I recently cut out all artificial sweeteners from my diet. I went through diet pepsi withdrawal...haha. For the most part it's okay though. I was amazed at how much stuff had the artificial sweeteners in it. I missed my sugar-free jello for a while too. LOL

The only advice I can give is the power through. It gets better eventually. The hardest part is catching yourself when you're about to use it. I threw out everything in the house but I still found there were occasions were I instinctively went to grab a diet coke from the convenience store on my way home. Now, if I'm really craving the odd pop I'll let myself have it once in a while. It doesn't taste as good as I remember.

I've also heard there are some natural sweeteners out there that are good. I've tried Stevia but found it to be kind of bitter. Sugar alcohols like xylitol are also an option but I've never tried them. Most of the time I only take sugar in my coffee/tea so I just have the real stuff. I don't use very much and in the end...it's natural at least.

I don't eat sugar or artificial sweeteners. The way that I would suggest going at it is to just DO it.

Good question! I have cut out about 95% of my sweeteners. The only thing I have is one Splenda a day in my decaf coffee and I do eat maybe one fruit a day. I have realized that I am completely addicted to sugar and now that I avoid it (for the most part), things have gotten SO MUCH BETTER! I never imagined that I could do it. I started by cutting out diet coke...which was a major addiction. I couldn't enjoy eating anything for a while, but now, by some miracle, I actually do! Then, I slowly put less and less Splenda in my coffee. I still use a bit, but it doesn't seem to effect my cravings. I also stopped eating bananas all day long and I no longer buy protein bars under the presumption that they're good for me. They are actually not all that different from a candy bar. By the way, now that I"m off the sugar, my attitude is that I can have it if I really want it, but so far, I haven't wanted it! Oh, there is a drink called Fuze and it's a huge bottle that has a total of 10 calories and no sugar. It's somewhat sweet, but very refereshing and so it satisfies me so I don't feel deprived. I also chew 5 gum because it lasts forever! Good luck kicking the sugar habit. YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Just use stevia

I'm not sugar-free now, but I have been in the past. The first couple weeks of cravings are pretty hard to power through, but once you get past the beginning it's not that bad. You'll find your palate changes a lot and when you do taste something that's been sweetened, it's a *lot* sweeter than it used to be. Also, my skin is a lot nicer now, and I notice when I do eat too much sugar these days I break out immediately. So that's a nice reminder of why I don't put that stuff in my body anymore.

I lost a decent amount of weight cutting out sugar and wheat, mostly because it's just hard to find anything to eat when you cut out both of those! I didn't keep it up because I moved somewhere with less whole food purchasing options, but if you really want to kick your sugar addiction, this is the way to do it.

I too recently went no sugar but also went no flour. So far so good. I read 2 really good books. The No Flour No Sugar Diet by Dr. Gott and Food Addiction: The Body Knows by Kay Sheppard. Both of them helped me out a lot.

I do use Splenda in my coffee and I just made no flour no sugar banana muffins using Splenda. It isn't a trigger for me so I am ok with it. It is the foods that have sugar and flour that cause me to binge that I completely stay away from. Cookies, cakes, cupcakes, bread, cereal, chocolate, crackers etc.

Good Luck...you can do it!!!!!!!!

I don't use any artificial sweeteners or processed sugar items but I do eat fruit which has natural fructose. Love fruit!

I know that for me, eliminating any one thing makes me want it more. I can't do the "cut all X from your diet" diets. I'm a big believer in "moderation" vs. "elimination".

That said, I don't have much of a sweet tooth to begin with, so my sugar habit is limited to a couple of packets of Splenda added to my morning yogurt, a few squares of dark chocolate a couple of times a week, and lots of fresh fruit. Lately I've been on a watermelon kick .. and the ones in the store are really sweet and yummy.

FWIW.

.

Same here. I am not sure whether eliminating all sugar from my diet would make me crave it (probably yes), but I don't use any sugar (nor artificial sweetener). I drink coffee with milk only, and I get sugar from fruit, from a few squares of dark chocolate per week and occasionally, from pomegranate/blueberry jam on a cinnamon raisin bagel if I absolutely have to have something sweet. (I think the jam uses is sweetened by fructose, but I don't know about the cin. bagel).
Other than that, I don't consume any candy, cakes, cookies, etc.

I have been "junk-food free" for 45 days. This does NOT mean "sugar-free" - at least, not completely. I believe that NATURAL is much better for you than processed/man-made. So I think it's OK to have REAL SUGAR in your coffee (I only drink it in the morning when getting ready for work.) But I have completely cut out all PROCESSED white flour sugary things... no cookies, no cakes, no candies, no chocolates, no sodas, etc. (Also no chips, or fried foods.) But you know... there's SUGAR in things like ketchup, BBQ sauce, etc.

So while I haven't gone COMPLETELY sugar-free, I do credit myself for giving up junk food. Will I give it up forever & ever? Doubt it. But I feel confident that I will NEVER go back to eating it like I did before (it was practically a freak'n food group for petessake!!!!) I am simply intent on doing what's HEALTHY for my body.

Was it easy? Actually, it kinda was. I just took it one day at a time. Each day, when I felt tempted to hit the vending machine, I either reached for a piece of fruit (yummy naturalness!) or just reminded myself that "I can do without anything for ONE day." The more I went without it, the less I craved it. Now if I crave something sweet, what's on my mind? Strawberries! Yum! Or a big juicy handful of grapes! YUM! It has become more appealing to me than chocolate, and believe me! -IF I CAN DO IT... YOU CAN DO IT!

Good luck! - let us know how it's working for you!