Sweetners, sugar cravings and fruit? page

[ani]

I've recently eliminated all sweeteners in favor of eating whole fruits. I'm getting horrible sugar cravings and eating more fruit than I would normally (maybe 3 servings a day instead of 0-1). I thought eating whole foods (fruit) rather than sweeteners would help satisfy me, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm thinking of dropping all fruit (except avocado, is it even a "fruit"?), and nuts (since they taste sweet to me) for as long as I can to try to beat my sugar cravings. I would really like to enjoy sweet foods as an occasional treat rather than being something I constantly crave.
Has anyone had any experience with this? I'm taking a bunch of herbs and supplements to help manage insulin and sugar cravings all ready.

[Griff]

Your sugar cravings are being fed and continued by the fruit you are eating. Stop eating them until the cravings go away completely. Eat fat when the cravings come.

You are a sugar addict, feeding a sugar addiction. The only way to truly make it stop is to go cold turkey from any sweet or starchy carbohydrates - and that includes fruit.

[Herbwifemama]

When I was pregnant, whenever I craved something sweet, I'd eat some protein. It would make it go away. I'd suggest whenever you crave something sweet, to eat some protein and/or fat, and wait. If it doesn't go away, then indulge in a slight something sweet (this can be a slippery slope, but I've found that if it doesn't go away, that I can make it go away with a sweet nibble- this week it's date/cashew balls, and sometimes I have dark chocolate. Egg custard might work well too, but I've never tried that. Sometimes drinking a sweet flavored tea could help. I use Throat Coat, Lemon Ginger, and a plum flavored green tea.

I used to take cinnamon, and/or gymnema, and it never made a whit of difference in my sugar cravings. Only eating protein.

[ani]

Thanks! I'm going to go cold turkey from anything sweet and starchy, and see if it helps. The protein suggestion is a good one, I'll have to try that out next time I get a craving (I love sliced turkey rolled up with a little mustard on it!)

[StoneAgeQueen]

I agree with griff, you need to go cold turkey.

[Bane]

Hell yes. I have to agree with my good buddy Griff here, cold turkey all the way. You get a sugar craving, eat some bacon.

[CandylandCanary]

First question: are you diabetic or hypoglycemic? You could have undiagnosed reactive hypoglycemia, since I've read that a LOT of people do. (It sounds like you might be the latter, given that you say you're taking a bunch of supplements to control insulin already.)

Artificial sweetners can still cause insulin problems in some sensitive people. I'm one of 'em, even stevia makes my insulin very intense and nasty. I'm not sure *why* this happens, but I think it's because the sweetness tricks the brain into thinking it's eaten a lot of sugar, and insulin is released. Primal is basically set up to TONE DOWN insulin, insulin drives sugar cravings drives sugar binges drives fat storage after all! So sweeteners can be bad news.

If you find that you're overeating fruit, keep in mind that fruit is ALSO sugar- fructose- but it's all bound up with fiber so it won't hit your insulin as hard.

However, I find that *too much* fruit is still bad for me. Bad in the same way sugar and grains are bad. This is an individual tolerance thing.

You can try having 10g of protein for every 10g of fruit carb you eat. This is basic Zone diet theory- protein balances carbs and slows down it's impact on your insulin.

I find that fat also moderates insulin response. So always having protein AND fat with fruit might help.

But honestly, for me (and others), too much fruit is just TOO MUCH, no matter what you have with it.

So maybe start with a set amount, say 20g of fruit carb. Have it with 20g of protein and some fat... and see if your cravings don't go away.

A supplement called glutamine will also stop sugar cravings dead within 5-10min. If you open the capsule and put it under your tongue, the craving can sometimes go away in *2 minutes*... just in case it's an emergency! lol.

If you're taking a bunch of STUFF already, you might already be using glutamine. But if not, try it out. Insulin's a pain in the ass, sorry to hear that you're struggling with this too. :/

One final note:
you *may* be using sugar/carbs/fruit due to low levels of serotonin. If you go cold turkey and find that you're irritable, upset, angry, depressed, etc, try some 5HTP or St John's Wort. I also add DLPA to this, but that one's a bit more controversial. It helps, though.

[ani]

I tried going cold turkey. It went great for a few days, but I had the most intense craving of my life yesterday. I ignored it for about 4 hours, and then finally just ate an apple, which was satisfying. I'm hypoglycemic, but I'm on a ton of supplements for it, I'll have to try the glutamine though. I wish these cravings would just go away and I could be happy with my protein and fat... But for now I'll just allow myself small amounts of fruit along with lots of fat and protein, and see what happens.

[Griff]

I tried going cold turkey. It went great for a few days, but I had the most intense craving of my life yesterday. I ignored it for about 4 hours, and then finally just ate an apple, which was satisfying. I'm hypoglycemic, but I'm on a ton of supplements for it, I'll have to try the glutamine though. I wish these cravings would just go away and I could be happy with my protein and fat... But for now I'll just allow myself small amounts of fruit along with lots of fat and protein, and see what happens.

Next time you get a craving, don't ignore it. Eat fat instead.

[ani]

Next time you get a craving, don't ignore it. Eat fat instead.

I did, I ate 4 fatty sausage links (no junk was in them). I still craved the sugar. Its the same tonight I'm craving sugar after having a huge plate of pulled pork with all the drippings and fat along with Kale and olive oil. I really want to stay off the fruit but the cravings don't seem to be going away like I'd hoped.