Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

There is no such thing as sugar addiction.

81 replies

Cozytoesandtoast00 · 25/07/2023 19:54

If I read or here this again, I will scream.
I am a sugar addict. I cannot control myself around the substance but frequently trick myself into believing that I can have a little on special occasions. I can't. This thinking leads to sugar binge eating.
I've just eaten four ice-cream's. A bag of chocolate chips, spoons of maple syrup and lots of biscuits. I would have eaten more but all the other sweet stuff has been hidden by my husband (at my request) I don't binge on anything else.
I've previously eaten my children's Easter eggs, S'more sets which were meant for camping and ingredients for a granola recipe for my children.
Once I start, I can't stop.
I've just finished searching the house for the hidden chocolate and have given up.
I'm now crashing on sugar and feel hopeless and depressed.
It wasn't always like this. I gave up for 30 days once and felt amazing. I didn't even want anything sweet and felt like I'd conquered this obsession. I then had a slice of cake at a birthday party and the hell spiral continues.
I'm now crying. I'm going on holiday tomorrow and know I won't have the strength to say no.
I lost a lot of weight on Ozempic but now I'm going back to my old ways.
If anyone has any words of wisdom. I would really appreciate it.
Thanks x

OP posts:
Original poster
Cozytoesandtoast00 · 25/07/2023 20:15

bellac11 · 25/07/2023 20:10

I wouldnt advise it

You need to prep like its a job interview or a military operation, so enjoy the holiday, get home, get everything prepped in the kitchen, foods you're going to turn to and need to fuel yourself with, plan it all out and then start

Show quote history

I see what you mean but I can eat a lot of food in two weeks!
I was in the normal weight range after Ozempic but I'm now edging into the overweight category again. This is making me terribly anxious about my holiday.

OP posts:
Original poster
Cozytoesandtoast00 · 25/07/2023 20:16

bellac11 · 25/07/2023 20:06

https://www.youtube.com/user/DrMatthewWeiner/videos

This bloke is really inspirational, there are lots of videos but he does 6 parts of his weight loss programme and the sugar one is eye opening.

Show quote history

I will have a look. Thank you.

OP posts:
Original poster
Cozytoesandtoast00 · 25/07/2023 20:18

NeverDropYourMooncup · 25/07/2023 20:13

Don't have it in the house. If the kids want something sweet, they go on a walk with their father and buy it/eat it outside. Might reduce the number of times they have it and they'll learn sweets/ice cream/cake/biscuits aren't compulsory every single day - despite what they learn from school dinners.

It's a lot harder to binge when it's going to involve getting up, getting dressed, going out of the house, finding somewhere open, choosing what you want, waiting at the till, paying for it and then eating it - and the emotions that have largely triggered this urge can dissipate in that period.

However, eating higher protein snacks is very good for curbing cravings for sugar - for some reason, whilst it's possible to eat sweet stuff almost without ever feeling satisfied (albeit all the way up to feeling sick), eggs, cheese, etc, are very good at filling the hole in your feelings that you try to cram with sugar.

You still need carbs, as completely avoiding them can also trigger a binge at the first taste of sweetness - it's a human instinct/response - but carbs like potatoes, rice and fruit, rather than Haribo and Magnums.

Thank you.
We did have a rule of no junk in the house and I think I'll have to go back to that.

OP posts:
Weefreetiffany · 25/07/2023 20:19

You wouldn’t believe the amount of people who suffered emotional neglect as children who have binge eating, perfectionist, people pleasing strategies as a coping mechanism in adult hood. Can you explore this with a therapist? Or just have a Google around childhood emotional neglect and see if it rings any bells for you. The binging is just a symptom and once addressed you will find the need to binge disappears and you can just enjoy sugar like a normal person without all the guilt trip bs. Good luck op, you deserve to fix this and feel better x

Original poster
Cozytoesandtoast00 · 25/07/2023 20:25

Weefreetiffany · 25/07/2023 20:19

You wouldn’t believe the amount of people who suffered emotional neglect as children who have binge eating, perfectionist, people pleasing strategies as a coping mechanism in adult hood. Can you explore this with a therapist? Or just have a Google around childhood emotional neglect and see if it rings any bells for you. The binging is just a symptom and once addressed you will find the need to binge disappears and you can just enjoy sugar like a normal person without all the guilt trip bs. Good luck op, you deserve to fix this and feel better x

I was emotionally neglected as a child and left home when I'd just turned 16. I remember using sugar (and drugs!) as a coping mechanism. I was quite a troubled young person.
Therapy didn't really work for me and I found it traumatic at times. Maybe it's something I should return to. Thank you.

OP posts:
LuluGuinea · 25/07/2023 20:27

Another one here with a BED diagnosis among other things. Sugar and carbs are my worst triggers. I find it hard to not omit foods from my diet and tend to be very all or nothing, either dieting or bingeing. What complicates this for me is I have PCOS, Hidradenitis Supparativa, type 2 diabetes and a number of mental health issues. So sugar is poison to me anyway I also have times where I have to make myself eat, shower, get out of bed.

The only thing I found helped for any length of time was a combination of Overeaters Anonymous and doing Dialectical Behavioural Therapy for the trauma and PD issues that are linked to why I binge. I've been bad lately again since I left OA, (I had a brilliant sponsor and was going to meetings then during lockdown I lost her and never felt confident enough to find someone else!) But when I was working the programme and being honest with my sponsor it worked.

I need to go back . I know what I need to do but doing it...ugh....I have the knowledge. It's the motivation I need.

MsNevertherefirst · 25/07/2023 20:40

I used to be like this. I decided I needed to fix it or I would be like that for life.

I decided to focus on getting back in touch with my hunger and being satiated ( completely lost touch with that). I decided no foods were off limits, but I did regulate what I ate - so three meals, eaten off small plates, and if I needed a snack it was things like oatcakes, nuts, raisins. If I fell off the wagon I saw that as part of the process, not as a failure, and got back on the wagon. I did not keep sweet things in the house and if I were at my boyfriend's I made him lock them up. I knew this was a long term process. If I had those awful cravings for sugar I kept telling myself that nothing bad was going to happen if I did not give in to that craving, that it was just a feeling.

It took a year but it worked. That was over two decades ago and I can have chocolate or whatever in the house now without binging on it. My taste buds have changed anyway so I don't like excessively sweet things anymore.

I don't think there was an emotional or psychological reason why I was eating like this. I think I had just fucked up my body's natural ability to regulate my appetite by pumping it full of excess amounts of sugar and crap. Once I cleared all the effects of that out, it was able to self- regulate again.

MsNevertherefirst · 25/07/2023 20:45

And I guess even if you have had trauma, and eat sugar as a response to that, you will still have fucked up the body's ability to self-regulate by doing so. So it still needs to get back to being able to do that.

unsync · 25/07/2023 20:59

Try Slimpod, after five weeks (I think) you get the sugarpod.

MatchaTea · 25/07/2023 21:07

I see it more as a processed food addiction. Sugar on its own, straight from the bag in the pantry, would be a sugar addiction. Have you ever eaten sugar with a spoon? Do you open the fridge , grab the jam jar, and empty it with your fingers?

Sugar on its own without fat isn't that appealing. Combine it with cream, you get ice-cream, with solid fat and cacao and you have chocolate, butter and flour you get cake and so on .
Same with the "carb addiction" . Potatoes without fat be it butter or oil, not so tasty. Pasta without the cheese or butter.
This is why low carb and low-fat work, because by removing one macro from the equation, the food isn't as addictive .

This said, do we get comfort from food, absolutely, but the sugar addiction is widely used to describe something else. Being conscious of it, might help overcome it.

Stones123 · 25/07/2023 21:10

Hey there. We have a thread to support us to take our sugar cravings one day at a time. You’d be more than welcome to join us. I’ll dig out the thread.

Moonlightsonatas · 25/07/2023 21:12

MatchaTea · 25/07/2023 21:07

I see it more as a processed food addiction. Sugar on its own, straight from the bag in the pantry, would be a sugar addiction. Have you ever eaten sugar with a spoon? Do you open the fridge , grab the jam jar, and empty it with your fingers?

Sugar on its own without fat isn't that appealing. Combine it with cream, you get ice-cream, with solid fat and cacao and you have chocolate, butter and flour you get cake and so on .
Same with the "carb addiction" . Potatoes without fat be it butter or oil, not so tasty. Pasta without the cheese or butter.
This is why low carb and low-fat work, because by removing one macro from the equation, the food isn't as addictive .

This said, do we get comfort from food, absolutely, but the sugar addiction is widely used to describe something else. Being conscious of it, might help overcome it.

I have eaten sugar straight from the jar, I have eaten golden syrup straight from the tin, I have eaten cake icing on its own straight from a block. I would eat entire bags of sweets. I know I’m doing it to get a dopamine hit to fill the void but just can’t stop.

LemonLight · 25/07/2023 21:14

Do you like fruit? I feel like I am a sugar addict I would eat a whole pack of maryland cookies for breakfast, somehow my metabolism kept up, I wasn't getting very good nutrition and was super underweight but as I've hit my 30s I've had to make a lot of changes and take better care of myself. I can get my sugar fix from apples oranges nectarines and bananas now but if I have a piece of cake or chocolate I have to put effort into not eating way beyond a normal amount. Maybe try to transition yourself to fruit? It's still very sugary but it's an improvement!

AllOfThemWitches · 25/07/2023 21:14

Not quite the same but I get really intense sugar cravings when my period is due. Apparently there is no science behind it, we just want 'comfort' food when we feel like shit. Except it's often one of the first signs of PMS for me and I literally dream about eating sugary things during this time. I can well believe it's addictive.

LemonLight · 25/07/2023 21:15

Oh man now I am craving cake and sweeties and cookies!!! 😂

MatchaTea · 25/07/2023 21:15

Then you @Moonlightsonatas fit the sugar addict description but most people do not.

Original poster
Cozytoesandtoast00 · 25/07/2023 21:18

MatchaTea · 25/07/2023 21:07

I see it more as a processed food addiction. Sugar on its own, straight from the bag in the pantry, would be a sugar addiction. Have you ever eaten sugar with a spoon? Do you open the fridge , grab the jam jar, and empty it with your fingers?

Sugar on its own without fat isn't that appealing. Combine it with cream, you get ice-cream, with solid fat and cacao and you have chocolate, butter and flour you get cake and so on .
Same with the "carb addiction" . Potatoes without fat be it butter or oil, not so tasty. Pasta without the cheese or butter.
This is why low carb and low-fat work, because by removing one macro from the equation, the food isn't as addictive .

This said, do we get comfort from food, absolutely, but the sugar addiction is widely used to describe something else. Being conscious of it, might help overcome it.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I can eat cups of maple syrup. I can actually feel the rush of sugar afterwards. Then I feel shit and want some more.
I would rather eat chocolate but can eat things straight out of a jar if nothing else is available.

OP posts:
Original poster
Cozytoesandtoast00 · 25/07/2023 21:20

LemonLight · 25/07/2023 21:14

Do you like fruit? I feel like I am a sugar addict I would eat a whole pack of maryland cookies for breakfast, somehow my metabolism kept up, I wasn't getting very good nutrition and was super underweight but as I've hit my 30s I've had to make a lot of changes and take better care of myself. I can get my sugar fix from apples oranges nectarines and bananas now but if I have a piece of cake or chocolate I have to put effort into not eating way beyond a normal amount. Maybe try to transition yourself to fruit? It's still very sugary but it's an improvement!

I can eat fruit once I've given up sugar for a period of time but otherwise fruit just triggers a sugar craving.

OP posts:
Original poster
Cozytoesandtoast00 · 25/07/2023 21:20

Stones123 · 25/07/2023 21:19

Took me a bit to find it but here it is

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/general_health/4845280-im-going-sugar-free-for-seven-days-anyone-up-for-giving-it-a-go?page=1

As I said, you’re very welcome to join us (as is anyone reading this). X

Thank you, I will do.

OP posts:
Lottle · 25/07/2023 21:23

Please please read/listen Ultra processed People by Chris van Tulleken it will change your life.

Original poster
Cozytoesandtoast00 · 25/07/2023 21:23

MsNevertherefirst · 25/07/2023 20:40

I used to be like this. I decided I needed to fix it or I would be like that for life.

I decided to focus on getting back in touch with my hunger and being satiated ( completely lost touch with that). I decided no foods were off limits, but I did regulate what I ate - so three meals, eaten off small plates, and if I needed a snack it was things like oatcakes, nuts, raisins. If I fell off the wagon I saw that as part of the process, not as a failure, and got back on the wagon. I did not keep sweet things in the house and if I were at my boyfriend's I made him lock them up. I knew this was a long term process. If I had those awful cravings for sugar I kept telling myself that nothing bad was going to happen if I did not give in to that craving, that it was just a feeling.

It took a year but it worked. That was over two decades ago and I can have chocolate or whatever in the house now without binging on it. My taste buds have changed anyway so I don't like excessively sweet things anymore.

I don't think there was an emotional or psychological reason why I was eating like this. I think I had just fucked up my body's natural ability to regulate my appetite by pumping it full of excess amounts of sugar and crap. Once I cleared all the effects of that out, it was able to self- regulate again.

Thank you. This is helpful.
I can see this going on forever unless I find a solution.
I'm 46 and it's been going on for years.

OP posts:
Annaishere · 25/07/2023 21:23

I don’t know why you said there’s no such thing as sugar addiction then outlined how you’re addicted to it but I agree. Everything carbohydrate is sugar and it’s not a drug it’s good we need to function

Annaishere · 25/07/2023 21:24

food

bellac11 · 25/07/2023 21:28

Annaishere · 25/07/2023 21:23

I don’t know why you said there’s no such thing as sugar addiction then outlined how you’re addicted to it but I agree. Everything carbohydrate is sugar and it’s not a drug it’s good we need to function

I think you've misunderstood the OP