Seriously Addicted to Sugar!

kimny72 wrote: »

OP, hopefully you do come back to elaborate and answer the questions others have asked here.

If the issue is that you are over-eating sugary snacks, pre-logging really helped me with that. I would decide I was going to have some M&Ms, so I would weigh out a serving, log it, and look at how it affected my totals for the day. Made me a lot less likely to get up and measure out another serving!

I also can't say enough about how diet soda/iced tea helped me. When I just want something sweet, or I'm bored and start thinking about the junk food in the cabinet, a can of Coke Zero can usually head that off with no calories wasted.

I also will snack on a piece of fruit in those situations if I have some calories left. A banana or some melon is nice and sweet, but there is 0% chance of me accidentally eating 500 calories of either. Now if you really love fruit and keep a lot on hand, that might not work for you, but it does for me.

I would advise against thinking that you are addicted to sugar. It's really easy to think you have no control over the situation and it's not your fault, which makes it easier to just keep doing what you're doing! Taking responsibility for your eating habits means you have the power to change them - best of luck! :drinker:

Ooooh yes. A diet A&W root beer in the evenings helped my sugar cravings in the evenings so much! If the OP can drink diet soda without other issues, it's worth a try to see if it helps them.

I can only give you my perspective: I have never had a sweet tooth, but I was on the highest end of pre-diabetes- how did this happen, my daily average is only 100! Turns out it all night-time fasting that messes up my glucose. However, I was told lowering my daily intake of carbs (even though it wasn't terrible) and losing weight would help lower my nightly spikes. So, I decided to try eliminating added sugars from my diet. HOLY MOLY that was harder than I thought it would be! I don't recommend it for long-term sustainability, however, I think trying it can teach you a thing or two about how YOU see and use sugar in your lifestyle.

Here was my biggest takeaway from it: be conscious of the sugar you eat and just like calorie counting be accountable and make concerted room for it in your life. Cook at home and make your own sauces and gravies and casseroles - you will see quickly how much sugar many things require and IMO when you have to put that sugar in yourself you can't help but be aware of it. I made myself BBQ baked beans from scratch- ketchup, brown sugar, maple syrup, oh gosh, I was like "REALLY??? It REALLY needs this much sugar??" I stopped putting sugar in my coffee when I started making my own instead of ordering from behind the counter, and I started making my own salad dressing and pasta sauces. I used to lovvvve sweet Philippine style pasta sauce, but now I savor a much less sweet herby and garlicky blend instead. I used to love apple juice, now I think of it like liquid candy, and if I have some, it's like an amazing refreshing dessert.

That's my best piece of advice. Once you start having to add sugar to your dishes yourself, you will hesitate, and realize how much you DON'T need for something to taste good. And when it comes to already prepared or sweet treats: just put a bite or tablespoon on your plate, it won't kill you, enjoy it- but just a bite-sized amount (when I do this, I find that I usually don't even finish it!). Good luck!

lemurcat12 wrote: »

walterm852 wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

cerise_noir wrote: »

Ugh.... please don't start the 'sugar is a drug, sugar is like *insert drug of choice*' crap.

Yeah, I agree, and I don't think the argument is helpful to OP either. Talking about what specifically leads to him or her feeling out of control and what we all did to help us cut back on foods we tended to overeat probably is what would be helpful.

I understand that some people for whatever reason really want to argue that it is an addiction, but I don't see how that helps OP.

Awesome, I agree the posts should be about helping the OP, per my first post, I offered my experience.

As I understood it, your advice was give it up and said that you find that hard for 3 days?

The problem is that we don't know what specific foods OP perceives herself or himself to have issues with, and of course you can't (or most shouldn't) give up all sugar -- it's in vegetables and things like sweet potatoes, it's in fruit in high quantities (like I said, more sugar in an apple than one of my chocolate chip cookies), and your body quickly converts starches into the composite sugars.

You may be saying to give up added sugar or foods that one perceives as especially tempting or sweet, but if so it's worth noting that for some of us (probably most, although OP might be really into soda or hard candies, who knows), the tempting foods are items with sugar + fat and not all of them, just certain ones.

Anyway, giving them up (or up for a while) could certainly be a good approach, but it also can be counterproductive as the little dialogue I presented was intended to show -- I think it has to do with how feelings of being out of control around food come about, although is not the only way that happens.

(For the record, I know about addiction, and don't really care if we call feeling out of control around sweets addiction or not (well, I think it's inaccurate, but if someone finds it helpful doesn't bother me if they use it) -- I think that argument should be in another thread.)

What I do think is important if someone feels out of control around some foods, which is generally what is communicated with the A word, is to stress that there are lots of different reasons this happens and specifics matter and typically help in finding how to deal with it for yourself. Just assuming someone must give up sugar (which isn't a good idea for most, many foods with sugar, like fruits and veg, are healthy) or even added sugar may not be the right answer.

NOT criticizing you for saying it worked for you, although I am critical of the assumption that we don't understand.

Awesome post ..thank you. I have no problem with disagreeing and appreciate your discourse.

You may be right, but I need to give up sugar for 3 days to break out, that doesnt mean others need to. I also mentioned L-glutimin as a potential solution.

I am not alone in thinking there is a relationship
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20648910

Lets have a healthy 2017!

lemurcat12 wrote: »

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

cerise_noir wrote: »

Ugh.... please don't start the 'sugar is a drug, sugar is like *insert drug of choice*' crap.

Yeah, I agree, and I don't think the argument is helpful to OP either. Talking about what specifically leads to him or her feeling out of control and what we all did to help us cut back on foods we tended to overeat probably is what would be helpful.

I understand that some people for whatever reason really want to argue that it is an addiction, but I don't see how that helps OP.

Good point. I'm sorry I went there.

Okay, I'll share. I'm at a point where I can't moderate right now, so here's what I'm doing. I'm just not buying things. That's easy for me to do because I have to eat a special diet and need different treat foods than my family does. I really have no other advice. If it's not around, you can't eat it.

Cool, and I hope helpful to OP. I'll add mine: I've been struggling with moderation some too (emotional eating stuff), and what works for me is getting back to my original plan of focusing on three main meals, no snacking. I can have a dessert after dinner and fit in the calories, but if I start snacking on office stuff I have no control lately.

When I first started, I cut out all sugary snacks (added sugar in general) because I wanted to see if that made a difference and because I wanted to teach myself not to go to them for emotional reasons. I still enjoyed having a little something after dinner, and would have cheese (really good cheese) or other non sweet things, and now I try to alternate; my dessert is not always sweet (and I sometimes don't have it).

Adjusting to not snacking always takes a few days, but then I mostly don't think about the stuff on offer. (Harder now since what's on offer is better, so I usually do work more stuff in around Christmastime.)

Oh, and beyond this, what I said about having a plan is important, OP. You can't just say "I'll eat less" but should (or it helps me to) have a plan of how you want to eat and how to accomplish that (when you will make meals, foods on hand, that sort of thing). Logging helps with that too.

I'm not one much for snacking, I pretty much stopped years ago. I might have a piece of fruit late afternoon, but most days, if I feel like having "something", I usually reach for either a diet soda or a cup of herbal tea.

I think you're onto something with snacking.

My problem is night eating. I can't do dessert. I'm on something like protein fluff until I get myself sorted out.

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

cerise_noir wrote: »

Ugh.... please don't start the 'sugar is a drug, sugar is like *insert drug of choice*' crap.

Yeah, I agree, and I don't think the argument is helpful to OP either. Talking about what specifically leads to him or her feeling out of control and what we all did to help us cut back on foods we tended to overeat probably is what would be helpful.

I understand that some people for whatever reason really want to argue that it is an addiction, but I don't see how that helps OP.

Good point. I'm sorry I went there.

Okay, I'll share. I'm at a point where I can't moderate right now, so here's what I'm doing. I'm just not buying things. That's easy for me to do because I have to eat a special diet and need different treat foods than my family does. I really have no other advice. If it's not around, you can't eat it.

Cool, and I hope helpful to OP. I'll add mine: I've been struggling with moderation some too (emotional eating stuff), and what works for me is getting back to my original plan of focusing on three main meals, no snacking. I can have a dessert after dinner and fit in the calories, but if I start snacking on office stuff I have no control lately.

When I first started, I cut out all sugary snacks (added sugar in general) because I wanted to see if that made a difference and because I wanted to teach myself not to go to them for emotional reasons. I still enjoyed having a little something after dinner, and would have cheese (really good cheese) or other non sweet things, and now I try to alternate; my dessert is not always sweet (and I sometimes don't have it).

Adjusting to not snacking always takes a few days, but then I mostly don't think about the stuff on offer. (Harder now since what's on offer is better, so I usually do work more stuff in around Christmastime.)

Oh, and beyond this, what I said about having a plan is important, OP. You can't just say "I'll eat less" but should (or it helps me to) have a plan of how you want to eat and how to accomplish that (when you will make meals, foods on hand, that sort of thing). Logging helps with that too.

I'm not one much for snacking, I pretty much stopped years ago. I might have a piece of fruit late afternoon, but most days, if I feel like having "something", I usually reach for either a diet soda or a cup of herbal tea.

I think you're onto something with snacking.

My problem is night eating. I can't do dessert. I'm on something like protein fluff until I get myself sorted out.

I really struggled to give up "desserts" after dinner.

I have recently had great success with 100g 2% Fage, a tablespoon of regular vanilla yogurt and a half-serving of fruit mixed in. Sweetish, but with that protein pop and not much fat.

lemurcat12 wrote: »

cerise_noir wrote: »

Overeating/having trouble with moderating sugar is most definitely an issue. I have this issue at times, so I understand. it is incredibly frustrating and triggered by many different situations (for me, it is lack of sleep, lack of exercise, stressful times and even depression).

diannethegeek brought up these kinds of issues too (I think adding in the fact that poor sleep can make it harder is an important one for some of us), and I kind of alluded to it with my reference to emotional eating. I really do think understanding what's going on when you are tempted to overeat or feel out of control can be super important. That I feel like eating when stressed or upset or down is good to know, as I can be conscious that it is emotional and focus on other ways of dealing with it (exercise is a big one, and one reason I'm having trouble now is I love to run and am not supposed to for a bit to let my tendon heal; meditation and journaling are also things that have helped me, and (ugh) ;-) sitting with the feelings and all that).

Absolutely. On average, I sleep around 3-4 hours per night, and 5-7 on a really good night (happens perhaps 3 times per month). It may all be due to stress. When I have less than 3-4 hours, I feel hunger and the need for carbs hit me harder than any other time. Like, this morning I woke up earlier than usual and was hungry, but this time, I waited it out instead of giving into that monster and the feeling passed after a few hours and my hunger wasn't all over the place. I was quite pleased that I was able to finally (accidentally) overcome this, as a typical non sleep day would start with carbs, then would end up as an out of control day.

Emotional eating has definitely been quite the downfall for me over the years. There have been many opportunities for it. You're right; recognizing the triggers (instead of placing blame where it shouldn't belong) is incredibly important to get to the root of overeating. Boredom, anxiety, depression, eating out of habit, stress. Some of these, the eating trigger can be diverted to a different activity- as you mentioned, exercise is a good one. One huge thing that got me me though, is this: Eating provides TEMPORARY relief/happiness/good feelings to any of those situations. One may feel good during, but what about after? Temporary is not worth it. To me, the happiness that comes from my weight loss results and after exercise outweighs any temporary happiness I may or may not get from binging on chocolate.

cmriverside wrote: »

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

cerise_noir wrote: »

Ugh.... please don't start the 'sugar is a drug, sugar is like *insert drug of choice*' crap.

Yeah, I agree, and I don't think the argument is helpful to OP either. Talking about what specifically leads to him or her feeling out of control and what we all did to help us cut back on foods we tended to overeat probably is what would be helpful.

I understand that some people for whatever reason really want to argue that it is an addiction, but I don't see how that helps OP.

Good point. I'm sorry I went there.

Okay, I'll share. I'm at a point where I can't moderate right now, so here's what I'm doing. I'm just not buying things. That's easy for me to do because I have to eat a special diet and need different treat foods than my family does. I really have no other advice. If it's not around, you can't eat it.

Cool, and I hope helpful to OP. I'll add mine: I've been struggling with moderation some too (emotional eating stuff), and what works for me is getting back to my original plan of focusing on three main meals, no snacking. I can have a dessert after dinner and fit in the calories, but if I start snacking on office stuff I have no control lately.

When I first started, I cut out all sugary snacks (added sugar in general) because I wanted to see if that made a difference and because I wanted to teach myself not to go to them for emotional reasons. I still enjoyed having a little something after dinner, and would have cheese (really good cheese) or other non sweet things, and now I try to alternate; my dessert is not always sweet (and I sometimes don't have it).

Adjusting to not snacking always takes a few days, but then I mostly don't think about the stuff on offer. (Harder now since what's on offer is better, so I usually do work more stuff in around Christmastime.)

Oh, and beyond this, what I said about having a plan is important, OP. You can't just say "I'll eat less" but should (or it helps me to) have a plan of how you want to eat and how to accomplish that (when you will make meals, foods on hand, that sort of thing). Logging helps with that too.

I'm not one much for snacking, I pretty much stopped years ago. I might have a piece of fruit late afternoon, but most days, if I feel like having "something", I usually reach for either a diet soda or a cup of herbal tea.

I think you're onto something with snacking.

My problem is night eating. I can't do dessert. I'm on something like protein fluff until I get myself sorted out.

I really struggled to give up "desserts" after dinner.

I have recently had great success with 100g 2% Fage, a tablespoon of regular vanilla yogurt and a half-serving of fruit mixed in. Sweetish, but with that protein pop and not much fat.

My problem is that I'm a "picker" at night if I don't feel full and a volume eater. I'm doing the protein fluff to give me that full feeling so I don't go looking for food. I've been staying up later lately too, and I used to go to bed earlier. I don't know what's up with that. It's like my body clock reset. I need to change that.

Christine_72 wrote: »

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

cmriverside wrote: »

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

cerise_noir wrote: »

Ugh.... please don't start the 'sugar is a drug, sugar is like *insert drug of choice*' crap.

Yeah, I agree, and I don't think the argument is helpful to OP either. Talking about what specifically leads to him or her feeling out of control and what we all did to help us cut back on foods we tended to overeat probably is what would be helpful.

I understand that some people for whatever reason really want to argue that it is an addiction, but I don't see how that helps OP.

Good point. I'm sorry I went there.

Okay, I'll share. I'm at a point where I can't moderate right now, so here's what I'm doing. I'm just not buying things. That's easy for me to do because I have to eat a special diet and need different treat foods than my family does. I really have no other advice. If it's not around, you can't eat it.

Cool, and I hope helpful to OP. I'll add mine: I've been struggling with moderation some too (emotional eating stuff), and what works for me is getting back to my original plan of focusing on three main meals, no snacking. I can have a dessert after dinner and fit in the calories, but if I start snacking on office stuff I have no control lately.

When I first started, I cut out all sugary snacks (added sugar in general) because I wanted to see if that made a difference and because I wanted to teach myself not to go to them for emotional reasons. I still enjoyed having a little something after dinner, and would have cheese (really good cheese) or other non sweet things, and now I try to alternate; my dessert is not always sweet (and I sometimes don't have it).

Adjusting to not snacking always takes a few days, but then I mostly don't think about the stuff on offer. (Harder now since what's on offer is better, so I usually do work more stuff in around Christmastime.)

Oh, and beyond this, what I said about having a plan is important, OP. You can't just say "I'll eat less" but should (or it helps me to) have a plan of how you want to eat and how to accomplish that (when you will make meals, foods on hand, that sort of thing). Logging helps with that too.

I'm not one much for snacking, I pretty much stopped years ago. I might have a piece of fruit late afternoon, but most days, if I feel like having "something", I usually reach for either a diet soda or a cup of herbal tea.

I think you're onto something with snacking.

My problem is night eating. I can't do dessert. I'm on something like protein fluff until I get myself sorted out.

I really struggled to give up "desserts" after dinner.

I have recently had great success with 100g 2% Fage, a tablespoon of regular vanilla yogurt and a half-serving of fruit mixed in. Sweetish, but with that protein pop and not much fat.

My problem is that I'm a "picker" at night if I don't feel full and a volume eater. I'm doing the protein fluff to give me that full feeling so I don't go looking for food. I've been staying up later lately too, and I used to go to bed earlier. I don't know what's up with that. It's like my body clock reset. I need to change that.

Sorry to go off topic, but @GottaBurnEmAll have you tried protein sludge yet? Pretty much the same ingredients as fluff but without the mixing.

50g chocolate protein powder
20g PB2
100ishml almond milk
Mix together with a spoon.

But then..... Microwave it for 60 seconds. It ends up slightly crunchy on the outside and gooey chocolate deliciousness on the inside.
Top with yogurt or cottage cheese. I make mine in the morning, put in the fridge to kinda harden up/set and microwave just before eating.

That sounds delicious, but low volume. The thing about fluff is that with all the air it makes you feel FULL and takes forever to eat. That seems to be key for me right now.

I need to make that sludge one of these days, though. I love the gooey/crunchy sound of it.