Help with sugar cravings

(natasha) #1

hello everyone. I am very new to Kato and really need help with the sugar cravings. I do pretty good on keeping my carb intake down…infill I eat something like a piece of candy. Dinners are easy and so is breakfast. But when I’m at work is where I find myself eating the sugar. Can I please get some helpful tips.

(Karen Parrott) #2

I had to abstain from sugar for getting food sober. I had previously binge eaten for 40 years. So it took 1 to 2 years for the cravings to finally decrease. I can still get cravings but I set up non-food methods of dealing with them including support groups, computer games, taking a rest or meditation, I figured out exactly what my binge triggers were and now I abstain from them. So start with abstaining and work from there. There are other people who also everything from sugar, flour, MSG, nuts, emulsifiers. With good results. Onward and here’s to exploring a whole new world.

(Karen Parrott) #3

Ps. I made it a personal rule to only bring what I brought to work to eat. So much crap at work. Probably literally saved my life since binge eating at work was a key way I dealt with stress.

#4

Work at home but a couple of thoughts, can you bring an emergency kit with you? Whatever does not trigger, cheese, sugar free jerky, low carb nuts (macadamia without salt, pecans or walnuts), full fat yogurt or whatever you like to eat. Maybe fruit teas to drink without anything added?

Make sure you are hydrated.

Another option is to fast while at work or fast after lunch or before lunch when you would normally be tempted.

If all else fails bring your own sugar free candy

(Carpe salata!) #5

At work, I used to be over the road for coffee, a cake, a healthy almond (and sugar) biscuit a carby lunch etc …

Now I might have a few fish oil capsules and vitamin c and some sea salt. And even those are getting less frequent.

Granted my insulin is getting lower - 4 at last test (hurrah). #KCKO

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #6

Even the worst sugar addict can go twenty-four hours without sugar. What works for me is to tell myself that I haven’t stopped eating sweets for ever, just for right now. So when I’m in the middle of a craving, I promise myself I can have some tomorrow—or five minutes from now, if the craving is bad enough. That usually is enough to get me through. And by the time tomorrow, or five minutes later, comes, the craving is generally long since passed. Also, if you fill up at breakfast—a couple of eggs, several strips of bacon, coffee with heavy cream—you’re much less likely to be hungry enough at work to be badly troubled by the cravings.

#7

1/4 teaspoon of ACV in every bottle of water you drink.

(Michelle) #8

@njack - Hi - I used to be the a HUGE sugar addict. I ate candy and sweets and carby stuff all the time. I love sugary foods, no doubt. What helped me the most, is going cold turkey for a full month. Nothing sweet at all, no wine, nothing that could trigger my blood glucose to spike and nag at me for more sugar. That helped immensely. Was it hard? Yes. Did it help curb this sugar beast? Absolutely. After that first month, then I started making keto-friendly sweets, but found that those can get out of control too. Now, I’m back to only allowing those things once in a while, and I don’t crave sugary much anymore at all.

Evaluate TRUE hunger. If you are craving something, that is with your head. Drink water, wait 5 or 10 minutes. If you are truly hungry, then you can grab something the opposite of sweet (like someone else said). - Cheese, pickles, olives, etc.

Good luck!! Beat that sugar monster down. :grinning:

(Carpe salata!) #9

What you said.

My first step away from sugar was following the rule “no grains, no sugar”. I also found that it was best to cut out sweetener as well. It’s a waiting game because your taste will change and sugar will lose its appeal. You will stop being a slave to sugar.

One thing that helped me was I read that we actually crave ‘bitter’ flavours and these will cut off craving in general. I experimented with lemon juice and vinegars (sour) and ‘bitters’ which you can get in little bottles. These might have some sugar in them but they did help to shock me out of a craving. Anything that helps.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #10

To paraphrase a couple of A.A. aphorisms: “One spoonful of sugar is too many, and a thousand are not enough.” And “Artificial sweeteners are for normal eaters.”

(stephanie) #11

Never hear that before… a-ha moment for sure…Thank you!!!

(Eric Black) #12

I found that portioning helped. Every Sunday I make a mousse out of sugar free jello pudding with heavy cream. I then only take about 1/2 cup at night. I found that I look froward to having it about an hour or so after dinner. It helps to know I have a sweet in the day.

(Fiddlestix H. McWhiskers) #13

New to Kato? Well, allow me to introduce you.
Kato, natasha. Natasha, Kato (but I think he spells it Cato).
He has a very special way of “helping” with sugar cravings.
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