AIBU to tell you I’ve found the miracle cure for excessive sugar consumption

[Thewildthingsarewithme]

I am being unreasonable to post it here but I feel like it’s a public service announcement and should therefore be shared as widely as possible!
I have a really healthy diet with little to no processed food in my meals but I have a really terrible sugar addiction. Daily I would probably eat three or four chocolate bars, biscuits and a pudding and probably ice cream or a pastry as well. Because I’m naturally slim and eat well outside of this I’ve been kidding myself it’s ok but it’s really not.
I saw an instagram recipe for peanut butter stuffed dates. I bought some organic ones, filled them with 100% PB and rolled them in melted 80% dark chocolate. I know there is sugar in dates but it’s natural and the fibre in the dates means that your blood sugars don’t shoot up, the dark chocolate is also very low sugar. This has honestly been a miracle cure for me! I’m eating three a day. This has completely cured me of the urge for anything else with sugar in, they are so stodgy that I can’t actually eat more than three and they feel completely decadent. For the first time probably in my adult life I’m not craving sugar all day, I’ve had nothing but these dates for three weeks now and it’s actually feeing like a permanent change!
Just wanted to share because I thought I would never be able to kick the habit but I feel so much healthier!

Medjool dates are the best for this and though totally missing the point are even better with a small bit of marzipan rather than nut butter in the centre!

I do this too. I find peanut butter pretty good for satisfying that sweet urge as it's so filling.

I really feel your sweet craving pain OP. Like you, I eat little to no processed foods but have a shocking sweet tooth. And, like you, I've always been slim so have felt I can get away with it. I could easily eat 10 wispa bars in one sitting. I had to stop making flapjacks as I could easily eat the whole tray in one evening.

Unfortunately I hate dates. The only thing that helps me is buying chocolate with such a high cocoa content that I can only face a few squares, but even then I lose control sometimes. A 'dessert' I make sometimes is Skyr yogurt with granola on top. Or sometimes Skyr yogurt with a bit of maple syrup mixed in. It's quite filling because of the protein content.

Yes I agree with dates and peanut butter - dates for the sweetness and peanut butter great for hunger (although I have it on crackers). I also recommend montezumas sugar free dark chocolate (we mix it with sugar free muslei). Check your dark choc is low sugar because some bars are 80% cacao and 20% sugar. Dark chocolate often has lots of sugar in to make it less bitter.

Just to add that we love dates with an almond in, covered in dark chocolate here so I can imagine it would be great with peanut butter.

I have a really healthy diet with little to no processed food in my meals but I have a really terrible sugar addiction. Daily I would probably eat three or four chocolate bars, biscuits and a pudding and probably ice cream or a pastry as well.

This is a hilarious statement. Any diet with that much sweet stuff is a million miles from "really healthy"

The dates sound nice but would be high in calories.

They sound delicious. And I need to do the shopping, so may get some dates and dark chocolate.

Unfortunately this thread reminded me that I sent DS1 to the corner shop to get me some chocolate, and he came back with a multi pack of Flakes. One of which is still in the fridge...

Also, if you dont like dates, or the dates are too sweet, get whole almonds, spread out on a baking sheet, melt some dark chocolate, pour onto the almonds then sprinkle with a little sea salt. When it hardens smash it into bits with a rolling pin and put into a jar.

Sounds fab. Will try!

Ooh I like the sound of this. Chocolate almond brittle.

You can buy cherries covered in dark chocolate, I think the brand is Forest Feast. Delicious but very expensive.

peanut butter stuffed dates

Sorry but bleeuuurghhh 😁

In my physiology class at university, we did an experiment measuring blood sugar responses to assorted food items—how high blood glucose levels (BGLs) went and how long it took to return to normal. There were 10 test subjects for each food item. The date eaters' BGLs soared the highest and took the longest to return to baseline.

It's still more nutritious than chocolate bars, but the fibre really doesn't make that much difference to BGL response. Would have more impact on your bowels.

Ah - well you can make your own lush marzipan by grinding almonds with medjool dates. I do 1 date per 50 g almonds (remember to take out the stone - my blender highly recommendeds 😆), but depends how sweet you want it. Sometimes you may need to add a tiny bit of water too for the right texture. I don't even take the skin off the almonds - so easy. Yum!

If you want a pudding, just have a pudding. Maybe don't have a huge one, and maybe not every day

If only it was that simple for people with a sugar addiction (of which I am one)

@notofsoundmind I'm not laughing at your IBS but your reply did make me chuckle. 😁

They may be better for your overall health, but they wouldn't be a good choice for someone who is also trying to lose weight.

Following with interest. I'm a chocolate and sugar lover (I could eat a whole bar of Aldi fruit and nut at once) and even my plain yoghurt has to be liberally laced with maple syrup. I'm 55 kilo, but my cholesterol level is now shocking so I need all the help possible to kick this sugar habit! Help!!

These sound amazing but I'm allergic to dark chocolate! Might try peanut butter stuffed dates without the chocolate coating.

I’ve lost weight eating stuff like this.

It’s not so much the calories or sugar content or even about whether there’s additional nutritional benefits to the dates/ nuts really is it - it’s more of a mindset thing.

I’m someone who really struggles with sugar cravings and bingeing.

If I’m trying to lose weight and being more conscious about what I eat, and I want something sweet so I have a couple of dates stuffed with 100% peanut butter - they don’t trigger me to want to keep eating them in the same way as ‘just a small piece of chocolate’ would. They’re nice enough and sweet enough to satisfy that craving, but nobody is bingeing on frozen dates!

Plus by opting for these over a wispa say, I still feel like I’m making a ‘better’ and more healthy choice and therefore that deeply ingrained knee-jerk response of ‘oh sod it I’ve blown it now anyway’ thing doesn’t kick in.

I’ve done loads of work unpicking all this and I’m definitely more likely to be able to just have a wispa if I fancy it and stop there now than I was; but the dates are still a ‘safer’ choice for me anyway.

Great plan. I hate dark chocolate sadly. Dates are really high in sugar and pb is over 600cals per 100g. So it's energy dense and less processed which is awesome, and is satisfying. Problem is I'd probably binge on them a bit. But it's more filling than regular chocolate definitely.
I do a spoon of almond butter and a dried fig! Lol, pretty similar really.

@singlemum93 just slice and remove the stone and then fill with peanut butter and close 😊
@AliasGrape i feel this, I’m yet to be treated but if it can even manage the cravings the majority of the time that is a massive improvement!
@Purplepeopleeaterz medjool dates are definitely the best
@TwelveAngryWhiskers @Snippysocks i think it’s really difficult when you’re slim because you’re not actually seeing the physical effects of the sugar which I think makes it’s more difficult to kick the addiction

I consider myself to have a sugar addiction.

While I love dates, especially with marzipan and dark chocolate, I just cannot moderate my behaviour around anything sweet. Even if I can start to eat them in a controlled way, over time I find myself eating more and more and more different things, too.

Like many other addictions, cold turkey is the only thing that works for me. And brings unexpected benefits including having my tastes change so that unsweetened rhubarb with plain yoghurt tastes good and carrots appear unreasonable sweet. I'd rather keep than than wrestle having the occasional sweet meant.

I read this as 'I basically starve myself at meal times and then binge eat in the evenings to compensate for the lack of calories'.

Funnily enough, when I actually started eating a proper amount of calories and food, I stopped craving sugar without needing to resort to bullshit like this.

Dates definitely do spike your blood sugar. DH and I have been monitoring blood glucose with libre monitors and trying different foods. DH is mostly sugar free, and ate 2 dates as an experiment which caused a big spike.

@KreedKafer they are actually not bad, around 80 cals each and as @AliasGrape it’s about behaviours. Rightly or wrongly I see this as a ‘good’ food as it’s single ingredient and all components are seen as healthy I therefore feel more virtuous and am less likely to self sabotage versus if I eat free sugars like a crunchie I am more likely to binge as I’ve already been ‘bad’ not the best mindset to have around food but thanks noughties diet culture for that

Proper coco dampens sugar cravings as well..200 ml heated up milk, 1 teaspoon of coco, no added sugar.