Breaking the Sugar Addiction

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  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,988 Member
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    paperpudding wrote: »
    maureenkhilde wrote: »
    Well the hole (intended) issue with the donut theory is a bit off. I am betting the majority of people who visit Dunkin Donuts or Krispy Kreme do not get just one donut. Yes I agree one is 190 calories, but many go for the chocolate covered so that shoots to 240 per donut. But I digress people say they are addicted to sugar, when what they really seem to eat lots of cookies, cake, donuts, candy bars, beverages and so on. Most of what I just listed yes have sugar, but also are loaded with fat, little protein.

    If someone decides to do a challenge I say great go for it. But then what? The 30 days are up, do you go back to your old ways? Stay with new way? Or maybe learn to moderate the intake of less healthy food items, but so tasty.

    Really?

    I know I am only one person - but Ive never eaten more than one donut (admittedly my one is usually the custard and chocolate filled one at 300ish per donut.)

    but I didnt think that was the minority way of doing it.

    Not hard to fit into a moderate calorie allowance as a treat once a week or so.

    Boston Cream? Ya, that's what I go for on the rare occasion (maybe once per quarter) when I have a donut.
  • fitness_krista
    fitness_krista Posts: 20 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    fitness_krista wrote: »
    I’m looking at real food vs junk food. If it’s not considered good for you then why eat it? And sugar is a true addiction. Sure I made it thru day one but it is hard resisting temptation.
    ...I've taken on a variety of challenges over these past 7 years in my quest for health and wellness. I do however take issue with sugar being a legitimate addiction.

    It seems the 3 things most debated topics are Religion, Politics and Diet. I’m sorry to hear of your struggles with alcohol addiction. I’m not going to argue about our opinions on what defines an addiction when clearly your’s is difficult on so many levels. Maybe I will call my sugar struggle “a disorder” so as not to offend anyone. However, on social media there is always somebody offended. Best wishes to you.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    fitness_krista wrote: »
    As a challenge, would you be able to not have any bad foods? I think I would see significant changes — like all that hard work at the gym would show more. I’m doing this as a challenge even though I eat very well — minus the chips, cookies, bagels, ice cream and chocolate that I have at least one of daily.

    I think the point is that there aren't individually bad foods. The point is that there are better and worse overall ways of eating.

    Personally, I think nutrition is really important (beyond just the protein and calories mentioned in many posts). Specifically, I think it's important to get enough protein, enough fats (with a reasonable ratio of O-3s to O-6s, MUFAs and PUFAs, etc.), and at least 5+ (better 10+) daily servings of varied, colorful veggies and fruits for micros and fiber . . . most days.

    The occasional day of mostly treats, or the daily treat that doesn't routinely torpedo nutrition/calories, is pretty irrelevant.

    I'm with Rel (and others): I find it more effective to worry about what's included in my way of eating, tweaking that to balance calories, nutrition, satiation, tastiness, social connection, celebration and more. Kicking out individual items just doesn't seem that important, in that context.

    YMMV. And yeah, challenges can be fun, so if that's the point, go for it.

    I think some of us are reacting out of a perception that there are people around here (unlike you) who are overweight, who believe the blogosphere nonsense about "bad food" being "the problem" because it's "addictive", and those beliefs can be a distraction from pursuing reasonable calories and overall good nutrition as the most important issues for weight managment, body composition, exercise performance, and health.

    Best wishes - truly!

    All of this.
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,648 Member
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    fitness_krista wrote: »
    And I made it a whole 2 days so far without sugar. I have a headache which I believe is a sign of withdrawal since I never get headaches normally. Yesterday I avoided homemade cookies. Today I avoided chips and more cookies. That’s probably 1500 calories that I would have normally eaten of non nutritional food.

    IMHO there are no non nutritional foods. Even oreos have protein in them.

    Not much but it's still there.

    And chips, depending on the type, have a hell of a lot of potassium.
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,485 Member
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    @cwolfman13, respect, h.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,073 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    paperpudding wrote: »
    maureenkhilde wrote: »
    Well the hole (intended) issue with the donut theory is a bit off. I am betting the majority of people who visit Dunkin Donuts or Krispy Kreme do not get just one donut. Yes I agree one is 190 calories, but many go for the chocolate covered so that shoots to 240 per donut. But I digress people say they are addicted to sugar, when what they really seem to eat lots of cookies, cake, donuts, candy bars, beverages and so on. Most of what I just listed yes have sugar, but also are loaded with fat, little protein.

    If someone decides to do a challenge I say great go for it. But then what? The 30 days are up, do you go back to your old ways? Stay with new way? Or maybe learn to moderate the intake of less healthy food items, but so tasty.

    Really?

    I know I am only one person - but Ive never eaten more than one donut (admittedly my one is usually the custard and chocolate filled one at 300ish per donut.)

    but I didnt think that was the minority way of doing it.

    Not hard to fit into a moderate calorie allowance as a treat once a week or so.

    Boston Cream? Ya, that's what I go for on the rare occasion (maybe once per quarter) when I have a donut.


    They are just called Choc Iced Custard here (Australia) - could be same thing re-badged for a different country.

  • missysippy930
    missysippy930 Posts: 2,577 Member
    edited November 2019
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    Self control. Most of us use it every day. If you can avoid certain foods for the rest of your life, that’s great. But, practicing self control, and moderation of all foods, can go a long way towards achieving, and maintaining our goals.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    fitness_krista wrote: »
    And I made it a whole 2 days so far without sugar. I have a headache which I believe is a sign of withdrawal since I never get headaches normally. Yesterday I avoided homemade cookies. Today I avoided chips and more cookies. That’s probably 1500 calories that I would have normally eaten of non nutritional food.

    If you are eating intrinsic sugar (in fruits and veg and dairy, among other foods) and starches (in whole grains, potatoes, as well as other such foods), your body is getting sugar. Withdrawal wouldn't be the right term anyway, as your body runs on sugar (sometimes people who go very low carb get symptoms related to adjusting to that, but it's not withdrawal), but in the presence of sugar it's not withdrawal and cutting added sugar in the context of a normal healthy diet does not remove sugar.

    The headache is likely unrelated or a psychological thing.

    If you cut 1500 cals, how many cals did you have left -- are you eating too little? That could cause a headache. So could many, many things, including lack of sleep, weather, cutting caffeine, as Ann mentioned, and many unidentified things.

    Adding to this, it's possible OP is now eating low enough carb to be needing some extra sodium. Some chicken broth or something else salty should help, If that's the case.

    I would try 3 things with the headache: salty broth of some sort, cup of tea/coffee, and an extra glass of water.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,088 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    It seems the 3 things most debated topics are Religion, Politics and Diet. I’m sorry to hear of your struggles with alcohol addiction. I’m not going to argue about our opinions on what defines an addiction when clearly your’s is difficult on so many levels. Maybe I will call my sugar struggle “a disorder” so as not to offend anyone. However, on social media there is always somebody offended. Best wishes to you.

    Not offended...I just think "addiction" is thrown around pretty willy nilly a lot of the time. I believe compulsive over-eating is an addiction...and there is over-eaters anonymous to provide support for that as there are usually underlying issues that need to be dealt with similar to alcoholism. But sugar in and of itself is not an addictive substance.

    Best of luck at any rate.

    Respect bro...🤙

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