Giving up sugar... page

[the_walrus0]

I'm having trouble giving up sugar. I decided I could eat whatever primal thing I wanted as long as it didn't have sugar in it but every few days I break and eat sugar in some form.

It's in the house because I live at home while I'm in college. That does make it harder but it's something I can't change right now.

Do you guys have any suggestions? I might mention it's that time of the month which makes it, at least for a day or two, much more difficult.

And I should be extra clear by saying a little bit of sugar doesn't satisfy the craving. It's gotta go. I'd like to hear some things that helped other people.

[Chanda]

Drinking coffee with cream helped my sugar addiction. I used to put 3 teaspoons of sugar in each cup of coffee, now I have no sugar in my coffee, and it tastes even better that way. So if I get a sugar craving, I'll just have a cup of coffee, and that tends to kill it. It works with tea, too.

Something else that helps is that when I'm getting a sugar craving, I'll fry up some bacon (sometimes with an egg or two) and eat that. For some reason the salty taste of the bacon helps the craving to go away. And it also helps to fill me up so I'm not hungry and don't care about eating something sugary anymore. And we have a whole bag of white sugar in my house because my husband hasn't gone Paleo/Primal. But I'm never tempted to touch it.

If those things don't work for you, maybe you could ask your mom to hide the sugar or put it in a lock box so you can't access it?

[Greenbeast]

are you adding sugar to something or eating sugary foods?

what about a sugar substitute like xylitol, i hear good things and have just bought some to try

for sugary foods, just make sure you have nice tasty treats around the place for these times. Like dark choc or cheese.
I have a mixture of nuts, dark choc and dried fruit that i keep with me all the time.

[Greenbeast]

Drinking coffee with cream helped my sugar addiction. I used to put 3 teaspoons of sugar in each cup of coffee, now I have no sugar in my coffee, and it tastes even better that way. So if I get a sugar craving, I'll just have a cup of coffee, and that tends to kill it.

i never thought i could drop my 2-3 sugars in coffee, but 4 weeks into primal with double cream in coffee cured that one

[the_walrus0]

Hmm, I have found bacon and eggs helps but I can't afford to use that much bacon, lol. I will try to eat eggs or drink coffee.

I made it through the first two weeks no sugar and then I got hit with a horrible craving that broke me, and now with my TOM going on I feel like every other day I'm caving. I'm pretty sure if I can get through 30 days the cravings will start to wane but within the first two weeks I seem to get hit with some pretty bad cravings. If I can just push past I think I'll be alright.

[Greenbeast]

what exactly are you eating that you're concerned about?

[Annieh]

It's crazy how strong those cravings can be at this time of the month. In some ways I have learned to roll with it by only succumbing to primal sweets eg dates, fruit, maybe some chocolate.

Staying strictly primal during the rest of the month seems to have helped the cravings diminish over time.

[Damiana]

I'm going through the same thing right now. Sorry but the only way I've beaten it is sheer willpower and not keeping any junk in the house.

[Ddraig Goch]

When I first decided to drop the grains & sugar (had no idea I was being primal then) I decided the only way to do it was go cold turkey. I checked every packet for even the smallest amount of sugar or sugar substitute (its amazing - everything seems to have sugar in it!) & learnt to say no if people tried to feed me something that I didn't know the ingredients of. After 3 weeks I felt so much better & had no carb or sugar cravings. The hardest part for me was dropping the fruit & diet coke as I used to eat/drink an awful lot of it. On March 13 I shall be 1 year sugar free (- a couple of bars of 90% chocolate & a few in season raspberries). Now I can't imagine why anyone would want to eat the stuff.

Not sure this helps, but just wanted to show you it is possible.

[Jenl]

Try a small teaspoon of honey or a bowl full of berries. It works for me! That was a hard one for me as well, not that I really gorged on sugary foods all the time before I went all out Primal, but sometimes the urge was insane so I just opted for those two choices. Good Luck!