Sugar addiction

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10197460/sugar-faq-june-2015

And also

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10218216/sugar-and-carb-addiction-addiction

formeonly wrote: »

How to give up sugar? Where do you get the will power? I know what I need to do. It sounds so simple but I haven't been successful yet. Help

Well, there are two ways to go about it, and your success with either method will be determined by what works for you.

1. Practice moderation: If you are someone for whom cutting out a food will lead to overeating that food later on from deprivation, working a serving of that food into your diet may help you stay on track. This means you have to be someone who can stop after a serving as well, and not end up eating the whole container.

2. Eliminate the food: If you are someone for whom eating a serving of something leads to eating the entire container, you may have success cutting that food out completely. Some people end up working the food back into their diet in moderation, or eat it only on special occasions or when out somewhere (not bringing it into the house), others just stop eating it.

Ultimately it's going to come down to what works for you and your life. You may also have some luck by adjusting your macros (carbs, protein, and fat); some people report that including more fat in their diet helps cut cravings for sweet treats, and others find that when (time of day) they eat certain macros during the day can impact their satiety, reducing cravings and urges to overeat. You can also play around with meal sizes, or even the frequency of when you eat, to help you stay on track. There's no one "right" way to do it. Hope some of these suggestions help.

I basically agree with kgeyser, but I'd add a few things.

The specifics matter. Rather than writing off feelings of out of control around sugar as "addiction" and thus meaning that one must stop, generally it's habit, and analyzing why and when you feel out of control makes a difference. Few of us actually have the same reaction to eating a piece of fruit as some treat we are in the habit of eating at a specific time or for a specific reason, and often the place where we are or the mood we are in makes a huge difference. And I for one have never felt drawn to plain sugar.

Therefore, what I'd recommend is thinking through or taking notes of when you crave sweet things, overeat them, feel out of control, etc. (and don't just limit that to sweet things). How are you feeling? Did you have enough sleep? What did you eat earlier in the day? Is it a time of day when you are in the habit of eating? Are you self-comforting? That kind of thing.

When I started I knew a couple of things: (1) I had been self comforting with food (for me not exclusively sweet things, but at work that's mainly what tends to be around, so it's what I'd been using to perk me up when staying late or to procrastinate or if I had an upsetting day); and (2) it was at work that would end up overeating most often. Based on that I figured it was an emotional eating thing and I decided to cut out sweets for a while to teach myself not to rely on them for self-comfort.

What I discovered was that that was part of it, but that I also tended to have a habit of wanting to eat when I was used to eating, so once I broke the habit of snacking and started eating just at meal times (plus a dessert after dinner or occasional planned afternoon snacks), I had no out of control feeling around sweets -- and also easily ate a well-balanced diet, since I tend to eat pretty good meals. It took a week or so before I started mindlessly wanting food whenever I'd been used to having it, but I at first let myself munch on raw veggies and also forced myself to write about whether I was really hungry/what was going on, and those things together got the habit in check pretty quickly, which was nice. Working on other ways to deal with stress, etc., also helped (working out, sitting with feelings, journaling).

A positive thing about this was that it also helped me realize other triggers, and a huge one was being tired. Eating better helped with this, but focusing on trying to sleep better and not just wake myself up in different ways (like by eating) was more important. Now I still routinely do let myself get sleep deprived, but I realize this is why I'm wanting sweets or other quick energy foods, and can react more appropriately or forgive myself for poor willpower.

I do still have some foods I have less control over -- homemade baked goods are foods I'm good at talking myself into thinking I need to eat before they go bad. So these I limit access to by not having them at home except at times when others will help me eat them and by encouraging my food snobbiness so I don't want ones I just happen to see at the grocery store. Other sweets like ice cream I can have at home without being tempted to eat more than a serving size, so that works for me. If you don't have these yet and want to try moderation, eat such things outside of the home only or buy single serving sizes.

I haven't found it useful personally to rely too much on a lack of access, though, as still sweets are constantly at my office and that is where I'm most likely to be tempted, so focusing on not snacking and eating a serving if it fits in my calories works better for me. Knowing I can have it later if I want makes me less likely to think I have to eat it all now, as it's the last time ever.

Being rational and analytical about what's going on when you want to eat and not reacting so emotionally (I want this, there must be something bad or weird or wrong with me!) has made a HUGE difference, also, and is even kind of interesting.

I did it by minimizing my sugar intake to a semi-sweet taste. It's important to reduce carbs for a week. That should reduce insulin levels that attribute to hunger pains and sugar cravings. And if I have to eat something sweet then it will come from fruit so I get the fiber too.

I've never been off sugar, but I have significantly reduced sweets and try to limit added sugar except for planned treats. I also have to reduce carbs due to BG issues So now a pasta meal or rice or French bread is basically another treat instead of a healthy food (it really spikes my BG).

It helped me to only allow a nice full-sized treat once a week to 2 weeks. The next day, I'd really crave it but then it would get fine afterwards.

Now that I'm on Metformin, I can handle the 'small treat a day' way without crazy cravings affecting me all day every day. In truth, I still have big wants after having the small treat, but they aren't the insane cravings like before, so it's so much easier to say no.

I was so bad I would sleepwalk and find the chocolate and eat it, no joke!

Now that I live alone again, I sometimes have someone hide my stash and give me my day's portion the next day (or call them) I'm getting better at not having to do that, but some treats are just terribly tempting. It's the temptation more than actual craving now, so if you can have them without having the rest of the bag in the house, there should be no problem after you cut down. They are just cheaper in bulk is why I have to trick myself, lol. I'm on a big budget.

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

Have you tried moderation yet?

This - it works well for a lot of people - and is a really good way to avoid a binge. When you know you can have a little bit of what you want every day, you don't feel deprived and end up eating too much of it if you do finally cave in and eat something. I don't have a lot of calories to eat right now - 1600 per day - but I still have something, like cookies, or ice cream, almost every day, if I want to.

I have found I do much better with moderation than I do with cutting foods out. When I restrict foods, I get stronger urges to having that item, which causes me to go off the deep end and preventing myself from staying in a deficit. What I have noticed when I preplan my calories, that I can add in a treat here or there (for example, a few hershey kisses, some ice cream, cake, etc...). This in turn, has helped me manage my calories much better and I can stay within reason. Having said that, I have also put greater focus on getting foods from nutrient dense sources (fruits, veggies, meats, fish, etc...). Some days, if I can't fit a treat in, I don't worry because I will try it again the next day.

What worked for me to kinda rewire my brain a bit, was to avoid things with high fructose corn syrup. Just avoid it 100%. But you have to look for it in labels. It's in salad dressing, bread, barbeque sauce, breading on deep fried things... just about everything in convenience stores.

When you're at the store, look at the label. If it has HFCS, put it back on the shelf and select another brand until you find one without HFCS. You can still eat brownies, cookies, etc. But eat ones with actual sugar and honey. This isn't because HFCS is somehow worse than regular sugar. It's more that it is a highly concentrated way to get calories, even more dense than straight sugar.

After about 4-6 weeks, your tastebuds will adjust to the lower sugar levels. Things like carrots and sweet potatoes will start to actually taste sweet. Your mileage may vary, but this worked for me. Now when I eat something with HFCS it tastes very chemical-y and fake and oversweet. I will eat it, of course, because it's in tons of things. But it's something I still notice when reading labels.