[helwa588]

I know sugar is a big no no if you have pcos. However I am extremly addicted to that white sruff. I get horrible cravings if I do not have somerhing. I ve tried giving sugar up completely. Ivr tried giving it up gradually. Nothing works. As a tray I keep in gaining more and more weight. Im only 23 and weigh 255lbs. And my hormones are out of whack.

Ive tried metformin but I didnt tolerate it will.

Does anyone have any tips on cutting down the sugar cravings? As ive been reading that its a common problem with pcos

[Rana]

First, I would recommend that you try to understand why sugar is such an addictive substance.

Secondly, you probably do have insulin resistance, which means that sugar is just adding to a vicious cycle in your body... you crave it, because your blood sugar is low. Your blood sugar is low because you're not producing the right amount of insulin in your pancreas to handle what you're eating. It creates an excess amount of glucose, which is then turn into fat, which makes you gain weight. In the meantime, the excess insulin that's being converted into glucose goes away, but it gives you a "sugar crash" when it's finally disposed of by the body. Then you want to eat something that will quickly raise it again. And the cycle continues!!!!!!!

Personally, I still eat some sugar -- in my coffee for example. I'll have hidden sugars because I'll eat something out of a package and invariably, it'll have some sugar in it.

But when I took myself off the cakes and the cookies and all of that, the first time that I did it, I did it cold turkey.

Yes, it's an addiction. So, it's going to be painful. You're going to go nuts, because you really just want to taste that sweet stuff. You think to yourself that just a little bit won't hurt, you'll do this moderately, rather than cold turkey. You promise yourself that if you have little cookie or that piece of candy, you won't eat any more of it, ever. You bargain your way into eating that piece candy and then you feel better. You tell yourself that it was fine to eat that candy. You're under control. You haven't eating a whole chocolate cake by yourself.

I mean, it's not like you were opening up a bag of hot chocolate powder mix and shoving it into your face, right? You had dignity about eating that little piece of candy and then you won't eat anymore. You lie to yourself. You tell yourself you just needed that candy to clean your palate after lunch.

Then, you get the craving again. And now, because you've told yourself you're under control, you have one cookie or one soda. It's only one. You're under control.

Then, you have more later, because you're still under control. I mean, it's not like you're eating a whole bag of Oreos in one sitting. (Yet.)

My advice?

Cold turkey.

You want something sweet? Eat a grape. Eat a carrot. Avoid soda AND juices. You still have a craving for something sweet? Eat something salty. Be strong! Don't let your addiction win you over! YOU ARE STRONGER THAN THIS!

It will take about three days for the painful withdrawal cravings to subside.

Yes. THREE DAYS of agony. You will ask yourself if it's really worth it. You'll be cranky. Irritable. Mad at your whole family and friends because they'll still be eating those sweet white poison that you crave.

But remember this -- every time you say no to that white poison, you will be stronger. You won THAT battle. Every time you see sugar in anything, it will be a battle. You want to win the war. The only way you can win the war is if you win every battle from here on out. Win the battle. Say no. Every time you say no, sugar gets weaker. It becomes easier to say no. You'll be proud of yourself for saying no. You'll realize you're stronger than that white poisonous dust.

Be strong.

Say no.

Win this war.

Metformin probably didn't sit well with you because you were still eating high carb (refined carbs). From what I've seen (I was prescribed metformin, but I took something else instead), it looks like it's related to what you're eating. You don't need metformin, but if you were prescribed, it means that you have IR. And if you don't treat your IR, you will get diabetes and then all the complications of that.

By losing weight and changing your diet, you can change whether or not you get diabetes (if it's not too late now).

You can do this. But you have to want it enough. You have to be strong and accept that you will be uncomfortable and unhappy in the short term. But think about all the wonderful things you will get if you get past the sugar addiction -- you'll be healthier, you'll lose weight, you'll treat your PCOS better, you may even prevent getting diabetes and all those complications. Isn't it worth it?

[astrophe]

I concur.

Suck it up through the withdrawal.

If you MUST have something sweet, go with fruit -- whole fresh fruit. Not juice, not applesauce, not dried. Just fruit in it's natural state. Melon is helpful in this regard -- can have a lot of quantity without messing up calories or sugars since it is so watery. Try to limit it to two fruits a day.

Keep away from baked goods -- cakes, breads, etc. No sodas, too many sweet drinks, processed fruit (ex juice, jam). That stuff jacks up your blood sugar. Watch the sauce, dressing and condiments. It doesn't have to taste sweet to BE sweet. Look at the sugar on the nutrition label. Better, eat things that don't come with a label, not in a box, can, etc.

Once you get past the hump, your tastebuds will change accordingly. Stuff that was yummy before will see TOO sweet and gross now. Things that were not sweet will suddenly seem so -- tomato, broccoli, carrot.

On the Metformin -- did you have regular or extended release? Sometimes the XR is more tolerable. Have it with food -- real food. Not cereal and milk, or crackers or something. A rounded out meal -- with a protein.

HTH!
A.

[lucyford]

Cinnamon and chromium supplements!
My sugar cravings stopped instantly. I was AN ADICT to sugar/carbs and they completely stopped after starting the supplements. I took them religiously for about 6 months. I have since stopped taking them as I feel like my cravings are in check. I retrained my brain. I can now have a cookie and not eat several more. I feel like I have a healthy relationship with food now whereas before I really was addicted.

[TheMeIwant2be]

I'm 46 and have been addicted to sugar since I was a teen. It got really bad in my late 20's early 30's. I just finished doing the 21 day transformation and now I'm full on doing the Primal Blueprint. Sugar cravings are completely managed now. Cold turkey was the way to go for me as well and once the sugar was removed, I feel much better. I still take metformin but my blood sugar is in normal ranges and I don't have sugar cravings that much anymore.

[helwa588]

thanks for the tips you guys. i hope i can kicked my sugar addiction.

[dandyrover]

I would try a ketogenic diet like Atkins induction... if it completely relieves your physical cravings as it did mine, it might give you a chance to look at any emotional issues, any underlying problems with depression or anxiety. But to do that you won't be feeding the addiction with fruit and carby vegetables as some have suggested... if you don't eat strictly to go into ketosis and experience the reduced appetite and eliminated cravings, you might just be power struggling with your sugar habit, and it usually wins.

Good luck.

[Bunnababy]

Really good thread everyone.

[kaplods]

After I read "The End of Overeating," I stopped wondering why I had a carb addiction, and wondered why more people don't - and also realized that more people likely have carb-dependence than we'll ever realize. In fact, we'll probably never realize it unless these types of carbs were to become difficult to acquire (which isn't likely).

Sugar and refined flour used to be worth their weight in gold, now they're the cheapest calorie source on the planet.

Gout, diabetes, heart disease, strokes... for hundreds, if not thousands of years, once were the illnesses of the very rich, now they're the illnesses of the very poor.

I never realized how sugar-addicted I was, because I've been avoiding the most obvious sources of sugar for so long that I really believed I didn't have much of a sweet tooth. Most of my preferred sugar sources were hidden or camouflaged
- savory/sweet combinations like sweet and sour chicken, pad thai, spaghetti, really pasta in all forms, baked potatoes (because not-fried potatoes werem supposed to be "healthy"), meat loaf, glazed chicken...

For years, the medical community denied that sugar and other carbn consumption caused diabetes, but you don't hear that as much anymore, because it's been found that sugar and carb intake does play a contributing role in the development of insulin resistance, type II diabetes, and other blood sugar disorders.

Addiction may be a poor word, because it's a term that assumes a mental or character defect - as if a person who is mentally healthy is immune. Physical dependence may be a better word (or we just have to realize that a person doesn't have to have any emotional defect to become dependent upon a substance).

If heroine were forced upon you daily, physical and emotional dependence would be extremely likely even if you had no predisposition towards addiction.

Sugar may be every bit as addictive, and most people in this country may even be sugar-dependent without even realizing it (because high-glycemic carbs are so prevalent in the food supply).

So how do you break addiction, once it's taken hold? Are cravings inevitable? Are withdrawal symptoms inevitable? Do the cravings ever completely go away?


I'm not sure. I'm still fighting the addiction. I've done pretty well eating a whole food diet (trying to eat a low-sugar paleo diet), and I still fell prey to the "sugar-pushing season."

The most sociopathic drug pusher has nothing on dear ol' grannies when it comes to pushing their substance. When do you hear of a drug pusher using emotional blackmail to sell his product "but I made it just for you, and I'll be SOOO disapointed if you don't even try it? Just a bite, it just wouldn't be Christmas without my cookies, candies and cakes."

No one expects the sugar addict to avoid sugar, in fact it's generally considered impossible, un-American, and a fate of deprivation worse than death.

How well would heroine addicts do, if they were expected to use heroine in moderation at least twice a year during special holiday seasons? If heroine was included in 90% of every restaurant's menu items?

It's hard to avoid sugar, because it's everywhere, and it's a socially acceptable addiction. It's even considered so "cute" that babies are often given their first taste of concentrated sugar in their first year (sometimes in their first months), and everyone thinks it's just adorable.

It's not adorable, it's sick. We need to make wholesome, nutritional food the norm again, and it's not likely to happen any time soon. So every trip to the grocery store is like wading through an opium den. Try not to take something home that is addictive and virtually empty nutritionally.

It's hard, because we're taught to see many of these foods as healthy, even though they're just as addictive as the processed sugars.

And most of us DO expect to learn moderation, so we're never completely free of the addictive substance.

On the plus side, the consequences of "using" aren't as severe as for heroine. No one is going to lose their job or go to jail for a sugar high (at least not without severely extenuating circumstances), and the "drug" will kill you, but much more slowly than alcohol or heroine, but on the other hand - only the most insane person would give alcohol or heroine to a baby as a treat.

As extreme as it sounds, I would gladly live in a world without refined flour and sugar.

That's just not likely to ever happen, so I have to make my own world as free of the crap as I can. I also have to look at all of my food as being full of drugs. Do I want to take the "drugs" that work for my body (the antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals) or do I want to take the "drugs" that work against it. Every mouthful I have to consider the ration of good drugs to bad drugs. I can't even eat craisins like candy - because they act like candy on my tongue and in my body.

How sensitive are you to sugar? How much can you eat without triggering the addiction behaviors? Only experimentation will tell you. I don't know how low-carb I need to eat, but I do know it's lower than I am eating. Eating low-carb and/or paleo does reduce the cravings, but with just one bite - they're back with a vengeance.

I have no problem with moderation with other substances or behaviors, but with sugar I'm powerless once I take that first bite. Overcoming that is sometimes possible, but "white knuckle" willpower just isn't worth the effort most of the time.

[knoxie]

How are things going for you so far kelwa88?

As others have said reducing carbs really helped me, not cutting them completely but just reducing them. I actually don't miss sugar at all and that's from a pack of cookies/3 cans of soda a day habit. I indulge occasionally but not every day and nothing near the scale I used to. Moderation is working well for me so far.

I took Metformin for around a year and it did nothing for me so I'm currently not medicated for my PCOS btw. It works for some but not for others.

[helwa588]

Originally Posted by knoxie

How are things going for you so far kelwa88?

As others have said reducing carbs really helped me, not cutting them completely but just reducing them. I actually don't miss sugar at all and that's from a pack of cookies/3 cans of soda a day habit. I indulge occasionally but not every day and nothing near the scale I used to. Moderation is working well for me so far.

I took Metformin for around a year and it did nothing for me so I'm currently not medicated for my PCOS btw. It works for some but not for others.

ive been stressed a lot at work. so working on my sugar addiction hasn't been working out too well
now that things at work had calm down a bit i might be able to start.

[Dashing Diva]

I'm a sugar/carb addict. Do I think it will ever totally go away, No. I found reducing my carb intake, helped immensely and I tried to stop having sugar by replacing it with stevia...as I began to have it I realized how much I hate fake sugar, I craved less sweets. I do however still treat myself. Also one of the biggest things I found is having good food with you I always kept nuts in my drawer at work pistachios are great. I also kept either a Hershey bliss or dove chocolate square in my desk... only 1 at a time gives me a sugar/chocolate fix with out destroying all my hard work. You also have to find strength with in yourself, I remind myself is that cake really that good that I would want to gain weight to eat it. Tracking my food also helped me because I hate to have to put in junk food.

Hows it going now?

[izzycracker]

I totally love sugar and go threw withdrawals when I don't have it. I feel like I am on drugs and trying to get off them. It is bad!!!

[Elliemar]

Great thread and love Rana's post. I'm also a sugar/carb addict but managed to beat the horrendous cravings by a) going cold turkey and b) cutting down hard on carbs.

I still eat carbs, but tend to stay away from refined carbs and sugar.......I don't crave them anymore, but if I have them, it's like someone trips a switch in my brain and I simply can't stop. That "I'll just have the one cookie" thing just doesn't cut it and weeks/months of good behaviour can go out of the window in a 5 min feeding frenzy. Sounds mad when I write it down, but that's what it's like.