Congratulations on your ten days without sugar Claudia.
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Great job Jim 
Welcome to the club.
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I need some serious help. I’m 21yrs old & addicted to sugar / most processed foods. Anything that’s palatable & has empty carbs, I could eat for days on end no problem. Along with that I also struggle with binge eating disorder. At the start of this year after almost 3 months of binge eating sugary foods & processed carbs I decided it was time to get back on track & find myself again. Find the healthy person I know myself to be. So I set out to “quit” sugar & most processed foods, which lasted maybe 10 days or so at best. Then I quickly spiraled right back into the hole I had dug for myself, burying myself in it without a care. Only this time my actions had consequences I wasn’t prepared for. Over the next couple days I would start to experience mild chest tightness / discomfort & irregular breathing on & off. I would eat sugar & it would come, then after the sugar wore off ( an hour or so maybe longer ) it would go away. After a few days of that & ignoring the signals my body was sending me, I started having very sharp chest pain & also tightness. Which didn’t go away even after I stopped consuming sugar that day. It turned into a pain going down my right forearm & into my right hand. This scared the shit out of me. The next day my chest was better, still painful on & off throughout the day but better. My right forehand & hand still felt sharp & tingly. Each day would be better, & after a few days my chest felt normal & so did my breathing. It took a few days for my arm / hand to feel normal as well. After an experience like this I was terrified to ever consume sugar again, fearing I would overdue it & not get so lucky with my well-being. I vowed to quit sugar & most processed foods forever. I was done & had enough. I started out very strong & extremely motivated. Taking all the right steps to be successful. I almost made it to two weeks, until tonight happened. The cravings were too much for me, it was too hard & by the end of the day I just couldn’t do it. I ate about 3 handfuls of dates ( never done that before & it felt awful because dates are filling & not an empty food source ) to numb the discomfort from the cravings I was having, two non sugary protein bars, a lot of spoonfuls of sugary peanut butter which officially broke the vow that I had made to myself ( not that I was doing good anyway ) some peanut butter crackers, & some unsweetened dried mango. Now my night is officially over, my body can’t take anymore & I’m just done. Tomo is a new day but, I’m not sure where to go from here. I thought I had everything figured out & went about it the right way. I tried so hard & was so sure I was done with this behavior. Something obviously went wrong & I wasn’t prepared. So here I am, reaching out publicly & asking for help. I need it. I can’t do this on my own. If anyone here has any helpful advice please let me know. I’m open to all suggestions & any questions you may have. I just want to be free from this addiction. I want to be the kind of person who doesn’t allow an eating disorder to define them. Thanks for listening, if you took the time.
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I’m happy to see this thread today! This is something I’ve been working on too, we are never in it alone. I really wanted an old favorite frozen coffee drink this week but I drank my tea instead and kept my counter going instead of resetting.
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I read your post and I feel your pain. The first month of no sugar was very hard for me, actually the first 3 months were. I am 100% a sugar addict and I also have an eating disorder. In order to get this far I had to cut out all sugary substances because my cravings didnt cease when i was eating dates and dried fruit, i tried that last time.
Good luck, it isnt easy but it can be done. The freedom from obsessive thoughts is sooooo empowering. I wish the same for you.
I am going to link a thread you might also find helpful to check in with.
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Atta girl 
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Respect! A sugarfree baby 
Congratulations! 
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Wooohooooo. Thats a lot of sugar-free days you have had in the last 2 years!!! Congrats.
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Congrats @Dazercat and curious…what benefits have you felt? Sorry if you previously shared that. I am doing no added sugar February. Slipped a few times for not realizing a product had sugar…but a main goal was saying NO to those cursed Cadbury Eggs. I’m just not a grey area person. I can have it, or I can’t. I feel like no added sugar is good for me. But once again I’m aggravated that this change hasn’t reversed the clock 20 years. LOL
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I swore I wouldn’t leave you hanging.
I forgot. 
I’ll get back to ya. Playing grandpa in Dallas today.
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Busy lives!! I get it!! No time to eat sugar. Yesssssss!!
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Well needless to say I substituted lots of chocolate, gelato, cookies and cakes etc…. When I quit drinking. And like drinking I cannot just have one. I can’t have it in the house or I’ll eat it all. Especially the gelato @Runningfree turned me on to. That was the last straw 
plus I was getting headaches and I know the sugar causes inflammation. Could be why my back aches were so bad too. I figured after a year and a half sober it was time to quit the “no added extra sugar.”
I have definitely had less headaches. I feel better spiritually and I guess physically. Who feels good after eating a whole tub of gelato? Or a while back of cookies? So I guess it helps my overall health.
If there is sugar in something I don’t worry about it. I stay away from the after dinner sweets. Cookies ice creams and gelatos, pastries donuts. etc…I never drank sodas anyway. Except a casual ginger ale. Which I’d love to have. But I don’t.
I have found a lot of sugar free natural chocolate thingies from Whole Foods I will eat. Feels like I’m cheating. Or those sugar free ice cream sandwiches I use to eat. But they had cholesterol so I stopped that too.
So much for my health and diet story.
I hope that helped. It’s definitely gotten easier. If I didn’t do that Europe trip I would have busted the year mark. But it was so worth it! Belgium chocolate of the night. 
C’MON!! In France. I’m not an idiot. I definitely broke for that.
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Eric, thanks for the info. Fortunately, I’m not a big chocolate fan and rarely get headaches. I’m glad sugar reduction helped you with those. Agreed nobody probably feels great after a tub of ice cream. I definitely notice a difference in how I feel based on what I eat. And too much sugar makes me feel unhealthy. I’m going to continue with this. A few treats here and there. But will not buy cookies, candy, ice cream, etc. Thanks again for taking the time to share.
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Any suggestions for a newbie? I got my bloodwork back yesterday and I’m pre diabetic. I never drink sugary drinks (now that I’ve stopped the alcohol), rarely eat dessert or sweets. I do rely too much on processed foods because my depression makes it hard to motivate to cook. But I’m realizing I need to get serious about healthy eating and exercise. Bloodwork was a wake up call.
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I listened to this yesterday and found it interesting.
I’ve struggled with depression in the past with my last major episode being about 2 years ago. I took fluoxetine, did yoga daily, cold water baths and breathing exercises, introduced fermented foods of many types to my diet and worked with a psychiatric nurse. I’m also perimenopausal (49) and was overweight this time last year but followed the Reverse diet program with intermittent fasting. I’m now in the healthy weight bracket, off all medications and my mood is very good.
You’re doing really well Karen, and getting your blood work back must feel pretty rubbish but I really think you can get your health back on track.
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Hi everyone. Oh my God I hope you guys don’t mind me joining your group. I just read about 10 entries and I couldn’t believe how much we have in common. I quit drinking 10 months ago and everyone said that I would have a craving for sugar because of the sugar added in the alcohol and everyone said things like go ahead and treat yourself to ice cream and Reesie’s peanut butter cups because Whatever it takes to quit drinking just do it. Well, I did it, but I overdid it. Every night ended with a bag of chocolate or a big bowl of ice cream. My blood work came back pre-diabetic and I basically have felt so lousy it almost felt like I was hung over, anxiety, depression, irritable, but the biggest thing was lack of motivation and energy. And from what I’ve read, many people are going to a similar thing. Does quitting sweets help? I especially related to what one person wrote above that some people can just have one Reese‘s peanut butter cup, not me, I just like drinking one wasn’t enough. I mean, honestly, I kind of live in a rural area, but I always spot suites for Halloween, but very few kids came by and I ended up with a stomach ache for weeks is there hope? Does it really make your blood work come back better? Will it help with my mental mood and energy levels? Thank you all so much.
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