Well, this has been an eye-opening experience

[pegkerr]

I have discovered, in the last three days, that I am really addicted to sugar. I particularly crave something sweet at midmorning, just after lunch, and just after dinner. I've stuck religiously to my resolve (so far), but it has been awfully difficult. I'm trying to string myself along with fruit, superior coffee and naturally sweet teas.

In a way, discovering the depth of my addiction has, oddly enough, strengthened my resolve, because I value self-control highly, and I don't want to "give in." There's also a simple intellectual curiousity. Will the cravings continue? Will they get worse? Will my sense of taste change, as I get used to less sugar? Will I eventually learn to be satisfied with things that are less sweet? Will I lose weight?

Or am I torturing myself for nothing?

Comments

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

Your taste will change, your cravings lessen. I find that when I really had sweet cravings if I ate something sour - pickles, olives, etc - the craving stopped.

Or brush your teeth, that can trick you ;)

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

You brush your teeth with something sweet ?

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

Toothpaste is minty fresh :) It makes your mouth all tingly.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I have also got that terrible training/addiction. Having had a meal, I want dessert. Mid-morning, not so much, but after lunch and dinner, I *completely* sympathize. I weaned myself off my daily cup of hot chocolate several years ago, and the first ten days or so were the worst, but after that I didn't miss the sweet nearly so much. I don't think the caffiene in it was sufficient to make much difference toward an addiction (although for the first week or so I had a terrible time staying awake). I think the cravings do go away, though, as long as you don't sabotauge (sp?) yourself partway through the breaking-the-cycle, er, cycle. Good luck!

[phoenixw.livejournal.com]

The cravings will fade. When I was diagnosed with diabetes I stopped eating processed sugar. I found that I became more responsive to naturally occuring sugars, and fruit became a real treat like sucrose was before.

You will probably lose weight because the last thing I read about dieting indicated that it doesn't matter what change you make, any attention you pay to what you eat will cause weight loss.

I've become a real fan of Splenda (sucralose). It doesn't have the weird after-taste of Equal (aspartame) and you can cook with it.

[corinnethewise.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if that's true, it's not true for me. I've been trying to watch what I eat, I've been counting calories, I've been doing daily exercizes for at least a half hour a day and my weight hasn't changed, I have actually increased the fat around my tummy and thighs. It's very discouraging. I was in better shape when I ate what I wanted and never worked out. There's something very wrong with that. And I've been doing this since March, so it's not a matter of no changes have been showing or anything.

[misia.livejournal.com]

YMMV with the Splenda -- to me it tastes of swimming-pool. But in general, yes, I have found that when I give up sugar (which I do periodically and need to do again) it takes me a few weeks for my system to calibrate. But I don't get cravings for it after the first week, which makes it easier.

Stevia powder's great stuff, incidentally, if you're looking for a non-sugar, noncaloric sweetener. And not weirdly chemically engineered a la Splenda, if that matters to you.

On Sugars, Carbohydrates and Fats

[jemyl.livejournal.com]

OOps! The sugar is bad police have been at it again! Refined sugars, true, are not as good for you as the sugars you are substitutiing, such as those in Fruits. The problem is, the sugar per se is not what puts the weight on. It is the CARBOHYDRATES, and, believe it or not, there are often more carbs in potatoes or pasta than in simple sugar. Instead of just eliminating all refined sugars, as in sweets and baked goods, it is important to begin reading the labels and checking out the carbohydrate and fat content of your choices. Cutting either carbohydrates or fats will result in weight loss, along with some exercise, of course. ( I once lost 43 pounds in 3 mos by eliminating all possible fats from my diet.) As you read the labels you will discover that as food manufacturers lower sugars or carbs they increase fats, and vice versa.

One of the biggest problems with sugars is with sweetened carbonated beverages and alcoholic beverages as both contain high levels of sugars and those sugars seem to go directly into the bloodstream very quickly. I have also noticed that the sugared drinks tend not to quench one's thirst quite as well so we all drink more of them than we do of those beverages without sugars, i.e. black cofee, unsweetened teas, water and diet drinks. Fruit juice is loaded with sugars. Fructose is still sugar to the body.

That you are learning to harness your craving for sweets is wonderful. What I have said above is meant to augment your great start, not diminish your great resolve and progress. It is possible to learn to like a diet which is high in protein and low in both simple sugars and saturated fats. It can be a low carb, low fat diet too, especially when you make your carbs complex ones which take longer to digest and break down into sugars in the body. Thus they burn more calories, or use more energy in their digestion.

You are changing your eating lifestyle. It can be fun! There are some great low sugar receipes available in modern diabetic cookbooks and a little magazine called Diabetic Cookiing which I dearly love, and No, I don't work for them!

[magentamn.livejournal.com]

Sugar is a craving, not an addiction. It's hardwired in, IMHO. As you eat less *processed* and concentrated sugar, you will be able to get along with less. It takes a while, but the only time I was ever able to actually lose weight was when I gave up refined sugar entirely. But don't give up fruit, no matter what the Atkins people say. It's too good for you and has too many necessary nutrients.

Chocolate, on the other hand, is an addiction, like coffee. I have been consciously addicted since I was 14, if not earlier. The first story I ever wrote was about being addicted to chocolate. I am finding that adding cocoa powder to milk, without adding sugar, will sometimes satisfy that addiction.

[vass]

I am finding that adding cocoa powder to milk, without adding sugar, will sometimes satisfy that addiction.

Reading this, I wonder if lightly dusting fruit (bananas or strawberries, for instance) with cocoa powder would also work.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I crave sweets, too; sometimes intensely. Do report back in a few days on how this is going, OK?

K. ['cause I'm really curious]

[vass]

Will the cravings continue? Will they get worse? Will my sense of taste change, as I get used to less sugar? Will I eventually learn to be satisfied with things that are less sweet? Will I lose weight?

Well, I've never done this, but I'm going to guess the cravings will lessen and you'll learn to be satisfied with things that are less sweet.

I'll be very interested to see how you get on, anyway.

[naomikritzer]

I haven't ever tried to give up sugar, but I did make a radical change to my diet last November: I gave up dairy. Kiera was a very colicky baby, and showed immediate improvement when I tried cutting dairy out of my diet. (Some colicky babies are sensitive to cow's milk protein in their mothers' diets.) So no milk, butter, cheese, or ice cream; I also read labels and avoid anything with casein or whey.

The motivation was surprisingly easy, and I'm never tempted to cheat: a baby who doesn't scream for hours every night is a heck of a motivator.

The effects on my diet patterns generally were kind of strange. Especially early on, I snacked much less, especially if I was away from home -- unless I was really hungry, it was just too much trouble to track down something I could eat. Also, it's much harder to eat out.

Although I was not tempted to cheat, I found myself feeling incredibly deprived over Christmas when I visited the in-laws and could literally not eat a single dessert. At home, I keep a stash of dairy-free chocolate chips to snack on any time I want a treat. In fact, my consumption of sugar has gone way up since I had to eliminate dairy: I used to reach for cheese and milk to satisfy late-night munchies, now I almost always reach for something sugary.

I've been losing weight steadily, but I'm breastfeeding, and for me that's Nature's Miracle Eat-Anything-And-Still-Lose-Weight Diet Plan.

Anyway. Dairy was a major part of my diet right up until last November 7th or so. The keys for me were finding substitutes for certain items. I drank milk every night with dinner; initially I switched to cider, and when cider season was over I switched to water. We rounded out a lot of our meals with bread and butter; now we eat pita and hummous. And I needed alternate treats to keep me from feeling deprived.

I would encourage you to eat a lot of fruits -- we're coming into summer now so a lot of good stuff is available. Even as someone who eats refined sugar, spring strawberries taste intensely sweet to me; so do pineapples and lots of other fruits. You might also try substituting some interesting/novel snack foods for your munchies times -- something that's good in a totally different way, like fresh popcorn with salt, or a little bit of good cheese on crackers.