How I Beat My Sugar Addiction
Dear GreenSmoothieGirl: I am trying to stop eating sugar, but am SO weak! I've been reading some recommended books, and trying to exercise willpower, and I still struggle. I'm curious what your process was, that led to success, and how you’ve been able to stay off sugar. I could do it before I had kids, but now it seems SO much harder. I'd love to hear your tips of how you are able to enjoy family time, birthdays, holidays, etc, without the sugar.
--Dixie
Answer: You got it, Dixie. First, today, the “how I did it” part of your question. Then, tomorrow, some data download on the artificial sweeteners and why they’re even worse.
HOW I BEAT MY SUGAR ADDICTION
I really believe that to truly kick the sugar addiction, you have to go off it permanently, cold-turkey. Can an alcoholic just “cut back?” Can a cocaine addict do lines “just on the weekend?”
I’m not saying you will NEVER eat sugar again. (I can’t handle that thought either. I have come further than most, though, to say, “I will not eat it for a year.” Don’t think too far in the future. Think about a long period of time, though. Something that hurts your brain a little. Something challenging.)
What I AM saying is, as long as it’s going to be a casual indulgence, it’s going to be an addiction.
It doesn’t work like that, casually. Addiction to chemicals hijack the brain. It makes us less than we are. It makes us feel we have no “willpower” and aren’t in control of our weight, our life, our health.
Is it worth it? Is sugar worth the price we pay? Academically, we all know it isn’t.
One day, I got completely out of the sugar rat race. It was Sept. 11, 2011. Matthew Flinders and I bet $10,000 that we wouldn’t eat sugar for a year.
When the option was off the table, I stopped thinking about it. It’s so incredibly rare that I even think about sugar now. Seriously. It takes a matter of DAYS before you just quit thinking about it. (Why think about it? Is there a cookie that’s worth $10,000? There isn’t, right?)
I have other treats I *could* have.
I have honey-sweetened homemade halva balls in my freezer right now. They're legal, I could eat them every day if I wanted, but sometimes they're there for weeks before I reach for one. Ditto a the stevia-sweetened dark-chocolate hot fudge in my refrigerator--haven’t touched it in months.
It’s important to know I COULD IF I WANTED. I just don’t really care, most of the time.
“Ah,” you’re thinking, “now you’ve lost me. You’re not like me. I really don’t see the point in living, if it doesn’t involve my daily treats.”
No, listen. I get it. I don’t know if anyone was a bigger sugar addict than me. Writing that treats sit in my freezer and fridge are a big triumph, since I was a lifelong sugar addict. I have deep fillings in all my molars to prove it. Did I fight it more successfully than most? Yes, by sheer will. Like a daily arm wrestle. But in MY OWN RESEARCH, 65% of green smoothie drinkers have fewer cravings for sweets and processed food.
I, my friend, was in the 35%. I still wanted my damn treat.
But here’s something true. A weird thing happens when you get off REFINED sugar. All sugar seems less interesting.
I’m just not interested in brownies anymore. (OMG! Thank you for asking me this question, Dixie! I’ve been thinking about so many MORE INTERESTING THINGS THAN BROWNIES the past 18 months, I hadn’t even realized…….brownies aren’t interesting anymore, and my brain is occupied by better stuff now!)
At first, I’d go to a family birthday or Christmas or any number of other holiday parties, and just not dare LOOK at the dessert table. Now it doesn’t matter. I might look, but I don’t feel the cravings. Now when I look at mint chocolate brownies (my former favorite), it looks like a bunch of chemicals and food colorings and stuff. While I do have lots of memory of pleasure associated with that food, it isn’t particularly tempting.
I enjoy celebrating, still. I eat the dinner, just not the dessert. If I were still in a place of feeling deprived, I’d take my own (raw, yummy, chocolately) treat. You can do that. Get our READERS FAVORITES books, or check out Ch. 11 of 12 STEPS TO WHOLE FOODS.
I’m over halfway through Year 2 on the Sugar Bet. Matthew did Year 1 with me as a test of his willpower--he loves games and contests--and didn’t want to do it forever. So I had to get Natalie Harris to do it with me as my first bet ended.
This year, I’m allowed to have sugar one day a month. Honestly, in 2013, thus far, I haven’t seen anything I wanted to eat enough to “use” my day. I’m banking them.
I’m not saying I’ll never eat sugar again. If I go to Las Vegas and get to the Wicked Spoon at the Cosmopolitan? Totally worth it. Ditto a five-star all-inclusive resort in Mexico, on a vacation.
But I am saying, it’s the nicest feeling in the world to (a) have sugar cravings no longer intruding into my thoughts, demanding my brain functions I need for higher things, making me ridiculously obsess about WILL I OR WON’T I TODAY?
And it’s the nicest feeling in the world to (b) discover that not only is life worth living without sugar? It’s just better.
My life is so much better without sugar.
I didn’t lose weight when I ditched sugar. (I ate little of it anyway. But I spent far more time THINKING about wanting to eat sugar and BATTLING it, than actually DOING it. This might be the definition of ANNOYING.)
I weighed 135-137 then, and I weigh 135-137 now. I don’t really feel any different. I felt great then, and now.
(I had learned MANY years ago to never, ever do it on an empty stomach. That made me sick from the time I was a hypoglycemic kid. I finally wised up and stopped doing it by my mid-20’s. Then I had a long phase of still eating sugar, but only after a healthy meal. Then a long phase of not eating sugar regularly, but still sometimes.)
So why am I still THRILLED that I’ve been totally “off sugar” for 18 months, if I didn’t lose weight or feel any different?
Because now I am in charge of my life. Only after getting free of the sugar demon am I able to look back and realize how CONTROLLED I was by Sugar’s pushy, interruptive, bossy presence in my life.
It was a gradual process, to realizing that I don’t hate my life without sugar.
You won’t either. Promise.
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You get it absolutely right when you say:
“Because now I am in charge of my life. Only after getting free of the sugar demon am I able to look back and realize how CONTROLLED I was by Sugar’s pushy, interruptive, bossy presence in my life.”
Sugar and other hyperpalatable foods (foods that layer salt, fat, and sweet flavors, proven to increase consumption) wreck havoc on the prefrontal cortex, the executive center of the brain, weakening judgement, planning, organization and will power. At the same time, such foods deeply damage the dopamine system, which regulates the sens of reward and other pleasant things.
The longer you stay away from those foods, the more your brain will bounce back, the more ability you have to say no and the more the rewards of being in control of your life will outweigh the fleeting pleasure and high of eating.
You’re doing a great service by testifying to your life beyond sugar.
This is off topic, but how do minerals differ from the heavy metals? Cadmium, tin, tungsten, are all listed in liquid light mineral complex. But reports are saying autism is linked to heavy metals, and then lists some, such as cadmium, tin, tungsten, mercury and lead.
Been off sugar two months on a candida cleanse, never felt better. We are full of energy and life. The big bonus, anxiety and depression have gone away too!
I’ve lost my cravings for sugar. I didn’t do it intentionally. I just stopped craving sugar when I started drinking daily the 72 ounces of water that is recommended for a person of my weight (75 ounces actually recommended). Most days I only end up drinking 64 ounces now, but still no cravings or even much interest in sugar. It didn’t happen entirely on the first day, because I did have a psychological habit, but the physical cravings left immediately.
Hi Robyn, wonderfully inspiring post!! I’ve gone 2 weeks without sugar and I feel amazing, I can’t wait until it’s 2 months (not sure about 2 years, but 2 months is definitely attainable!). I have a whole foods lifestyle, but I have not had fruit beyond berries or apples, no dates, no coconut sugar, no honey, etc for 2 weeks. It feels really good, my head is so clear!
I wanted to ask if you could clarify. I know you are not or have not been eating any REFINED sugar for a very, very long time, but when you say you’re not eating SUGAR, are you not eating “whole sugar” in the form of dates, coconut sugar, honey, maple syrup, etc? When you say you’re allowed sugar one day a month, does this mean a not so good for you treat, or is it still a “good” treat made with honey, dates, or coconut sugar, and you’re still not eating it?
A curious mind just wants to know, thanks!!
I always bragged that I was not interested in sugar at all, but when Type II pre-diabetes hit, I started looking at what I do eat. Amazing the sugar that creeps in even when you think you are clean! Pasta, white bread, rice, carbs, coffee cream, yogurt, breath mints, and even condiments. That is the extreme short list. So, now I am so conscious of sugar. My favorite greek low fat yogurt has 20 grams!
I have a hard time being OK with coconut sugar or agave, but not white sugar. Are the natural sweeteners really THAT MUCH better for you? Do they magically not feed the sugar addiction? I know my brownies made with whole wheat flour and coconut sugar taste pretty close to the ones made with white sugar and flour. Maybe my body disagrees 🙂
Wait, am I missing something here? I thought that agave is worse than HFCS in that it has wayyyy more fructose, like 80% as opposed to about 40-50% in HFCS. And also agave is overly processed like HFCS. Is that true?
Thanks for sharing that huge step with us (your readers). I am excited (I think) to hear about Why Artificial Sweeteners Are Terrible..also Truvia & Stevia??? As a diabetic, who has not conquered sugar YET, I thought I found the answer in these two forms. So now I’m back to square one…again. I clearly see why cold-turkey is the only way!
So your saying bet with someone $10,000 to not eat sugar for a year? I know the craving for sugar can be unbearable at least for me anyway. Is there something that can help reduce them? Green smoothies? Any supplements or herbs? Stay off or artificial sweeteners? I take it your suggesting go cold turkey and I get that but, if it’s an addictive substance I would think it would take more than that.
You could have inserted my name with Dixie’s. Ughhhh… Mentally it all makes sense but implementing seems impossible.
It’s true about the green smoothies lessening your sugar cravings – there’s so many nutrients in them that you body doesn’t crave a lot of food or junk food. I have stopped sugar for long periods of time, but gave in at some parties. If I didn’t eat too much, or only for that one treat, I would be fine the next day. If I ate sugar for two or more consecutive days (like Christmas time), then I had trouble quitting again. Everyone’s different. I’m still a work in progress!
Great article. Thanks. So your definition of ‘refined sugar’ is what?
Actually just read one of your article about sweeteners that answered my question. Thanks.
Robyn you never cease to inspire! Very cool! Thank you for sharing. I just read a tip today that if you are craving something sweet than you should eat something sour like dill or lemon. Apparantly it will cancel out the craving like an equal and opposite reaction kind of thing i guess….Have not tried that out yet. A pickle anyone? Fermented of course! =)
How true…any ‘monkey’ on your back is so wonderfully ‘freeing’ to get it off!! And then eventually turn around and know you are in charge of YOU….
As always hoping your tips help many..
Thanks for responding to my question! I have realized I was still not completely committed to cutting out sugars until I read about a man who wasn’t fully converted to his church. “I once knew a man who had to make a decision whether to attend church every time Sunday came around. He had to decide whether he would take a drink every time he was offered alcohol. One day a friend told him…”Why can’t you just decide once and for all which side you’re on? Why do you have to re-examine your loyalty every time a decision is called for? You will never make any progress until you stop reinventing the wheel and build on what you already know.” A while later, his friend called back and stated, “You know, I wouldn’t like it if my wife told me she had to decide every morning whether she still loved me or not, or if she told me she only stayed with me because she hadn’t found a reason to leave—yet. I guess the Lord is entitled to more of a commitment than that from me.” (Oct 1993 Ensign, Enduring to the End, Stephen E. Robinson). I realized I was ‘that guy’ trying to make a decision every day what I was going to do. I’ve realized that if I want to make any changes, I just need to commit and jump in with both feet. Thanks for your courageous example!