My experience is much like solarmom's. When a dinner guest brought over 85% chocolate for dessert (she thought it would be OK for a low-carber), I felt a long-dormant part of me drool and heard it give an evil chuckle. We all ate part of the first bar for dessert, but that second bar — my preciousssssss — was mine, ALL MINE. It didn't last through the second day, and I went through withdrawal for the next two days.
So, I have to put myself in the "sugar is poison" camp.

But the problem is larger for me. Although the sugar cravings are quiet when they're not provoked, emotional eating, especially when I'm tired, is still a problem. This week for example ate 10-15 Tbs. of almond butter without pausing — three times. So, I won't be buying that again.

Cold turkey for all forms of sugar and starch, including all alcohol and all fruit, for the first 6 weeks. There was no other way for me to break the sugar addiction. After 6 weeks I experimented with how much wine, berries, and 90% chocolate I could tolerate without inducing cravings and weight gain. The answer was not very much! I've over-done it with the wine and chocolate a few times in the past year and had to go cold turkey again immediately.

It's great that you want to be a better parent. I think you should go for it, and don't let the way you and your husband eat influence the way you treat her. If you were sitting chugging back alcohol and smoking, you'd not give those to her.. Perhaps you could view sugar the same way. The two of you can eat sugar or poisonous artificial sweeteners every day, but you don't need to give them to her. You can explain properly to her that it is addictive and poisonous, and that you are hooked and it has caused you to be overweight and miserable all your life. As a result, you want better for her, and so you want her making healthier choices and avoiding sugar which will ruin her metabolism and spoil her teeth. That way, she understands that you are doing it because you care. I'm not saying that she can't occasionally enjoy something sweet, but that at her age, she shouldn't be allowed free access to sugary stuff, and you can control how much of it she gets at home. Even better would be if you could just not have stuff like that in the house, if your husband would agree to it.

I don't have children myself, but my parents were quite strict about our sugar intake. Here's what they did:

My mother was always telling us that sugar is a poison, and my parents strictly monitored the amount of sugar/junk food we consumed. Chocolate, crisps (chips), ice cream and fizzy juice were simply never kept in the house. They were occasional treats, bought specially and shared - one small bar of chocolate would be shared between six of us over two evenings - one piece each. We'd all share an occasional small bottle of pop, sometimes made into ice-cream sodas - there was usually some left, but we were not allowed to help ourselves to it. A choc ice or one scoop ice-cream cone was a special summer evening treat, but if we wanted a nougat wafer or a chocolate flake in the cone, that was fine too - it just wasn't assumed that we'd want the larger or more fattening choice. At Christmas and Easter, my mother would keep any sugary gifts, and allow us a moderate amount every day, at the end of a meal, like a dessert, until they were finished. She baked sweet things as occasional treats, but any desserts were fruit/dairy based, such as fruit crumble with milk, stewed rhubarb with custard made with very little sugar, fruit and/or live yoghurt. My mum did buy biscuits (cookies) but they were kept out of our reach, and by the time we were old enough to reach them, we kinda knew the rules, as far as when/how many were acceptable. Also, it was only plainish biscuits(cookies) which were stored there. The chocolate biscuits were hidden by my mother, and still are - my boyfriend found them one time we were visiting recently, lol. Even when I was going to a party, before I left, my mother would tell me that before I ate the cakes, I had to eat a sandwich. This, coupled with the way I had been taught to politely eat, usually mean that the other children would have guzzled the best cakes and left the table while I was still finishing my sandwich, lol.

My mother read all the food labels, and explained from when we were tiny that sugar was a poison, and which foods were healthier. We weren't given pocket money to spend on what we wanted - we explained what we wanted to buy, and were given the amount requested. The only thing that was denied was sweets: I was sometimes allowed them, but other times, my mother would explain it was near a mealtime, or suggest a healthier snack from the fridge. I never felt deprived by her saying that, and I never resented it. It felt like care to me. Often you do want something sugary if your blood sugar has fallen a bit low, but having a wholemeal cheese sandwich or a wholemeal biscuit with peanut butter is a far healthier option.

A friend of mine who was obese was allowed any money she asked for, without explaining what it was for, so she'd buy pop, chocolate and anything else she fancied in large quantities every day. Although the sight of all the fizzy juice and sweets in her bedroom was like untold riches to my eyes, at a vague level, even though I was only about 8 or 9 at the time, I realised that although her parents meant to be kind, it seemed to be a form of laziness.. They'd be sitting watching the TV, and she could get a large money bill from them on request immediately, to spend on whatever she wanted - she never had to explain what it was for. My parents had little spare money, but dad built a caravan to take us on holidays, he built a swing in the garden, he'd play with me, allow me to "help" him in the garage workshop. As a family, we went on picnics, swimming, skating, go-carting, walking, evening quizzes at home, and much more, mostly organised by my dad. The quality time we shared together are really precious memories. He wasn't perfect, by any means, but for me at least, he was the perfect parent, because he always made me feel loved, he always had a smile, joke and a wink, and he always gave me hugs and attention. Even the occasional sweets he'd bring home in his pocket were extra-special, because he'd hide them, and drop hints, with his face lit up with pleasure at the sight of our excitement - jumping up and down and running to find them - a small 4oz bag to be shared between the family.

Your daughter is only six, and the world has changed now. There is a lot more social pressure on obese teens, and some develop eating disorders and anorexia.

I hope maybe my description of my parents' style might give you some ideas. I also hope that you won't feel patronised.. but I always feel I can learn different things from other people's lives. I watch a lot of reality TV shows to try to develop myself and learn from other people's strengths.

Even though I ate a lot of sugar before, I never let my daughter eat any or have any pop (soda) in the house till she was about 4th grade for candy and 7th grade for pop. She is now 22 and is very thin naturally, doesn't overeat and isn't drawn to sweets but when she has some they are the hard candy very sweet so she eats only one or two. She hates chocolate and doesn't like pop or ice cream, or pie now. Amazing.

Yesterday, my husband found our favorite rum caramels, made at one place hard to find. He bought them and I ate one even though I knew I was making a LC cheesecake. The second one I split with him, that was a first, usually I could eat the whole box in one day. It didn't set off any cravings either. But I told him again the heroin comparison and he said he wouldn't do it again. Danger.

That's great about your daughter, and also that you can stop at one now. I still could not have one bite of chocolate. I bought an egg at Easter for my boyfriend, but I didn't taste it, otherwise I'd have eaten the whole thing, even if I had to fight him for it, lol.

I think it's really hard when someone else buys you a present. I have gone through that with people at times.. and actually had to get quite aggressive trying to explain how I feel guilty not eating them if they have bought them for me. My boyfriend "gets" it now.. He's really supportive of my diet now, particularly after I took a few weeks break last Christmas and couldn't manage back to the diet for three months. He saw what a struggle it was in the end to get back again, and he agreed to support and encourage me with getting back on track.. And I don't have a sugar addiction, as such. I just have wonky blood-sugar control, making it difficult to control my eating of carbs.

Ooooh - I know that evil chuckle, lol. I now give away food left-overs to dinner guests when they leave, but it's a bit more difficult when they've brought it for you. I'd be the same with dark chocolate - it'd be gone two hours after the guests left.

Interesting that being tired brings on cravings for you. I have a really horrible illness, and during my particularly bad days, I really, really crave chocolate. It seems to have something that revives me, more than just the immediate distraction and the effect of the caffeine. I should try cocoa powder melted in butter. That might work better, without me going so mad.

I listened to Jill Escher's podcast with Jimmy. She was so buoyant and speaking from a personal experience as an addict. I looked up the OverEaters Anonymous link she mentioned.

http://www.oalaig.org/speakers-podc...a-speakers.html

There were great personal stories there. The top one in The Classic Virtual Speakers' Bureau by Terryl B, was so amusing - by someone who had almost lost their eyesight because of the sugar intake. He'd been sugar and flour free for 25 years, and still considered it a daily discipline. It reminded me of the lady in the States who was killing herself by drinking fizzy juice. She said she didn't want to change - she was ready to die, and happy drinking her pop. Her sole carer was her 15 year old daughter. Listening to Terryl helped me to have a better understanding of where that lady was coming from with that.

Thanks very much for sharing that link to Jill's site. She has good ideas there: here's a link to 20 snacks a former sugar addict can love:

http://endsugaraddiction.com/2012/0...ddict-can-love/

Kristeen - It sounds like you grew up in a very loving environment. Your parents sound like the treated you very well indeed. :) I welcome your advice and perspective. Thanks so much for taking the time to share that with me. Amber

Thanks, Amber. I am glad you weren't offended. I know that my parents were quite unusual in their interest in our health, so that's why I thought some of their techniques might be useful to you. I hope I'd use similar strategies if I had children.

There is a book called "Little Sugar Addicts" by Kathleen DesMaisons that has a ton of info about changing family habits. I know several families personally who have turned things around with these techniques. It gets really fun too - the whole family gets to decide on the changes, with the parents directing of course.

I love reading all of your stories. Personally, I can't keep any 'forbidden' food in the house at all. Not at all. I'm fine most of the day, but when I get home I am usually starting to get very hungry (which is a dangerous time!) so I make sure to eat some lunchmeats and cheese to tame the beast. If I find out that there are any sweets in the house, it will be on my mind all night. It's kndof like if an alcoholic finds out that there's beer in the fridge. I have almost zero self-control. Cold turkey (sometimes literally)works best for me.

SeeJay - Thanks!!! I'll order it right now. Amber

Not always
 

Hi Kirsteen, I guess I should put a top weight of 202 or so (what I weighed after my first 2 pregnancies), but my average adult weight has probably been 183, that's where I was before I gave up wheat in Dec 2010. Then I lost 20lbs, and promptly gained back 15 due to carb creep (and just delusional thinking about what I could "get away with"), bringing me to my starting weight this go round of 178.

I think perhaps the reason I never got heavier, despite being absolutely addicted to chocolate chip cookies and baking lots of bread and other goodies, is where my weight is distributed. I'm decidedly mesomorphic, with more weight in my lower half. I figure my considerable "assets" were all that kept me from early diabetes considering how wonky my blood sugars have always been. Fat in the lower body has a different metabolism/action than visceral fat, right?

I think the tiredness/chocolate thing is an evil downwards spiral! Feel tired, eat chocolate, start slipping down the slope, eat more chocolate, get more tired...
When I was tracking my intake on Fitday I noticed that on the days I didn't get enough sleep I ate about 400 more calories than on the days I was well rested. Not that I usually succumbed to the actual chocolate, but cocoa enhanced whipped cream is my next best. What I find about eating low carb is that I'm more honestly tired, my tiredness doesn't come from a sugar crash anymore. If I'm tired, I need a nap, end of story. Back in the bad old days I'd grab a handful of chocolate chips or some other sugary treat and I'd get the sugar rush that would tide me over. Now that I'm ketoadapted, the carbs don't really have the same effect, and I'm so sensitive to caffeine that even a large diet coke will practically make me jump out of my skin, so coffee is out. Now of course I usually have a lot more energy than I did before LCHF, so this isn't as much of an issue, but it is an interesting change that came along with LCHF for me.
I also struggle with emotional eating, mostly when I'm just avoiding doing what I know I should do - I'm pretty lazy sometimes, although that too has improved with LCHF because now I just have more energy. If I slide far enough down into the carb pit I get so anxious I'm emotionally paralyzed, which looks like depression and laziness.
If I'm lacking energy, but I'm getting enough sleep (not honestly tired) and not too many carbs I look at my fat intake. Protein without enough fat just doesn't work.
I'm really so thankful for steady blood sugar and energy levels. I have been known to say "So this is what it feels like to be normal!" Sugar binges and crashes pretty much ruled my life for years, and the resulting anxiety (not diagnosed, low grade and always there) was not how I wanted to live - and now I don't have to, I know the secret!

Hi everybody. I have Diabetes II and have been a total sugar addict.
I also grew up in an alcoholic home and I know the drug of choice was sugar for me.

I "dieted" my way to being over 100 lbs overweight. Sadly, I started with only 20 lbs to lose, 30 years ago and over the years tried just about every diet ever created!

Finally at 50, decided no more diets. Lost 25 lbs a year over 3 years. Then almost 2 years ago found out I had DII. The damage had been done but was lucky that it was caught early and no damage to my body, well ,except my pancreas. First 11 months, followed SAD, which did not work, and research led me to Atkins.

Low carb made my health improve tremendously. Even off one of the two oral meds I was put on. But I am losing VERY slowly.

But the last two months have been extremely stressful. Personal and work stress and what do I want to do but eat everything and anything made with sugar. The cravings have been horrible.

I have given in to too much fruit, Atkins bars, and have even given in to sugar items a few times. The only thing that has kept me from going on an all out binge is that I am terrified what it will do to me. I am back to induction and have more control but had to cut them all out. The first few days were very difficult.

Yes, I am def a sugar addict. I too believe it is poison but I still want it when I don't know how to cope. I don't think I will ever be one of those people who low carb and look at something high sugar and think "yuck." Thanks for the links.

Thanks for starting this thread. For now, coping a day at a time.