Sugar addiction

[Sunshine8537]

I’m not a big eater but I am a terrible snacker and always go for quick fixes. I also like a cup of tea with a sugar in.

I need to stop! Any tips, advice. Healthy substitutes that will give me the same fix. Already dreading the headaches I’ll get when I come off it 😩

The trouble with substitute foods is that you become addicted to them instead as they are feeding the same neural pathways. It’s cold turkey, I’m afraid. The first few days will be tough, but it gets easier.

I’ve been sugar-free for 8 months now. No regrets. Though having said that - I do eat 85% dark chocolate, which has less than 3g of sugar in it per 2 squares. That doesn’t set me off, which milk chocolate (and of course cakes, biscuits, puddings etc) do.

Thats the criterion for me: can I eat a set amount, and stop, and NOT be obsessed with it until I eat it again.

I think I’m going to have to go cold turkey.
are there any foods you’d recommend to have to keep me full for longer. I think the issue with me is I don’t eat and then I need something quick which is usually sugar based.

I'm addicted to sugar as well and every now and then I need a reset.

Chewing gum can help me as can eating a piece of dark chocolate after dinner.
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The key to satiety is adequate protein and natural fat. Don’t buy into any of that low fat crap.

I eat natural whole foods - meat/fish/eggs, with loads of either salad (with olive oil and vinegar dressing,) or low carb vegetables (with butter). Then full fat plain Greek yogurt with either nuts and seeds, or some berries.

When you eat natural whole foods which are low in carbs, your body’s appetite control system works much better. If you eat this way, and listen to your body’s hunger and satiety signals, most people don’t overeat. You can of course override those signals for psychological reasons, e.g. for comfort or stress relief. But the signals themselves work for the vast majority of people, when the diet is right. It’s sugar and other highly processed carbs, along with industrially processed seed oils, which disrupt things and give you hunger signals which don’t correspond to physiological need.

Personally I include 2 squares of 85% or higher dark chocolate each day. There are lots of good things in it, and the tiny amount of sugar isn’t enough to set me off. That would have to be an individual experiment, though.

When I first went sugar free, I found I was compensating with other things - crisps, roasted nuts and peanut butter. Eventually I had to bin them all as well. I can still eat raw nuts, but need to watch the quantities.

Sugar is one of life’s great pleasures. Do you have to give it up? I eat 400 calories of chocolate every day (and puds when having meals out) but I know I use up about 2500 calories a day (active jobs, active dogs!) so it all evens out.

I started doing this when I lost a couple of stone (plus) a few years ago and have just kept it up.

I’d be a miserable cow without my chocolate (and crisps)🤣.

Sugar is one of life’s great pleasures.

So is alcohol. Some people can consume that at low to moderate levels. Others can’t.

Do you have to give it up?

You’re an adult, you get to make that decision for yourself. I’ve made it for myself.

I eat 400 calories of chocolate every day (and puds when having meals out) but I know I use up about 2500 calories a day (active jobs, active dogs!) so it all evens out.

You see, I couldn’t stick to 400 of calories of chocolate every day. It would accelerate. I’d be having that, AND the puds, AND the cake, AND the crisps, AND the biscuits.

But even if you’re not an addict (and remember, this thread is about sugar addiction), sugar causes metabolic harms very similar to alcohol. Fructose is metabolised by the liver (like alcohol), if taken at a level which exceeds the liver’s ability to metabolise it, it causes fat to be deposited within the liver (like alcohol), and eventually scarring, known as cirrhosis. Non alcoholic fatty liver disease, they call it - its numbers are ballooning, along with obesity and diabetes.

This is not just about sugar’s effect on weight. Sugar calories have a significantly greater impact on diabetes risk than the same number of calories from other sources. So even if it balances out from a weight perspective, it doesn’t from a health pov.

I started doing this when I lost a couple of stone (plus) a few years ago and have just kept it up.

Congratulations. Whenever I have tried to include a small amount of chocolate in my daily diet when losing a couple (or 3, or 4, or 5, or 6, or 7) stone a few (or 10, 20, 30, 40) years ago, my intake has accelerated, I’ve gone back to binge eating, and put all the weight back on.

Whereas since giving up sugar, my weight has been stable with a gentle downward trend, for 8 months now. The longest I’ve ever gone without piling it all back on.

I’d be a miserable cow without my chocolate (and crisps)🤣.

I was a miserable cow when I was morbidly obese, sweating, chafing, hiding in my room eating chocolate and crisps.

People are different, you know? I’m a sugar addict. If I try to include it in my life, I will be back there. I like my life better without sugar.

You? You’re either not a sugar addict (lucky you!). Or you are, and you’re in denial about it. Maybe you are, but are able to keep it in check to the point where the harms are minimal.

I don’t know the answer - not my circus, not my monkeys.

I’ve made my decision, and am happy with it.

Chill out, @PuzzledObserver , this is a discussion forum, and experiences and opinions will vary.
I was responding to the OP, btw, not you. Your post was too long to be bothered with.

@Tutorpuzzle Ah, fair enough - it wasn’t obvious to me that you were responding to the OP.

As you say, experiences will vary….. which I acknowledged. But since the OP is the one who named the thread Sugar Addiction, she appears to think that the moderation approach isn’t working for her.