New here - kicking sugar

Hi There, this is my first time ever in this type of community. I’ve been struggling with sugar binges every afternoon and thought it would help to have some accountability by connecting with others here. I’ve through some of the previous posts and love some of the suggestions, like cleaning, to choose instead. I know it’s a vicious cycle, so trying something new to try and put an end to it.
Day 1 is off to a good start so far. I’ve mapped out some strategies to set myself up for success, posting here being the biggest one. Thanks for supporting me on my journey back to more balanced health!

1 Heart

My doctor told me the reason why I binge is because I have a sensitivity to sugar and carbs like 99% of bingers do. Meaning when I eat sugar, carbs or processed foods, my body craves more of it and the cravings keep coming and that is where the vicious cycle comes in.

1 Heart

Yes! I have the same experience, it is a horrible cycle. Today is the first day in a long time I didn’t touch either and I feel so much better, even with just one day.

Im glad u r feeling better. Yes it does happen quick. Today I had a no sugar no carb no fat protein powder in skim milk and some water melon. it was delicious. It’s pure soy isolate protein powder. I put a teaspoon of no sugar, no fat no carb 100% coco powder in and 2 stevia. Stir it up well, and it is so filling. I wont touch any other protein powder on the market, they r all loaded with sugar, fats and carbs. For a snack today I had a couple slices of American cheese. I’ll have another shake with watermelon in a couple hours. And for dinner, a nice size portion of pork loin with green beans and a slice of cheese. I’ll probably eat a pear with it. Important to me to get my calories in. So today will be a nice day of eating the right foods that will not cause me to binge, and I feel full and satisfied and not feel like I’m starving. I like to crock pot foods. Keeps me out of the kitchen so much. I like to just cook it and be done with it.

Welcome! Congratulations on your move toward better health! I’m happy you are here!!

The reason sugar and other sweet things are addictive is because our brains are hardwired to consume high caloric foods whenever we find them. This brain mechanism developed as a survival mechanism over many years (many thousands perhaps hundreds of thousands of years ago) and in nature high caloric foods are extremely rare. So the brain says “get that food and eat it because it will give you lots of calories and because you don’t know when you will find such food again”. Not only that, but the brain keeps a memory of where you found that food, so you can keep going back to it to see if there is any more.

Over the past 200+ years, humans have changed their environment to the point where today, we have every kind of food available pretty much all the time, in any quantities you want, including fake foods which what sugar is and many other such food-like items.

There is nothing to stop a person buying and consuming anything they want. No limits at all (other than being able to pay for it). But our brains and bodies have not changed, at all, during this time and that brain mechanism is now working against us and causing us serious damage, which is evident by the figure of around 65% of the world’s population being overweight or obese and/or having Type 2 diabetes.

I was a sugar addict (among other foods) and one day I saw a sugar documentary. After watching the documentary, I was ballistic with anger at how I had been made a sugar slave by the system, by people intentionally making sugary products and drinks and selling them to the public, knowing full well they are addictive and highly damaging.

I then cut out sugar completely for over a year and when I went for an eye check up, my doctor was astounded by the reversal of my eye condition. He said in 20 years, he had seen only one other person whose eyesight had improved like mine had. He asked what I had done and I told him.

Forming a new habit takes about 2 weeks. For sure, you can kick out sugar from your body. During this 2 week period, don’t buy any sugar or anything with sugar in it. Be also careful with fruit as you may feel the desire to eat fruit too, which can drift you back top eating sugar again. I would stick with berries and other low glycemic fruits. You also need to replace the sugary product or drinks with something else. Nuts and seeds are a great replacement, as are carrot and celery sticks. Plus, you can make great healthy smoothies with hemp seed milk, coca nibs & berries.

Once 2 weeks or so have gone by, you should notice your palate and taste buds have changed and you can taste the foods you eat much more. Terrible things like sugar and lots of other fake foods dull and destroy your taste buds and initially, the sugar replacement foods will seem much less tasty by comparison. This is because your taste buds have been adulterated and hijacked by sugar things and which provide a very intense sweet experience, which is almost impossible to find in nature. Other fake foods provide intense unnatural flavors, which are also addictive. The manufacturers make these intense flavors on purpose, so you keep going back and buying these fake foods. Cut these fake foods out too if you want and can.

Diet drinks are a no-no, if you didn’t know. They provide a significantly higher sweetness experience than normal sugar drinks do, the consequences of which is to stimulate the appetite for sweet things and food generally, and which propels people to become overweight/obese who are trying not to gain weight. Diet drinks also cause major toxic havoc in the body, because the ingredients in diet drinks are strange/unknown to the body and it doesn’t know what to do with them.

Once you have gone to 3-4 weeks, you should find that while you do think about sweet things now and then, you probably won’t be drawn to them as strongly or as often. You should also feel better, have more energy and your skin and hair may also improve.

Sugar takes so much from people’s lives and gives nothing in return. In this, sugar is like tobacco.