Sugar, fatigue, and Core

[anne]

I've been noticing something I haven't seen discussed much. Sugar is by far my biggest problem, ever since I used to fish the lumps out of the brown sugar box when I was a kid. I've known for a long time that it was harder to fight sugar cravings when I was tired -- but somehow that knowledge didn't help me fight them.

Suddenly, on Core, that has changed. When I get the urge for sugar, instead of reaching straight for the cookies, there's a pause, because I'd have to count the cookie. In that pause, I can recognize that this isn't really a craving, I'm just tired. And then -- this is where Core is different for me -- I can recognize that being tired might be uncomfortable, but it isn't necessarily something that has to be fixed. I might be able to go to bed or take a nap, but obviously that's not always an option. But I can always just go ahead and be tired. And so I don't have the cookie.

This has been a revelation for me, but since I've only been on core for a couple of weeks, I wonder whether it will last. Is anyone else having this experience?

[xenagoddess]

I am exactly the same. I have struggled with sugar bingeing for years and years. It has always been my "issue". I find that Core is helping to keep the sugar monster at bay, but I still have to be vigilent. I usually eat sugar to stay awake, because I'm bored and because it just taste damn great to me.

The core plan does help but I find that I am still waiting for the day when I can go binge on sugar again. Slowly I am realizing that that day will not come. I eat sugar in moderation and often require myself to eat a dessert (after dinner only) just so I don't feel deprived. I take points and try to actually taste what I am eating. No seconds...or thirds. It is a long road...but I am walking day by day down it.

[sandybear]

Oh, Anne, my fellow brown sugar lump eater!

This week I'm trying a totally sugar and sugar substitute week. I've been eating my breakfast grain without Splenda, I have been drinking plain herbal tea (my apple cinnamon is really hitting the spot), and my WPAs are not being spent on ice cream, cookies, etc.

It is an experiment with myself so that I can get rid of the sugar monster in my life.

[farmgirl601]

I'm the same way. When I'm tired all I can think of is a quick pick me up. It works, but it's not a good choice! What do you grab instead? Sometimes if I'm really beat and I'm using toothpicks to keep my eyes open and it's only 1:30, an apple just doesn't cut it!

[Sherry]

I also have had to struggle with the "sugar" monster, always quick to report that the sweet tooth came from my dad. Growing up, I was a VERY picky eater, with everything but sweets of course. Actually, before core, I ate a pretty heathly diet, always loved fruits and veggies, but I always managed to include those sweets. I was a lacto-ovo junk food vegetarian.

When starting ww core in September, it was like quitting smoking. The first few days were very hard - going without sweets was a real challenge. But, over time those strong urges have diminished.

I prefer not to use artificial sweeteners and have managed to reduce not totally eliminate) the amount of sugar that I use each day in coffee and tea. I also had a nasty habit with a particular candy, Pearson's coffee nips (also other flavors). After starting core, I continued eating these candies, maybe not as many, but they were still taking up a large amount of WPA. Then I decided to get rid of them also. Again, it was hard, but after a few days, the urges are less frequent and less powerful.

Core, I believe is a learning process. I'm learning to make better choices about what I eat. I've already been rewarded with a 32 pound weight loss and look forward to more.

[SusieQ]

Sugar foods are NOT necessary for health or nutrition. Our biology programmed into us a taste for sweets, because natural sugars are found in foods that are good for us: berries and fruits.

Refined sugars are empty calories, nutritionally speaking. They do nothing for us. There is no such thing as a sugar deficiency!

Ok, so what are we to do with the barrage of sugary (and artifically sweetened) foods out there calling our names?

I think you have to know yourself. The Core plan does NOT call for abandoning those foods...only LIMITING them. You have 35 points a week to "spend" on non-Core foods. Will you do better if you do not use all 35 points on sugary foods? Probably. But if you've met your 8 healthy guidelines, WW tells us we can spend those points on sugar foods.

IF you cannot stop within the WW guidelines - if a half-cup of ice cream inevitably leads to you downing a full pint - then you can't have ice cream in your house. It's that simple. You go OUT for ice cream, you order ONE small scoop, and you count every darn point for it. It's that simple.

It's true what everybody says. If you avoid those foods, you stop missing them. We learn to want what's familiar. Make healthier choices more often, and that's what you'll crave.

Here are some of my suggestions for feeding a sweet tooth without overdosing on sugar:

1. Take a very sweet tangerine or navel orange and section it. Fan the sections out on a plate. Take 1 point's worth of goat cheese (2 tsps - 1 TB. depending on calories) and put it in the middle of the sections. Drizzle 1/2 tsp. of honey over the cheese. You won't believe how delicious this is...and about 1.5 points. It's extremely satisfying.
2. Fix a bowl of oatmeal. Take 1 TB. natural style creamy peanut butter (2 points, I think) and mix that in. 2 TBS. Hershey's chocolate syrup (1 point) and mix that in. Tastes like REese's PB cup and lasts longer and is better for you.
3. Take a 1/2 cup of ff cottage cheese with pineapple and douse it with cinnamon. Top a toasted Thomas' Lite Multigrain English muffin with the cheese. Delicious!
4. Make a smoothie with frozen berries, a frozen overripe banana, and ff yogurt or ff milk. Delicious! If you make it with ice, too, it can be so thick it's like eating ice cream. You don't even need sweetener.

TIPS: Slowly reduce the amount the sweetener you use in daily items. Try 3/4 packet of Splenda instead of a whole one in your coffee. Soon you won't notice the difference. Then go down to 1/2 packet. I've weaned myself off the stuff completely in my coffee, and I only use 1/2 packet in my oatmeal now.

If you have other foods that satisfy a sweet tooth and are low in points, entirely core, or just healthier in general, send 'em in! We want to hear from you!

Susie

[SusieQ]

I just reread my post above, and I forgot to mention that those Thomas' Lite Multigrain Eng. muffins are 1 point for the whole muffin. Very tasty!

Susie

[TenderInside]

Those are great suggestions Susie. I am trying to kill the Splenda use (again) because I know that it sets me up to expect sweetness. I have been off all sugary tasting items besides fruit in the past and find that it really opens your palate up to everything. Everything tastes MORE.

[auntbee]

TIPS: Slowly reduce the amount the sweetener you use in daily items. Try 3/4 packet of Splenda instead of a whole one in your coffee. Soon you won't notice the difference. Then go down to 1/2 packet. I've weaned myself off the stuff completely in my coffee, and I only use 1/2 packet in my oatmeal now.

SusieQ
Thank you so much for your insightful and informative posts.
I have always loved sugar and have used way more artificial sweetners than I like since starting WW. I am going to try a day using neither sugar/Splenda and see how it goes. I would force me to choose some different foods in place of ones I eat almost daily. I would love to implement a FREE day every week. Kind of like a fast, I guess. And cutting back the amount I use will help re-train my tastebuds as well.
Thanks again for your thoughtful posts!
Aunt Bee

[auntbee]

I did not do that last mpost right. The first part is from SusieQ's original post on this thread. I will have to learn what I am doing when quoting others in my posts.
Sorry SusieQ!
aunt Bee

[CountryLoser]

When I started Core, I was a sugarholic. I drank 3-4 regular Dr. Pepper's a day and had a full-size Hershey bar each day at 3pm. I also would skimp on meals because I snacked so much on sugary goodies.

When I started Core, I knew that for me, that all had to change. Diabetes (all types) runs in my family and I wanted to do what I could to reduce my chances of getting it.

I cut all sugar cold turkey and the first week was a nightmare - migraine headache, nausea, lightheadedness, irritability ... I had 'em all. But, I stuck with it and I gradually began to feel much better.

At first, I ate SF/FF pudding to get me thru the cravings, and I used Splenda on practically everything. Somehow, miraculously I began to "need" it less and less and food that I sweetened with Splenda actually started to taste too sweet to me. To this day, I can't drink a WW brand smoothie because it's way too sweet (I don't recall which sweetener they use in it).

I still use Splenda, but have cut back drastically - I no longer use it in oatmeal, Cream of Wheat, cereal and coffee. I do continue to use it in smoothies and for occasional homemade lemonade.

For me, it was one of the best choices I made, though not a Core requirement and probably definitely not for everyone. (P.S. I did the same with bread.)

Isn't it wonderful that Core is flexible enough to allow us to make the choices that are right for us, yet allows us to lose weight?

[xoxohart]

For the past two years, I have given up sugar for Lent. This year, I am happy to say, I really don't use sugar, so I wouldn't be giving anything up. I'm thinking about giving up artificial sweeteners, but don't want to set myself up for feeling deprived.

However, after reading all of your insightful posts, perhaps it is time for me to cut back on artificial sweeteners. I use sf "maple" syrup a couple of times per week (less than one serving each time), the occasional sf vanilla latte (usually just plain nf lattes do the trick for me), and the chemical-laden puddings about twice a week, as well as a packet of Splenda on oatmeal, Cream of Wheat, or in a smoothie. My biggie is diet soda. I probably drink 1 or 2 cans of diet Coke or Fresca per day.

I do feel like the sweet cravings are lessening by themselves. It has finally sunk in that sugar gives me a headache. Now I just look at a brownie, and before temptation sets in, a little voice tells me, "That will make your head hurt. Not worth it."

It's the beauty of Core for me. I now listen to my body.

Coco

[TenderInside]

It really is funny. I had to make that connection between the way sugar made me feel and ingesting it in order to really be able to stop putting it in me every single day.
And every once in a while I have to "remind" myself by slipping up. last night, I had two frozen cookie dough balls and felt just so lethargic within 10 minutes, I couldn't make it up the stairs. I fell asleep with my knitting in my lap. I'm normally a bedtime routine type, jammies, washed face, moisturizer, hand cream, book, warm milk.... Also I felt like my stomach was full of lead and still felt "off" this morning. And this is how pretty much all baked goods/ candy/ ice cream leaves me feeling every time.

Its just not worth it.

[~sarah~]

I was a major sugar and cafiene addict this time last year. I would drink up to 4 red bulls a day and nothing but diet coke in between. I realized one day that I was always shaking and never slept.

I slowly weaned myself off all of that, but the truth is, I like diet coke. I still go to the drive through on my way to work every morning to pick one up, and in my opinion, there's absolutely NOTHING wrong with that. Weight Watchers and CORE are not about deprivation and giving up the things that we like. As my leader likes to say... if you are planning on having it at goal, you'd better be having it now.

[jt&me109]

~sarah~ said:

if you are planning on having it at goal, you'd better be having it now.

Ooh - I like that. I'm also a recovering sugar addict. Brown sugar lumps and all.

I've found two things that really help curb the sugar cravings and both use SF/FF pudding. Its probably the only artificial sweetener in my diet because I really don't like the taste in other products.

1. Chocolate pudding with bananas. Love this!
2. Fruit salad: vanilla pudding mixed with the juice from a can of pineapple. Add the pineapple, 1 cup grapes, 1 drained can of mandarin oranges, and a banana. The juice is about 2 points for the whole recipe which makes at least 4 good size servings.

I've heard bananas help sugar cravings and since they appear in both my "helpers" maybe its true.

Susie - I think I'm going to have to try your oatmeal with p.butter and chocolate. It sounds heavenly and worth the 2 points.