Help me quit sugar

[MuskIsACnt]

I’m addicted to refined sugar. I’m tired (young kids) and have a busy working life, so I use sugar as a crutch to give me energy to do everything I need to do. But I know it’s not good for me and doesn’t make me feel good.

I’ve tried quitting several times and can never stick to it.

How do I sort my sugar addiction?

Oooh so I am all or nothing when it comes to sugar.
For me what really helps is to absolutely decide on my rules and then follow them with no exceptions (if I give in once, it’s all gone to shit!)
What I do is allow myself some substitutes…. I love NAKD bars and allow myself as many as I want and dried fruit and honey on stuff… so after dinner I’ll have yoghurt with blueberries and honey drizzled on top and probably another NAKD bar. I always have sweet things around like bananas to meet the craving and fill me up a bit.
But I won’t have any chocolate, sweets, pastries, etc etc. AT ALL.
Not sure if that could work for you?

Thanks. I love dates, honey etc. but wonder if that’s just as bad (or nearly as bad) as refined sugar?

Ha ha yes maybe they are! I think for me it’s good to know I can satisfy any cravings; I’m not sure I could do it without some bananas and honey!

For me it’s about managing my weight so that I feel comfortable enough in my skin and clothes and pastries always affect my body a lot (making my clothes feel tight!), so it’s a way of managing that. I do also find that filling up with big portions of healthy stuff (like really big salad with mackerel and eggs and sweetcorn, etc.) means I am less likely to crave sugar. Also I think if I eat exercise a bit I’m less likely to crave it.

hopefully someone else will come along with some more ideas, I’m no expert about diet at all!! 😂

Anyone tried those vanilla sniff stick things? I want to quit constant suger but still enjoy birthday cake and occasional muffins

I've recently gone 'low sugar' - well I've done six months now but I feel so much better in myself I never want to go back to it. I was having biscuits with every coffee, cornetto or Magnum every day, cake every day and bag of Haribo (the share bag!)
I allow myself 1 small sweet thing a day. I don't always have it but it's a safety net knowing I can if I want to- so one biscuit or small cupcake. No more Haribo and if I do a sugar free day I might have a Magnum the next day but only do that once a week max.
Other thing I do is not let myself get really hungry - so have a bowl of full fat Greek Yoghurt with a few walnut halves and small drizzle of honey for a snack if I need one- fills me up and takes the edge off the craving.
I've gone down a clothes size just doing this- eat 3 proper meals a day still but I sleep better and so have more energy.

Read this. ..

https://hammernutrition.com/blogs/endurance-news-weekly/146-reasons-sugar-ruins-your-health

I stopped all refined sugar in early January and only broke it for 2 days for husband's birthday last week. I check all ingredients and will not have a single item with added sugar which is great as it means that I eat a lot less ultra processed foods. I allow myself 1 teaspoon of pure good quality honey in my yogurt at breakfast and, if I crave something sweet, I will eat a couple of dates. I do eat fruit. I have noticed that after the first week, my usual afternoons cravings stopped. I have done this a few times in the past and usually I go for about 2 months at a time. I feel so much better, especially as I ate too much sugar during Christmas.

I use an app called sugar stop challenge where I record how many days I do it for. The app came as part of an hypnosis weight loss programme that I bought a few years ago (it was very cheap then, maybe a fiver?). It's now called eat, sleep, repeat. It's an interesting concept that works for some people. www.tesr.co.uk

I have been very low sugar for a couple of years. I think you have to cut out as much as possible - limit fruit, just have a tiny drizzle of honey, avoid dates and dried fruit. They are all sugar and will make you want more. It's a boring cliche but I have a square of dark chocolate in the evening. It's not that nice, so I never want more than one square. The key for me is not having anything sweet in the house.

How do you have enough energy without sugar?

I actually have more energy because my energy levels are more stable. I make sure I have protein at every meal (boiled egg for breakfast is a game changer). I also drink about 5 cups of tea a day! The thing that most impacts my energy levels is sleep so I make sure I get to bed early.

Ch4 had a 2 part program Secretsof the glucose goddess, or something like that. If you haven't seen it try to watch it. It was really interesting how high carb/ sugar foods led to a crash. I tried cutting sugar and following some of her tips and could definitely feel the difference in my energy levels, less sudden bouts of tiredness and I able to focus through the afternoon.

I became a bit of an insomniac when my mum died and my little boy was still waking frequently at night - I’m lucky to get 5.5 hours of sleep in total.

Sugar doesn’t help. It seems like it’s helping but it’s not.

A complete reboot might help; I’m trying probiotics (as the sugar has probably messed up my gut), I am drinking a lot of herbal tea (about 6 mugs a day).

For energy I will have a handful of seeds or nuts, or maybe toast and marmite, and if I really need something sweet then sometimes toast and marmalade or dried apricots or dates, some wheat cereal or granola, or an apple or banana. I’m not a saint but that seems a little better than biscuits.

Im still exhausted but I only just started

How do you have enough energy without sugar?

Sugar invariably gives me an initial high, followed by an inevitable crash when why I need is sustained energy without the glucose rollercoaster.

Just like any other addiction, I had to go cold turkey. It took a couple of weeks drinking lots of water and eating lots of leafy green veg, with enough fat and protein to keep me from feeling hungry.

At first all I could think of was sugar, in all its different guises. Then, one day about ten days in, I woke up and that voice in my head had just evaporated.

My feelings around food have completely changed. No more desperate urge for sugar. No more feeling 'hangry' when I haven't eaten for a few hours.

Other people might get the same effect from moderating their consumption of sugar. I stay away from sugar in all its forms, to avoid that rollercoaster. My body feels much better without it and my whole life works better too.

I am going to give this a go

I'm another one who has to go cold turkey - first two weeks are rough for me, but i find if I take a sip of water every time I have a sugar craving then I'm better hydrated and my skin looks better (and my skin definitely looks better without the sugar anyway)
I couldn't have a bit every day because it keeps my addiction 'active' but then weirdly, if I manage to break the cravings (normally at around 4 weeks) i can then have a sweet treat once a week and it's fine - this might be dangerous for others - i think the problems come for me if I had a sweet treat on the Friday, then another on the Sunday, then another on a Wednesday- its just too frequent and my addiction kicks back in, no matter how small the treat is. What i would recommend, is if you do go cold turkey and make it through the first month (highly recommend not having anything in the house and doing a lot of meal planning to reduce the time you spend in shops near temptation as well, if you do this!) Is see how long you can stretch it out for, because last year I did 3 months straight without and it actually changed how much satisfaction I got - i found my usual sweet stuff to taste way too sweet and I'd feel gross afterwards, which really helps with motivation!
The only reason I fell off the wagon again is because i knowingly said I'd come off the wagon over Christmas, and had sweet stuff every day and I regret it, honestly - I knew it would be bad (went in with eyes wide open) but I was shocked at how much it affected my skin and digestion and energy levels - i had so much more energy without sugar every day!

When people are saying their skin looks better is it less spots?

I gave up added sugar and most other sugars (sugary fruit, dried fruit, white carbs), sweeteners in early January. I also have only drunk alcohol twice since then. I feel so much better. I've lost weight and I've got loads more energy. If I'm hungry I have some cheese, unsalted nuts and celery or an avocado. I did this because I was diagnosed with prediabetes and am trying to reverse it. I've also started swimming every day. Sugar and all the hidden sugars, such as fructose (in lots of fruit, honey etc) are not at all good.

The only thing that works for me is eating High Fat Low Carb. First thing i this way of eating does is break the cycle of insulin spikes and lows, so I stop getting cravings. Then I find that the food noise in my head gets quieter and quieter, until eventually I can have just one biscuit, or just one small slice of cake, or just one chocolate from the tub, enjoy it and and not crave more.

When I start HFLC I don't worry about calories. Just eat if I'm hungry, stop when I'm not, and enjoy my food. But I am very strict - no high-sugar foods for one month, not even 'just one'. It's actually really easy, because, as I said, the food noise in my head goes away.

High sugar doesn't mean just sugar and foods with lots of added sugar. It means any carbohydrate-rich food. So no pasta, rice, potatoes, bread etc. They also cause insulin to spike.

Have a look at the bootcamp threads on the weightloss boards here on Mumsnet. (Sorry, can't remember exactly what they're called.)

Also, you do stop craving sugar when you give it up completely. I don't get so hungry either. I find unsalted nuts and seeds curb cravings and hunger. You need to be very careful about certain carbs though, like white bread and pasta (but oats, legumes etc are fine).

I always lose a ton of weight when I cut out sugar. After a few days your body will manage just fine. If you have a piece of dark chocolate now you prob won't find it very tasty, but if you cut out sugar and just have a square of dark chocolate every night as a treat it's amazing. I also find that even when I'm not cutting out sugar, I struggle to eat high sugar foods like doughnuts. They make me feel pretty sick.

Berries, passion fruit and yoghurt is a good evening dessert, or berries yogurt and a tiny bit of granola or honey. Try to avoid the honey though. A small quantity of sweet and salty popcorn is good during the day too.

Also use My Fitness Pal to track your diet - you can check the nutrition info to see if you are under the recommended amount of sugar each day. For some reason I can only stay focussed by diet tracking.

I’ve lost 2lbs since starting this last week on the 19th.

Have stopped all obvious sugar like sweets, chocolate, cakes, biscuits but also crisps, white bread, ketchup. Eating some fruit but I’m not a huge fan!

I have this and it is working, but you need to quit all refined sugar and be determined. I'm no longer craving sugary things and I'm treating them as though they're drugs or alcohol. The vanilla sticks do take the edge off.

I ordered some keto treats online and add some xylitol to them so I at least have something to look forward to each day.

Don't substitute honey, dates etc. for the sugary stuff, it's only marginally better and your brain can't tell the difference, so the addiction will continue. They will spike blood sugar and then insulin so the addiction cycle continues. You can have blueberries, raspberries and strawberries as these are low carb. Use xylitol or erythritol as a sweetener. These won't kick start your sugar addiction again.

The only thing that worked for me was to eat dark chocolate Brazil nuts when I got a craving. I've stopped eating chocolate and other snacks now