Detox is a strong word I know but I feel as if am addicted to sweets. I crave them all the time, especially after every meal. I don't know if this is biological, or if it is a learned behavior but I need to stop before I start to gain back the weight i've lost. What strategies have you guys found to help stop the sugar cravings?

The longer you avoid them the less the cravings occur. In the meantime, have you tried any of the Sugar Free things? The fudgsicles, or pudding usually put to rest any need for dessert I get.

You also may find the cravings diminish when you get to a good point of restriction, because when you are full then, you are too full to want anything else at all!

Good Luck---I feel your "pain"!!!

Kat

Thanks Kat, I think I will try the sugar free things. Since Christmas the sweets kinda hit and haven't gone away yet but I think I might get some sugar free gum or something...

HI Firecallie,

I know the feeling! What has helped me temendously are those small 4 oz. cans of fruit in lite syrup. They have 50 calories. Instead of getting into the "bad" stuff, I will grab one of those. Even if I had two a day, I figure it is betting than raiding the hubbies Cookies and wolfing those down.

I also make my own cocoa with Hershey's unsweetened cocoa with a tiny bit of skim milk, vanilla and splenda. I sometimes add a dash of cinnamon for a little something different. It is my best friend right now!

I am a pre-bandster with a lot to learn, but those are a few things that help me.

I have the same weakness. Coffee Bean sells a sugar-free, fat-free powder for ice blendeds. I whip it up in my blender with ice. It is wonderful. I also freeze "Vitamin Water", tropical citrus, for a slushy treat. I like cold things!!

Detox is a strong word I know but I feel as if am addicted to sweets. I crave them all the time, especially after every meal. I don't know if this is biological, or if it is a learned behavior but I need to stop before I start to gain back the weight i've lost. What strategies have you guys found to help stop the sugar cravings?

Firecallie,

You've got it right, you ARE addicted to sweets as are most Americans. I think it is biological in the sense that sweet is something we can taste practically as soon as we are born; but it is a learned behavior given the fact that sugar is EVERYWHERE in our society. (If you get a chance, look for a copy of Sugar Blues and check some of this out.)

I know for me, that I went out of control around the holidays with sweets and treats and roared right through Valentine's day gobbling sugar as fast as I could. Yesterday I tuned into my inner voice and heard it telling me that a cookie with my Starbucks was just the thing to do. and when I resisted, I noticed that for a few minutes it was really intense.

That's when I decided that this non-Catholic girl was going to observe Lent along with her Catholic DH and she was giving up sugar. I figure it's a game plan that intrigues me and buys me a break from gobble, gobble,gobble. And I love a challenge. Since the scale hasn't been moving, what have I got to lose?

Best of luck to you. I'm pulling for your success.

Jo Ann

One thing I forgot to mention firecallie---if you do go with some SF treats---watch what they use to sweeten them---the sorbitol, and malitol, which are both very common, can cause unbelievable gas!!! Just keep this in mind, so you do not consume a bunch, and then need to be somewhere it would embarass you---because it very well could. I wasn't expecting it, and I had my DH and I laughing at me so hard----but everytime I laughed----yep I farted again---it was like a teenage boy joke!!! I watch for ones with Splenda now, even tho it too is getting a bad rap....at least it doesn't blow me up!!!

Kat

I have a different take on this. My theory is that aritficial sweeteners don't work long term because you still are accustomed to things being overly sweet. And since artificial sweeteners raise your blood sugar exactly like sugar does, they will precipitate a binge just like sugar. The brain just can't tell the difference. The only advantage to aritificals is that they have less calories....a different topic than getting rid of a sweet tooth. I find if I don't eat sweets at all I want them less than if I eat artifical sweets. If I have to eat somethign sweet, like a protein shake when I'm too restricted, I'm watering it down alot. Otherwise, I'm trying to stay sweet-free/chemical free. What do you think?

In my nusring classes they told us that the brain can not process artifical sugars, it is converted straight to fat. After learning that I try not to touch the stuff.

Betsyjane, if you and Ariel can do that, and just giveup the sweets altogether---that is wonderful!!! I am sure it is the best way of going about it. I am so bad tho!!! As soon as I am told I cannot do something, or have something, I fixate on it!!! I do not do well will deprivation! And the SF products, or ones I make myself, to be very low sugar---keep my mind thinking I am not being deprived!!

The SF desserts are not new to my family. My in-laws are both diabetic--so we have always had sugar free things around, and watched the natural sugars as well. We try to keep the amount low for my DH as well, since both his parents suffer with it. They were first diagnosed almost 40 years ago, and have controlled it with diet, and more recently oral meds, they have neither one ever required insulin injections.

Maybe someday I will find my willpower---I must have lost it when I was a small child---I never remember having any!!!

Good For YOU!!!!!

Kat

Me neither. No willpower. It just helps if I don't have it in the house. Can't say I'm always a saint....