I have been doing this WOE for over seven weeks now.

My confession: I have fallen off the sugar wagon just about every couple of days, after week four. It seems my cravings are strong, even if they are just mental.

So, I get back up (cause I feel terrible) and I go on...

I just don't know why after a nearly perfect four weeks, the sugar monster came back and demanded my attention. And I listened and got, of all things ICE CREAM. Three different times over the last 3 weeks.

I think it may have somewhat to do with wedding stress (not mine but I'm the Maid of Honor next Sunday), and not having lost a single pound.

Can anyone help with understanding these cravings? Am I alone in my weakness?

Love and light to all!

Try upping your carbs a little. Since I've raised mine, I haven't had a sugar craving in 2 weeks.

I have had the same experience - I've been doing SPII since February and the longest I have gone without sugar is four weeks. I see my day-to-day choices and behaviors with food as related to what is going on with me emotionally. I know that biochemistry is related, but it is not the only thing going on.

I know that I am changing a life-long pattern of eating and relating to food. So I am looking for ways to continually support myself in making this change. We have a calendar in our kitchen and I recently decided to mark each day that I ate in a balanced way - which for me means no binging, no sugar, following SPII's moderate guidelines with each meal - at the end of the day I use a marker to make a big red heart on the day. It has helped me get a visual picture of how I am doing building a more consistent pattern of behavior with food, and I see it and reminded of it myriad times a day as it is right at the entrance to my kitchen.

None of Dr. S's works, that I have seen, address the emotional reasons why we overeat or eat poorly, which is in my opinion, integral to healing physically, losing the weight and the leaving behind for good the behaviors that created the weight. I recently came across an article about a way of changing eating habits like mine. It was based on a program called The Solution. You don't have to buy the program to benefit from the premise - we over eat or over-indulge in anything, not just food, because we have not yet internalized self-comfort behaviors and self-discipline behaviors. The program teaches people to change their behaviors and thoughts through mindfulness and reflection by asking yourself when the urge to eat something you know your body doesn't need: 1) How do I feel? and 2) What do I need? These questions are meant to prompt one to look at the feelings underneath the restlessness or anxiety that one looks to food to assuage. The questions are also meant to elicit a sense of nurturing and compassion toward oneself. Whatever the situation is in which the inderlying feelings of #1 are, follow with 3) Are my expectations (of myself, the situation, whateever is bothering me) reasonable? and 4) Is my thinking positive and powerful? The last two questions are meant to get one to act as the adult that we are, to take "right action" and set limits for ourselves.

I've found this process helpful, if only to interrupt a thought about eating and refocus myself on what my real needs are. I don't think the cravings are a weakness - the cravings clearly show me where and when I need something, only food is not the answer! Emotional stuff has come up for me when I have decided not eat in response to a craving - feelings I would have otherwise stuffed down and either not become aware of or not been able to let go. There is a reason why I have felt heavy - and its not the food.

Keep going - every day, every moment is an opportunity to extend unconditional love to ourselves - no matter what, you are deserving of that.

Kristy

I may not be able to understand exactly where you all are coming from because I'm a guy, but I know other people who struggle with giving up sugar for good. Once my wife and I decided to give up sugar, we would still have something sugary every now and then, but it became easier and easier to NOT want it. Pretty soon we felt nasty eating it and no longer did it seem like something to desire.

If you are someone who is missing the SWEET factor, I seriously recommend picking up some stevia. My wife and I use the extract, the green powder (organic), and whole shredded leaves (for herbal teas). We have found that we can make everything we like using stevia. For those things that don't cook well with stevia, we use organic brown rice syrup. The only bummer there is that the syrup still adds lots of carbohydrates, where stevia doesn't. Let me know if you need tips on where to buy this stuff. But, for us, it's easy to not desire sugar when our stevia goods taste so good. Really, sugar just sounds nasty now.

I think part of the mental issue with sugar compared to other foods, like vegetables, is that the sweet sensation--especially that of sugar--is more instantly gratifying than anything else. It can be a discipline to force oneself to appreciate the subtle nuances of other foods. But eventually those foods don't seem so bland. Vegetables start to taste GOOD and have really neat flavors that I would have never noticed back in my sugar days. My wife agrees. So does my buddy who was an ex-sugar addict.

All this to say, there are good sweet alternatives (that aren't bad for you) and that it will only become easier, but yes, it does seem to require an element of discipline because of the instant gratification aspect.

Sorry if none of this helped anything.

--Timothy

One thing that really helped me kick the sugar habit is reading Fit for Good by Pescatore. He talks specifically about emotional eating plus divides his LC diet suggestions by age and gender. The mind-body connection pieces really helped me nail down when/why I want sugar and gave me some help battling those emotional times. While I think his particular diet is too much into measuring everything (not my style) he has great inspiration and recipes too. Like Timothy, I find that a substitute will work when "will-power" fails