Sugarholics Anonymous

My name's Paul and I'm a sugarholic. I've come to sugarholics anonymous today because as I get back into my diet after my holiday I've noticed that I'm craving sweet items. I can normally take or leave chocolate and cakes. My sugar intake on holiday was a lot higher than usual, mainly due to the delicious cakes in the French patisseries. I'm now convinced that sugar and carbohydrates in general are actually addictive.

I noticed this first when I did the Atkins diet years back. On that diet your daily carbohydrate limit is so low that chocolate and sweets are effectively banned. When I first started the Atkins I went through a carb cold turkey, as I stopped the carbs I craved them more and more until one day the craving just went.

When you get your carb fix, you feel full up and your blood sugar peaks. It seems to me that when your blood sugar level starts to drop (the come down) you start craving more carbs again (another fix) to recapture that high. I noticed that high-carb breakfast cereals that are meant to keep your hunger locked up until lunch didn't, and I started craving carbs and getting hunger pangs by mid-morning. Avoiding carbs at breakfast stopped this and made it easier to avoid carb-rich snacks throughout the day.

I'm not saying avoid all carbs, as a balanced diet should have them, I'm saying avoid high-carb foods, go cold turkey. No biscuits, chocolate, sugar, high-carb breakfasts (try protein) etc Try it for a few days and wonder at how you suddenly stop craving them and regain control over your eating habits.

I'm going cold-turkey now, I see carbs wherever I look. My boss's face is a chocolate chip cookie, as oppose to the punch-bag I usually see it as, my mouse is now a cheesecake slice, and my keyboard a dairy milk slab. That is my story, with your help I'll get through this. Thank you for listening.