Anyone a sugar addict who’s managed to quit sugar?

[Everythingaches]

I really need to do this but it’s very very hard. The more I have the more I want.
I need to hear success stories from total sugar addicts who managed to quit!

I have! To be clear, I still eat the normal things that convert to sugar, like pasta bread etc, it's just cake, chocolate, sweets, fizzy drinks etc.
I had to go cold turkey - i think some of us just have to completely reset our taste buds.
I have also fallen off the wagon a couple of times (or 2/3 weeks at a time) in the 4 years-ish since I tried to quit sugar. But both those times I was very aware of it, I wasn't making excuses or losing track, I fell off, fixed a date to go cold turkey, and got back on it. Which might sound totally mad, but my taste buds have changed and the way my body responds has changed. And that helps, because you fall off the wagon and you start to feel rubbish again etc, which is a great motivator!
Key to this is i also tried to do this 10 years ago and failed, so here's what worked this time:

• aiming to drink a lot more water, and drinking water when I get a craving.
• looking long and hard at my 'savoury' intake. First time round I'd still have crisps, sausage rolls etc - I'd be eating a lot of processed stuff in general. This time round when I quit, I also quit those kinds of foods and it made the cravings SO much more bearable.
• don't have it in the house
• on top of this, meal/everything prep - it's not just about having healthy stuff to eat, I needed to physically reduce the amount of opportunities I had to actually buy sugar, ie, not going into a shop as much. This really, really helped.
• you need to mentally prepare yourself for the possibility of headaches and feeling rubbish with withdrawal and keep reminding yourself that this is temporary.
• If you are having sugar with your caffeine, don't try to cut out that sugar by cutting out your hot drinks and accidentally quit caffeine too at the same time (I made this mistake and learned the hard way...)
• blanket 'no' - first time i quit, I ate one chocolate bar about 4 weeks in, after most of the initial cravings roar had died down and it turned out it was way too soon for me...

My weakness is evening snacking so I don't have anything in the house. We have the "childrens treat box" but I give them a bit of pocket money each week so they can buy their own stuff, that way it makes me feel mean to steal it 🤣 if it's the sweet taste you crave go for the sugar free fizzy drinks for a few weeks as your body gets used to low sugar and your habits shift. It's not good for you but it's a good crutch, and leaves you to deal with the headaches etc without the sweet cravings.
Your taste buds shift after a while.
At Christmas try and substitute savoury treats as there's always a lot going round! Cheese straws, nuts that sort of thing. Again not the healthiest ...

Taking mounjaro stopped my sugar cravings within an hour of injecting it proved to me the gut hormonal link to being addicted to sugar. No amount of my willpower could break the link believe me I’d tired hard to cut out sugar/carbs & exercise a lot. Mine had just rocketed with menopause I’m early 50s and I just couldn’t break the cycle of sugar& carb overeating. This drug did it instantly, Ive gone onto to lose 3st over the last 6mths and focus my eating on veg protein salad, ff yoghurt, nuts berries etc.

I was a total sugar addict and had worked my way up from a size 10 to bursting out of a size 24. It was insane, I simply could not stop. I now haven't had any sugar for 8 years. Don't miss it a bit. It was Overeaters Anonymous that helped me oa.org/. Run on the basis of AA entirely by volunteers and donations. Every meeting would rather have you there than your money. Meetings are in person or online. I would definitely recommend it.

Yes! Slowly swapping things - squares of 70%, then up to 85. Now gone to 90 Lindt as my taste buds constantly seem to adjust

Snack on nuts and seeds

Allow sweet things after a meal or after a workout, but got me that's some sort of milky decaf drink with a couple of squares of aforementioned chocolate

Some weeks I do seem to need it more; I try to aim for raisins, kiwi, dried apricots nectarines etc instead.

I add frozen and then slightly defrosted blueberries and cherries to breakfast most mornings and are another handy quick sweet boost.

If you're actively exercising, especially strength training, you do need some carbs. Just make sure they're whole grain.

Adding things like nut butters etc to toast helps to lessen the glycemic thingy.

Edit that, you actually need more carbs if actively exercising! So that's a good way to help.

See Stacy sims book roar or roar next level.

I just listened to a number of the podcasts. I caved and bought his cook book and it's really good actually.

If you lean towards vegan athlete type eating (I'm not vegan at all but try to make that kind of food central) you both increase your range of plant proteins which also has lots of fibre, so they kinds of carbs you're getting are really good for your metabolism. And also really good for women heading into midlife/ menopause.

Craving sweet things naturally reduces as a result.

I did eat a kinder bar yesterday but that's really rare 😄

I cut back on sugar and white carbs in September and found that even a belvita ramps up the cravings again.

I find massively calmer without sugar - I gave up caffeine too but reintroduced smaller amounts and that has a smaller effect on bad food cravings than sugar.

Alcohol affects my willpower, and cutting back on that helped - so sugar/white carbs/alcohol and caffeine in that order are unhealthy eating triggers.

I don't believe in permanently giving up though, I'm going for not eating them 80 percent of the time.

I find drinking a cup of green tea with a teaspoon of good quality honey, kills my afternoon sugar cravings instantly. I know honey is high sugar, but it does have health benefits and it stops me from munching through a packet of biscuits. I needed to break the habit of biscuits and chocolate bars.

Make sure it is good quality though, most honey in the UK is diluted with sugar syrup
www.theguardian.com/food/2023/mar/26/uk-honey-fails-authenticity-test

I think that eating 3 balanced meals a day, with lots of veg, protein and a carb like brown rice, sourdough was the way to go for me. I felt full and wasn't getting sugar swings.

I just stopped eating sugary stuff at work. And we rarely buy sugary stuff at home any more. It tastes too sweet to me now....

I haven't stopped completely, same as crisps which were my real downfall, I still eat them sometimes. But I'm not binging.