Breaking the Sugar addiction

[Metallica]

i have cravings of honey, chocolate or frozenyogurt (icecream)
even i crave a alcohol occasionally.... its hard to give it up especially at social events where beer is the staple
why do i get cravings, not enough fat in my diet?

how did you break your sugar addictions?

[Raw Kyle]

I eat honey, unheated honey. I'm not sure trying to get rid of cravings is always the best course of action, one could ask the question "how do I get rid of cravings for fat?" just as easily as sugar. Or even the craving for food or water.

[xylothrill]

Hi Metallica,

I broke it by not eating it. I craved it for three days or so and then the keto-adaptation started and lasted for about two-weeks. But after the first three days or so, I was good to go without craving carbs or being hungry hardly at all. I'm a recovering carb-addict though. Some do better with some carbs and others find they do better without any. You might be better off without if you have those strong cravings.

Craig

[Metallica]

i had 1/2 gallon of ice cream in one day and a bar of chocolate...

im seriously addicted, i cant seem to break this.

please help

[Satya]

i had 1/2 gallon of ice cream in one day and a bar of chocolate...

im seriously addicted, i cant seem to break this.

please help

Perhaps try making paleo candies (doesn't that sound like an oxymoron) with virgin coconut oil, shredded coconut, raw nut butter and just a bit of honey or a date or 2.  It will satisfy the sweet craving in a healthier way.  You can make ice cream with raw milk or coconut milk and fruit too.  It won't be raw if you use canned coconut milk (Native Forest brand is organic), but it's going to be a good choice while you wean yourself from all the sugar.  Another idea is to add  a raw sweet sauce to your meat; you know, like a homemade raw barbecue sauce or something similar.  If you must have chocolate, choose a bittersweet bar.  Eat fruit instead with whipped cream on it.

I have never been too big on sweets myself, but I do eat a bit of fruit on occasion.  I even eat dried anchovies with some hot peppers, ginger, honey and garlic on occasion.

Be strong and don't buy the crap!  It's a change to the palate, but once you go lower sugar, you will find even some fruit is too sweet.

[TheWayCreatesTheWarrior]

i had 1/2 gallon of ice cream in one day and a bar of chocolate...

im seriously addicted, i cant seem to break this.

please help

ive been there Metallica, that viscious cycle of eating great for a couple days, and then binging on complete crap. the best motivator for me was to just remember that feeling that i would have immediately after i would binge...just dirty, grody, fat and guilty. and it seemed that everytime i binged i would promise myself that "thats it, im not doing that again, i feel sooo shitty that thats the last time", and i would really feel strong about it...until a couple days later when a certain junk food would pop into my head, it was almost like it was calling me. i always was able to find some excuse like " i ran yesterday" or "im stressed, this will help me feel better", i was always able to validate my upcoming binge.
but that totally self-loathing feeling that i would get was just horrible, so the last time i did it i just really let that gross feeling saturate me so i would remember it, how crappy i felt. so anytime something would pop into my head i would just force myself to really remember that feeling. it seems to work pretty good. then i added in doing something physical anytime that i wanted to binge. i would get the idea that "i would really enjoy some cookies or something right now", but then instead i would force myself to go for a mountain run or something. once i finished the run i would feel so good and strong about my descision that it really would help my fortitude the next few days. instead of getting fat off of a binge, i got lean off of a run. after a few months of doing that i lost any want to binge.

keeping motivational pictures as well as motivational quotes around you, especially places you are prone to feel like you want to binge.

another good way is to make up some of "the primal diet " nut butter/nut formula, it really satisfies any craving for bread or baked goods.

also, just getting outdoors, even if at night, helps "change your mind" about binging. go for a walk, it'll clear your head.

the most important thing is to "let it go" after you binge. understand what you did and accept it, and then move on.

Today is the Tomorrow you wished for Yesterday.

[whitebuffalo]

i've been there too and I will tell you straight up:

It is not the food

the food behavior is an outcry/expression/expulsion of something else in the subconscious that needs feeding/attention/ or AVOIDANCE

something maybe trying to get your attention and you maybe trying to stay separated from that reality

food slows out consciousness way down like any other addiction and we use it to blot out our experiences that are too painful or we have want to be less responsible for.

I do better with more protein and then i don't crash and experience the emptiness that makes me want to feel "full"

[xylothrill]

i've been there too and I will tell you straight up:

It is not the food

the food behavior is an outcry/expression/expulsion of something else in the subconscious that needs feeding/attention/ or AVOIDANCE

something maybe trying to get your attention and you maybe trying to stay separated from that reality

food slows out consciousness way down like any other addiction and we use it to blot out our experiences that are too painful or we have want to be less responsible for.

I do better with more protein and then i don't crash and experience the emptiness that makes me want to feel "full"

You bring up a great point as Metallica has expressed other addictions besides food. He may be trying to fill unmet needs with food and porn. (sorry to be so blunt but he mentioned that himself in another post)

However, I wouldn't dismiss carb addiction altogether either. It can be a vicious cycle where one eats large amounts of carb then later ends up with a blood sugar crash which would trigger carb cravings all over again. I've been there.

This is the great thing about support forums of any kind - each member has their own experiences and knowledge to offer.

Thanks for posting this. We were all focusing on the food itself as the cause. Now you've opened another door.

Craig

[TheWayCreatesTheWarrior]

absolutely, cooked food, especially refined carbs are used as drugs.

eating Raw Paleo brings you into reality, you stop needing to cover up any psychological/physiological/emotional problems with food. it levels you out, grounds you. counter to what many vegetarians would think, i think eating Raw Paleo brings me deeper into spirituality, especially when truly appreciating and thanking my food.
its hard to thank a Twinkie  .

[Metallica]

i think i might have Candida or low stomach acid, which possibly is why i have intense sugar cravings?

b/c i did extremely low carb and i really am not craving much of anything right now, and its 8:00pm

im also going to add in probiotics and R-lipoic acid

[whitebuffalo]

hi,

i love the comments on gratitude that came up
I am a long time meditator and i tell you that after going raw again for the last 2 months and having a strong 2 hour day meditation practice one of the first things to surface was neediness i was storing in my subconscious....(pretty soon that clarified even further into greediness)  yikes!

i feel it is important to add that all negative and positive emotions are UNIVERSAL......don't punish yourself for having them or over identify with them


Metallica,  on the physical level I am also a holistic health physician and candida and gut flora imbalances are a huge part of such a pattern and can be diagnosed with a stool analysis.  but you may also be dealing with something called "insulin resistance"  which means that your body can not uptake the insulin produced by the pancreas after glucose hits your blood stream.....the reason you keep eating is that you are trying to get that insulin to regulate the blood glucose and so you keep giving the input but never actually complete the loop

***if there is diabetes or alcoholism in your family this may be a genetic disposition that you will have to work at correcting***

psychologically, I am also looking at the possibility in these cases of the "reward center" of the brain having some off wiring or being funked out....if we are punishing ourselves for something due to masochistic tendency or dealing with supressed anxiety and we cease to receive pleasure from life research shows that the brain will respond by finding pleasure in deprivation......starvation/monasticism.....

(something else for any type of "purist" to think about)
in this scenario i think of addiction as like the pressure of the dam breaking, we have punished ourselves for so long and then we break and over indulge........then we REALLY have something to punish ourselves for and the cycle begins again!

anyway, there you have it my current ideas ........SPIRIT BODY AND MIND

much luck and blessings to you!  be empowered

[xylothrill]

***if there is diabetes or alcoholism in your family this may be a genetic disposition that you will have to work at correcting***

psychologically, I am also looking at the possibility in these cases of the "reward center" of the brain having some off wiring or being funked out....if we are punishing ourselves for something due to masochistic tendency or dealing with supressed anxiety and we cease to receive pleasure from life research shows that the brain will respond by finding pleasure in deprivation......starvation/monasticism.....

WhiteBuffalo,

That's me almost to a T! I'm going to digest this. My computer(s) are giving me grief at the moment.

Thanks,

Craig

[Metallica]

well basically i dont really feel that good low carb, i do and i dont... i mean when i eat/drink Cocao, Sugar, alcohol , caffeine, etc. my mind is ON, i can think better, talk better, i want todo more, i think on a whole new level.... this is why i always go back to eating these things..


im not sure of the reasons

i got a neurotransmitter test, i was very low in sertonin, gaba, i have some what low cortisol, sluggish thyroid, low testosterone, etc, etc. low minerals.