I'm Addicted to Starbursts and other candies.

I absolutely LOVE starbursts, among various other sweets! I'm trying to stick to my diet, but my family has a habit of bringing candy in this house ALL the time and I have a bad habit of submiting to its power over me! I want to throw it away, to leave it alone, but its so hard! Does anyone have any suggestions? And I tried that "having one peice a day" method to get the "flavor" of it. One peice turns into 5...then 10...and worse. Even tonight, I mustve had 7 of those bite sized reeses peanut butter cups! I'm flustered. Any motivational words would do, honestly.

Its good that you recognise that you have a problem with sweets! Try to get the support of your family and encourage them to cut down on the sweets/cakes/biscuits too. Dont buy cakes or sweets  - replace with other sweet things such as fruit, especially berries, and a low calorie hot chocolate drink can satisfy that chocolate craving.

I fing raspberries or cherries great to snack on. I also buy the little mini boxes of sun maid raisins that are only 40 calories. Also distraction can really help - go outside, take a bath, a walk whatever until the feeling has passed. If its late - go to bed and read! Brushing your teeth with minty toothpaste can help take away the need for a taste of sweetness.

Try to avoid processed foods and try to eat 'natural' at least 80% of the time. It is  healthier and cheaper.

I love sweets too, and I have had to work really hard to find satisfying alternatives. First, I buy all the groceries, so if it is not in the house, I won't eat it. Is the family supportive (and aware) of your efforts? I wonder if they could have a forbidden cabinet---all that junk in one cabinet in the kitchen, so they have their snacks, but you can just avoid that one? I am very "out of sight, out of mind." It;s the same reason my fresh fruit and veggies used to rot in the bottom drawers---right?

I have found apples, cut in 16ths--with a little PB2 (if I need protein), with a caramel sugar free jello pudding (60 calories!), or from the oven with some splenda and cinnamon (maybe even wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla (50) if I want an old fave, Taco Bell style empanada! I buy small ones and cut them in a million pieces and for 55 calories, they are sweet and that's what I have been having lately if I have the nervous hands, just want to crunch on something--ya know?
Bananas dipped in another of the sugar free jello flavors like mint choc or mochaccino (bananas period, really)
mini rice cakes and soy crisps (60 cals for 8) caramel and a million other flavors (+ they have savory flavors I have replaced chips with like cheese, ranch)
I make a mean 25ish calorie cheesecake, single servings and they can be a million different flavors including choc!
sugar free oatmeal is filling and good for you--100
Special K with Berries and light vanilla soy milk (190 total)
sugar free hot chocolate (25)
watermelon, canteloupe, peaches, plums, nectarines
100 calorie pack kettle corn

Keep experimenting! ( : Olivia

Jello makes caramel sugar free pudding?  I just added it to my grocery list to go with apples. I can't believe how good that sounds!

You just made my day.

YAY! I love those dang pudding cups---60 calories and in a million different flavors, all equally delicious! ( : 

The sugar-free hot chocolate is a good idea...  it is very satisfying.  This will sound a little weird, but I gave up only ice cream about a year ago.  (I had been eating a bunch of ice cream at least three times a week).  I wasn't on any other sort of weight loss program - I just cut out the ice cream because I saw it was a vice.  After the cold turkey period of about three months, I decided that I'd have it on birthdays and special occasions only.  After the cold turkey period, I found I did have the self-motivation not to overdo it and call every occasion a special occasion.  To get myself through the cold turkey period, I gave myself one exception - I could eat it if it was on a stick (like popsicles and fudgecicles, not ice cream bars).  Sugar free fudgecicles are sooo good, and not more than about 80 calories each (I don't remember the exact number).   Now that it's been so long, though, I don't eat them anymore either.  So maybe if you give yourself one outlet that is lower in calories, but still feels like you are cheating, then it will be easier to stick to the no-sweet rule.  After you give the sweets up for a little while, it will be easier to pass up the candy dish because you don't want to ruin your dry spell.  (By the way, ask the family to quit bringing over the sweets!) 

I forgot popsicles! I have a couple of different fruity varieties from Edy's--sugar free, 30 cals each. And are popsicles not the quintessential summer time memory? Ah, the good ol' days...... ( : 

Thank you guys soo much! All of your suggestions are truly wonderful, and I'm going to be trying to cut it down using a mixture of all the things you suggested! The popsicles sound wonderful; its been so hott lately so I'm hoping the sugar free ones will cool me down and give me that little jolt I need. Some of you asked if my family was supportive?...Eh...not so much. My mother and sister and two people who have been trying to loose weight for years, but my sister has fallen to a pattern of accpetance with herself and anytime we bring up the "banding together to loose weight" issue, she turns on us angrily. My mother is a different story. She's given the "lets get started" speach so eloquently soo many times, but her plans always seem to fall through. Like myself, my mother as well is sucker for the sweet tooth. My sister can coax her into having something sweet. Many times, they'll remark that they NEED something sweet. My mother can coax herself, too. They make cookies and cakes and pies and allll sorts of things. Its very distracting, but I don't know how to approach the matter without hurting feelings. I want to declare myself independent from their "sweet nation", but I don't want them to feel like I'm abandoning them. Its hard, when the family doesn't create a supportive atmosphere. My father is a little bit more supportive. He always tells me how proud he is of me that I'm eating right and trying to stay healthy, yet thats all he does on the issue. I feel this is an entirely new battle, which has attachted itself to my sweets. I'm going to do my best and hope that they understand.

I wish you luck, Jen!

It took my being out on my own for 14 years and turning 30 this April to finally kick myself hard enough in the butt to actually get going on this whole lifestyle change!

It's too bad some people are not as supportive as others---I hope that once they see how much healthier and happier you are, that they just jump at the chance to ride your bandwagon!

Do it for you---and if they get with the program, great. if not, fine--their loss. ( :

I always hated it when peopel would say this to me before, but now I guess I understand finally where it comes from.....
"Remember: Nothing tastes as sweet as looking great!" (modified to accommodate your sweet tooth) =P (lol)

I'm glad cc is so full of support and friendship--maybe that will sustain you through the tough times at home. (

--Olivia

thank you so much olivia. :)

it is very nice to know that cc is supportive and people like you and others are willing to share advice and tips on how to be healthier and happier. I have a feeling that we're all going to do this, and get through it. :)

Get some diet ice cream like skinny cow or breyers 100 calorie cups. It's a good serving size and worthe the calories if you want something sweet.

Maybe try subing something else for the starburst, how about that vitiman water, its sweet and fruity, and an 8 oz serving has 50 cals ans 13g of sugar but it also has a bunch of vitimins and minerals and stuff, and they have some that taste just like starbursts, the dragonfruit one and the lemmon one. as far as the chocolate goes how about allowing yourself some real chocolate 65% or more cocoa it actually has some health benifits, hersheys sells it now under the hersheys reserve brand, check out their website for nutrition info and the health benifits, or google it.

http://www.hersheys.com/nutrition/antioxidant s.asp

http://longevity.about.com/od/lifelongnutriti on/p/chocolate.htm

Everyone has such great ideas! -- jen, I;d agree with rtd, I thought the vitawater was good and good for you. I have loved my sugar free hot chocolate lately for the choc cravings, but because it's so hot, I am unable to snarf it --all good. ( : 

Jen08- I know how you feel, I have a sweet tooth too. I'm on a 1200 calorie per day diet, so I really have to watch what I eat. I have found a few substitutes that have really helped me:

• "Emergen-C" flavored fizzy drink (mix) has only 20 calories per glass and is loaded with Vitamin C and other nutrients to give you a boost- very refreshing!
• I keep a tin of chocolate covered peppermint altoids in the car for "tide me overs" when I can't get to healthy lo-cal food right away. Each mint has 7.5 calories.
• After a day of being "good", I often like to treat myself to a Soy Delicious L'il Buddy mint ice "cream" sandwich. It has 150 calories and 3g of fat, but it's worth every bite and is satisfying.
  
• Don't forget sugar-free Jello!
• I also keep a container of Stanley Burrough's Lemonade in the frig for a tasty pick me up. The recipe I use contains 3/4 cup real lemon juice, 3/4 cup real maple syrup, 1 tsp. cayenne and 1½ quarts water.  Good luck!

---I'm interested in the yummy lo-cal cheese cake mentioned- would you pass the recipe on to us?  Thanks!

ptrippel!

I am so looking for chocolate covered Altoids next trip to the store. (  :

The recipe has become rather long since I've made it a few times, and I found it easier to type it up in word and then post it when people ask complete with all instruction/ruminations on the results. To be succinct, I'd say you could to these with dang near any flavor fruity jello and I;ve had pretty good success using other things to flavor the cheesecake and mixing in unflavored gelatin..... Let us know what you think!

  ****Whoppers**** Chocolate Cheesecake

   (Malted Milk Ball)

It's in my recipes. Can you get to those? um,

2 cups low fat or fat free cottage cheese 320
1 packet unflavored gelatin  20
2 packets sugar free hot chocolate  25 each
sweetener to taste   (4 each)
1 capful vanilla extract (20?)

I mixed the h.c. with 3/4 cup water, hot from the microwave. (I think I would do a full cup next time to see if I could squeeze 2 or 3 more cheesecakes out of it.) Stir until mixed, then stir in gelatin while it is still hot. Dump cottage cheese into blender, then h.c./gelatin mix. Blend until all c.c. lumps are gone. Pour into 12 cupcake foils or I know other people use cheesecake pie dishes, you know. I like the single serving thing for myself. Keeps me from going crazy. ( ; Allow regular amount set up time, couple of hours? I like them with a little whip cream (esp. frozen like ice cream) or as spread on my mini caramel rice cakes, YUM 40 calories each and endless possibilities!!!!

I've used strawberry which was simpler and only 18 cals each -- that one is just the same cottage cheese, and just mix 1/2 cup hot from the micro water with any flavor sugar free jello, then quickly get it all blended smooth and pour into cupcake foils. MY only caveat would be to warn you that whatever color the jello is equals the color of your cheesecake. ( : I took these to a guy friend's birthday party, and they were disturbingly pink.

LOL ( : We laughed.

I think next time I would try a plain old vanilla one with a few strawberries or peaches on top---blueberries, bananas, watermelon, the list goes on and on. I also think the trick of these little buggers is to get the flavoring right before you quit-----I tasted the chocolate ones the first time and thought YUCK, but I added a few more sweeteners and elected at that point to add the second hot chocolate packet to make the kind of chocolate intensity I wanted. I think if I had had some sugar free Hershey's, I would have stuck with one packet and a few tsps of that. YUM! Keep tasting the stuff in the blender until it tastes good 'cause the flavor is not changing once it's in the fridge.

Hope you enjoy! ( : Olivia

For me, it's always been helpful to listen to the "out of sight, out of mind" adage.  If I were in your shoes (which I sometimes can be when it comes to other types of food), it helps me to put it in a place not so easily accessible.  High on the shelf in the pantry behind the canned goods and pasta is good . . . Deep within the bowels of the freezer is good, too.  Any place that keeps it out of your usual line of vision will help you to forget that they're there.  After that, just keep busy. 

Substituting is good, also.  So are rewards.  Maybe during the week when you're craving a handful of Starburst, swap it for a handful of baby carrots.  On Saturday, give yourself a little treat with a couple of the Starburst candies. 

For me, my vice is Salt & Vinegar potato chips.  I hide them in my pantry behind other foods.  That way, when I go to reach for them, I'm more easily distracted by something else.  On Saturdays, and only AFTER I've worked out, I get to have a small handful of the delicious confections.  Mmmmm . . . It gives me something to work hard for.

Jen08--
I forgt to mention also that if you have a Trader Joe's near by, I'd higly recommend the chocolate covered espresso beans. Each richly chocolate coated bean is 6.8 calories and .32 grams fat. You get to enjoy that chocolate indulgence with a little caffeine boost to boot. I usually have 6 of them (for 41 calories and 2 grams fat) at some point in the day when I am feeling sluggish and in need of a treat.

whew! all of you guys have SUCH good advice! I've been trying some substitutes and the vitamin water is really good! so, i am proud to say that I am a pound down! :) thanks to EVERYONE who replied to this post, i might add

Hey guys-

  I would encourage you to be careful with vitiman water.  Yes, it does have 50 calories/serving but there are 2.5 servings in every bottle for a total of 125 calories.  Also the average serving has at least 13 grams of sugar per serving resulting in over 30 grams of sugar per bottle!!!

  If you are looking for a healthy alternative, I would try Twist Waters by Talking Rain.  They are available at Super Target and come in Blueberry-Pomagranate, Mango-Acai, West Indies Lime, and Mandarin White Tea.  The first two are nice and sweet!  I am not a big fan of limes in general but the mandarin white tea has a nice clean finish.  These beverages come in at 25 calories for the entire bottle and 4 grams of sugar (natural from agave juice) resulting in a much healthier choice!!!