How to beat addiction to sweet stuff

[memyselfandi]

Cold turkey. Don't buy stuff like that so it's not available for you to eat. Buy healthy snacks instead, etc.

Seriously, the only way to beat the junk food habit is just to stop eating it.

4 milk chocolate digestive biscuits is over 300 calories, man.

Better to not even buy health snacks ... hence get out of the habit of snacking between meals full stop.

If I have snacks in the house I will eat them ... so I don't buy any 99% of the time (everyone needs a treat now and then). After doing this for a few years I don't even miss having them.

 

[Freefaller]

Also start looking at labels of products if you must buy pre packed foods, and ensure they do not have sweeteners or any sugar n them, as sugar is often used to help preserve things.

 

[Illgresi]

I'm going thru a bit of a health kick at the moment. Starting running and that. One thing that bothered me is after every meal I want something sweet either chocolate biscuits cake or similar. I will even have 4 or so milk chocolate digestives after breakfast. I know this isn't healthy.
But is my one real weekness. Is there any way of breaking this habit?

I've been gradually changing my diet and exercise routine over the past number of months. This week I've kicked up the gym visits to 5 times a week, and cut out all refined sugar from my diet (edit to say: cut out booze for a few weeks as well). It's been pretty tough, because I have a major sweet tooth/edit to say: also borderline alky.

What has really helped is a switch in my diet. I've gone from eating 3 big meals a day, to eating 5 or 6 smaller meals. Not only does the regular feeding keep me from ever feeling particularly hungry, I don't get the craving for sweet stuff after meals.

I still have the odd fantasy about chowing down a full packet of Oreos, but it takes a little willpower as well.

If you really can't resist, try a natural high sugar snack instead of biscuits. 2 or 3 dates will give you an equivalent sugar buzz as a chocolate biscuit.

 

[Raymond Lin]

I don't cut it out, in fact I embrace it.

My drawer at work has every chocolate bar you can think of (I actually have more than that now) but I hardly eat any of it, you just need to develope self control and moderation. Yesterday I wanted some chocolate, I opened a bar of Twirl. I had half a one stick, gave the rest away (75% of it).

Moderation is the key, having the sweets in your possession is one thing, eating it is another.

I say don't cut it out cold turket, but ween yourself to eat less and less of it. Start with 3 digestives tomorrow, then 2 and then 1. Then one every other day and may be eventually one couple times a week and before you know it, you only have one may be once a week or when you remember you have some.

Why deprive something you enjoy I say, but instead, enjoy it more when you can have it so make it a treat and not a part of your diet.

 

[LordSplodge]

I'm going thru a bit of a health kick at the moment. Starting running and that. One thing that bothered me is after every meal I want something sweet either chocolate biscuits cake or similar. I will even have 4 or so milk chocolate digestives after breakfast. I know this isn't healthy.
But is my one real weekness. Is there any way of breaking this habit?

Just run a bit further. Enjoy the biscuits guilt free. Got to have some enjoyment in ones life.

If not, don't have anything nice in the house. It's the only way...boring as **** though.

 

[Steedie]

but fruit sugar is still sugar & better avoided in large quantities

Comparing fruit and chocolate, haha, superb! This is almost as hilarious as your argument against free will

 

[elmarko]

Whether you believe the conspiracies on that or not, there is some truth to it to an extent, which is why fruits in more exotic places often taste better as are more likely to be picked from a field which just grows naturally. However, the benefits of fruit far outweigh processed and refined sugars. Furthermore, the vitamins and fibre content are also of great help.

Fructose is a monosaccharide, meaning it is a single sugar molecule. sucrose is disachharide which s glucose linked ith fructose. Fructose is absorbed more slowly because of the presence of fiber and other phytonutrients in fruit and has a smaller insulin trigger sometimes may not ever stimulate an insulin secretion. Whereas sucrose whilst similar in makeup behaves differently (and generally heavily processed). Sucrose being a disachharide breaks into glucose plus fructose and are absorbed as 2 different elements. sucrose also creates insulin stimulation to help glucose transport into your tissues. this is the major difference between sucrose and fructose, it is hte presence of glucose.


However!!!

Fructose and glucose will be converted to energy, this energy is stored in a molecule called ATP. But, if your ATP levels are already high, instead of it being used for energy, the fructose and glucose change into fatty acids (triglycerides) for tissue storage (generally fat)

So since excess calories from glucose and fructose are used for the production of triglycerides, and these triglycerides are moved around the body in your bloodstream with lipoproteins.

These lipoproteins deliver these triglycerides all around the body. So...., extra calories from sucrose (and corn syrup (fructose based sugar)) rich foods can increase the amount of fat in your blood, thefefore liver, as well as muscles and generally fatty tissues.

However, the above is amplified greatly by processed and refined sugars, and less prominent with fruits owing to the make up of the fruit. So eat fruit will not be the same as eating a chocolate bar, not in any similarity.

Put it this way, if you like all those sweet fatty sugary foods they increases your risk for developing diabetes and heart disease. If that doesn't help you minimise your want for them then I don't know what does?!

If you like those foods, don’t eat them in excess, treat them as a treat!

All very good info, I've got some extra reading to do.

To add, when I saw fruit I tend to mean the common ones.

Picked berries are great (as they are usually wild) & haven't gone through this "selective breeding" process.

The fibre I prefer to get from large amounts of vegetables instead of from fruit (as the higher calorie content I don't think is justified by how much it satiates you when dieting).

Meat & veg - with some lactose from cottage cheese & skimmed milk enabled me to get off sugar quite easily - when I had fruit in the past it just made me crazy for more sugar (in any form).

Comparing fruit and chocolate, haha, superb! This is almost as hilarious as your argument against free will

Are you suggesting that fruit doesn't have sugar in it or higher calories (for how much it satiates)?, or that vegetation & meat isn't superior for his goals?.

 

[yer_averagejoe]

Ha, that's actually something that helped me when i was cutting out chocolate (I should really do it again).

I bought a chocolate bar and put it on my desk, in plain sight. Then when I went out for lunch and found myself looking at chocolate in the shops while buying milk/sandwich/fruit or whatever, I'd think "I don't need to buy any chocolate, I have one on my desk!"

Then I'd get back into work having eaten my lunch, being full enough to not really want chocolate. The only hurdle then is to beat the four O'clock munchies which is easy: you just need a bit of will power to not eat the chocolate, because it is there to serve a purpose and if you ate it, you'd fail the whole thing.

Sounds crazy but yeah, having a small temptation and constantly resisting it is a whole lot easier than walking into a shop while hungry and being presented with a plethora of sugary goodness.

 

[VIPER258]

Swap it for healthy biscuits. No idea what they are cos all I eat is sweet stuff

 

[Freefaller]

I don't disagree with you with regards to meat and veg being even better, but don't overlook the benefits of fruits, they are packed with nutrition, and the sugar effect is not the same as processed sugar. I eat 2-4 fruits a day, and that's pretty much all the sugar I get.

However replacing a chocolate bar for fruit is not comparing like for like, the quality of his diet will improve, and if he further improves his diet to include lots of cruciferous veg and lean proteins and some good fats, it'll keep him fuller for longer as well.. fruits can help cope with the cravings and are good at satiating that sweet tooth and are generally not as sweet. Furthermore, as I said the insulin response is negligible as well as being good for you.

 

[Steedie]

Are you suggesting that fruit doesn't have sugar in it or higher calories (for how much it satiates)?, or that vegetation & meat isn't superior for his goals?.

The sugar in fruit is totally different to refined sugar, both in it's make up and the way the body metabolizes it. I eat a lot of fruit as part of my diet, blueberries, pineapple, bananas, grapefruits and more. And it does me no harm. Even when I'm pre contest dieting I'll eat lots of fruit

 

[Maxeh]

With fruit don't just look at the sugar side of things, its the other nutrient benefits they provide.

 

[elmarko]

I don't disagree with you with regards to meat and veg being even better, but don't overlook the benefits of fruits, they are packed with nutrition, and the sugar effect is not the same as processed sugar.

Of course, you are correct - but I didn't say it was the same (as it's not) but it is still sugar, a banana has 12g in it & a small amount of fibre.

You can get the same fibre & less sugar eating a selection of fresh vegetables, which are also far more nutritious.

The sugar in fruit is totally different to refined sugar, both in it's make up and the way the body metabolizes it. I eat a lot of fruit as part of my diet, blueberries, pineapple, bananas, grapefruits and more. And it does me no harm. Even when I'm pre contest dieting I'll eat lots of fruit

And?, I didn't say it was the same.

I was speaking from personal experience that cutting out sugar for me was aided by also cutting out fruit later on (as it was just sparking my appetite for sugar) & that vegetables & meat provided plenty of benefits (fibre & nutrition) without feeding my desire for sweet foods.

On a side note, I agree Berries are great - they have a much lower sugar content than most (ie, blackberries are 5g sugar per 100g compared to 12g per 100g for bananas).

Overall, if he wants to loose weight it's easier to fill up on vegetables & meat than it is on fruit.

 

[Freefaller]

Fructose != sucrose though. Your body reacts differently to the two sources. I've updated my previous post just to expand.

 

[LordSplodge]

Sugar != bad for you. You need sugars to live. Now excess processed sugar isn't going to do you any good but sugar isn't the root of all evil.

Eat a healthy, balanced diet (and that allows for chocolate biscuits, damn it!) and get plenty of exercise and everything's all ticketey-boo

 

[Steedie]

And?, I didn't say it was the same.

I was speaking from personal experience that cutting out sugar for me was aided by also cutting out fruit later on (as it was just sparking my appetite for sugar) & that vegetables & meat provided plenty of benefits (fibre & nutrition) without feeding my desire for sweet foods.

I didn't say you implied it was the same, I said that to point out that cutting out fruit would have given you no more benefit than cutting out those calories elsewhere. Cutting out processed sugars however is a different story

 

[Freefaller]

Sugar != bad for you. You need sugars to live. Now excess processed sugar isn't going to do you any good but sugar isn't the root of all evil.

Eat a healthy, balanced diet (and that allows for chocolate biscuits, damn it!) and get plenty of exercise and everything's all ticketey-boo

Don't disagree with this.

I treat myself to some 80% chocolate from time to time, and enjoy the odd treat from time to time. But it is on occasion rather than all the time.

Self control and having a good lifestyle will lend you to happy times.

 

[elmarko]

I didn't say you implied it was the same, I said that to point out that cutting out fruit would have given you no more benefit than cutting out those calories elsewhere. Cutting out processed sugars however is a different story

I agree, cutting out processed sugars is more important totally.

But you also have to agree, for dieting & for maintaining reasonable satiation levels - meat & vegetables (being lower calorie per 100g due to having no, or much lower sugar/fructose amounts) are better for dieting for most people.

That's ignoring the fact that for many people (myself included) eating fruit increases cravings for sugar, or that people have quite different fructose absorption rates or natural tolerances.

You can get the benefits of fruit by eating vegetables without the additional calories (as they also contain very small amounts of fructose & normally significantly higher amounts of vitamins & minerals).

Sugar != bad for you. You need sugars to live. Now excess processed sugar isn't going to do you any good but sugar isn't the root of all evil.

Eat a healthy, balanced diet (and that allows for chocolate biscuits, damn it!) and get plenty of exercise and everything's all ticketey-boo

Oh I agree, but I'd say that almost the entire western population is currently getting far too much sugar (which has addictive qualities which makes the healthy/balanced part for many harder).

Addictions is already known to have a very strong genetic element, so no one tactic will work for everybody - but this should be factored in if the person in question openly states they have a sugar addiction.

 

[LordSplodge]

Self control and having a good lifestyle will lend you to happy times.

Exactly.

I agree, cutting out processed sugars is more important totally.

Nothing wrong with having some processed sugar in your diet. Eating a balanced jet and keeping fit is more important.

 

[orbit2012]

I found that a good variety of fruit during the day and plenty of water deadened my cravings for sweets and chocolate, just need to keep it up!