Trouble with sugar addiction..please help!!

[jolie8558]

Hi all,

I am trying to convert my very high raw lifestyle to being completely raw, but I keep having problems with sugar. I am insulin resistant, and unfortunately crave sugar which I know isn't good for me. I've been trying to do a lot of juicing, although the juice bar I go to recommends putting carrot juice in their "blood sugar stabilizer", which I thought was actually bad. I try to get as much greens as I can, but tonight I just had such a craving that I went out and bought a cookie. Is there anything anyone can recommend? There's a supplement that's supposed to help, but I don't know if it actually works. Anyway, thanks in advance!!

Jolie

[Shels]

Fruit!
Make yourself raw treats - they might still be sugar, but they will be natural sugar, and help you transition and break your addictions to your old foods. Just use the banana search here, or google raw desserts and you will find a raw version of just about anything you want.

[Cottonball McFluffy]

Agreed with Shels: don't worry about your fruit, veggies and nuts being high in sugar, just concentrate on eating them raw. I made a whole lot of raw cookie dough in the first few weeks but I never felt deprived of "regular" treats since I was full and having sweets whenever I wanted. And the sweets were good for me, which is always a huge bonus. :D

[rawmom2006]

Hi
sorry to hear about your sugar addiction. I had that when I use to eat cooked food. I am fine now but what does help is a short fast even if you could do a short water fast it helps the cravings. If you do not feel comfortable doing a fast then just up the greens.
It does suck having sugar problems. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[AllergyGirl]

I am also insulin resistant. When I first went raw, I tried to eat raw desserts whenever I was craving something sweet, and it was usually chocolate banana ice cream, berry jumble upside down cake, or RP raw brownies. After a few weeks or a couple of months (I can't remember how long exactly), my sugar cravings gradually disappeared, and I seldom eat the raw desserts now. I just prefer to have a bowl of fresh fruit, rather than a sweet dessert.

I hope that helps. :)

[SevenKindsOfCookie]

I agree with the others. Make raw desserts and snacks. Most of them are very quick and easy to make. Pretty much a matter of throwing a bunch of ingredients in a food processor and form the dough into balls, bars, cookies or cakes. There are of course more advanced recipes, but when you got the cravings and there's nothing already made, it's good to have a few quick recipes to go to.

Also, green smoothies with fruit or simply eating whole fruits works great.

But i'd recommend that you don't drink sugary juices on a regular basis. The sugar might be natural but once the fiber has been removed it hits the body much harder than if you would eat the produce whole or in smoothies.
A green juice with an apple or a couple of carrots should be fine though. It will still be pretty low glycemic.

[CosimaMoon]

Apparently I'm the odd one out here...to get rid of my sugar cravings, I just have to stop eating sugar--period. If I replace cooked sugar with raw sugars from fruits and raw desserts, well, then I'm still addicted to sugar, it's just raw sugar. I'm very sensitive to sugar and it ALWAYS makes me feel terrible, whether cooked or raw, so I just had to go cold turkey off it.

Not sure if that'll help you since everyone else seems to have success with eating raw sugars, but I thought I'd put my 2 cents in :)

[RawKnitster]

Apparently I'm the odd one out here...to get rid of my sugar cravings, I just have to stop eating sugar--period. If I replace cooked sugar with raw sugars from fruits and raw desserts, well, then I'm still addicted to sugar, it's just raw sugar. I'm very sensitive to sugar and it ALWAYS makes me feel terrible, whether cooked or raw, so I just had to go cold turkey off it.

Not sure if that'll help you since everyone else seems to have success with eating raw sugars, but I thought I'd put my 2 cents in :)

You are not the only odd one out. :) I appreciate that raw treats helped me stay on a raw diet, but the candida flourished and I get mild hypoglycemia a few hours after having fruit. To make it worse, candida increases the cravings for sugar. I'm determined to get rid of both problems and have stopped eating all sugar, including fruit. Today was sugarless day 6. I haven't missed it as much as I thought I would. It feels good to in control.

[CosimaMoon]

You are not the only odd one out. :) I appreciate that raw treats helped me stay on a raw diet, but the candida flourished and I get mild hypoglycemia a few hours after having fruit. To make it worse, candida increases the cravings for sugar. I'm determined to get rid of both problems and have stopped eating all sugar, including fruit. Today was sugarless day 6. I haven't missed it as much as I thought I would. It feels good to in control.

Wow, that's great that it's working out so well for you! I hope things continue to go smoothly forward. And I'm glad I'm not the only one who has to cut those kind of treats out. A very occasional raw dessert is ok, but otherwise I have to stay away from them. I realized that's what made me stop being raw before, because I ate all those treats and I gained weight, which doesn't happen on my normal cooked diet. Good luck to all of us!

[Raw Angel Mom]

Vanilla/Cinamon for some reason has the proprety combined together to help to cool down sugar craving.

Try this recipe

1/4 cup of chia seed
3/4 cup of water
1 tea spoon of cinamon
1 tea spoon of vanilla extract (no alchol)
1/4 cup of mix golden beries/goji berries/raisin
Juice of a small lemon
1 medium banana slice thinely (not too ripe but a nice yellow)

In a boll, add chia see, berries, lemon, cinamon and vanilla. Add the water. When start to thicken (will do this quite fast), add banana and lemon juice. Mix gently. If need more water, you can add a little.

Chill in the refrigirator and enjoy. It has an oatmeal texture and this is very nourishing and delicious.