Hello.....my name is Peg and I too am a sugar addict. LOL
I have been trying for 6 months to give it up......but the crave is still there. To the point I have given my daughter my grocery store card and money and told her to go buy "us" something. LOL However, I do not keep stuff in the house. If my kids are begging for cookies....I buy them real cookies and buy myself the sugar free (Murray's) cookies. I only drink diet soda outside of the house. None is allowed in the house. I try to cure my crave with popcorn or almonds......not sweet but will kick the munchies.
Honestly, I think it is like any other addiction.....you manage it but there is no cure.
I'm definitely a sugar addict also. I find I can resist anything, but once I have just one piece, I can't stop until the entire whatever is finished. And, it's not like I am enjoying eating it when I do.
I used to make excuses why I should buy candy, such as for Easter, it is a nice tradition, and it is festive. Well, this year, since there are no small children around, I'm not buying any at all.
I always make a Easter Bunny cake in a special cake pan, and I plan on doing that for company on Easter Sunday, but then I'll give the leftovers to my father. He's 90 so he could eat all the cake he wants. lol
I think it's good to think that you aren't ever out of danger. On atkins my carb/sugar cravings diminish, but it doesn't take much to reactivate them. I had diet coke recently after giving it up for about 2 weeks. It tasted awful at first, way too sweet. But I was attracted to the caffeine and I had it again the next day and bam, the sweetness tasted good to me again. Sugar makes me feel awful the day after but then I start to see it out again, making all sorts of excuses to do so. That's probably pretty similar to how it plays out for people with other addictions.
Low fat proponents talk about how we crave fat and not sugar. Ha. If I sat down with a block of butter and a bowl of sugar I could happily eat sugar by the spoonful and I'd happily eat sugar and butter mixed but there's no way I'm eating more than a little bit of butter on it's own. It's so filling, it's the sugar that makes it edible by the bucket load. Sugar is eeeeeeeeevil.
I am another who envies those folks who cut it out of their life and after only a few weeks say they don't even want it anymore and/or makes them feel sick. Not me. I gave up candy for 4 years before the craving for it dimmed enough to attempt dieting. Then during dieting I obviously had to cut back on other sweet stuff. Now in maintenance I find I still eat too much of sweets when I decide to eat some. Sadly for me, a serving of girl scout cookies will always be one box.
I haven't been able to completely cut out sweets, but I've gotten much better. I don't know exactly what the key is, but a couple of things together have helped me: (1) I eat a lot of veggies, esp. leafy greens. Eating leafy greens really helps to decrease food 'urges' because leafy greens are chock full of nutrients that the body needs and sometimes when we are in need of nutrients the body expresses that as cravings and the quickest way for us to get satisfied in general is through sugar. (2) I read the packages and see how many grams of sugar are in a serving. I use 4 grams of sugar in a teaspoon and visualize how much sugar I'm putting into my system and what that's doing to my pancreas and blood sugar levels. (3) I also look at how much fat, and other usually artificial ingredients are in the 'treat', and think about what that's going to do to my insides.
Lots of animals, including us, have a liking toward 'sweet', which is good, because fruits are healthy for us. Where humans have screwed ourselves up is our unending supply of created 'sweets' coupled with reduced activity levels. We need to keep fighting the good fight !
I never was personally a sweets gal. My problem was fast food and other junk, but I have found after being on my diet for 6 months (with little to no sugar intake whatsoever), one small bite of something sweet is enough. It is almost overwelming.
I don't know if this experience is the same to those of you who would consider yourselves having a sweet tooth.
I'm a sugar addict too. I crave a 'real' coke once in a while and about once a week I catch myself craving a Milky Way. Ice cream calls my name. I can stay away from cakes, pies, and doughnuts. For some reason I don't crave those foods. I do like to have a couple cookies with a cup of tea once in a while.
I'd love to overcome the sweet cravings. I have been eating only a bite or two of a Milky Way or half a coke instead of the whole thing. I hardly ever bring anything sweet into the house. That way, I have to leave the house and drive to the store to get something sweet. It helps a lot because sometimes I just don't want to go through the trouble.
I am really currently struggling with this. I read about using either agave nectar or stevia as an alternative and wanted to know what you guys think about it?
I am really currently struggling with this. I read about using either agave nectar or stevia as an alternative and wanted to know what you guys think about it?
I personally think staying off all sweeteners is best. Sweeteners, including stevia (I've never tried agave nector) make me want more sweet stuff, it doesn't matter if they are low calorie or not, sweet is sweet and our bodies react accordingly. Fighting those cravings is just so painful. Maybe not everyone reacts this way, but I feel like I've read a lot of posts from people who use replacement sweeteners and struggle with cravings. I'm personally trying to kick the diet coke habit AGAIN and it's making it really hard to keep on track. Sweet food makes veges taste bitter in comparison and so it's a vicious cycle.
I love this thread! Just shows me that I'm not a lone in this struggle.
After 3-4 weeks on SBD my sugar cravings are gone and first time I have some cake, I feel nauseous, but....give me a day or two and bam - I'm right back where I started.
Kicker is - I don't like chocolate, chips, crackers, soda and such - pass the cake and cookies, thank you. And impossible to have just one. I have 4 kids under 11, so these "treats" are always around.
We bake everything with 100% WW flour, but the sugar is still there and it's a daily struggle.
