Not losing weight | Sugar Addiction?

[AngelaB21]

Hi Everyone! How is your relationship with sugar?

[Dominique]

I tend to agree with Dr. Spencer Nadolsky’s take on sugar being "addictive":

http://drspencer.com/addictive-foods/

My own relationship with sugar is like that of most people: I like sweet stuff. Not a problem if your activity level matches your caloric intake.

[AngelaB21]

Thx for your response.  

[Heather-S]

Probably unhealthy, I love sugar.  Sweets are my weakness.  I'm not a fan of salty foods -- I'll skip the chips, but never dessert.  

But I recently had all my blood work done and I'm perfectly healthy, but that doesn't mean I can go crazy on the sweets!

[Rachellefleur]

Sugar addiction is very real and its in alsorts of things whether it real sugar or aspartame which is also addictive. The best way to cut this is to try a detox plan or try going gluten free, which did me the world of good i lost alot of bloat and no weird stomach pains.  Win win ! But boring as hell to stick too lol 

[Dominique]

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@Rachellefleur wrote:

The best way to cut this is to try a detox plan or try going gluten free 

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"Detoxes" really don’t do much and are not a sustainable way of eating. As to gluten, a very small portion of the population (about 1% in the US) has celiac disease. A slightly larger portion (a few percents) has non-celiac gluten sensitivity issues. If you belong to either group, it makes sense to completely eliminate (celiac), or reduce (intolerance) gluten from your diet. If not, there’s no particular benefit in eating a gluten-free diet. "Going gluten-free" resulted in weight loss for you likely because it took out a large amount of yammy foods you were previously eating. You could argue that "going keto" would have had the same effect (by taking out pizza, ice-cream, cheesecake etc.). It’s not gluten that causes weight gain, it’s the excess calories in the food items you’re eating (whether or not they include gluten).

[bikerhiker]

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@AngelaB21 wrote:

Hi Everyone! How is your relationship with sugar?

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I have a cordial relationship with sugar.  I enjoy it naturally from the fruits and the carbs I take in, so much so that my weight has been stable so far.  That wasn't the case a few years ago.

I believe that your relationship to stress, your job and your title and reputation and the price of your head has a symbiotic relationship with sugar.  The more stress and the more importance placed on saving your title and reputation you built up over the years, the less freedom with yourself and you will feel this pressure; very strong pressure that you need to somehow relieve.  Some relieve this pressure through drugs, sex, alcohol and of course sugar.  Sugar is not addictive.  It is only addictive when the person uses it as a substance to release some pressure; some stress in their life.  The reason why people take more drugs, engage more sexual activities, drink more alcohol and consume more sugar is because the stress and this pressure (be it mental, emotional and physical) gets larger and deeper, so you will continue to take in more sugar to release the pressure, but then this is a temporary fix.  The next time the mental, emotional and physical pressure increases, which they always do, you need more and more sugar to comfort you.  But then, it's a vicious cycle because you need to increase your physical output, your workout to compensate for the excess in sugar intake -- like a hamster on a wheel continuously running faster and faster just to keep up with the pressure of life.  I was that individual.  I had it all, a nice 6 figure salary, a price tag on my head and all the comfort a nice salary like that and the corporate title.  Of course, the pressure built-up so great that I was consuming a lot of sugar, so I compensated that by running marathons and ultra-marathons and was on the semi-elite running team for awhile just to keep my weight in check.  I think one day I said enough with this hamster wheel lifestyle, so I gave it all up and went to work on something I truly love.  My relationship to sugar decreased dramatically as I don't have this pressure anymore.  Had to adjust my lifestyle a bit since I'm not making the 6 figures anymore and had to disassociate a lot of toxic friends who saw my wallet for what I AM rather than who I really am.  As I AM who I AM myself, I felt more freedom and less stress and less worried to maintain an appearance, no longer needing to defend my title and I don't have a price tag.  No one can blackmail me for not toeing the corporate line or the company line or you loose your job.

When that happens, my sugar intake dropped.  Like totally dropped.  There was a period of withdrawal so during this period, I substituted sugar with Stevia and slowly weened it off.  Today, even an ice cream felt too sweet for me.  And since I'm not taking sugar like I'm on an IV line, I don't really have to do a lot of exercises to burn it off.  In the past, I had to run marathons and ultra-marathons to keep a low weight.  Today, I think a fast run would be trying to catch a bus to work!  I didn't need to run a long marathon to burn off those calories, because I'm not consuming a lot of them.

Having said that, I work in healthcare and sugar is the number one addiction to many patients.  The more stress they are in, the more they are addicted to sugar, but then it's funny to see that many nurses and patients who are addicted and are overweight always have a choice.  That choice is not to be a price tag to someone's else money and job.  When that happens, the stress can and eventually lower your blood sugar level and causes you to crave for sugar.

[HelloClairice]

The sugar question is such an important one. I have never had issues with what are typically considered addictive substances (smoking, alcohol, etc.) but sugar has been a major problem for me, for years.

What it's finally taken (just in the last few weeks) for me to address this is a health crisis. I broke out in almost full-body psoriasis a few weeks ago, and the more research I did and from conversations with doctors, immune-mediated conditions like psoriasis that are driven by out of control inflammation are exacerbated my sugar (like SO MANY other chronic conditions and diseases). It really is "delicious poison" as one nutritionist refers to it. 

This is what has finally gotten me to really cut out all the sugar I can from my diet, and the food tracking in Fitbit has helped me be more cognizant of that. I'm at work at the moment with two boxes of Dunkin Donuts open on a table behind me (a team member brought that in for our group) and I've managed to leave it alone - something that would have rarely been possible in the past.

Good luck to you!

[Jurven]

Hello! To be honest, I've never had a sugar problem. Since childhood, I have not experienced a huge attraction to sweets, like other children. I don’t know what it’s connected with ... Yes, I drink tea and coffee with sugar, sometimes I can buy myself a chocolate bar, but this purchase occurs no more than once or twice a month. Perhaps I was just lucky. Unfortunately, I had no luck elsewhere ... When I was in college, my friends and I often went to parties. We loved it. But over time, I noticed that I did not like the parties themselves, but the alcohol on them ... Even after graduating from college, I continued to drink until I lost consciousness. I do not know what this is connected with, since I did not have any psychological problems, and in general I did not have any particular problems, I just liked the state of alcoholic intoxication. I didn't notice it right away, but when I noticed it, I felt scared. I didn't want to confess to anyone .. Fortunately, my sister noticed this in time and helped me take the first (and most important) step to solving my problem. Now I have several best friends with whom I can share my problems and experiences, and they will help me, as well as support. I hope it is thanks to them that I finally become a good person.

[Jurven]

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@Jurven wrote:

Hello! To be honest, I've never had a sugar problem. Since childhood, I have not experienced a huge attraction to sweets, like other children. I don’t know what it’s connected with ... Yes, I drink tea and coffee with sugar, sometimes I can buy myself a chocolate bar, but this purchase occurs no more than once or twice a month. Perhaps I was just lucky. Unfortunately, I had no luck elsewhere ... When I was in college, my friends and I often went to parties. We loved it. But over time, I noticed that I did not like the parties themselves, but the alcohol on them ... Even after graduating from college, I continued to drink until I lost consciousness. I do not know what this is connected with, since I did not have any psychological problems, and in general I did not have any particular problems, I just liked the state of alcoholic intoxication. I didn't notice it right away, but when I noticed it, I felt scared. I didn't want to confess to anyone .. Fortunately, my sister noticed this in time and helped me take the first (and most important) step to solving my problem. Thanks to her, I turned to https://www.abbeycarefoundation.com/alcohol-rehab/ for help. Fortunately, they helped me. Now I have several best friends with whom I can share my problems and experiences, and they will help me, as well as support. I hope it is thanks to them that I finally become a good person.

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P.S. And how are you doing with sugar? I completely forgot to ask you about it ..