sugar craving

Unless there is a medical reason or personal aversion, I'd eat what you're craving, but in moderation that fits your calorie goal, of course. For me, it's the deprivation that really get my cravings in an uproar.

As a long time diabetic, I used to be in a very vicious cycle of craving all sorts.
It wasn't till about 2 n half years ago when I found out my high sugars were basically making me blind, and was told, get it sorted like yesterday or it lazer treatments.

Well with that I freaked out, and told myself to forget anything I had ever learnt or been told about diabetes and start from the ground up.

Now I can honestly say, it is not about cutting out carbs, or sugars or any of the fad diets, tried them all and non of them helped me.

Here is what I did to get myself off the sugar craving cycle ASAP.

1st: pick your top 3 foods that would really drive you nuts if you had to give them up
2nd: pick your top 3 drinks.
3rd: look at both full carbs and carbs that sugar if your in the uk/europe, or full carbs and net carbs if your in the USA.
A carb is a carb, be it fast release or slow release or natural or man made or fibre, they all carbs and all get turned to sugar at end of the day.

So, if your in the usa, read this to work out your carbs, someone already explained it.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/625437-total-carbs-vs-net-carbs

Since i'm in the UK, my method goes like this.

Overall carbs is 1spoon of sugar per 12g of overall carbs, but they slow release so it boosts you but doesnt spike your blood sugar levels and give you cravings.

carbs that sugar i class as 1g = 1 spoon of sugar and they fast acting.

Now many will disagree with me on this and most I can say is it works fantastic for me and has done for almost 3 years now.
Avoid drinks that take a lot of milk, or foods like cereals, though they have many good things in them, They no better than drinking a can of full sugar cola, they loaded up with sugared carbs.

330ml glass of milk, around 14g of carbs, carbs that sugar... 14g, so to me as a diabetic that be 14 spoons of sugar per glass.
Actually milk is ok if it just a little drop here and there in tea/coffee, it's when you have more than that at one time it really gives ya sugar cravings a good old kick start.

Some breads can be just as bad, but if like me you just cant give up bread, asda do a gorgeous seeded pitta bread with oatmeal in it.
very low sugar, and it super tasty, and it can be freezed too, and is far more filling as well.

What you need to do is, eat foods and drink drinks that have almost zero sugared carbs in them, can have overall carbs, but as little sugared carbs as possible.

Then you get a nice long steady release of energy and help ween yourself from the cravings over a month period.

Lots of meats. though careful of meats marinaded in bbq sauce, and sweet chilli etc.

1 other thing I noticed in my journey to perfect diabetic control was processed meats....
My nemesis, I love my ham, and always thought virtually no carbs am safe with that, but actually, being processed, after a while it increased my cravings for sugars, not 100% sure why, but it did.

But rice, new potatoes (small little hard ones), be careful of pasta/wheat based products, some people have an intolerance to them and though normally quite good for you can cause you to really crave sugars after eating them.

So to sum up:
Carbs = fine
carbs that sugar = extremely bad
Wheat based foods = Eat in moderation
Oats = really good
No added sugar = 50/50 some are ok, some extremely bad always check labels.
If one of fave foods/drinks loaded with sugared carbs, make it a treat once a week, don't give it up completely, or you will crave it a 1000 times more.
Plenty of sleep. lack of sleep creates bad cravings for bad everything, as ya want to feel better, like a junky craving their next fix.

Hope that helps.

This article is a bit long...but it's about the Marshmallow Test, if you remember that. Was done in the 1950's. It is, in essence, reinforcing what you probably already know, the key is discipline. He talks about techniques such as imaging a cockroach just crawled across the cupcake you want to get.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/opinion/sunday/learning-self-control.html?src=me&module=Ribbon&version=origin&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Most Emailed&pgtype=article

Now that said, I believe if you need to eat something, eat it. Tomorrow will be better, and if you are tracking yourself on here and making the effort...which you clearly are, a bit of a divergence is ok. My 2 cents.

I can only tell you what works for me. It seems radical and unnecessary to most people, but I've given up sweets entirely because, "Peace of mind is so much sweeter than a piece of cake!" I literally don't have any peace of mind if I'm eating even a moderate sweet treat once in a while. The sugar in my system (or something not yet discovered) causes me to obsess about sweets frequently. It's very bothersome, and it takes so much energy to summon up will power twenty times a day that I find it EASIER to go sugar free.

It really doesn't matter what any one else believes, you need to do what's right for you. If you do decide to give up sugar, be prepared for what might be a very difficult few days, with intense hunger pangs, headaches and restlessness. They are temporary, and when they are gone, so are the cravings for sweets.

A little extra protein, fiber and water helps during and after adjusting to sugar free.

Someone said that sugar boosts dopamine. I've never heard that (I thought it boosted serotonin) but I know that protein boosts dopamine, especially the amino acid tyrosine. It's found in lean chicken, turkey, egg whites, beans, low fat cottage cheese and pumpkin seeds. Dopamine is your friend on a diet because it helps moderate your appetite. Too much serotonin can make you feel lazy and sleepy.

The natural sweetener Stevia is believed to regulate blood sugar, while the consumption of artificial sweeteners has been shown to spike then drop blood sugar. Stable blood sugar means fewer urges to eat.

I hope you're able to find the answers you're looking for.

I always make room for a sweet, everyday. Everything in moderation.

I doubt whether i could give up sugar altogether, but i do try to buy more things with less Sugar in them.
For example, instead of say buying a Flapjack with 12g of sugar, i buy a Cereal Bar with 4g of sugar.
I still have the occasional Doughnut, Bounty Bar or Cherry Bakewell, but not too frequently.

I have a serious sweet tooth but have learned to overcome it by restricting quantity not quality. I tend to crave particular things, it's not just "I want something sweet right now" it's always something specific like a candy or ice-cream or chocolate and so on. So replacing it with an apple or the likes won't work for me, because it's not just the sugar that I crave it's the taste of that particular food. What worked for me was limiting the quantities of these sweets - gradually of course. It took me about one month. Now I can do with 4 squares of my favorite chocolate I don't feel tempted to eat the whole bar (that would be 24 squares) The most important thing to me is satisfying the crave fast because the longer I torment myself the higher the risk I'll crash and binge.

I went cold turkey for like a month, replacing all sweet cravings with fruits/fruit smoothies, started eating all whole foods/low GI foods and the craving for sweet stuff went away. Now, it's just once in a blue moon that I get the craving but even then, I feel like I can live without it. This might be a little too extreme for most people but I like how I actually have self control now over the dessert table at my work's potluck which is to me, a success.

I found it helpful to try and be more mindful about it. It helped me figure out why I was craving something (or wanting to eat)--was it an emotional thing or related to some kind of trigger or was it genuine hunger (or hunger for that particular food).

I used to crave sweet or salty things at various points throughout the day and when I became more conscious of how much this was related to emotional or stress triggers or just habit, it was easier to realize that I could be satisfied just by waiting or eating some carrots or some such, and after that the cravings pretty quickly went away. Now I include some sweets in my diet (especially .5 cup of ice cream after dinner quite often), because I like them and don't tend to have a huge urge for them at other times since I know I have room in my diet for them and they aren't forbidden, but I don't have those crazy cravings.

So I'd say try to get a handle on when you are craving sugar and what else is going on to see if there are any triggers. Could be you just like it and want some on occasion, in which case I'd say work it into your calories and focus on moderation.

(Sounds like you are actually doing okay, however.)

I used to really suffer from cravings - at times I do still crave a sweet treat but I have learned to deal with the cravings. A lot of the time it was just due to boredom so I would always reach for some chocolate. I rarely have chocolate these days (I used to have it everyday near enough!). My go to sweet treat is popcorn. Not sure where you're from but in the UK you can buy bags of sweet and salted popcorn. A 30g bag is less than 140calories and sorts me right out!

You have to find what works for you. As others have said, you can happily consume sugar unless you have a medical reason telling you otherwise. If you have trigger foods that cause you to binge or eat too much avoid these where possible or limit your access. For example, if you know if you buy a large chocolate bar you will eat the lot, either don't buy a large bar or break it up and portion it out. Be strict with yourself.

Sometimes a craving is so strong and won't go, you just have to satisfy it. Don't be too hard on yourself. A brownie or donut here and there is not going to impact long term.