After dieting down to shredded, i had my first bit of sugar in 4 months with an Easter egg, this triggered an insane eating binge, which i am still participating in
I need to kick this sugar, i keep telling myself, tomorrow ill do it. This creates the mindset of eat everything i can because ill be getting rid tomorrow forever, then tomorrow comes and i just repeat
The dopamine release im getting from eating these rich foods is insane
Can Huel be used to kick a sugar addiction or should it be straight keto ?
I realise huel has no added sugar, but it does have sugar, quite a few grams too at the 2300 calories id be using, additionally it contains other sweetners which are also apparently meant to keep you in the addicted to sugar stage from what ive just read.
Just looking for confirmation really ? Huel or keto to kick sugar
I get a big sugar boost when eating sweet foods and then get that âmust have more and then Iâll quit tomorrowâ thought process
I have found that eating Huel for breakfast and lunch and then balanced dinner has helped me stay off bingeing or getting those sugar rushes, as I donât get crashes or cravings after Huel. I have done low carb before also, and I have found Huel to be just as effective at kicking the sugar binge. Just got to have willpower first few days to resist the cravings! Then it gets easy
Although if i came here and said im addicted to cocaine, my gang sell it to me for ÂŁ1 a bag and its 100% pure. You wouldnt advise counselling so much would you ?
Sugar lights up the same pleasure sensors in the brain as cocaine does, and it is 8x more addictive
I appreciate what youre saying though, there is probably a deeper cause. Understand i dont eat like this all the time, this is just the past 3 weeks continually, but i have been known to binge eat in the past but never for this long.
I think i might just fast it out. No food for 2 to 3 days, then start on ⌠? That is what im unsure of, i dont want sugar so is huel a no go, seems though it contains sugar and artificil sweetners ? Am i better off with simple whole foods
Yes, but can you be bothered to make a simple whole meal three times a day?
Huel is extremely low GI, it has a low glycemic load and will not affect you the same way chocolate or any of that crap does.
I wouldnât recommend keto at all unless youâre epileptic. It has its enthusiasts around here but Iâve always seen it as a fad and am not convinced at all.
Just avoid refined sugar, thereâs no added sugar at all in Huel. It has carbohydrates, yes, but these are complex carbs and your body wonât respond the same as it does guzzling a donut or ten.
Iâd be careful making those sorts of links between sugar and cocaine, yes they might light up the same regions and there are similarities. However, there is a reason most people can have sugar on a daily basis and not be âaddictedâ while with cocaine or heroin (which also lights up similar regions) a relatively high percentage become truly addicted physiologically and psychologically addicted. With drugs you can just remove them from your life but with food you are often replacing that food with something else.
Huel contains about 1 and a half teaspoons of sugar for 2300kcal (6.9g depending on flavour) this is tiny and naturally occurring. As @GTIPuG mentioned your issues extend futher than sugar. Even with an easter egg what youâre looking at is sugar + fat + salt to make a highly palatable product.
If you feel you are binging due to consuming one hyper palatable food then you can try not having them in the house. You can try the unflavoured and unsweetened Huel which contains no artificial sweeteners and you can flavour yourself. You can go down the route of savoury flavours such as stock cubes if that works for you or keep it super plain if you want to avoid overeating.
I think artificial sweeteners can be great for some people as they get a sweet taste they can often crave but without the calories, effect on blood sugar and teeth.
Itâs going to be a bit of trial and error to find what works for you. Let us know if we can help in any more ways.
The body really doesnât like having very low fat levels - it prefers to have some âin storeâ.
Not many people have the mental discipline required to maintain a âshreddedâ body. It goes against the bodyâs natural preference.
Iâd suggest this is the cause for your sudden and understandable hunger.
Maybe allow yourself extra calories for a few weeks in the form of good healthy food - but keep tabs on it - decide how much weight you can afford to gain to become more comfortable and calculate from there how many extra calories to consume each day.
You will probably find that even a small calorie surplus will help you a lot. As sugar is an issue, donât allow yourself high sugar foods. Huel is perfect as itâs well balanced and low GI (and for loads of people it seems to get rid of sweet cravings)
If you can, try and watch âThat Sugar Filmâ. It revolutionised how I see food and think about what I put into my body. After watching it the first time, I removed all refined sugar from my diet for over a year.
I do eat refined sugar now, although currently I am using the unsweetened and unflavoured Huel twice a day, and trying not to consume any refined sugar in between as I am on a bit of a health kick.
The likening between sugar addiction and cocaine addiction are really interesting, I have read up on this a lot. When you remove all sugar from your diet, you do go through a withdrawal period, and can feel utterly crap for up to 2 weeks, exhibiting similar symptoms to those who go through drug rehab. My own withdrawal period lasted 4 days, then on day 5 I woke up feeling like a new human. It only got better from then.
The period of time when I didnât eat refined sugar and was only eating whole foods was the healthiest, slimmest and most energetic I have ever been as an adult. My mental clarity and health were also at a high - which is a massive thing for me. However, I slipped back into eating a typical Western diet (albeit vegetarian at that time, and now vegan) - so I fully understand the struggle of omitting sugar from the diet completely.
The reason that âThat Sugar Filmâ is so interesting is because it doesnât look at the effect of sugar from a junk food / sweets and ice-cream point of view. The film focuses on hidden sugars - like in pasta sauce, cereal bars and fruit yoghurts - so itâs really an eye-opener as to what is in the food we buy, even when we are trying to be healthy.
You must be confused, probably because i said how much i eat. But im not some 300lb slob who barely can move. Thats the only reason i can think of why you would say âcan i be bothered to cook three times a dayâ. How lazy do you think I am lol, plus cooking is enjoyable
Yeah i dont agree with keto either, carbs are fine as long as they arent the types which spike blood sugars etc so essentially the opposite of what i eat now
Im going to attempt a cleanse so to speak. A 72 hour fast. Probably a terrible idea but will see how it goes. Then im going to reintroduce whole foods with the complete absence of sugar. Over time i guess ill add in huel due to how much of it i have and hopefully i dont get the sugar cravings back
I didnt just make up the sugar cocaine thing, its a well known and scientifically studied area. Sugar is more addictive than cocaine. I dont believe anyone who consumes a good amount of sugar on a daily basis can not be addicted. They will certainly have cravings and withdrawals if they attempt to cut it out
Hmmmm 7 grams of sugar doesnt sound like a lot to be honest, but still, 0 sounds better but i know i am being extreme
I already have 7 bags of huel here so i will use it, just first i want to go 0 sugar and then introduce huel at a later stage i guess
I believe youre really onto something there with the body doesnt like being at low bodyfat levels.
As i said im going to attempt a fast, fasting is very beneficial, (aware it could backfire) and then eat correctly again
When i was cutting some days i would just have 340grams of huel which is crazy low considering the amount of training i do. But i was ok and the results happened much faster which such an extreme deficit. I didnt maintain such low calories for extended periods, maybe a day or two and then id bump up to 1800 calories which is still around 400 below maintenance. So yeah when i restart i will begin around 2500 calories which is above maintenance but still a huge drop from where im at now, id guess 6/7000 a day. Then slowly i will begin the drop again and hopefully by Mid July i can be back close to how i was prior to the binge
I actually read a book all about sugar and vegetable oil. The two absolute killers for humans, that is partly what spurred on my diet and kicking out all sugars and vegetable oil. It is shocking how prevalent vegetable oil and sugar are in foods. They all have alternate names as well so if you look at the packaging and sugar isnt there and think great no sugar, you can still be wrong, there could be plenty of sugar in it, simply disguised by a different name.
I guess i need to re read it as ive clearly forgotten the message
Thats the book if youre interested, very interesting stuff
Same here I hate cooking and used to eat crap and drink addictive sugary drinks every dam day! Itâs amazing I am not a diabetic ( or even dead ), only thing I had apart from being well over weight was high blood pressure which is thankfully coming down with Huel, weight loss and the gym.
Everyday it was coca cola and energy drinks, after stopping the withdrawal symptoms can be rough going but worth it afterwards. I do like red bull but I know if I have one as a treat I will want another the next day and then the next and your hooked again. Huel 100% even for a short time is good to sort your body out but you got to be strict and fight the urge to binge. I have Bananas in or tins of Tuna ( just my preference ) in case I have urges, no biscuits or crisps in my cupboards as I will scoff the lot in one sitting! Also in my own experience if I binge on crap and/or high Sugar stuff I will do it again in a couple of days as the urges are strong but if I can be strict on 100% Huel for 2 or 3 weeks I have less urges to binge.
