Sugar addiction
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Anecdotes aren't evidence. There are peer reviewed studies refuting the statement here.Jabbarwocky wrote: »Just remember that artificial sweeteners tend to cause the same reactions in the body as sugar does, then, when there isn't any sugar it freaks out and craves more. This is coming from another sugar addict btw. Sugar is one of the things I'm tracking on MFP because I need to get that monkey off my back before it kills me. About to have to start medications for being pre-diabetic and I have NO desire to live my life like that. Personally, I've found that when I have a craving its best to have something small and sweet. If you wait, the craving only gets worse and that's when a binge is possible. I've been known to eat a full half pound bag of M&M's or a half gallon of ice cream within a day or two. Do what you can control.
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crzycatlady1 wrote: »Jabbarwocky wrote: »Just remember that artificial sweeteners tend to cause the same reactions in the body as sugar does, then, when there isn't any sugar it freaks out and craves more. This is coming from another sugar addict btw. Sugar is one of the things I'm tracking on MFP because I need to get that monkey off my back before it kills me. About to have to start medications for being pre-diabetic and I have NO desire to live my life like that. Personally, I've found that when I have a craving its best to have something small and sweet. If you wait, the craving only gets worse and that's when a binge is possible. I've been known to eat a full half pound bag of M&M's or a half gallon of ice cream within a day or two. Do what you can control.
Source please.
Google is your friend, but here's a good link to get you started:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/artificial-sweeteners/
From Harvard, School of Public Health. Here's a clip of the article.
Our bodies all respond differently. You may not be able notice that your sugar cravings increase after drinking diet soda. Or maybe you're just lucky and your cravings don't increase at all. I have to avoid diet soda like the plague, if I have a diet soda I spend the next week on a huge sugar binge. However, artificial sweeteners and an increase in sugar consumption tend to go hand in hand.
I try as much as possible to limit sweets to only the weekends and special occasions. Though with all my friends getting married and/or having baby showers I've now started to limit myself to only the treats I truly enjoy.
Same thing goes for going cold-turkey or slowly weaning yourself off of sugar. What are you actually capable of doing? You have to figure out what works best for your body and your level of self control. Personally, I would like to be able to go cold turkey, but I'm weak and cave when out to dinner with friends and they want to order dessert. I have SUCH a hard time saying 'no.' Though I have noticed the more often I make it to the gym in a week the easier it is for me to say 'no' to sweets. I try to eat as much fruit, especially berries, whenever I have a sugar craving. That has helped me quite a bit.
Most of the studies linking diet soda consumption to weight gain are correlative, not causative. That includes this one. What this study didn't account for is the people who order a diet soda with a couple of burgers and a double order of fries because they're being "good" getting a diet soda.
If you are conscientiously controlling calories, diet soda has no impact whatsoever on weight.17 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »crzycatlady1 wrote: »Jabbarwocky wrote: »Just remember that artificial sweeteners tend to cause the same reactions in the body as sugar does, then, when there isn't any sugar it freaks out and craves more. This is coming from another sugar addict btw. Sugar is one of the things I'm tracking on MFP because I need to get that monkey off my back before it kills me. About to have to start medications for being pre-diabetic and I have NO desire to live my life like that. Personally, I've found that when I have a craving its best to have something small and sweet. If you wait, the craving only gets worse and that's when a binge is possible. I've been known to eat a full half pound bag of M&M's or a half gallon of ice cream within a day or two. Do what you can control.
Source please.
Google is your friend, but here's a good link to get you started:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/artificial-sweeteners/
From Harvard, School of Public Health. Here's a clip of the article.
Our bodies all respond differently. You may not be able notice that your sugar cravings increase after drinking diet soda. Or maybe you're just lucky and your cravings don't increase at all. I have to avoid diet soda like the plague, if I have a diet soda I spend the next week on a huge sugar binge. However, artificial sweeteners and an increase in sugar consumption tend to go hand in hand.
I try as much as possible to limit sweets to only the weekends and special occasions. Though with all my friends getting married and/or having baby showers I've now started to limit myself to only the treats I truly enjoy.
Same thing goes for going cold-turkey or slowly weaning yourself off of sugar. What are you actually capable of doing? You have to figure out what works best for your body and your level of self control. Personally, I would like to be able to go cold turkey, but I'm weak and cave when out to dinner with friends and they want to order dessert. I have SUCH a hard time saying 'no.' Though I have noticed the more often I make it to the gym in a week the easier it is for me to say 'no' to sweets. I try to eat as much fruit, especially berries, whenever I have a sugar craving. That has helped me quite a bit.
Most of the studies linking diet soda consumption to weight gain are correlative, not causative. That includes this one. What this study didn't account for is the people who order a diet soda with a couple of burgers and a double order of fries because they're being "good" getting a diet soda.
If you are conscientiously controlling calories, diet soda has no impact whatsoever on weight.
Exactly! I used to always order diet soda with my oversized fast food orders because I preferred the taste, not because I was controlling my calories.4 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »crzycatlady1 wrote: »Jabbarwocky wrote: »Just remember that artificial sweeteners tend to cause the same reactions in the body as sugar does, then, when there isn't any sugar it freaks out and craves more. This is coming from another sugar addict btw. Sugar is one of the things I'm tracking on MFP because I need to get that monkey off my back before it kills me. About to have to start medications for being pre-diabetic and I have NO desire to live my life like that. Personally, I've found that when I have a craving its best to have something small and sweet. If you wait, the craving only gets worse and that's when a binge is possible. I've been known to eat a full half pound bag of M&M's or a half gallon of ice cream within a day or two. Do what you can control.
Source please.
Google is your friend, but here's a good link to get you started:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/artificial-sweeteners/
From Harvard, School of Public Health. Here's a clip of the article.
Our bodies all respond differently. You may not be able notice that your sugar cravings increase after drinking diet soda. Or maybe you're just lucky and your cravings don't increase at all. I have to avoid diet soda like the plague, if I have a diet soda I spend the next week on a huge sugar binge. However, artificial sweeteners and an increase in sugar consumption tend to go hand in hand.
I try as much as possible to limit sweets to only the weekends and special occasions. Though with all my friends getting married and/or having baby showers I've now started to limit myself to only the treats I truly enjoy.
Same thing goes for going cold-turkey or slowly weaning yourself off of sugar. What are you actually capable of doing? You have to figure out what works best for your body and your level of self control. Personally, I would like to be able to go cold turkey, but I'm weak and cave when out to dinner with friends and they want to order dessert. I have SUCH a hard time saying 'no.' Though I have noticed the more often I make it to the gym in a week the easier it is for me to say 'no' to sweets. I try to eat as much fruit, especially berries, whenever I have a sugar craving. That has helped me quite a bit.
Most of the studies linking diet soda consumption to weight gain are correlative, not causative. That includes this one. What this study didn't account for is the people who order a diet soda with a couple of burgers and a double order of fries because they're being "good" getting a diet soda.
If you are conscientiously controlling calories, diet soda has no impact whatsoever on weight.
I was going to say the same...3 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »crzycatlady1 wrote: »Jabbarwocky wrote: »Just remember that artificial sweeteners tend to cause the same reactions in the body as sugar does, then, when there isn't any sugar it freaks out and craves more. This is coming from another sugar addict btw. Sugar is one of the things I'm tracking on MFP because I need to get that monkey off my back before it kills me. About to have to start medications for being pre-diabetic and I have NO desire to live my life like that. Personally, I've found that when I have a craving its best to have something small and sweet. If you wait, the craving only gets worse and that's when a binge is possible. I've been known to eat a full half pound bag of M&M's or a half gallon of ice cream within a day or two. Do what you can control.
Source please.
Google is your friend, but here's a good link to get you started:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/artificial-sweeteners/
From Harvard, School of Public Health. Here's a clip of the article.
Our bodies all respond differently. You may not be able notice that your sugar cravings increase after drinking diet soda. Or maybe you're just lucky and your cravings don't increase at all. I have to avoid diet soda like the plague, if I have a diet soda I spend the next week on a huge sugar binge. However, artificial sweeteners and an increase in sugar consumption tend to go hand in hand.
I try as much as possible to limit sweets to only the weekends and special occasions. Though with all my friends getting married and/or having baby showers I've now started to limit myself to only the treats I truly enjoy.
Same thing goes for going cold-turkey or slowly weaning yourself off of sugar. What are you actually capable of doing? You have to figure out what works best for your body and your level of self control. Personally, I would like to be able to go cold turkey, but I'm weak and cave when out to dinner with friends and they want to order dessert. I have SUCH a hard time saying 'no.' Though I have noticed the more often I make it to the gym in a week the easier it is for me to say 'no' to sweets. I try to eat as much fruit, especially berries, whenever I have a sugar craving. That has helped me quite a bit.
Most of the studies linking diet soda consumption to weight gain are correlative, not causative. That includes this one. What this study didn't account for is the people who order a diet soda with a couple of burgers and a double order of fries because they're being "good" getting a diet soda.
If you are conscientiously controlling calories, diet soda has no impact whatsoever on weight.
Exactly! I used to always order diet soda with my oversized fast food orders because I preferred the taste, not because I was controlling my calories.
Me too.
And people do use it to justify ordering the larger size or going for the McFlurry on top of their meal.3 -
The big book is available free on line.1
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Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »Me at 252lbs: 3 Double big mac meals all with large fries, 2 with large chocolate shakes and 1 with a large diet coke.
Me at 135lbs: Controls calories, eats everything in moderation, still drinks diet coke.
3 guesses as to why i was morbidly obese lol
You weren't doing Keto.......18 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »crzycatlady1 wrote: »Jabbarwocky wrote: »Just remember that artificial sweeteners tend to cause the same reactions in the body as sugar does, then, when there isn't any sugar it freaks out and craves more. This is coming from another sugar addict btw. Sugar is one of the things I'm tracking on MFP because I need to get that monkey off my back before it kills me. About to have to start medications for being pre-diabetic and I have NO desire to live my life like that. Personally, I've found that when I have a craving its best to have something small and sweet. If you wait, the craving only gets worse and that's when a binge is possible. I've been known to eat a full half pound bag of M&M's or a half gallon of ice cream within a day or two. Do what you can control.
Source please.
Google is your friend, but here's a good link to get you started:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/artificial-sweeteners/
From Harvard, School of Public Health. Here's a clip of the article.
Our bodies all respond differently. You may not be able notice that your sugar cravings increase after drinking diet soda. Or maybe you're just lucky and your cravings don't increase at all. I have to avoid diet soda like the plague, if I have a diet soda I spend the next week on a huge sugar binge. However, artificial sweeteners and an increase in sugar consumption tend to go hand in hand.
I try as much as possible to limit sweets to only the weekends and special occasions. Though with all my friends getting married and/or having baby showers I've now started to limit myself to only the treats I truly enjoy.
Same thing goes for going cold-turkey or slowly weaning yourself off of sugar. What are you actually capable of doing? You have to figure out what works best for your body and your level of self control. Personally, I would like to be able to go cold turkey, but I'm weak and cave when out to dinner with friends and they want to order dessert. I have SUCH a hard time saying 'no.' Though I have noticed the more often I make it to the gym in a week the easier it is for me to say 'no' to sweets. I try to eat as much fruit, especially berries, whenever I have a sugar craving. That has helped me quite a bit.
Most of the studies linking diet soda consumption to weight gain are correlative, not causative. That includes this one. What this study didn't account for is the people who order a diet soda with a couple of burgers and a double order of fries because they're being "good" getting a diet soda.
If you are conscientiously controlling calories, diet soda has no impact whatsoever on weight.
Exactly! I used to always order diet soda with my oversized fast food orders because I preferred the taste, not because I was controlling my calories.
Me too. I preferred the taste. I stopped drinking sodas 22 months ago though.0 -
It's mind over matter, don't let it control you, you control IT. Also, think about all of the money you'll be saving by not feeding the vending machine.
Remind yourself of the freeing feeling you'll feel when you are no longer shackled to soda. A friend of mine cant go a whole day without guzzling diet soda, i call it 'liquid handcuffs'.
I've had a few addictions in my lifetime, the thought of adding another one or becoming reliant on a food/drink item that i MUST have everyday just makes me bristle!1 -
Thank you all! Your replies are so helpful. I didn't mean to start the soda debate. My main craving is sugar in sweets/chocolate. Will get a plan of action together!2
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hayleyf6051 wrote: »Hi,
I'm a massive sugar addict. I can't go several hours without sugar or diet soda. I want to get some control back. Any ideas? Is cold turkey best?
Some people find they can moderate added sugar. They eat a little on a regular basis. The idea behind moderation is to prevent deprivation which can bring on binging.
I'm an older person, have tried sugar moderation many times in my life, and it never worked for me. Last year I stopped eating as much added sugar as possible (it's in most processed foods, so you can't completely avoid it if you eat anything in a package). i do get a little added sugar plus a little sugar in fruit and vegetables.
I mainly went this route because cutting out most sugar has helped lower my terrible cholesterol numbers, plus it's just easier for me not to eat sugar than try to control it. I chose a food lifestyle I enjoy that I can stick with.
You could experiment with both moderation and cutting most sugar and see what you find easier. There's no one size fits all.
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hayleyf6051 wrote: »Thank you all! Your replies are so helpful. I didn't mean to start the soda debate. My main craving is sugar in sweets/chocolate. Will get a plan of action together!
I find that I have a hard time with milk chocolate. Once I get the flavor in my mouth I have a hard time not finishing off whatever it is that has it in it. A package of trail mix with only dried fruit and nuts will last me a few days. The same size package with milk chocolate or caramel in it may not last a day. But I can keep several bars of dark chocolate around for quite a while. My solution has been to limit the availability of foods that I have trouble with leaving alone. I keep hard candy around rather than soft candy. Dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. I choose smaller packages over bulk family sized packages. I rarely buy ice cream at the grocery store, choosing rather to make an ice cream shop the destination for a bicycle ride. I almost never drink a soda with sugar in it. I do drink Gatorade and keep it around, but I find that the only time I care for it is when I am drenched in sweat. I find that I have to exercise less willpower if I exercise it at the grocery store rather than after I bring stuff home.2 -
crzycatlady1 wrote: »Jabbarwocky wrote: »Just remember that artificial sweeteners tend to cause the same reactions in the body as sugar does, then, when there isn't any sugar it freaks out and craves more. This is coming from another sugar addict btw. Sugar is one of the things I'm tracking on MFP because I need to get that monkey off my back before it kills me. About to have to start medications for being pre-diabetic and I have NO desire to live my life like that. Personally, I've found that when I have a craving its best to have something small and sweet. If you wait, the craving only gets worse and that's when a binge is possible. I've been known to eat a full half pound bag of M&M's or a half gallon of ice cream within a day or two. Do what you can control.
Source please.
I think the appropriate way to phrase this was MAY cause the same reactions.
https://source.wustl.edu/2013/05/artificial-sweeteners-may-do-more-than-sweeten/ - small sample size, needs more research
https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2014/10/07/taking-a-new-look-at-artificial-sweeteners/ - Mouse model study. The mice that drank saccharin sweetened water developed glucose intolerance, the sugar water mice did not. We need a human trial now.1 -
Going back to the OP's question. I drastically cut my sugar intake about 8 months ago. I am on what people might call "the deep end"- I don't eat sweets, fruits, or most grains. It's not a weight thing, my body doesn't react well to big sugar spikes (migraines, stomachaches) and I simply feel better not eating that stuff. Having said that, here is my advice to cut back:
1) cut sugary drinks, this is the easiest way to remove a lot of sugar- soda, juice, milk (11g of sugar in ONE CUP!), and sweetened teas need to go. Diet soda and crystal light are a good way to satisfy the craving if you need to, but try to drink water/unsweetened teas as well
2) READ EVERY LABEL. If you eat a lot of prepackaged/processed food, you're consuming way more corn syrup than you think. It's a shelf stable way to add flavor to foods. Cereal, Yogurt, Pasta sauce (really all premade sauces), breads are all places this stuff hides. Try and look for alternatives that contain less sugar- make your own muffins on the weekends for breakfast, use plain yogurt and add your own fruit, look for pasta sauces without sugar added, etc.
3) Cut empty sugary calories from things like dried fruit. These do you no favors, just eat the regular fruit
From there, you can decide if you want to go further and reduce your intake of certain fruits (bananas, papayas, pineapples, mangoes) and starches. It's a personal choice, and not one I recommend for most people.
A heads up. There is a good chance you're going to feel terrible for the first week or two after you start cutting sugar. The body craves it the same way it craves drugs (source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23719144 ). I recommend keeping around lots of high protein foods to snack on when you feel these cravings (and try to get as much junk out of the house/office as you can before you start). Just remember to stick with it and log your food. The cravings pass in about a week and you'll start to feel better. If you HAVE to eat something sweet, choose fruits. Berries and Melons are great low sugar options, where apples, bananas, and oranges are great sources of fiber. I would avoid mangoes and pineapples here, they're super high in sugar and may just stimulate the craving further.
I hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you get stuck, and don't over think it. Sugar will not kill you, but lowering your intake is a great step toward a healthier lifestyle AND it opens the door to eating more volume from protein and veggies!!!3 -
crzycatlady1 wrote: »Jabbarwocky wrote: »Just remember that artificial sweeteners tend to cause the same reactions in the body as sugar does, then, when there isn't any sugar it freaks out and craves more. This is coming from another sugar addict btw. Sugar is one of the things I'm tracking on MFP because I need to get that monkey off my back before it kills me. About to have to start medications for being pre-diabetic and I have NO desire to live my life like that. Personally, I've found that when I have a craving its best to have something small and sweet. If you wait, the craving only gets worse and that's when a binge is possible. I've been known to eat a full half pound bag of M&M's or a half gallon of ice cream within a day or two. Do what you can control.
Source please.
My nutritionist. I've also read several articles online although cant remember from where and I'm ALWAYS dubious about articles I read online. That was the reason I took the question to my nutritionist.0 -
I've said this in other posts but I'm a major chocolate addict. I've started making pudding in 1/2 cup servings and having them at night. Then throughout the day, and I would normally eat chocolate throughout the day, I can remind myself that I have pudding waiting for me at home. So far it's worked. I still have the odd little treat but I try to keep it under 170-200 calories and I include it in my daily calorie count. If I go over my daily count I try to forgive myself and start the next day fresh.1
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Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »I bounce between normal carbs and sugar and sweeteners and have found that my body does not have an issue with either thing. You may find this also to be the case once your sugars become more regulated.
Very possible. I've noticed over the last several weeks, as I got back in the habit of working out on a regular basis, that my sweets cravings have lessened to the point of not having had a serious craving for a week or two. Something else that we all need to remember is that everyone is different. For me, I think that the sweets are a substitute for the endorphins I wasn't getting from exercise along with being an old habit/life pleasure. For a long time, the only thing I had to look forward to during a crappy day was a candy bar. I'm past that now, just need to keep working out and break the habit.0 -
@ninerbuff Where? I'd love to be able to read them. Only recently started using these forums so not terribly familiar yet.0
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