Addiction Recovery

Beat Sugar Addiction – How I Overcame Sugar Addiction and You Can Too Now That the Holidays Are Over

December 29th, 2008 Filed under: Uncategorized — Addiction Recovery Author

The holidays are over and with them the unrelenting onslaught of sugar-filled goodies. You know those treats aren’t good for you but you probably couldn’t resist them. How about a fresh start, though? Now may be the perfect time to start coming to grips with your sugar addiction. Because there will be more sugar even if it isn’t quite a ubiquitous as it was during the prime of the holiday season.

Why? Sugar can hurt you. If you have diabetes or even pre-diabetes, a season filled with sugary stuff can push you over the top and cause serious damage. If you’re working at managing your weight, sugar addiction will definitely make your weight creep in the wrong direction. Unless, of course, you find a way off the roller coaster. If you haven’t managed to do so before candied plums and company start making their entry, at least give it a shot now that the worst is over.

Here’s the way I have weaned myself off sugar…

First of all, for many of us, sugar is addictive. Period. Just accept it. You eat it, you want more. That’s what it used to be like for me. Still is. Except I don’t eat sugar anymore, and so I no longer have a problem.

So, hard as it may seem, the easiest way to get off that roller coaster is to quit cold turkey. But you knew that and you didn’t want to read THAT here, so I’m not going to stop there.

The reason why sugar needs to go is because it triggers a physiological addictive reaction. But there’s no need to quit sweet stuff altogether.

Here’s what I did instead: I experimented with “sugar-free” goodies. In moderate doses. Now how would this help? First of all, the selection isn’t quite as big as that of sugar-containing sweets, so temptation is reduced a bit. Few people offer sugar-free goodies in their office candy jar.

Just make a real commitment to forego actual sugar and it becomes surprisingly easy not to fall off the wagon. You know you can still indulge, after all, just not then and there, unless you came prepared, which I actually recommend.

Secondly, most of these sugar-free goodies don’t quite trigger the physiological addiction the way sugar does. For me anyway, I was able to stop at a couple of candies when they were sugar-free, while sugar would have triggered the vicious cycle of eating more of it, and wanting it more often too.

This is different for different sugar substitutes though, so you may want to experiment. Stevia is the healthiest of the bunch, so whenever possible, choose that one. Also, try to reduce the sweetness of what you eat gradually when you have control, for example with coffee or tea. Learn to like it with less — and eventually even without.

Third, depending on which sweetener you picked, you may find that you don’t WANT to eat more than a small portion because eating too much of certain kinds, particularly sugar alcohols (maltitol, sorbitol, etc.) leads to major gastro-intestinal distress. So you eat just a little… That’s what’s called “self-limiting” in medicine, and it works great for sugar addiction as well.

Yes, studies have recently shown that sugar substitutes aren’t as helpful for weight loss as we all would have liked, so they’re not the ultimate solution.

Still, for many of us, they may help with that first step, and eventually, you’ll find it easier to reduce the sweet stuff even more, especially when you find that your weight goes down faster (or stays off better) when you keep the sweet treats, even sugar-free ones, at a minimum. And if someone offers you cookies or leaves their candy jar sitting on their desk in the office, you just think of how good it will feel when you fit in your bathing suit again.

There’s no reason you should suffer stress over this however. Get Elisabeth Kuhn’s FREE Stress tips report to help you stay calm under pressure, even in the face of the office candy bowl, and if you’d like some support as you make this or any other changes in your life, you’re invited to sign up for a FREE strategy session