Sugar Addiction

[gpmed 623]

Hi everyone! I'm pre-surgery and I have a major sugar problem that I'm trying to get under control. I see it as probably my biggest hurdle in conquering my obesity. Would any of you post-surgery people please share your stories about slaying the sugar dragon? How did surgery help you? Did the cravings come back? If so, when and were they as strong as before surgery? Do you eat sugar in moderation now or have you just never picked it back up again? Thank you for any insight you can share!

[KristenVSG2014 1,872]

I've read many times and agree with the statement they do surgery on your stomach, not your brain. Your brain craves sugar (real or artificial) and reacts to it the same way as a drug. I suggest reading the book "It Starts With Food". It is fantastic. I'm 8+ months post op and did Whole30 in June and it was one of the most difficult and fulfilling things I've ever done.

[India928 81]

Krisrpaz.....what is whole30?

[KristenVSG2014 1,872]

Krisrpaz.....what is whole30?

That's a loaded response. It's probably best I give you a link to the website: http://whole30.com/new/

Edited July 20, 2015 by krisrpaz

[mokee 588]

SUGAR!!!! I am almost 3 yrs out. I lost 108 lbs but I am gaining it back because of the evil dragon. I am up 18 lbs and so disgusted. It is because of sweets. It seems every time I eat I want something sweet after. But one bite of sweet and a little is never enough. I need to do away with it entirely. I wish sugar made me ill. If you find a way let me know.

[SlimJill 291]

This was my main concern pre-op and I can say that 10 weeks out - it is not gone, but it is much less! Much, much less!

I don't eat anything that has a lot of sugar. It is the one thing I avoid post-op like the plague.

Carbs - I'll try. Fat - I'll try. But sugar I keep at a distance because I too was a severe sugar addict!

One good thing about detoxing off sugar is eventually your body rejects it. My dad brought home a Protein shake that is different than my usual. It had 44g of sugar instead of 6g my normal one has. I drank half of it and felt like shit. That was about 1 month post-op. So eventually your body does say "Keep that shit away from me".

Cravings... my cravings have really shifted have sugar to salty post-op. I do crave sweet things occasionally but I keep them out of sight, out of mind. I used to be a person who would have a brief thought of McDonalds and then be in my car at 1am getting 10pc mcnuggets, large vanilla shake, 3 choc Cookies, a mcchicken, and some cheese sticks! Now I can turn down ice cream when people offer me! So much more willpower after surgery!!!

I don't know if I will ever have my trigger foods again... it is something I've discussed with my therapist/addiction specialist and she told me that one day I will learn that I can have a treat and trust myself to not go overboard. I don't have that trust yet... but each and every day it builds more. On the same note, our post-op diet is a forever diet. I don't eat perfectly... but no one does all the time. I eat well 90% of the time and 10% of the time I'll have some kind of snack. And I will also add that post-op it is easier for me to get back on track, saying no to food is not a problem anymore. I don't feel powerless to sugar anymore! And it's an amazing feeling!

[gpmed 623]

@@SlimJill That's really encouraging to hear! Was your sugar addiction a big factor in which surgery you chose? Thank you for sharing!

[SlimJill 291]

I wouldn't say sugar played a huge role in which surgery I got... I knew I didn't want the lap-band because the foreign object. Gastric bypass was too expensive and can create new problems for you (or so my surgeon told me at our first consultation). He did say the bypass was the gold standard in WLS but can give you new problems to deal with... So I went with the sleeve ultimately. At my support meetings the nurse has said that people who get bypass experience dumping a lot more, especially with sugar! So chances are you will not be able to tolerate anymore sugar than what naturally occurs in foods like fruits.

Also one thing I forgot to mention was... I think a lot of things are mind over matter. I believed the surgery would save me from my addiction, I believed it would make my cravings go away, I believed it would give me will power. And so it did. So I think your outlook on how things will change is just as powerful as what will actually change!

[LipstickLady 25,682]

Oh, sugar....

I'm a salt person, personally, but I do love chocolate and ice cream and cake and brownies and doughnuts and....

If I give them up cold turkey for 3-4 long azzzzzzzz days, I stop craving them. It's weird but true. I might think about them, but it's containable. If I do give in, the cravings are real for about four or five days.

You have to make up your mind and stop the refined sugar. It sucks, it's hard, it sucks. Once you get over the hump, though, the physical cravings cease, you just have to manage the head cravings. You can do it.

[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

I cut sugar out over like a 3 year period before surgery. The fact I did that and was still fat is one of the reasons I had surgery.

I started giving up sodas diet and regular. I eased into that first with just mexican coca-cola because it uses real sugar and isn't as harsh on my body as HFCS. Then I went to stevia soda. While doing this I increased my coffee and added tea ( I have never been a tea fan). I always consumed a lot of Water every day and I think crystal light is digusting so I was never tempted to go that route. Thing about doing this is, mexican coca-cola can be hard to come across, same with Stevia soda. So this forces you when eating out, to get Water or unsweetened tea. It is a process, doing it slowly is better than going cold turkey.

I like sweets like Cookies and cake. I started making low carb versions. They take a lot of work even the mug versions and special ingredients, so after doing them for some time, I just quit. Laziness can be beneficial sometimes.

All that being said, I chose the sleeve partially because years out, I can have a piece of cake at a party with no icing and not feel left out. I felt like the sleeve gave me the best options for being "normal".

A sugar addiction is a serious addiction, sugar creates reactions in your brain similar to street drugs. It is hard to kick and using a lot of sugar substitutes (especially when most of them are rat poison), just keeps the feelings going, even though it isn't real sugar.

You can keep feeding your sweet tooth with Protein shakes and sugar substitutes but it is going to make it hard to keep the weight off really long term. There are lots of sweet slider foods.

[SlimJill 291]

I agree, studies have shown sugar is be as addictive as cocaine! How else is all of America hooked? Crazy.

My therapist said tapping on your collarbone, or under it releases something that helps regulates cravings (something to do with acupuncture). I haven't tried it yet, but maybe I should.

[Camella 209]

I am two years out. Initially I was unable to tolerate any sugar, then by about six months out I could tolerate a little sugar. I am now once again a full blown sugar addict. The good news is that I can't eat all the sugar I want in one sitting, however it can easily be consumed throughout the day. My best advice is give up sugar when you have the surgery and NEVER touch it again. Honestly, for me it has been a very slippery slope and I have now regained 15 lbs. The surgery will not prevent you from returning to your sugar addiction. Sugar is a toxic substance and we grossly underestimate how addictive it is and what it does to our bodies.

[work2Bskinny 78]

I am 5 weeks post op from sleeve and I loved sweets before surgery....now I don't crave it, but it is still hard taking the kids for Dairy Queen and not having a Blizzard. Instead I have one bite of my daughter's, which is all my stomach will allow me to have before rejecting it, and I go home and have a sugar free Popsicle. I have lost 42 pounds in 6 weeks ( one week pre-op) and hat momentum alone is carrying my choices about food. You won't crave anything after surgery, but you still have to choose to not eat it. The one thing that helps is knowing that the stomach won't tolerate it....no one likes getting sick!

Good luck and know that no matter how hard it might be to say "no thanks" to sugar, the WLS was the best decision I ever made for myself.

[James Marusek 5,244]

I have a sweet tooth and that is one of the reasons why I gained weight over the years before my surgery. As time went on I became diabetic and that can lead to a whole slew of problems.

Fortunately today there is a wide range of options that I can use to control my craving. I am 26 months post op from RNY surgery and I am stable weight-wise in a maintenance mode. I am at the bottom end of the scale. Sugar is a very complex issue, so let me describe the rules that I currently follow. My diabetes went into remission the day I left the hospital and has remains so over these past 26 months and I periodically check my blood sugar levels to validate the approach that I use.

I strictly avoid processed sugar in its many forms. That includes most foods ending in (-ose). That includes sucrose (table sugar), fructose (honey), dextrose (glucose), corn Syrup, corn solids, high fructose corn syrup, cane juice. I look at food labels on the products I buy. I first check the % sugar under the total carbs. If it lists more than 5 grams of sugar, then I look at the ingredients portion of the label. If one of these sugars is among the first 5 ingredients listed, I generally avoid the food. [The manufacturers are required to list the ingredients by the percentage within the product, so the first item listed is the highest percentage of the food in the product, and the second item listed is next in percentage. That is why I focus on the first five ingredients.]

This approach is a holdover from the surgery. After my RNY surgery, the part of my stomach that processed sugars and fats was cut away. If I ate either sugar or fats in high levels, it would immediately cause a bad reaction by my body rejecting it. This is called dumping syndrome. After about the first year, my body evolved and my intestines now begin to perform the functions that my stomach once performed. Therefore, I can eat sugars and fats and absorb it.

I use the following types of sugars: natural sugars (found in fruits and milk), artificial sweeteners (such as Splenda), very low calorie natural sweeteners (such as stevia, and sugar alcohols). These products offer me a wide range of options to control my sweet tooth.

After my first year following surgery, my body can once again process fats and this in my opinion is the key. Fats have the ability to take away hunger and they in my opinion are the key in the maintenance stage. Generally, I will have a cup of coffee in the morning with a large scoop of whip cream. The whip cream is home made and contains no sugar. I use Splenda in its place. Throughout the day, eat a few Adkin's treats. These products are similar to candy bars but contain no processed sugar. They take away the craving because they contain fat and use sugar alcohol as a sweetener. I also consume natural sugars found in fruits in moderation and natural sugars found in milk. I consume whole milk and eat real butter. [This approach is not something you can do right after surgery, you need to wait until your intestines evolve.]

As I say, I periodically validate my approach by monitoring my blood sugar levels. I have informed my nutritionist of my approach and they seem to be fully onboard. [sometimes between you and me I think they are a little bit in awe, because my weight levels are still falling 26 months after surgery.]

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

I am 5 weeks post op from sleeve and I loved sweets before surgery....now I don't crave it, but it is still hard taking the kids for Dairy Queen and not having a Blizzard. Instead I have one bite of my daughter's, which is all my stomach will allow me to have before rejecting it, and I go home and have a sugar free Popsicle. I have lost 42 pounds in 6 weeks ( one week pre-op) and hat momentum alone is carrying my choices about food. You won't crave anything after surgery, but you still have to choose to not eat it. The one thing that helps is knowing that the stomach won't tolerate it....no one likes getting sick!

Good luck and know that no matter how hard it might be to say "no thanks" to sugar, the WLS was the best decision I ever made for myself.

Yeah ... no. That's not true: "You won't crave anything after surgery...."

You're six weeks post-op. You have a lot of territory to cover before predicting accurately what you (or anyone else) will or won't crave.

I do agree with you that WLS was a great decision.