To have gone insane for sugar today...and ask for your help

[Jewels234]

Can I prelude this AIBU by telling you that at 5 ft 5 and 9.5 stone I am a healthy size 10. I am a vegetarian with a veg heavy diet, and work out around 5 times a week, a mixture of long distance running and HIIT. I did a half marathon at the weekend, and was in the gym still on Monday.

However. I am ridiculously addicted to sugar. Today alone I ate a Mars bar, a dairy milk, 3 bakery sized cookies, a mini bag of haribo, a waffle, and a bowl of ice cream with fudge sauce. This isn't a normal day, but it has made me realize how absolute bat shit crazy I go for sugar. Almost to the point that I don't care about other food...I just want sugar. I'm not hungry, but still can't stop.

This is totally U isn't it? I need to just get it all out of my diet and go cold turkey. Anyone else get like this?

Why do most vegetarians go back to eating meat? - Psychology Today article.

Number 1 reason is "health".

"If all you have is a field and a goat, then it is probably fine. As long as the vegetables include lots of pulses, then I'm sure the person will be fine."

She doesn't have just a field and a goat, though. She lives in the modern world with all kinds of food easily available and in close proximity but chooses self-imposed malnutrition to eat only plants & some dairy (I hope).

I have to admit that eating meat is the only reason I can do sugar free. I know that people have ethical reasons for not eating meat, but luckily I am not bothered by those scruples.

I never cut out fruit or was particularly "low carb." I did try to eat more green vegetables. I ate a piece of whole grain toast every day. I also didn't freak out about smallish amounts of added sugar - such as in peanut butter. I just avoided sweets, sandwiches, pasta, and usually potatoes. I did eat rice with sushi because I love sushi and salmon is really great but it's no fun without the rice. It wasn't a low carb thing or a paleo thing it was just "don't eat things that will make me sugar crash" thing.

I will say that this alone was enough to restrict calories, which is why I lost weight. At one point early on I felt very sluggish and realised that I wasn't eating enough calories for the activity I was doing (cardio, weights, and long rigorous hill walks). I made a point of eating more carbs - and that seemed to help.

But it's not really that easy to maintain. Drinking is tricky - I'm not sure what alcohol does as a "nutrient" - does it act like a carb? I would have vodka lemonade or jack and coke and not diet pop, either. So, there would be sugar there. To cut that out entirely just doesn't seem feasible to me.

When I fall off the wagon it's just tricky to get back on it. I came down with a cold and stopped exercising and allowed myself to eat more sugar and it was like I was before. Eating candy bars, cookies, etc.

I read the above article about vegetarianism. I've been vegetarian about 6 years ( and previously in my 20's ) and am currently being treated for anaemia. I really don't want to eat meat, but an feeling so much better for taking iron tablets as treatment. Don't know what to do when the course of tablets ends.

Also I think I've gained weight as a veggie. My most successful weight loss spell was on Slimming World, red days ( meat , fish and veg eating) It's a dilemma!

Good fats tend to keep people healthy and full. Could you for example at an extra large avocado with lunch every day for example and a large bag of almonds? Also perhaps make sure you fry your veg in good oils like olive oil (fat makes you feel full, is good for you and helps you keep weight off and stops sugar cravings - eat fat get thin).

Jewels I'm exactly the same as you, crave the c-word like there's no tomorrow, especially at 4pm and no matter how much I have, there's no satiety

By coincidence, today I've decided to drastically cut out sugar. I don't eat the white fluffy carbs anyway, haven't for a couple of years. Same with grains. For the last few months my food intake has been two meals a day, one Greek yog with nuts, blueberries, a few tinned peaches rinsed thoroughly, pecans and flaked almonds. the other a couple of eggs with either spinach and green veg, toms and seeds or boiled eggs and salad or occasionally a nut cutlet with salad. Despite that being healthy, as soon as I'd had a meal I was desperate for ch-word and loads of it. The 4pm sugar obsession was out of control, I could scoff several bars and still want more.

I had a year on the 5:2 and did some longer IF and lots of exercise, I did very well then fell off the wagon. Every day for months I've tried to have no ch-word and failed miserably. I bought a £40+ huge tub 2kg of PHD BodySculpt Whey ch-flavour of course, thinking 2 blasts of that and one sensible meal per day and absolutely nothing else except green teas would be the answer to all my needs. Fine in theory but in practise I was blown up like a beached whale and crippled with pains as it fermented and expanded inside me like some manic Quatermass experiment.

If there was a prize for effort I'd win, but i have no good results - yet. Yesterday, my last food was at 2pm, I've gone since then and all through today until 6pm with only mugs of green or tulsi tea. I didn't have the 4pm c-craving at its usual high intensity either and made myself busy then. I had a spinach omelette with broccoli and tomatoes and feel full still. I'll not have anything else 'til tomorrow, wish me luck at dealing with any cravings, at least I've gone over 24 hours with none which is a good start. wish me luck! I'm off for an hour's Pilates, then bed.

Amigababy "Don't know what to do when the course of tablets ends."
Try Spatone, take it with a freshly squeezed orange and see if your iron levels improve

Blanklook, based on the diet you describe I'd say you are likely to be fat (and calorie) deficient. You are hungry because you haven't given your body the nutrients it needs, therefore it screams at you to find energy ASAP-you interpret this as needing chocolate but that's not actually what it needs

Thanks whendie it's always good to have someone see things I'm missing I'll up the cheese and coconut oil (not together!)

Blanklook - That diet is very unhealthy Why just one meal a day? Then of course you are so hungry that you are scoffing down chocolate bars.

That craving at mid-afternoon isn't sugar or chocolate addiction. It is your body's way of telling you that it's hungry.

Eat three sensible meals - a full plate with some meat/fish/egg, a lot of vegetables/salad, a little pasta/rice/bread, followed by half a fruit. You will feel better and won't be needing large amounts of choc to get through the day.

Thanks Cote I'm veggie so no meat or fish, I'm doing IF and low carb but will up the quantities if I get peckish.

This is day 3 with no sugary rubbish, I've made sure there's none in the house and we're miles from a shop. I'll pace my intake throughout the day to hopefully negate any cravings, so far there have been none
Fingers crossed.

I certainly would agree with Sleep. Eat more and better foods whether vegetarian or otherwise and heap on the good fats morning noon and night if you want to feel healthy and well and full.... off to make my delicious sea food stir fry with a piece of salmon and purple sprouting broccoli plus the samphire seaweed stuff I bought just this morning.

People on these threads always seem to eat a lot less food than I do. I have already had my bacon and eggs and peppers for breakfast earlier on.

Although intermittent fasting and missing breakfast does work for some people if you are likely to be addicted to sugar it is better to eat some breakfast with protein every day and to eat at the same times and have regular meals and no snacks until you stabilise your blood sugar levels.

Olives, cold pressed oils, nut butter, avocado, raw nuts, chia seeds, eggs, tofu, seaweeds and full fat dairy should all be your friends blank. I'd also add some wholefood carbs to one meal if you are exercising a lot - beans, sweet potatoes, lentils, chickpeas, quinoa....