Sugar Junkies - support needed page 2

[reallygravity]

I would highly encourage you to figure what what events/ situations trigger you to binge on sugar. Are they emotional situations? As a child, did you turn to sugar when you were sad/unhappy?

Sometimes, it is just does not come down to food. Life is not as simple as that. We have successfully managed to marry food with our emotional state, and well, it has become our downfall in many ways. How about you also work on your emotional/ mental health too? I used to do a lot of sugar/ carb binging when my daughter was a newborn. I had severe post-partum anxiety. The weight gain and unhealthy eating was not separate from my mental health. I had to first tackle the latter to work on the former.

Best of luck in your journey!

[fiercehunter]

You need to focus on going primal, not on eliminating sugar. You've been told sugar is the devil constantly and this is why you feel bad. Concentrate on eating 70+ grams of good quality animal protein a day, several tablespoons of coconut oil & also butter daily; drink some coffee to get your mind of focus and also so you will feel better. Sugar is NOT as unhealthy as we've been told and in fact based on some things I've been reading lately might even be good or necessary. Starches like grains are the real problem.

[MamaGrok]

Hey, I have totally been there! It was almost exactly one year to the day that I started this thread - http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread32223.html

It's been a long, long journey (detailed in my journal here, which is linked in my signature), but I've met a lot of other sugar addicts on the way, and the things that have worked well for all of us who have tried them include

- plenty of natural fats & protein
- especially emphasize protein at breakfast. For some, 25g at each meal is enough, others of us have to go to 50g or even 65g to make the binges 100% gone, the cravings entirely silenced, and the emotional attachment to food completely released, but it does work whenever we find what that individual number is for us.

Some people (like me) benefit from things like no snacking, no eating after dinner (or within 3hrs of bedtime), eating sweets only at the end of meals until we're ready to release it entirely, journaling food time/type/amounts along with physical & emotional symptoms to see patterns (NOT to blame), avoiding all grains & sweets that we don't really care for (like, I could easily choose to avoid crackers & pasta, even when oat bread & Heart 2 Heart cereal called to me relentlessly), avoiding situations that we know are setups for disaster (like running into the grocery store by myself), etc. Some, like the last one, have become unnecessary now that the cravings are totally gone.

ITA that it feels like alcoholism, but crueler, because no one believes it exists, there is no support for it, and you are FORCED to eat daily. No one forces you to drink alcohol daily. But it did help me to realize that it's not really food addiction I have - it's sugar/grain/maybecarb addiction. I *can* choose to eat only meat, fat, eggs, non-starchy veggies, & low-sugar fruits. and most importantly, I can choose to eat that big fat breakfast that absolutely kills the cravings so that I no longer have to fight urges to eat all day.

My life is totally different. This time last year, I was gaining weight, tired all the time, and having to avoid all social engagements for fear of another binge. It's 180 degrees different now. I'm losing, energy continues to increase, and I have no fears about any cravings or binges ever.

I hope you can find the answer that works for you. If I had to pick just one thing out of the many suggestions I got on the previous thread, and all of those above, it would be the protein for breakfast. Making that the priority, that no matter what came, I got my 50g+ protein every day (including moving up to it slowly if you can't do 50g at first), within an hour of rising, every day, every day ... it just changed everything. My body knows now that it will be nourished; it trusts me; and finally, I can trust it.

[EyeOfRound]

Do you eat much fruit? I eat a fair amount - about 5 servings of pretty sugary things like berries, bananas, mangos - and I find that I no longer crave sugar. And on rare occasions that I do eat a sugary dessert, it always seems TOO sweet and not really that satisfying.

[kahiba]

ITA that it feels like alcoholism, but crueler, because no one believes it exists, there is no support for it, and you are FORCED to eat daily. No one forces you to drink alcohol daily. But it did help me to realize that it's not really food addiction I have - it's sugar/grain/maybecarb addiction. I *can* choose to eat only meat, fat, eggs, non-starchy veggies, & low-sugar fruits. and most importantly, I can choose to eat that big fat breakfast that absolutely kills the cravings so that I no longer have to fight urges to eat all day.

+1

It is too hard for most of us to see temptation day after day without giving in so I don't have any of my "danger" food at home. Last Christmas my Kindy kids gave me chocolates and after they had all gone home I put them in the rubbish bin. I just knew that if I put them in the car they would be eaten on the drive home.

But 1 year on and it has become easier. The memory of sweets/candy is still there and maybe some nostalgia but the rewards are so great with improved health etc. that I can move on.

[Crabbcakes]

ShannonCC - meeee toooo!! Right along with the messed up childhood.

Yup - the long arm of childhood reaches clear through adulthood. Not that you cannot overcome a shitty one, but you and I have challenges that gratefully many others do not. I think that adults coming out of abusive childhoods do, in a very real sense, have a kind of brain damage, and the crutch / dependency / go-to feel-good things we do just depends on our particular individual biochemistry, with perhaps some inborn tendencies from familial genes.

I have always told my children that whatever happens to the physical body affects the brain, whatever happens to the physical brain affects the body, and emotions affect both - this is a personal truth.

I don't have one singular quick-and-easy answer. Going Primal and cutting out all grains has surpisingly really diminished my sugar hunger! My always-ready snack to beat the sugar attack is currently dark chocolate. Right now, I have a bar of Ritter Sport (German brand) dark with whole hazelnuts. Just having one bar ALWAYS available in the kitchen is psychologically good for me. I made sure I had a small stack before Day One, in preparation.

I started the Primal six weeks ago (for fat loss) with the intention to make it to my high school reunion - next Saturday - and then reevaluate. This Primal thing has been so good for me on so many levels that yesterday I announced to the family that I would extend it through to Labor Day. Then I will reevaluate again. That way, I don't tell myself - NEVER AGAIN....YOU MAY NEVER AGAIN HAVE SUGAR...WON'T YOU MISS HAVING SUGAR EVER, EVER AGAIN... that kind of mental crap.

Two days ago I made a huge Primal mistake for the first time since starting (my willpower has lasted amazingly long...) - I ate six huge-ass egg-shaped chocolate cream truffles the size of small chicken eggs over the course of a night. I got a nasty headache and then I literally broke out in a nauseaus, woozy sweat. I kind of liked that - not the suffering, but the suffering is a disincentive to do that again anytime soon... at least, with huge-ass chcolate cream truffles. Previously, sugar would have made me feel "better" (and then I would have needed more, but hey, I would take momentary "better") - two days ago, it made me feel worse. Which was positive because healthy bodies are supposed to feel like hell after non-foods... so I see the episode as evidence that I am getting healthier.

TMI, but I have noticed that I always get a MONSTROUS combo of sugar, carb and fat cravings just before my monthly. It is so dependable that it has become a signal that it is about that time again. Have you noticed a sugar-dependent pattern to menstruation?? It might explain a few of the attacks.

Next week I plan on making an "action plan". Like asthmatics (my daughter) have from their pulmonologists - she has several levels of "actions" that she is to follow - a set pattern - if the asthma flares. Step 1 is grab the inhaler, Step 2 is get the prednisone, Step 3 is get thee to the emergency room. I think I will make my own Sugar Bustin' Action Plan. First thing is grab the chocolate, second thing... I don't know yet. That way I won't have to stop and TRY to THINK through a sugar attack, because, you know, there is no thinking going on during one!! I may just put the thing in an old official first aid kit, complete with red cross on the front (I have no problem being a bit dramatic...).

Between "attacks", when I am thinking and feeling "normal and balanced" I plan to continue my Primal journey by just puttin' one foot in front of the other food-wise and ever-improve the diet; start moving my buns more outside in the sunshine; perhaps get some supplementation in me (I am thinking fish oil for the o-3 and D); attack the hubby in bed more (feeling frisky because some inches came off and I feel more attractive...); make sure the sleep is there... you know, the whole PB lifestyle thing. It all is a piece of the puzzle.

Just to let you know what I was up to before the Primal - I would grab some powdered sugar, any kind of solid fat, and a liquid like cream or milk, and flavoring like vanilla, and make.... icing. And then eat the whole flippin' one-cup-plus batch myself in a sitting. A big theater box of Junior Mints - all miiiiiine, thank you! Four maple cream filled eclairs - just for me, you all get your own! One container of Breyers vanilla bean per person, please. I used to crow that there was nothing literally too sweet or too rich for me. (I grew up SAD and half of it in the South, so sweet is my thing).

I will reread all of the posts - THANK YOU ALL FOR WRITING - I THOUGHT I HAD AN ISOLATED PROBLEM HERE!!!

[ShannonCC]

Thanks I am feeling a lot better this afternoon. A lot of meat and a looooong walk with the dog and some podcasts and I'm good. I think I needed a temper tantrum.

I have also found (as others said) that a high protein breakfast helps a lot. This time around I started the high protein breakfast a couple weeks before I gave up the sugar. Maybe that's why I lasted longer than 2 days this time.

And yes, definitely a PMS part to it which also sucks. A monthly crisis to look forward for the next I don't know how many years. Lovely Well menopause has to hit someday. Please tell me it gets easier then, lol!

It's definitely sugar/high carb for me, not food in general. I thought I used to have a lot of general food binges before I gave up grains. In hindsight, it was all bread product related. So now I'm off grains and the binges are pure sugar. Now that I know what I know about grains, I think it's basically a sugar problem I have. I've never binged on meat or eggs or anything like that. Unless the meat was wrapped in dough, or the eggs were mixed with sugar and baked into a cake, etc.

Though to be fair, I've never binged on fruit. I've over eaten fruit, but binging is different. When I say binge I mean a real binge, where you are full and even nauseated or your stomach hurts, and you slow down but you don't stop eating. For me that has only happened with bread products or refined sugars.

I think it's a mix of emotion and physical. I've had emotional binges but also many where things are fine and nothing is going wrong and it seems to come from nowhere. I think a childhood of stress just screws up the system physically.

But yeah, nice to know I'm not alone.

[emmie]

Sorry to say that it isn't easier in menopause--at least it wasn't for me. I have discovered that anything with a sweet taste is a trigger for me to binge on anything and everything. So I avoid all sweet things--including fruit.

I have an incredible 'sweet tooth' and would love to have desserts, candy, ice cream, etc., but all my siblings are Type 2 diabetics (but I am not), and my endo believes that my WOE (VLC) has 'protected' me.

Is it fair that I can't enjoy sweets? Life isn't a matter of 'fair.' You play the hand you're dealt. I know that 1)I love all sweets; 2) Sweets are bad for me. So why would I abuse my body by indulging in a substance that does me no good?

Someone mentioned alcoholics, and that's how I regard sweets--something that requires abstinence from me.

I don't 'resent' this; I think that health is a matter of making good choices for ourselves, and I'm happy that I've learned enough to understand that sugar will always be a bad choice for me.

[MarissaLinnea]

(((HUGS)))

I could have written your post. Isn't it just the most frustrating thing ever? I had a binge just yesterday after eight days of doing well. What I have found is that emotions are definitely a HUGE trigger for me. If something upsets me enough to be thinking about it for a few hours, I can almost guarantee you that I will have a binge later that day or evening. And I know this about myself, and I STILL BINGE REGARDLESS!! Believe me, I know how maddening it is.

The longest I have been able to go without a binge or sugar was when I very first started Primal a couple months ago. I went three weeks without giving in. Then it was my twins girls first birthday, had cake.....then my bachelorette party, drinking and a few days of non primal eating there......cleaned up my act, only to have another binge in a few days after that........I've been struggling on and off for the last month and a half.

I don't know the answer. I wish there was some magical advice I could give you that would cure you. Some things I have found that have helped me: When shopping, don't even go near the processed food/candy isles. I swear to you, when i first went Primal and I would walk through the store, I couldn't even LOOK at the candy. Looking at it gave me huge anxiety. I would just look up toward the ceiling until I passed the isle with candy. That helped until I got over the initial hump of sugar detox. Do not buy anything that you shouldn't be eating. Don't even bring it into the house. Not for your children, husband, whatever, just don't bring it into the house. I made that mistake a few days ago, went to Costco and the kids wanted some bars so I bought Nature Valley dark chocolate peanut butter bars for them.......and that's exactly what I kicked my binge off with yesterday afternoon. I thought I would be strong enough and not eat them. I had no intention of eating them. But if I'm upset and the sweets are there, they are going in my mouth and I feel powerless to stop it.

You might consider doing the 21 Day Sugar Detox......yes, it's going to be hard, probably one of the hardest things you will have to do. But you just have to make the committment and do it. Once you get past the first week, the cravings WILL GET BETTER! I promise. The longer you go without eating sugar, the better your cravings will get. You may be the kind of person that just can't have sweets and keep yourself in control. There's nothing wrong with that, it's an addiction. But just like an alcoholic knows they can't have another drink, you (and I for that matter) know that in order to keep control of the sugar binges, we have to have ZERO SUGAR. Not even one little bite or taste. Not even in the house. No, it's not fair, it sucks, it actually hurts sometimes to think about not having refined sugar ever again. But I try not to think in terms like that. One day at a time is the best way I have found. And I still mess up, but I'm a heck of a lot better than I used to be. I've gone from binging on sugar 4-5 nights a week, to having a binge every 8-10 days or so. That's progress. I might not ever fully have control over my sugar binges, but I hope to someday.

I'm here if you ever want to talk or vent your frustrations. You can friend me on FB if you want and join the Whole 30 group we started in May. There are several great folks in the group, some of them just completed their first Whole 30's and they are so inspiring, and of course very supportive. And there are some folks in there that have the same struggle you and I have so it's good to vent and talk with them about it as well. Let me know if you are interested in the FB group.

[VacillateWildly]

Wow, so it seems it's not just a physical issue with so many of us. I relate to those putrid sugar binges and they really undo me. I totally view it as an addiction and have been attending meeting of Overeaters Anonymous. Very helpful and supportive...and gentle too. Give it a try, loads of meetings around all over the world. For any problems with food. I hope you find a solution soon. OA has been really working for me.