Sugar addiction and Keto

(Tony) #1

Well I am totally convinced I am a sugar addict, currently in week two again after falling off the wagon :slight_smile: I have gone from 103 kg down to 83 kg at 170 cm (I was a little telly tubby ha ha) so it is life changing to be honest, after watching a number of Dr Lustig’s videos on YouTube I am convinced sugar needs to be better controlled, looking at things on here like “sweet fat bombs” I do wonder about them being a good idea even though they use artificial sweetner?

(Jody) #2

I don’t use those things, if I have a real sweet craving which is usually PMS time, which doesn’t happen too often, I eat fat. Macadamias, bacon, olives, pork rinds. I also keep really dark chocolate in the house at all times, one square hits the spot. Most of my cravings happen when I’m bored, emotional, stressed out. My tool for those is to park my butt in a chair and journal and figure it out. I have disordered eating history, and this has been the most useful to work through the mental cravings for food.

I think the mental part is the real battle.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #3

The sugar industry has tried to vilify artificial sweeteners to protect sales of sugar, so it’s hard to tell whether artificial sweeteners are bad for us or not. A lot of the main keto researchers, Dr. Phinney among them, say that while it might not be best to rely on artificial sweeteners over the long term, if you need them in order to stay on a ketogenic diet, then by all means use them.

Be aware, however, that people sometimes find that one of these sweeteners spikes their insulin level, and it appears completely individual which sweetener affects whom. The good news is that if you react to one, there will almost always be others you don’t react to. Certainly you want to avoid any sweetener that spikes your insulin, and you might not want to keep xylitol in the house, if you have a dog (it is lethal to them), but other than that, they seem safe to use.

If you have a glucose monitor, you can infer from the pattern of your glucose levels after you take some of a given sweetener, whether it’s affecting you or not. Take a reading for baseline, then measure your glucose at 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes, to see if there’s a drop, which would indicate an increase in insulin. The sweetener is not supposed to raise your glucose, or the government wouldn’t permit it to be sold, so you should not see a rise in glucose beyond your meter’s limit of accuracy (fluctuations within the limit can be ignored).

Otherwise, if you don’t seem to be losing weight, or you mysteriously gain, suspect the sweetener you’ve been using and switch to another one.

#4

Most of them are alright just gotta find ur own, aspartame is by far most popular but also straight up poison, even the way of how it ended up approved by fda was real shady/corrupted. Lot of people like stevia/monkfruit which both are top sweeteners.

(Daisy) #5

As a severe recovering sugar addict (2 1/2 years “clean”), I cannot do sweeteners. I also have to be super careful with nut butters. Those are all triggers for me.

(Tony) #6

I think you are right, like methadone to an addict

(Khara) #7

Yep. Also strongly believe I’m a sugar addict. Get a mix of responses if I reveal that to people. Many don’t get it, don’t seem to believe it. Even addicts who are addicted to something else and know the struggle, they seem not able to comprehend that sugar addiction is possible. Anyway, I avoid artificial sweeteners because they would trigger me and I’d end up going back to the real thing. I know I can’t have sugar free cupcakes and cookies and other homemade desserts. I really have no interest in finding which artificial sweetener works for me. All that would do is keep my addiction front and center. Instead, I limit desserts to every now and then, as I believe we were meant to have them. Usually, the simplest one is fresh berries with some heavy cream or whipped cream. It keeps sweet tasting things far away from my life and also has resulted in tart foods now tasting much sweeter than ever before which I believe is a sign of healing.

(Tony) #8

For me I can be sugar free for weeks on end, NOT ONE BIT, something will set me off and boom make a total pig of myself, and then shake my head on how stupid I have been, its a weird thing that something so simple seems to have a control over you

(Khara) #9

This is why I’m on my 3rd time of going keto. Great results first 2 times. It’s not that keto isn’t sustainable, it’s that addiction keeps coming back into the picture. I guess, a relapse of sorts. Not many understand this. It’s nice to have the company of people here who do. :upside_down_face::slightly_smiling_face:

(Lisa) #10

For me, use of artificial sweeteners helps keep me on the straight and narrow. There are certain ones I avoid, namely maltitol and ACE-K, which I’ve found cause an insulin response for me. I make my own sweets, and I’m not tempted to indulge in the real thing. Meanwhile, my weight is continuing to go down gradually, and my blood sugar is staying in the 70s or lower 80s fasting (was previously consistently in the upper 90s or above).