Carb/sugar addiction

How does it manifest itself and what specific behaviors do you want to adopt?

Goodluck! It's super hard and I feel your struggle. I try to fill up on foods that leave you feeling fuller for longer. More importantly, I just make sure I have them readily available so that when I do have a bad carb/sugar craving I can eat something and try to avoid the craving. Black Coffee also helps with cravings for myself.

Well, I stopped buying things that triggered more eating. So I stopped bringing cookies and potato chips into my house. I drank water or hot tea to distract myself. But I'm not into total deprivation, so I found little pre-packaged sweets and had one once a day. Sometimes it was a Ritter Sport chocolate, which I savored slowly. Or I made sugar-free pudding with low-fat milk to have as a snack or desert.

Think about what you are feeling when you are eating these foods and which foods you are craving. I like what @fb47 said about thinking about trigger foods. For me, I found that whenever I traveled, I would buy myself an oatmeal raisin cookie to eat on the plane...over a few months, traveling a few times a month, those 400+ calorie cookies added up. I thought about why I was choosing them and remembered my mother always made those when I was a kid, so it was clearly a comfort food. I decided to ban them--I simply won't eat them. There are other ways for me to feel comforted than cookies in this world, and I could never stop at just one bite!

jgnatca wrote: »

Duhigg’s book on Habits was a real eye opener. According to his model everyone’s triggers to overeat is different. What are your triggers?

Yeah, that's a good book -- OP, you might want to check it out.

Get low sugar protein junk food. Most common examples are Quest protein bars, Halo Top ice cream, and their copy cats.

I used to consider myself a sugar addict. Turns out I just needed to swap 90% of my real junk food for the low sugar high protein versions. And I still feel hungry no matter what if I get under 30g protein by 5pm working day shift.

And if you want the real sugar stuff, try an asian grocer, preferably japanese. They have junk food in tiny, preproportioned packs that you can eat in a sitting and not do much calorie damage. They have stuff like marshmallow puffs with chocolate creme for 18-20 cal a piece (210-300/pack) and mini swirl ice creams for 85 cal a piece (510cal/pack). And the ice creams are even on a cone!

I swapped sugar for spoonable stevia extract, which the version I buy is zero calorie.

I make my own homemade sprite, lemonade and limeade.

I eat cereal (using vanilla unsweetened almond milk) and the stevia extract really helps, in simulating and replacing sugar.

I love the Whole 30 for breaking eating habits, esp. sugar. I too feel that addiction... When it gets to that point I go cold turkey and follow the program for just 30 days. I feel my body begin appreciating berries and veg & fruits & craving those over my reg tastes. It lasts for long time after too, I learn to eat healthier...until I start getter no lazy & giving in... and when it breaks I do another cycle. Look into the program and see if something that interests you. For me it’s great. I feel amazing. (And I will note, I still stay within calories on program - not part of official W30 program, but see no reason can’t lose while I break habits.)

Taking a break from ultra-sweet foods and quick digesting carbs for about two weeks can help. Your blood sugars will get a break from the roller coaster, which causes cravings, and your taste buds will become more sensitive to natural sugars like the ones in fruit and milk. In the meantime, eat a reasonable amount of carbs, just slower digesting ones like dairy, berries, and legumes.

Don't purchase foods you have trouble moderating or have them in your house, and change your habits to avoid situations which cause you to overeat. For example, I changed the way I drive home so I don't stop at the convenience store where I used to buy icees, and I plan to have an appropriate snack for myself during TV watching instead of trying to tough it out, then giving in and grabbing a bag of chips.

When you get a handle on your eating, add back in appropriate portions of the foods you like.

Keto fixed mine right up, but you might want to try some of the excellent and less drastic suggestions in this thread first. If they don’t do the trick, though, going cold turkey is an option and it works.