To think that sugar (chocolate) addiction is real?

[JustCallMeSliths]

Not necessarily up there with alcohol and drugs etc (as in harmfullness) but do you think people can be addicted to sugar, specifically chocolate?

I've gone cold turkey on chocolate. I was eating at least 2 family sized bars a day. I tried cutting down but couldn't do it. It's been 3 days and I'm struggling so much. I don't think it is just the sugar withdrawal.

Yes, I'm whinging and need to just do it.

Definitely a thing.

I've recently stepped away from chocolate again, it's recently been setting off mild migraines so the choice wasn't really mine, and I feel better for it.

Interesting about the effect fruit type sugars have v. refined sugars. After a forced early menopause I'll react to some refined sugars (a small hot flush approximately 40 minutes after eating it), and the same with pears, but some other refined sugars it's okay (oddly enough Coke is okay) and most other fruits.

Definitely get the sugar withdrawal headache for a few days.

When i have a lot of sugar in my diet, even if the rest of diet, hydration, and exercise is the same as normal, I succumb to colds very quickly.

Yes. I have done 4 days 100% sugar free this week and I have definitely felt withdrawal and cravings. I find my food consumption in general calms right down when I don't eat sugar. I did 3 months sugar free last year and lost loads of weight, my skin improved, it took years off my face, and I had so much energy.

I think people generally are terrified of life without sugar, just read any of the diet threads on here. Giving up carbs I can see isn't always beneficial to everyone, but sugar has zero nutritional value and can be given up entirely with no ill effects.

I’ve reduced it down slowly by switching to really dark chocolate to break the association of having something sweet at certain times of the day. It’s the ingrained habit I need to break. I don’t eat fruit and just have water too.

After a while the cravings lessen and I can ride them out, but just one moment of weakness, one bit of chocolate and I’m back to square one, it’s awful. I will binge eat it until I feel sick, I know I will feel ill all night but I can’t stop once I start.

And generally people are very misinformed about fructose, natural sugar, fruit sugar etc. Fructose is the real baddy, and I can't count the amount of times I've been told that 'natural sugar is ok' or that someone's switched dairy milk for Nkd bars or dates....

I don’t think I’m addicted much as I love chocolate - but find it easier to resist if I don’t have things in the house or they are for someone else
I’m gluten free so buy chocolate biscuits and things like maltesers for DP so that I can’t eat them
I try and eat clean and cook from scratch so general low fat, low carb and low sugar
Lost 5 stone so far
My biggest weakness is alcohol so am doing a dry May to try and lose a bit more before my next holiday

Ooh I've found my people!
I have always loved chocolate and sugary stuff. Like a pp, if there's a treat in the house- or worse, in the car- I can't rest until it's eaten. I'll buy a share size bag of large chocolate buttons, for example, and they'll be gone in a couple of days. Normal people can make them last a week, at least. They "forget they're there"

Luckily for me I also cook very healthy meals and like exercising so I'm not too fat, though it's got a bit out of control lately- I actually have a post about it in S&\B at the mo!

Started on no sugar and low carb 3 days ago. I had a horrendous headache yesterday but today is a bit better. It does get easier! But for me cold turkey is the only way. None of this fucking about with dried fruit!

It's real, OP, and you're not the only one :)

Absolutely
I gave up for four months. I’m well within my target weight range so I’m allowing myself some 85% chocolate one square a day (woo!).
Agree that people hate it if you don’t partake but over the years I’ve noticed how it’s become social acceptable-maybe desirable even-to be greedy. Where say a McD’s milkshake might be a treat today you get those freak shakes. It’s probably not a popular thing to say but I find all that over the top and excessive.

It's so real. I don't drink, smoke or do drugs, but I am absolutely addicted to sugar and tea. I can feel my body go into caffeine crash of confusion and tiredness if I don't have a cuppa twice a day. And chocolate is my big weakness. I find I want something sweet after every meal. I am normal range bmi, so people don't believe me, but just filling up on crap instead of nutritious food. I prefer dark chocolate and less sweet things as I age, but they are much more expensive, so cheap higher sugar stuff often wins.

Yes it is- I tried to give up chocolate once and was still allowing myself sugar but without chocolate I was feeling so lethargic and ill I went back to it on about day 3.

I'm sorry but this is really bad advice. Dried fruit is really, really high in sugar, and so it won't fix the problem at all!

This is a dangerous totally bullshit myth that is either being propagated by the sugar industry and/or unthinking idiots. Processed sugar and naturally occurring sugars are completely and utterly different and have incomparable effects on our bodies and the gut microbiome. I looked into this extensively when I quit sugar and eating as much fruit as you want is shown to aid weight loss and has a positive impact on the digestive system. Humans enjoy sweetness. Breastmilk is a sweet food. Enjoying fruit is normal and healthy and making people fear it because of utter bullshit science is the best way to make people give up on controlling their processed sugar intake.

I quit processed sugar a year ago. I needed to quit completely as cutting down wouldn’t work for me. I eat all the fruit I want, whenever I want it. I lost 2st in 4 months. Once I quit sugar my relationship with food readjusted. I learned to understand my appetite again as I was no longer servicing an addiction. I upped my protein intake and dropped back my consumption of bread/pasta drastically. I can eat small amounts of sugar again now. But my rule is only if it’s delicious. So I’ll buy expensive great quality chocolate and have a small amount of that on occasion. It also helps that 4 months ago I took up a sport I love and that feeds my brain in a way that is more satisfying than the sugar dopamine effect.

@irh if I bought a share size bag of any type of chocolate, it would last me approx 30 minutes. I can't stop when I start, only way for me is to not buy it.

Top tip I found on the reddit low carb site is fizzy water with fruit teabags. I guzzle loads now and it has a hint it sweet that gives me what I need to distract me. I'm no saint though, work recently got horrendous and I put on a stone through eating 3 bowls of oats and nuts a day. Convinced myself it wasn't bad because it wasn't wheat or pure sugar, my body thought otherwise! I've resigned now so back on it.... No oats allowed 😊. I'm heading for 50 now though so have got to find a way to stay healthy.

day 2, I was headachy and a bit on day 3 ( Im doing cold turkey). But this morning I feel good. Im not a fruit eater, so apart from hidden sugars in my bran flakes etc I`m avoiding refined sugar fine. Even my ketchup is the reduced sugar version.

Avoiding ALL sugar would be too much and a shopping nightmare, so avoiding chocolate/ desserts is good enough for me. I don`t have sugar in tea. For me its a habit thing as well. While popping to tesco for milk, adding a bar of chocolate......in the evening after tea, watching tv with it.....

So its changing a habit. Yesterday I read a book instead. So going to dig out my libary card and start that.

Agree with alittleprivacy. A world of difference between foods containing processed sugar and produce containing naturally occurring sugars

If you do a three day veg juice detox, you literally won’t want chocolate, caffeine or alcohol when you come off. I do this occasionally, but it’s to detox from caffeine rather than chocolate. The first day is the worst because the headache sets in about 4pm and lasts into day 2, but by the third day the cravings are gone. 6 bottles of juice a day, plus herbal teas. You can order from a company called “Nosh” in Chelsea and they deliver the whole 3 day package to your door (pricey though). Or make your own with similar ingredients. You lose about 5 lbs if you stick to it.

It took me about a week to get over the initial sugar crash. Afterward I had a toN of energy. Now something I used to enjoy like candy is just way to sweet and I don't even want it. Stick with it, you'll feel better. I also lost about 10 pounds in a month getting rid of sugar.

@JustCallMeSliths I was the same as you, I was eating family sized chocolate bars every day. When I inhaled a whole box on top of that for Easter, I knew I was out of control.

I am now on day 19 of no chocolate. It gets better - I promise. Day 3 and 4 were the worse for me as I had withdrawal migraines.

I'm hoping giving up chocolate will help me lose weight!

For me sugar addiction was a thing too. I switched my family size bar of chocolate each night for a highlights hot chocolate with Agave instead of sugar and that helped.

I've always had a real problem with sugar, the only thing that worked was going low carb. If I lapse I get all bingey again. I still had over 75% chocolate though and probably too much of it.

I've posted about this before - but I think it's worth sharing with fellow chocaholics. Anyway, I read about a chocolate hypnosis track on here, and downloaded it, but never used it.

When I was struggling with insomnia I thought I’d try the relaxation exercises at the beginning of the track to switch off. It worked. I was snoring gently before chocolate was mentioned. I used it a few times and always fell asleep after the first introductory five to ten minutes, never got to hear anything about the evils of chocolate at all.

But a few weeks later I realised I hadn't eaten or even thought about chocolate. I walked past a Hotel chocolate when getting a train and I had mini bars of Green and Blacks in a drawer in the kitchen.

Totally weird. I do eat chocolate but MUCH less and I don't crave it. I'm totally cynical but I think it must have done something! I've still never heard it in full though because it always knocks me out!

The only reason I have eaten chocolate or cakes (and i've eaten a lot) is for emotional reasons. I have tried to cope by going zero sugar, but the problem is that that goes to pot when I need an emotional crutch. When I feel ok I find it very easy to not eat sugar.
What has really, really helped is Overeaters Anonymous. I know I've mentioned this in another thread, but it has helped me enormously to face my emotional connection with food.

Yes it is definitely real. I have been addicted to sugar/carbs since I was a child and it rules my life. I personally think it can be as harmful as alcohol and drug addiction but because it is socially accepted (and encouraged a lot of the time!) people just don’t understand how devastating it can be for some people. It is like having this out of control addiction that consumes your every thought but instead of it being taboo, you have to face it EVERYWHERE. People actively encouraging you to have ‘just a bit’ of what feeds your addiction.

It’s such a contradiction- people look down at you if you’re overweight and call you greedy and lazy but yet there is sugar everywhere you turn! Life with an addiction is really hard. Well done for cutting out chocolate (one of my biggest vices).

Bread is just as addictive for me, which makes sense as the body deals with it the same way. I don't have much of a sweet tooth but can eat endless amounts of toast and sandwiches. I've always been like this In fact I remember being about 6 and my dad asking what I wanted for my birthday breakfast and I said 6 slices of toast 😂
The only thing that worked for me weightlosswise is fasting. I do OMAD Monday - Friday and just eat 3 normal meals at the weekend. I couldn't give up bread entirely.

Is that because (I think) refined carbs are turned to sugar almost immediately, so, in a way, carbs is still a form of sugar addiction oyster?

I love a PP's idea of a low cal hot chocolate drink to help wean you off bars of choc. Does anyone else have any good alternatives for the gentler approach to cutting down? I'm the kind of hardcore addict who would NOT appreciate the classic "instead of some chocolate have carrot sticks and houmous" One day maybe, but I need to build up to it gradually! Big respect for those of you going cold turkey 💪

Thanks for posting , OP. Lots of useful replies here.