If anyone in this Sugar Addiction has stayed off sugar for more than 2 days, please advise how you did so.
Water fasting helped me a lot. I started out skipping meals at first then worked my way up to 3-days plus. Eating healthy food that wasn't sugary seemed so boring so I would always slip back to my old ways. But now my cravings aren't as strong and fruit does the trick now.
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The longest I have gone is 4 months. Having safe "cheats" help me like sugar free gum, fruit, yogurt, and sweetleaf sugar substitute (sweetleaf is the best because it is the only sugar substitute that literally has zero impact on blood sugar levels - but it is pricey to get the pure stuff). Also, the more I exercise, the less I have cravings for unhealthy food in general.
I've just posted this on another post (sorry for the redundancy), but setting up a rewards system helps me. If I am able reach my goal (whether it is one day, one month, or one year) I get my predetermined reward. It has to be something out of the ordinary for it to work. For example, I really like massages but rarely justify spending the money for them, so they make a good reward for me.
I've also noticed that mental processes go a long way towards either making or breaking my effort. Whenever I give myself an ultimatum, "I can never have sugar ever again!", the next thing I know, I'm bingeing and then feeling awful about myself after. Instead of focusing on "I can't have it", it helps for me to say "I can make it one hour" and then celebrating every hour I make it. If I slip up, I try to remind myself that every hour, every second, is a clean slate. I always do worse when I focus on my slip ups and think to myself, "well, I've already failed. Might as well throw in the towel." You said that you went three hours without sugar. It is so easy to get down on ourselves and think, "oh, I only went three hours. I'm a failure" but why not look at it as, "hey, I went three whole hours today without sugar, that's a win!". I've heard people say that it is really helpful to see a psychologist. They can help give tools to reorganize mental processes and change perspective to help overcome addictions.
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@pukpumin Thank you so much for your detailed advise. I’m getting ready to go grocery shopping later today and think I will throw out the sweets I have and not buy anymore. I’ll have to try and stay out of the stores that sell the stuff or I will buy it and devour it in the car parking lot. My husband has Type 2 diabetes and eats sugar-free foods but that only makes me crave the real thing. I will have to ignore his sugar-free ice cream and other treats. Also, I really need to start back exercising. Thanks again.