Sugar

cara92marie

Anyone else have a problem with eating too much sugar? I grew up eating a lot of sweets and wasn't taught healthy eating habits. I was never anywhere near overweight growing up either. But now that I'm trying to make healthier eating choices, I'm finding it extremely difficult to stay away from sweets. I'd say 60% of my diet is sweets. I've heard that after a couple weeks of abstaining from them, you don't crave them as much anymore. Is this true? And anyone have tips or tricks to help me kick the sugar cravings?

Lobsters25

Yes, cravings decrease over time.  For me, it sometimes has to be an 'all or nothing' mentality when I am craving it (meaning if I have a tiny bit, I need tons, but if I can keep myself away, I find I really don't need any.)

I also recommend baking some fun stuff at home using honey or agave.  You can get the sweet without all of the sugar.  I just made dark chocolate chip cookies using no butter and added sugar, aside from the bit in the chips, and they came out great and completely satisfied my sweet tooth.

firsttimersluck

ooooh yes... My mom was a single working parent. I grew up on complete CRAP food. I used to come home from school and grab a torilla, put I can't believe it's not butter on it (because that's SO good for you.. ick) and then a ton of cinnamon and sugar. And chug diet soda.. 

 

I rarely touch sweets now. 

I have a major sweet tooth and if I allow myself to keep sweet stuff in the household, I binge eat the sweet stuff in the household. 

The first week is definitely killer, but when you stop giving it to your body every time you crave sweets, it stops craving them. 

Get the stuff out of the house. If you are really dedicated to fixing this habit you have formed, get it all out. even if it means throwing away still good "food". Make your fridge filled with fruits and veggies, and precut up and baggie veggies/fruits so that they are easy to grab and go. That way you have NO excuse to resort to junk food because it's faster (which is usually everyone's arguement). 

Honestly, I think finding recipes that are better to substitute for your sugar-filled ones is a great idea, but not until you have curbed your cravings.... or it'll just make oyur sweet tooth a little less unhealthful, but it won't be fixed. 

If you need SOMETHING, keep something like individually wrapped dark chocolate pieces in the house. Then you can allow yourself small amounts, and dark chocolate has proven to help sweet cravings without needing a TON of it. 

mandysmear

Yes, cut yourself off.  It works.  I am a huge fan of dessert, baked goods, chocolate. 
I cut myself off for 12 days.  It works.  I always fall back after a few months, but it's easy to kick every since the first time I cut myself off for 12 days.

I also don't allow myself to buy anything.  So, if I want something I actually have to bake it.  And at 9pm before bed?  I'm not going to whip up cookies.  So, that helps me to fight the craving.

Another tip.  Chocolate milk.  Craving something sweet, have a serving of chocolate milk.  It will satisfy my cravings.

tek_vixen

Don't forget to look at the sugar content of other foods as you cut out your sugar consumption.  It's amazing how much sugar is in processed foods.  A good guideline is if any form of sugar is in the first four ingredients of the list, don't have it.  Look for things ending in "ose".  Also, honey, agave, etc is still a form of sugar, so I'd stay away from it while you're trying to kill the sugar cravings.

This really can be done, and after the first week it's pretty easy.  For me it's pretty much all or nothing.  If I cheat, the cravings come back if it's not a very small cheat.  So I don't do it very often because it takes a few days to get back on track.  I will be cheating for my wedding, though.  Saturday is my first anniversary of my switch to a no grains no sugar way of eating.  I lost 60 pounds in 6 months and have kept 50+ off for 6 months.  You will be doing your health a huge favor by ditching the sugar.  Just don't replace it with artificial sweeteners, though!!

Best of luck!