Sugar/Sweets Cravings - What helps?

[LAgreeneyes]

I have a terrible problem with always wanting/craving cookies and other sweet treats. I can buy a box of cookies and eat the entire box at one time.

I read somewhere that there is something (pill) that you can take to control these cravings. Has anyone ever heard of this? Is there anything out there that works. I'm headed for disaster.

[luckymommy]

I know what you mean! I have very intense cravings. Some days are better than others, but that time of the month and the week leading up to it are the worst, which is half the month basically! So.....I have never heard of a pill that helps, but I hope you'll find out and let me know. As for now, I try to replace caloric items with low calorie items. I'll chew gum...sometimes a whole pack. I also like Arctic Zero. It's a fake ice cream and you can eat a whole pint for 150 calories. Sometimes I'll have PB2Chocolate, which is peanuts and chocolate that have had most of the calories removed. You just add water (I got it on Amazon) and I eat it with a celery stick and it tastes very decadent. The key is to add more water than the directions say. I hope that helps.

[unidestiny]

I've been drinking low calorie hot chocolate to help with the sugar cravings. It's only 36kcal per mug, and since it's still mainly water it does certainly fill me up, while giving me a warm nice feeling in my stomach!

[luckymommy]

unidestiny! Thanks so much for that recommendation! I do have some of the swiss miss low calorie hot chocolate but I haven't used it because I have a hard time getting it to dissolve, however, I heard that if you just fill it with hot water partially and swirl it around until the lumps are gone, then you can add it later and that helps. I'm going to go try ti right now!

[Please Do Not]

If I have a horrible sweet craving, I go for a fruit. Any fruit. Raisins, specifically, because they are really sweet.

[LAgreeneyes]

Great suggestions everyone. I'll have to try them. I hope something works soon.

[alsten02]

dessert herbal teas are helpful for me sometimes

[ilovemo]

^ yes! and for me just eating some almonds/peanuts with raisins and a couple m&ms pretty much shuts me down. Its also a frame of mind.. gotta tell yourself to avoid it.. and after a lil while staying away from it seems natural.

[Krystlhawk]

Hello... The less WHITE stuff you eat, the less you will crave sugar.
If you HAVE to have sugar, eat fruit or at the very least Stevia or worse case scenario..organic pure cane sugar..NOT White Processed sugar.
And..Mind Over Matter...
Ok..then treat yourself on Sunday,,one small thing...

[caryesings]

Here's my 2 cents. Work on controlling sugar binges separate from dieting. I have been a candy binger my entire life and was eating about a pound a day. Most of my adult life I have also been trying to lose weight, but every diet start was derailed usually in the first day or two by my sugar cravings. Finally at age 45 I stopped eating candy. Period. It was ****. I know there are people who say when they stop eating a certain food that they lose their taste for it very quickly. Not me. I crawled the walls for nearly a year and the urge lingers still.

Anyway, here's how I finally conquered candy binges:

- ate as much as I wanted of any other foods to just break the candy cycle. So despite dropping a pound of candy out of daily diet, I didn't lose a single pound during that time.

- found substitutes for the flavors that were in my favorite candies. I found a sour apple jelly I ate on my toast to sub for green apple jelly beans. Brushed my teeth with cinnamon flavor toothpaste as sub for "hot tamale" candies. Tons and tons of dried fruit for red licorice. Sugar free jello made with half the water to sub for gummy bears, etc.

-finally, I couldn't tell myself that I could never have candy again in my life so promised I could eat all the candy I wanted again once I reached my 80s.

I wish I had figured this out sooner. 4 years later I felt strong enough to "diet" and took off 100 lbs despite being nearly 50 years old at the time.

[liliesinmycereal]

I've been having this problem too of wanting to eat the pretzel m and m's. They are the healthiest of the bunch but I can see myself gaining weight. I will try the low calorie hot chocolate again too. I bring fruit to work but I need to start bringing whole meals. I usually have like fruits maybe some veggies and now junk. Sigh

[TurtleSmiles]

... this is the most amazing bunch of advice I've heard in a long time.

I'd kiss ya all if I could, but I'm going to make myself some low cal hot cocoa!

[swissy]

I buy a single portion of something nice or get a dessert in a cafe, I used to look at a cookie like something you'd have 5+ of without thinking before dinner they were just there but now I see them as something I might have have one or two of with a cup of coffee.

Its so much easier when what you like is packaged in portions.

[astrophe]

1) resist once at the store and don't buy. Then you don't have to resist a thousand times at home.

2) Eat adequate protein. Then you aren't upsetting your blood sugar with spikes from eating sugar or simple carbs alone. Pairing with a protein helps balance it.

3) When you next see the doc, get blood sugar checked out. (I'm insulin resistant, I know the carb/sweets thing well.)

4) Try more cinnamon in your food to help with blood sugar. Maybe on the morning oatmeal. (1/4 tsp - 1 tsp.)

That's all I can think of right now.

A.

[Munchy]

The hot chocolate is a great one, or tea with a little bit of honey.

I'm not really big on sweets, but I do take bananas, cut them and freeze in baggies for just this reason. If you take the frozen banana slices and pop them in a food processor, you have "instant ice cream."

I like to blend in a little bit of peanut butter or nutella, or stir in some nuts or chocolate chips (I bet peanut butter chips would be awesome too!) Even my four year old tells me it's her favorite ice cream

Link for detailed instructions