I did it for a year and it changed my life. I did not get crazy about small amounts of sugar in let us say a salad dressing. I eliminated all white starches including potatoes, bread (even whole wheat), cereals, rices etc. It was through the CEA - HOW program (kinda like OA but with a strict food plan). The only grain I had for the year was a daily dose of popcorn (my own twist but it kept me going). I concentrated on a wide variety of all vegetables except for potatoes. I ate lots of high quality low fat protein. Fruit was only a generous serving in the morning all by itself. Maybe an hour later some protein like string cheese. It was amazing how the cravings went away. Even today years later if I find myself lusting after another serving of a planned starch I start back to that plan to nip it in the bud. We are all different and need to listen to our bodies. I just know that the days (like in college) of subsisting on coffee and a bag of peanut M & M's all day and then nodding off in class like an addict are far far gone. Good luck!

This is so true! I can tell that I'm just eating to eat when none of the things that taste great when I'm really hungry (broccoli with a slice of 2% cheese melted on top for example) sound even remotely good. It's like the ante always needs to be upped. But when I'm really hungry, the healthy stuff can taste soo good!

Also, so I'm guessing that you are trying to stay away from artificial sweeteners? I know they can, just by virtue of being sweet, start up cravings, but I have found Splenda to be a lifesaver for me. There are things I just would never eat if I couldn't sweeten them a bit, mostly tea, coffee (not necessary, but I love it now iced with almond milk, splenda, and 1/2 serving of flavored creamer - yes, that's some sugar there, too), and greek yogurt. Greek yogurt is a mainstay for me, but is just too tangy without some sweetener, although if you mix in some grapes, it can be pretty good. Oh, and I also use it on salads, just a sprinkle, to cut the acid taste of the vinegar.

I went cold turkey. I follow SB and it works quite well for me. Unfortunately, I have to really, really stick to it. It also helps to keep away from the refined carbohydrates and starches.

Every once in awhile, I can have an off plan sweet without causing a derailing, but it needs to be something truly special and unusual so that it isnt something I'll be tempted by again in normal life.

The only way I could manage to get control over my carb addiction was to go cold turkey. Atkins induction, 20g carbs per day max. My husband is diabetic, so any sweets or highly carby things in the house were for me. It was easy to pitch all of it. I got rid of my baking ingredients, even some specialty pans, and told myself that others aren't going to starve to death because I didn't make them brownies or whatever. (Baking for others had been a way for me to justify making stuff to binge on.) You wouldn't think someone that loved carbs as much as I did would be happy on Atkins, but I am really enjoying it. I get to eat a lot of rich and delicious foods I would have normally avoided because I thought they were unhealthy. In reality, it was the high quantity of carbs and low quantity of greens/veggies I was ingesting that was unhealthy. I get to eat hearty portions and leave the table satisfied, something I rarely felt when eating mostly carbs. And the scale is showing a smaller number each week when I weigh. Love it.

I didn't read the other responses but here's what worked for me.

I decided it was an addiction and treated it like I was an alcoholic. So I cut out all sugar cold turkey. However, I didn't touch carbs in the process (one step at a time, right?). When I cut out sugar it was purely to deal with my addiction and not for weight loss so I let myself eat whatever I wanted that wasn't sugar/artificial sweetener. I also cut out fruit for about a week but added it back in after that. Mostly I was dealing with my sweet tooth.

After a few months I did start eating natural sweeteners and baking my own desserts and after 6 months I started working on reintroducing sugar in very, very limited amounts (I would only buy single serving things about once per week). It's been about 1.5 years since I started and I really do pretty fine now. Some items I still can't keep in my house but for the most part I'm able to practice moderation around desserts, something that was completely inconceivable before.

When it comes to carbs.. I never cut them out completely. Actually, that was ALWAYS my mistake before! I LOVE PIZZA and trying to give them up ALWAYS led to me cheating. So instead, I switched everything to whole wheat. I do eat relatively low carb but that was more of a slow progression than something I tried to do overnight. I now do eat pizza without whole wheat crust (because I got sick of making it myself) but for everything else I eat whole wheat only. Once I cut out the sugar, it was much easier for me to eat less carbs.

Also... I really worked on increasing my veggies/protein intake. That made a world of difference and I think that I'm someone who needs a good deal of protein to feel full. Once I acknowledged that my hungry pains went away.

when I need something sweet I go for a banana and then back on track. I used not to eat bananas because "they are fattening" and instead ate cookies... Crazy, right? Now I try to avoid everything that tastes sweet, to avoid refined carbs, and if I start to have cravings, a banana dispells the sense of deprivation.
The problem with low carb diets --I did that for years-- is that you do not learn to be around carbs and control yourself. At least that happened to me... As soon as I broke the diet I could not get back on the wagon. Now I do both: no refined carbs, and counting cals. This has strengthened my sense of control a lot...

i went cold turkey as well for the first 2 weeks...then found i couldn't eat enough calories for the day without some...so have introduced back whole grain bread...2 or 3 days a week and brown rice a couple of days a week...seems to work for me.

I remember reading a book years ago, I think it was called Food Addiction. It focused on the need to cut out sugar. I ended up throwing it out because of how extremely unrealistic and almost impossible this is. Why? Go to any grocery store with a blindfold on, and randomly pick 50 items. 99% or maybe even 100% of these will have some type of sugar listed in the ingredients. Even a lot of sugar "substitutes" have sugar in them! Sugar is disguised and is called many different things. Today's average grocery store is a very sad and disturbing place.

The good KISS method - just say no one day. Say no the next day. and keep telling yourself no.
If you feel really bad, either you have to deal with eating and regretting the overeating of sugar, or you gotta "suck it up"
(I don't mean to sound harsh, but thats the only way I can kick the habit, if I talk to myself in a very simple manner lol)

Great thread! I am off sugar. I just learned of the nightmare HFCS is and am alarmed to find it is in everything! I want to step up to the challenge, and I do mean challenge, to not ever have it again. I'm a little nervous about it. It just seems to be in most foods as I do my research. Freaky, huh? Why in the heck do they have to put in everything? Thanks for all the insight here.

Oh, does anyone know of any "safe" fast food menu items that do not have hfcs in them? I know I read on the front page of 3fc that Mcdonalds, for instance, has it in every menu item, including the croutons for the salad. So, I will never eat at McDonalds again...which has been a staple for me thru the years as I work in the field a lot and drive thru sometimes twice a day.

Regarding calorie/carb counter for iphone? Which one? I need that. I am going to start counting carbs this week and keep it under 180. I am so glad I found this thread. YAY! If anyone has any real good advice feel free to pm me too. Just learning about all of this but no it's a life style I want to and need to adopt. Thanks for your shares everyone!

I went cold turkey. I don't eat desserts, and most fruit after that, refined carbs or any grains after that. I just cut out groups, such as desserts-until I feel no temptation, then I cut out other things until I was no longer tempted. I eat meat and lots of veggies. I saute with water, but I eat whole egg and buy 90% ground beef instead of 95%. I cook all my meals-sugar is in some of the salsa or fish sauce that I used. I work a full-time job with a 1 hour commute, but I have no pets/children so I can manage (and still have free time left over). Looking back, the sweets never made me happier, so might as well not go back. Once I got better with emotional eating, I realized that a lot of the foods I like to eat tend to be pretty low cal. I know that the good stuff the REALLY good stuff is greasy and oily, but it only makes my taste buds happy and not me happy.