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

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  • ExRelaySprinter
    ExRelaySprinter Posts: 874 Member
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    I've recently cut down on eating sugary treats (i.e doughnuts, candy etc).
    When i feel like something sweet, i'll now have some fruit.
    Although, at that "time of the month" - i had to have some Chocolate. ;)
  • smile_2k2
    smile_2k2 Posts: 8 Member
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    For me I love chocolate...now, I get dark chocolate, instead of having the full bar, I take 1-2 pieces and work it into my calorie counting.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    kommodevaran wrote: »
    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.

    This was completely true for me. I changed my diet a bunch in 2003, including realizing that I ate a lot of stuff because it was there and easy, and not because I really loved it. I still might think I was craving it, in the right circumstances, but it didn't take long for me to realize that other foods would satisfy the craving just as well and that in fact I preferred many healthier options (in terms of how they fit into my overall diet) to some of the stuff I'd been eating. (For example, I'd go grab a quesadilla from a local place for a quick lunch, because I like spicy. Once I started being more choosy about food I'd make my own or save the desire for a time when I could go out for a really good Mexican meal and had calories to waste. It wasn't difficult to replace the old choice with something else.) I also found that once I started eating better chocolate I didn't really want the old candies (although I do like chocolate still and moderate it fine).

    However, I'll note that I gained weight back (although not for quite a while) despite eating a healthier overall diet, so that alone doesn't work for all of us.
  • amandadunwoody
    amandadunwoody Posts: 204 Member
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    I had half a serving of my favorite ice cream with my lunch. I am in the portion control camp. Don't give in to any tempting sweet though, only the faves. IFYM - if it fits your macros - then eat it. I even fudge that sometimes to - if I'm within my calories, forget the macros.
  • kspirit
    kspirit Posts: 61 Member
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    Yup. I like sweets, mainly pastries. I do not deprive myself from eating them. I eat less of it or try to pick healthier alternatives. I've learned to bake using healthier choices of ingredients. And wiser choices. For example instead of a snickers bar, I will eat only a mini snickers. Fruit helps too. A banana dip in chocolate or have it with 3 dark chocolate kisses, yogurt with fruit, 1 oatmeal cookie with coffee etc. You really have to find what works for you. Also for I try to limit how many sweets I have in a day. Some days are better than others. . And when I started doing that I begun to lose weight. Good luck and don't give up!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,583 Member
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    +1 to portion control/moderation. But also to satisfying (not 'not quite as good') substitutes, and to learning more about *you*.

    Biggest thing: Think, and experiment. Everyone is different. Try some things to see how *your* body works.

    I found that my cravings for added-sugar sweets went away when I started making whole fruit a regular part of my diet (diet = way of eating forever), two to three times a day. Eventually, super-sweet things started tasting kind of . . . not good. And I could perceive (perhaps incorrectly ;) ) the sugar rush hitting, followed by the crash. Not fun anymore. But I still fit the birthday cake into my calorie goal if it's a friend's birthday.

    Eating lots of carbs, it turned out, made me crave more carbs. I'm not "low carb", but when I avoid what I consider to be carbs that aren't nutrient-dense enough to be worth the calories at my calorie goal, I don't have the carb cravings. Eating more protein helped me feel more satisfied.

    But this is just *me*. Some people are happier still eating sugary things in smaller portions, or in a big portion on a rare day, as long as they fit in their calorie goal. Some can't feel satiated without carbs.

    Read (or ask) about the variations other people are doing with meal timing/size, distribution of carbs/fat/protein, and more; and about satisfying substitutes for your trigger foods - as you are doing. You'll figure out what works for you.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,982 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 don't have cravings anymore now that I've reduced carbs and increased protein, and budget for a small treat after dinner. If I am careless and eat too much carbs in relation to protein during the day, I will crave carbs until the next morning.

    I don't bring trigger foods like M&Ms, Oreos, Girl Scout Cookies and pints of Ben & Jerry's into the house. B&J makes 4 ounce mini cups in flavors that are not my faves, and they are safe in my freezer for weeks on end.

    Bars of chocolate can be a problem for me, but I can eat one 70 calorie Ghiradelli square and stop. I can also measure out 70 calories of Ghiradelli chocolate chips, eat those, and stop.

    I make baked goods on Fridays or Saturdays, so I can bring half to my mother and brother when I see them on the weekend. My fiance and I have a few portions, and I send the rest home for his mother.

    I'll make a batch of Nigella's Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies and just cook enough for one serving for B and me, and freeze the rest of the batter.

    When I make a batch of muffins, I eat some, give some away and freeze the rest.


  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,982 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.

    Ya, B was a Kit Kat guy but I have converted him to Ghiradelli squares. (I still have a bag and a half of Kit Kats leftover from last Halloween.) I never found Kit Kats satisfying, because what my body wanted was chocolate, and KK just don't provide enough of the real thing. So, 70 calories worth of Ghiradelli satisfy me, while 210 calories of Kit Kats do not.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    yesimpson wrote: »
    I only go for the really tasty stuff, and not every day. Instead of the three portions I truly want, I only have one.

    This^

    Moderation for me. I need to manage sugar before I get to goal weight.....or the weight will come back.
    I'm more selective with my treats now.

    Elimination is great until the day you want to eat it again. Sugar free is not a rest of my life thing.
  • kristen6350
    kristen6350 Posts: 1,094 Member
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    I've found that if I don't have any for 14 days, I don't want them any more. Now, I'm usually a member of team moderation, but when I'm starting to "get in the zone" I make myself not have any for 14 days. Because if I don't want them, I don't eat them and I don't have the problem.
  • lakshva
    lakshva Posts: 44 Member
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    There was a time I cldnt imagine finishing my lunch without a bar of chocolate. And then one day the shop in my office building closed down.
    No I didn't walk to next building to get one. As days went by I ended up forgetting about chocolate.
    The shop is back now, but I'm out of that habit.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,982 Member
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    lakshva wrote: »
    There was a time I cldnt imagine finishing my lunch without a bar of chocolate. And then one day the shop in my office building closed down.
    No I didn't walk to next building to get one. As days went by I ended up forgetting about chocolate.
    The shop is back now, but I'm out of that habit.

    That's pretty much how I stopped smoking clove cigarettes when I was 16 - I moved to an area where they were not sold within walking distance and by the time I got my license and a car, I was out of the habit.

    When I was tapering down on sweets, I started having one small piece of dried fruit after a meal, but eventually got to where I didn't feel the need for that either.

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