Sugar addiction: give me your best tips

DyneSalcar
DyneSalcar Posts: 45 Member
in Food and Nutrition
My challenge: kicking sugar
My reason: I feel better when I eat better
Main obstacles:
1. Compulsory eating (binge eating disorder)
2. Everyone in my house drinks only soda and southern sweet tea
3. Artificial sweeteners trigger migraines
4. Hubby loves to buy me chocolate

What are your best tips to stand my ground against added/refined sugars?

Replies

  • hap2go
    hap2go Posts: 105 Member
    I wish I knew! Im in the same boat but for me, its a huge addiction that I picked up when I quit smoking. I dont drink sodas or sweet tea but I pop gumballs like they're going out of style.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    As part one, I'd write down why you want to cut down on (presumably added) sugar and be really specific. That makes it easier to keep that in mind when temptation exists -- often it's easy to think, eh, it's only today, so this is a way to avoid that. Personally, when first focusing on weight loss (sugar wasn't my issue but I think it would be similar), I had a diary and would write down what I thought was really going on when feeling tempted and do a positives and things I could improve at the end of the day. I treated bad days as learning experiences, as that was much more helpful than beating myself up.

    Re binge eating, have you considered treatment? There are also some good CBT-themed books out there.

    Re what everyone else drinks, pick a drink you enjoy that's lower or no sugar. I like making homemade iced teas from herbal/fruit teas and drinking those (no sugar). You can also get an infuser for water if you get bored with just water. If you miss the sweetness, your tastebuds will likely change.

    Re chocolate and your husband, can you have a talk with him, and explain why this is important to you. Maybe there's something else he could bring you as a small indulgence if he wants.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,352 Member
    I had to retrain my taste buds.

    Find substitutes. For me it was frozen banana and almond mil smoothies with a few grams of Cacao powder. Tasted like a Wendy’s Frosty to me, so very satisfying. Or cottage cheese with fruit and a dash of a high quality fruit infused balsamic vinegar.

    After a while fruit will become intensely sweet.

    One thing that did surprise me was that originally, sugar free products tasted awful to me and I wouldn’t even consider using them. Thought they gave me headaches, stomachaches. But the further I’ve gotten from sugar the better they taste. However, each has its own taste. For example I can’t stomach the taste of stevia so won’t buy stevia flavored products.

    Now that I’m on the “other side”, I can eat sweets again, usually without the compulsion to eat a whole bag or box. I’ve budgeted in a large locally made gourmet peanut butter cup this evening, will split it in half for another day. I’ll still have my cottage cheese. Fruit and vinegar though. It’s a habit I look forward to way more than mindlessly downing a party bag of M&Ms.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    If you need something sweet, have some fruit.

    My thoughts exactly. A snickers bar is 220 cals. 3 medium apples are 240. You might be able to binge the applea, but I doubt it.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,839 Member
    Start with changing one habit at a time. For example, start replacing soda with unsweetened seltzer or sweet tea with unsweet. I stopped doing artificial sweeteners at first because tasting sweet without calories just made me hungry. Now, after years without them, I can't stand the taste. I now like my coffee with just milk (actually soy milk but that's due to my problems with cow milk). It takes a bit to break away from a sweet tooth. Just start to notice how sweet stuff makes you feel. They just make me feel I want more so I pretty much avoid them or make sure I eat savory stuff AFTER the sweet stuff.

    As to family pressures. Get them to buy you a fancy seltzer that costs as much as soda and tell them you like it -- not that you're drinking it because you are avoiding sugar. Tell hubby you want him to buy you small amounts of expensive dark chocolate and enjoy it because it's good for you. Also, see if he will get you flowers instead. Tell him that make your heart melt. I call hubby the "Flower Fairy" anytime he shows up with them from the grocery store and make a big deal over it.

    That way no one will be thinking you are shaming them by avoiding what they are eating. You are just weird by their standards. Families tend to respect eccentricities because they don't understand them.
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    edited July 2020
    Tell Hubby thanks but no thanks - let him know you need his help on this. If you frame it as a positive thing (you need his help, you're a team) that may sink in better than as a negative (stop doing something he thinks is a good thing).

    For sweets, try freezing blueberries/strawberries or similar. Lower calories, natural sugar . Can even top w/ something like Cool Whip as its pretty low in calories. (Just control the amount - eating the entire tub adds up to about 240-300 depending on the variety you buy.)

    As to what the family does: if you're referring to children, be a good role model and encourage them to drink more water. If they are adults, find the resolve to do what you need to do and don't worry about them.
    DyneSalcar wrote: »
    My challenge: kicking sugar
    My reason: I feel better when I eat better
    Main obstacles:
    1. Compulsory eating (binge eating disorder)
    2. Everyone in my house drinks only soda and southern sweet tea
    3. Artificial sweeteners trigger migraines
    4. Hubby loves to buy me chocolate

    What are your best tips to stand my ground against added/refined sugars?

  • moonangel12
    moonangel12 Posts: 971 Member
    My tip is to go cold turkey. The cravings will be real for a couple/few days but will eventually get better.

    I do flavored soda waters (unsweetened), unsweet tea (mainly green or black) with lemon and/or mint. Going from sweet To unsweet might be a harsh transition, and if you aren’t up for cold turkey, do half and half. Hubby and I both used to drink a LOT of sweet tea... I am not down to nearly unsweet (a literal splash of sweet on top and lemon, or a sprinkle of True Lemonade... Stevia sweetened though). Diet Sodas make me feel horrible. My husband is happy with half and half now.

    Once the major sweets cravings are gone, fruit will taste fabulous. A good cutie/clementine makes a tasty treat. Or fresh cherries. Cotton Candy grapes (super sweet - some people like them, others don’t). Cold watermelon.

    The gift side is hard. I love to treat my husband, but have had to change if and what I buy as he tries to do better. Maybe find a different type of treat that isn’t sweet that he could surprise you with? My husband will sometime bring me my favorite homemade potato chips home from a local restaurant- YUM!
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    When my sweet tooth is yelling at me I eat a couple clementines, chew gum, or have some coffee. I used to eat a 40 cal. fudgsicle but find I cannot limit myself. :( I binge eat and junk food is my downfall. I was buying 1-2 pints of Ben and Jerry's every weekend and eating them myself. :( I have no self control sometimes but am a work in progress.

    I have a dear friend who has sworn off sugary foods except every once in awhile she'll indulge in a small box of chocolates and take a bite out of each one, throwing the rest away.
    We all just have to find what works for us. Ask your dh politely to not sabotage your efforts by buying you chocolates. Explain to him you're trying to work your way towards $exy lingerie; maybe that'll stop him in his tracks. :)
    And if you're a soda drinker too, maybe at least switch to diet soda or half juice half club soda. Or give it up completely for water.

    Good luck!! Sweets are soooo hard to control(for me too).
  • joyanna2016
    joyanna2016 Posts: 323 Member
    edited July 2020
    With sugar the more you have, the more you want. This is a lifestyle though, not a short term diet. You may want to cut out all sweets to begin with. Then gradually add in a little bit of 1. The foods you truly miss AND 2. foods that don't trigger a binge. Your taste buds will change and binging will get better too.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,102 Member
    HeidiCooksSupper wrote: »
    Start with changing one habit at a time. For example, start replacing soda with unsweetened seltzer or sweet tea with unsweet. I stopped doing artificial sweeteners at first because tasting sweet without calories just made me hungry. Now, after years without them, I can't stand the taste. I now like my coffee with just milk (actually soy milk but that's due to my problems with cow milk). It takes a bit to break away from a sweet tooth. Just start to notice how sweet stuff makes you feel. They just make me feel I want more so I pretty much avoid them or make sure I eat savory stuff AFTER the sweet stuff.

    As to family pressures. Get them to buy you a fancy seltzer that costs as much as soda and tell them you like it -- not that you're drinking it because you are avoiding sugar. Tell hubby you want him to buy you small amounts of expensive dark chocolate and enjoy it because it's good for you. Also, see if he will get you flowers instead. Tell him that make your heart melt. I call hubby the "Flower Fairy" anytime he shows up with them from the grocery store and make a big deal over it.

    That way no one will be thinking you are shaming them by avoiding what they are eating. You are just weird by their standards. Families tend to respect eccentricities because they don't understand them.

    So Machiavellian: I love it lots. :)

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