What's your advice to control the urges to eat sweets?

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2

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  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    I eat them and have a lighter dinner... skip the potatoes, have a bunless burger, etc. If I end up going a bit over, it's fine, just try to do better the next day.
  • Linzon
    Linzon Posts: 294 Member
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    Team 'moderation!' I still indulge in everything I did before but now I portion it out and make sure it fits into my daily calories. One thing that helped in the beginning was measuring out a portion of whatever treat I wanted and then making the rest of it difficult to get - put it up in a high cupboard, store it in the trunk of the car, wherever, just make it more difficult to get to than just opening up a box. Now, I just keep everything in the cupboard :)
  • lhtbuzz123
    lhtbuzz123 Posts: 40 Member
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    Linzon wrote: »
    One thing that helped in the beginning was measuring out a portion of whatever treat I wanted and then making the rest of it difficult to get - put it up in a high cupboard, store it in the trunk of the car, wherever, just make it more difficult to get to than just opening up a box.

    I LOVE THIS IDEA! It made me chuckle & I will definitely give it a try on those off days!
  • quiltlovinlisa
    quiltlovinlisa Posts: 1,710 Member
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    There are foods that I don't keep in the house. When they're in the house, I buy just enough for everyone to have a portion. When baking, I try to do the same and not bake in mega batches. I halve cookie recipes (with our family of seven, 3 dozen is perfect for everyone to have a portion and then I send the rest with my husband to work.)

    When I know I'll be eating splurge type foods, I make sure I have enough calories to cover it and make sure I'm on track the rest of the day.

    You'll have to figure out what works for you and go from there. :)
  • sinbadfxdl
    sinbadfxdl Posts: 103 Member
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    I keep healthy snacks close. I keep a portion of trail mix in the car and prepaired snacks at home. Snacks are my key to get me to the next meal. For me not to be prepared, I will eventually eat a whole cake.
  • andres0691
    andres0691 Posts: 26 Member
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    Drink a lot of water, eat something healthy and then have a taste of the unhealthy snack (one cookie only), that way you are satisfied and still got the good taste by the end. If this does not work I failed you :(
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    JannickOcampo wrote: »
    Probably many of us crave sweets or savory stuffs that sometimes make us end our diet; how you cope with these feelings, what's your advice?

    I eat them in moderation.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    PeachyCarol wrote: »
    It depends on you. I eat what I want in moderation. A snack bag of chips is 150 calories. A Yasso bar is 100 calories. A fun sized Snickers bar is 80 calories.

    In the past, I used to avoid "trigger" foods and find substitutes to have instead.

    There are short and long-term fixes here. Substitutes are a short-term fix if you want to incorporate the foods you like in your life eventually. Long-term fixes require some work.

    You mentioned both salty and sweet items, so I'm going to assume you mean all hyper-palatable foods, or snack foods, not just one particular type of food like sweets.

    Ask yourself a few questions. Are you willing to live forever without these things in your life? If you're not, then you need to do some hard thinking about your behavior with them. Yes, they taste good, but they are a source of calories. So is all the other food you eat. The key is for you to be able to come to a place within yourself where you feel in charge of your food choices.

    Another thing to examine is the conditions under which you're overeating. Are you bored, anxious, depressed, tired? Have you let yourself become over-hungry because your next meal isn't ready? If you are really honest with yourself and if you (general you, not just OP) are eating for any of these reasons, you'll have to admit that none of them is a good reason to eat. Get up and walk around a bit instead. Take a drink of water. Read. Engage in a hobby. Talk to a friend. Pamper yourself instead.

    There's no reason to permanently ban snack food from your life if you don't want to. Food has no power beyond that which we give it. I used to believe I was addicted to sugar and carbs and gave those foods too much power. I've taken that power back and learned, instead, that I'm the one that gets to be amazing. I firmly believe in the potential everyone has to find their own amazing and kick food's butt and make their own choices when it comes to it. You can be in charge of just how much of it you eat, no matter what kind of food it is.

    Dang! Cosigned!
  • lseed87
    lseed87 Posts: 1,105 Member
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    I'm in team moderation but I feel that there might be healthier sweets out there too. Or have dark chocolate, peanut butter or something like that to end the cravings. Also water could help too.
  • samatchison85
    samatchison85 Posts: 7 Member
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    I am a moderation eater. I allow my self one sweet a day but only one serving. So if it happens to be M&M's I only eat half the bag and save the rest for another day or I only eat 3 Oreos or whatever the serving size is.
  • Abby_C2014
    Abby_C2014 Posts: 86 Member
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    If I am craving some things, I make a healthy recipe similar to it.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    lseed87 wrote: »
    I'm in team moderation but I feel that there might be healthier sweets out there too. Or have dark chocolate, peanut butter or something like that to end the cravings. Also water could help too.

    Nah, it's not healthy to deprive yourself of things you love. Deprivation just leads to bingeing and yo-yo-ing.

    Moderation is having the things you love in reasonable amounts.
  • Loganmmontgomery
    Loganmmontgomery Posts: 47 Member
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    Atkins snacks!!!
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Orphia wrote: »
    lseed87 wrote: »
    I'm in team moderation but I feel that there might be healthier sweets out there too. Or have dark chocolate, peanut butter or something like that to end the cravings. Also water could help too.

    Nah, it's not healthy to deprive yourself of things you love. Deprivation just leads to bingeing and yo-yo-ing.

    Moderation is having the things you love in reasonable amounts.

    Nothing is "fattening", a calorie is a calorie and all that, I will defend moderation and not cutting out anything you love - but:
    Find out if you love the things you crave, or if you just crave them. I haven't had chocolate, chips, ice cream, cookies, candy for 6 months and the cravings are almost gone. I don't miss any of it, not the cravings, and not the junk. I prefer real food and I eat a lot better. I can't believe I'm alone in this.
  • KateTii
    KateTii Posts: 886 Member
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    I find moderation is the best key. Over the past couple of months i've found that including snacks in my day is the only way to not only 'treat my sweet tooth' but stay on track for the rest of my life. I'm not willing to give up lollies, chocolate, chips, ice-cream etc. But what I do crave has changed. Instead of wanting any lolly, I want a certain type of lolly. I will no longer eat the kinda-nasty but sugary lolly just because it's there, but i'll wait and get my favourite type.

    I do also wait until after dinner and i've had all my "filling food"/main meals for the day and THEN use my leftover calories on sweets/snacks. Less guilt and it means I never miss dinner because I went a bit too heavy on the turkish delight.
  • ncfitbit
    ncfitbit Posts: 1,058 Member
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    JannickOcampo wrote: »
    This is all good advise people. I'm fighting it, and so far I am doing well. The only candy I can't resist is, Red Hots. They are so good... low in calories, but I eat the whole box.... :(
    Please add me as your friend for mutual motivation. We are in this together ; )

    Hmm, that's an interesting one! It does seem like it would be easy to keep eating them. I couldn't stop eating the "Mike and Ike's" candy we gave out for Halloween last year so I have decided not to have those around this year. For me, the serving size is not worth the calories, so that's the only reason I'm deciding to forego them. If you really want to keep eating them, maybe put them into individual serving sizes so you will consciously decide how many servings you will have.

    I've discovered that a certain snack size chocolate, although it's not my absolute favorite kind, is totally satisfying for the calories and feels like enough of a treat that I can work it in to my day on many days.

    For a substitute, if you wanted to go that route, I wonder if cinnamon flavored tea would give you that fix when you didn't really want to spend the calories?
  • trishk82
    trishk82 Posts: 27 Member
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    Last night, I cut up some strawberries and a banana and put a little cool whip on it. It was really good and healthy. It satisfied my sweet tooth. Another idea is looking up healthy dessert options/alternatives on Pinterest. I absolutely love Pinterest!
  • Timelordlady85
    Timelordlady85 Posts: 797 Member
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    I try to eat just a portion of what I really want or just avoid it all together and have something healthier that still helps my cravings.
  • cbnorris
    cbnorris Posts: 204 Member
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    veephil31 wrote: »
    I love the fiber one bars or yasso bars. If I allow myself one of those at night, I seem to be good. For a while I was eating a yasso bar every night (it tastes just like ice cream, though made with Greek yogurt and very low cal). That kept me on track all day. After about a month of that, I don't need a bar every night and don't have much trouble staying away from candy/cookies.

    I got the coffee chocolate chip yasso bars... omg... soooo good!

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