I've decided to approach sugar as though it's an addictive drug. I have been following the primal blueprint and doing pretty well. I wasn't having any sugar and I was getting plenty of fats. I hardly felt the urge to overeat at all! I was eating when I was hungry and stopping when I was satisfied. It all seemed to good to be true...

And then one day a horrific craving started. I know we never want to binge and it's always an uncontrollable craving but I wasn't craving anything except sugar. Previously I binged on all kinds of junk foods but this was a specific craving for sugar. I couldn't stop myself, and I gorged on candy. The last few days have been very easy to avoid sugar completely which leads me to believe that I was going through a withdrawal from sugar, which caused the intense craving.

I have gone through addictions and conquered them. I can say 100% that I feel addicted to sugar in the way I was addicted to cigarettes, alcohol and cocaine. The only difference is sugar is cheap and widely accepted by people as being okay to have large quantities of.

I can't do 'all things in moderation'. It's not working for me and it never has. I know I need to stay away from sugar but I have to realize that after about two weeks some horrible cravings are going to start and I just have to push through them.

Have any of you successfully 'come off' of sugar? I'm going to start employing some techniques used for alcoholics and drug addicts in my attempt to stay away from sugar. I've been journaling a lot and eating very healthy. I have some emergency plans for the next big craving. I definitely hope it works. If anyone else is trying to give up sugar maybe we can be buddies?

Have you watched "Sugar... The Bitter Truth" on youtube? It definitely might help in giving you the resolve that you need to "kick" the sugar habit... I know it did for me... I highly recommend it... It's really eye opening and I think definitely worth taking a look at when you have some time...

The battle with sugar is a big one. I agree with TripSwitch, watch Sugarhe Bitter Truth or better yet watch "The Skinny on Obesity" which is a group of short videos by the same doctor who explain the dangers of sugar much more clearly. Watch both, they absolutely have charged my resolve to avoid sugar. In the videos Dr. Lustig clearly states that sugar is processed in your body much the same way that alcohol is processed. It is indeed addictive and a very dangerous and legal substance. All sugar is bad.

You also have to be extremely vigilant about reading labels on foods. Once you find out all the sneaky names of sugar you'll be shocked that it appears in almost everything from peanut butter to cereal to protein bars, it's shameful really. Here are some other names for "sugar"


barley malt
beet sugar
brown sugar
buttered syrup
cane-juice crystals
cane sugar
caramel
carob syrup
corn syrup
corn syrup solids
date sugar
dextran
dextrose
diatase
diastatic malt
ethyl maltol
fructose
fruit juice
fruit juice concentrate
glucose
glucose solids
golden sugar
golden syrup
grape sugar
high-fructose corn syrup
honey
invert sugar
lactose
malt syrup
maltodextrin
maltose
mannitol
molasses
raw sugar
refiner's syrup
sorbitol
sorghum syrup
sucrose
sugar
turbinado sugar
yellow sugar

For me I'm not sure I could ever give up all added sugars... since I'm not willing to part with my dark chocolate just yet... but it only has 3g of sugar for one serving and actually I can eat just half a serving and be satisfied... But I have no problem cutting out HFCS at all because of the way fructose is processed in the liver... that definitely concerns me... and actually, the guidelines that Dr. Lustig talks about of up to 6tsp for women and 9tsp of "added" sugar a day seem reasonable to me... and I've also seen recommendations to keep your added sugar consumption at 15g a day which would be a dramatic improvement over what people are eating now...

No it's not possible to cut out all sugars, but we can definitely avoid cookies. I too treat myself everyday to one bite of dark chocolate - can't live without and it has some health benefits to boot. However, what I'm trying to point out is that there are a lot of hidden sugars. I do not NEED sugar in my peanut butter or in my cereal or in a can of beans, or in a can of nuts or wherever they feel like shoving it into.

There are some great super low carb desserts. You can have 'sweets' without them doing a sugar number on you.

I'm finding out too that sugar just does a number on me. And not just sugar - but anything that easily breaks down into sugar. I'm HOPING that I'm relosing the holiday weight for the LAST TIME and that I have learned my lesson with going off plan.

Thank you SO MUCH for posting this! I"m watching The Skinny on Obesity and it is blowing me away.

I think Dr Lustig points out that 80% of processed foods contain added sugar, so one of the simplest things you can do is just cut out processed foods, but unfortunately I think we are as addicted to convenience as we are to sugar...

An article about sugar in today's New York times
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com...?smid=fb-share

Thanks for the link... I'm a big fan of Mark Bittman, actually have been for years... ever since I first met him... and I've always enjoyed his cookbooks, actually I was just looking through his "How to Cook Everything" this morning to try and come up with some ideas for dinner tonight

I too am in the process of giving up sugar - again - the 1st time i was off sugar for a good 7months, the 1st month was the hardest, and then it starts getting easier, i "relapsed" when the doctor said i could start weening sugar back into my diet - bad idea, the 1st day i went absolutly nuts and now i am struggling to break the addiction again.
I have read tons of articles and they say sugar is the only substance humans are born craving and thats why its so hard to stop, we are fighting an inbred instinct.
I have gone back to basics and am giving up sugar the way i did the 1st time - put an elastic band around your wrist and when you want sugar flick the elastic, looks very odd in public, but thats what worked for me, also helpped me stop sucking my thumb when i was little and biting my nails.

Everyone has a point tho - we are addicted to conveniece as much as sugar and it is a dangerous substance in large quanties.

As far as I'm concerned sugar is addictive. But while we can stop smoking/drinking/drugs/etc., it's pretty hard to give up food -- especially when the food industry's main goal seems to be to get us to buy more of their product.

I remember reading an article (sorry -- can't remember when or where or I'd quote it) about the food industry using so much sugar (in various forms) and salt because our bodies crave those two. I am sure that the food industry has done a lot of research on what makes people buy their foods beyond just having attractive packaging. Wish they would publish their research as I'm sure it contains a lot of what could be useful information. Of course, we would then avoid their products like the plague!

Well it has been published in a book called "The End of Overeating" by Dr. Kessler. Billions of dollars are spent on fabricating the right flavor/texture to get you addicted to food. The first part of the book is devoted entirely to studies done on mice and now I'm on the 2nd part which is devoted to the food industry. Fascinating reading.

I love your post. Sugar is addictive. I believe we are naturally 'wired' to like sugar, because fruits are healthy for us to eat. The problem is that sugar is added to soooo many processed foods - even some that are a surprise. THAT's the sugar that's hurting us.

So when I'm craving sugar, I eat fruit. Fruit is loaded with vitamins, anti-oxidents, fiber, etc. Berries are good for watching sugar intake, and are very healthy. Eat fruit. It's a natural thing to want. The other stuff that's touted as 'diet', etc., is not food and not good for our bodies. Ditto for artificial sweeteners...

Yeah, I have given up sugar before. I read all the labels and look for all the sneaky names of sugar. Basically being primal I don't have to worry about it much. I eat veggies, fruit and meat really. And some oils and fats. Olive oil, coconut oil, ghee and butter. I don't have too much dairy except cheese here and there.

I also eat unsweetened bakers chocolate. It's bitter but I like it. I nibble it with tea.

The problem is I do fine for a while and then the sugar craving just hits and it's rough. It's really rough. So I made a strategy for the next time a hard craving hits, and I'm going to see sugar like it's a poison. One thing that helped me quit smoking was learning some of the immediate adverse things that happen in your body after smoking one. Something like that for sugar would be good I think, knowing exactly how it's going to hurt me immediately. The long term is easy to ignore, the short term not so much.