Sugar cravings

[Daniel E.]

I was always happy with diet sodas, so my weakness has been for freely available baked goods like pastries, in addition to salty things like chips. So I just try to avoid being near the stuff since it is so tempting when I'm not feeling great.

The advice I heard from Wayne Dyer (the pop psychologist from the 70s who then went all spiritual) is that just being being mindful while eating sugary foods can be a good starting point. It was from him that I learned about the sugar in milk:

Dyer: You probably notice that in men around the age of 40 or 50 the body starts to make some shifts and you just look thicker. People just look thicker. I just saw a picture of Tom Hanks, a very popular actor, of course, and I noticed this guy is a lot bigger than he was not long ago, just thicker. You know what I mean?

Laughlin: Sure.

Dyer: And I just decided that I didn’t want to be thick! I am heading towards 70. I can’t even hardly say those words it just doesn’t make sense to me (Laughter). I have been an exerciser and an athlete my whole life. I have run marathons, I exercise every day. I swim. I do yoga. But what happens is you start putting weight on around the middle of your body. So I put this Excuses Begone! paradigm to work for myself and decided that I was going change that. As with all my writing, I have got to be able to know that this thing really works and will help people to change before I share it. Sure enough, within a week I had an interview with a guy named Jorge Cruise, who has written a book about belly fat. I had an interview with him, and he talked to me about sugar. He said in the 19th century that the average amount of sugar consumed by Americans was around 13 grams a day and today its 285 grams. That’s like a 500% increase in the amount of sugar consumed! He told me if you just get your sugar consumption down to under 15 grams a day…

Well, a banana has 11 grams of sugar! An eight ounce glass of orange juice has 35 grams of sugar in it. So it’s a pretty radical shift. Sugar is in everything! If you start looking at what’s on the packaging you’ll see huge amounts of it; in some cases its 100 grams in one serving of something you would consume. So, Jorge said if you get it down below 15 grams a day, or even just below 40 grams a day, you’ll take off between 15–17 pounds, which is about what I wanted to take off. I am not overweight. But I am thicker and I just decided to look at the excuses I have used to stay this way and put this paradigm to work. Sure enough, in less than 30 days I have taken off 17 pounds all the way around the middle. So, you can really make these kinds of shifts. I always challenge myself. If I am going to write about it, I have to be able to walk the talk.

http://www.drwaynedyer.com/articles/living_what_he_teaches

 

[Andy]

Yeah diet "pop" lol is good too. I just find that I drink twice as many compared to regular pop. I do buy both though. I like chips but never been a big fan.
I go for the stuff made of basically all sugar like icing which would be sooo good right now and I suppose if it was attached to a cupcake or something I could live with that. Actually that would make me even more miserable, that's the last thing I need.

Well I'm not sure exactly how mindful I am while eating/drinking the sugar. I'm aware but I just don't stop myself and it's always there in my mind.I can't even imagine how many grams of sugar I consume daily! Getting it down to 15 makes me laugh.

 

[Daniel E.]

basically all sugar like icing which would be sooo good right now

I wonder if making your own icing and sweets with Splenda may help, at least in the short term. In the long term, maybe not since it keeps the focus on sweets rather than other ways to get dopamine (roller coasters, learning new things, travel, exercising outdoors, anything new and exciting).

 

[Andy]

I wonder if making your own icing and sweets with Splenda may help...

lol That sounds dangerous! :facepalm: I'd ride a roller coaster over and over again if I had some one to ride it with. lol I like a good shot of adrenaline.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

I wonder if making your own icing and sweets with Splenda may help...

lol That sounds dangerous! :facepalm: I'd ride a roller coaster over and over again if I had some one to ride it with. lol I like a good shot of adrenaline.

There you go. Just make your own icing and sweets with Splenda AND adrenaline.

 

[Andy]

There you go. Just make your own icing and sweets with Splenda AND adrenaline.

lol That would cover my energy issue. That sounds like a quick trip to the ER.:facepalm:

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Maybe substitute caffeine for adrenaline?

 

[Andy]

I do-pop! lol I love coffee/tea but it makes me feel sick.

I'm difficult. lol I don't mean to be I just am.

 

[Daniel E.]

Some two-cent advice from the ever-increasingly-unpopular Atkins company:

I crave sweets, bread and crackers. Why? And what can I do about it?
Source: Atkins.com (article no longer online)

If you only recently started Atkins, your blood sugar levels probably haven't stabilized. yet. After adhering strictly to the Induction phase for five days, cravings should be under control. Occasionally, women will experience cravings just before a menstrual period. The longer you continue with Atkins, the fewer cravings you'll have.

Skipping meals or going too long between meals may also cause cravings one reason why eating regularly is important. Another possibility is that you may have a food intolerance, often called a food allergy. People often crave the very food they should stay away from. Foods to which people are often intolerant include milk products, peanuts, soy, wheat, yeast and corn. The only way to figure out if you are sensitive to a food is to eliminate various foods one at a time to see if the cravings abate.

Stress is yet another possible trigger for cravings. Blood sugar can become unstable when you're under stress, which in turn leads to cravings. This is just one more reason to limit, and learn to manage, stress. Excessive caffeine can also cause a hypoglycemic response in some individuals, which can cause them to crave sweets. Adding L-glutamine to your nutrient program may help curb cravings. Also, Atkins Dieters' Advantage Formula contains nutrients and food extracts that help control appetite, including chromium to help stabilize blood sugar.

Consuming fat helps you feel satisfied, mitigating cravings. If you're doing everything else right and still craving carbs, eat half of an Advantage Bar, a few olives, some cheese, avocado or some cream cheese in a celery stick. Most important, don't give in to cravings. Doing so will only result in more cravings and more cheatingand inevitable weight gain.

From what they say, not only can stress increase sugar cravings, but sugar can increase stress:

Sugar increases stress

When we’re under stress, our stress hormone levels rise; these chemicals are the body’s fight-or-flight emergency crew, sent out to prepare the body for an attack or an escape. These chemicals are also called into action when blood sugar is low. For example, after a blood-sugar spike (say, from eating a piece of birthday cake), there’s a compensatory dive, which causes the body to release stress hormones such as adrenaline, epinephrine and cortisol. One of the main things these hormones do is raise blood sugar, providing the body with a quick energy boost. The problem is, these helpful hormones can make us feel anxious, irritable and shaky.

http://www.atkins.com/science/scien...ys-Sugar-Harms-Your-Health.aspx?articleId=357

 

[Andy]

Maybe I will try to get that L-Glutamine. I take Chromium already but that is the supplement that might not be healthy for me to take. Sooo, I still take it lol, yeah, yeah...only because it has worked for me before and I think it is helping a little bit.

"If you're doing everything else right and still craving carbs, eat half of an Advantage Bar, a few olives, some cheese, avocado or some cream cheese in a celery stick."
I have to admit I have never had an advantage bar with olives on a celery stick. I have of course tried it with cheese and avocado.

So just quit consuming sugar. lol Logical yet not so easy. :facepalm:

 

[Daniel E.]

I have to admit I have never had an advantage bar with olives on a celery stick.

I think you're supposed to stuff the olives inside the bar, and then put that on top of the celery.

Maybe I will try to get that L-Glutamine.

It's also naturally in some foods:

Dietary sources of L-glutamine include beef, chicken, fish, eggs, milk, dairy products, wheat, cabbage, beets, beans, spinach, and parsley. Small amounts of free L-glutamine are also found in vegetable juices and foods, such as tofu

Glutamine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Andy]

I think you're supposed to stuff the olives inside the bar, and then put that on top of the celery.

Oh good idea, that would definitely make preparation and eating easier, instead of trying to balance those olives on top.

Well I just looked up the supplement and it's the same, I can't take it. I would prefer to just pop a pill lol. I will have to make a list and see about getting some of the natural stuff.
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I also just found another reason to avoid it (personally I mean) that I had never heard of before. I don't know how much research has gone into this though.

*If you have bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression) or suffer from seizures and epilepsy, Glutamine may increase the risk (in theory) of seizures, especially in people with a seizure disorder. In people with bipolar disorders it may increase the risk of mania. If you have a history of seizures you need to check with your physician before you decide to take Glutamine. If you have bipolar disorder it's better to avoid taking Glutamine altogether.