Sugaaaaar!

I'm trying to give up sugar and artificial sweeteners...but right now the urge to eat chocolate or binge on liquorice allsorts is overwhelming! So I'm trying to occupy myself...

I got through the whole of yesterday with no artificial sweeteners, but couldn't avoid the chocolate temptation! I woke up this morning determined not to give in but now my dedication is waning cos my flatmates are in the kitchen making Shakeaway style smoothies with ice cream, Minstrels, Mars Bars, Cookies...You name it! They're offering me to try them and so far I've said no and now I've run away to my room (antisocial but necessary I feel!)

Any advice on how to sit this out or get the craving out of my system??? Any words of wisdom from those who have successfully cut out refined sugars etc???

Thanks

As a recovering chocoholic I found that I just had to steer clear of all tempation for about 3 weeks. Now, only once in a blue moon do I have a craving for chocolate. I think I just had to "get it out of my system" as they say. Always remember to allow your self a few "cheats" and don't beat your self when you have to have some sort of sweet.

Do you have to give up artificial sweeteners? Are you consuming so much that it's a problem?

Hmm...I guess giving them up is not a necessity, I just figured it would be better for me not to have them.

It sounds weird, but cos I don't drink tea or coffee I tend to drink a hot, sugar-free squash drink instead and it contains aspartame. And I do drink a fair amount of it! I can get through a 750ml bottle of the double concentrated squash in about a week...

I am sure folks will come in here and give you good advice to reduce sugar cravings ... for me it is eating things like low-calorie jello or freezer pops which do sometimes contain sweeteners.

And at least for me, the sweeteners do have a place in my diet as I can still enjoy a sweet coffee in the morning or a little dessert midday.Well I personally believe cutting back on sugar and sweeteners might be a good thing - to get used to eating healthier foods rather than always having a palette for the super sweet - however, don't cut back entirely as that may lead to overeating on them later. Keeps me balanced and that's coming from a sugar junkie!

Here is some info from Ask Mary in case you are interested:

What are the negative effects of Splenda?

SPLENDA® is the brand name for sucralose, an ingredient made by chemically processing sugar to convert it to a no calorie sweetener.  The Food and Drug Administration approved sucralose based on a review of over 110 studies, which found that sucralose had no carcinogenic, reproductive or neurological side-effects.  Some critics still claim that animal research links sucralose to organ damage at exceptionally high levels of intake.  Preliminary research on animals also claims that artificial sweeteners may promote weight gain by interfering with mechanisms for regulating intake, but those finding seem to be oversimplified.

Should I eliminate artificial sweetener from my diet?

Saccharin (Sweet & Low) is a safe product.  In the 1970s, research linked high doses of saccharin to bladder cancer in laboratory rats.  It was listed as a substance known to cause cancer in humans, and foods containing saccharin had to carry a warning label.  But in 2000, saccharin was delisted by U.S. National Toxicology Program because subsequent research showed no consistent evidence that saccharin causes cancer in humans.  Today, saccharin no longer carries a warning label and it is widely used as a beneficial sugar substitute.

I attempted to cut out sugar and I just couldn't do it (I LOVE chocolate)! Maybe you are an 'all or nothing' person and this wouldn't work for you, but every now and then when I get a really bad craving I have a Thins Dairy Milk 100 cal. choc bar, or some no sugar added chocolate Jello pudding.  It keeps me from having a binge on something potentially worse!

I must say though, your description of those smoothies...going through some cravings right now!

Everyone has been so helpful with their suggestions, thank you for taking the time to respond!

Having considered what a lot of you have said, I'm thinking that maybe I should start off by cutting out EITHER sugar OR sweeteners, maybe not both at once (too hard!)

That being said, I don't know which is the lesser of two evils? Which one do you think is worse and should therefore be cut out first??? Tho I guess it's just a matter of opinion, but I'd like to hear some of your thoughts

And nycgirl: Just reminded me, another reason why I decided to cut down on sweeteners is my addiction to sugarfree jelly - I had recently got to the stage where I was getting through 3pints of the stuff a day!!! :S

Stevia is KEY! Stevia is not an artificial sweetener - it is an extract from a tropical plant found in the amazon! It is healthy and suppose to lower your blood sugar! I have been using stevia for 8 years now in my coffee almost daily and have yet to have any adverse effects (knock on wood)... ha ha! Honestly though, stevia is a GOD-SEND for people trying to cut sugar out of their lives! I do not eat sugar and haven't for 8 years! Sweetleaf Stevia & NuNaturals Stevia brands are my favorite - check em' out! 

Original Post by giasbash6260:

Stevia is KEY! Stevia is not an artificial sweetener - it is an extract from a tropical plant found in the amazon! It is healthy and suppose to lower your blood sugar! I have been using stevia for 8 years now in my coffee almost daily and have yet to have any adverse effects (knock on wood)... ha ha! Honestly though, stevia is a GOD-SEND for people trying to cut sugar out of their lives! I do not eat sugar and haven't for 8 years! Sweetleaf Stevia & NuNaturals Stevia brands are my favorite - check em' out! 

 Do you know if you can get them in the UK???

Original Post by corazon_latino:

Original Post by giasbash6260:

Stevia is KEY! Stevia is not an artificial sweetener - it is an extract from a tropical plant found in the amazon! It is healthy and suppose to lower your blood sugar! I have been using stevia for 8 years now in my coffee almost daily and have yet to have any adverse effects (knock on wood)... ha ha! Honestly though, stevia is a GOD-SEND for people trying to cut sugar out of their lives! I do not eat sugar and haven't for 8 years! Sweetleaf Stevia & NuNaturals Stevia brands are my favorite - check em' out! 

 Do you know if you can get them in the UK???

especially in the UK!

What about sugars in fruit and milk, etc.  Are you allowing yourself to have those?  I'm doing the same thing as you are, that is trying to eliminate both sugar and artificial sweetners.  It's going ok so far; I've definitely had some sugars though.  Mostly of the fruit variety; in strawberries yesterday at the superbowl party we hosted, and in the couple pieces of dried fruit I've eaten in my trail mix--but that's it.  So, I don't really have any good suggestions to help you, but I'm dealing with it too! 

Good luck!

No, I'm definitely keeping my milk and fruits etc.! Just the refined white sugar. I'm a little fruit bat so it would be way too hard for me to give them up as well, and as they are natural sugars I don't have so much of a problem with them!

Good to know there is someone as crazy as me trying to cut this stuff out :P You sound like your coping a whole lot better than I am!

I've been a fan of Stevia since I first tried it a few years ago.  It's all natural, no calories and most people don't know, it's used all over the world as a sweetener.  Over 50% of all products sweetened in Japan, contain some stevia.  It's used in Diet Coke over there for God's sake!!!...lol.  Just make sure you buy pure stevia extract, not the liquid, not the packets, but pure extract powder in a little bottle.  It's the cheapest and it's not thinned out with other ingredients.   I buy Now Brand or Herbal Select up here in Canada.   One small bottle costs 10 bucks, has 900 servings in it and replaces 13,500 calories!!

I did cut out processed sugars almost entirely two or three years ago and I've never looked back.  I get my chocolate fix by mixing carob powder or pure cocoa powder in a protein shake or into some banana bread or some other healthy dessert.  I will eat commercial chocolate once in a while but I don't feel like I'm missing anything.  Once you go off sugar, your taste buds adjust and everything tastes so much sweeter, you'll enjoy fruit in a whole different way.  It literally becomes like an explosion of flavour in your mouth to eat a banana, or a ripe peach or an orange.  

Out of curiosity, can one bake with stevia?  Or does it break down when heated?

I don't believe it does break down when heated, and I've been using it in various recipes for years now.  Of course you can get the same sweetness from Stevia as you do from sugar, but a tsp of stevia replaces maybe a half cup of sugar and you have to figure out by experimenting whether you need to replace the bulk or volume of the sugar in a recipe.  I usually start out in experiments by dropping half the sugar and using no substitutes and then adjust from there.   After dropping sugar from my diet, I find I don't need things to be as sweet anymore.  Perhaps my taste buds are super sensitive to sweetness now...

Just eat a small square of dark chocolate....75% cocoa or more...it won't kill you or make you gain 10 pounds.  And it will satisfy your craving...

There is some scientific evidence that consuming artificial sweetners can lead to obesity.  They propose that by sustaining the "sweet tooth" you do not make better food choices, but instead continue to crave that sweet taste.  As a diabetic, I do use the alternate  sugar choices for health reasons and "cheat" on occasion with high quailty dark chocolate.  Several folks in this forum have said this works for them, it sure works for me.  Sometimes combined with fruit it is very satisfying.

For you gardeners out there, stevia is a very easy plant to grow. All you need is a sunny location and it will grow like a weed. You can snip leaves off the plant and use them in tea or to sweeten baked goods, and if you have winter like we do up here in Canada, you can cut the plant down and dry the leaves and use them in tea, or use a mortar and pestle to grind them up to add sweetness to anything baked or cooked.  You can grow enough stevia in a couple of square feet of garden to replace most or all of your sugar for a year.   All natural, no calories, no processing, straight from the plant...

if you can survive (and you really can) at least 20 days without any sugar or sweetener you are healed! but to reach that point, you can go for a walk, to the gym or do some push-ups when you feel like eating something sweet. it really helps! or just try on some of your skinny jeans that you want to fit (and you can't now), maybe it will help!

Taste for sugar really does seem to go away if you can avoid it for several weeks. Hot tea, fresh fruit, plenty of vegetables help. Don't let yourself getting too hungry. When I stay away from sugar completely, I have no desire for it. After several years of eating very little if any sugar, I now indulge a few bites of extra dark chocolate almost every day. The idea of cakes, cookies etc. is no longer appealing. It's so worth it. The ill effects of sugar --  inflamation leading to disease -- make me want to avoid this empty, damaging substance.

Good LUCK!

I think you're on the right track-decide which alternative is least upsetting to your goals and stick with either sugar or sweetener and then gradually cut it back.  By retraining your taste buds slowly you can reduce the amount of sweet you crave without throwing yourself into withdrawal.  And I have read things as well that state the use of artificial sweeteners contributes to the obesity problem by makes our sweet threshold higher.