Anyone else sugar sensitive?

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floweringcurrant
floweringcurrant Posts: 112 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I naturally eat a pretty healthy and unrefined diet, but my one issue is processed grains and, most of all, added sugar. This includes cane sugar, maple syrup, honey, coconut sugar, dried fruit even. My body is extremely sensitive to it and I get really horrible mood swings and cravings. I've struggled with this for years and am finally at a place where I'm understanding I need to let it go from my life. I still eat fresh fruit, whole grains, etc. and those make my body feel good. But even though I know sugar is an addictive and hurtful substance for my body, it's everywhere, in everything, and so hard to release! Like harder then anything else I've ever quit. Due to its addictive nature I always reach a point of telling myself I can handle some because I forget how awful it makes me feel, and I'm right back where I started. Does anyone else have experience with giving up sugar, or with having sugar sensitivity? I feel like going off sugar is a grieving process in some ways...

Replies

  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Did you get bloodwork done? I have the same issue as well (not always, but pretty often) and I'm having bloodwork done next week.... need to check blood sugar. What helps though is making sure that if I have something sweet, I also have a good amount of protein and fat... and I really can't get away with big desserts anymore.

    It makes Holidays difficult though when your family insists on having dessert 2 hours after dinner (I got to talk to them about that). But I hear you... more often than not, if I have any added sugar, I end up with huge cravings or feeling weak until I eat something (even if I don't feel hungry).

    But definitely talk to your doctor about it!
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    This sugar you eat, does come with fat too? Like cookies? Maybe it's not the sugar but the fat with sugar combined. Fruit has sugar which apparently doesn't bother you.
  • floweringcurrant
    floweringcurrant Posts: 112 Member
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    Yeah, I mean I've tried all different kinds of approaches. Fruit sugar feels like it metabolizes differently in my body, but I still pretty much just eat low glycemic fruit, like berries, pears, coconut, etc. and am very limited with things like pineapple, mango, apples, banana because they also have an effect. Can't do dried fruit or fruit juice either.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    queenliz99 wrote: »
    This sugar you eat, does come with fat too? Like cookies? Maybe it's not the sugar but the fat with sugar combined. Fruit has sugar which apparently doesn't bother you.

    It's kinda off that it doesn't, I can't eat an apple by itself either, personally, but after a meal or with some cheese or nuts, it's fine.
  • floweringcurrant
    floweringcurrant Posts: 112 Member
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    floweringcurrant wrote: »
    Yeah, I mean I've tried all different kinds of approaches. Fruit sugar feels like it metabolizes differently in my body, but I still pretty much just eat low glycemic fruit, like berries, pears, coconut, etc. and am very limited with things like pineapple, mango, apples, banana because they also have an effect. Can't do dried fruit or fruit juice either.

    I think I generally do eat fruit with fat or another carb too, like blueberries or pear in my oatmeal with nut butter, or something like that... hmm...
  • VeganFaceHole
    VeganFaceHole Posts: 39 Member
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    This is my life. Ive come to terms that Im a sugar addict and I can only lose weight/maintain if I cut it out of my diet.
    I feel better on a plant based diet and even a taste of sugar gives me stomach cramps and it stimulates my bulimia.
  • Raynne413
    Raynne413 Posts: 1,527 Member
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    I've found that if I eat sugar pretty close to meals, and it is less likely to make me crave more, or have that sugar crash, but not as in between snacks or on an empty stomach.
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
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    The biggest thing for me was just recognizing that it was the food I was eating and not boredom, stress or some other emotional response. This is the cause, this is the solution sort of thing.

    I also need to eat a low carb diet though -- too much carbohydrate/sugar is too much for me whether it's processed and highly refined or not. Cutting out junk food was the first step and helped a ton but it wasn't until I reduced my total carbs that my appetite returned to normal and the cravings and inappropriate hunger/drive to eat and keep eating went away.
  • floweringcurrant
    floweringcurrant Posts: 112 Member
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    AlabasterVerve wrote: »
    The biggest thing for me was just recognizing that it was the food I was eating and not boredom, stress or some other emotional response. This is the cause, this is the solution sort of thing.

    I also need to eat a low carb diet though -- too much carbohydrate/sugar is too much for me whether it's processed and highly refined or not. Cutting out junk food was the first step and helped a ton but it wasn't until I reduced my total carbs that my appetite returned to normal and the cravings and inappropriate hunger/drive to eat and keep eating went away.

    Yes, I so relate to that. Because sugar is so normalized and it's everywhere, I always try to imagine that there's some reason I'm relating to sugar like this - like emotional, underlying, etc. and I've done so much work surrounding it. But when it comes down to it, I'm finally understanding it's really just the chemical relationship between my body and that food item - the physical craving isn't my fault or something I'm doing to myself, it's just my body's natural reaction to the substance...
  • floweringcurrant
    floweringcurrant Posts: 112 Member
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    VeganFaceHole wrote: »
    This is my life. Ive come to terms that Im a sugar addict and I can only lose weight/maintain if I cut it out of my diet.
    I feel better on a plant based diet and even a taste of sugar gives me stomach cramps and it stimulates my bulimia.

    I so feel that, sugar brings up ED behaviors for me too. It makes it really hard for me to recognize my hunger and fullness. It's hard to make peace with the fact that it doesn't work for you though.
  • juliegracew
    juliegracew Posts: 8 Member
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    Iquitsuger.com it's a website a friend sent me, he lost 30lbs by just cutting sugar out. The website has a lot of information.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited December 2016
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    floweringcurrant wrote: »
    Does anyone else have experience with giving up sugar, or with having sugar sensitivity? I feel like going off sugar is a grieving process in some ways...

    I quit it for a month and redid the experience about a year later. I didn't think it was that tough, though, or that it was that helpful -- figuring out how to include it in moderation was helpful for me. (For me, if I don't snack I rarely consume added sugar in any meaningful quantities, so if I control snacks and simply have a planned dessert that sometimes involves added sugar it's fine. I quit it the second time just because I was snacking more again and wanted to get out of the habit and there was a challenge at my CF box that I thought would make it easier that involved sugar.)

    If it makes you feel bad I get avoiding it more permanently, though, although isn't eating some and having that reaction a reminder?

    I really didn't find that it was hard to avoid because "in everything," because my main contact with added sugar (vs. inherent sugar) is in foods that you'd expect it in, like sweets. I don't eat a lot of processed things that have it added and with some that have just a bit (like smoked salmon or a rhubarb sauce that has a little added (obviously you can make a pretty sweet sauce, but that's not what I'm talking about) or a pork rub that has a little brown sugar) I kind of doubt it's enough to even make a difference. I'm sure feeling like you can't participate in a cookie exchange or have pie at holidays or some such can be a bummer, though, but if you have a physical reason it seems like it would be a lot easier than just avoiding it because dieting or some such.
  • floweringcurrant
    floweringcurrant Posts: 112 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    floweringcurrant wrote: »
    Does anyone else have experience with giving up sugar, or with having sugar sensitivity? I feel like going off sugar is a grieving process in some ways...

    I quit it for a month and redid the experience about a year later. I didn't think it was that tough, though, or that it was that helpful -- figuring out how to include it in moderation was helpful for me. (For me, if I don't snack I rarely consume added sugar in any meaningful quantities, so if I control snacks and simply have a planned dessert that sometimes involves added sugar it's fine. I quit it the second time just because I was snacking more again and wanted to get out of the habit and there was a challenge at my CF box that I thought would make it easier that involved sugar.)

    If it makes you feel bad I get avoiding it more permanently, though, although isn't eating some and having that reaction a reminder?

    I really didn't find that it was hard to avoid because "in everything," because my main contact with added sugar (vs. inherent sugar) is in foods that you'd expect it in, like sweets. I don't eat a lot of processed things that have it added and with some that have just a bit (like smoked salmon or a rhubarb sauce that has a little added (obviously you can make a pretty sweet sauce, but that's not what I'm talking about) or a pork rub that has a little brown sugar) I kind of doubt it's enough to even make a difference. I'm sure feeling like you can't participate in a cookie exchange or have pie at holidays or some such can be a bummer, though, but if you have a physical reason it seems like it would be a lot easier than just avoiding it because dieting or some such.

    Yeah, that definitely makes sense and I think it's different for everyones body. I think it's a similar physical experience as smoking or drinking, though. It's definitely possible to have a strong physical craving for it, and can even be really hard to go off it completely, even though you know of its detriments or how it feels to you physically.
  • floweringcurrant
    floweringcurrant Posts: 112 Member
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    For example... I am also physically sensitive to garlic, but it's not hard for me to not eat garlic at all because the physical craving component isn't also there.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    floweringcurrant wrote: »
    For example... I am also physically sensitive to garlic, but it's not hard for me to not eat garlic at all because the physical craving component isn't also there.

    How are you sensitive to garlic? I don't understand.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    edited December 2016
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    rankinsect wrote: »
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    floweringcurrant wrote: »
    For example... I am also physically sensitive to garlic, but it's not hard for me to not eat garlic at all because the physical craving component isn't also there.

    How are you sensitive to garlic? I don't understand.

    Vampire. :smiley:

    That's was what I was thinking. I just finished reading Bram Stokers, "Dracula".
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
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    queenliz99 wrote: »
    rankinsect wrote: »
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    floweringcurrant wrote: »
    For example... I am also physically sensitive to garlic, but it's not hard for me to not eat garlic at all because the physical craving component isn't also there.

    How are you sensitive to garlic? I don't understand.

    Vampire. :smiley:

    That's was what I was thinking. I just finished reading Bram Stokers, "Dracula".

    Great book. I long to go back to the days when vampires weren't angsty :wink:
  • floweringcurrant
    floweringcurrant Posts: 112 Member
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    rankinsect wrote: »
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    floweringcurrant wrote: »
    For example... I am also physically sensitive to garlic, but it's not hard for me to not eat garlic at all because the physical craving component isn't also there.

    How are you sensitive to garlic? I don't understand.

    Vampire. :smiley:

    Haha, I wish I wasn't, but it's true. I get super sick eating it!

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