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MyFitnessPal Community

Sugar Addiction Help

laurawalker161446

What did you do to beat sugar?

Replies

ValGogo

Recovering sugar addict lol

I know.

A lot of people with binge eating or compulsive overeating disorder think they have "food addiction," when really they have an eating disorder.

Hey everybody! If you have issues with eating, particularly where you feel out of control eating certain things and binge on them: therapy, mental conditioning, online resources. I had binge eating disorder for most of my life. Develop a healthy relationship with food. Don't blame your binge triggers, especially when you are still eating them (meaning "i don't eat sugar!" but still eat fruit, honey, any carbohydrates) take some personal accountability.

Tell that to the rats. Obviously they binge on the exact same bready, high sugar stuff humans do because they have mental problems and lack a healthy relationship with food and personal responsibility.

It couldn't be sugar messing with the body's complex satiety system, oh no! It has to be mental and lack of willpower!

Maybe I am confused with what you wrote so forgive me if I am mistaken. That said, rats don't have that lovely quality that humans have call reason. We can reason with ourselves. Rats are animals and will devour until they die. Please stop comparing logical reasoning human brains with tiny instinct-driven rat brains.

Don't get me wrong, I like rats.

Jonesie86

http://natureworksbest.com/naturopathy-works/food-cravings/

This link could be something for you to try...?

Meerataila

Recovering sugar addict lol

I know.

A lot of people with binge eating or compulsive overeating disorder think they have "food addiction," when really they have an eating disorder.

Hey everybody! If you have issues with eating, particularly where you feel out of control eating certain things and binge on them: therapy, mental conditioning, online resources. I had binge eating disorder for most of my life. Develop a healthy relationship with food. Don't blame your binge triggers, especially when you are still eating them (meaning "i don't eat sugar!" but still eat fruit, honey, any carbohydrates) take some personal accountability.

Tell that to the rats. Obviously they binge on the exact same bready, high sugar stuff humans do because they have mental problems and lack a healthy relationship with food and personal responsibility.

It couldn't be sugar messing with the body's complex satiety system, oh no! It has to be mental and lack of willpower!

Maybe I am confused with what you wrote so forgive me if I am mistaken. That said, rats don't have that lovely quality that humans have call reason. We can reason with ourselves. Rats are animals and will devour until they die. Please stop comparing logical reasoning human brains with tiny instinct-driven rat brains.

Don't get me wrong, I like rats.

But you just proved my point about food addiction having a physical cause. Rats can't control their physical impulses very well. It's true that we can. But again, rats don't have the complexities of human psychology, so there is no reason to think all satiety problems and cravings are mental or a matter of willpower.

And telling people who get hungry after eating certain foods to just use willpower is like telling someone who gets itchy hives after eating certain foods to eat those foods anyway, then have the willpower not to scratch. Why suggest someone should put themselves through such an annoyance?

Put another way, would you tell a heavy smoker to cut down to one or two cigarettes from a pack a day habit, or would you encourage the smoker to quit entirely?

Here is a rat article (poor rats):

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3147141/

Rats given extended access to high-fat high-sugar food show behavioral and physiological changes that are similar to those caused by drugs of abuse. However, parallels between drug and food “addiction” should be drawn with caution.

AlabasterVerve

Recovering sugar addict lol

I know.

A lot of people with binge eating or compulsive overeating disorder think they have "food addiction," when really they have an eating disorder.

Hey everybody! If you have issues with eating, particularly where you feel out of control eating certain things and binge on them: therapy, mental conditioning, online resources. I had binge eating disorder for most of my life. Develop a healthy relationship with food. Don't blame your binge triggers, especially when you are still eating them (meaning "i don't eat sugar!" but still eat fruit, honey, any carbohydrates) take some personal accountability.

I'm a live and let live type of person but if I can change my satiety and eating patterns in a couple of weeks by cutting way back on the sugar and carbs how is that not physical? How is that not being personally accountable?

Your issues are your issues -- and diagnosis -- don't project them onto everyone else. Just because you have food "relationship" issues doesn't mean everyone else does. For some of us it actually is the types of food we're eating that's causing the problem not a "relationship" issue that takes years and years of counseling and conditioning to work through.

Jonesie86

Dear Lord people, this person asked for help, not for this to turn into Jerry Springer. Go start your own thread and ruin it with insulting each other.

Anyway OP, I don't cut sugar just because I like it. Plain and simple. I have made some modifications though like natural peanut butter with no added anything, agave or fresh berries in place of syrup for pancakes or waffles, brown sugar for white, dark chocolate for milk (still have to look out for added sugar, brands very), found the lowest added sugar in yogurt and stick with that, etc. The list goes on of simply ways to cut some, not all, sugar out of your diet. Like pretzels for instance, I stated buying Snider's instead or Rold Gold because the sugar content was less (I think none at all in just the normal pretzels). If you make a bunch of little changes to start off then it'll all add up to a really big decrease in your sugar intake and you can reevaluate then.

Hope that helps! Oh and here is a link that will help you with fruits and their sugar content, among other things.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=12-35-45-00

Good luck!

SherryTeach

No but seriously, sugar is not an addictive substance. Your body craves quick energy, sugar provides that. If you're concerned about getting proper nutrients, maybe try eating fruit instead of sugary candy or whatever.

There are studies that would suggest sugar actually does stimulate the same parts of the brain as other drugs.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=sugar+addictive

The thing is: everything we like stimulates the brain. When I sit down with a great book, looking at a new piece of knitting, or doing any desirable activity, my brain is lighting up. Everything is not an addiction.

Meerataila

No but seriously, sugar is not an addictive substance. Your body craves quick energy, sugar provides that. If you're concerned about getting proper nutrients, maybe try eating fruit instead of sugary candy or whatever.

There are studies that would suggest sugar actually does stimulate the same parts of the brain as other drugs.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=sugar+addictive

The thing is: everything we like stimulates the brain. When I sit down with a great book, looking at a new piece of knitting, or doing any desirable activity, my brain is lighting up. Everything is not an addiction.

That is true. And I'm a hedonist, I believe in living for pleasure. But it's a trade off. Being obese or hungry all the time due to the pleasure of foods that stimulate appetite is something I will happily trade for other, greater pleasures, and possibly a longer life to enjoy them.

While we all must eat to live, there is no nutritional or medical reason to eat low nutrient, sugary, bready foods. But I swear on my shrinking belly, the day a doctor tells me I have a dangerous cookie deficiency, I'll heed the warning!

AlabasterVerve

No but seriously, sugar is not an addictive substance. Your body craves quick energy, sugar provides that. If you're concerned about getting proper nutrients, maybe try eating fruit instead of sugary candy or whatever.

There are studies that would suggest sugar actually does stimulate the same parts of the brain as other drugs.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=sugar+addictive

The thing is: everything we like stimulates the brain. When I sit down with a great book, looking at a new piece of knitting, or doing any desirable activity, my brain is lighting up. Everything is not an addiction.

And some things -- like sugar -- cause a greater activation and increasing reward with greater amounts. I imagine the same holds true for enjoyable activities like knitting.

Here's an interesting article:

“We do a lot of work on the prevention of obesity, and what is really clear not only from this study but from the broader literature over all is that the more sugar you eat, the more you want to consume it,” said Dr. Stice, a senior research scientist at the Oregon Research Institute. “As far as the ability to engage brain reward regions and drive compulsive intake, sugar seems to be doing a much better job than fat.” -- In Food Cravings, Sugar Trumps Fat

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/13/in-food-cravings-sugar-trumps-fat/

Abstract:

"Fat caused greater activation of the caudate and oral somatosensory regions than did sugar, sugar caused greater activation in the putamen and gustatory regions than did fat, increasing sugar caused greater activity in gustatory regions, and increasing fat did not affect the activation. Results imply that sugar more effectively recruits reward and gustatory regions, suggesting that policy, prevention, and treatment interventions should prioritize reductions in sugar intake." -- Relative ability of fat and sugar tastes to activate reward, gustatory, and somatosensory regions.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24132980

hookilau

No but seriously, sugar is not an addictive substance. Your body craves quick energy, sugar provides that. If you're concerned about getting proper nutrients, maybe try eating fruit instead of sugary candy or whatever.

There are studies that would suggest sugar actually does stimulate the same parts of the brain as other drugs.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=sugar+addictive

The thing is: everything we like stimulates the brain. When I sit down with a great book, looking at a new piece of knitting, or doing any desirable activity, my brain is lighting up. Everything is not an addiction.

That is true. And I'm a hedonist, I believe in living for pleasure. But it's a trade off. Being obese or hungry all the time due to the pleasure of foods that stimulate appetite is something I will happily trade for other, greater pleasures, and possibly a longer life to enjoy them.

While we all must eat to live, there is no nutritional or medical reason to eat low nutrient, sugary, bready foods. But I swear on my shrinking belly, the day a doctor tells me I have a dangerous cookie deficiency, I'll heed the warning!

:laugh: you and me both sugah-pie

Meerataila

:laugh: you and me both sugah-pie

Being a cookie monster with a cookie in each hand definitely contributed to my weight gain! :sad:

hookilau

:laugh: you and me both sugah-pie

Being a cookie monster with a cookie in each hand definitely contributed to my weight gain! :sad:

I try not to think about it -___- cause when I do....

90c0195078ccf44f7e9bbb9069b18004b549184dded6ad8fe6e48675d70d5733.jpg

bostonlulu

Hi Laura,

Good on you!! Beating sugar is tough.. There are many people who replied to you and are familiar with the large body of research about the addictive properties of sugar. No point in repeating what's been said other than brains scans of food addicts look exactly like the brain scans of drug addicts.

For the many folks who have no problem with sugar --- you are blessed with good genes. My family doesn't have the genes for alcoholism but we got slammed with the food addiction genes. It has killed off my mom and many aunts and uncles. The addiction got them to diabetes, strokes, and heart attacks.

I am an all-or-nothing person and eating sugar sets me up for crazy cravings that sound like a screaming maniac in my head commanding me to find and eat sugar. I’ve gone so low as to steal candy from a kid while he was sleeping.

I've gotten off sugar many, many times in my life. Each time, thinking I was cured (DUH), I ate sugar and was off and running. Amazingly, when I’ve been off for a few months, the first few bites made me physically ill, shaky like I'm in shock. I plow through that and I'm off and running.

At 66 YO, it’s movd me into the path of chronic illness and pain, When I’m on sugar, my arthritis makes my inflamed joints so painful. Off sugar, I can walk stairs like a regular person. I am trying to beat this beast so that I can live with the quality of life I want.

I’ve been off sugar for 5 weeks and the carbs that metabolize as sugar. The first few days, I white knuckled it. I can tell you, that now cravings are weak or non-existent. For me, it requires constant vigilance so that I can set myself up for success. Some of these suggestions have already been mentioned. Please pardon me for the repeats. This is what has worked for me:

• I read labels carefully. Sugar has more than 100 different names and it’s in places you’d never expect to see it – e.g. croutons, marinara sauce, whole grain cereals, canned soup. If sugar is in the first 5 ingredients, I don’t eat it.

• For the first few weeks, I didn’t take chances and avoided my trigger places like Starbuck’s, the bakery section of my favorite supermarket, and my friend’s mother who likes to see me eat her delicious baked goods.

• At 5 weeks, I generally feel stronger but when I’m tired or stressed, I stay out of the places that call to me.

• No sugar comes into my home. In the past, I’ve told myself it was for company but the stuff never lived till morning.

• If I feel vulnerable when I go to shop, I call a friend who gets it and she stays on the phone with me until I leave the place.

• I have a plastic basket in the fridge filled with healthy things I like, cut up and ready to eat. When I want “something,” I pull out the bin and stuff is ready to instantly gratify me.

• If I’m going to be out for more than 2 hours, I take food with me in my insulated bag. I don’t let myself get to the excuse “ I forgot lunch or my snack, I’m starving, I’ll just go into Whole Foods and get a healthy salad with protein.” Nahhh – I lie. Once I’m in there, I’m a goner because I’m hungry.

• Unless it’s someone who gets it, I don’t tell people I’m off sugar. I was recently at a catered birthday party and the hostess kept urging me to try the goodies. “One won’t hurt.” My reply was that I’m allergic – very few folks argue with that. It’s true, I break out in fat and lose my good judgement.

• I stay away from artificial sweeteners. The research is conclusive on that also – they set you up for sugar cravings. I finally found a Stevia I like (Best Stevia by Now because it is stevia glycinate) and that’s what I use. I carry it with me so I can have an iced tea that I sweeten when I’m out.

• I learned a great lesson in OA, failing to plan is planning to fail. It’s true for me.

I can’t believe how long this reply is. It’s good for me to see it in black and white.

You can do this. It’s not easy at first and there are many of us in this community who would like to support you, including me.

Light and blessings,
BostonLulu

Meerataila

My reply was that I’m allergic – very few folks argue with that. It’s true, I break out in fat and lose my good judgement.

:laugh: I'm just going to start doing this. I'm tired of being diagnosed by amateur psychologists as having mental problems because bready sugary stuff makes me hungry.

But I swear, if even one person pushes it too far, I'm going to start describing all the nasty insects and insect excretions found in most processed treats. In detail. With pictures saved on my phone if necessary. People want to tell me how I should eat? Okay, we'll see how they think of their food after I'm done!

levitateme

Recovering sugar addict lol

I know.

A lot of people with binge eating or compulsive overeating disorder think they have "food addiction," when really they have an eating disorder.

Hey everybody! If you have issues with eating, particularly where you feel out of control eating certain things and binge on them: therapy, mental conditioning, online resources. I had binge eating disorder for most of my life. Develop a healthy relationship with food. Don't blame your binge triggers, especially when you are still eating them (meaning "i don't eat sugar!" but still eat fruit, honey, any carbohydrates) take some personal accountability.

I'm a live and let live type of person but if I can change my satiety and eating patterns in a couple of weeks by cutting way back on the sugar and carbs how is that not physical? How is that not being personally accountable?

Your issues are your issues -- and diagnosis -- don't project them onto everyone else. Just because you have food "relationship" issues doesn't mean everyone else does. For some of us it actually is the types of food we're eating that's causing the problem not a "relationship" issue that takes years and years of counseling and conditioning to work through.

Cutting out sugar and carbs is not a long term solution to so-called "sugar addiction," neither is eating "certain types of sugar" and demonizing others. I'm not advocating eating 14 cookies a day, I'm saying that eating what you want within reason is attainable for everyone, it just takes work, rather than eliminating things that are "bad." It's the same mentality that leads the obese to rearrange their insides to lose weight rather than just find the strength and willpower to fuel themselves properly. I wish you success in your efforts, but I won't be surprised if you quit because going lowcarb/low sugar in the long term is very hard to sustain.

TutuMom41

Fact: the more sugar you eat, the more you will crave it.

Fact: the less sugar you eat, the less you will crave it.

Cut down on sugar and your cravings will eventually go down, BIG TIME. I used to have a huge sweet tooth and it's pretty much gone because I decided to dramatically cut down. A little while after I cut down, I noticed I didn't have cravings anymore. Don't get me wrong, I definitely still need to have something sweet every day. That is natural. But the irrational and destructive cravings are gone, and I don't binge on sweets anymore. Ever.

Sometimes what you really need is a reason to cut down on sugar. Something other than your desire to lose weight. Check out this lecture on the hidden dangers of sugar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

These are not facts.

AlabasterVerve

Recovering sugar addict lol

I know.

A lot of people with binge eating or compulsive overeating disorder think they have "food addiction," when really they have an eating disorder.

Hey everybody! If you have issues with eating, particularly where you feel out of control eating certain things and binge on them: therapy, mental conditioning, online resources. I had binge eating disorder for most of my life. Develop a healthy relationship with food. Don't blame your binge triggers, especially when you are still eating them (meaning "i don't eat sugar!" but still eat fruit, honey, any carbohydrates) take some personal accountability.

I'm a live and let live type of person but if I can change my satiety and eating patterns in a couple of weeks by cutting way back on the sugar and carbs how is that not physical? How is that not being personally accountable?

Your issues are your issues -- and diagnosis -- don't project them onto everyone else. Just because you have food "relationship" issues doesn't mean everyone else does. For some of us it actually is the types of food we're eating that's causing the problem not a "relationship" issue that takes years and years of counseling and conditioning to work through.

Cutting out sugar and carbs is not a long term solution to so-called "sugar addiction," neither is eating "certain types of sugar" and demonizing others. I'm not advocating eating 14 cookies a day, I'm saying that eating what you want within reason is attainable for everyone, it just takes work, rather than eliminating things that are "bad." It's the same mentality that leads the obese to rearrange their insides to lose weight rather than just find the strength and willpower to fuel themselves properly. I wish you success in your efforts, but I won't be surprised if you quit because going lowcarb/low sugar in the long term is very hard to sustain.

I've been eating this way for two years now. I've maintained my 65lb weightloss for over a year -- not only is it sustainable it's almost effortless.

Way back when I started eating low carb for health reasons (family history of diabetes, cancer and heart disease) I described the unexpected effect on my appetite as miraculous. Do you know how freeing it is to have a normal appetite again? How wonderous it feels to eat because you're hungry and to stop eating when you're full? Not to have that compulsion to eat and keep eating even if you're not really hungry but you have this overwhelming need and feel like you can't stop? And then to be "cured" in a matter of weeks and have a normal appetite again simply by eating a low carb, high fat whole foods diet?

You REALLY don't know what you're talking about. I'll happily eat my ribeye and vegetables sauteed in onions, garlic, butter and bacon for the rest of my life -- or the dozens of other dishes I think are equally delicious and satisfying. And enjoy the carby/sugary goodness on holidays and special occassions. Happily. Effortlessly. Good food and a normal appetite are not a hardship.

Your experience is not my experience, is not someone elses experience. By all means share what you know and works for you but stop speaking in absolutes because you don't know what the bleep you're talking about.

Meerataila

This thread is so full of willpower high horses, why not throw a morality high horse in here, too?

How can anyone eat food that has no nutritional value and exists purely for pleasure in a world where people are starving? Oh the inhumanity! The callous disregard! The wasteful, chocolate smeared gluttony! (And the chocolate was probably harvested with child labor, too.)

cwoyto123

I consume 450+g of sugar on average every day. Unless diabetic, do not fear sugar.

Hovercat

I lost all my weight just giving up sugar.
I don't fear it, it just makes me fat.
I'd rather not be fat.

cwoyto123

I lost all my weight just giving up sugar.
I don't fear it, it just makes me fat.
I'd rather not be fat.

I and many others should be obese then.

curlygirl513

I found that when I lowered my carbs drastically, basically bread and pasta is gone for me (DIABETES! DOWN ANTI LOW CARB PEOPLE!) my urge for sugar just seemed to balance itself.

For me white bread was like a gateway drug I literally would butter a piece of wonder bread and coat it in white sugar. Ok, I know that sounds repulsive, and it probably was, but I loved it.

To me that isn't gross. All you did was create a yummy pastry. Flour butter sugar yummy.

curlygirl513

sugar ran over my cat and slept with my wife.

i hate sugar!

:laugh:

myfitnesspale3

High sugar and sugar sensitivity is already causing dementia in this thread. It seems obvious.

curlygirl513

Cold turkey baby. You can do it! Once you kick it, when you try to jump back on, you hurt yourself. Try a little agave or honey to get you over the hump but only as reward system.
Your admiring Liv ox

Maybe I'm talking to a brick wall in this thread, but do you not understand that honey contains sugar?

The important point missing in your statement is people gorge on white sugar. The only person who gorges on straight honey, like sits down and eats a pound at a time is Poo Bear.

Fruit, a little honey, those are carbs that people don't go nuts on. I am like the other abusers on the board that would eat a lot of oreos, not the whole pack, but a whole lot of the pack. I would heat a lot of ice cream the same day as the oreos. I gave up sugar, and I don't even miss it as of the 2nd week.

I really don't necessarily want it. But I will treat myself here and there if I want it

DanceswithWow

Sugar..is disciplines worst night mare! For most people, there is great deal of misunderstanding on how sugar actually works.

First off learning to modulate emotion is one sugars biggest real symptom.of over use and exposure. Its not that having sugar is an awful thing..you should have sugar..honey maple agave molasses and sugar cane..

The issue at hand is bliss point, all the advice given so far to beat sugar neglects to see that each one of us is unique in the amount of sugar any kind of sugar our bodies can become over saturated by. This over saturation is called your bliss point..

Food formulators and Scientist know this and has always been a huge reason why sugar in its wide array of forms can wreak havoc on loosing unwanted body fat. its not having sugar thats bad its having double digit sugar and upwards not knowing your threshold for its whether you wnat to or not seductive taste.

. Just like knowing how much alcohol/liquor you can drink before you catch a buzz and its time to stop.. sugar aromatizes in the blood stream making you a sitting duck to your own bliss point . I know i once could eat most if not all my daughters Halloween candy in just 2 or three days, and entire platter of boston market brownies in one sitting, and an entire carton ice cream.. in every episode of Scandal ..

I didnt get fat.... I got soft, muscles shrank, loss concentration though, but here are the 4 four techniques I used to get get the sugar monkey off my back

I first learned learned which kind or kinds of sugars I was eating triggered my gateway..into wanting an obscene seemingly unstoppable amount of it..Mine was high fructose corn syrup, and refined white.. yours could be rice syrup, beet sugar, galactose, sucrose, or fructose

Once I learned I didnt just stop cold turkey. I went through pantry frig and cuboards and determined how just many items had those two types of sugar that was in my immediate reach.

It was a lot. sauces, packets of seasonings, condiments. I chucked these. Then there were the prepackaged dry goods , I seperated these into what i liked and what I could do with out or was partially opened. As you can imagine my storage spaces starting to look barren.

What i soon recognized is that for every thing I was throwing away, if didnt replace with a better choice without my sugar trigger, another sugar ladden item could easily take its place.

Replacing whatever I through away with an item that didnt have such a high amount made the difference... So basically I went from double digit sugars down to foods that had single digit choices..

Thats what I discovered because you cant completely get away from all foods your bliss point can be triggered by. I went from foods with 27gram 19grams or 16 grams of sugar down to 11grams 9grams and 4grams of sugar per serving.

Before i knew it, more than 60% of the sugars I brought in were no where to be found in close proximity or in my meals

weeded them out
paired them down to more than half
replaced high levels of sugar laden foods with significantly lower per serving levels contained in them

the final one-two punch for me was creating a shake I now called the G-spot Breakfast Smoothie....it combined frozen fruit with a frozen vegetable from the grocers freezer which mixed with a powder called MeTrx.

In essence, I found a sugar surrogate. This one happened to produce killer side benefits...in that, it stopped sugar cravings like for realz. The flavor was so good and I could make a huge variety of different states - like peach, apple cherry, blue berry -( all frozen fruit combined 45/55% with frozen carrot or frozen squash) with out eating or increasing the amount of sugar I had manage d get down to single digit amounts.

That was nine years ago and have not had a significant uptick in the amount of sugar I take in. My muscles are harder, its easy for me to turn away items I know will trigger my bliss point. This process just made me more intelligent about what sugars are coming from where.

This 4 degrees of separation from sugar process may not work for you but..its definitely made a difference in my ongoing contact with the stuff.

Finding a healthy sugar surrogate will definitely be the key for most people trying to kick the sugar drug habit.

Dances w Wow

Does the double digit to single digit sugar shake down

When this happens ..demand for more of it becomes just like that..almost instantly. One taste on the tongue leads to the next without even realizing it...

fruity2

This is my fav. Thanks for sharing BostonLulu for your well thought out post. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is always nice to hear the personal stories instead of spouting off research, which by the looks of it, can become a sticky topic. I'm an all or nothing kind of gal with alcohol. Bet you anything its the sugar in it! I can have spirits in the house, for years and not be bothered with it. But wine? Nope. Oh sure I can live without it, but in the house? Nope. One glass? Nope. Tis equivalent to chocolate for chocoholics

Thanks for your candour.

Hi Laura,

Good on you!! Beating sugar is tough.. There are many people who replied to you and are familiar with the large body of research about the addictive properties of sugar. No point in repeating what's been said other than brains scans of food addicts look exactly like the brain scans of drug addicts.

For the many folks who have no problem with sugar --- you are blessed with good genes. My family doesn't have the genes for alcoholism but we got slammed with the food addiction genes. It has killed off my mom and many aunts and uncles. The addiction got them to diabetes, strokes, and heart attacks.

I am an all-or-nothing person and eating sugar sets me up for crazy cravings that sound like a screaming maniac in my head commanding me to find and eat sugar. I’ve gone so low as to steal candy from a kid while he was sleeping.

I've gotten off sugar many, many times in my life. Each time, thinking I was cured (DUH), I ate sugar and was off and running. Amazingly, when I’ve been off for a few months, the first few bites made me physically ill, shaky like I'm in shock. I plow through that and I'm off and running.

At 66 YO, it’s movd me into the path of chronic illness and pain, When I’m on sugar, my arthritis makes my inflamed joints so painful. Off sugar, I can walk stairs like a regular person. I am trying to beat this beast so that I can live with the quality of life I want.

I’ve been off sugar for 5 weeks and the carbs that metabolize as sugar. The first few days, I white knuckled it. I can tell you, that now cravings are weak or non-existent. For me, it requires constant vigilance so that I can set myself up for success. Some of these suggestions have already been mentioned. Please pardon me for the repeats. This is what has worked for me:

• I read labels carefully. Sugar has more than 100 different names and it’s in places you’d never expect to see it – e.g. croutons, marinara sauce, whole grain cereals, canned soup. If sugar is in the first 5 ingredients, I don’t eat it.

• For the first few weeks, I didn’t take chances and avoided my trigger places like Starbuck’s, the bakery section of my favorite supermarket, and my friend’s mother who likes to see me eat her delicious baked goods.

• At 5 weeks, I generally feel stronger but when I’m tired or stressed, I stay out of the places that call to me.

• No sugar comes into my home. In the past, I’ve told myself it was for company but the stuff never lived till morning.

• If I feel vulnerable when I go to shop, I call a friend who gets it and she stays on the phone with me until I leave the place.

• I have a plastic basket in the fridge filled with healthy things I like, cut up and ready to eat. When I want “something,” I pull out the bin and stuff is ready to instantly gratify me.

• If I’m going to be out for more than 2 hours, I take food with me in my insulated bag. I don’t let myself get to the excuse “ I forgot lunch or my snack, I’m starving, I’ll just go into Whole Foods and get a healthy salad with protein.” Nahhh – I lie. Once I’m in there, I’m a goner because I’m hungry.

• Unless it’s someone who gets it, I don’t tell people I’m off sugar. I was recently at a catered birthday party and the hostess kept urging me to try the goodies. “One won’t hurt.” My reply was that I’m allergic – very few folks argue with that. It’s true, I break out in fat and lose my good judgement.

• I stay away from artificial sweeteners. The research is conclusive on that also – they set you up for sugar cravings. I finally found a Stevia I like (Best Stevia by Now because it is stevia glycinate) and that’s what I use. I carry it with me so I can have an iced tea that I sweeten when I’m out.

• I learned a great lesson in OA, failing to plan is planning to fail. It’s true for me.

I can’t believe how long this reply is. It’s good for me to see it in black and white.

You can do this. It’s not easy at first and there are many of us in this community who would like to support you, including me.

Light and blessings,
BostonLulu

Missjulesdid

At the time when I was eating waaaaaay too much sugar and refined carbohydrates I was not able to simply "cut back" I just couldn't will myself into doing it. What I had to do was go completely cold turkey Atkins style eating for a while and then start slowly introducing the sugar back into my diet in a controlled way until I was able to learn to consume it in moderation. It was NOT easy and it took a LONG LONG time and many failures. Every time I felt I was losing control with sugar (including grains) I would go back to very low carb and start again. For me, it was easier to cut out the food entirely but obviously that was not a permanent solution so I also had to learn how to exercise moderation , I just found that it was easier to teach myself moderation with these foods when I wasn't having mad-crazy cravings for them.

Good luck OP

marise1113

It's all or nothing for me too. Once you stop, the cravings go away. Once you start, you can't seem to get enough.
I also avoid sugar substitutes.

tennisdude2004

What did you do to beat sugar?

Hi OP

First off there is nothing wrong with simple sugar in moderation (of course).

That being said there's nothing great about it either. For the calorie's it costs the only thing it gives back is quick energy, which you can get from other sources if you have a healthy balanced diet.

Most people looking to lose weight will cut back on sugar, not because they hate it, but because its the easiest and most efficient way to reduce your calorie intake (so you are eating in a deficit) without compromising any of your macro or micro nutrients.

Sadly on this MFP site people think that if you want to cut back on something you must hate it (a strange opinion but its true).

Protein in your diet should be your main focus (that's not to say it should be your largest calorie intake). fat is also essential in your diet. Sugar in your diet is not essential - but is in limited quantity optimal.

If you really want to cut back on the sugar you should give it a try.

I personally found cutting out my trigger foods for about a month and then would reintroduce them in moderation - that's if I wanted to. For most of the things I actually found I didn't want them anymore.

I just focused on getting my carbs from Veg and fruit.

This approach may or may not work. Give it a try!

Good luck.

JustFindingMe

I love cookies,chocolate bars and cake but when I committed to changing the way I looked, ate, felt and lived, I started looking at WHAT I ate and how it will affect my hunger, my energy etc. For instance, when I open my fridge, Im looking at what will keep me going, keep me happy and full the longest. At the end of the day, if Ive done a good job, and I have room for it in my calories, I have my treat, log it and move on :happy:

Balance is the key for me. I, personally, don't think you should have to deny yourself anything, just work it in properly.