…to ask if anyone’s successfully beaten a sugar addiction

[NellesVilla]

Hi all,

I’ve been on here many a time lamenting my weight issues. Now I’m virtually pre-diabetic and really need to take action.

It goes without saying that I’m verging on obese which is a shame as I was previously slim and active.

I don’t like to admit this irl but I am absolutely addicted to sugar. I can’t get enough. I particularly like vegan marshmallows, chocolate and any type
of cake or biscuit. I can’t get enough of this stuff- particularly the marshmallows which are like my medicine. Awful. Can’t believe I just typed that.

When I try to go without, I manage 1-2 days, before retreating to a private space to ravish and ravage a cake. I can demolish a family-sized lemon meringues or pavlova with no problem. For ref, think girl in Insatiable on Netflix when on a truly horrendous binge.

It’s actually disgusting and I disgust myself. But I am being truthful and need to do something; but what? Restricting? Cold turkey? Slowly reducing? Tried them all.

Does anyone have any methods that work? I don’t smoke, drink or have any other vices. And before anyone suggests the low carb diets, I am a vegetarian.

I have an extremely critical family who don’t help but regularly berate me for my weight and generally society is very judgemental, but I honestly just want to be healthier.

Thanks in advance, for any ideas.

Like PP I cut out food types but made sure I had something to replace it with otherwise you just sit there thinking about what you cant have!
I cut out as much processed carbs as possible but added in extra proteins in meals so wasnt hungry eg humous and veg sticks for snacks, lentils & beans in cooking, eggs for breakfast.
Anytime I had a sweet craving I would have grapes/banana/blueberries/dried fruit as although they have sugar, it’s natural and takes longer to break down so doesnt cause as much of a intense sugar spike.
Also no fizzy drinks - I swapped for sparkling water so I could still have something cold and carbonated!

The more I cut out the less processed sugary stuff I felt like eating so it got easier the more I kept going.

It helps to know why you eat like this. I do this when I am v stressed. My h left and I started mainlining ice cream . I got very fat but I was kind to myself and accepted where I was and when I was ready I started intermittent fasting which helps me reduce cravings. Good luck op and in reference to your original post you still are attractive.

I've not struggled the way you do so my advice is limited through lack of experience. Most of my family struggle with this and I'm lucky that i haven't. However, as I've aged i find the festive eating of sweets daily does generate a need that is harder and harder to wrestle back each January, etc. A long time ago i had a few health problems, I had been on long term antibiotics and it messed my system up so badly i thought i had ME, my skin was a wreck, i couldn't get rest and i looked anaemic but wasn't. A colleague lent me a book called something like The Candida Diet. I'm no scientist and I might be misremembering, but my take away was that candida grows in the gut (and elsewhere obvs) and feeds off sugar, hence the craving. This might be really screwy non-science, i don't know, but the idea helped me. It wasn't me, it was the gross candida in my system! I did the diet for a few months. My skin cleared, i got my energy back. Every now and then when i fell sluggish i go back to that diet for a few weeks. If you're interested you can probably Google it. Also there's a great book called GUT that's really informative. Our psychology and our guts are closely linked!

Hi OP

I have been on Saxenda for 10 weeks and have lost nearly 2 stone. I was the same as you, could easily demolish a cake that served 8, massive bars of chocolate and anything else sweet I could get my hands on… every single night.

It seems to have switched off the part of my brain that craves sugar. I’ve also binned all the diet foods to get myself out of the restrict/binge cycle and eat what I want when I’m hungry.

I’m an emotional eater and had nearly given up hope of ever being able to eat normally!

Cold turkey works. However - I’ve only managed this due to having crohns and after a flare up I physically can’t eat for a day or two and then coming out of it - hey presto I don’t crave sugar anymore (I crave fat and meat which tells me something about what the body needs when you’re starving). I always creep back into the bad old ways of sugar eventually! I appreciate having the will power to actually do cold turkey in the first place is the hardest part, but … it will work. It’s an addiction like you say so you just need to get it out of your system. I’d speak to people who have stopped smoking maybe??

How old are you? I had a massive sweet tooth, disappeared when I went on HRT

I started by cutting sweet treat/dessert after dinner, to every other day. I then alternated what I had during the day too. This is the refined sugars.

I built this up, so now I have 'sugar sundays'. I still fall off the sugar bandwagon, but at least now I know what to do.

I limited the sweeter fruits like mango, that I absolutely love, to a couple of times a month. I switched to at least 85% dark choc as its so bitter, I don't eat more than a square, but it's enough to feel like I've had something bad.

Generally, I've tried to make it as sustainable as I can, because it needed to become my new lifestyle.

I used to think I was addicted to sugar but like pp, it was ultra processed food. You don’t feel deprived if you replace with non-upf sugar so it’s pretty painless, it just breaks the cycle of always wanting more.

Ok so the best I can offer is:

Don't start off like a diet - trying to stop sugar AND reduce overall food intake at the same time is incredibly hard.

So buy in lots of food you like - except sugar & white carbs. Avoid artificial sweeteners but allow yourself whole fruits (not juice or fruit concentrates which are just sweetener in reality).

For at least 2 weeks - when you get cravings, eat. Just not sugar. Don't worry about how much you are eating just stick to avoiding sugar and white carbs, including where its hidden in things like condiments.

I find it helps to have things like nuts to snack on.

So for me a day starting out might be:

• porridge for breakfast. I make it with whole milk so its creamy and satisfying.

• snacks: nuts, charcuterie, salad eg raw carrots, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, beetroot, peppers, celery, unsweetened yoghurt, berries,
• lunch: brown bread toast & boiled eggs
• snacks: as before
• dinner: homemade curry with blitzed cauliflower instead of rice
• dessert: yoghurt and fruit

The key is not to try and restrict intake initially in terms of volume, just focus and axing the sugar!!

For me I was being diagnosed with diabetes. It took that shock and fear to motivate me! The good news is 6 months on I'm back in normal blood sugar range without any medication and over 2 stone lighter.

I've done it by cutting out high sugar foods / treats altogether, switching to wholegrain carbs and eating a low carb diet (but nowhere near Keto, about 60 - 100 g carbs a day - I initially kept track on my fitness pal). I allow myself 85% or sometimes 70% dark choc (i think the 100% stuff is horrific!) - that and too much peanut butter are the only things keeping my going! It's hard at times- I miss really carby meals like pizza, burger and chips, massive bowls of pasta etc, and the ease of just buying sandwiches for lunch, but I do allow myself small quantities of those things. I don't crave the sweet stuff nearly as much as I thought i would once I'd got past first week or so, but my health issues did motivate me in a way I've never been before.

I'm not sure how easy it would be to stick to my levels without eating meat, cheese and eggs, but worth a try. Or, one of my friends is doing a diet aimed at overcoming disordered eating which cuts out refined sugar and wheat flour altogether. Can't remember what it's called sorry, but that makes sense to me as I think those are the most addictive and least nutritionally valuable carbs, but you can still have potatoes, oats, rice etc to fill up - maybe that would help?

Start with mindset. Maybe EFT and hypnosis, I use them for all sorts of things now and find they really help if listened to regularly.

I had to cut as much carb (including bread, pasta, noodles, rice and potatoes) as possible to stop the cravings. I have low cal tonic for my gin, and 85/90% dark chocolate for time of the month, if the craving hits, but that's rare now. I've even dropped sweetner from my tea and coffee which I wouldn't have thought possible before. Essentially remove all processed foods from your diet, cook from scratch (easier than you'd think) and start from there. It's not a cure all, but it can make a huge difference to resetting your body's metabolism. All I can say is it was the right option for me.

Apologies I didn't read properly and missed that you're veg. It's still possible to do low carb by using different fats to keep you feeling full. I just couldn't stay full with carb, and ate more and more till I found myself still eating after 10pm. I would strongly suggest finding a way to do low carb, reset your metabolism and palate. Be aware fruit sugars can also be a trigger.

Cold turkey. If you go straight away to zero sugar and eg don’t even have the breakfast cereals that add it (amazingly most of them) then after a few days you will stop craving it. But those few days are hard. And it gets awkward socially when people try to give you sugary stuff.

I have done it, same reasons as you - was getting v fat and was pre-diabetic. Been sugar free for about 5 months now and the weight is beginning to come off.

Eating stuff that releases glucose slowly (like oats) also helps.

Agree that no/low-UPF is the way to go. I go by the rule of thumb that I can have anything I want as long as I make it myself! Homemade cake/biscuits are much more satisfying and less bingeable than mass-produced ones - hell even if you stick just to “good” bakery or cafe ones rather than supermarket packet stuff you’ll be better off. They’re not any lower in calories but calories are a red herring. They just don’t trigger the same responses in the body. I have a slice of homemade cake and it’s like “yeah that’s nice” and I’m done. I don’t care about having more, don’t think about it, wouldn’t even want it if it was offered.

I’m currently reading The Glucose Revolution and following the author on Instagram (glucosegodess) about flattening glucose spikes which can lead to cravings, feeling crap and health issues. Really interesting to read how much “health” food is actually the opposite and also how to take back control.

You have to get to 3 days, after that it's easy :) 👍

Yes, both my stepdad and my gran (on the other side of the family). My stepdad was a fiend for cake, sweet pastries, chocolate, sweet drinks. He went completely cold turkey for about 6 months (including drinks, yoghurt with sugar, etc.) and he said after 3 weeks or so, he didn't even want it any more. Now he'll eat something with sugar occasionally, but he doesn't crave it any more.

My gran I think just went consciously more moderate on it, but whatever she did also obviously worked. This woman used to sprinkle sugar over her salad!

Shahroo Izadi's books OP - 'The kindness method' and 'the last diet'. She is an NHS addiction specialist who overcame her own compulsive binge eating and her approach is so lovely.

Alternatively go hardcore keto. You will get withdrawal headaches and craving like crazy the first week but once you break it it's actually quite easy, and you'll be amazed how sugary everything tastes afterwards. A carrot will suddenly be incredibly sweet and fruit almost disgustingly sickly.

Bakery and coffee shop products are unfortunately just as likely to be UPF. You really need to read the label (or make it yourself).

I'm in the same boat.

I drink a lot of tea with 3 sugars in each cup, chocolate, biscuits, it hasn't impacted on my weight as it stops me eating proper food.

I open the fridge for a healthy snack and take chocolate for lunch.

Even if I could ditch the obvious sugary foods.

Trying to do this at the moment! Not finding it too hard to say no to cakes, biscuits etc but I can feel the cravings are there. I’ve been snacking on nuts and no added sugar yoghurts, things like that.

If your body is craving something it's because it's deficient in some other nutrients.
Your body is built for self preservation.
You must eat a a well balanced diet
A human is a meat eater - we have incisor teeth.
Try eating good meat protein everyday and see the difference

I did when I was 16.

I had (then undiagnosed) PCOS and suddenly had raging sugar cravings. They were insane. I remember dreaming about M&S birthday cake. I ate family sized bars of Cadbury fruit and nut daily. I couldn't just have one biscuit, I had to have the whole packet. It was honestly an addiction - that's how bad the cravings were.

I went on a beach holiday with a friend for two weeks to start - we had one ice cream a day, and being distracted (and constantly in a bikini) helped with the cravings.

When I went home the cravings had really lessened and I intuitively started what was basically a low carb paleo diet - fruit, vegetables, protein, nuts, pulses, and limited whole grains. I stopped eating at 6pm.

I did that for around 6 months before relaxing my diet, and I've never again had sugar issues like I did then.

I have many times but it always creeps back in. At the moment I can go 1 or 2 days without thinking about a fix. Get enough sleep because I always crave it more when I'm tired. Try IF. It will be hard initially but it does help with cravings.