How to kick that dessert addiction?
soukyfitness
Posts: 16 Member
Hi guys, so I have a problem. I'm pretty sure I'm actually addicted to sugar. Once I start eating it I can't stop, and I crave brownies or jelly beans constantly. I've been doing better lately, but used to horribly binge eat in the evening on things like whole pints of Ben and Jerry's (the best) or handfuls of Skittles. Was wondering what other people do to stave off cravings and resist reaching for the sweets?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Also feel free to add me, I'm new to this app and would love friends!
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Also feel free to add me, I'm new to this app and would love friends!
22
Replies
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I feel you on craving sweets. I like the fiber one brownies and cookies and feel like they are kinda nutritious. I've also spent too much money on these brownies from Bambody Nutrition that are low calorie with protein but they are About $40 for a dozen though. Look around for other alternatives too, like the school snack packs of stuff if you can eat just one. Also teddy grahams but eat them slowly.3
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I fit all of my cravings into my calories goal. I have bean eating 2-3 Girl Scout cookies everyday for the last 2 weeks pretty much. Pre log them so you can make it fit. My willpower only goes so far every day.11
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How’s your protein consumption? Getting adequate protein made a big difference for me...no more bouncing.2
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I pig out on fruits lol A whole carton of strawberries and grapes that are FROZEN.
It works for me3 -
Addiction to sugar isn't really a thing - sugar is a simple carbohydrate and is found in many foods that humans always have eaten. To stop eating sugar, means that you can't eat fruit, vegetables, dairy or grains. That isn't exactly healthy, and you wouldn't be able to do it for long. And even if you did, your body produces sugar from fat and protein. So sugar isn't dangerous. Many of the foods you mention, even have a higher energy percentage from fat, than sugar. What's more likely to be happening, is that
You like foods high in fat and sugar.
Foods high in fat and sugar are easily avaliable, and associated with fun, relaxation, happiness, comfort and company.
You overeat foods high in fat and sugar.
You experience weight gain and/or loss of control around foods high in fat and sugar.
You attribute weight gain (or loss of control) to foods high in fat and sugar.
You start to fear foods high in fat and sugar.
You still desire foods high in fat and sugar.
You tell yourself you should avoid foods high in fat and sugar.
You can't stay away from foods high in fat and sugar.
You start to demonize foods high in fat and sugar.
You start to binge on foods high in fat and sugar, it's hard to stop, so you think you're addicted.
Eating desserts and sweets every day, hasn't been the norm for very long. Just a couple of decades ago, people would have dessert on Sunday, and a limited amount of sweets on Saturday. I have started to adopt this pattern, and it works well for me. I still have cravings, of course, but they are manageable. And I don't stock up on sweets and desserts. I keep small amounts at home, or eat it when I'm out and there's a special occasion.25 -
Are you staying within your calorie goal everyday? Are you weighing and measuring everything you eat and drink? If so, then eat what you want. If not, then instead of desert eat some fruit, or nuts, or yogurt, or a small piece of dark chocolate. Move more and you'll have more calories to eat.2
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I'm kind of a fan of breaking habits if they are so strong that you feel like you need something. For me, just not eating outside of meals has worked (I do sometimes have dessert, and you could do planned snacks if you want them). If I think I want to eat and it's not a meal time, I know it's not really hunger and wait. It's usually hard for a week or (usually) less and then I get used to it (I have to readjust if I get out of the habit).
Re dessert, I agree that having dessert every night (let alone after every meal) isn't something that used to be the norm. I do like dessert after dinner sometimes, but I took a break from it for a month or so to show myself I didn't need it. Then I reintroduced it as an occasional thing or something I did if I had extra calories (when I was losing and counting). I found it helpful to vary what I ate -- sometimes cheese (nice cheese is a traditional post dinner course) or fruit and nuts or (if low on calories) a small piece of dark chocolate or some brewing chocolate (it's not sweet) or, if I had more cals and wanted a traditional dessert, a measured serving of ice cream. If you tell yourself you are eating within your cals and don't just grab a pint, it may be easier to moderate than you realize.
I also found that a planned dessert at the end of the day (soon after a dinner with plenty of protein and veg and after a good and nutritious day) was a lot easier to moderate than if I was snacking on such things all day long or telling myself if I was eating poorly anyway calories didn't matter, it was a write-off day. I think telling yourself you can't have sweets often means that you decide the day doesn't count if you do and then you have no incentive to moderate vs. someone who decides sweets are fine within calories and a nutrient dense day.14 -
What this guy, and make some of his protein desserts
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBF73y3tK1gYu9p2ag9wJEQ2 -
Addiction to sugar isn't a thing. The bottom line is that the ONLY way to stop eating sugar is to make yourself stop... and for that you'll just have to want to lose weight more than you'll want the ice cream and candy.
Stop buying the stuff so it's not in your house, and try to distract yourself when you start wanting sweets. Believe me, I grew up with 'dessert all the time' too, and it's a hard habit to get over, but when you REALLY want to lose the weight, you'll stop.
If you really want dessert, you can get frozen fruit bars, yogurt etc instead (or sugar free stuff if you don't mind the aftertaste).11 -
The only way I can control my "dessert" cravings is to set a goal for myself. Whether it be 30 days no desserts, only desserts on Saturdays, etc. Sweets are my weakness and I really don't have the willpower to hold back unless I have a goal/challenge. I know I can just allow for a small amount each day but I know myself well enough to know I'll spiral if I have them every day.4
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Don’t keep them in your house or buy them.7
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I suggest not having this stuff in the house at all. We don't keep anything like this in the house so there is no way to eat them when I have a "craving". I gave up sweets for Lent this year and it has really shown me how much sweets I eat. A nibble of chocolate here, a cookie there, some cake in the afternoon, cookies before bed, etc. I miss it badly but going cold turkey is the only way I know to curb the craving.
When Lent is over and I want the sweets I'll just make sure it is within my macros and if its not then I either won't eat it, or i'll eat it and work out a little extra to burn it off.4 -
Stop eating it.
It *is* that simple.
Don't buy it, don't have it in the house, don't eat it.
Everything else is probably just making excuses for your behaviors.
"Sugar addiction" is not a real medical diagnosis.
It is a matter of discipline, just like the rest of this process.
"Willpower" and "motivation" will not work for the long-term.12 -
I plan chocolate into my calorie goals every day, but when I finish the chocolate portion and still crave more I let myself have dried cranberries. Still sweet but also tart and I usually only want a couple and it cures my chocolate cravings.2
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All the sweet things I eat are either fruits or stevia/erythritol sweetened desserts. I very rarely have actually sugary desserts any more - only special occasions. I do all my baking with stevia/erythritol instead of sugar and it tastes almost the same to me. There are also tons of sugar-free candies and chocolates out there.
I'm personally able to control myself around sugar-free candies because I know if I eat too much I'll be rushing to the bathroom.5 -
hometeamwins wrote: »
Yup!! That simple7 -
The good news, as already pointed out is that there is no true addiction to sugar in the clinical sense. The bad news is that just because that's true, doesn't mean that it's easy to break a sweet tooth habit. You can rely on sheer will power, which probably won't work long term. Or you can create a plan and a system to make it more manageable. For some, that's substitution, for others its moderation, and for yet others elimination.
For me personally, elimination is my best strategy. Don't keep the stuff in the house. I tried moderation, that wasn't completely successful, I could only moderate so much, before completely caving. I've also found that after a while of greatly reducing the frequency of treats and sweets, when I do indulge, it's much easier to be satisfied on less.10 -
I log everything that goes into my mouth ... Peanut M&Ms, Girl Scout cookies, Chocolate Halo Top ice cream ... I fit it into my calories. Discipline and creating habits of eating more protein to satiate my cravings have been key for me.7
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DJ_Skywalker wrote: »I log everything that goes into my mouth ... Peanut M&Ms, Girl Scout cookies, Chocolate Halo Top ice cream ... I fit it into my calories. Discipline and creating habits of eating more protein to satiate my cravings have been key for me.
This is what I do.
I try to eat a well balanced nutrient dense diet and also include treats like cakes or cookies.
I find that I crave less sweets when my overall diet is in check.8 -
If you truly believe you are addicted to sugar, have you talked to your doctor about this? Have you tried to sign up for an addiction program like a methadone clinic to see what they would say about your addiction?
I don't think sugar addiction is really a thing. I think people have problems moderating hyper palatable foods. I think once someone realizes that they do have control over what goes into their mouth, they can start to assume responsibility for their actions.
An opioid addict will go through physical withdraw symptoms if they do not have a fix. These symptoms can include vomiting diarrhea and shakes.
Someone who wants a cake will not go into withdraw because they do not have it.
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I used to have such a sweet tooth but I had to get a handle on it if I wanted to lose weight. I would have measured out a portion of no more than 250-300 cals and savoured each delicious bite
...it was logged, it fitted into my calories and it was enough to satisfy me.
Now I prefer savoury tastes, oh don't get me wrong there's nothing I like better than a few squares of good quality chocolate, but that satisfies me I'm happy to say. Tastes change.4 -
I find that if I don't tell myself I can't have something, and eat it every day... Whatever thing I was craving is no longer so alluring. That, or I just have it every day and fit it in my calories. I had Jimmy Fallon's The Tonight Dough Ben and Jerry's icecream every day for a week bc that is what I have been craving. I just have one serving of it and move on with life.6
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I limit my dessert to either items that are really special (Looking at you chocolate tower at Nichole's Fine Pastry) or home made. I rarely eat a pre packaged goodie except chocolate. I also limit baking to only Sundays. We have a family style dinner on Sundays - I usually attempt to make dessert something special and budget the calories for that day. That way I can have my cake and eat it too!2
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lemurcat12 wrote: »...
I also found that a planned dessert at the end of the day (soon after a dinner with plenty of protein and veg and after a good and nutritious day) was a lot easier to moderate than if I was snacking on such things all day long or telling myself if I was eating poorly anyway calories didn't matter, it was a write-off day. I think telling yourself you can't have sweets often means that you decide the day doesn't count if you do and then you have no incentive to moderate vs. someone who decides sweets are fine within calories and a nutrient dense day.
I agree with this completely - that's what works for me as well. I may seem to eat a lot of indulgent sweets because I typically have 1 thing most (not all) days, such as a scoop of ice cream, cookie with tea, slice of pie, etc. But I never snack and kind of "save up" my sweets craving for that one thing. In some ways it also causes me to make a few better swaps throughout the day, like choosing Greek yogurt with very little sugar instead of a yogurt that has 17g, I'd rather use that sugar on a good piece of chocolate for example.
Of course this could backfire if a person chose something like a 600 calorie milkshake instead of two or three "100 cal" bags of mini cookies throughout the day.
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Wow thank you everyone for all the advice! It will definitely help me in my journey.
Unfortunately for me I can't just "not buy it" because I'm a college student and the dining hall where we eat has a buffet style, with many desserts right in front of your face. It's quite a challenge and some nights I'm so tired I just crave a brownie or something.
But everything is very good advice, and I will be sure to try everything!4 -
soukyfitness wrote: »Wow thank you everyone for all the advice! It will definitely help me in my journey.
Unfortunately for me I can't just "not buy it" because I'm a college student and the dining hall where we eat has a buffet style, with many desserts right in front of your face. It's quite a challenge and some nights I'm so tired I just crave a brownie or something.
But everything is very good advice, and I will be sure to try everything!
It’s a self control muscle, it takes practice. You can do this.6 -
soukyfitness wrote: »Wow thank you everyone for all the advice! It will definitely help me in my journey.
Unfortunately for me I can't just "not buy it" because I'm a college student and the dining hall where we eat has a buffet style, with many desserts right in front of your face. It's quite a challenge and some nights I'm so tired I just crave a brownie or something.
But everything is very good advice, and I will be sure to try everything!
I find that pre-tracking helps. I'm guessing that the same desserts tend to show up with some regularity? Check the database for an idea of the calories. It probably won't be exact, but it'll give you a ballpark. For example, my local bakery's challah isn't in the database, so I log it as "Kroger's". Might not be the same recipe, but I figure it's close enough. Most slices of cheese pizza are 220-280 calories. I tend to find one at 260, log it and call it even. You can probably do that for brownies, chocolate chip cookies, etc.
What pre-tracking does for me is show me, before I eat the food, that I'm not 'cheating' or getting derailed or anything. It fits my calories and I can eat it. Or it doesn't fit my calories and I can decide that I really want a brownie or a slice of pie badly enough that it's worth it to me to be over for the day. Or it barely fits/takes a bigger chunk out of my calories and I can ask myself if it's still worth it. And a lot of times, the answer is 'no'. When it's 'yes,' that's okay, too. But I don't feel guilty anymore, which stops me from getting trapped in an emotional eating cycle. (My problem. Not necessarily yours.)9 -
I statted drinking herbal tea after dinner. Vanilla, chocolate and other dessert like flavors. With cream and stevia. If I still wanted dessert after the dessert like tea, I’d eat it. Eventually I rarely wanted it. Now I focus on desserts for special ocassions. Most of the days I don’t have any. Now I grab a piece of fruit for desserts most of the week.7
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I have my good and bad days, but I find trying to avoid it altogether doesn't work for me. I get cranky, jumpy, and mean, and then I end up buying a bunch of crap to binge on and hiding it from my husband, because I don't want him to see me binge or have to share. It's pretty bad.
So I generally have a goodie a day planned and accounted for, and if I want more, I have to decide if it is worth the math to add it in, or the shame of seeing my count go over.2
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