The KInd Life Community Forum

Hello! :) I'm almost to my 5th month of being vegan, but I'm still having one big issue with sugar. I really want to do the superhero diet...I'm even pretty much obligated to do it because I'm on a budget, but whenever I taste something sugary, I can't stop! Then I feel really bad about myself. I'm not overweight or gaining weight, but I want to ditch sugar to better my health, and I feel really defeated when I eat it. This whole past week has been bad--I caught an awful bug from some of the kids I work with (fever, sore throat, lightheadedness, nausea, the works) and I wasn't energetic enough to cook, so I subsisted on watery millet, leftover thumbprint cookies, and ginger kuzu tea for a few days, which was fine since I couldn't taste or stomach much. Anyway, my doctor prescribed an antibiotic which I didn't want to take, but I don't have the time or the money to take sick days from work, and the last thing I want to do is infect kids at the daycare, so I took it. Well, I feel better, but I've been eating so badly since then: macaroni with "cheeze" sauce, thumbprint cookies (the ones on this website), crackers with tofutti cream cheese, rice dream ice cream, chocolate, just to name a few. Been eating some veggies but no green ones (lots of carrots, rutabaga, apples, cabbage). I go through these bouts of craving sugar every few weeks, and then I give in, and it's torturous to give up again! The "sugar" is mostly agave, maple syrup and cane juice, but it's still sugar and it still makes me feel hyped up. How do you guys find a happy medium with sugar? How do you avoid it when your stressed? I know Alicia says to have dessert a few times a week, but I feel as if I need dessert once a day, in addition to maybe 2 pieces of fruit. How do you do it? Tips please? I want to be done with sugar once and for all! :) Thanks guys.

This exact thing happens to me! I feel so much better not eating the sugar, then I have something sugar based and WHAM! I'm like an addict. I think I can have just a little...but that always turns into a week worth of over indulging. I need help with this too Evie!

I have the same problem and like you, once a sugar binge begins it can last for a LONG time! The only way for me to get over it is to "detox" my house. I have to get rid of all of the trigger foods until I can get it under control. No baked goods or snacks that will get me started. It is a pain, but it works. It doesn't have to be drastic either (don't throw good food away!). As you use them up, don't replace them. Good luck!

You are such a giver, Evie, and I hear your pain, girl! :) It must be so hard to "go straight" when you're doing baking and such for others!

I'm telling you guys I shouted a hallelujah when I saw Evie had posted this, this is the EXACT perfect spin on the perfect storm, the perfect conundrum. I feel like Maria in "West Side Story" : "It's not us, it's everything around us!" Yes, I TRY my damndest to keep my house "safe", and I'm really blessed - and cursed - that I'm on my own. No kids or hubby with sweet tooths, etc.

But lemme tell you, I work with all women, and the sweet stuff shows up, or the complex carbs, and SHAZAM, I'm in the fight of my ever-lovin' life. And I know, I hear Alicia's voice - GO SUPERHERO, STAT!! But the catch is that it's waaaaay hard to reconcile veggies for b'fast when you're in the throes of sweet cravings - especially when it's tough even in my strongest of times.

This is a REALLY powerful problem, sugars are literally addictive and over-rev our bodies and I wanna do the right thing 100% of the time! The good part is that we hear over and over again how once you DO break free and hit the superhero trail, those very cravings are supposed to subside.

I really must say, though, that since I've been more and more vegan - and not all with the processed stuff - I'm finding I'm able to stop the madness more than ever before, and for longer periods of time between craving battles.

Lindsay....you just don't eat anything with sugar? Do the cravings go away? I get almost sick feeling when I try to clean up my diet which may be more emotional than physical, but there is a physical attachment to the sweets! Does it really get better if you just don't have any?