Any tips on beating a sugar addiction?

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  • eschny
    eschny Posts: 1 Member
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    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.
  • musicandarts
    musicandarts Posts: 187 Member
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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.
  • Freidon
    Freidon Posts: 169 Member
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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.
  • sullus
    sullus Posts: 2,839 Member
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    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 10.5
  • solieco1
    solieco1 Posts: 1,559 Member
    edited May 2015
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    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.
  • AmandaHugginkiss
    AmandaHugginkiss Posts: 486 Member
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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.
  • downongreenacres
    downongreenacres Posts: 327 Member
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    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!
  • Khukhullatus
    Khukhullatus Posts: 361 Member
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    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.
  • abok627
    abok627 Posts: 8 Member
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    icanplay3 wrote: »
    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.

  • LoupGarouTFTs
    LoupGarouTFTs Posts: 916 Member
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    ninerbuff wrote: »
    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 ?
    First realize it's NOT an addiction. Second, realize you can have a cookie.............not the whole box.

    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
    9285851.png

    ^^ 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.
  • KingoftheLilies
    KingoftheLilies Posts: 71 Member
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    Switching from white cane sugar to wet brown sugars help assuage any cravings, and brown sugars actually have nutritive value.

    White sugar is nothing but calorie-laden sweetness.
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,598 Member
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    For now, try abstaining from the foods you can't control yourself around. Don't purchase them, don't even walk down the cookie aisle in the store. After like 3 months you can test out reintroducing small quantities and see how it goes. This method worked for me. However I am still abstaining 95% of the time; I pretty much only indulge if I am say at a party and these items are on offer. It's just easier for me.
  • marcianne98
    marcianne98 Posts: 20 Member
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    I make my own "sweets" and take them in my lunch/dinner box. Homemade cookies with very little sugar and I add stevia...oatmeal... flax seeds...yum. I make an almond milk chocolate pudding that's satisfying and low cal. I do eat small pieces of dark chocolate too. I have lost control with sugar in the past and do fight to be in control.
  • Amik07
    Amik07 Posts: 13 Member
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    When I gave up sugar I was craving sweets for a while someone told me to eat frozen grapes and it worked for me good luck.
  • CherokeeBabe
    CherokeeBabe Posts: 1,704 Member
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    I work sugar into my calorie goals usually when I want some. 3 squares of chocolate, a klondike bar, protein bars (that taste good), fiber one brownies, etc. I go a little crazy with chocolate sometimes, I'm not perfect, but they don't usually ruin my day/week of hitting my goals.
  • jnv7594
    jnv7594 Posts: 983 Member
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    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 ?

    Not sure what's wrong with having a cookie or a peanut butter cup every day. I have a treat like that daily myself. And I agree with those that say it's not an addiction.

  • shadowfax_c11
    shadowfax_c11 Posts: 1,942 Member
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    1. Has anyone ever told you that you have a problem with sugar, or that you should cut down on your eating sugar?
    2. Do you wake up and immediately feel like you need to eat sugar or have a sugar fix?
    3. Has eating sugar ever caused you problems in the rest of your life (like caused you to not study enough for a test or fail to finish a paper)?
    4. Have you ever chosen eating sugar instead of another pleasurable experience, like hanging out with friends or family?
    5. Have you ever missed a normal vital part of daily life to eat sugar, like joining your family at the dinner table or taking a shower?


    No? Well then you are not addicted to sugar. You are however using addiction as an excuse for why you can't control your sugar consumption.

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