton of sugar right? and still taking in sugar if you have any dairy? or most carbs? in all probability you're not going cold turkey on sugar at all, just excess sweets

    EXCESS SWEETS honey, you hit the nail on the head. I don't want to cut out all sugar. I want healthy sugar, in moderation... so I can try to shake this excessive compulsion I have.

    Am I thank different, that unique of a snowflake.... that no one else out there in the land of MFP can understand how I feel or just where I am coming from with this issue? I am sure it just mental but... it's been life-long.

    It's not that unique of a problem. The problem on occurs when people say that sugar is an addictive substance, but I think you've been clear as to say that your problem with sugar is yourself.

    I second the fruit advice, and don't keep any trigger foods in your house until you have it under control. I always tell people that when the thought/craving hits, go do some exercise. If by the time you're done exercising you still want it, at least you've burned some calories to make up for it.

    Thank you all! And I like the 'go exercise idea', that's good one!
  • warriorprincessdi
    warriorprincessdi Posts: 617 Member
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    For the first three days allow yourself to eat your cravings away -- just not with carbs of any sort, even fruit. If it's the end of the day and you're going crazy eat eggs, meat and cheese whatever works just don't give in to the sugar cravings. After those first few days you're golden. The cravings will be greatly reduced and manageable. Give it a few weeks and they're completely gone -- at least on a low carb diet they are.

    I've been there and it's such a freaking relief not to be obsessed with food and uncontrollable cravings anymore it's worth the effort. Just get past the first few days however you need to. Best wishes.

    So much ignorance. Eggs have sugar, cheese has sugar. Don't eat any carbs, then suggests eating carbs. LOL

    So much ignorance indeed... You are missing the point. It isn't zero carb, it isn't completely no sugar. It is me trying to get past whatever mental thing is wrong with me that makes me feel I must have to have a candy bar at 9pm or else something will die so watch out.
  • stephe1987
    stephe1987 Posts: 406 Member
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    Fruit and juice. They will help eliminate sugar cravings. Juice helped me a lot when I quit drinking soda.
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
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    What's wrong with her eating fruit? She's just trying to get control over her trigger foods, not eliminate an entire food group.
    The first few days are the absolute worst and eating sugary fruit is just going to prolong the cravings. I didn't suggest she eliminate an entire food group.
    So much ignorance. Eggs have sugar, cheese has sugar. Don't eat any carbs, then suggests eating carbs. LOL
    Not in appreciable amounts -- certainly much less then fruit, breads, pasta and the like. At any rate, it worked for me so that's what I'm sharing. By all means, share how you overcame your sugar addiction with the OP though -- I'm sure she'd appreciate hearing about a variety of approaches that worked for people . :drinker:
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    What's wrong with her eating fruit? She's just trying to get control over her trigger foods, not eliminate an entire food group.
    The first few days are the absolute worst and eating sugary fruit is just going to prolong the cravings. I didn't suggest she eliminate an entire food group.
    So much ignorance. Eggs have sugar, cheese has sugar. Don't eat any carbs, then suggests eating carbs. LOL
    Not in appreciable amounts -- certainly much less then fruit, breads, pasta and the like. At any rate, it worked for me so that's what I'm sharing. By all means, share how you overcame your sugar addiction with the OP though -- I'm sure she'd appreciate hearing about a variety of approaches that worked for people . :drinker:

    So it's your contention that sugar addicts can indeed consume sugar in moderation? Then I agree, eat sugar in moderation.
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
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    What's wrong with her eating fruit? She's just trying to get control over her trigger foods, not eliminate an entire food group.
    The first few days are the absolute worst and eating sugary fruit is just going to prolong the cravings. I didn't suggest she eliminate an entire food group.
    [

    She's not craving sugar. She's craving the delightful combination of foods with sugar and fat. Candy bars, cakes, ice cream, that's what all those have in common. She's not craving fruit or milk or anything else that happens to have sugar, so telling her to avoid fruit is completely unnecessary.
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
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    What's wrong with her eating fruit? She's just trying to get control over her trigger foods, not eliminate an entire food group.
    The first few days are the absolute worst and eating sugary fruit is just going to prolong the cravings. I didn't suggest she eliminate an entire food group.
    [

    She's not craving sugar. She's craving the delightful combination of foods with sugar and fat. Candy bars, cakes, ice cream, that's what all those have in common. She's not craving fruit or milk or anything else that happens to have sugar, so telling her to avoid fruit is completely unnecessary.
    It wasn't for me. I ate a ton of fruit and vegetables trying to satisfy my sugar cravings and still stay under my calories. It was a constant struggle EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I can appreciate that that isn't/wasn't your experience but it was mine.
  • atfirstblush
    atfirstblush Posts: 88 Member
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    I am a sweets eater too. I keep a bag of carrots and cut up celery with me and munch on a few of those along with a lot of water. My best advice is to purge your house of all sweets. For me it's ice cream, love that stuff.
  • timetravelforfitness
    timetravelforfitness Posts: 242 Member
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    Since you have cravings the same time I used to have cravings, at night after dinner, I'll tell you that changing the HABIT worked better than trying to get myself to eat something different at the same time. I think it was from the Identity Diet, but it could have been from that Habit book that came out within the last few years: I drink tea when I'm at the couch and once I've had that nightly cup of tea I don't eat anything. I've done it since December and now my husband can have chocolate or ice cream or pretzels or anything, and I have NO craving to have it. I drink tea throughout the day, but for some reason I have been able to convince myself that this is the last thing I have.

    It hasn't, unfortunately, helped with the cravings I get when I'm stressed and the kids are driving me insane (if anyone knows anything...) but it really has ended my nightly eating. And I used to be able to down a whole Ben & Jerry's, convincing myself I'll have just this little bit...okay, maybe another little bit.... well, its' really not worth saving that last little bit for tomorrow.

    The first few nights were difficult, but I don't think it took more than a week for my cravings to stop. My brain accepts, "I don't eat after my tea" in the same way it accepts, "I don't eat after brushing my teeth."

    Celestial Seasons Apple Tea is pretty good, and they have a few different herbal samplers you could try to see what you like. And if you don't like tea you could probably substitute another habit in it's place. "I don't eat after I drink a glass of lemon water," "I don't eat after I do ten jumping jacks," etc. but I did find that EATING can't be the habit for me. Even an apple got my body wanting more food, and it really didn't need it that late (maybe yours does, I don't know), it wasn't HUNGER I was fighting, it was CRAVINGS.

    Okay, sorry for going on so long...
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
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    What's wrong with her eating fruit? She's just trying to get control over her trigger foods, not eliminate an entire food group.
    The first few days are the absolute worst and eating sugary fruit is just going to prolong the cravings. I didn't suggest she eliminate an entire food group.
    [

    She's not craving sugar. She's craving the delightful combination of foods with sugar and fat. Candy bars, cakes, ice cream, that's what all those have in common. She's not craving fruit or milk or anything else that happens to have sugar, so telling her to avoid fruit is completely unnecessary.
    It wasn't for me. I ate a ton of fruit and vegetables trying to satisfy my sugar cravings and still stay under my calories. It was a constant struggle EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I can appreciate that that isn't/wasn't your experience but it was mine.

    Could it be that restricting yourself from sweets like chocolate and pasteries intensified your cravings, and not the fruit? This is why I advise people to teach themselves moderation. If I tried to go more than few days without eating some m&ms and instead tried to eat fruit to replace the sugar craving, I would just be more pissed off that I wasn't eating the m&ms that I originally wanted!
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
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    Could it be that restricting yourself from sweets like chocolate and pasteries intensified your cravings, and not the fruit? This is why I advise people to teach themselves moderation. If I tried to go more than few days without eating some m&ms and instead tried to eat fruit to replace the sugar craving, I would just be more pissed off that I wasn't eating the m&ms that I originally wanted!
    That approach works for a lot of people judging by the forums but it didn't for me. While I was able to practice moderation by sheer strength of will it wasn't sustainable. It was a constant struggle. A restrictive diet with the occasional indulgence is almost effortless by comparison. If I don't eat it, I don't want it basically. I can't describe how good it feels to choose to indulge on special occasions versus the constant, nagging desire for sweets that never entirely goes away.

    So my advice is don't eat it until you don't want it anymore and then keep the indulgences to a minimum and enjoy them to the fullest. Your advice to exercise and indulge when a craving hits is great advice for some people, I'm sure, but it wasn't sustainable for me because the cravings never really went away and I was never satisfied.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    What helped me when I started was plain Greek yogurt with fresh fruit, and chocolate protein shakes. But it only worked like one month before I caved in and got some birthday cake at a birthday party. Now I like moderation much better...
  • aqualeo1
    aqualeo1 Posts: 331 Member
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    What happens on June 19th though?
  • Angurla
    Angurla Posts: 159 Member
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    I am not a huge ice cream fan but when I am trying to cut out unhealthy treats I seem to love frozen goodies. I think frozen grapes are my favorite. I also occasionally make smoothies. I use water as the base, apple, berries, pineapple and throw in a veggies like squash and spinach. The berries cover up the veggies and make me think I'm cheating.
  • rebeccawesterfield5
    rebeccawesterfield5 Posts: 132 Member
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    Good luck! My go to snacks when craving sugary sweets are dark chocolate (darker the better) and a handful of almonds, Fage 2% plain Greek yogurt with berries or apples and natural peanut butter. I used to eat sour patch kids in bed every night, I feel your pain! I slowly, over three weeks, ate less and less every day. Now 1 tsp of sugar in my coffee tastes sweet. The cravings will lessen every day, you can do it! I feel so much better and have so much energy now!
  • Amandawith3kids
    Amandawith3kids Posts: 367 Member
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    ok, so you can:
    brush your teeth. every time a craving hits if you have to.
    dont do your normal evening activities, find something other than sitting in front of the tv watching endless commercials for chocolate and other tasty goodies.
    call a friend to keep your mouth busy
    take up a hobby that keeps your hands busy, such as a craft or the like.
    exercise
    look up diabetes damage pics
    enlist your hubby for attention in another room (wink wink)
    clear out your pantry of the things you are trying to cut.
    clear out your recipe book too if you are a baker. :) (doesnt help to clear out the pantry when you know how to make the stuff LOL)

    i so understand what you are trying to do. btdt. some of the above helped, some didnt, but all are worth trying. good luck!
  • aireeul
    aireeul Posts: 46
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    I am like you, a sugarholic. I LOVE candy. I had to go cold turkey too because for me its either the whole entire bag, or none at all. Once I started eating a bag of gummy worms I wouldn't stop until they're gone. So I had to go cold turkey. The first few days were horrible. But around the fifth day I didn't crave as much and I didn't think about candy as often. I will either eat fruit or yogurt when I need something sweet. Something really good is mixing peanut butter (or PB2, what I use), vanilla extract, sweetener and a tablespoon of chocolate chips in plain greek yogurt. I've heard it called cookie dough greek yogurt, but it doesn't taste like cookie dough at all. But it is really good.

    It'll get tough, just don't give in. Keep telling yourself it will get better, because it will.
  • histora
    histora Posts: 287 Member
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    If I want something sweet but don't really need something sweet, I like to eat a little bit of dry cereal. Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Life cereal, Oatmeal Squares...just a little hint of sweet and filling, takes some time to eat because it is finger foods.

    I don't keep supersweet cereals in the house.

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