Binge rant

  • Well, I am trying to follow the American diabetes association's diet but I binge on snicker ice cream, peanut butter m& ms and a smoothie from Baskin robins. It was bad. I have hard time going without sugar. I am an addict. Any advice?
  • either a short fast, or go sugar free. There are pretty good low carb ice creams sweetened with splenda avail in the US. Lucky you, I have to go to Buffalo to get it. Lots of stuff sweetened with splenda and stevia available.
    However, if you really want to get off of it, fasting on water for 2 days may help, if its safe for you. (not if you are type one of course, or your doc says not) Its not for weight loss, but to interrupt the cycle.
    Even though you may want to do this now, might be good to wait until the holidays are over, to have fewer distractions.
  • Take your blood sugar reading two hours after you
    eat the treat. Then have your doctor explain what that
    high of reading is doing to your body. A friend's doctor
    describe high amounts of glucose in the blood stream
    as like 'shards of glass'.
    I have breast cancer and just underwent a double
    mastectomy. HUGE increase in breast cancer for
    overweight diabetics and menopausal women.
    Talk about focusing my attention.
  • hugs and love to you froggy, speedy healing
  • After being on the Atkins diet for a little over a year and switching to Weight Watchers October 15th, I can tell you from my experience that I really did lose that craving for sugar. It was actually easier to completely go without it than it is to limit myself. Once I get started I just crave more. I was so excited to finally be able to eat all those things I had cut completely out of my diet, but after awhile those cravings all came back. Weight Watchers is very similar to counting calories and I just don't know if I can do it. I'm seriously considering going back on the Atkins diet. I guess I'm an all or nothing kind of girl. I have major portion control issues, which is how I got over 300 pounds in the first place. I remember the first week or two giving up the flour and sugar completely was really hard, but I really did lose the craving and was able to stick with it fairly easily after that. I'm going to continue with WW's for a little while after the holidays and see if it gets any easier. I have lost weight since switching, but I've gained 5 pounds back recently because I keep bingeing on all this dang holiday food everywhere.
  • Mandy, I am an atkins fan too, but go to ww and you can count points and do atkins. It might help with portion control. I am also more liberal in my use of vegetables and legumes than I would be on the first 2 phases of atkins, but using the ww points, keep the calories to a reasonable level, and it works as long as I also stick to it. I sympathize, I am totally a sugar and sweets addict.
  • Wow, "shards of glass" is one way of putting it! Very powerful image, thanks for sharing!
  • Personally, over the years I realized sugar was my weakness and I learned I had to not keep sugary treats in the house. If sugar is your weakness than don't keep ice cream and candy bars in the house, that way when you crave something sugary you'll go for something else. Than you just have to find the willpower to walk past the ice cream aisle when you're out. Really that's all dieting/lifestyle change, etc is about. Finding your inner will power to say "no" to whatever your "demon" really is. It isn't easy and sometimes it isn't pretty but when you find that will power it works.
  • Ooooooh I can binge. On like anything. Haha. It took me a long time (years) to kick the sugar bug. I've gotten to a point where I feel in control but I could easily slip right off into the deep end again.

    It's not easy to get there, but once you go without it for awhile, you find you need it less and less. I started by 100% eliminating all soda (even diet) and then gradually worked my way with other foods by not having them in the house and not buying them (cakes and cookies and donuts and etc). Once I felt under control, I allowed myself one vice - ice cream. I buy Edy's no sugar added or Bryer has carb smart. I also buy some of Edy's regular slow churned low fat ice cream. I don't deprive myself, I have an ice cream treat (scoop of ice cream, skinny cow treat, WW ice cream treat) usually once a day or several times a week.

    Learn to cook a veggie you really like (I love fresh green beans) to eat when you feel like binging. Don't have any sweets in the house and don't let yourself go out. It's really hard in the beginning but it does get easier the more you work at it. Just don't get discouraged if you get off track, you can start over right away.
  • The trick for me is to not have any sweets or salty snacks in the house!
  • Make up a list of "sweet" treats you CAN have. For instance, once I stopped eating so much refined sugar products, I realized how sweet most fruit it and it satisfies my sugar cravings. If you're watching carbs, just figure out in advance how much you can have. For instance, I eat half of an apple, but that half apple cut into slices and with the skin left on is very sweet, occupies my mouth with chewing, has fiber from the skin, and is the "good" kind of sugar.

    Otherwise, I agree with lots of the posts about just don't keep the sugary stuff in the house. If it's in the house, I'll eventually break down and eat it.
  • Quote: Well, I am trying to follow the American diabetes association's diet but I binge on snicker ice cream, peanut butter m& ms and a smoothie from Baskin robins. It was bad. I have hard time going without sugar. I am an addict. Any advice?
    Managing your sugar cravings is the worst. We all feel like addicts! But it's truly poisonous stuff. I would highly recommend the book, Sugar Nation by Jeff O'Connel. It was the first thing I read when I was diagnosed with T2 and it really helped to frame exactly what I had to do and why.

    I am relatively new to dieting/ managing diabetes. I was diagnosed 4 months ago. I have found that low carb is really the only thing that will keep my sugars where they need to be. In 4 months I have gone from an a1C of 13.5 to 5.9. The sugar cravings are much more manageable when your sugar is being managed properly. I definitely have cheat days (I think they are important) and I try to plan them and use them to be motivated to eat well on all the other days. I have found that my "daily fix" can be taken care of with 1-2 sugar free jello's, a bit of cream and maybe half an ounce of dark chocolate.

    We all have binge days. Just keep moving forward. Good luck!