I need some help cleaning up my diet, which I think is my greatest performance limiter.
I have a sugar addition. Seriously, it’s a real addition, harder to kick than nicotine for me. Sometimes I’ll go a few days and clean things up, but then I’ll crack one day (usually under stress) and binge. I feel powerless. It usually just starts with “oh, I’ll just treat myself to one square of chocolate” after lunch. Next think you know, I’ve scarfed two entire candy bars and then eat half a pint of ice cream when I get home in defeat – if I’m going to." There are many drug addicts and alcoholics in my family… some deceased, some recovered, some somewhere in between. The pattern of behavior is very similar, just substitute sugary foods for alcohol/pills/etc.
I’m blessed with a great metabolism, so I’m lean – not “ripped” but chiseled enough that my wife gets jealous of the positive attention if we’re sitting by the pool. But I know that eating as much sugary crap as I do throughout the day is not healthy. It interferes with my moods, energy levels, and I suspect performance. Since getting into triathlons a couple years ago, it seems like the sugar addition has gotten worse, perhaps because I can get away with eating even more.
Are there other people who have suffered with eating additions here. How did you eventually kick it? I’m open to anything, books, support groups, online CBT programs. I just don’t have time to see a therapist face to face – maybe as a last resort. But I do need help.
It would be easy to say “dude, just toughen up and be disciplined and quit cold turkey” but it’s harder than that, as anyone who has struggled with real additions knows.
I have no experience myself, but I know there are 12-step programs for eating disorders. Eating Disorders Anonymous is one that I’ve heard good things about, via friends who are therapists. It’s not just anorexics, as you might think, but for any kind of disordered eating. http://eatingdisordersanonymous.org/
Step 1 is recognize that you have a limited amount of will power in any given day. So make sure you have healthier options. I personally chose gum to cut the cookie/candy habit that my office facilitated.
Waiting until you’re hungry and then trying to resist the sugar is a recipe for failure.
Step 2 is to give yourself a break. Have a treat once a week or some other time. Maybe after a long workout? My personal vice was ice-cream. I just made a rule of sorts that said I needed to accumulate 4 hours of training to “earn” the treat. I’m cautious giving this advice because I hate the idea of “earning” food. But I don’t think of Ice-cream as “food.”
Side note: I do the same time rule with alcohol. Also not a “food”
I’m in a similar boat and notorious for housing a pint of ice cream in one sitting (usually unintentionally).
My suggestion is to get rid of all the sugary crap from your house/work that you can. If you don’t have immediate access to it, you are less likely to eat it. Also take a look at what your diet. I know my cravings for sugar happen when I’m carb-depleted. I also try to eat fruit if a craving comes on.
I’ve been reflecting on the same exact thing as my only addiction in life is sugar - chocolate and ice cream (covered in chocolate) top the list. I use it to boost my training and alertness. Or when I’ve had a bad day I’ll go through a large chocolate bar. I’ve got no doubts it affects my moods and energy levels.
Several things he’s right about I think - such as if you’re a habitual snacker (I am), that’s never going to change, so it’s a matter of substituting for healthier options. I also used to make my own snacks (protein balls, etc) which can help control the amount of sugar in your food. Otherwise I’ve been shopping in the health food section and always check the ingredient list. I’ll have chocolate but go organic and dark. I also leave nuts and fruit at my desk, and have changed my palate to eat less sweet (I only buy dark chocolate now, and choose yoghurt with no added sugar). I’ve completely cut sugary drinks out except for the occasional indulge. Also I try to be very conscious about limiting biscuits, cookies, ice cream etc. to one (ok sometimes two) a day. And will guilt myself if I eat more.
I’m really frightened about developing diabetes and that’s what’s driven me. Also, the more sweets I eat the bigger my sugar gut becomes. Those are the two factors driving me. I’ve got no doubts I was born with a sweet tooth and it’s something I can never change. It’s a work in progress for me. I can understand how difficult it is to kick a sugar addiction, I don’t think it’s possible so for me, have found substitutes instead.
You don’t have a sugar addiction. You have a sugar and fat addiction. Both the examples you mentioned, chocolate and ice cream, typically have more calories from fat than from sugar. A Dunkin “sugar donut” has more calories from fat than from carbs. Pretty much all super-desirable foods like that have about 1:1 fat:carbs, as does breastmilk btw, it’s what our bodies naturally crave to get and store the most energy for the least work.
Loved my sugar - until I found out my itching/pruritus - was caused by sugar and a developing fatty liver. With that motivation, I stopped coca-cola and sugars cold turkey.
Don’t think that it’s easy to do unless your highly motivated. Sugar is in nearly all processed foods and sweet drinks. Good luck with your motivation. Wish I had stopped years ago.
You may be replying to me as I mentioned chocolate and ice cream specifically. No I don’t consider it to be a fat addiction because I don’t crave greasy fatty foods or things like donuts or anything saturated in fat and oil. That actually grosses me out and if I consume too much of it, makes me sick. Definitely impacts my training and makes me sluggish. Sugar - I consume daily and a lot of.
Wintershade - which items of food do you specifically crave? Maybe we can offer tips and substitutes to you? As mentioned, sugar is in almost everything - whether it’s processed or naturally occurring - so I think it’ll be a very difficult task to cut out completely (not impossible but in my own experience I’ve struggled and realised life is too short and sweet)
PM - because this is all I will say publicly. The endurance world is the LAST place to get helpful advice on sugar addiction. It is saturated in it. Running, triathlon, cycling especially. There are plenty of high functioning athletes that follow the conventional high-carb sugar based fueling model and stay lean and go fast, and they will swear up and down all day long that because they are in the 20% of the population that has no metabolic issues with that model, then well damn it, the rest of you lazy bastards just need to count calories and do what they do. Meanwhile, the evidence is clear that a vast majority of Westerners, especially Americans, cannot function that way. So I try to avoid even getting into the conversation here, because I have had enough people lecture me about how my brain needs carbs, fuel for performance…etc…etc…etc…
PM me - I can’t advise you for shit on being at the pointy end of racing, or being faster on different fueling. But if you’re serious about the addiction word, so am I, and that’s far more life changing than speed in a sport.
Get camping stuff together for a full 3 day weekend, no sugary foods. Have somebody drop you off at a campground or remote wilderness and no car. Learn to survive with no sugary crap.
Funny, I’m now 10 days clean of artificial sweeteners and I couldn’t really have done it without sugar. Granted this isn’t a lot of sugar, just really enough to lightly flavor my coffee and a few low calorie drinks.
I used to be in the same boat you were, I ate at least 1 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup a day for years…it just called to me. Then it was Hershey’s Cookie’s and Cream, and Birthday Cake Pops. Ultimately I replaced it by ‘banning’ it and being lenient and replacing it with something not quite as bad but satisfying. You can’t wean off it, you have to go cold turkey on the items you want to quit, but only focus on that; eat like a pig, etc. Its a big enough stressor you don’t need other things complicating it.
You may be replying to me as I mentioned chocolate and ice cream specifically. No I don’t consider it to be a fat addiction because I don’t crave greasy fatty foods or things like donuts or anything saturated in fat and oil.
You mentioned chocolate and ice cream, which are high fat foods. Like that article says, it’s usually the combo of fat and sugar that is tempting. Most people don’t sit and binge on a bag of granulated sugar.
See the table below. Don’t really endorse this guy’s Autumnal Don’t Eat for Winter gimmick, but he points out that the food that our bodies, or a squirrel’s body, craves to fatten us up and store energy are pretty consistently in similar ranges of fat to carbs.
I can relate, I’m very fit and generally healthy, but got a good performance boost from reducing my sugar intake recently. I’ve been listening to this hypnosis/meditation video for a few weeks. Know it sounds a little whacky but can’t possible hurt right?
You may be replying to me as I mentioned chocolate and ice cream specifically. No I don’t consider it to be a fat addiction because I don’t crave greasy fatty foods or things like donuts or anything saturated in fat and oil.
You mentioned chocolate and ice cream, which are high fat foods. Like that article says, it’s usually the combo of fat and sugar that is tempting. Most people don’t sit and binge on a bag of granulated sugar.
See the table below. Don’t really endorse this guy’s Autumnal Don’t Eat for Winter gimmick, but he points out that the food that our bodies, or a squirrel’s body, craves to fatten us up and store energy are pretty consistently in similar ranges of fat to carbs.
Hmmm we may have to agree to disagree about the fat addiction but I can definitely confirm that when it’s cold, I’m like a squirrel and will just start smashing anything down, not only sugar. It doesn’t help the sugar (or fat) gut but at least I’m more buoyant in the water and very cuddly, like a squirrel.
Chocolate is the easy one. Go for 85% dark chocolate. I think it’s actually good for you. I’ll eat that every single day of my life without fail, ever. But i never eat normal chocolate bars anymore as they are a rubbish flavour by comparison and they are just sugary crap instead of lovely dark chocolate. mmmm.
