[ScientiaOmnisEst]

Every now and then it occurs to me that I can't get through a day without sweets the way smokers need their cigarettes or an alcoholic needs a drink. Every day I have something: sometimes it's just a chocolate bar or two for an afternoon pick-me-up; other, really bad days I basically live on sweets. It might be candy, cookies, baked goods or packaged stuff, but it's something every day.

I know this is bad for me physically, and the lack of self-control wears on me spiritually. But, in looking up how to fix it, how to be able to take or leave sweets, have them occasionally, all I find is instructions for how to cut all sugar (including fruit and carbs) out of one's life forever; demands to treat sugar addiction like any other addiction: quit cold turkey and never touch the stuff again.

There must be another way. Just thinking about that level of deprivation tears me up - I'll practically torture myself with rage over how weak and disgusting I am that I can't give up enjoyable food in the name of health, maybe I deserve to starve altogether....you get the picture. The lighter version is simply becoming mildly afraid of food because basically everything except plain vegetables are bad in some way.

I want dietary variety, but I'm also tired of eating junk on a daily basis. Yet I have no desire to join the ranks of women who consider any sweet "bad", "cheating", "a deviation", etc. There has to be a midpoint. There has to be a way to reduce my sweets consumption without swearing it off forever.

EDIT: It just occurred to me that this might belong better in the Habit forum, I don't know. I just know it's something I want to fix.

[CANDC]

Hi there. I am a confirmed sugar holic that has beat the addiction over a period of years. First thing for me was a high protein lower carb (not all carbs are bad). I eat things like homemade ice cream sweetened with banana and carob and almond butter. I eat apple crisp without sugar using golden delicious or other sweet apples. I make carob cake or brownies sweetened with banana.

I also use fruit as a snack sometimes

Want more info or recipes PM me.

[ramirorico]

I'm dealing with my addiction to sweets by eating fruits that are sweet. You mentioned that you received advice to give up fruits.

I'd talk to a doctor if I were you.

I eat fruit and yogurt and that satisfies my need for sweets 😊

http://trying-to-change-my-life-now.blogspot.com/?m=1

[ScientiaOmnisEst]

My lunch today consisted of a dessert parfait from the grocery store (after two days of satisfying myself with dark chocolate and hoping to go for 0 today) so I think I'm hopelessly screwed...

Fruit helps, I guess. I've tried that and it only works for a while.

The thing is I wonder what's an acceptable consumption of real sweets - I wanted to work towards a goal of once a week, maybe move on to a couple times a month or something like that. Yet even you guys seem to be advising ways to never eat the stuff again, ever, which is what I didn't want.

Learning to bake and make my own stuff would be awesome, maybe sometime in the future when I have more than a microwave and some plastic bowls to cook with. :3

Wow, I almost could have written that first post myself!

My situation is such that I suffer from a very severe case of IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). I just saw a nutritionist a couple of weeks ago, and she gave me information on a diet termed FODMAP where you're supposed to avoid certain carbs that are difficult to digest.

I won't go into that, but I will tell you that the leaflet I got includes a meal plan with the number of portions I should consume daily from each food group. I almost started crying when I read that one portion of 'goodies' is allowed every day! This could be 1 dl of ice cream, ½ dl of pudding, 4-5 pieces (20-25 g) of chocolate, or 6-8 (25 g) sweets. It's not much, but after hearing nothing but 'you must go cold turkey' advice before, too, it's a lot!

Mind you, I personally haven't been able to manage with just that - just the other day, I ate a whole box of meringue in one sitting.. Awful! I think it depends on the reason someone overeats. With me, it's totally an addiction and a way to cut off from my emotions, so emotional work is obviously needed to heal entirely. But maybe the permission to have something every day will help you get your consumption down to a more moderate level Good luck!

I've also noticed that when I have been able to stay away from sweets for a while (like a month) I don't even feel like eating them anymore - until something really upsetting happens and I need my 'fix' again..

Okay, here's me with yet another suggestion. Think less about sugar. Instead, start thinking about what foods will be good for your energy levels and mood and will provide the right balance of protein, carbs, & healthy fats to make you healthier, have more energy, and feel better.

Some links:

10 Foods I Eat Every Day to Beat Depression | Therese Borchard

I really like the foods included in a Mediterranean-type diet. Here's a good cookbook for that type of diet: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/055...=1&*entries*=0

Learn some things about nutrition, like what ratios of protein/carbs/fat are good for you. The LIVESTRONG web site has great nutrition information.

I was going to say next "learn to cook new dishes" but then I remembered that I think you're limited in cooking supplies/facilities where you're living? If you can find somewhere that you can cook more or get something like a crockpot/slow cooker, you can do a lot with that, especially for the winter.

Soups are really good to cook for the winter, too.

Don't forget to eat breakfast. I am transitioning from smoothies to oatmeal now, because it's colder. I use steel-cut oats and put fruit and nuts (either walnuts or slivered almonds) in it. It takes a while to cook, but you can cook up a batch of 4-5 then divide it into portions and reheat as needed.

I was reading something a few months ago that was talking about how ready-to-eat foods contribute to poor nutrition because one factor that gets lost is the time required to prepare the food. If you have to cook everything you eat, you generally end up eating better food and less of it.

The "don't think so much about sugar" bit is sort of a NLP (neurolinguistic programming) idea. You know, from the sort of research that says if we hear "Don't have sex before marriage", "Don't eat so much sugar", etc, the message that our brain gets is "SEX! SUGAR!"

[Calypso2632]

I found when cutting out the prepackaged stuff fruit would cure my sweet tooth. I'm diabetic so I really shouldn't have the stuff but sometimes I NEED it. I switched my sweeteners at home too. To raw honey. And there are recipes for coffee mug desserts to cook in the microwave that look devine. I've been seeing them in my Facebook feed a lot lately. I find it more satisfying to make my own sweets plus I know what's in them.

[ScientiaOmnisEst]

II forgot out this thread for a bit, but I love these responses. Especially coming from some blogs claiming bread and sugar are basically poison and extolling the benefits of anp carb-free, sugar-free diet...

Yeah, I can't atop eating carbs. Even on my "healthy" eating days I still eat things like whole grain pasta and wraps/bread. And the usual alternative is meat... I wanted to go vegetarian/flexitarian for reasons...is there nothing safe to eat? Carbs kill your brain d make you unhealthy, meat is bad for the environment, sugar is poison, soy makes thyroid problems worse, and I don't trust a plant-only diet to not leave me constantly hungry and/or broke...some days I wonder if I should just let myself starve to death. The pressure isn't worth it.

[ScientiaOmnisEst]

I'm probably not suposed to make updates like this, but I decided to start a serious sugar detox for a week. I had some stuff yesterday, but resisted buying sweets today. And yes, I'm proud of myself.

Now I just hope I can keep it going long enough to make it a real habit.

[Nammu]

I found( quite by accident) that if I eat protein in the mornfirst nag, turkey, cheese, pizza, eggs, milk and skip fruit, cereal and breakfast bar treats I'm not craving the sweets as much. I'm also eating more protein and vegetable based supper and it seems to help with sleep.

I still have sweets but I don't NEED them the way I did before. I prefer to avoid the artificial sweeteners unless your diabetic I'd recommend just sticking to small amounts of reg sugar. I found that artificial sweeteners just set me up to crave more.

[ChipperMonkey]

Is it a craving issue? If so, l-glutamine may help.

I started taking l-glutamine,a non-essential amino acid, and my cravings were killed in a day.

I used to beat myself up for not being able to resist sweets. After I started taking l-glutamine, I realized that it wasn't just about will power.

It's pretty interesting......I mean the power of amino acid supplementation. L-glutamine was even recommended over 40 years ago to recovering alcoholics (I found old supplement books in a used book store). It seems that the stuff stops all sorts of cravings!