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Four realistic steps to end a dangerous, health-robbing sugar addiction at your own pace without debilitating detox symptoms or discomfort.
Sugar addiction is a very real and growing problem that has the potential to steal your health just as much as other more high profile dependency issues. Check out this email from Regina asking for help.
Dear Sarah, I’m sure you get lots of emails every day but I sure hope you can give me some advice. I’m 52 years old and a horrific sugar addict. At six weeks old, my mother started me on chocolate milk and other than very short periods of time, I don’t think I have been without sugar. It doesn’t matter what form it is in…just have sugar. This morning I told a friend that I could be rolled in chocolate and be happy!
So, you see my problem. Please help me get off sugar. Even typing that makes me start shaking and looking for my next fix!! I’m working very hard to change our eating habits. We grow almost all of our food…veggies, beef, pork, eggs, chicken, milk. This week I started making our butter, yogurt, etc. and hope to be making hard cheeses soon. Can you help a middle-aged, over weight, grandmother improve her health? Thank you so much, Regina
Regina, I can relate to your situation. I used to be a pretty dedicated sugar junkie myself back in my 20’s. I was the gal who was scarfing down the Snickers bar (King Size, no less!) at 3 pm every day at my desk while I worked a stressful, travel packed, restaurant loaded corporate lifestyle.
A box of donuts on the conference room table was my idea of a good start to the day!
Even after I had the good sense to quit that career and start working from home in 1996, I still had trouble conquering the sugar monster.
Not surprisingly, I was hypoglycemic from the misguided but supposedly “healthy” low-fat lifestyle I was following. Despite eating organic fruits, veggies, and meats much of the time, all that sugar made me a nervous wreck not to mention incredibly moody from seesawing blood sugar.
I’m happy to say that my sugar addiction days are long behind me and while I do still look longingly at a box of Dunkin Donuts, I pass them by. While I do give in and eat one bite-sized munchkin from time to time, I have found the hard way (refined sugar gives me such a nasty headache!) that choosing to eat none at all is far easier than indulging even just a bite or two!
So, how did I do it? How did I slay the sugar monster and keep it at bay for so many years?
Here’s the protocol for slaying a sugar addiction for good without any nasty detox symptoms taking your down for a week. I’m sure there are other approaches that would work just fine too. Here’s what worked for me and has enabled me to stay sugar addiction-free for many years.
How to End Sugar Addiction for GOOD
Below are the four steps for ending a sugar addiction for the long haul. It is important to note that how long each step takes is completely up to you. There is no hard and fast schedule for completion.
The point is to continue to make progress even if one step takes a bit longer than the others. And, if you have a setback, that isn’t the end of the world. You can continue to move forward. Progress, not perfection is the ultimate goal!
Step 1: Replace ALL Refined Sugar with Natural Sweeteners
This step means exactly what it says. You must get rid of all the white sugar and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in your home wherever it may lurk and replace it with natural, whole forms of sugar like honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar and sucanat (whole cane sugar). Do not use agave as it is highly processed.
Don’t forget condiments .. they are a big source of HFCS. Replace them with condiments from the health food store that taste just as good and don’t have some form of refined sugar as the main ingredient.
Not ready to get rid of soda entirely? Then buy soda only from the health food store! There are brands available there that use unrefined cane sugar instead of HFCS. These sodas taste terrific. You won’t miss a thing taste and satisfaction-wise by drinking them, I can assure you.
Stir sucanat or coconut sugar into your tea or coffee instead of white sugar. Only whole, unprocessed sweeteners make the cut here.
Replace those candy bars with healthfood store versions that use whole cane sugar instead of refined white sugar as the sweetener.
Whatever you do, DON”T replace the refined sugars with artificial sweeteners.
Studies have shown that folks who consume artificial sweeteners have more sweet cravings than folks who just eat the sugar in its natural form!
Be aware that you are going to have to start reading labels to complete this step. Refined sugar is hidden everywhere in processed foods!
The goal in this step is not to reduce sugar consumption but simply to replace it with a more nutritious, unprocessed, whole form of sugar.
When you have accomplished this significant step forward, CONGRATULATIONS! You are now ready to proceed…
Step 2: Increase the Amount of Whole, Unprocessed Fats in Your Diet
The sugar cravings many of us experience are due to the lack of enough healthy, whole fats in our diet. Dietary fat stabilizes blood sugar .. sweet cravings become overwhelming on dips in blood sugar.
I used to think that it was a lack of willpower that was preventing me from succeeding in getting my sugar cravings under control. As it turned out, it wasn’t a lack of willpower at all. It was my low-fat diet that was the primary problem.
Once I switched from skim milk to whole milk (preferably unprocessed directly from the farm), the whole yogurt from low-fat or fat-free yogurt, and butter from vegetable oil and butter substitutes, I noticed my sugar cravings rapidly diminished!
As part of this step, be sure to clear out of your pantry any item that features a “reduced-fat” or “fat-free” marketing line on the package.
Fat is your friend when you SLAY the sugar monster!
So go ahead and load up on butter – the best quality your budget can afford. Eat that delicious fat that surrounds your grass-fed steak. It tastes great for a reason! It is full of nutrition and it is a huge asset in stabilizing your blood sugar.
Don’t worry that your triglycerides will shoot to the moon and that you will drop dead of a heart attack. It is the factory fats that are so dangerous to your cardiovascular health, not whole unprocessed fats in milk, cream, eggs, and butter. Doctors and nutritionists who tell you otherwise are not up on their research.
Definitely avoid transfats, partially hydrogenated fats, interesterified fats, and any other rancid, cheap vegetable oils that are used in processed foods. But welcome with open arms cream, butter, egg yolks, coconut oil, and other forms of traditional, nourishing fats.
As you increase the whole fats in your diet, most people find the introduction of a therapeutic strength probiotic and homemade fermented foods to be of great benefit.
Probiotics will help to rebalance gut bacteria to a favorable ratio and keep candida under control. There are dozens of recipes on this blog that show you how to make all kinds of fermented foods and fermented drinks that will keep those pathogenic yeasts in your gut under control that are a big contributor to out of control sugar cravings. Homemade kombucha is an excellent choice for this purpose (NOT store brands that are high in sugar!).
Step 3: Remove All Forms of Processed, Whole Sugars From Your Home
Once you have abandoned the low-fat lifestyle and embraced traditional fats in your home, you are ready for the next step. Get rid of all processed sugar foods in your home even if made with organic, whole natural sweeteners.
That’s right, lose the natural sodas, organic cookies, pop tarts, organic chocolate, and any other organic junk food that you started buying when you switched from refined sugar to natural sugars in step one above.
This may seem difficult but wait…let me explain.
You can still eat as much natural, whole sugars as you want. Examples include maple syrup, sucanat, coconut sugar, and date syrup.
Inconvenience Factor
The catch is that now you can’t buy them…you have to make them yourself.
So if you want chocolate chip cookies, have at it. You must make them yourself using a cookie recipe using whole sweeteners. You can’t just walk to the pantry and pick up a bag of Newman’s Organic Chocolate Chip Cookies.
What this step introduces is the inconvenience factor.
When something is inconvenient, most of the time, you will just skip doing it, am I right?
For example, if I have a bag of organic chocolate chip cookies in the pantry and a very stressful event occurs suddenly out of the blue, the chances that I am going to walk to the pantry and eat some, or more likely, the entire box of cookies is rather high.
At least it is for me.
If, on the other hand, I don’t have any prepackaged, easy to munch organic cookies in my pantry at all, the chances that I will whip out the mixing bowl and make some chocolate chip cookies myself are much much lower.
In this step, you are still allowed to drive to the store and buy some organic cookies if your craving is overwhelming. But, when you walk through your front door, whatever you haven’t eaten in the car gets thrown in the trash (or given away). That’s right – they hit the circular file.
Only homemade sweets made with natural sugars are allowed in your home from this step forward. You can make as many homemade sweets as you like and consume as many as you like. But, they must be made by hand.
This step is where the rubber meets the road. Can you do it? You absolutely can if you are eating lots of whole fats in your diet! Eating lots of whole, unprocessed fats is your ace in the hole because your cravings will never be overwhelming as your blood sugar will be stable the majority of the time.
Step 4: No More than 3 TBL (36 grams) of Natural Sugars per Day
Congratulations are in order if you have made it this far to the fourth and final step. You are now 90% of the way to slaying the sugar monster in your life!
The final step involves a gradual reduction in the amount of natural sugars you consume to a safe level of no more than 36 grams per day. According to Tom Valentine in his classic anthology Search for Health, significant immune system suppression begins to occur above 36 grams of sugar from all sources on any given day.
This is the amount for adults, by the way. It would be about half (18 grams) for children. This is the amount you must try to refrain from exceeding in any given day. Note that the natural sugar in fresh or dried fruit counts toward this daily total.
How long should this step take? As long as is necessary. For some, it will take one week. Others may find it takes several months. The point is to keep moving forward and don’t give up if you fall off the wagon on occasion. Just get up, dust yourself off, and keep going!
Ideally speaking, some of your days should not include any sweets at all after a while. Having a goal of no sweets ever is not realistic, however. I suggest not going there mentally. It sets you up for failure.
Our culture is sugar-saturated so sometimes you are simply going to indulge. Don’t worry about it or feel guilty about it for even one moment when it happens.
If you have slain the sugar monster in your home by transitioning to only natural sugars, eating more whole fats, forbidding organic junk food from finding a regular home in your pantry, and eating homemade sweets only on an occasional basis, then you have absolutely accomplished your goal!
You are now eating natural, whole sweets in moderation and enjoying them in a safe manner that will not threaten your long term health.
Well done, my friend!
Where To Find Wholesome, Natural Sweeteners
These are the wholesome sweeteners I use in my home. Once you transition to unprocessed sugars, you won’t ever go back to white sugar or high fructose corn syrup laden products ever again!
If you are having hypoglycemia, the problem might be a high-fat diet, not a high-carb diet!
Your information is inaccurate. Good quality whole fats are slowly absorbed and maintain steady blood sugar as opposed to sugars and carbs. Going high fat completely cured my hypoglycemia.
Please note I am NOT talking about factory fats. Perhaps this is the “high fat” you are referring to.
I too feel that my cravings for sugar are out of control. I would love to get rid of them. My problem is that since last December dairy gives me headaches. I’ve given up drinking cow’s milk and have been using almond milk when possible. I’ve sometimes wondered though if refined sugar hasn’t also been contributing to the sweets. I’m new to this site so I haven’t read many of the articles yet. Are there other sources of these good fats that I can start adding to my diet if I don’t tolerate the butter and milk?
Hi Laura, most folks who don’t do well on pasteurized dairy do fine on raw, grassfed dairy. See if you can locate a small farm in your area to get decent quality dairy for yourself. If you still can’t tolerate even grassfed raw dairy (an extremely small minority) then use coconut oil and ghee (butter oil with all proteins removed). Coconut oil should be part of your diet anyway even if you consume dairy. Other animal fats like tallow and lard would be beneficial as well for cooking veggies and baking.
Thanks! I grew up drinking raw milk but that stopped when the farm was sold. I’ll definitely start with using butter, ghee and coconut oils!
This has been such an informative and helpful sight. Thank you so much!!!
I’ve noticed since having heaps of butter and good oils I don’t crave sugar like I use to.
Thanks again
Nadja
I have a question I was hoping you could help me answer. I am looking trying to figure out what to order for replacing my white sugar but there are so many different names of sugar (sucanat, turbindado, dermena, cane sugar and evaporated cane juice). What is the difference and which is the least refined?
Thank you for all your blog and information. It has been a huge blessing in my life.
Sarah, your Resource page link doesn’t work. What do you think of rice syrup and barley malt which are low glycemic? Too processed?
Aloha Sarah,
I, too, faced my sugar demons a little more than a year ago and I’ve dropped about 60 pounds. I used to load the sugar in my coffee in the a.m. and have about four cups. No more! Now sugar repulses me.
I did it a bit differently, but overall your advice is sound and good and others would be wise to try it. I got off all sugars and fruit (except berries that were in season) for six weeks. I ate a lot of Quinoa (every meal, in fact). I had to do a few light organic coffee enemas (warm) after the candita (bad yeast) in my system (which was causing fibromyalgia) died and became toxic in my system. After than I’ve been home free and feeling so much better! I eat all the fruit I want now and use butter. I did substitue milk for unsweetened vanilla almond breeze and I got off of peanut butter and switched to almond butter. I love your idea of making your own goodies if you are craving them, as I grind my own wheat and make the best darn chocolate chip cookies (using sucanat) you’ve ever tasted! Thanks and I hope many people take your advice!
I’ll chime in too…cooking with real old fashioned fat really does tame the sugar craving for me AND the tendency to overeat. I made homemade chicken stock and used it to cook rice (with lots of chicken fat included), and made chicken & rice casserole with homemade “cream of” mushroom/chicken/celery. Real butter, whole milk. Usually I can and do eat more than one helping of chicken & rice when cooked the old way (no good fat, canned soup). This time, I could not bring myself to eat more than one serving, I felt so full. Fat IS satisfying!
The bonus here is that taking a day to make homemade stock equips me for at least a week’s worth of stock for using in soup, casseroles, etc. It is cheaper than buying canned broth, and healthier too since I know exactly what’s going into it.
Going low-carb makes you lose the craving for sugar. I used to have sugar every day all day, but within 2 days of a low carb, high fat diet, i forgot about sugar. When you are full from a greek salad and blueberries in heavy cream, there’s no need to want sugar.
Right on, I say!
Just remembered another step – no concentrated fruit sources. I’d find myself devouring half a jar of 100% fruit jam, or a whole bag of dried apricots, or half a can of frozen OJ concentrate. They had to go or the sweet cravings stayed intense & insistent.
Winter squashes & sweet potatoes & pumpkin can be a problem for me, too, as can milk & lightly fermented (as in, most storebought) yogurt. My gut knows where to find the (natural) sugars, even if I don’t!
Not everyone has to go this far. I offer this just for those who, like me,
This is a great post and very much in line with what I did, too. However, I was still an addict, just switching from candy bars & Skittles to homemade ice cream, dried fruit, & 100% fruit jams. In case other readers find yourselves in this boat, you may find the following steps necessary, too, as I did:
– increase protein to the equivalent of a full serving of meat with each meal. Think 3 eggs with cheese for breakfast, chicken salad for lunch, pork chop for dinner. This was absolutely KEY for me, second only to increasing fats. The cravings tapered off dramatically here.
– eliminate grains. As long as I ate grains, the sugar cravings continued, b/c they spiked my blood sugar and left me craving once it crashed. Whole grains spike it only a tiny bit less than refined grains. When the grains were gone, the cravings became almost negligible.
– Have a “real food only” sweets rule. For me, it’s only worth it if it’s homemade (or gourmet) cheesecake, ice cream, or wedding cake. My taste buds have changed so much that no other sweets taste good enough anymore to be worth the inevitable hangovers.
– You may have to address a candida issue. GAPS can help, too, if gut dysbiosis is at the root of the sugar cravings.
For me, these steps (and yours, which were absolutely the same as mine, and so well written!) were what finally helped me be successful in fully implementing the Weston Price inspired diet I knew I needed for excellent health. Even today, I still go through difficult times, like when going out of town for a few weeks leads to occasional non-ideal food consumption and eventually, small cravings which lead to bigger ones. But I know how to get back on track. I do wonder if I’ll ever be free, if I can ever have just one slice of homemade cheesecake without wanting to eat the whole thing. Maybe some day!