Sugar withdrawl

[sahara64]

So today is my Day 1...and far from the "gee this is easy feeling", I'm really struggling. I have consumed sugar pretty much unrestrainedly for 30 years. Sugar was my drug of choice. It was legal, cheap, and easily accessible.

 

The 18 hours that I have been sugar free have been the longest time without sugar I can remember. Seriously. I am used to starting my day with several sugary cups of coffee, followed by more coffee later in the day (to just make it through), candy when work was stressful - and you know it's always stressful, and ending my day with a big bowl of ice cream.

 

I'm really struggling...difficulty thinking, irritability and pretty much zero energy. I had no idea how much my brain/body had come to rely on my steady ingestion of sugar to think or be a reasonable human being at work.

 

2.5 hours to go before I can go home. I'm so incredibly crabby I've just kept my mouth shut unless I had to answer the phone or a question at work. I'm exhausted and alternate between irritable and weepy.

 

I could really use some encouragement from someone who has had a high sugar intake history and has lived through this.

 

[jmcbn]

I haven't had a big sugar intake in a very long time but I CAN tell you that how you are feeling now is temporary. Your brain will play tricks on you & do everything in it's power to get you to cave, but you got this... Drink some water, go for a walk in the fresh air if you can, reorganise your filing system - anything to keep your mind off of sugar.

When you get home for (I'm guessing) meal three be sure to include plenty of fat, and a generous serving of starchy veg which will help with both the sugar withdrawal & with the cravings.

Stay strong!

[ladyshanny]

Sugar addict, right here with you.  And yes, what jmcbn says is true, it is temporary, there is light at the end of this dark feeling tunnel.  You are addicted, straight up, to sugar.  Your body and your mind are used to banking on it and it is NO different than any other addictive substance whether the governments choose to believe it or not.

 

The thing is, it won't get easier tomorrow or next Monday or in September.  The first part of withdrawal is always going to suck and you have already put in 18 hours of fight, do not give in now.  Drink a lot of water, get a lot of sleep, think nice thoughts about yourself and if you have to think nasty thoughts, direct them to the food scientists who somehow managed to co-opt the primeval portion of your brain that *needed* sugar to survive and they hooked it, plain and simple.  Eat starchy veggies like sweet potatoes, white potatoes, roasted carrots and beets, Japanese sweet potatoes, rutabaga, plantains etc.  Beware of subbing in fruit for sugar though, your body won't recognize any difference and it can make it harder to make that clean break.

 

YOU can do this!  YOU are strong and determined and you are worth the commitment you made to yourself.  You aren't the first and you won't be the last....but if you can power through this and get to the other side you'll be standing where I am cheering on and pumping up the folks who feel like you do right now. We want you here on this side!  

[sahara64]

JMCBN - Thanks for your reply! Hearing someone say "don't cave" is actually what I really needed.

 

Ladyshanny - Thank you as well, especially since I was reaching for another serving of apple to keep me going through the day. You're right - more fruit isn't the answer. It sure FELT like the answer, LOL....but I can see it's that addict finding a way to get what it wants...sweet.

 

Last hour of my work day winding down, I just have to make it through without biting off someone's head! We're in the home stretch, I can do it! while I've known I ate sugar in response to stress, I didn't have a clue what it was doing to my brain. Pretty painfully aware of it right this minute! 

[jennaboo]

I am only on day 12 of my Whole 30, but right before this I did 30 days of no sugar, because I knew it would be the hardest for me to give up. At first it was really, really hard, but it does get easier and easier. One thing that really helped me was getting my boyfriend on board, and telling coworkers and friends. I asked them to keep me accountable. I didn't want to have to tell them I couldn't even make it 30 days without sugar so it kept me going. Try and find someone you talk to often who will check in with you and give you some words of encouragement when you need them. I also didn't let myself think it was an option to not complete it. I kept telling myself "It's only 30 days, you can do anything for 30 days." 

 

Another thing that helped was making sure I didn't get too hungry. I would fill up on healthy food during my meals, because the hungrier I was, the worse the cravings got. When I kept myself full of healthy foods the cravings were less or easier to ignore. 

 

After my 30 days were over I didn't even really want sugar. I'm a teacher and it was teacher appreciation week. I had a desk full of cookies, candy and other sweets and I didn't even touch them after my 30 days were up. I ended up having a little candy before I started my Whole 30 and it didn't taste good and it was hard to eat. 

 

It's really hard but I promise it will be worth it!! The feeling of knowing you overcame that addiction is pretty great. You can definitely do it! 

[missmunchie]

It is really tough, but you can do this! I am also a recovering sugar addict, it's my drug of choice, too. It's great that you're here to make your life better, and it does get better! I have yet to slay my sugar dragon completely, but it's drastically improved. It used to be passing up dessert would nearly bring me to tears and certainly put me in a funk for the rest of the day. Now although I still get cravings, it's not seemingly as big of a sacrifice to ignore the dessert cart. Focus on the compliant things you CAN have that you really love - for me that's steak and compliant bacon! I find when I'm sugar craving I just think of my favorite compliant foods and it really takes the edge off. Best of luck to you!

[sahara64]

I am glad to say I feel a lot better this morning. It's not perfect, and I'm well aware the cravings will pop up, but I'm not sitting in a dense brain fog wishing for death as I did yesterday, LOL.

[ultrarunnergirl]

My name is ultrarunnergirl, and I'm a sugar addict!!

Sugar is the reason I did the Whole30. I knew I had a real problem. I couldn't moderate it.

Eat to the template -- and don't be afraid to eat A LOT. I made sure to get plenty of fat and protein with every meal, as well as veggies (already a big veggie eater when I began so that wasn't a change). Sometimes I hardly felt up to eating the whole big bowl of eggs, meat and veggies cooked in delicious coconut oil. But if I didn't, I was sure to get hungry before Meal 2.

 

Good news: The longer I was away from sugar, the less hold it had on me.

 

You can do this!!

[sahara64]

Jennaboo, missmunchie and ultrarunnergirl - So happy to hear from other sugar addicts that you've done it! I don't care if it's a year or a week, you have longer than me in the no sugar game and I'm appreciative of your support!

 

I learned yesterday that not enough breakfast = a very unhappy, hungry, miserable morning at work. I fixed that this morning and made sure to have a larger breakfast. Still noticing a bit of tired/brain fog stuff, but so much better than yesterday!

[rhiannon.gale]

I'm also a sugarholic! I'm on day two and it's tough stuff. The cravings are terrible!!!

[rhiannon.gale]

Sahara, are you still ingesting some sort of caffeine? I switched to black tea because it has a mellow taste and doesn't require sugar. I also just got some ripe strawberries from Aldis, and I feel MUCH better. Cravings are lessening. I have had a few moments where my blood sugar was low.

[sahara64]

Hi Rhiannon.gale! My coffee is caffeinated...tho...I'm not enjoying it with coconut milk so much so I'm only getting about half a cup. I'm used to 3 or 4 cups of sugary caffeine a day, so this is a biiiig change. I have never drank ANYTHING that wasn't sweet! Sweet tea, soda, etc. So it's a lot to get used to. I did have some peach tea bags and made some iced tea with it...it was tolerable (probably because there weren't any other choices, it was that or water!).

[Kaypentz]

I can't tell you how happy I am that I found some fellow sugar addicts like me!! I've been searching the forums and trying to find some answers or help and here you all are Ive been struggling so hard to get past this sugar dragon I've been able to cut out added sugars but not all the hidden and flours. I wanted to do a whole 30 or I should say whole-life since I need to cut out everything that can turn into glucose in my body. I'm wanting to know is it possible with the whole 30 to get rid of it forever and stay doing it? Once I cut everything out I felt like my cravings got worse but realizing that a lot was probably the dragon trying to find sugar so do I just need to stick it out and push through it and pound in my head that when I crave sugar it's because I'm eating to much of it somewhere? I need some enlightenment please

[ShannonM816]

 

I can't tell you how happy I am that I found some fellow sugar addicts like me!! I've been searching the forums and trying to find some answers or help and here you all are   Ive been struggling so hard to get past this sugar dragon I've been able to cut out added sugars but not all the hidden and flours. I wanted to do a whole 30 or I should say whole-life since I need to cut out everything that can turn into glucose in my body. I'm wanting to know is it possible with the whole 30 to get rid of it forever and stay doing it? Once I cut everything out I felt like my cravings got worse but realizing that a lot was probably the dragon trying to find sugar so do I just need to stick it out and push through it and pound in my head that when I crave sugar it's because I'm eating to much of it somewhere? I need some enlightenment please 

 

It is possible to do a Whole30 and just stay on it forever -- it's physically a healthy way to eat and shouldn't cause problems from that standpoint.

 

However, before you start committing to a WholeForever, commit to a Whole30, and plan to do the reintroductions so you gain a better understanding of how different foods affect you -- it really will help you make a plan you can stick to going forward (because, let's face it, even people with the best intentions of sticking to this way of eating forever run into situations where it just isn't going to happen, sometimes because of circumstances beyond their control, sometimes because they just have a bad day (or week, or month) and lapse into old habits). I'd also highly recommend reading It Starts With Food so that you have a better understanding of why the rules are what they are -- I found that made it easier to keep going when I hit points in the W30 where I wanted to just throw in the towel. 

 

If you cut everything out and your cravings got worse, it is entirely possible that you didn't eat enough food. Many people make that mistake early on in a Whole30, especially if they have a history of calorie counting or other restricted diets. I strongly encourage you to keep a food log here, including approximate serving sizes, so that if you run into the overwhelming cravings again, we can take a look and help you make sure you're eating enough, and eating the right proportions of everything. 

 

In general, we want you to eat at least three template-sized meals each day. This means:

• 1-2 palm-sized servings of protein (eggs, if they're your only source of protein, are as many as you can hold in your hand -- likely three or four). Nuts and bacon are fat sources, not protein.
• 1-2 thumb-sized servings of fat (or 1/2-1 whole avocado, or 1-2 heaping handfuls of olives or coconut flakes, or 1 smallish handful of nuts or seeds, or 1/2 a can of coconut milk). Often, cooking fat gets left behind in the pan after cooking and doesn't count toward your serving. Don't be afraid of the fat, it's what will help keep you satisfied between meals. 
• Fill the plate with vegetables. At least one cup, but more likely 2-3 cups. Even more if you're using raw leafy greens, as they tend to compress down to nothing.
• Occasionally, if you want, you can have some fruit with a meal, but you never have to. Don't have it by itself, and don't think of it as "dessert."

Almost everyone benefits from having at least a fist-sized serving of starchy carbs every day. If you're pregnant, breast feeding, in the week leading up to your period, very active, or prone to depression or anxiety, you may need more.

 

If you work out, have pre- and post-workout meals according to the template as necessary. 

 

That said, you may still experience some cravings. You'll have to determine why you're having these cravings -- it might be actual hunger, especially early on as you try to figure out portion sizes, or it might be that you're bored, or if you're prone to emotional eating, you may be sad or angry or whatever other emotions might have cause you to eat before.

 

If you're truly hungry -- as in you could eat something really bland, like plain fish and broccoli -- then eat, but have a mini-meal with protein, fat, and vegetables.

 

If you're bored or emotional, do something to distract yourself. Go for a walk, journal about your feelings, clean out your junk drawer, work on a hobby, call a friend, read a book, something that will get you to stop thinking about food for a while.

 

[sahara64]

Kaypentz...There is a part in the book where they say something along this line:  "The amount of suck you are experiencing is directly related to how bad your diet was".

 

After 7 days, i have come to the same realization I have been horribly addicted to sugar. Days 1-4 were absolute hell, no exaggeration. I couldn't think, I was EXHAUSTED, I was emotional - crying, angry, depressed. But I did it.

 

prewhole 30 I was not willing to go without my drug - sugar. I drank several  cups of sugary coffee a day, followed by diet coke. I hit the office candy jar, filled with fun size candy bars, 2 or 3 times a day. I had ice cream every night, sometimes eating an entire pint. I couldn't have cookies in the house because I would eat ALL of them. I couldn't have any form of chocolate in the houe, because I would eat all of it.. Once I tasted it, I could not stop. I hid candy. i ate candy/ice cream in secret.

 

So when I say I'm addicted and the first four days were hard? I wasn't kidding. yeah, I'd "done paleo before" ...continuing to drink my sugary coffee and eat ice cream. LOL. Until you are ready to give it up it seems impossible.

 

Do I think about it? um, pardon my french but hell YES I think about it. There was a forlorn M&M under my desk this week, and I had a mind/body connection with it. I finally threw it in the garbage, but the rest of the day? I literally had thoughts of eating it. OUT OF THE GARBAGE. That's addiction. so....I've white knuckled it through

 

I did realize early in the week, this was NOT the week to walk the 5 K I'd planned, heck not the week to work out. i was too tired, too miserable. But days 6 and 7 have been so much better. I feel like myself, but without sugar. I can't even think about day 31. I've already decided I can not go back to sugary creamer - it's food with no brakes for me. Luckily I have 23 more days of following th rules to get strong and figure things out . You can do this. If I can do it? YOU CAN DO IT!