Craving Sugar all the time

[cassyoung]

I want to start by saying, I am walking around 1,400 steps a day, working out 2 to 3 times a week, fitness now is not my problem. But i have really bad sugar cravings! I try not give in to but seem to be failing at it more often then not. What can i do to over come this need for Sugary things or at least control it better. any suggestions? this road block seem to have stoped my weight loss in it's tracks. 

[Mel_S]

My best advice--albeit hard to swallow--is to quit cold turkey. Processed sugar is more addictive than cocaine. Due to some health issues I encountered, I took the leap and removed all processed sugars/flours from my diet for 2 weeks (At the suggestion of my Doctor, if you aren't already working with a doctor on your heath goals, I highly suggest seeking out a good holistic medicine doctor). The first week was horrible! And I had headaches and would feel like I was running a fever, it was miserable; but once I got through the first week it became easier.

Do eat plenty of fruit. All sugar is not created equal.

FYI. Short version of my story--It's been about a year. Went through a complete cleansing. I now eat whole foods (fresh veggies, nuts, anything as God made it), organic where available, grass fed meats, wild caught fish, and avoid everything processed and packaged. I've also made a lot of changes in my beauty supplies, cleaning supplies, etc. elimnating toxins from my home. I've lost 30 pounds. Returned to my ideal weight and body fat percentage. No longer have the severe allergy and asthmas symptoms I was having. No longer have joint pain I was experiencing. Have more energy and can actually sleep soundly. Oh, and all the bloating/gut issues I had are gone. I no longer crave sugar or bread. In fact, now it almost repulses me. I still eat cake or pizza occasionally. But honestly, it's not worth the damage and pain it causes.

Best of luck. Don't give up. Living healthy is not easy and takes a lot of sacrifice and hard work. But the results are priceless.

[Bobbinyc]

First, 1400 steps is nothing. I assume you mean 14000, yes?
my story is simlar. I was hArd core addicted- middle of the night in rainstorm to get more chocolate addicted. i couldnt do it all at once, but gave myself a deadline of 2 weeks. During that time, i cut bacl more every day, switched to sweets I didnt love, said a firm goodbye to those I did love. I aldo used that time to find a lot of snacks and "grab" foods that are health and stocked up. The idea was to make success a bit easier. Failure was necer an option. I also switched to all organic, mostly vegetarian, loads of vegetables. The difference in how I felt was amaZing. on quit day, I had a fridge full of foods i enjoy that are very healthy and lots of soups, snacks - things not needing cooking. I also made a lot of fun plans for the first two weeks so I would be more relaxed and happier and distacted. I made sure to eat a lot so hunger was not an issue at all. and I still struggled. I dont think there is a way around it. If you eat a lot of sugar or refined carbs and crap, your body is way out of wack. your blood sugar lecels will be off, your insulin will be off, your pancreas... Everything needs to adjust. That. takes time. it also takes time to learn to deal with emotional earing differently. It means changing your whole relationship with food. If you have read much about what sugar and processed "food" does to us, that should scare you into being healthier. I feel so much better, it is really sad I didnt do this a long time ago. I know people who stopped having auto-immune symptoms, went off medications they hAd needed for years, and felt like they had just started living fully. Our bodies are not designd to handle junk"food" or chemicals, or sugar. It is all poison. By the way, most sweets no longer appeal to me. After being sugar free for two months, i had a piece of great chocolat cake at a party, and was almost back to square one. It took me less time and misery to stop again, but, well, being healthy means no junk. Period.
I'd love to hear what you decide. If you choose to be healthy, you can get plenty of support here.

[FayeValentine]

I could never quit cold turkey, that would set me up for failure. It's a work in progress for me, making minor tweaks here and there. Part of this for me was cutting out processed foods, sugars, etc. Trying to eat healthier, cooking from scratch, avoiding foods with "fake" sugars. I still indulge in sweets as an occasional treat, rather than a "go to" habit when I have the munchies.

Some of the things I have done:

I cut out sodas. I do not miss it at all. (Never even switched to the ones with fake sugars).

I stopped eating at fast food places, so this cut down on fat, cholesterol, sugar and sodium.

I slowly weaned myself off adding sugar to my coffee, and eventually got used to the taste of coffee without sugar. I was actually addicted to Coffee-Mate Hazelnut powdered coffee creamer. I cut my usage by half, and then quit it completely. Now I'm perfectly OK with just adding a coconut milk creamer to my coffee with no added sugars. (I recently discovered I'm lactose intollerant, so no more half and half for me).

I cut down on ice cream. I used to have ice cream almost everyday as an after dinner dessert. Now it is a once a week treat, only on Saturday. And I watch portion control, no more "super sized" portions.

I try to eat more fruit. I'll reach for a banana or some grapes. I'll stock up on whatever fruit is in season. I also buy frozen fruit to make smoothies with yogurt. (My immersion blender is one of the best things I bought last year).

I switched to plain yogurt. I don't eat the fruit flavored ones anymore. I'll add granola to my yogurt.

I keep fruit/nut trail mixes around the house. The dried fruit adds some sweetness. I try to limit my intake of dried fruit, but I consider it a better choice than a candy bar.

[IsaiFitbit]

Hey guys, I noticed that you've been discussing about sugar. Ohhh sugar! @Mel_S said that processed sugar is even more addictive than cocaine, wow that's strong! I think sugar is so addictive since all that contains processed sugar taste like haven (lol). But I've been surfing around Internet, and I found an interesting article about sugar. 

@cassyoung why don't you give it a read? seems like you're having a battle against the sugar, so you must understand how it works to hit a good punch and tame it!  @FayeValentine I liked the way you used to control the sugar consumption. Do you have any other useful tip? 

Let me know how it goes! Hope you can reach your target!

[FayeValentine]

That's a nice article on sugar.

I don't crave sugary sweets anymore. My young daughter likes to make desserts and I'll do that with her, however I don't find myself reaching for the cookies (cupcakes or whatever) even though they're sitting out in plain sight. I'm perfectly fine not eating them. And it really is not that hard to resist.  After cutting down on sugar, I've started to notice and appreciate the natural sweetness in foods. When I eat sugary sweets now, I usually find they taste too saccharine sweet for my tastes, it's actually quite revolting to my taste buds. There was one day when my SIL gave my daughter a can of sweetened ice tea beverage. The kiddo said it tasted good. I took a sip and thought it tasted yucky. This is something I might have consumed a couple years ago before I started kicking the sugar habit.

I think the thing that has helped me is to not say that all sugary sweets are off limits 100% of the time.

It is OK to indulge a little now and then . . . but just a little. 🙂

I stay away from stuff that is labeled "sugar free", it usually has some other bad substitute in there (aspartame, sucralose, etc).

One thing to watch out for are granola/energy type bars. I like to keep one in my purse for when I'm running around and don't have time to grab a proper bite to eat. But I try to choose one that has less sugar. Right now I really like the KIND bars, just try to choose one with less sugar (which usually means the ones without dried fruits), they have many with only 4 or 5 grams of sugar.

The KIND dark chocolate nuts & sea salt bar only has 5 grams of sugar . . . vs something like a Luna S'mores bar with 13 grams of sugar, or a Clif Chocolate Brownie bar with 22 grams of sugar, or a PowerBar Chocolate Brownie bar with 30 grams of sugar. If I really wanted to "splurge", I'll pick up a KIND pomegranate blueberry pistachio bar with 10 grams of sugar.

Oh and a side effect of making a transition to the Paleo diet (still a "work in progress" for me), I no longer munch on foods with hidden sugars / simple carbs ... I don't eat stuff like crackers. I stopped buying bread and even went as far as to put away the toaster (yay! more kitchen counter space!). Also a side effect of the Paleo diet, I don't buy/eat as much salad dressings, pasta sauces, cooking sauces (bbq sauces, marinades, etc), and stuff like that as I used to before transitioning to Paleo.

After consuming all the leftover junk food in the house, I did not go out and buy more to replace them. There isn't a whole lot of junk food in the house to get tempted by. 🙂

[nfarrow91]

I find that the 100 calorie greek yogurts with fruit in the bottom are great! I find those curb my surgar cravings

[Kbrown2930]

I have been having the same struggle and I understand completely how hard it is.  I tried cold turkey, but that just made it worst. 

Try this, I've been doing it lately and it's been working.  I went and bought a container of dates, majool are my favorite.  Open them up, put a little coconut oil and a pecan half or a nut of your choice.  It's a one bite snack, it helps with the craving for sweets and I can have 2 to 3 of them and be fine for a long time.  

[cassyoung]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I will try and keep pushing foward!

Just a note: I have gone complete cold turkey in the past and it lasted about a year. But when i started a new job that I had to commute hour and half each way every day. It was a very stressfull job and I lost my focus and drive.  I have not been able to get it back that focus since. that was 3 almost 4 years ago now. I am now in a new job that is local and Alot less stressful. Just trying to get that focus back on eating the right things. and so far i can motivate my self for short stints but not long term. 

[IsaiFitbit]

It's nice to see you around @cassyoung it's awesome to know that you're back in the fight and pushing forward in order to achive your goal! I hope you can keep going forward, remember that it's step by step how you move forward!

                                                

[Silviagtronco]

Thank you this help for me but I will admit it will be hard because everyone at home eats driffrent and they dont like to eat helthy so is so hard to stick to it when everyone around you is eating everything ealse. But I think this is a great way to help my stoch,too because I do have those issues am even on medication because of my bad digestive system.

[IsaiFitbit]

@Silviagtronco welcome aboard! Well I understand you, but that just make your decision of a healthy life more challenging. Someone has to start with the change at home, so I hope you keep going further and further to reach your goal.

[MRose]

Hi @cassyoung, and welcome to the forums! 

First off, you are on the right track.

Second, you already know you can do this! It's just picking up where you left!

Something that has helped me immensely is the Whole30 (which is becoming more and more popular, it seems), and understanding the sugar cravings is so helpful in overcoming them (which they mention in their Sugar Manifesto). The biggest thing here is even eating fruit or sugar-free stuff when you are having a sugar craving is that your brain threw a tantrum for sugar, and  you gave it "sugar." Something that really helped me was not eating fruit when I was craving sugar, but carrots or celery instead. I'm not a huge fan of carrots, but if you're truly hungry, carrots are fine, and the crunch keeps you a little more occupied than, say, a pear. 

As @Mel_S said, sugar does not always equal sugar, but your Sugar Dragon can be fed by fruits and honey. Absolutely load up on fresh fruits and veggies, but be careful not to satiate your sugar cravings with fruit. She's right (and you already know this), the first week sucks, but it's so worth it! You know how it is on the other side!! See you in a week?

[melissakhousman]

---

@Mel_S wrote:

My best advice--albeit hard to swallow--is to quit cold turkey. Processed sugar is more addictive than cocaine. Due to some health issues I encountered, I took the leap and removed all processed sugars/flours from my diet for 2 weeks (At the suggestion of my Doctor, if you aren't already working with a doctor on your heath goals, I highly suggest seeking out a good holistic medicine doctor). The first week was horrible! And I had headaches and would feel like I was running a fever, it was miserable; but once I got through the first week it became easier.

Do eat plenty of fruit. All sugar is not created equal.

FYI. Short version of my story--It's been about a year. Went through a complete cleansing. I now eat whole foods (fresh veggies, nuts, anything as God made it), organic where available, grass fed meats, wild caught fish, and avoid everything processed and packaged. I've also made a lot of changes in my beauty supplies, cleaning supplies, etc. elimnating toxins from my home. I've lost 30 pounds. Returned to my ideal weight and body fat percentage. No longer have the severe allergy and asthmas symptoms I was having. No longer have joint pain I was experiencing. Have more energy and can actually sleep soundly. Oh, and all the bloating/gut issues I had are gone. I no longer crave sugar or bread. In fact, now it almost repulses me. I still eat cake or pizza occasionally. But honestly, it's not worth the damage and pain it causes.

Best of luck. Don't give up. Living healthy is not easy and takes a lot of sacrifice and hard work. But the results are priceless.

---

I am really struggling with the sugar (and processed food) cravings as well.

As you were eliminating the sugar and flour did you have a trick for powering through the sugar cravings? As you mentioned it is super addictive and I find when I try to eliminate it I end up bingeing on sugar after a day or two. I tried to do a Whole30 but only lasted a week and then binged out on everything I was trying to eliminate. :'(

[melissakhousman]

---

@Bobbinyc wrote:
First, 1400 steps is nothing. I assume you mean 14000, yes?
my story is simlar. I was hArd core addicted- middle of the night in rainstorm to get more chocolate addicted. i couldnt do it all at once, but gave myself a deadline of 2 weeks. During that time, i cut bacl more every day, switched to sweets I didnt love, said a firm goodbye to those I did love. I aldo used that time to find a lot of snacks and "grab" foods that are health and stocked up. The idea was to make success a bit easier. Failure was necer an option. I also switched to all organic, mostly vegetarian, loads of vegetables. The difference in how I felt was amaZing. on quit day, I had a fridge full of foods i enjoy that are very healthy and lots of soups, snacks - things not needing cooking. I also made a lot of fun plans for the first two weeks so I would be more relaxed and happier and distacted. I made sure to eat a lot so hunger was not an issue at all. and I still struggled. I dont think there is a way around it. If you eat a lot of sugar or refined carbs and crap, your body is way out of wack. your blood sugar lecels will be off, your insulin will be off, your pancreas... Everything needs to adjust. That. takes time. it also takes time to learn to deal with emotional earing differently. It means changing your whole relationship with food. If you have read much about what sugar and processed "food" does to us, that should scare you into being healthier. I feel so much better, it is really sad I didnt do this a long time ago. I know people who stopped having auto-immune symptoms, went off medications they hAd needed for years, and felt like they had just started living fully. Our bodies are not designd to handle junk"food" or chemicals, or sugar. It is all poison. By the way, most sweets no longer appeal to me. After being sugar free for two months, i had a piece of great chocolat cake at a party, and was almost back to square one. It took me less time and misery to stop again, but, well, being healthy means no junk. Period.
I'd love to hear what you decide. If you choose to be healthy, you can get plenty of support here.

---

I really want to break the hold sugar has on me. I was curious what are some of the 'go to' snacks and meals you ended up stocking up on so you had easy options?

[melissakhousman]

---

@FayeValentine wrote:

That's a nice article on sugar.

I don't crave sugary sweets anymore. My young daughter likes to make desserts and I'll do that with her, however I don't find myself reaching for the cookies (cupcakes or whatever) even though they're sitting out in plain sight. I'm perfectly fine not eating them. And it really is not that hard to resist.  After cutting down on sugar, I've started to notice and appreciate the natural sweetness in foods. When I eat sugary sweets now, I usually find they taste too saccharine sweet for my tastes, it's actually quite revolting to my taste buds. There was one day when my SIL gave my daughter a can of sweetened ice tea beverage. The kiddo said it tasted good. I took a sip and thought it tasted yucky. This is something I might have consumed a couple years ago before I started kicking the sugar habit.

I think the thing that has helped me is to not say that all sugary sweets are off limits 100% of the time.

It is OK to indulge a little now and then . . . but just a little. 🙂

I stay away from stuff that is labeled "sugar free", it usually has some other bad substitute in there (aspartame, sucralose, etc).

One thing to watch out for are granola/energy type bars. I like to keep one in my purse for when I'm running around and don't have time to grab a proper bite to eat. But I try to choose one that has less sugar. Right now I really like the KIND bars, just try to choose one with less sugar (which usually means the ones without dried fruits), they have many with only 4 or 5 grams of sugar.

The KIND dark chocolate nuts & sea salt bar only has 5 grams of sugar . . . vs something like a Luna S'mores bar with 13 grams of sugar, or a Clif Chocolate Brownie bar with 22 grams of sugar, or a PowerBar Chocolate Brownie bar with 30 grams of sugar. If I really wanted to "splurge", I'll pick up a KIND pomegranate blueberry pistachio bar with 10 grams of sugar.

Oh and a side effect of making a transition to the Paleo diet (still a "work in progress" for me), I no longer munch on foods with hidden sugars / simple carbs ... I don't eat stuff like crackers. I stopped buying bread and even went as far as to put away the toaster (yay! more kitchen counter space!). Also a side effect of the Paleo diet, I don't buy/eat as much salad dressings, pasta sauces, cooking sauces (bbq sauces, marinades, etc), and stuff like that as I used to before transitioning to Paleo.

After consuming all the leftover junk food in the house, I did not go out and buy more to replace them. There isn't a whole lot of junk food in the house to get tempted by. 🙂

---

Do you still track your food while doing Paleo?

[Mel_S]

@melissakhousman Honestly, I don't think there really are any tricks to overcoming the sugar cravings. For me personally, I think it really came down to will power. I was so sick all the time and just didn't want to be that way. My family also has a deep history with diabetes and I was on the path to adult onset diabetes. Every time I smelled a hot pizza, or saw a beautifully iced cake I went to battle in my mind. A few moments of bliss eating a sweet treat or a lifetime of medications, tracking glucose levels, etc.? My desire to be healthy outweighed my desire to cave into the cravings. You pretty much have to change your food philosophy from "Live to Eat" to "Eat to Live."

I do agree with @Bobbinyc about research. I am an avid reader and love to learn things, so I never stop researching things. Until I started changing my diet, I never really researched anything about what I was eating (or using--beauty products, cleaning products, etc.) and I was amazed at what I learned. The more you know can definetly assist in that ongoing battle of mind of matter. If you have Netflix, I suggest looking up food documentaries. Several of them do a very good job explaining how sugar is processed in the body. I think it was "Fed Up" that had a fantastic infographic and showed the difference between how your body treats the sugar in a handful of almonds vs. a soft drink. Some of the others I saw were "Food Inc.," "Food Matters," "Forks Over Knives," "Hungry for Change," "Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead," "Vegucated," "Farmegeddon," "GMO OMG," "Food Chains..." If you find one, it'll recommend others. Some are much better than others, but they all do shine light on how little we really know or care about what we are eating. I'm a very value-driven person as well, so watching some of the documentaries made me choose to not eat certain brands and search more for local products. So, I know think about those things when I choose what to eat as well-- where is my money going? Was anyone put at risk during the production/harvesting of this food? Can I eat better AND help a local farmer sustain their family buisiness? Etc.

I guess the greatest asset I had in the breaking the addiction was support. Hadn't thought much about it, but I'm thinking it would be MUCH harder to do without the support I had. My husband went on the diet with me. We threw out everything in our house and only stocked fresh organic foods. Stopped eating out, except at a few local organic restuarants. My coworkers soffed at me a little at first, but I talked with those I worked with closely and explained how worried I was about my health and that I was working to make a lifestyle change to improve my longterm health. And then they were much more supportive--and stopped offering me donuts and cupcakes--and when I started visably lossing weight everyone wanted to know what my "secret" was. Of course when I told them to stop eating sugar, they didn't want to do it... so that brings me back to will power.

Make the decision to change and do what you need to do to make it happen. Believe in yourself. You CAN do it. Everyone is different though, so what works for me may not work for you. You may want to try to wean off the sugar by cutting back a little at a time. I just know myself, and it never would've worked for me. I'm an all or nothing kind of person.  But don't think that breaking a sugar addiction means you can NEVER eat sugar again. That may be where your mind checks out on you. I do eat processed sugar again now.... but I don't HAVE to. Someone has a birthday party, I take a piece of cake; most of the time I eat a bite or two and throw the rest away. Once you break the hold that sugar has on you, it's much easier to choose when and what you eat.

Also, if you are a spirtual person, you can lean on that foundation for support. I recommend the books "Made to Crave" by Lysa TerKeurst and "Battlefield of the Mind" by Joyce Meyer.

[cassyoung]

i am just going to get thru Christmas right now, as it is failure waiting to happen. my goal for January is to not have sugar for one day. then only have a small thing the next, then try for two days, and so on. I know i can do it. and i have done it. but i am so not in the right mental place right now. but going cold turkey will not work for me i know that. I will let you know how that goes. my start date is January 3rd as we are back from family and traveling. Wish me luck 🙂

[josephz2va]

I would have your glucose levels checked. A cold turkey cut, you can crash and burn quickly if you're not used to exercising and not consuming the correct kinds of foods to stay up to par. Having a dietitian book handy for the correct foods to weight loss would be handy too.

Some burn up to 4,000 calories but only eat 1,200 calories of healthy foods which can be bad if you don't have enough energy output and your glucose levels are dangerously low.