How do you break the sugar habit? Just eaten 1/3 jar of nutella 😟

[MrsGethinJones]

Honestly im addicted to sugar. Im 65kg and 5 foot 4 so not massively overweight.
I need to eat sugar every 2 hours or i become irritated and cranky.

Every day starts with a chocolate croissant or toast and Nutella and the sugar rush continues throughout the day, even when ive had a big meal and as soon as ive eaten i hate myself 🙈.

Work is really stressful, my dad is ill and im recovering from an operation which has just made it worse.

Cold turkey doesnt work as I just walk over to the local sainsburys and buy more chocolate 🤦‍♀️. I excersize 4 times a week but i cant break the habit

Please, does anyone mastered this?

I remember watching an Amy Winehouse documentary once, one of her friends said Amy had gone to an award ceremony clean and straight, but told her afterwards she'd had a terrible time because "the world's so boring without drugs". I kind of feel the same about sugar... 😢

Honestly, go cold turkey. Will be horrible for a week, maybe two, then will be much better!

I know. It's difficult because my daughter likes baking, and I don't want to completely refuse to taste anything she makes. She has her own eating issues and I have always tried to be casual and nonchalant around food with her, and give her an "everything in moderation" vibe, so I don't feel I can 100% quit, unfortunately. If I can get to a place where the only sugar I eat is the odd homemade cookie from her, though, I'll be most happy!

This was me. Sometimes I would eat cake, ice-cream and chocolate for dinner, and nothing else. I would feel like I was shaking if I didn't get sugar. I would binge eat on packets of mini cakes. I had not idea when I was hungry or full.

That was 20 years ago (I'm 50) and I have a very good relationship with food now so this can be changed.

I decided that it was a long-term project and I needed to normalise my eating behaviour. I accepted that 'failing' was part of the process and not a reason to give up. So even if I binged on sugar I just re-committed to keep going with my programme.

I decided to eat at set meal times. I ate from a smaller plate to stop me binging. If I needed a snack it was something like nuts and dried fruit. I did not ban any specific food though and it was not a diet.

I would sometimes sit there really fighting myself not to get a biscuit at work.

It took about a year but after that time my body had reset and I don't get sugar cravings like that any more.. I can eat ice-cream or chocolate without scoffing the whole tub/packet. I am in touch with when I am hungry and when I am sated. I love it. Its brilliant.

You can do it OP. But its a long term project, don't let the 'setbacks' put you off course. They are part of the process.

This is me too. I've always had a sweet tooth but I've been able to keep a lid on it. And incredibly stressful few months and a period of illness and I've gone bananas on the sugar-and fur the first time in my life I actually am bus quite fat as a result. I'm disgusted with myself but I can't seem to stop. I'm going to go and have a read of those books.

It's really hard because sugar is so addictive and a quick rush. I would focus on having really filling meals that are high protein and fat. After 2 weeks your body will adjust and your tastebuds will start to change so you won't crave sugar. I would also find things to take up time and distract you. It could be walking or some kind of exercise or a hobby, batch cooking, watching a series. Clear out your cupboards of any sweet treats and buy nuts, popcorn and other savoury items instead. I think the first 5 days are the hardest so try and hold out not buying anything sweet that first week. Have enough food in and leave your bank card at home.

A savoury breakfast will help. Eggs, cheese, mushrooms, meat. No bread or croissant.

I read once that eating pickles and olives when a sweet craving hits will help assuage it, and oddly it's true.

Brush your teeth and tell yourself you don't want to undo your oral hygiene by eating again.

The craving really does go away after a week or so. Coke gags me now and one square of super dark chocolate is plenty.

@HollysBush

I was gonna suggest cold turkey… but you need to replace it with something else, ideally lots of protein.

So cuppa tea and a chicken thigh ? I tried this and it just didn't do it for me. She says having had a banana and now demolishing bread sticks, but hey it's not a biscuits, but yeah it's a refined carb so it's all sugar

I was a massive sugar addict too. I also have chronic migraine and my way to treat a bad one includes a can of full fat coke!

But I've put on weight over lockdown, and also due to my age and hormones (thank you menopause!), a stressful job and elderly and unwell parents.

Last week I started a complete reset. I've been following the Human Being Diet, but basically it's lots of protein and vegetables. I have stuck to it for over a week now and feel heaps better.

I did have some sugar cravings, but I didn't give in and drank loads and loads of water. I had a low level headache for around 3 days but nowhere near migraine level. I took a couple of paracetamol and drank more water.....

I honest to god don't crave the sugar any more, and it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be!

But you can definitely cut down first. If I was you I'd concentrate on changing one thing at a time. Maybe start with your breakfast. If you have a high protein breakfast then that gives you a really good start for the day. So today I had 2 x hard boiled eggs, 80g avocado and 20g of chopped tomato and shallots. Or 160g of full fat yogurt and 100g of fruit. These have been keeping me full enough to get through to lunchtime, but I'm guessing that you're snacking mid-morning as your blood sugar plummets.

Small and consistent is what you need to get you going.

Very timely thread for me - I gave sugary stuff last week!

I'd read the Sweet Poison book recommended by a couple of people on here and had been following that more or less for a year - I'd sometimes have a pudding out or an ice cream. I felt amazing, but got completely knocked off the wagon when my dad died suddenly. The last few months I've been piling on weight and suffering joint pain, poor sleep so felt I had to do something about it!

It was easier to cut off the sugar this time, only one day where I felt headachey. The great thing is you eat to satiety (because you do actually feel full without the sugar), so I don't feel deprived. I've gone low on pasta and bread for the time being, but I know in a few weeks I will be able have a bit more of them without falling off the wagon.

I wasn't back from work until 9.30 last night and previously I'd have had to go to the vending machine at work at least twice, plus stop at the garage for a sandwich and Twix on the way home and then I'd have had probably a huge plate of pasta and pudding when I got back. Yesterday, I barely even thought about this.

I am known among family and friends for being a food dustbin ...

The Sweet Poison idea is low sugar, not really low carb, so it makes it easy to eat out or as a guest, which is great for me as eating out is a real treat for me.

I've given up cakes, biscuits and chocolate for Lent. I've done it before and it helps reset my sweetness palate. I'm not fussing about hidden sugars, and do sometimes have a teaspoon of honey on bread, but this is my way of cutting it down. I also remind myself of the problems it causes me (indigestion mainly)

Thanks all of your for yoyr encouragement and hints and tips!! I will read through in detail later. Im so glad that so many if you have experienced the same and got through this 😊.

The good news is that i had 2 slices of brown bread, 2 poached eggs and a bit of hp sauce (its a bit random but thought jt would add flavour) and im still really full! I will have a cup of tea and a square if dark chocolate after lunch, will get a proper shop in at the weekend.

I could have done without the bread but maybe better to get off the sugar first

Thanks again team 💓!

As well as the previous advice, you could try a gymnema supplement and chromium and cinnamon capsules to help with cravings.

Im definately ordering the books mentioned and Glucose Godess has some good tips on her instagram page

The other motivation for me, which came at exactly the right time, was being reminded by my dentist and hygienist on Friday how bad is sugar could be for my otherwise lovely teeth (which I've spent a lot on!). My dentist was very anti sugar, but the hygienist suggested the best way to have it was as part of a meal rather than as a snack in terms of looking after your teeth. I understand this is also the best for not putting on weight. So when I do go back to having some sugar I'm going to look at having a small pudding after dinner occasionally and making sure that it's home-made so I know how much sugar is in it. Like a PP said it's got to work for me in the long term and I don't want to never have sweet foods again. I just want to stop using them to fill me up when I'm hungry or cheer me up when I'm bored.

I stopped buying my favourite biscuits, ice cream, chocolates and crisps. I buy things I dislike, for the family and keep it all in the garage. When it's a special occasion e.g. birthday/Easter etc, I'll buy myself something I fancy.

Just following, as I'm about to go cold turkey on sugar too. I agree, it's the only thing that works, if you can get past the first week or two.

Op just 1 thing, I know we're all saying cold turkey etc, but it is important that you remember that's a 'shoot for the moon' scenario. Then the odd biscuit, or a craving you give in to is not rest to zero, it's a blip and you just chalk it up to a bad day and then keep going with the healthiness. Any changes are better than no changes! Ps, love your attitude, you're going to kill this!!!

Could you have a bit of dark chocolate when you crave sugar as a start? That's what I do (I am fairly strict about how often - my main sugar craving is after lunch). It do think it has helped as I now find ordinary chocolate stuff too sweet.

I read a tip somewhere years ago (might have been Rosemary Conley!) to have a spoon of sugar in your tea/coffee as it panders to your craving for something sweet but a tsp of sugar is hell of a lot easier to burn off than half a jar of Nutella!. I have cut down hugely on my chocolate and sweet consumption this year mainly by a) not buying it and b) if I do buy it I give myself ten seconds to choose. if I take longer to choose then clearly I'm not craving it enough. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. I'm gutted that I haven't had any reduction in my weight but suspect that I'm eating more of other 'stuff' to compensate for the chocolate .

the Nutella is in the bin (honestly i surpassed myself with that today,

And leave it there ! Don't fish it out of the bin.

Put some washing up liquid on the left overs so you can't eat it. (I read that's what a t.v. actress does with her kids leftovers.)

Thanks everyone!

I havent gone through all of the messages as im still at work but i was looking at this recipe and think it could work as a treat if i reduced the amount of chocolate? Looks really tasty!

Today has been much better than expected, ive just had a cup of tea with a square of dark chocolate.

There seem to be so many of us trying to kick this sugar habit on this thread - would anyone be interested in a whatsapp chat group for moral support/accountability? If yes please pm me and I could set one up

www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/baking-and-desserts/frozen-yogurt-bark/

I need to give up too OP and have bought some tablets called Nue Sugar Stress, a vitamin supplement meant to help when you're stress eating sugar. They are very expensive, but I felt like that might be motivating as I don't want to waste the money!

Ooh thise sound interesting @Jamoffmytoast, i will takena look at those too!

Don't buy sugary food, do food shopping when you have just eaten and full, when going out somewhere don't take a bank card and take only enough money for the activity. Take water with you everywhere and keep drinking it. Give yourself a goal that if you don't eat sugar for one day you can have a chocolate bar in the evening if you do it for a week then the prize gets better.get the low sugar version of products you like if you have to.

Sugar isn't bad aslong as inlets in moderation remember