What are you top tips to help with sugar cravings ?

[Moonlight1972]

I’m about to go cold turkey and stop consuming sugar. If it gets to intense how do you override the wave of craving ?

Why do you want to deny yourself?

Why not just have small amounts of natural sugar like fruit x

I need to know this . I have been on diets that say replace sweet things with fruit but it just does not work when I want a flipping biscuit!

Following, I have a major sugar addiction

The butterscotch sugar free sweets from Aldi in little cardboard boxes at the counter. 12 cals each and a couple take the edge off.

I periodically do this, I have no off-switch for sugar so it’s all or nothing! I find the first week hard and then it gets easier. There are particular points in the day when cravings really peak (mid morning, right after lunch) and if I can push through them then I am ok. Try and get sugary food out of the house as much as possible to remove temptation. Also, I don’t exclude whole, natural sugars so will have some fruit (not juiced) or something milky like a latté which helps a bit. Good luck! It is worth it, I feel so much better off sugar.

Put a stick of cinnamon into a heat-safe glass and infuse with boiling hot water. You can chill it if you prefer, it’s a really nice drink and cuts cravings. Works for me, anyway. (Use Ceylon not cassia)

@MonicaBingaling I cant do moderation so I need to stop completely! I saw tips saying, go for a walk, have a hot shower - these are possible during the week end but not when I’m working !

Thank you all for getting back to me and I’m writing a list of all the tips I’m given ! Thank you again and keep them coming !

Tell yourself you can have it later. So if it’s 2pm say to yourself if I really still want it at 4 I can have it. Normally by 4 it will have reduced. Good luck!

Switching from white bread helped me. I still have cravings but eat fruit or fig marmelade on crisp bread with cheese. That is my sugary snack now and I can manage the cravings and lose weight.

My husband got the fig stuff from work and I am devastated that I have eaten the lot. I will try Usedup's trick now - thanks!

I did this a few months ago, and have done it in the past.

No specific rules, I just cut out anything with a lot of added sugar, and sweet things. I don't exclude fruit.

I find eating quite a bit more fat for a few days at the start helps. Avocado, sugar free peanut butter, mayonnaise etc.

The cravings are usually completely gone after about 10 days.

I quit in March just before the schools went back. I’ve quit all processed food and sugar. Cooking from scratch avoiding ready meals.

I think I’d reached a point health wise as it had to be done, I was getting headaches and other pre diabetic symptoms. So actually found it ok.

Have a good breakfast, breakfast is the hardest, sometimes I’ll have fruit and natural yoghurt, omelets are good, I do have a no sugar muesli from Waitrose where the only sugar is the dried fruit but I don’t find that as addictive as biscuits etc. Where we are all WFH I’ve been doing cooked lunch which definitely helps more than sandwiches etc.

My trigger point is afternoon, where I would happily sit and munch through whole bags of crap. I’ve curbed this by staying more active and drinking tea or eating an orange. The worst time for me is crisps and wine time in the evening. Now I’ll just have a cuppa but the dog got lots of walks to start with.

I did get withdrawal headaches, that went on for 3 weeks but the last week may have been the covid jab.

The other question is : have you lost weight by cutting sugar ?

I am like you. Can’t stop once I start. I have lost a LOT of weight doing keto diet. (10.5 stones) - So no sugar at all. Every time I have fallen off the wagon, my weight has gone back up pretty damn fast, so I now say that I live a keto lifestyle. (Bleurgh! How American Influencer do I sound??? Couldn’t be further from the truth!) I would suggest that you try and avoid artificially sweetened things as much as you can (sweets, soft drinks, etc.) as they are proven to stimulate the craving for sweet foods, plus if you binge on them, they can give you incredible diarrhea. You need to ensure that you are drinking enough water. Distract yourself with that. Throw in some fruit tea bags if you’re desperate. Even some frozen berries, etc. (Just don’t eat them until you know you’ve really ditched the cravings.) Make sure you have easy to grab, high-nutrition snacks (hummus if you’re not counting carbs, tzatziki if you are) crudités cut up and ready to go. Boiled eggs in the fridge, etc. Remove all temptation from your house if you can. Try and log everything you eat as you go. I use MyFitnessPal (just the free version), but there are plenty of apps. I always found the first three days hell, then by three weeks it just wasn’t a thing anymore. I didn’t think about sugar (or carbs). If you are cutting out carbs, try and have some sugar-free electrolyte replacement drinks available for the 3pm tired time during the first week or so. This should help you avoid the headaches and dry tongue.

You just have to decide you're not having it. Once you're "ready" it's not that hard and by a week in you stop wanting it. I find it easier if I also "decide" not to snack, as that's when I eat most of the refined sugar.

I still have fruit though, but only as part of a meal. Really luxurious thick plain greek yogurt with some fruit and/or nuts is my treat dessert.

Make a carrot and Apple salad, with raisins and mixed nuts. It's filling, low Gi, and has just enough sugar in it to satisfy the sugar cravings while still being healthy.
And a whole tub has fewer calories than a Twix

What specifically are you going to miss?

I was diagnosed borderline diabetic type 2 so I cut out all 'added' sugar (did you know they even put sugar in hummus!). So I just stopped buying anything with 'sugar' listed in the ingredients. That was the easy bit. The hard bit was resisting obvious stuff like biscuits and chocolate.

Anyway - if there was no sugar in the house I couldn't eat it. I went cold turkey zero sugar for over a month then it was easy and I didn't miss it. I was amazed at how sweet things like milk began to taste. After a few more months I'd lost over a stone.

I found some snacks I could make which had zero sugar but had honey in them (natural organic honey, unprocessed - bought from local bee-keepers). And I still ate fruit.

there's enough natural sugar in things like fruit, milk etc so I still satisfied my sweet cravings. I think any new diet just needs to be a simple to follow as possible, so by just avoiding added sugar the diet was easy to follow.

after a year my blood tests came back normal.

@FreeBritnee chocolate and sweets will be the things I miss

Not the same as some of the ideas above, but I was addicted to sugar and recently went cold turkey. I try having a cup of tea every time I want biscuits etc. We also don’t have any sweet treats in the house. I’m down 3.5kgs in 3 weeks.

@Moonlight1972

The other question is : have you lost weight by cutting sugar ?

I started March 6 have lost just over 2 stone.

Definitely a couple of squares of at least 70% dark chocolate takes the edge off. Cheese and nuts are a good snack too or an apple and some sugar free peanut butter. An ice pop sometimes does the trick for me too.

[quote Moonlight1972]@FreeBritnee chocolate and sweets will be the things I miss[/quote]
Sweets are just terrible for your teeth/gums/health so just knock that shit on the head. Chocolate you can still eat, just eat the really dark variety with 80% plus cacao.

I use very small amounts of Xylitol daily. Maybe half a teaspoon. It’s the closest taste to sugar I’ve found. Otherwise I still eat dairy which has a natural sweetness to it. Fruit very occasionally. I predominantly eat low carb and just don’t get the cravings now.

Also, for the first week or two, don’t deny yourself anything else, so eat what you like other than sugar. That’s enough to deal with initially. Once you are off sugar the rest is much, much easier anyway as the insulin spikes won’t be messing with your appetite.

@Cuppatea14

Also, for the first week or two, don’t deny yourself anything else, so eat what you like other than sugar. That’s enough to deal with initially. Once you are off sugar the rest is much, much easier anyway as the insulin spikes won’t be messing with your appetite.

Completely agree with this, also feeling proper hunger pangs is weird as with snacking I was never ever hungry just ate a meal because you should, probably to counteract the crap I’d be eating with nutritious stuff.