I have a sugar addiction.

I'm addicted to sugar. Just like some are addicted to nicotene, i am addicted to sugar. I cannot get enough of it and it is growing (i am too!)
I could live of coke and chocolate foods for the rest of my life. I constantly crave sugar. Always.
I eat little dinner, so i can have sweets later on in the evening. If there is no chocolate in the house, then i go mad. i need to satisfy my craving.

Has anyone got this too? Do you think i should go to the dr? Could it be related to my depression?

I was actually going do a thread about this too i actually have to have sugar every day.. i think its been the winter weather a comfort thing i dont no..

im ashamed to say ive had a whole block of choc (all to myself) every night for the last week or 2, ive actually put on 2 kg :o but i cant stop !

as for it being linked to ur depression im not sure hun im not much help x

I hear you loud and clear...and yes I suspect it's tied in with your depression in some way...sugar acts on the same part of the brain (in some people) as addictive substances like alcohol and heroin...when you have a large dose, your brain releases happy chemicals - at least for a while until all the insulin pumps in and your blood sugar drops again and then you feel craptastic all over again and want another hit.

However, my own personal solution is to take a wholistic view of what's going on. Part of it was asking myself what I am really craving. For me, it's all about CONNECTION (with life, with others, with my spiritual self). I find when I'm feeling connected I don't crave it. So part of the answer for me lies in meditation, and spiritual practice, and meeting other people from a place of presence in myself. The other part of it is stripping sugar out of my life - your tastebuds reset fairly quickly when you cut down on regular sweet drinks - I know you don't believe me - I now take tea with no sugar, I can't taste the difference anymore - but what it has done is made me aware of how sweet other (non-sugar-added) food really is. I still have cake and chocolate sometimes but I'm not mainlining it to get thru the day.

I'm embarrased to admit that i have about 4-5 satchets of sugar in my coffee everyday. Lucky i only have the 1 coffee, but i will also down 1 litre of Coke too. The Cadbury "bubbly" chocolate does it for me atm. I can't say no. I hope it is a winter thing, but i doubt it. I've always loved sugar, but this is the highest its ever been.

I hear you TD - I'm a long-term sugar addict, it truly is an ADDICTION, not just a craving. I always used to have 4-6 teaspoons of sugar in my coffee/tea, I've managed to cut that down to 2 and get used to the 'awful' taste of the drinks, I bake muffins, slices, cupcakes, brownies, puddings, yada yada yada, nearly every day just to get a hit, and I often find myself sitting down with a big spoon and a bag of brown sugar when I run out of baked goodies or blocks of chocolate... *blushes* And I NEED a bottle of Coke in the fridge at all times - I try to only drink one glass with dinner and maybe one glass at lunchtime, but it's like an alcoholic and booze, if I run out and there are no ice cubes to stick in a glass of warm Coke, I *freak* out and have to drive to the store to buy a cold bottle or I lose my mind.
I do find that for me, the cravings are much worse and more frequent when I'm going through a difficult patch mentally (I have depression too but refuse to go on medication because I'm so terrified of putting on weight again) - I stop eating, sleep all the time and the only thing I ever put in my mouth is a cigarette or something with a stupid amount of calories. As MD said, the sugar makes me momentarily happy, then it's a sugar crash and back on the rollercoaster for another hit...
I'm sorry, I don't have any advice regarding kicking the habit or how you can go about dealing with it... but you're definitely not alone. *hugs*

I did the Liver Cleansing Diet and it changed my life when it comes to sugar/fats. Addictions are addictions - you can stop and you won't die from lack of sugar. It took 3 days for me to get it out of my system.

Yeah it drove me batty but I managed, you will too!

Hi I'm Kellie and I am a sugar feind....can't go a day without it. I'm drooling and thinking about what to eat next whilst reading this thread. I think with that I've said enough....

me too BUT I've cut sugar & diet coke out of my life this week, have lost a kilo already and I am sleeping better, my joints don't ache and I actually feel better already. Its hard, I would finish dinner and start eating sugar straight away - lollies, chocolate, pudding etc but now I'm grabbing a couple of handfuls of nuts and I feel full again. I also sip peppermint tea which is quite sweet but without added sugar.

I'm trying to get my hands on a book called Sweet Poison which is all about sugar addiction and ways to quit sugar. The guy who wrote it had been trying every diet under the sun for years and couldn't loose any weight but started researching, reading medical journals, putting together his research and he came up with this big thing about fructose ( a type of sugar) and how we have no 'off switch' - our bodies never signal that we're full when consuming fructose which means we eat a lot & then blood sugar levels spike, go low and we are hungry / craving sugar again. He lost 40kg and has kept it off without 'dieting'.

Until I get my hands on the book, I have set myself the task of reading the labels and only eating foods with 10% sugar or less. (Although I did slip up today and have an english muffin (2.4% so good) with honey (87% - bad!!)) But I only had the one, whereas before I would wolf down 4 honey crumpets without stopping for a breath. Washed down with a great big diet coke of course!!

Der - I meant it took 3 days to stop the cravings...

It is such a nasty habit isn't it! All the negative health connotations and the guilt...

I was never a sugar addiction person, my weakness was fried food and chips! I could easily pass on a tray of mint slices and happily stop at one bite of chocolate. Since being pregnant, those days are gone! I think it was the low energy in pregnancy for me that led me down the rabbit hole so to speak, and once the stuff is in your system, you need more, and more.

I did manage to get off the 'stuff' accidently last year when I was trying to get pg for the 2nd time. I saw a TCM practitioner for fertility assitance and as she worked to balance my body with acupuncture and herbs, I found that I was naturally not looking for the daily sugar hit. It was amazing, I felt energetic, well slept and didn't fall for the 3pm sugar call! Fortunately I also fell pg, and then unfortunately I got tired again while building my baby and have fallen prey to sugars evil ways once again - especially now chasing a newborn and a toddler's needs. So my solution to beating back the demon is better diet, sleep, rest etc - ie putting myself first. Not easy!

I was going to recommend seeing an acupuncturist too. They can help with cravings and addictions and can also tape small beads to pressure points in your ears so you trigger the points when you feel the urge. DH (who is qualified but no longer practices) says the acupuncture can be very effective for many addictions.

What about a naturopath? I remember I was prescribed some fish oil tablets (nice strong ones) and some other supplements (that i can't remember the name of sorry) that really seemed to help with the sugar cravings, especially at night.

I think sugar cravings can be related to candida in the body too? (Correct me if I'm wrong anyone...)

I'm seriously addicted to sugar too.. I really have to kick my butt into gear & get off the stuff :(

The stupid thing for me is - I have done this - when I did TF diet - and yeah, after a few days it was much much better. Then I got UTD & relapsed :rolleyes:

Chromium tablets are supposed to help with sugar cravings.

ETA - krysalyss that's a great idea, I might give that a go.

It is so hard, TD :hug:

I have to agree with MD with resetting your tastebuds! I have been following a low carb diet (to lose weight and stop the tired sugar crashes!) and it has worked. I no longer crave sweet things like I used to. It takes a couple of days (which are hard), but it does work. The scary thing is that when you do cut out sugar, you only then begin to realise how desensitised to sweetness you had become. Things like lettuce, cabbage and some vegetables start tasting sweet! How crazy is that?!! I cannot tolerate sugar in my tea now - it's just too sweet. It is scary!

Anyway, it is a big step to take and it took me while to do so because I just wasn't in the right headspace to make such an undertaking. Depression really can make you long for that comforting slice of cake and the thought of cutting it out used to give me major anxiety issues. I had to take the leap because my health was being impacted on by my weight gain, so it is different to your situation.

I hope you find a solution that helps you, but just thought I would share mine :)

Glamourcide, I really agree with you, it is an addiction, not just a craving. When you read about the biochemistry of getting a fix of sugar, it has everything to do with those brain receptors that are all about addictive behaviours. I think stress/depression really feeds into it too, I was reading another thread about sleep deprivation and how it prevents weightloss, those same stress-cortisol responses make you crave more calories (and lay them down as fat) then you have the brain receptor thing happening, it's no wonder so many people are hooked. I was thinking about what I posted yesterday (about connection etc) and I was thinking how that's a couple of parts of the 12 step program (for overcomign addictions) and I had a LOL moment.

Winter I just heard about the Sweet Poison book the other week, and Ive been trying to find a copy too.

Winter, that book Sweet Poison is available online at amazon, I just looked it up. If you can't/don't want to order online perhaps Dymocks or somewhere can order it in for you

I definately have a sugar addiction, I can give up any other tasty food under the sun but I can't function without sugar. If there's nothing sweet in the house I'll make something, often without even realizing I'm doing it.
Having said that, I've recently started losing weight (4kgs in the last month or so) from exercising as well as cutting down on fatty food and sugar. I've found that I've been able to gradually decrease the amount of sugar that I have is easier than going cold turkey. A big part of my success in doing this, I think, is cutting out simple carbs like whitebread and replacing them with complex carbs, like wholemeal bread. This has made a world of difference for me, probably because white bread has a high sugar content anyway that wholemeal does not, and complex carbs keep your blood sugar stable while simple carbs cause a huge spike then plunge.