Any tips on beating a sugar addiction?
Dancetherapist
Posts: 33 Member
ive been able to do it in the past but am having a bit of trouble this time around. It's not like I'm eating a whole cake a day but I find that I NEED (obviously I don't) like a cookie or peanut butter cup or something every day. Any tips ?
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Replies
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Why not have sugar? Have a frozen banana for dessert or a 100 calorie pack of cookies. Just fit it into your macros and you will be fine.0
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You've got 2 options.....
Cold turkey (at least) until you get in the groove of maintaining your restricted calories for awhile. Once you are on a roll - it won't be sugar, sugar, sugar, all the time.
But most of us are not going to be sugar free forever....so the other option is portion control. If I am going to maintain a weight loss....I need to learn, I can't have seconds on cake....a serving of cookies isn't 5 (!) and so on. There is nothing wrong with saving a few calories daily for something sweet. If you meet your protein and your other macros are ok....nothing wrong with a cookie here or a peanut butter cup there.0 -
Nothing wrong with that. Find a reasonable treat to look forward to each day and plan it into your calories. For me it's a Hershey's Nugget with Toffee & Almonds. 50 calories and worth every one. I don't feel like my day is complete until I've had a bite of something sweet.0
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^ What they said. I kicked mine by pre-logging everything before I put it in my mouth. When I saw what my 2pm snack of powdered donuts was going to do to my calorie allowance for the rest of the day, it was easier to say, "I'll pass for now" or "I'll just have one instead of the entire 350 calorie package".0
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Switch the cookie or peanut butter cup for fruit. If you're considering fruit part of the sugar addiction, then I'm not sure what to do! lol All i know is I feel alot better when I'm munching on strawberries than I do when I'm munching on chocolate. Don't cut it out 100% either.. I find I always end up binging when I do that. Allow yourself times when you can eat it. For example, I allow myself to indulge on weekends, but will walk right past that stuff during the week.
PS- i love all chocolate, cookies, candy, etc, so I know how hard it is! I love pineapple as a snack, and it's sweet, try that!0 -
First realize it's NOT an addiction. Second, realize you can have a cookie.............not the whole box.Dancetherapist wrote: »ive been able to do it in the past but am having a bit of trouble this time around. It's not like I'm eating a whole cake a day but I find that I NEED (obviously I don't) like a cookie or peanut butter cup or something every day. Any tips ?
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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The cravings I get for sugar feel the same as the cravings I get for a cigarette, so I feel as though it is an addiction for me (don't judge the bad habit, I'm well aware of how bad it is for me). One of the reasons I want to stop with the sugar for a bit (obviously making exceptions for celebrations, when a friend wants to go out for ice cream, etc) is because I've found that cutting out sugar gets me to my fitness goals sooner (after a week of no sugar my stomach is significantly flatter!) I guess I want to be able to not NEED it every day and only have it for certain social occasions. I love fruit and don't consider it bad sugar
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Dancetherapist wrote: »The cravings I get for sugar feel the same as the cravings I get for a cigarette, so I feel as though it is an addiction for me (don't judge the bad habit, I'm well aware of how bad it is for me). One of the reasons I want to stop with the sugar for a bit (obviously making exceptions for celebrations, when a friend wants to go out for ice cream, etc) is because I've found that cutting out sugar gets me to my fitness goals sooner (after a week of no sugar my stomach is significantly flatter!) I guess I want to be able to not NEED it every day and only have it for certain social occasions. I love fruit and don't consider it bad sugar
What I've been doing is I've bought two different chewable "candy" vitamins for adults. One with vitamin D and calcium and the other is a general multivitamin. It's like eating a few pieces of candy and since they are vitamins, they are important for you. Try that! It's helped me a lot.0 -
Ooo I like that idea, thanks!0
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techgal128 wrote: »Dancetherapist wrote: »The cravings I get for sugar feel the same as the cravings I get for a cigarette, so I feel as though it is an addiction for me (don't judge the bad habit, I'm well aware of how bad it is for me). One of the reasons I want to stop with the sugar for a bit (obviously making exceptions for celebrations, when a friend wants to go out for ice cream, etc) is because I've found that cutting out sugar gets me to my fitness goals sooner (after a week of no sugar my stomach is significantly flatter!) I guess I want to be able to not NEED it every day and only have it for certain social occasions. I love fruit and don't consider it bad sugar
What I've been doing is I've bought two different chewable "candy" vitamins for adults. One with vitamin D and calcium and the other is a general multivitamin. It's like eating a few pieces of candy and since they are vitamins, they are important for you. Try that! It's helped me a lot.
i used to do this too! it definitely makes you feel like you're eating candy so it helps! 0 -
My problem is i eat the whole box, the whole cake, the whole jug of ice cream, the whole family size bag of mnms..... yeah, i dont know how to stop and it sucks, 16 pounds gained over the last 5 months!0
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Dancetherapist wrote: »The cravings I get for sugar feel the same as the cravings I get for a cigarette, so I feel as though it is an addiction for me (don't judge the bad habit, I'm well aware of how bad it is for me). One of the reasons I want to stop with the sugar for a bit (obviously making exceptions for celebrations, when a friend wants to go out for ice cream, etc) is because I've found that cutting out sugar gets me to my fitness goals sooner (after a week of no sugar my stomach is significantly flatter!) I guess I want to be able to not NEED it every day and only have it for certain social occasions. I love fruit and don't consider it bad sugar
Sigh. If you think you are eating too much sugar, fine. Try and cut back.
But, you don't NEED it everyday. You WANT it everyday, so you eat it. What do you think would happen to you if you didn't eat a cookie everyday?0 -
I wrote the "need" in capital letters as a way of emphasizing how my body feels regarding eating sugar. I am definitely aware of the fact that I want it, not need it. 0
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I simply do not trust myself around sugar because it is my weakness so I do not keep it in the house. At all. No cookies, cake, brownies, sugary breakfast cereals, nada. When I am on my period and seriously craving chocolate or something sweet, I will go out and buy a very high quality piece of dark chocolate and eat it all. Then that's it. I'm good. On a day to day basis I eat gummy multi-vitamins and Caltrate chewy calcium supplement and its candy-like. I am not craving sugar anymore since I don't allow myself to have it every day. This is spoken from a serious former sugar-aholic. lol hope this helps 0
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I have desert pretty much every night...I don't consider it to be an addiction and I don't see anything wrong with it...I'm not diabetic or pre-diabetic and given my very healthy overall diet and propensity to exercise regularly, I really don't need to worry about it.
Most people would be in a similar boat and stressing themselves out about absolutely nothing...0 -
I hope I can get to that point eventually. For right now, it is too much of a slippery slope for me. If I have a cake in the house you can bet I will eat about 3 pieces a day or more until the whole thing is gone. I just don't have the power to resist. LOL So for me personally, it is better to not have it in the house at all. At least until I get this under control.0
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There is nothing wrong with one cookie or a peanut butter cup.
I generally eat low carb because I feel fuller longer so I avoid cakes, cookies, etc. HOWEVER I also avoid most fruit. If you're truly "addicted" to sugar, do you still eat fruit? A banana? Orange?
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I also am "addicted" to sugar. Before I started counting calories I was on the low carb diet and it works for my cravings. Lost 6 pounds on low carb and now 6 pounds on counting calories. The cravings have not come back. You may have to go cold turkey for a few weeks to get a handle on the cravings. I like to buy premade cookie dough and bake two cookies at a time so I don't "accidentally" overindulge. In fact there are mini Hersey bars sitting on my kitchen counter for over two weeks and I haven't been tempted yet. If I can do it, you can do it.0
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One trick to stop a fierce sugar craving is to eat something bitter. I take a 1/2 teaspoon of herbal bitters, or coffee is a more socially recognized bitter.0
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One trick to stop a fierce sugar craving is to eat something bitter. I take a 1/2 teaspoon of herbal bitters, or coffee is a more socially recognized bitter.
that sounds weird.. but come to think of it, I don't crave sugar at all after a good cup of coffee.. I'm definitely giving this a try!!0 -
The only - ONLY - thing that has ever worked for me is the ketogenic diet. I fail when doing moderate to intense sugar restriction, but doing the low-carb high fat diet makes it so that food just isn't on the mind all the time. When you're always full, even in 20-25% deficit, it's a really effective mechanism for avoiding junk. I'm terrible about sugar, but when I go keto, it somehow gets rid of the ravenous impulses. You'll also feel awesome all day if you give it a go.0
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Quite often, sugar cravings are just cravings for calories. When I stick to my diet and lose a few pounds, I get the same cravings. I eat Snickers bars, but keep it within the calorie limit.0
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If I recall, I think it was Freud that said that the best way to get rid of an addiction was to replace it with another, less harmful one. Of course, Freud said a lot of crackpot things, too, but it rang true in my case.
I replaced sugar with caffeine. Still not good for you, but my morning coffee doubled as an appetite suppressant until the cravings went away. If I eat too much fruit, the same cravings come back, so I have to watch my sugar intake. Protein is an even better supplement, although it never completely suppressed the craving, for me.0 -
techgal128 wrote: »Why not have sugar? Have a frozen banana for dessert or a 100 calorie pack of cookies. Just fit it into your macros and you will be fine.
Banana instead of a peanut butter cup?? She's trying to decrease sugar not increase it.
Notes: A medium banana has 14 grams of sugar. A single Reeses Peanut Butter Cup has 10.50 -
I don't mean this to be a flippant answer but just stop eating it. It's the only way for me. If I keep my grams of sugar to about 50/day from all sources or less I don't seem to crave it. The first 3 days sucks lol.0
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I snack on meat that I keep pre-cut in my fridge. If that doesn't work, I eat the cookie and go for a bike ride. But then I go for a long enough bike ride that I am really hungry, so I eat the pizza. Then I lift to make up for eating the pizza. Then I enter it into the database to realize that I exercised enough to have a calorie deficit, so I get to eat another cookie.
Long story short, work on moderation, exercise sufficiently to warrant your appetite, lift weights, and keep an eye on the scale. But whatever you do, don't vilify one type of food and blame it for all your problems.0 -
Schollelois wrote: »I also am "addicted" to sugar. Before I started counting calories I was on the low carb diet and it works for my cravings. Lost 6 pounds on low carb and now 6 pounds on counting calories. The cravings have not come back. You may have to go cold turkey for a few weeks to get a handle on the cravings. I like to buy premade cookie dough and bake two cookies at a time so I don't "accidentally" overindulge. In fact there are mini Hersey bars sitting on my kitchen counter for over two weeks and I haven't been tempted yet. If I can do it, you can do it.
I find that a low carb diet completely kicked my sugar cravings as well and I had it BAD! It takes about 3-4 days of very low carbs for me to stop thinking about sweets and breads all the time and before the first week is over...the issue is resolved.
However, if I allow too many carbs to creep back into my diet I start having cravings again. Some of the research on low carb diets states that each person may have their own level that is the right mix for them. I think this may be true based on my own experience.
The first few days are kind-of rough, but it is a relief not to feel controlled by unhealthy desires!0 -
No such thing as a sugar addiction. There, you're cured. ^_^ all kidding aside, the only way I keep my sugar in check is not getting started with it. If I have any, I'll have too much. But that is just me.0
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I simply do not trust myself around sugar because it is my weakness so I do not keep it in the house. At all. No cookies, cake, brownies, sugary breakfast cereals, nada. When I am on my period and seriously craving chocolate or something sweet, I will go out and buy a very high quality piece of dark chocolate and eat it all. Then that's it. I'm good. On a day to day basis I eat gummy multi-vitamins and Caltrate chewy calcium supplement and its candy-like. I am not craving sugar anymore since I don't allow myself to have it every day. This is spoken from a serious former sugar-aholic. lol hope this helps
Same here! I am trying to go cold turkey and it is difficult. Good to know someone else in the same boat who conquered it.
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First realize it's NOT an addiction. Second, realize you can have a cookie.............not the whole box.Dancetherapist wrote: »ive been able to do it in the past but am having a bit of trouble this time around. It's not like I'm eating a whole cake a day but I find that I NEED (obviously I don't) like a cookie or peanut butter cup or something every day. Any tips ?
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
^^ This. The second you acknowledge it's not an addiction, you lose your powerlessness against it. You don't NEED it and you won't do anything illegal to get it. You won't get delirium tremens if you don't have it. Tell yourself you can have a cookie or whatever when it's no longer a craving but merely a desire and reward your willpower--but doing that is easier if you lose the "victim" mentality.0
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