Sugar Addict here with a question...

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  • kamazza
    kamazza Posts: 98 Member
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    _Justinian_ wrote: »
    Just curious, OP. How much water do you drink a day?

    I'm working hard at keeping up to 8 big glasses a day. I do well with that
  • kamazza
    kamazza Posts: 98 Member
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    you are all so awesome. I'm glad I'm not alone in the need for sugar lol. I am working hard to get control of my diet and am doing ok so far. thank you for all the advice and insight :)
  • bexilashious
    bexilashious Posts: 116 Member
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    Just cut out the refined sugars

    Natural sugars you get from veg is fine.
    I don't eat fruit as the natural sugars are quite high.
  • DEBOO7
    DEBOO7 Posts: 239 Member
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    Cut out complex carbs and processed foods. Processed foods are full of sugar (used as a preservative), nitrates and other nasty stuff.
    I started by banning rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and my downfall of ice cream! After that I kept adjusting and modifying my eating.
    Opt for fruit and vege that have a high fibre, low carb profile.
    Avocado, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, courgette, silverbeet, cabbage.. theme here is 'above ground vege'.
    Monitor fruit intake... berries are king. Fruit is not essential every day - I have about 125gms berries 3-5 times a week and sometimes add rockmelon, a few grapes or mango as a treat. Stay away from dried fruits!
    Nuts such as macadamia, almond, pecan, walnut are your friends but again about moderation.. 30 grams a day is a good amount. I split that into 3 x 10 gram 'snacks'.
    I have followed a low-carb way of eating for nearly three years and like to keep under 20 grams of net carbs a day.
    Feel a lot healthier for it too and have lost 83lbs.
  • BeastofBodmin
    BeastofBodmin Posts: 34 Member
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    DEBOO7 wrote: »
    Cut out complex carbs and processed foods. Processed foods are full of sugar (used as a preservative), nitrates and other nasty stuff.
    I started by banning rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and my downfall of ice cream! After that I kept adjusting and modifying my eating.
    Opt for fruit and vege that have a high fibre, low carb profile.
    Avocado, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, courgette, silverbeet, cabbage.. theme here is 'above ground vege'.
    Monitor fruit intake... berries are king. Fruit is not essential every day - I have about 125gms berries 3-5 times a week and sometimes add rockmelon, a few grapes or mango as a treat. Stay away from dried fruits!
    Nuts such as macadamia, almond, pecan, walnut are your friends but again about moderation.. 30 grams a day is a good amount. I split that into 3 x 10 gram 'snacks'.
    I have followed a low-carb way of eating for nearly three years and like to keep under 20 grams of net carbs a day.
    Feel a lot healthier for it too and have lost 83lbs.

    Why cut 'complex carbs' ?
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    The Low Carber Daily MFP group:
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group

    Not many in that group who eat sugar much anymore. Naturally occurring or added.
  • LaGata8484
    LaGata8484 Posts: 14 Member
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    As most everyone has said, you need sugar in your diet. Just try getting most of your sugars from fruits and vegetables, and cut back on the processed sugar/empty calories.
  • SeagalDeeDee
    SeagalDeeDee Posts: 153 Member
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    LaGata8484 wrote: »
    As most everyone has said, you need sugar in your diet. Just try getting most of your sugars from fruits and vegetables, and cut back on the processed sugar/empty calories.

    This what I have adopted since January 1st & combined with a lot of swimming and being active I've kicked weight loss into gear.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,946 Member
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    kamazza wrote: »
    SideSteel wrote: »
    kamazza wrote: »
    so I'm a certifiable sugar addict, my profession even helps along with that as I'm a cake decorator :wink: so I'm trying really really hard to cut the sugar habit down to nil. I'm actually doing ok with it now that I'm getting a lot more serious. The scale wasn't moving as well as I'd like so I am really cracking down. But here is my problem, even onions have sugar in them!! How can I cut sugar down to nothing and still get my veg and fruit? I'm afraid my body won't know the difference between "healthy fruit sugar" and a junky chocolate bar type sugar. I'm not craving it as much as I thought I would so this is awesome but still...blood oranges just came into season and it's loaded with sugar! :neutral:

    I don't think it's realistic or even desirable to try and remove all sugar from your diet.

    My advice would be to change your strategy. Include fruits and vegetables in your diet, if you have issues with moderating your calorie intake around really palatable foods, I'd seek to either eliminate or substantially reduce those specific food items.

    Just for example I'm willing to bet that if you had a bag of sugar and a spoon, you probably wouldn't start eating it straight from the bag because it's the palatability and food reward that you're craving, and while sugar containing foods tend to be higher reward it's not exclusively sugar that's a problem.

    heh, I have eaten sugar straight from a bag when stressed or really craving. I guess I'm trying to kill the cravings for sugar and junky sweets and the only way I'm finding I can do that is by taking most of it out of my diet

    You may indeed be one of the people who needs to drastically reduce sugar. Check out the Low Carb group linked above. Below is what worked for me to kill cravings. Obviously ignore the stuff that doesn't apply to you :)

    1. Get sufficient sleep
    2. Exercise regularly - when I get the happy hormones from exercise, I'm not prone to seeking them from food.
    3. Get sufficient protein in relationship to carbs. I'm not low carb, but reducing carbs and upping protein worked for cravings for me. See also http://www.nutrition.org.uk/healthyliving/fuller/understanding-satiety-feeling-full-after-a-meal.html
    4. Eat moderate amounts of fruit. This makes me less interested in higher calorie sweets.
    5. Take a magnesium supplement. This can be especially helpful for women premenstrually.
    6. Save foods like chocolate for after dinner, in small amounts
    7. Stay hydrated
    8. Have a calorie deficit that is appropriate for the amount of weight I need to lose. An overly aggressive goal can definitely lead to cravings.
    9. Eat at maintenance when my appetite goes up premenstrually.
  • ja20102004
    ja20102004 Posts: 349 Member
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    I find it hard too love my sweets but try to find something that can be substituted like a muffin or I put alittle jam on my toast to fulfil my sweet tooth.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    LaGata8484 wrote: »
    As most everyone has said, you need sugar in your diet. Just try getting most of your sugars from fruits and vegetables, and cut back on the processed sugar/empty calories.

    This isn't technically true. Your dietary requirement for sugar is zero, whether it comes from sugar or a bag of table sugar.
  • kandisn7
    kandisn7 Posts: 66 Member
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    I am limiting my sugar intake too, because I was diagnosed as insulin resistant. This is my own personal experience, and many on here will disagree, but my body does react differently to fruit vs a candy bar. When I eat fruit, I don't crave more, I don't get that crash, and I still lose weight. So I am avoiding processed sugar, and it is working well for me. I feel great, and I'm losing weight. But I'm eating fruits freely and honey sparingly.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    BeastofBodmin wrote: »
    DEBOO7 wrote: »
    Cut out complex carbs and processed foods. Processed foods are full of sugar (used as a preservative), nitrates and other nasty stuff.
    I started by banning rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and my downfall of ice cream! After that I kept adjusting and modifying my eating.
    Opt for fruit and vege that have a high fibre, low carb profile.
    Avocado, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, courgette, silverbeet, cabbage.. theme here is 'above ground vege'.
    Monitor fruit intake... berries are king. Fruit is not essential every day - I have about 125gms berries 3-5 times a week and sometimes add rockmelon, a few grapes or mango as a treat. Stay away from dried fruits!
    Nuts such as macadamia, almond, pecan, walnut are your friends but again about moderation.. 30 grams a day is a good amount. I split that into 3 x 10 gram 'snacks'.
    I have followed a low-carb way of eating for nearly three years and like to keep under 20 grams of net carbs a day.
    Feel a lot healthier for it too and have lost 83lbs.

    Why cut 'complex carbs' ?

    Low carb dogma, I guess.

    I want to know how come most of the processed foods I eat have no or almost no sugar (had some bacon that didn't have any this morning, have had smoked salmon without it (although it sometimes has a bit), cheese without it, dried pasta and oats without it. Even a pickle and some mustard without it. Weird, when I'm being told that "processed foods are all full of sugar." It's almost like that's not actually true.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    kandisn7 wrote: »
    I am limiting my sugar intake too, because I was diagnosed as insulin resistant. This is my own personal experience, and many on here will disagree, but my body does react differently to fruit vs a candy bar. When I eat fruit, I don't crave more, I don't get that crash, and I still lose weight. So I am avoiding processed sugar, and it is working well for me. I feel great, and I'm losing weight. But I'm eating fruits freely and honey sparingly.

    Just for the record, I don't disagree at all. What I would disagree with is the idea that your body differentiates between the sugar in fruit and the sugar in the candy bar, which are both basically just a mix of fructose and glucose (since sucrose is easily broken down to those). I am not at all surprised and think is common that your body would react differently to the mix of things in the fruit (sugar+fiber+water) to the mix of things in the candy bar (largely fat+sugar, maybe a bit of salt and protein too, plus chocolate (that special taste beyond the fat and sugar)). Fiber slows down the sugar digestion some, and the fruit is delicious (IMO) but doesn't tend to be hyperpalatable to most the way candy bars can be (especially if they are ones you particularly like and would choose to eat). I am not that into candy bars (I actually can't think of one I'd choose over a piece of fruit), but I certainly do have that distinction in my reaction to sweet baked goods that I enjoy if I snack on them mid day vs. a piece of fruit (except that I don't get a crash even from the baked goods if I otherwise have a healthy balanced diet).

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