Sugar addiction
formeonly
Posts: 8 Member
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
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Replies
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I have another link for you
http://www.moderation.org/faq/coping.shtml
Here is the intro:
Habits and urges go hand in hand. In fact, many people in the throes of an addictive behavior problem, whether it is overeating, drug use or alcohol abuse, claim that they derive no pleasure from their habit--that it is nothing but the relentless craving that fuels ongoing addictive behavior. What is usually most difficult for people when changing a bad habit is coping with the sometimes relentless urges. The initial days of a habit kicking plan can be exhausting as urges dominate thinking and interfere with daily routine. Many people give up change efforts because they feel that there is no way they can function without their habit as the urges interfere too much with quality of life.
It is important to remember that urges, in and of themselves, are normal. We experience craving in varying degrees every day. And because your habit has been important to you for a long time, it may be unreasonable to expect urges to vanish completely. What is hoped is that you will come to experience urges with less frequency and that when they are experienced you will be able to react in a way that avoids relapse.
The "three Ds" can be helpful in coping with urges and craving, 'whether these urges are related to alcohol or drug use, overeating, tobacco use or any habit you are attempting to change. The Ds stand for Decatastrophizing, Disputing expectancies and Distracting.
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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.0 -
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
For me, I had to go cold turkey and stop. My goal was less than 35g of sugar per day. For me, the more sugar I get, the more I crave. So it's best to keep it out while I'm trying to cut back. I am resistant to insulin so sugar and I are not the best of friends.
Also, to be fair, I had a doctor and a dietician monitoring me. And was given "medical food" with low sugar and sugar alcohols to help me. Following the exact plan my team gave me made it much easier. Also the fact I had to check in once a week made me feel like I wanted to stick to the plan.
I would also note that if you are cutting back on sugar, try to stay away from condiments full of sugar. BBQ, salad dressings, ketchups and the like can sneak in unwanted sugar.
So in summary, I say don't give up sugar if you don't need to. But if you want to cut back, I suggest, cutting it all out and having a plan. The plan can come from medical professionals or maybe ordering those weekly meals from Hello Fresh or a place like that would be helpful. That way you don't have the temptation of what to eat. You can only eat what's in the plan or what's given to you.
Just my tricks on what I had to do to cut back. I hope something I said will be helpful for you. Good luck!0 -
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.0 -
Since I'm losing weight now and not at maintenance, I really haven't had many sweet treats. I do notice that I could easily have treats every day if left unchecked. I don't think about them so much when nothing is around, and I definitely have had to put the work goody table off-limits. Mostly I preplan my food for the day. There's rarely a window there for pie.0
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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.0
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I went cold turkey. No sweets or sweeteners. Very limited fruit (I have a half cup of berries with my plain greek yogurt). And no starchy veggies or grains. My body does not see much difference between a milky way bar and a plate of pasta. It really took only about a week to lose the cravings. My doctor has me on potassium (among other suppliments ) since those foods with the most potassium are not on my eat list. I think that helps. Or it's a great placebo. Same difference.0
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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. 0 -
Have you tried moderation yet?0
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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.0 -
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 agree with these too ladies. For years, I cut out anything with added sugar, anything sweet, except an orange here and there, but when I tried to go back to adding treats in, I'd end up binging, overdoing it, and then gaining weight back due to the calorie surplus created by bingeing. And, it was not just the sweet sugar stuff I ended up bingeing on, it was whatever food that was available.
The only way I have been able to control my sugar intake is (1) have a plan by pre-logging every day, (2) moderating foods with sugar in them so that I have some everyday, and (3) changing my relationship with food so that I did not have that mentality of good/bad food.
For me, moderation is key in all things.0 -
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
My personal approach which worked well for me, was to cut out totally all the sweets and ice cream and general junk food for 30 days.
Then after 30 days I just re-introduced the things I wanted (in moderation). The thing that surprised me was 30 days, the things that I ate everyday and didn't want to live without, I choose not to re-introduce because I didn't fancy them anymore.
There were some things I bought back into my diet but most of the regular treats just weren't that appealing.0 -
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I had to cut out things like gummy bears and little frooties because something about those leave me with a crazy craving to eat more. Then I've given all these calories to sugar and have to be super careful with food for the rest of the day to not go over.
I fasted from those "triggers" for a little over two weeks to change my relationship with these things and just recently found that I can have a reasonable amount and be fine. I may follow it with an orange if I still have a sweet urge.
To replace my craving for richer sweets I've started making a non fat Greek yogurt with honey, fruits and nuts or a bowl of oatmeal. It surprisingly does the trick!
I'm learning not to label food good or bad (at least not in a way that makes me feel guilty) but I do believe in behavior modification when you're looking to make some serious changes. Making them sustainable is the balancing act0 -
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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.0
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goldthistime wrote: »I have another link for you
http://www.moderation.org/faq/coping.shtml
Here is the intro:
Habits and urges go hand in hand. In fact, many people in the throes of an addictive behavior problem, whether it is overeating, drug use or alcohol abuse, claim that they derive no pleasure from their habit--that it is nothing but the relentless craving that fuels ongoing addictive behavior. What is usually most difficult for people when changing a bad habit is coping with the sometimes relentless urges. The initial days of a habit kicking plan can be exhausting as urges dominate thinking and interfere with daily routine. Many people give up change efforts because they feel that there is no way they can function without their habit as the urges interfere too much with quality of life.
It is important to remember that urges, in and of themselves, are normal. We experience craving in varying degrees every day. And because your habit has been important to you for a long time, it may be unreasonable to expect urges to vanish completely. What is hoped is that you will come to experience urges with less frequency and that when they are experienced you will be able to react in a way that avoids relapse.
The "three Ds" can be helpful in coping with urges and craving, 'whether these urges are related to alcohol or drug use, overeating, tobacco use or any habit you are attempting to change. The Ds stand for Decatastrophizing, Disputing expectancies and Distracting.
This sounds like good solid advice.0 -
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.0 -
I 100% agree with the above response. I watched a great scientific documentary, The Bitter Truth by Dr Robert Lustwig. One thing that really stuck out to me is that high fructose corn syrup has a glycemic index of like 170 while an apple has like 60. You would think that because HFCS is sweeter we'd eat less but the opposite is true and it causes us to crave more and become addicted. It goes into the science of this.
I truly believe I have been an addict of sugar from early childhood. We always had Sam's club portions of fruit roll ups and ice cream sandwiches and the like and I rarely could eat enough where dessert wasn't tempting. Since starting MFP and reading about and working on my sugar addiction, I can honestly say it doesn't have a strong hold on me like it used to. It was my daughter's birthday and we got 3 cupcakes (one for her, one for me, and one for my husband) and because they didn't blow me away I threw away more than half of mine. It was honestly the first time in my life I feel I have control over the sugar in my body.
Avoiding HFCS is definitely a great first step. Rudi's organic bread is great .... most breads have HFCS. I put hummus on my sandwiches instead of mayo. I do, however, still use Heinz ketchup which has HFCS because I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, but not very often
Best of luck but know it can be tackled!!!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.
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It's like Godzilla. She never goes away. Just stompin...0
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I 100% agree with the above response. I watched a great scientific documentary, The Bitter Truth by Dr Robert Lustwig.
Lustig (not Lustwig) is a quack. You didn't watch a documentary, you watched a propaganda piece
http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/0 -
I 100% agree with the above response. I watched a great scientific documentary, The Bitter Truth by Dr Robert Lustwig. One thing that really stuck out to me is that high fructose corn syrup has a glycemic index of like 170 while an apple has like 60. You would think that because HFCS is sweeter we'd eat less but the opposite is true and it causes us to crave more and become addicted. It goes into the science of this.
I truly believe I have been an addict of sugar from early childhood. We always had Sam's club portions of fruit roll ups and ice cream sandwiches and the like and I rarely could eat enough where dessert wasn't tempting. Since starting MFP and reading about and working on my sugar addiction, I can honestly say it doesn't have a strong hold on me like it used to. It was my daughter's birthday and we got 3 cupcakes (one for her, one for me, and one for my husband) and because they didn't blow me away I threw away more than half of mine. It was honestly the first time in my life I feel I have control over the sugar in my body.
Avoiding HFCS is definitely a great first step. Rudi's organic bread is great .... most breads have HFCS. I put hummus on my sandwiches instead of mayo. I do, however, still use Heinz ketchup which has HFCS because I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, but not very often
Best of luck but know it can be tackled!!!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.
Be careful of documentaries.. they tend to cherry pick science to back up their claims.0 -
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I 100% agree with the above response. I watched a great scientific documentary, The Bitter Truth by Dr Robert Lustwig. One thing that really stuck out to me is that high fructose corn syrup has a glycemic index of like 170 while an apple has like 60. You would think that because HFCS is sweeter we'd eat less but the opposite is true and it causes us to crave more and become addicted. It goes into the science of this.
I truly believe I have been an addict of sugar from early childhood. We always had Sam's club portions of fruit roll ups and ice cream sandwiches and the like and I rarely could eat enough where dessert wasn't tempting. Since starting MFP and reading about and working on my sugar addiction, I can honestly say it doesn't have a strong hold on me like it used to. It was my daughter's birthday and we got 3 cupcakes (one for her, one for me, and one for my husband) and because they didn't blow me away I threw away more than half of mine. It was honestly the first time in my life I feel I have control over the sugar in my body.
Avoiding HFCS is definitely a great first step. Rudi's organic bread is great .... most breads have HFCS. I put hummus on my sandwiches instead of mayo. I do, however, still use Heinz ketchup which has HFCS because I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, but not very often
Best of luck but know it can be tackled!!!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.
Lustig is a fairly reputable endocrinologist specializing in treating (I believe) child metabolic disorders. Unfortunately, I think that's lead him to golden hammer thinking (when you have a golden hammer, all problems are nails), and over stretching his expertise.
He wants to criticize calories, but he thinks the laws of thermodynamics were written by Issac Newton.
He's in such a rush to vilify sugar, he's got people to try to drudge up statistics to show it as environmentally harmful to grow sugar.0 -
I haven't fully kicked sugar, but I do log it whenever I have it, and because it's calorically "expensive" to have a cookie versus a few slices of turkey with some cheese, plus I feel hungrier after, and there's very little nutritional value to most high sugar things I would eat, my desire for sugar has been abating. I'm not a huge paleo proponent but I would recommend trying out some good paleo meals (egg, sausage and guacamole breakfast sandwich, protein pancakes, chicken and vegetables) due to the level of satiety and how it blunts the thirst for carbs/sugar. Also the sweetness of dark berries can be an excellent substitute: blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries. A handful of those make me feel like I'm eating candy but without the negative aftereffects and high calories.0
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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
I found that after three days... Three GRUELING days of cutting all refined sugar, meaning bread, pasta, sugar, anything sweet... And sticking to a ketogenic diet... Has totally lifted my sugar cravings. Been on it for 14 days now. Not a craving in site. And I was totally addicted to sugar.0 -
Lustig isn't a quack and your article didn't prove that he is. To the original poster, there is support and science behind sugar addiction and I recommend you find something that hits a nerve with you. The Bitter Truth was a documentary that helped me cut sugar from my diet and I'm thankful for that.juggernaut1974 wrote: »I 100% agree with the above response. I watched a great scientific documentary, The Bitter Truth by Dr Robert Lustig.
Lustig (not Lustwig) is a quack. You didn't watch a documentary, you watched a propaganda piece
http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
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Sweeteners. I love sugar so I can not live without it, moderation + cheating (sweeteners) works for me.
I have a new daily goal of 65g since I changed my weight loss goal on MFP from 85g.
With exercise or physical activity, you get an extra allowance (bonus).
Life without sugar is not worth living??0
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