I know this sounds dumb/sad, but I can't connect the bad effects of sweets (I'm talking about baked goods like cherry pie and cookies) in my mind before I shove those darn things down my throat!

I've always been a major sucker for sugar. I'm addicted and often I don't feel my day is complete unless I end it with some sort of dessert. A lot of times, I feel I have to have a dessert with every meal. This is bad.

I need help.

It's easier for me to see how meat is bad for me. I get grossed out thinking about the killed animal when I see the cooked flesh. This is how I can manage to avoid meat. I have the same reaction to dairy products. I can also even easily avoid cooked veggies. Seeing leaves welt and carrots turn limp makes it clear that something isn't right.

But for some reason, I have a hard time seeing the bad in desserts. If I have too many, then yeah, I feel sick and that's a clear indication that they are unhealthy. But when I see a cookie or pie, I just think of the awesome taste and associate it with happiness and pleasure.

I desperately want to cut back on my processed sugar. I am expecting people to first suggest alternating SAD desserts with a piece of fruit, but that's not exactly the advice I'm looking for. I want suggestions on ways to look negatively at cookies, candy, cakes, ice cream, etc. Maybe some of you can share what goes through your mind when you see stuff like that and how you manage to avoid desserts.

All responses will be greatly appreciated. I've been struggling with this for some time now.

[www.worldwidehealthcenter.net]

Perhaps you just need an alternative to sugar. When I visit Whole Foods Market at least half the time I come away with one of their lemon sugar cookies!

I absolutely swear by "Stevia Plus!". Stevia is 30x sweeter than sugar, it's origin is a natural plant in Paraguay, it is safe for diabetics because it helps regulate the blood sugar and it's used as a primary sweetner for colas in Asia instead of the corn syrup used here. Stevia is marketed as an additive and/or supplement in the US because the sugar lobbyists would freak if it was a real alternative -- but Stevia is gaining ground fast and I expect it will be more mainstream soon.

I buy the 100 count box and often have the packets with me when I'm out. I add it to iced tea, to hot tea and during winter when I'm jonesing for something hot and sweet, I'll steam carrots and add a tblsp of coconut oil and 1 pack of stevia...some of the best glazed carrots ever!

So yes...as you wean off of things, you can still have your sweet tooth -- just pick the right sweetner!

~raine~

I hear ya!!! It is indeed a challenge. I'm making a RAW apple pie today... it is soooo gooooood!
For me, I know that the refined processed sugars are a deadly poison that zap my nutrients and energy. I've trained my self to just say "NO" and walk away. I've substituted making raw desserts which mostly use dates as the sweetner. I think if you start making the raw desserts you'll find that the cooked or store bought versions just aren't very appealing any longer. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

Oh, I have a suggestion. Iv'e never been completely raw vegan for more than a few days at a time. Otherwise I ate fairly well but cooked veagn and allowed myself sweets if they had no dairy.
I have dysautonmia which I know is from a fungal overgrowth. I just read Dr Cousen's book, "Rainbow Green" and that alarmed me big time especially since sugar is the biggest contributing factor to a state of toxicity that MANY people have today. Awareness is a big help to me. Once you know, it motivates you. Especially when you are sick. I read it and it dawned on me how vunerable I am making my body to any disease or sickness. It's sad that one can eat mostly well and slack here and there and your body still be overun by such a monster like fungus. I want to be well and that's what is helping me.
I'm only in phase one of the diet but I can't even eat fruit! I'll be reminding myself of the microscope pics I saw in his book and then I'll picture myself actually running around the block without having a huge anxiety attack from the dysautonomia.Hope you can do this. At least you can eat all those wonderful raw sweets. There's plenty of yummy stuff.

You hit the nail on the head. You associate the sweets with pleasure, happiness, love ect........ Try this. I also loved sweets and took pleasure in how they made me feel. Until I got breast cancer last year! I was 38 years old.
No history in family of breast cancer.

I am cancer free today but I had surgery,chemo and radition. I have educated myself and guess what cancer cells love? SUGER! They thrive off it.

I am not saying if you eat sweets you will get cancer but it certainly adds to the risk factor. Then once you have the sickness it is very important you stop All sweets. Just because it looks good, taste good does not mean it is good for you. Hope this helps.

Opinion:

-The fact that you are asking means you have SOME idea! Ha! ha!

-Refined, processed, simple carbohydrates spike the blood sugar, cause highs and then crashes....and lead to eventual insulin resistance and adult-onset diabetes (or not so adult onset....LOL). Those 'crashes' are the resultant highs will eventually mellow...into an energy you can control.

-David Mason

u wanna see the bad in sweets?
okay
here you go then:
sweets are bad
there

do u see it?
okay, maybe not
then here is another one:
sweets are good

do u feel the resistance?
then, that my thar be better

okay, maybe worthless advice

then here you go:

there is nothing sweet about sweets
beneath its coy gaze
lies a threatening saber toothed gaze
ready to pounce
out from a cherry pie
and knock the pituitary gland
right out o yer brain!


awriggght?
do we get the pic now?

baaaaaaaaaaaaaad cherry pie

gooooooooooooood kale salad

baaaaaaaaaaaaad raspberry cookie

gooooooooooood celery stix

heh heh...

Would you consider getting yourself a big dose of sweet crisp cherries? Or, a huge handful of delicious raspberries? Guilt free "mmm".

Gosia


RawGosia channel
RawGosia streams



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/2006 12:17AM by rawgosia.

I agree with rawgosia

i crave sweet too
mine is always granola though
(when its not watermelon)
but granola, cherry pie
same thing - sugar

i see acid
first the teeth
then the rest
eroding,
furtherdread
the high is gone
the chemical remains
like a drug
i NEED more

of what actually failed
to fill that deep hole
in the first place
sweetness
love

Eating sugar causes the pancreas to release insulin - with the amount of sugar in desserts, this causes a massive release of insulin.... right after you eat dessert you feel great, high, happy, because of the spike in your blood sugar - but what goes up must come down, right? So then shortly afterward you don't feel so happy anymore, your blood sugar plummets, brain feels fuzzy, you crave something but you're not sure what... your body is jonesing for another sugar fix.... it's the cycle of addiction, and it causes the pancreas to work overtime to create enough insulin to match the massive quantities of sugar being poured into the body. Eventually the pancreas can get burned out & just can't do it anymore, which is what we call Adult-onset diabetes.

and what goes down must go up as well
so even if yer going through sugar withdrawals
don't worry
cuz you'll go "up"
sooner or later
cuz you'll even out
and feel much better

All of your replies were great. I've tried to make use of a lot of the things said here.

I guess I just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone.

As easy as people want to make dieting seem, messing with your food intake and kicking bad habits (and addictions) is so hard to do.

who said anything worthwhile was easy?
the only thing that is easy to get is that
4000X Sabola Corolla from the MIghty Max chrome factory

I can't make anyone see the bad in sweets, but I can tell you I see the bad in sweets. I can just feel it getting stuck in my esophagus once again (no joke it would) and then I go eat a nice honeydew. Feels good going down the ol' pipe.

A wonderful way to satisfy a sweet tooth is with frozen
medjool dates (tastes just like caramel) or banana
ice cream. Just peel lots of bananas, cut them in slices,
freeze in freezer bags, and whenever the craving comes
just blend this in the cuisinart of blender. You can
add vanilla bean for a deeper sweetness. Fresh ginger
and key lime juice is amazing in this! If you don't like
the taste of bananas, frozen raspberries mask the taste
very well. If you don't have time to freeze the bananas,
keep a bag of frozen berries in the freezer. Then you
can blend room temperature bananas with the frozen berries
and it creates a kind of mousse or semi-freddo. What I
like about this is it's the texture of ice cream without
the lead-in-the-stomach feeling that ice cream always gave
as an after-effect. You can eat it for breakfast too!
When blending the frozen banana pieces, let them thaw a
few minutes and also add a few spoons of water to facilite
blending.

thinking about sweets hurts my teeth...

that's sweet

but I like APPLES!