Weaning Off The Sweet Stuff

[Nouveaunew]

This thread is for anyone else who has quit alcohol completely … I don’t mean to be exclusive but just like on the Freedom thread, talk of moderation is just too tempting/triggering (I.e. utterly catastrophic in consequence).

I’m 23 days alcohol-free. Since giving up alcohol, I have been eating a LOT more jellies, pastries, cakes and chocolate. I now think I’m starting to feel ready to give it up as I don’t want to substitute one dependency for another…& I don’t want to gain any more weight.

So … I’m thinking that I’ll allow myself to finish whatever sweet things are in the house and after that, cut them out. I’m thinking of next Monday (30th May) as the starting date.

Would anyone like to join me? We could support each other and give ideas for sugar-free treats. I’m not going to cut out all sugar (I’d be lost without AF G&Ts right now … not to mention jam on my toast … and ketchup!). But I want to completely cut out jellies, pastries, cakes, chocolate and biscuits.

Interested in trying?

Imagine if we quit alcohol AND sweet things! 😇😇😇😇

@Nouveaunew you are so right about Allen Carr. I never listened to his alcohol book because I thought that a bloke’s experience of alcohol would be different to mine, as a middle aged woman. I’m not going any further with his method because I’m not ready/wanting to quit pasta/bread as well as the standard sweet stuff.

You sound like you’re really going through it at the moment. It is hard to stop with tiny lovely chocolates, especially when part of you is probably terrified that all the nice, fun stuff is being taken away. Have a I was wondering about Bunnies 30 days without sugar that she did and wrote about but haven’t been able to find it yet. It’s in one of the last few Freedom threads.

I was tempted this afternoon, whilst doing all the prep for dinner. I had a couple of small pieces of Parmesan instead and that did the trick.

Good on you @Blackberryblossom It’s so important to stick with it when you’re feeling strong. Parmesan so yummy!

i have a very bad period (always have) and before that I had bad PMS (always do!) so it tends to just throw me off balance entirely. The week of emotional turmoil followed by the week of physical pain tend to have me reaching for comfort. I feel like a different person for half the month.

I won’t write what I ate today . It’d be great for the shock value but to be honest, that’s about all it’d be great for!

very good point re Allen Carr. I can’t imagine giving up all carbs — seems too extreme. If I hear of anyone else who has good sugar quit lit I’ll definitely post it here.

night all

Nouveaunew you should be proud of giving up alcohol. You will reduce sugar, but in the early days off drinking and with a bad period/ pms it's bound to be extra hard.
I have eaten horrifically this week and am really missing that first glass of wine in the evening. Having intrusive thoughts and am irritable and flat, so pretty sure it's pms and will be easier in a few days. Let's hear it for the good half of the month! I'm thinking that next week I'll either cut out food with over 10g of sugar per 100g (that's worked ok for me in the past), or re-read a sensible CBT based book on over eating to try to get focused.

I've got Davina's no sugar book and it's quite good. I'd echo what others have said though and say that you're very early on wirh quitting alcohol (well done for that though, as the beginning is the hardest part!) and if there's any chance that you'll slide back into drinking if you're too strict with sweeties, for God's sake eat the sweets!

My mum was an alcoholic with an eating disorder so when she drank she ate nothing, which she thought was a great thing go do (see eating disorder). Anyway, she died in her fifties, sadly. She did hammer the haribo when she was not drinking, but haribo didn't make her incontinent, aggressive, messy, staggery, trying to drive drunk to the off licence in her nightie etc etc.

So, the lesser of two evils and all that.

But, I definitely see the problem with substituting one addiction for another. The other thing to think about is if you maybe eat in a disordered way? I just know the two (problem drinking and EDs) often go hand in hand. So it may be more complicated than just needing to restrictions sweets 💐

Good luck with it! You're doing great. Don't fixate on your weight too much (unless it's a real health problem)

How are you getting on, @Nouveaunew ?