Has anyone experienced this?

[CassieS]

I am struggling with how to manage a particular situation. First, I finished my Whole 30 in September and never felt better. I had been experiencing acid reflux and severe breathing problems and the Whole 30 completely got rid of that. You also should know that I was diagnosed with Celiac disease years ago and have been 100% gluten free for four years so that is not an issue.

 

But this is what I have been experiencing since September and it happened again this weekend. Every time I give myself an inch...I seem to take a mile..or a marathon apparently.

 

It seems that when I eat even a little sugar, it becomes a four day sugar fest that I have to dig myself out of with a spoon. Then I am back to eating 100% healthy but have to go through the sugar withdrawals again every time. It happened this weekend, I only was going to eat one piece of this delicious gluten free apple crisp I made for Thanksgiving..and then it turned into chips and cherry mash and gluten free pizza..all weekend long.

 

I seem to really be struggling with just letting myself have one "special" glass of wine or one piece of a dessert I only get once a year.

 

I learned during my Whole 30 that this is the optimal way for me to eat in order to feel my best. But I still want to enjoy something every now and then. I just can't seem to do it without losing control for about four days.

 

For instance, I plan on eating this way for a while. I don't have any major special occasions coming up and even planning on bringing healthy food to my girl's night on Friday. But on December 12 is my work party, where my work pays for us to drink the most fabulous red wine I have ever had in my life. I don't have a huge problem with overindulging on alcohol, but even one glass makes me want SUGAR!. I fear that if I have one glass of the delicious wine, then I will try to eat some candy later that evening..and it will turn into a weekend sugar fest.

 

Does anyone have any thoughts or tips? Should I just start another Whole 30 now? I really wanted to wait until after the holidays so I could indulge in things like delicious red wine. My problem seems to be the inability to handle it.

[ladyshanny]

I can definitely comment on the sugar/treat aspect and my all or nothing personality.  It was a long time coming to this sad realization, but in a world of moderators and abstainers, I am a through and through abstainer.  That means I can never instagram a snowman sugar cookie and cup of coffee and act like it's a "treat" and that afterwards I'll go on my merry way.  No, after the cookie is the chocolate almonds and then the wine and then the bailey's in my coffee.  This is all followed by horrible sleep, lack of exercise, irritability, weight gain and self loathing.

 

I have a problem with sugar.  My body and my brain cannot tolerate it.  Some people can have a cookie or a piece of pie or make themselves banana bread and then enjoy it.  I will binge eat it and follow it with everything else in the house.  If I want to stay healthy and sane and happy, I abstain.  Completely.  No sugar.  Ever.  It was a sad realization and I mourned it and even had some mild depression surrounding it. Because in our western culture, especially around this time of year, sugar = cheer.  Sugar = love.  Sugar = comfort.  For me sugar = spinning out of control....so I just can't.  I say, bring on the homemade mayo instead. 

 

It's a matter of getting to know yourself and then really examining your reactions and that maybe you are mentally "allergic" to sugar.  And of course, that gorgeous red wine both contains sugar AND reduces your decision making skills.

 

Good luck!

[bep0819]

Your posts make me feel not so alone. I've struggled so much with one piece of anything sweet. I over induldged at Thanksgiving. Ate clean for 2 days then white knuckled it through Sunday. Caved with homemade ice cream. Thank goodness I stopped there because I know the exact location of the holiday m & m's along with the leftover halloween candy of my daughter . I feel leaving sugar behind is a process. Eating clean for 2 days after a holiday are a great success for me. One step at a time.

[LadyM]

I have read that sugar is eight times more addictive than cocaine. Sounds like for you it is a toxic substance.

 

It is for me, too, especially when combined with white flour. I've gotten to the point now where I can have a few bites of cake on my birthday or pie at Thanksgiving and/or a drink or two and then get right back to template eating at the next meal and for the foreseeable future, no excuses. But it has taken me a long time, and those are isolated cases (cases in which I've also eaten plenty of protein, veg, and fat as a buffer). 

[ladyshanny]

Wow, LadyM, EIGHT times more addictive than COCAINE?!

 

Thank you...because I now, officially, no longer feel bad/guilty/stupid/lame/pathetic/weak for not being able to moderate myself as it relates to sugar.  Holy smokes.  That sure puts it in perspective.

[pjena]

Ditto, M.  I'm doing much better than I have in the past, but it's taken a long time.  Keep working on it and be patient with yourself.  I still cannot have one bite of dessert.  One bite turns into many.  However, I am getting so much better at containing those times.  I aim to not have that first bite unless 10 bites would be worth it.  I didn't eat one bite of Halloween candy this year.  I went back through my logs and read the week after Halloween last year as a reminder that once I start, I won't stop until I'm mad at myself.  That helped me hold strong this year. 

 

For me, an all dessert party would be a recipe for disaster.  I'd eat before, bring a kombucha and not go near the food or wine.  Focus on friends and family.  If you don't start, you don't have to stop.  I probably would drink the best wine ever, though, and do my best to contain the consequences.  It's all about making choices.

 

Good luck!

[AllyB]

Not sure how much more addictive cocaine is than sugar.  But I do think the issue is that when someone successfully quits cocaine, they don't go back and do a little here and there.  Typcially they stop hanging around the people that offer it and say "Oh just this once, it's a special occassion!"  They go cold turkey.

 

That's not the case with sugar.  Sugar is in A LOT of the food we eat.  It's associated with happy times, sad times, stressful times etc etc.  We (sugar addicts) try to moderate our sugar intake.  But we have gracious hostesses that offer us cookie upon cookie washed down with egg nog.  Recovering alcoholics don't normally don't try to moderate (some do, I know.  But in general, they just stop drinking all together and that fixes the problem.)

 

So for me, I treat sugar like an addiction.  I just try to stay away from it.  Yes, I do slip up.  And surprisingly, it's gotten easier to moderate it as time has gone by (I did a W30 back in feb.)  Recently, I've had a couple incidents where I thought something was too sweet!  Imagine that!  But in general, for me, it's best to stay away.  I stay pretty compliant though and it's taken a long time to see a change in my feelings towards sugar (physically and mentally.)  And yes, 10 months after my W30, I still have sugar cravings.  Not as bad as before, but they are there.

 

The other thing that helped post-W30 was planning when I was going to have something sugary.  If I planned it, I was able to plan an exit strategy and not get into that crazed stuff-all-cookies-into-my-mouth-before-my-common-sense-kicks-back-in behavior.

 

So for example, at my daughter's school play, they had desserts (or maybe it was a pot luck dinner but all I saw were desserts!)  I planned to have one cookie.  I was about a month post W30 and my sugar cravings were still pretty strong.  So I walked around the tables looking for that one perfect cookie.  I picked one and then went back to sit down.  It was tasty and it took a lot of will power not to go get another.  But I did it.  I think the reason I was able to was because I had planned to have a cookie. It wasn't a last minute guilt inducing decision.  And because of that, I could still keep my wits about me

[kirkor]

Could you just do a sugar fast? I know wine may potentially be a trigger for you, but I think if you have the discipline to complete a Whole30 you should be able to power through. Make the commitment to yourself at the same level of seriousness as you did the W30 -- no sweeteners, no slip-ups, period.

Perhaps reframe the sugar in your mind as being similar to gluten for your body. If you were allergic to it, if it propagated a damaging medical condition, would it still be as tempting?

With having been gluten-free for 4 years, you have clearly put up a wall that does not permit any gluten to cross it. Build a similar barricade in your mind against sugar.

[MeadowLily]

Could you just do a sugar fast? I know wine may potentially be a trigger for you, but I think if you have the discipline to complete a Whole30 you should be able to power through. Make the commitment to yourself at the same level of seriousness as you did the W30 -- no sweeteners, no slip-ups, period.

Perhaps reframe the sugar in your mind as being similar to gluten for your body. If you were allergic to it, if it propagated a damaging medical condition, would it still be as tempting?

With having been gluten-free for 4 years, you have clearly put up a wall that does not permit any gluten to cross it. Build a similar barricade in your mind against sugar.

 

 

 

 

 

[CassieS]

Thanks for the idea of putting sugar in the same spot in my brain as gluten. It took me a while to get

off gluten as well..but once I truly made the decision, you couldn't pay me

to eat a chocolate glazed donut because of how sick it would make me. Sugar makes me almost mentally sick. I go from being a normal, productive human being, to a complete waste of space..just thinking about when I can get my next sugar "fix."

[CassieS]

Thanks everyone for support on this. I made a decision to do a second Whole 30 starting tomorrow and forego the wine next week (because it really is delicious wine, but frankly, that restaurant is only

20 minutes away and I can have that wine anytime.) I would much rather enjoy the company of

My coworkers and be present in my life..rather than counting the seconds until I can get my next sugar fix.

[Hutlifr]

I was thinking about making gluten free Xmas cookies, you know using almond flour, ground hazelnuts, or shredded coconut. But after reading these posts I realized I would need to use sugar as an ingredient! I guess no Xmas cookies for me... Building a barricade in my mind against sugar!!! Tx kirkor

[MeadowLily]

Could you just do a sugar fast? I know wine may potentially be a trigger for you, but I think if you have the discipline to complete a Whole30 you should be able to power through. Make the commitment to yourself at the same level of seriousness as you did the W30 -- no sweeteners, no slip-ups, period.

Perhaps reframe the sugar in your mind as being similar to gluten for your body. If you were allergic to it, if it propagated a damaging medical condition, would it still be as tempting?

With having been gluten-free for 4 years, you have clearly put up a wall that does not permit any gluten to cross it. Build a similar barricade in your mind against sugar.

Kirkor,  that is one of the most sharp and astute statements....

You have accurately assessed the situation and turned this into our advantage.    We can barricade the mind against sugar, gluten or anything we set our will to.

 

If children are highly allergic to peanuts  we can make a clean sweep of the house.   The family does not cross the threshold of danger for the child.

 

Our mind can create any barrior it wants for the house we live in...our body.   The Sugar Barricade...you're a genius.

[EatingSun]

I am really appreciating this string 2 weeks (seriously?  only 2 weeks, feels like 2 months) post Whole 30.  I've been Celiac/GF for 15 years, Paleo for very long spells for on and off.

 

CassieS's original post was a huge me too!...less so with sugar and more with carbs/salt.  The really empty kind.  Once I start, I can't stop, I stop exercise and the self-loathing begins and it is really hard to break the cycle.  It's why long term, paleo is a good approach for me.  Indeed there is some trigger that hits me too, so it's why, 2 weeks after completion, I am not messing with it.  I am afraid to.  I am still eating Whole 30.  I drink a little wine here and there but more than that and I get a headache so kind of a nice forcing function there to not over do it.  I can't let the grains, legumes, sugar cross the lips or I am doomed....

[Hutlifr]

Love your visual meadow lily!

[MeadowLily]

Love your visual meadow lily!

 My brain thinks in music, photos..