I don't avoid artificial sweetners. I have no issues with them. They don't cause cravings in me and they have not stalled my weight loss/maintenance one little bit.
Chemical wise, that's another story. We'll just have to see what happens down the road.
For me, it was the SUGAR that was poisoning my body. The sugar. The sugar. The sugar.
Last edited by rockinrobin; 06-11-2010 at 11:46 AM.
Artificial sweeteners don't cause me to have cravings. I still use them somewhat sparingly, because I don't much like the taste, and because I need a lot less sweet taste in things now due to my sense of taste being so much more sensitive, and because I'm just not a fan of putting that type of chemical into my body.
Like many others, I had to quit sugar completely in order to get free of it. I am not able to be "moderate" with sugar and I never will be. Oh well. I'd much rather live a life in which I am mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy and free of the hold of sugar over me.
Give it a solid try, no sugar at all for 30 days, and see what changes for you. What have you got to lose? After 30 days, you can always go back to eating sugar if you want to.
My drink of choice is now 12 oz. of seltzer with 4 oz. of cranberry juice. (I like to use the flavored seltzers for extra flavor). It is bubbly, it is refreshing and the juice adds flavor and sweetness... so for a 16 oz drink, I am only having 4 oz. of juice (about 40-60 calories).
I LOVE Simply lemonade. (It is real good with Jack Daniels) But it is also really good with seltzer... use lemon flavored seltzer, a wedge of lemon... yum!
Last edited by SCraver; 06-11-2010 at 11:10 AM.
Reason: Can't speel for sht
I banned soda/sweet tea/sweet coffee/fruit juice, and I tried replacing sugar with artificial. Beyond the taste (which is ugh! for me, and the aftertaste) I found that it really did send me spinning in search of sugar. I can't even have yogurt with aspartame in it, go figure.
Like others said, once the initial withdrawal is over, you'll be soooooo happy that you don't have this mental block going on, and that you don't have to give all your time/energy to fighting the crave.
It is so worth it!
Plus, think of all the real food you could eat in place of those calories! I make a gallon of tea with one measured cup of sugar, which is almost 800 calories. Figuring out 8 servings of tea from that gallon, that's 100 calories in that drink. I'd rather eat 100 calories of food and have some water, feel fuller for longer, and not be searching my house for sweets an hour later.
Sometimes the taste of water makes me sick. Crystal light and other sugar free packets like special k protein,helps me to drink a bottle of water everyday.
I'm sure small steps in your beverage choice will cut your sugar intake. Try orange juice with half sug and Cal or 100% cranberry juice that specifically says no sugar added . Its also getting really hot so try cooling off. With ice water after being outside,working,out. I allow myself to get hot after those things,so I can crave something cool.
This may seem strange but I also drink bottled water with a straw,it allows me to drink more quickly before I get the notion I'm gulping yucky water. I'm no wizard in health or weight loses but these things have kept me from making sweet tea,and drinking juices loaded with sugar.
I'm another one who can't do artificial sweet stuff, it triggers the same cravings real sugar does. However, I can put a bit of maple syrup in my plain yogurt and that doesn't trigger cravings so I think my cravings are as much habit/mind based as an actual chemical/physical trigger. Perhaps I could train myself to not get triggered by diet soda etc but for me it's just been easier to give it up than to try to figure it out.
But each person is different and anyone with a sugar addiction would do well to experiment on themselves a bit and try to figure out what they can get away with and what gets them in to trouble. If you're one of those people who can't do the diet sweetners then personally I think "cold turkey" is really the only option.
I'm a sugar addict too. I used to GUZZLE Mountain Dew! ... I tried Diet Mtn Dew but it was just SO GROSS!!!... then I got this FABBOO idea to mix regular MD with the Diet MD... and little by little, increased the diet MD until I was drinking ONLY Diet MD.
IT WORKED (for me).
Good luck with kicking your habit & keep us informed on your progress!
Thanks everyone for replies I have actually been doing pretty well since i posted this. On sunday though i did have half of a grande java chip frappichino with soymilk and today a sip of my little brothers apple juice but other than that i have been sticking to water. I feel like i'm not drinking enough though but i'm working on it. Also i'm going to be starting brazilian jiu-jitsu and i'm super excited!
I just wanted to add to the great advice already offered that what you are eating might be contributing to the sugar cravings.
In particular, if you are eating salty foods, that will spark sugar cravings so make a note of the salt content in your foods and avoid adding salt while cooking/at the table.
