How do i stop craving sugar?
sassywolf2013
Posts: 33 Member
I crave sugary things like yogurt covered pretzels, ice cream, etc... How do i stop eating it as much?
8
Replies
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Tell yourself you can only have it if you've met your protein, fat and nutrition goals for the day and it fits your calories.
I keep around 200 calories a day for snacks.
If you deprive yourself you'll struggle to keep eating properly for life7 -
You aren't craving sugar, you're craving nice tasting foods, just like everybody else. Pretzels are starchy? Ice cream has both sugar and fat (usually). You can't stop cravings, but you can make them less intense and more tolerable. You do that partly by understanding that eating is not the same as craving, and partly by not acting on them all the time.15
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I no longer crave sugar because I cut it out for the first three weeks. After that I no longer crave it. I still generally avoid food with added sugar. In fact, the other day my husband made his mom’s chocolate chip cookies which are a big weakness for me. I did not have any and nor did I want them when I smelled them.
You can do it! Try to cut the sugar out completely.34 -
For the first time in my 50 years, I do not crave sweets. I attribute this to my avoidance of most sweetened foods and drink.
I used to drink a lot of Crystal Light and diet Mountain Dew. Several months ago I started drinking plain sparkling water instead. I even made myself drink unsweetened green tea sometimes (I used to add sweetener). That kind of radical change was enough to retrain my tongue.
I still use sweetener to cut the bitterness of my steel -cut oats every morning, and I do chew plenty of gum that is sweetened, so it's not like I've utterly abandoned it. But I haven't had cravings for anything for over three months.
I should also mention that I don't just count calories. I also chase nutrients. MFP is great for that. To hit my RDA of the nutrients tracked here, I have to choose healthy food that fills me up and sticks with me. I can pretty confidently guess from somebody's diary whether they are getting hungry between meals just by looking at the kind of food being eaten.8 -
As the people posting above indicate, we can acquire a fondness for sugar, and we can discard it.
"How" you go about trying to discard your fondness for sugar is your own unique journey. Good luck.5 -
If I don't eat it, I don't crave it. The first couple of days are hard, and then it got easier (if refined grains are avoided too - for me).9
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That reminds me -- I reject the popular notion that you shouldn't deny yourself. That you should occasionally indulge. Not me! I'm as bad with sugar as the worst drunk is with alcohol. Sugar is my heroin. Sweetener is just methadone. Sweets are simply something I can never have.
After all, if I DO eat a sweet and I enjoy it at all, then I'm right back to enjoying sweets. I'd rather keep looking at them with revulsion.33 -
Do like fruit? Do you eat fruit?ServusChristi wrote: »That reminds me -- I reject the popular notion that you shouldn't deny yourself. That you should occasionally indulge. Not me! I'm as bad with sugar as the worst drunk is with alcohol. Sugar is my heroin. Sweetener is just methadone. Sweets are simply something I can never have.
After all, if I DO eat a sweet and I enjoy it at all, then I'm right back to enjoying sweets. I'd rather keep looking at them with revulsion.
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You don't see the pattern here?ServusChristi wrote: »That reminds me -- I reject the popular notion that you shouldn't deny yourself. That you should occasionally indulge. Not me! I'm as bad with sugar as the worst drunk is with alcohol. Sugar is my heroin. Sweetener is just methadone. Sweets are simply something I can never have.
After all, if I DO eat a sweet and I enjoy it at all, then I'm right back to enjoying sweets. I'd rather keep looking at them with revulsion.8 -
ServusChristi wrote: »That reminds me -- I reject the popular notion that you shouldn't deny yourself. That you should occasionally indulge. Not me! I'm as bad with sugar as the worst drunk is with alcohol. Sugar is my heroin. Sweetener is just methadone. Sweets are simply something I can never have.
After all, if I DO eat a sweet and I enjoy it at all, then I'm right back to enjoying sweets. I'd rather keep looking at them with revulsion.
I don't tell myself that any urge or food is more powerful than I am.
I tell myself one serving and stick to it.
Sugar is not addictive, you're just making excuses to not stick to your calorie goal. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a sweet.18 -
ServusChristi wrote: »That reminds me -- I reject the popular notion that you shouldn't deny yourself. That you should occasionally indulge. Not me! I'm as bad with sugar as the worst drunk is with alcohol. Sugar is my heroin. Sweetener is just methadone. Sweets are simply something I can never have.
After all, if I DO eat a sweet and I enjoy it at all, then I'm right back to enjoying sweets. I'd rather keep looking at them with revulsion.
It depends on the person. When i abstain, i crave foods more and binge. When i incorporate things in my diet, i am much more complaint. I have kept off 50 lbs for 6 years by doing it. And life is too short for me, to eliminate foods i love. For example, around this time of year, i incorporate Cadbury Eggs into my diet. Once Easter passes, i rarely crave them. I actually crave dinner foods more often, like steak.
Op, so it depends on your personality. You can either save 10% of your calories for treats ot abstain. I would also put more focus on protein.4 -
Increasing my protien has helped me a lot & also
L-glutamine. Sugar addiction is real. It's a studied & proven fact. If you have to "tell yourself you can only have one " then you must have some kind of pull that makes you wanna have more... But I'm not gonna get into that or the scientific knowledge behind it. Good luck on your journey to eating less sugar. You can do it!!25 -
bluecandy22 wrote: »Increasing my protien has helped me a lot & also
L-glutamine. Sugar addiction is real. It's a studied & proven fact. If you have to "tell yourself you can only have one " then you must have some kind of pull that makes you wanna have more... But I'm not gonna get into that or the scientific knowledge behind it. Good luck on your journey to eating less sugar. You can do it!!
Sugar addiction in humans has not been proven. It has been shown, not different than fat, to be "addicting" in animal models.10 -
I suggest picking up the book Habit by Duhigg. Log the circumstances where your cravings are the strongest. Come up with a replacement strategy that takes care of the need.6
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try chromium supplement...it works for me7
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I find that if I avoid items with added sugar (I.e. Cakes, chocolate, cookies, etc.), I can do well with staying away. I will create something with a sweetener instead and be perfectly happy with it. If I eat those cakes, cookies or chocolate though, I find that I seek them out more and struggle to limit myself.
I did buy myself a 70% dark chocolate Lindt bar for Easter... Hopefully I can stick to that. I'm sure my kids wouldn't be happy if they found me hiding in the closet with their delicious milk chocolates lol!3 -
I simply cannot have any of my even relatively healthy sweets (raisons, and peanut butter) in the house. Nooo self control. I hope someday to have enough self disapline ...note: I'm single and don't have to worry about any one elseeeee0
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Read the Cravings Cure by Julia Ross. It is life changing! You need amino acids. I have been sugar free for close to a month now.9
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I no longer crave sugar because I cut it out for the first three weeks. After that I no longer crave it. I still generally avoid food with added sugar. In fact, the other day my husband made his mom’s chocolate chip cookies which are a big weakness for me. I did not have any and nor did I want them when I smelled them.
You can do it! Try to cut the sugar out completely.
This got a lot of "woo" responses, but my experience is that eating very low carb for a period of time years ago freed me from wanting them very much. I haven't eaten vlc in years - the change in tastes has persisted, however.6 -
ServusChristi wrote: »That reminds me -- I reject the popular notion that you shouldn't deny yourself. That you should occasionally indulge. Not me! I'm as bad with sugar as the worst drunk is with alcohol. Sugar is my heroin. Sweetener is just methadone. Sweets are simply something I can never have.
After all, if I DO eat a sweet and I enjoy it at all, then I'm right back to enjoying sweets. I'd rather keep looking at them with revulsion.
And I'm the person who is smack dab in between. If I don't eat sugar for a week or two, I can eat a small amount and handle it. But if I have too much one day, or just a small amount daily for several days in a row, I lose control. Then I have to stop cold again for a few weeks and start again.
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I crave sweets in the evening.....
Does anyone else have the same problem?0 -
Drink water with small pinch of cinnamon. It kills sugar cravings in instant. Just don’t abuse it or your body will stop reacting to this trick.10
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What worked for me is not having anything sweet for a month (which turned to three) when I started on my journey.After that time most sweets tasted crap as in sickly sweet and bitter and I lost interest for the most part and I could go into moderation with sweets. Still find most of them taste crap though and are not worth the calories1
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Personally, I will have an individually wrapped square of dark chocolate. I don't particularly care for the bitter of dark chocolate, so I am not tempted to eat the whole bag. But it's sweet enough to kill the craving.0
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I stopped eating sweets. After a couple of weeks they left my mind.4
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I don’t stock anything sweet in the house besides fruit, and even that is for the lady as my gastrointestinal system often has problems digesting them.
Usually the novelties suck me in like a fly to a zapper. Sometimes, I’ll indulge, and go on a diet soda binge for a week or so, or get some candy.
Our brain loves sweet, it has a special chemical that reacts to us eating sweet foods, so the chemical reaction will always be there in our brain. You will never truly not want sweets, so the only choice is to learn how to cope. Usually that is in the form of will power.
ETA: if you don’t have it on a regular basis, the pull gets less and less effective. Interestingly enough, I am kind of going through the same thing with smoking right now, although the jury is still out on the parallels of those reactions in the body. For me, I quit cold turkey again about 3 weeks ago and although the nicotine has left my system, I still have a desire when the stress is high, but I don’t indulge. My health goals overpower my need for nicotine.
Same mentality can be used for sugary foods...they just aren’t nearly addictive, so it’s okay to indulge every once in a while :-)
Have a nice day!2 -
sassywolf2013 wrote: »I crave sugary things like yogurt covered pretzels, ice cream, etc... How do i stop eating it as much?
You can't.
Diet Pepsi after a meal may help... but chances are you want a Snickers. In which case, walk home from work (or whatever) & balance 300 cals that way.0 -
i learned long ago i just cant keep things like chips cookies or icecream in my house. When i began my weight loss journey i would walk a 50 minute walk each way to buy a chocolate bar from a far dollar store, In my mind it was me getting best of both worlds id get exercise id get my butt outside and id get a snack. When i began thts how i kept sane i needed middle ground i needed it to be okay that i loved those foods. Over time life got more busy and i lost more weight and i learned new things i enjoyed eating and small things like buying a new nail polish instead of a chocolate bar on my dollar store walks (i never painted my nails before but it keeps me busy and unable to eat for like an hour lol)
I guess my point is its a learning curve, Just saying to yourself you dont get sweet treats or your addicted or whatever just makes it harder. Find ways to be on middle ground where you can earn some or have just a little or whatever works for you. Keep a focus on veggies and proteins and fats to keep yourself nourished to make cravings a bit more minimal- physically anyway. Mentally, keep it out of your house if you find you cant control it at all- like me. Simply having the option to earn it if you want s mentally freeing in my opinion. Im stubborn when i am told not to do something or that i cant do something best believe im going to do it lol.
editing for full transparency: yesterday i went to mcdonalds got a caramel sundae (extra caramel omg it was rediculously caramelly ), and tim hortons got a toasted coconut donut, And after work i spent 16$ on chocolate coated pretzels and chocolate coated jubjubes and peanutbutter cups. MY point being even after i lost 110 pounds, Everyone is human. No point in beating myself up and so today im just going to be happy i scratched that itch and carry on. No ones perfect and theres no use in denying yourself always. Eat all foods, Just not all the time.4 -
I have read about eating more protein based foods to stop sugar cravings, I tried it and it works for me.1
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More simple sugars ((potatoes, rice, pasta)) but ensure calories in < calories out3
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