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babr
2-10-11, 3:51pm
I have what i think is a real psychological addiction to sweets; i grew up eating sweets all day long, i could eat sweets and have no other food and be happy; but i turned 50 and that the muscle i have now turns into fat; plus the slower metabolism; they recommend for women a 1500 calorie intake for the whole day!

but there is also the part where i don't like the fact that i have to find joy in this imaterial thing; that i can't do an activity without having something sweet by my side; that i plan for what treats i am going to buy; having it be my friend and confidant; would rather be eating sweets then spending time with others etc.

its been really hard; i haven't given it up completely; i have just two teaspoons of sugar in my coffee; but otherwise thats it; but it creeps into my mind constantly; well maybe just a small bit of bulk candy; things like that; and i really have to talk to myself and say a little bit won't be enough; you will eat the whole bag

the weekend is coming and that will be hard; plus evenings when i want something sweet to go with listening to my books on tape; but i am trying

i know there were others who had tried to kick the sugar addiction; how have you done; are you still sugar free

CathyA
2-10-11, 3:59pm
Unfortunately, I haven't kicked the habit. Its really one of the hardest things in my life to overcome. I say I'm a sugar addict and people laugh and say "me too".........but I'm serious. I'm an addict. I think the only way to deal with it is to never eat concentrated sweets.......but that's almost impossible. I'm okay for awhile without them and then get a little too sure of myself and think "oh.....I can handle some brownies, just this once"..........and its a disaster afterwards for a long time, until I can get it under control again.

This winter has been extra bad with the constant snow and low temps. I think the sugar raises our serotonin.
I'm sorry I can't give you many words of advice, since I'm struggling too. Just wanted you to know you aren't alone.
Good luck with this struggle.

Mrs-M
2-10-11, 4:07pm
I love sweets too. A lot of people I've talked to Re: sweets tell me as they age their sweet addiction becomes more acute. That's me!!! :)

I took part in Violeta's sugar-free challenge (old forum) and loved it. It was good for me to have to show restraint and discipline, but slowly (ever since that challenge) I have gone back to eating sweets again- and regularly. To be perfectly honest, I'm much happier accepting my faults and embracing my habits. Thing about sweets and me is, as long as I approach my sugar intake with recognition and in moderation- I'm happy, so that's exactly how I approach sugar now. (A little here, a little there). Never overly much, but when I do desire something I have it. :)

If you like Babr, if it would help you, I'd be more than happy and willing to take part in a sugar-free challenge with you. :) It would do me good and I think it would be a lot of fun with you! Let me know.

leslieann
2-10-11, 4:22pm
I struggle with this too. I have found that having a cup of herbal tea shortly after dinner fills in the sugar gap that I feel after a meal. Also if I don't let myself get too hungry then I can cope better with the sugar cravings. If I could only eat just a bit I would, because I don't firmly believe that any food is so bad for you that a bit would be deadly (unless allergic, obviously) but I can't do it. I cannot eat ONE cookie unless that's all there is and then I end up scouring the cabinets for other sugary foods. Have been known to pile brown sugar on my plain yogurt; to melt chocolate chips and peanut butter together and eat until I feel sick; other binge-type behaviours. None of this behaviour happens when I avoid concentrated sources of sugar and when I am eating a diet with enough calories and enough protein.

So I'd jump on the bandwagon with you, babr, and Mrs. M, if you wanted to treat it as a group challenge.

CathyA
2-10-11, 5:17pm
Its too scary for me to consider a sugar-free challenge.
I honestly think that some of us are triggered in a bad way with sugar. I think we put out too much insulin, and that makes us hungry.....so we keep eating.
What's weird about me is........I'm hungrier AFTER I eat, than before!
I was seeing a counselor once (not for the eating problem), but he happened to be mostly a drug addiction counselor. He said I was a sugar addict and had to treat it like any other addiction, and stay completely away from it. I agree with him.
If you can eat sweets sometimes in moderation, then you're lucky. I think for some of us its just impossible. I'm not trying to give up any personal responsibility here.......its just that I've dealt with this for a lifetime and really feel its in large part a physical/biochemical thing. I'm sure Dr. Phil would disagree. haha
But its true that so much emotionality can be involved in it too.

libby
2-10-11, 5:50pm
It might seem like a small thing but when I have the urge for sweets chewing a stick of sugar free gum helps me alot.

sweetana3
2-10-11, 6:35pm
I can only keep it out of the house. Sometimes I find myself rummaging for sweet things and finding nothing. I have felt really desperate. Lately I have had lemon ginger tea and it is so good. The ginger must be talking with the "sweet" taste buds.

I also find that I cannot eat an entire bar of 70% chocolate at one time. One square is strong enough to get the flavor and not want more.

When we go out, I might get one cookie and usually we share. No cakes, pies, etc. After this many years, I know they won't taste as good as they look and the ones that are good are prohibitively expensive. I am pretty frugal. Would never buy a bag of Oreos because they would be gone in no more than 3 days.

CathyA
2-10-11, 7:01pm
I'm that way too sweetana......I just can't bring anything into the house. I've gone through so many things.....ice cream, cookies, graham crackers, chocolate chips. I just can't have any more than 1 serving of something in the house, or the entire thing becomes 1 serving. You're right about the 70+% chocolate. Its not something I want to overdose on!
I was actually doing better for the last couple of days, but today when I was shopping, I bought a package of those Pepperidge Farm cookies. There's 8 of them in there. I planned on eating 2 a day. Well, there's 3 left now.
I've found if I can go 3-4 days without sugar, then the intense cravings subside. But then I slowly think I can handle something and it starts all over again.
Keeping it out of the house is a good approach. And we live 10 miles from the closest store, so that helps.
I had the naive notion that once my hormones were gone, things would settle down. But they've gotten worse. But I'm on an antidepressant, and I'm thinking that might make it worse.
Some people say that the glucola that you have to drink for a glucose tolerance test is awful. Well.....I loved it!

Fortunately, I love veggies and eat alot of them. But that danged sugar is a problem.

kib
2-10-11, 7:06pm
There is quite a body of evidence that suggests it's not precisely a psychological addiction, although of course if you associate sweets with happiness and feeling good there's going to be a bit of that as well.

The way I understand it, here's what might be going on: the spikes of blood sugar that happen when you eat a lot of refined carbs at once eventually damage your cells. Insulin has a much harder time "opening the cell doors" to let the sugar energy in (insulin resistance, or "metabolic syndrome"). Sugar can't stay in the blood, so it winds up being converted to fat instead. So at the same time you're gaining weight, you have less energy and you're damn hungry; your cells are clamoring for a high energy boost: SUGAR! Send Sugar! Send Chocolate! Send Donuts and macaroni! We're starving and we need some easy-energy right now! It might be apocryphal, but I have read that they actually manipulated glucose uptake in mice to the point where they were fat - and still starved to death. While overweight.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that sugar and starch cravings are definitely associated with insulin resistance, and it's not some moral or psychological weakness, it may be your muscle cells going hungry and begging pitifully about it while your fat cells get all the food.

Anne Lee
2-10-11, 8:39pm
I know that you read that somewhere Kib, but I'd really like to see the original research on that.

Anyway, the No S Diet (No Sweets, No Snacks, No Seconds Except for (sometimes) on Days That Begin with S) works for me, probably because you eat a reasonable amount of food three times a day and that's it. I used to have an incredible sweet tooth and now I don't. A box of thin mints and samoa Girl Scout cookies sat on my desk today and I didn't notice them.

On No S, you don't give up sugar, you give up sweets except for treats on Sat. Sun. and special days, i.e. holidays. You also don't have to count anything. There are no officially banned foods. There are no foods that MUST be consumed before all others. You can eat dinner anywhere with anybody and not have to forbid yourself a dinner someone slaved over because it's not on your diet. So even though technically you can eat fast food three times a day (and maybe some do, boomeranging from years of self denial) I don't hear a lot of people doing that.

It's actually a way of eating that works well Michael Pollan's rule: Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much. No S is very old school. Mrs M, I think you would get a kick out of it. Practical, old fashioned, the Way Grandma Used To... it sounds right up your alley.

www.nosdiet.com

I'm on the forum over there. I think you'll be able to find me. ;)

CathyA
2-10-11, 9:21pm
Besides insulin resistance, I think what can happen is its like chasing your tail. We eat sugar, insulin dumps out (which carries a stimulus for hunger......just to be sure all the sugar isn't used up and there's too much insulin left over.........which would really crash your blood sugar level).........and we end up being hungry quickly again. So we eat more sugar and the same thing keeps happening over and over.

Also, I think the body gets lazy. Why use all that energy to break fat down into glucose, when it can get you to eat plain sugar instead?

I also really believe that we're just reacting rather primitively to sugar (fat and salt too). Finding concentrated sweets in primitive times meant the difference between life and death. So I think many of us are hard-wired to find this stuff really appealing. In cave man days, it would be great to find a little bit of this stuff. But in today's culture, its everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. But our primitive bodies are still treating it like it will save our lives if we eat it.

kib
2-10-11, 9:23pm
The mice, or the theory of metabolic disorder, or the theory of sugar craving being related to insulin resistance? The mice, I'm really not sure about, which is why I said apocryphal. It was part of a carbohydrate metabolism lecture series and not footnoted.

This is a not-bad overview of theory and suggestions behind sugar cravings, including insulin resistance. I found a statement about the essential nature of carbs to be poor - they're not "essential", the body can most definitely convert fat and protein to energy for use by the body and brain when glycogen stores run out or we might die while we were sleeping, to say nothing of fasting. But I think it covers a lot of bases and offers some useful suggestions about sugar issues.

http://www.womentowomen.com/insulinresistance/sugarcravings.aspx

Excerpt:

Insulin resistance. When you are resistant to insulin (which can happen as a result of a long-term diet high in refined carbohydrates and low in micronutrients), glucose is not able to enter your cells and ends up staying in your blood as a result. This means your cells are starved for the fuel they need to operate, and signals are therefore sent to your brain to increase insulin. This results in cravings for sugar because even though you may be eating enough, your cells aren’t able to access the food. For more information, see our article on metabolic syndrome.

JaneV2.0
2-10-11, 9:25pm
Gary Taubes has two books that explain the process. The first one at least, is heavily footnoted: Good Calories, Bad Calories. His latest book Why We Get Fat and What to Do About it also gives clear explanations. Tom Naughton's video Fat Head has a nifty animation of insulin resistance. As far as Pollan and his "mostly plants," I must note that corn, soy, wheat, and sugar are all plant-derived. I change it to: "mostly plant-eaters." Because I'm a wag, and because my research and my experience tells me there are few foods that are as nutritionally complete and powerful as animal proteins--most especially organ meats.

ETA: Why We Get Fat has about 17 pages of citations. Chapter 11 is called "A Primer on the Regulation of Fat," and covers the mechanism kib described above.

babr
2-11-11, 11:04am
It would be great to do a no/low sugar challenge; I will try to keep it going as much as possible

I have a masters degree in social work but due to having multiple sclerosis it has affected my cognitive abilities so i am having a hard time understanding the theories; may have to get dh here to explain it

I just can't do the moderation; can't remember if someone said this but when i eat something sweet; it starts the sweet craving and it doesn't end until i am sick to my stomach

I am trying to eat small meals; all the food groups; and i drink alot of water; i find drinking water before and after i eat helps a great deal; having my stomach feel fuller helps

I think one problem is the issues that come up when i am not on sugar; one being more depression; even though i have it when i don't eat sweets it gets worse when i do; but am trying to allow it to be present and try to take care of myself in other ways

but am still in the stage where i have to get out of the kitchen when i am done eating; go upstairs; and try to do activities that i enjoy;

i will put the challenge out and try to have people check in whenever they can

Kris

Reyes
2-11-11, 11:10am
I love baked good. I also thoroughly enjoy baking so the two go together well. I like to think of baed goods in moderation (for me that is a couple times a week). It is not something I would ever want to give up completely as I enjoy it too much. In general, I only eat baked good that I bake or a friend (not store or restaurant) so I am naturally limited by how much I (or my kiddos) want to bake.

pony mom
2-11-11, 10:09pm
I too am addicted to sweets. At work I'm called the Cookie Monster. When I do try to eat something healthy that isn't sweet, I need something sweet afterwards. My mom is the same way. If there aren't any sweet snacks in the house, we'll eat handfuls of chocolate chips. In the past I have cut way back and my cravings diminished but then once I started again, it was back in full force. Most times chewing gum will satisfy my sweet tooth without having to actually eat anything. Eating fruit helps, but it doesn't satisfy my appetite and I'm hungry again a short time later.

If you cut me , I bleed chocolate.

Suzanne
2-12-11, 11:09am
I've found that I simply can't have the stuff in the house. If there's no flour and sugar, I can't bake...I also found that I have to severely restrict simple carbohydrates. Most fruit, white potatoes, white rice, will simply trigger cravings. I love oatmeal, but can manage only steel-cut long-cooking oats. The quick-cooking varieties wake the dragon with a roar! This makes sense, because starch is just long-chain sugar. The more quickly the chains break apart, the faster the starch hits the bloodstream as glucose. Frankly, I keep grain intake, any kind of grain, to a minimum when I'm being strong and brave!

When I'm eating a lot of non-starchy veggies, with small amounts of pumpkin, sweet potato, and carrots, and adequate amounts of meat, eggs, cheese, yogurt, and lebni, I feel way better in every way. Starchy stuff like bread, cakes, and cookies, even if I bake them myself, I like, leaves my sinuses gunky and creates brain fog. As an added bonus, my weight drops to my preferred level.

I have found that taking chromium piccolinate helps with the cravings. Chromium is vital for the proper processing of sugar. As any protein or carbohydrate food breaks down to sugar in the body, it's a good idea to have enough chromium present for it to be properly metabolised for energy.

I also read labels obsessively, even on things we'd consider "single-ingredient." Both pork chops and chicken are routinely "enhanced" with a solution containing dextrose, which is sugar.

The biological basis of sugar addiction: http://drhyman.com/stopping-addiction-to-sugar-willpower-or-genetics-4059/?utm_source=Publicaster&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=drhyman%20newsletter%20issue%20#12&utm_term=Read+more

http://www.recoveryconnection.org/blog/2008/12/10-ways-sugar-is-like-cocaine/

Just in case we need to remind ourselves of the true danger sugar poses to health: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/04/20/sugar-dangers.aspx

Reyes
2-12-11, 2:35pm
If you cut me , I bleed chocolate.

ROTFL!

Mrs-M
2-12-11, 4:57pm
I'm enjoying all the responses so much!

Mrs-M
2-12-11, 10:33pm
Anne Lee. Just seen (found) your comment to me. :) Sounds great! Going to check it out.

Wildflower
2-13-11, 4:59am
I too, am a sugar addict. I have been struggling with this for years. I have tried eliminating it completely and that never works but for a short time. Right now I am working on moderation and that seems to be working somewhat for me. It's still a struggle though. I am moderating my sugar intake along with all excess of unhealthy foods in general. I am trying to eat better and eliminate more of what's bad for me. I like the nosdiet plan that Anne Lee posted about and am using it as a model for eating better....