I feel your pain, sugar is a total weakness of mine, and my go to comfort food. Its hard but you can cut back you just have to take it one day at a time and slowly cut back. I found that cutting it out didnt work for me but i know it has for others. I allow myself a sweet treat usually something small like a cake bar after dinner. And have cut back from 4 tsp of sugar on weetabix to 2tsp. Im very big on moderation. You can do this hun. Download the 12 week plan and take it one day at a time
If sugar is such a big problem for you, how about trying to cut it out by not drinking tea or coffee and not eating cereal.
Try fruit teas instead and have eggs or yoghurt and fruit for breakfast.
Sometimes a cup of tea tells you, psychologically, that you should be having a biscuit or a piece of cake too, so you may actually kill two birds with one stone
I've got to share this story, it's so relevant!! Years ago, just like yourself, I could not have a cup of tea without sugar...till one day, someone I used to work with said 'you have to try and go with tea with no sugar for a week, then you will not like sugar in your tea anymore!!' . I had little faith in this, but I tried. I gave up coffee that week because it was just too bitter to cope with, but I forced myself to have tea anyway (admittedly I had fewer cups than usual,but still without sugar). Guess what, it came to the end of the week and I enjoyed tea without sugar!! In fact all of a sudden tea with sugar tasted of sugar, not tea!!! Nowadays the slightest sweetness in my tea and I won't have it...I tried the experiment with another colleague of mine, the same happened to him, he has no sugar even in the bitterest of the coffees ( whereas I give in with espresso, a small teaspoon is all I need though!).
So this is to say that it takes around a week to re-educate your taste buds, the same process would work on salt for those people that add salt to everything!
With regards to the other matter of craving sugary stuff, you probably know that sugar causes that insuline roller-coaster... What I have read is that if you eat slow energy realizing foods, unrefined wholemeal carbohydrates (try a seedy brown toast when you crave sugar), it helps to control that craving...also I wonder if you consume lots of animal protein (meat, eggs, yogurt, cheese) ? I read that there is a relationship between animal proteins and refined carbohydrates, one attracts the other for balance.I think it relates to the fact that one is very slow to digest and to release energy, the other is really fast, hence why wholegrain cereals and vegetable protein that sit in the middle don't require the extremes..
Reducing sugar isn't easy. I am certainly aiming at reducing rather than cutting out.
I hate artificial sweetener in hot drinks but find it fine on cereal so you could try this.
I've moved to sugar cubes in my drinks as clearly my 1 teaspoon was closer to 2. A cube is 1 teaspoon. I was hoping to kick sugar in drinks by xmas but it will take longer I think. Gradual reduction is better than going cold turkey.
With things like chocolate and cake I allow myself about 100 cals a day. I did wean down to this over a few months. I usually buy kitkats or fun size bars.
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