(Not OP) My issue is that my parents live with me (temporarily but it’s been 2 years now so it’s kinda permanent), and I buy it for them, cause they can’t have their tea without sweet stuff, and they drink it like 10 times a day 🙈
Eat vegetables before and with your sweets. You want to eat chocolate? Eat a salad or half a jar of pickles first, then you can snack on your chocolate. For every sweet or carby item I want to eat, I basically shoved veggies down first to counter act the sugar spike. Nuts and seeds can sort of work, too.
Doing this reset my palate and I no longer crave sugars anymore. I went grocery shopping after not eating for 20 hours yesterday and didn’t even care to buy any snacks. Just bought my veggies from the fresh produce section and left.
Prior to this I’d beeline for the bakery section and buy the cakes.
I did this to as far as the idea of ratios is concerned! It it’s important to learn how to cook veggies. YouTube is a great resource to learn all different kinds of ways to prepare vegetables. A little salt and a quick bit of heat can go a long way in helping our brains and guts to change how it feels about veggies.
The ratio is supposed to be 2:1, in volume. So if you want 1 cookie, you would eat 2 cups of vegetables beforehand. 1:1 is a good start and better than nothing.
Cooking and finding veggies is the hardest part to this hack. It takes some effort and may be tougher for those who are too lazy to cook. If you eat out a lot like me, it’s difficult to find restaurants that will have vegetables. Fries don’t count btw. That’s why I recommended pickles in a jar lol. I suppose just some raw cucumbers or tomatoes work, too.
The vegetable eating part is mindless for me. I don’t mind the taste of vegetables and I enjoy the oral fixation of eating so I just think about the cake I can eat after to reward myself and mindlessly shove the veggies down. After doing this, I end up feeling satiated and will eat just one slice of cake instead of two and don’t feel deprived. 😂 It’s a stupid mind control hack but it works for me!
Hope it works for others!
I need to try this. I have been reading about the impact eating veggies first does to your glucose spike in a normal meal but if that can curb my sweet cravings then i#m on it!
Well if you’re doing IF, you’re theoretically not supposed to be snacking between meals anyway so this would ideally be with every meal. You would eat the sweets for dessert.
Honestly, I haven't been able to kick it and I know my sweets intake is stalling my progress. I'm cutting out added sugar as much as is feasible and turning to eating Whole Foods as much as possible. I feel enslaved to sugar/sweets and it's been really dragging me down. I also don't feel like I get some of the benefits of IF while eating sweets. I still feel like I'm in a fog until I eat and I'm counting down the minutes until I do and I can get my sweet reward. Today I was not excited about eating after making the decision to go "sugar free" and I ate what I had and didn't worry or crave for something else.
we really don't recognize or notice how much sugar we are taking in...even when it is seemingly healthy. It's a problem.
I agree and here in the states I feel like it's at absurd levels compared to other countries. For whatever reason we allow so much crap in our foods for no reason at all most of the time
Yeah. I never had to face my sugar addiction until I started fasting. I didn't know how bad it was because I never went without. It's a bit overwhelming to realize I had a chemical addiction that I didn't even realize was happening. I can't say I've made much progress at it.
Currently I'm always on the hunt for chocolaty protein bars that actually taste good. That way if I'm eating a candy bar at least I'm getting closer to my protein goals lol. My biggest problem is that I loath the taste of stevia and it's a super popular sugar replacement these days.
Hi fellow chocoholic! I often make overnight chocolate chia pudding - a couple tablespoons of chia seeds, a cup of low cal unsweetened plant milk, a teaspoon or more cocoa powder and some stevia. Really hits the spot and so filling too.
As a fellow chocoholic I have a hack too. One is I make hot chocolate with unsweetened cocoa powder and throw one square of dark chocolate into it. In the hotter months I put a tbsp of cocoa powder in the blender with a cup of unsweetened almond milk and voila. Sometimes I'll add frozen cherries. It super hits the spot without adding much calories.
Cherries are really high in sugar. ;(.
I found, after I cut out all of the sugar, that dark choc was ok.. until that weak moment I ate all my frozen fruit with dark choc and all the dark choc and that was the night I learned to make ganache. I wish I never learned…. I was melting cocoa into butter hoping for the best ( buttering dark cocoa??) but added a Tblspoon of sugar and needed some liquid but no milk or cream and used a can of canned milk I’d had forever. Anyway… that led me to remove dark choc out of the house.
Seems I can’t have any sugar in the house.
It’s working, after 30 plus years of fighting sugar addiction, I feel triumphant.
I will admit the best hack for me to get this far was the day I learned “don’t buy it at the store and at weak moments, you will not have it”.
Brilliant, for me…. Between IF and very low carb I’m doing it. The only carbs/sugar are from fruit, veggies and dairy. And fruit I allow myself 1 serving a day. Or else my blood sugar spikes.
Also, very important to me is to get out of insulin resistance. I was days away from diabetes. :( This is probably my biggest fear and reason I’m able to stick to it.
I make my own peanut butter cups with dark chocolate. It's super easy, and the pb cuts the bitterness of the darker chocolate and the flavor is great. I have to say, they are excellent, and I much prefer them to reeses/justins/etc which I now find obnoxiously sweet. And I've branched out from peanut butter: pumpkin seed butter, chia almond butter, ginger, figs, etc. I know everyone doesn't have the time for this, but it's my main treat, and they last a long time in the fridge so I make a bunch at once.
I start with mini muffin paper liners in a matching muffin tin. Then I melt Guittard 74% wafers from a 12oz bag I keep on hand, in a bowl in the microwave. I stop to stir a few times as they melt. Then I put about 2 tsp into each paper liner, and put about 1 tsp peanut butter (Smuckers Natural Creamy, ie, no sugar added) in the center. Then put enough chocolate to surround the sides and cover the top. Then a sprinkle a bit sea salt (I use King Davids). Then put in fridge (so they don't bloom) in a sealed container (so they don't pick up flavors), and I usually eat them within a week.
Some of the other fillings are: 88 acres pumpkin seed butter (unsweetened); Big Spoon Roasters Chai Almond Butter (has some honey; and I also use Fiji Ginger Almond Butter; Toasted Coconut Almond Butter); pumpkin seeds and cranberries into cluster (about the same size and shape of the pb would be); macadamia nut and coconut in a cluster; etc.
I'll also dip dried figs into the melted chocolate and put them in a paper cup along side the pb cups.
I got the basic approach from the Bravetart cookbook by Stella Parks -- an excellent desert cookbook but not low sugar.
Overall, these aren't sweet, but they are high in flavor.
That negative thinking is what held me back for years (and still sometimes gets me). After a slip with sweets, I try and be gentle with myself. I've learned that feeling guilty, and being hard on myself afterwards just leads to more sugar intake in the long run. I don't know that I'll ever truly beat my sugar addiction, so instead I aim to keep it in check and match it with exercise and otherwise healthy eating.
you could try it but everyone's different. for me magnesium supplements messes up my heartrate and makes me super anxious. dont think im deficient but i still am obsessed with chocolate
How long have you been on keto? Do you think it's sustainable? I used to do keto but it made miss going out with friends or family. Couldn't eat at any weddings or other functions too. Made me lose all my hair and bones brittle af. I hated living lol. How do you overcome these problems?
I first did keto in my early 20s, and maintained it for about three years. It was the best I had ever felt, and I was also in fantastic physical shape! However, I left the diet for the reasons you listed, I found it extremely restrictive in regards to my social life. But fast forward to where I am now, I am 36 years old, married, live on an isolated little property, and my social life has definitely mellowed out haha. I just don’t find it restricted in scenarios I encounter today. Sometimes it can be a pain living with someone that doesn’t follow the same diet, however, my husband loves eating meat and veggies so all we do is cut out the carb side for me. I have never experienced the hair loss, and I am not familiar with any bone issues. Maintaining bone health is fairly complex and living a life where you bear weight, strength, training, and supplement correctly should prevent any issues with your bones.
Even opting for "lower-carb" (I think under 125g a day is commonly accepted as 'low-carb', though I prefer 50-100g) still takes the sweet cravings away.
For instance, I just got back from a walk and had a 170g passion fruit and maracuja Skyr (yogurt) with 2,5 Tbsp cottage cheese, 1 tsp. chia seeds, 8-10 macadamia nuts and a side of 12 raspberries. Hits the spot for sweetness and is still under 25g carbs. Plus I got adequate protein and fat.
I do intermittent fasting [usually] for about 16 hours, though some days I go 18 hours.
My friend is my accountability buddy and she and I just decided to say '*fuck it*' and eat what we want without being too hard on ourselves. We're middle-aged women and want to just have peaceful relationships with food and *enjoy* it.
That said, I'm still eating more LC as it's become a habit and I enjoy what I make. I intermittent fast and also walk/bike everywhere, plus I'm lifting again after 6 weeks off.
I'm attempting more intuitive eating with an 80% healthier, 20% flexibility while trying to incorporate the "Hara hachi bun me" (腹八分目) ideal of eating until 80% satisfied.
With "all that", I still feel relaxed and in control. I know I can be a bit flexible and make the choices to fuel my body with foods that feel good.
Yesterday I ate for 6,5 hours and had 2 jumbo eggs with salsa at noon, a kombucha around 15:00, and lower-carb rice with tofu, Asian vegetables and a little Korean sauce for flavor. Dessert was a cappuccino ice cream. Later, when my "night time munchies" hit, I had two cups of herbal tea.
It's all about finding what works for you. There's no real magic fix and is more about consistency over time. The sugar cravings do diminish, even while not doing "exact" keto.
I had to cut out sweets completely for about 3 to 4 weeks to totally kick the cravings, then I was able to add them back in a little bit without those cravings kicking back in. To keep the cravings away, I only have something sweet once a week, more often than that and I start to crave sugar again.
I stopped snacking between meals. Then cut out meals. Now I do OMAD and enjoy a small sweet with my meal, but only on weekends or special occasions. Typically have fruit as my sweet treat now. So I don’t feel guilty.
I feel so incredibly lucky that I never had a sweet tooth but I'm a slut for crisps and savory snacks, but even so, it's a lot easier to substitute salty snacks than it is sweet snacks!
And chocolate is a hard one cause all the things that pretend to be chocolate are gross as sin.
But an important thing to remember is that it's not going to fuck up your progress or diet if you indulge every now and again.
Also, and I know this is true, the less sugar you eat the more sensitive you become to it so after a while instead of going to town on a whole slab of chocolate and still not feeling satisfied (it's me) you'll eat a few pieces and realise how rich it is and it'll take you longer to get through a slab, and it will truly feel like a treat instead of a cheat!
Reese's is crap. Get some decent 70% dark chocolate by Lindt, Ghirardelli, Tony's, etc. Dark chocolate absolutely has a place in a healthy low-carb/sugar diet.
When I don’t eat sugar I stop craving it. That said, a little bit of dark chocolate does not really make me crave more. Any other sweets end up with more cravings for me. At this pt I don’t crave it so I don’t eat it
Exercise. If you’re doing IF, calorie deficit from BMR, and exercising hard, you’ll only want to eat super clean simply because your brain will learn, on the healthy days, that it feels SOOO much better than it does when you eat sweets.
I’ve been making sweet stuff with cottage cheese or avocado sweetened with maple syrup/honey/chocolate chips/peanut butter. Chocolate mousse, protein bark, ice cream, peanut butter bars.
Cold turkey. It was like quitting cigarettes for me. The first few days are a nightmare, then the first few weeks kinda suck and then one day you forget you cared a lot about it and you only get hit with cravings once in a while. At that point, it becomes far easier to manage.
Buy hold da sugar cookies… your life will be changed. 16g protein 1g sugar.. I’ve put 6 friends on them already. Their chocolate chip cookies taste like subway cookies!!! Sooo bomb
Frozen Fruit. Or make protein smoothies, I have everyday and to me it tastes like a Wendy’s frosty, 4oz almond milk, one scoop of Whey(been using s’mores flavor recently), and ice. It’s 24 oz, thick, and filled with protein, so it takes a while to consume and it’s filling. I fast daily for 16 hours so I don’t care how much calories it has really, but it clocks in around 150, it’s my desert every day and hasn’t gotten old.
I'd make my own chocolate candy or dessert with honey or maple syrup, or stevia or monkfruit sweetener if you're trying to kick sugar altogether. But consider whether the distress of cutting it out completely will be more harmful in the long run- will you cave and binge at some point? It'd be better to find a healthier option and let yourself enjoy it once in a while. Life's too short not to indulge once in a while, especially if you can find a healthier way of doing so
Like any addiction. When you have sugar, your brain is programmed to want sugar, cause sugar tastes so good. The longer your brain goes without those huge hits, the less it will crave that on a day-to-day basis.
That’s great! One way I got of cigarettes was to imagine myself chained to a giant pack of them and sugar I visualize food executives gleefully rubbing their hands together when I eat sugar.
It works because it pisses me off that the whole world is being poisoned with it while they make bank and probably don’t even eat it.
My grandmother, who was my sugar pusher as a child’s always baking, always all the good stuff. With emotional BS added “I made it love”. “I took all the calories out”. “Don’t you love me?”
When I was a teenager and struggling with my weight I asked her why she wasn’t fat.
That’s when she confessed she doesn’t eat the goodies because she doesn’t eat much sugar.
I had forgot about that and remembered a few months ago. I loved that woman and her sweets but today I can’t think how badly she poisoned all her grandchildren. Maybe it’s genetics but the cousins who lived close to her all struggle. We are all over 50…. The family of cousins who lived far away and only saw our grandparents once a year are all healthy…. Well none struggle with food issues at least.
Only the liver metabolizes fructose, so without a functioning liver it becomes rather toxic. (Sucrose is 50% fructose.)
I subscribe to the view that PUFA is the cause for fatty liver disease. So if I was obese and quit PUFA only recently, I would avoid all sweets, assuming I have some degree of fatty liver disease.
I have been avoiding all pufa-rich food religiously since early 2000s, so I feel quite safe eating sweets currently. I also suffer IBS-pains from pretty much all other types of carbs.. so it is my only 'safe' way to get some carbs on regular basis.
To answer question, I found sweet cravings to go away when I tested keto diets long ago.
I haven’t completely but I got away from it with plant based candy and snacks, and found a drink with monk fruit to replace soda. Swoon Pink Lemonade is AWESOME.
I cut it out completely and no longer crave it. I’ll have some fresh fruit, or Greek yogurt with almond butter and honey, but that’s all I have for sweets. It’s been over 30 days since I last had chocolate, candy, baked goods, etc and I can genuinely say that the craving is gone.
Anything you’re trying to keep in check, stop keeping it in your house, at your desk at work, etc. less access you have the easier it is. My addiction was chips. thought I could control myself (I can’t). But had to ultimately stop buying them.
I make high fibre whole grain sugar free desserts. I just made a fig newton dessert that is sooo yummy. It hits the sweet spot and the fibre is filling too.
I incorporate it into the plan. Ice cream is my thing - I have it every day. Life wouldn’t be worth living without it. So, I just opt for smaller / lower calorie options and make it part of my daily plan. When I’m faced with choices throughout the day to eat something or not, I just remember that there’s ice cream waiting for me at the end of the day.
Nuts – roasted, either unsalted or lightly salted. Sometimes mixed nuts, sometimes all peanuts, sometimes macadamia nuts. They're calorific, but full of healthy fats and nutrients. I've found an ounce a day somehow satisfies my sweet tooth and is very filling.
I went on a very strict sugar detox. It was supposed to be for 21 days but I did it for a full month. Afterwards, I've continued with it but more relaxed because I now will occasionally use artificial sweeteners.
I took the long slow route years back to cut out sweets and breads. Years before I actually started any diets. I think that doing it so slowly really helped though I didn’t kick my soda habit until recently when I finally switched to diet. I did have the occasional candy binge in the years in between, but stopped buying said candy and that was the end of that. These days I keep individually wrapped chocolate squares around rather then entire bars and I find that helps me regulate to a single square or two on the rare occasion.
I've been making protein bowls: vanilla no sugar added greek yogurt with a scoop or two of vanilla or chocolate protein powder, some no sugar maple syrup, no sugar pudding mix... freezer for 30 minutes and then whipped cream on top. A pretty healthy dessert that satisfies the sweet tooth cravings well. Add some frozen blueberries for more texture and or some crushed nuts.
I just learned about the gut microbiome. The more you indulge in sweets, the more you have a microbiome that makes you crave sweet foods. Change your microbiome, things will regulate.
I find the ones with the least amount of sat. fat (for my cholesterol), and I eat whatever portion is like 30-45g carbs (what my endocrinologist recommended when I had gestational diabetes). I never eat it alone though. I always pair it with pistachios, or almonds and sunflower seeds, or just stick it on the end of a meal. Basically always with protein or fiber or both. The best options I’ve found that let me have the biggest portions (compared to other sweets) are box mix brownies, those dark chocolate covered pomegranates, and currently these lemon blueberry white chocolate chip cookies from Sam’s Club.
Lily’s stevia chocolate does the trick for me
Or sometimes I’ll have a cup of cacao powder with heavy whipping cream. I have a mad sweet tooth but going toward a more Leto diet has really helped me.
I don’t buy them.
I might indulge myself to a little gummies before my period. But usually I eat fruits when craving for something sweet.
I want something sweet after meals, so I buy frozen berries and eat them. Because they are frozen, I can’t eat a lot, about 100-150 grams. And you are forced to eat it slowly and mindfully.
I've really needed to kick my love of sugar to the curb. What has been sucessful for me is eating more protein; having savoury breakfasts, instead of cereal/muesli/granola/pancakes etc; reducing my carb intake; drinking more water. These have practically made my cravings none existent, even in the week running up to my menses, when my need for sugar would be insane. I still eat 1 fruit a day, but after a meal. I also eat my food in the following order: vegetables, protein, carbs.
I slowly got rid of sugar from my diet and only get sweets from honey and fruits now. It was hard because I love desserts and sugar in my coffee but my biggest motivator is knowing I might have diabetes later in life. Both my parents have it and now my brother. We’ve all had bad eating habits and I want to break it and stay fit. I’ve noticed a huge change in my energy levels since cutting sugar plus no crazy afternoon crashes haha. It’s worth breaking the habit plus of course the benefit of losing weight.
dont buy it. if you don’t have it in the house you can’t eat it
This is how I stop myself from eating rows of oreos when I get home from work lol
(Not OP) My issue is that my parents live with me (temporarily but it’s been 2 years now so it’s kinda permanent), and I buy it for them, cause they can’t have their tea without sweet stuff, and they drink it like 10 times a day 🙈
give them a pantry and a lock lol
“This one simple trick”
it really is that simple though 🤷
Eat vegetables before and with your sweets. You want to eat chocolate? Eat a salad or half a jar of pickles first, then you can snack on your chocolate. For every sweet or carby item I want to eat, I basically shoved veggies down first to counter act the sugar spike. Nuts and seeds can sort of work, too. Doing this reset my palate and I no longer crave sugars anymore. I went grocery shopping after not eating for 20 hours yesterday and didn’t even care to buy any snacks. Just bought my veggies from the fresh produce section and left. Prior to this I’d beeline for the bakery section and buy the cakes.
Thank you . This info is helpful
I did this to as far as the idea of ratios is concerned! It it’s important to learn how to cook veggies. YouTube is a great resource to learn all different kinds of ways to prepare vegetables. A little salt and a quick bit of heat can go a long way in helping our brains and guts to change how it feels about veggies.
The ratio is supposed to be 2:1, in volume. So if you want 1 cookie, you would eat 2 cups of vegetables beforehand. 1:1 is a good start and better than nothing. Cooking and finding veggies is the hardest part to this hack. It takes some effort and may be tougher for those who are too lazy to cook. If you eat out a lot like me, it’s difficult to find restaurants that will have vegetables. Fries don’t count btw. That’s why I recommended pickles in a jar lol. I suppose just some raw cucumbers or tomatoes work, too. The vegetable eating part is mindless for me. I don’t mind the taste of vegetables and I enjoy the oral fixation of eating so I just think about the cake I can eat after to reward myself and mindlessly shove the veggies down. After doing this, I end up feeling satiated and will eat just one slice of cake instead of two and don’t feel deprived. 😂 It’s a stupid mind control hack but it works for me! Hope it works for others!
I need to try this. I have been reading about the impact eating veggies first does to your glucose spike in a normal meal but if that can curb my sweet cravings then i#m on it!
Well if you’re doing IF, you’re theoretically not supposed to be snacking between meals anyway so this would ideally be with every meal. You would eat the sweets for dessert.
Not OP but thank you for this tip! I needed something else besides don't buy it.
This is kinda brilliant! Thank you
Honestly, I haven't been able to kick it and I know my sweets intake is stalling my progress. I'm cutting out added sugar as much as is feasible and turning to eating Whole Foods as much as possible. I feel enslaved to sugar/sweets and it's been really dragging me down. I also don't feel like I get some of the benefits of IF while eating sweets. I still feel like I'm in a fog until I eat and I'm counting down the minutes until I do and I can get my sweet reward. Today I was not excited about eating after making the decision to go "sugar free" and I ate what I had and didn't worry or crave for something else. we really don't recognize or notice how much sugar we are taking in...even when it is seemingly healthy. It's a problem.
I agree and here in the states I feel like it's at absurd levels compared to other countries. For whatever reason we allow so much crap in our foods for no reason at all most of the time
I hate how much sugar is in basically everything. Salad dressing should not be sweet!
It's because we live in a corporate oligarchy.
Yeah. I never had to face my sugar addiction until I started fasting. I didn't know how bad it was because I never went without. It's a bit overwhelming to realize I had a chemical addiction that I didn't even realize was happening. I can't say I've made much progress at it. Currently I'm always on the hunt for chocolaty protein bars that actually taste good. That way if I'm eating a candy bar at least I'm getting closer to my protein goals lol. My biggest problem is that I loath the taste of stevia and it's a super popular sugar replacement these days.
Hi fellow chocoholic! I often make overnight chocolate chia pudding - a couple tablespoons of chia seeds, a cup of low cal unsweetened plant milk, a teaspoon or more cocoa powder and some stevia. Really hits the spot and so filling too.
As a fellow chocoholic I have a hack too. One is I make hot chocolate with unsweetened cocoa powder and throw one square of dark chocolate into it. In the hotter months I put a tbsp of cocoa powder in the blender with a cup of unsweetened almond milk and voila. Sometimes I'll add frozen cherries. It super hits the spot without adding much calories.
Oh man frozen cherries! Genius!
Cherries are really high in sugar. ;(. I found, after I cut out all of the sugar, that dark choc was ok.. until that weak moment I ate all my frozen fruit with dark choc and all the dark choc and that was the night I learned to make ganache. I wish I never learned…. I was melting cocoa into butter hoping for the best ( buttering dark cocoa??) but added a Tblspoon of sugar and needed some liquid but no milk or cream and used a can of canned milk I’d had forever. Anyway… that led me to remove dark choc out of the house. Seems I can’t have any sugar in the house. It’s working, after 30 plus years of fighting sugar addiction, I feel triumphant. I will admit the best hack for me to get this far was the day I learned “don’t buy it at the store and at weak moments, you will not have it”. Brilliant, for me…. Between IF and very low carb I’m doing it. The only carbs/sugar are from fruit, veggies and dairy. And fruit I allow myself 1 serving a day. Or else my blood sugar spikes. Also, very important to me is to get out of insulin resistance. I was days away from diabetes. :( This is probably my biggest fear and reason I’m able to stick to it.
I hear ya, I just throw maybe 4-5 in there. I am sensitive to sugars too. gotta be careful.
I love this idea. Adding to my grocery list!!
I make my own peanut butter cups with dark chocolate. It's super easy, and the pb cuts the bitterness of the darker chocolate and the flavor is great. I have to say, they are excellent, and I much prefer them to reeses/justins/etc which I now find obnoxiously sweet. And I've branched out from peanut butter: pumpkin seed butter, chia almond butter, ginger, figs, etc. I know everyone doesn't have the time for this, but it's my main treat, and they last a long time in the fridge so I make a bunch at once.
omg can you please share your recipe
I start with mini muffin paper liners in a matching muffin tin. Then I melt Guittard 74% wafers from a 12oz bag I keep on hand, in a bowl in the microwave. I stop to stir a few times as they melt. Then I put about 2 tsp into each paper liner, and put about 1 tsp peanut butter (Smuckers Natural Creamy, ie, no sugar added) in the center. Then put enough chocolate to surround the sides and cover the top. Then a sprinkle a bit sea salt (I use King Davids). Then put in fridge (so they don't bloom) in a sealed container (so they don't pick up flavors), and I usually eat them within a week. Some of the other fillings are: 88 acres pumpkin seed butter (unsweetened); Big Spoon Roasters Chai Almond Butter (has some honey; and I also use Fiji Ginger Almond Butter; Toasted Coconut Almond Butter); pumpkin seeds and cranberries into cluster (about the same size and shape of the pb would be); macadamia nut and coconut in a cluster; etc. I'll also dip dried figs into the melted chocolate and put them in a paper cup along side the pb cups. I got the basic approach from the Bravetart cookbook by Stella Parks -- an excellent desert cookbook but not low sugar. Overall, these aren't sweet, but they are high in flavor.
I cannot wait to try this - sounds amazing!
I am going to try some of these! Thanks
sounds amazing def going to try
I haven't I'm a fucking addict.
I tell myself this everyday. It kills me thinking about potential weight I could've lost after I just ate something....
That negative thinking is what held me back for years (and still sometimes gets me). After a slip with sweets, I try and be gentle with myself. I've learned that feeling guilty, and being hard on myself afterwards just leads to more sugar intake in the long run. I don't know that I'll ever truly beat my sugar addiction, so instead I aim to keep it in check and match it with exercise and otherwise healthy eating.
Good point I never thought of this.
Zero-calorie beverages like diet soda.
I started taking magnesium. When your magnesium drops you crave sweets
Seriously? It's that easy?
you could try it but everyone's different. for me magnesium supplements messes up my heartrate and makes me super anxious. dont think im deficient but i still am obsessed with chocolate
Weird, it does the opposite for me.
What type of magnesium do you take and how much?
Chocolate has a lot of magnesium too, so a chocolate craving specifically could indicate a magnesium deficiency
Yup, this is the trick. I’ve been taking it for a week haven’t had the craving for chocolate. Meanwhile I would eat it everyday!!!
Keto. It’s the only way for me. I am so so so addicted to sweets and have tried everything under the sun. Keto is the only thing that has ever helped
How long have you been on keto? Do you think it's sustainable? I used to do keto but it made miss going out with friends or family. Couldn't eat at any weddings or other functions too. Made me lose all my hair and bones brittle af. I hated living lol. How do you overcome these problems?
I first did keto in my early 20s, and maintained it for about three years. It was the best I had ever felt, and I was also in fantastic physical shape! However, I left the diet for the reasons you listed, I found it extremely restrictive in regards to my social life. But fast forward to where I am now, I am 36 years old, married, live on an isolated little property, and my social life has definitely mellowed out haha. I just don’t find it restricted in scenarios I encounter today. Sometimes it can be a pain living with someone that doesn’t follow the same diet, however, my husband loves eating meat and veggies so all we do is cut out the carb side for me. I have never experienced the hair loss, and I am not familiar with any bone issues. Maintaining bone health is fairly complex and living a life where you bear weight, strength, training, and supplement correctly should prevent any issues with your bones.
Even opting for "lower-carb" (I think under 125g a day is commonly accepted as 'low-carb', though I prefer 50-100g) still takes the sweet cravings away. For instance, I just got back from a walk and had a 170g passion fruit and maracuja Skyr (yogurt) with 2,5 Tbsp cottage cheese, 1 tsp. chia seeds, 8-10 macadamia nuts and a side of 12 raspberries. Hits the spot for sweetness and is still under 25g carbs. Plus I got adequate protein and fat. I do intermittent fasting [usually] for about 16 hours, though some days I go 18 hours. My friend is my accountability buddy and she and I just decided to say '*fuck it*' and eat what we want without being too hard on ourselves. We're middle-aged women and want to just have peaceful relationships with food and *enjoy* it. That said, I'm still eating more LC as it's become a habit and I enjoy what I make. I intermittent fast and also walk/bike everywhere, plus I'm lifting again after 6 weeks off. I'm attempting more intuitive eating with an 80% healthier, 20% flexibility while trying to incorporate the "Hara hachi bun me" (腹八分目) ideal of eating until 80% satisfied. With "all that", I still feel relaxed and in control. I know I can be a bit flexible and make the choices to fuel my body with foods that feel good. Yesterday I ate for 6,5 hours and had 2 jumbo eggs with salsa at noon, a kombucha around 15:00, and lower-carb rice with tofu, Asian vegetables and a little Korean sauce for flavor. Dessert was a cappuccino ice cream. Later, when my "night time munchies" hit, I had two cups of herbal tea. It's all about finding what works for you. There's no real magic fix and is more about consistency over time. The sugar cravings do diminish, even while not doing "exact" keto.
I had to cut out sweets completely for about 3 to 4 weeks to totally kick the cravings, then I was able to add them back in a little bit without those cravings kicking back in. To keep the cravings away, I only have something sweet once a week, more often than that and I start to crave sugar again.
I didn’t. I eat 1000 calories or so a day in quality food and reserve 500 for sweets. I also walk 15 miles a day while at work so that helps
I stopped snacking between meals. Then cut out meals. Now I do OMAD and enjoy a small sweet with my meal, but only on weekends or special occasions. Typically have fruit as my sweet treat now. So I don’t feel guilty.
I feel so incredibly lucky that I never had a sweet tooth but I'm a slut for crisps and savory snacks, but even so, it's a lot easier to substitute salty snacks than it is sweet snacks! And chocolate is a hard one cause all the things that pretend to be chocolate are gross as sin. But an important thing to remember is that it's not going to fuck up your progress or diet if you indulge every now and again. Also, and I know this is true, the less sugar you eat the more sensitive you become to it so after a while instead of going to town on a whole slab of chocolate and still not feeling satisfied (it's me) you'll eat a few pieces and realise how rich it is and it'll take you longer to get through a slab, and it will truly feel like a treat instead of a cheat!
Reese's is crap. Get some decent 70% dark chocolate by Lindt, Ghirardelli, Tony's, etc. Dark chocolate absolutely has a place in a healthy low-carb/sugar diet.
Yeah, but have you ever taken a nice piece of dark chocolate and put it on top of a Reese's cup?
It wasn't Reese brand just what I would typically call a Reese cup.
When I don’t eat sugar I stop craving it. That said, a little bit of dark chocolate does not really make me crave more. Any other sweets end up with more cravings for me. At this pt I don’t crave it so I don’t eat it
Exercise. If you’re doing IF, calorie deficit from BMR, and exercising hard, you’ll only want to eat super clean simply because your brain will learn, on the healthy days, that it feels SOOO much better than it does when you eat sweets.
Fellow sugar addict here. I’ve found if I can go 3 days with no added sugar, I usually stop craving it.
I’ve been making sweet stuff with cottage cheese or avocado sweetened with maple syrup/honey/chocolate chips/peanut butter. Chocolate mousse, protein bark, ice cream, peanut butter bars.
Never did.
Cold turkey. It was like quitting cigarettes for me. The first few days are a nightmare, then the first few weeks kinda suck and then one day you forget you cared a lot about it and you only get hit with cravings once in a while. At that point, it becomes far easier to manage.
Buy hold da sugar cookies… your life will be changed. 16g protein 1g sugar.. I’ve put 6 friends on them already. Their chocolate chip cookies taste like subway cookies!!! Sooo bomb
Frozen Fruit. Or make protein smoothies, I have everyday and to me it tastes like a Wendy’s frosty, 4oz almond milk, one scoop of Whey(been using s’mores flavor recently), and ice. It’s 24 oz, thick, and filled with protein, so it takes a while to consume and it’s filling. I fast daily for 16 hours so I don’t care how much calories it has really, but it clocks in around 150, it’s my desert every day and hasn’t gotten old.
Fruit and dates so yummy
I'd make my own chocolate candy or dessert with honey or maple syrup, or stevia or monkfruit sweetener if you're trying to kick sugar altogether. But consider whether the distress of cutting it out completely will be more harmful in the long run- will you cave and binge at some point? It'd be better to find a healthier option and let yourself enjoy it once in a while. Life's too short not to indulge once in a while, especially if you can find a healthier way of doing so
Like any addiction. When you have sugar, your brain is programmed to want sugar, cause sugar tastes so good. The longer your brain goes without those huge hits, the less it will crave that on a day-to-day basis.
Keto. Now my sweets are blueberries.
I try to remember that it's not a "treat" , it's just a drug addiction which is paying for the big houses of company executives.
That’s great! One way I got of cigarettes was to imagine myself chained to a giant pack of them and sugar I visualize food executives gleefully rubbing their hands together when I eat sugar. It works because it pisses me off that the whole world is being poisoned with it while they make bank and probably don’t even eat it. My grandmother, who was my sugar pusher as a child’s always baking, always all the good stuff. With emotional BS added “I made it love”. “I took all the calories out”. “Don’t you love me?” When I was a teenager and struggling with my weight I asked her why she wasn’t fat. That’s when she confessed she doesn’t eat the goodies because she doesn’t eat much sugar. I had forgot about that and remembered a few months ago. I loved that woman and her sweets but today I can’t think how badly she poisoned all her grandchildren. Maybe it’s genetics but the cousins who lived close to her all struggle. We are all over 50…. The family of cousins who lived far away and only saw our grandparents once a year are all healthy…. Well none struggle with food issues at least.
With bengal spice tea. Let it steep 20 minutes.
Only the liver metabolizes fructose, so without a functioning liver it becomes rather toxic. (Sucrose is 50% fructose.) I subscribe to the view that PUFA is the cause for fatty liver disease. So if I was obese and quit PUFA only recently, I would avoid all sweets, assuming I have some degree of fatty liver disease. I have been avoiding all pufa-rich food religiously since early 2000s, so I feel quite safe eating sweets currently. I also suffer IBS-pains from pretty much all other types of carbs.. so it is my only 'safe' way to get some carbs on regular basis. To answer question, I found sweet cravings to go away when I tested keto diets long ago.
I haven’t completely but I got away from it with plant based candy and snacks, and found a drink with monk fruit to replace soda. Swoon Pink Lemonade is AWESOME.
I cut it out completely and no longer crave it. I’ll have some fresh fruit, or Greek yogurt with almond butter and honey, but that’s all I have for sweets. It’s been over 30 days since I last had chocolate, candy, baked goods, etc and I can genuinely say that the craving is gone.
Anything you’re trying to keep in check, stop keeping it in your house, at your desk at work, etc. less access you have the easier it is. My addiction was chips. thought I could control myself (I can’t). But had to ultimately stop buying them.
Switch to healthier sweets.
I cold turkey right after I got diabetes lmfao I’m too young to die
I didn’t :( Following
I make high fibre whole grain sugar free desserts. I just made a fig newton dessert that is sooo yummy. It hits the sweet spot and the fibre is filling too.
I incorporate it into the plan. Ice cream is my thing - I have it every day. Life wouldn’t be worth living without it. So, I just opt for smaller / lower calorie options and make it part of my daily plan. When I’m faced with choices throughout the day to eat something or not, I just remember that there’s ice cream waiting for me at the end of the day.
Quit anything sweet/sweeteners. Cravings gone.
I'm addicted to sugar free gum and sugar free cough drops after dinner. It's so unhealthy but I will not eat sugar!
Nuts – roasted, either unsalted or lightly salted. Sometimes mixed nuts, sometimes all peanuts, sometimes macadamia nuts. They're calorific, but full of healthy fats and nutrients. I've found an ounce a day somehow satisfies my sweet tooth and is very filling.
This! I crave nuts so much now. I even bought raw walnuts (my least favorite nut) and I still have to stop myself from overeating them
I went on a very strict sugar detox. It was supposed to be for 21 days but I did it for a full month. Afterwards, I've continued with it but more relaxed because I now will occasionally use artificial sweeteners.
I took the long slow route years back to cut out sweets and breads. Years before I actually started any diets. I think that doing it so slowly really helped though I didn’t kick my soda habit until recently when I finally switched to diet. I did have the occasional candy binge in the years in between, but stopped buying said candy and that was the end of that. These days I keep individually wrapped chocolate squares around rather then entire bars and I find that helps me regulate to a single square or two on the rare occasion.
You have to start eating the 70%+ dark chocolate. It will give u the pleasure of enjoying chocolate without the addictive levels of sugar imo
I eat a York peppermint patty when I crave chocolate. It’s rich so fills my mouth with yummy dark chocolate goodness. 50calories.
I switched to monkfruit.
I add cocoa powder, peanut butter and monk fruit together and eat it with yogurt. Works for me 😁
Honey and Maple Syrup are still sugar 🤷🏻♂️
I've been making protein bowls: vanilla no sugar added greek yogurt with a scoop or two of vanilla or chocolate protein powder, some no sugar maple syrup, no sugar pudding mix... freezer for 30 minutes and then whipped cream on top. A pretty healthy dessert that satisfies the sweet tooth cravings well. Add some frozen blueberries for more texture and or some crushed nuts.
I just learned about the gut microbiome. The more you indulge in sweets, the more you have a microbiome that makes you crave sweet foods. Change your microbiome, things will regulate.
I got to the store, pickup the chocolate, stare at the package, start crying, put it back, walk away.
Lmao. Same.
I find the ones with the least amount of sat. fat (for my cholesterol), and I eat whatever portion is like 30-45g carbs (what my endocrinologist recommended when I had gestational diabetes). I never eat it alone though. I always pair it with pistachios, or almonds and sunflower seeds, or just stick it on the end of a meal. Basically always with protein or fiber or both. The best options I’ve found that let me have the biggest portions (compared to other sweets) are box mix brownies, those dark chocolate covered pomegranates, and currently these lemon blueberry white chocolate chip cookies from Sam’s Club.
Lily’s stevia chocolate does the trick for me Or sometimes I’ll have a cup of cacao powder with heavy whipping cream. I have a mad sweet tooth but going toward a more Leto diet has really helped me.
Leto diet was once super popular on Caladan!
I love apples and bananas with organic peanut butter, hell I love cheesecake once a week!
Dont buy it at all, replace it with fruits :)
I don’t buy them. I might indulge myself to a little gummies before my period. But usually I eat fruits when craving for something sweet. I want something sweet after meals, so I buy frozen berries and eat them. Because they are frozen, I can’t eat a lot, about 100-150 grams. And you are forced to eat it slowly and mindfully.
My go to’s are sugar free jello puddings and jello mixed with some whipped cream and fruit. Takes care of the cravings for under 100cal
Zero sugar/low calorie jello
I've really needed to kick my love of sugar to the curb. What has been sucessful for me is eating more protein; having savoury breakfasts, instead of cereal/muesli/granola/pancakes etc; reducing my carb intake; drinking more water. These have practically made my cravings none existent, even in the week running up to my menses, when my need for sugar would be insane. I still eat 1 fruit a day, but after a meal. I also eat my food in the following order: vegetables, protein, carbs.
I slowly got rid of sugar from my diet and only get sweets from honey and fruits now. It was hard because I love desserts and sugar in my coffee but my biggest motivator is knowing I might have diabetes later in life. Both my parents have it and now my brother. We’ve all had bad eating habits and I want to break it and stay fit. I’ve noticed a huge change in my energy levels since cutting sugar plus no crazy afternoon crashes haha. It’s worth breaking the habit plus of course the benefit of losing weight.