Has anyone got any real life tips on beating sugar cravings?

[Fairfifty]

I'm a real addict. I've read & tried all kinds of advice but I can't seem to kick the habit 🙄

[moreless Administrator 7 stone]

I was the same, Fairfifty and the only way that worked for me, was to go cold turkey, just the same as I did with cigarettes.

With any other addiction, nobody says just have a little nicotine, alcohol, heroin, yet that's what they say about sugar, although it's equally as harmful to us and has no nutritional benefit.

Remove the source of your addiction and you remove the cravings.

That's how I dealt with it, others will have their own advice, but maybe this will help?

youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua...(Not working as expected?)

[Fairfifty in reply to moreless]

Thank you. I'm not brave enough to try cold turkey yet though. Will try the berry/fruit option first & see how I go 😊

[Roland]

Hello, I've got kids and the fridge has quite a selection I can tell you including my favourite Tunnocks bars which I bought two packets of two days before I saw two doctors at hospital who gave me the stark truth of what will happen if I don't do something.

Now I haven't touched one bit of chocolate or anything like that since the 12th April and I was 22St+ so I didn't get to that by healthy eating did I?

Now how have I managed it, well like others have said cold turkey but instead of the rubbish try fresh mango and get bags of frozen fruit like raspberries they last a lot longer defrost them when you want and they are better than fresh, you can get all sorts like that blueberries the lot. I have a big bowl of that with Greek yogurt every night for my pudding, it's my only treat and I love it. Yes I can here you say but fruit contains sugar. Yes it does but no dietician or doctor will tell you to stop eating fruit, the sugar is different and any cons if any are far far outweighed by the goodness contained in said fruits.

It's a lot cheaper than a Mars bar as well!!

Give it a go and let us know how you get on, obviously if you don't like yogurt just feast on the fruit. A tip if you are having fresh mango have some kitchen paper by your side, you don't half get sticky, they are YUMMY YUM!!!!

And eating all that fruit has still resulted in me losing 9lb since the 12th April so it doesn't harm your weight loss.

Once more good luck, I know it isn't easy.

[Fairfifty in reply to Roland]

Thank you. This is excellent. I will defintely try this. At least I shouldn't get too much of a come down if I have some sugar in my diet. Plus I love fruit especially berries. 😁

[Cressid Maintainer]

Hi. I am a complete sugar addict. I cannot have any sweet stuff in the house or I wouldn't be able to resist it. I cannot believe there are people in the world who can eat one biscuit and not the rest of the pack.I too went cold turkey from sugar at the beginning of the year. From past experience, I expected it to take about a week for the cravings to stop, but to my amazement this time it only took 2 days. I too make an exception of fruit, which I eat loads of. Fruit tastes unbelievably sweet once you are no longer eating sugar in other forms. Even vegetables taste much sweeter now.

I totally agree with everything moreless and Roland have said.

Good luck

[Fairfifty in reply to Cressid]

Thank you. I have tried cold turkey before & it was hell (& apparently so was i) like Roland we have snacks in the house so can't avoid them & i can't rid my fridge , cupboards of them or my family will lynch me. This is day one & I'm fighting the urge to grab pick n mix when I get off the metro.

[Lilli-Anna]

Yes, cold turkey here too. It's the sad reality that I can't eat sugary foods in moderation. My little mantra at the moment when I see (and want) foods that are not in my plan is, 'that's not my food.'

I smoked for a couple of years in my late teens. I wouldn't dream of having a cigarette now. I need to see the outright sugary foods in the same light; but it's still a work in progress for me. Experience has shown that when I stay away from them I feel better in every single way. I sleep better, my weight heads in the right direction, I have more energy.

I love chocolate. But it's just not worth it. I'll probably fail again in this area as it is my major weakness. But hopefully it will be one-offs and I'll be able to get back up again quickly so as not to undone the good work I've done so far.

I agree with Roland on the berries, and am having the exact same dish (raspberries for me!) after dinner. So yummy. It really is a treat once the processed foods are removed from our diet.

[Fairfifty in reply to Lilli-Anna]

I gave up smoking by cold turkey many many years ago & it worked but I have tried doing the same with sugar & have failed over& over. Maybe now I have this portal it will be the incentive I need. Thank you for your advice. Really helpful

[Teable]

Reading all the latest research on healthy living, sugar is the real baddy, but it is so lovely I can understand the addiction. I have slowly over time weened myself off the sugar in tea, cereal etc using sucralose. You can have loads for a sweet effect with low calories. Today I'm eating my porridge with six teaspoons of sucralose, thats only 12 kcalories. Over time I reduced the real sugar in all my food and ate less sucralose as well so I became accustomed to the new taste. I now enjoy black coffee, black tea and find the sweetness in chocolate horrible!!

Keep at it!! I don't think this is something where cold turkey will work. Tiny reductions over time worked for me. Good luck. X