Bumping this up. Lots of great info above on weaning off of sugar. What do people do for endurance-diet-healthy morning and afternoon snacks? I’m particularly interested in something I can bring / keep at the office. Thanks!!
Others have mentioned this - but fruit is great for a sweet, but healthy, snack
I also love to bring in some yogurt with berries mixed in as a good protein heavy but still sweet snack. Just make sure you’re buying plain yogurt and mixing the berries yourself so you aren’t getting sugar coated nonsense
As others have alluded to - once you’ve cut out most sugar then other foods start to taste sweeter. It’s amazing how good a piece of fruit can taste if you haven’t had the over-sugared things in recent memory.
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Hello! I’m a bit too lazy to wade through the 40+ comments on this post, but I’ll add my 2 cents, @rkoswald.
Disclaimer: I’m an RD, and I am not super into prescribed diets, but I suspect that a few modifications could make this plan work for you! 2nd disclaimer: take this as friendly advice from an internet person, not medical advice.
I’ll start with your reported intake and wade through some areas that you can tweak to meet your needs. Generally, making sure you get enough protein, fiber (usually in the form of vegetables and fruits), plus some healthy fats, can go a long way to helping you kick those sugar cravings.
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I usually have oatmeal with nuts, raisins, and brown sugar and coffee with cream and sugar at work for breakfast around 8 am but am hungry around 10:30. Try adding protein and reducing sugar - something like oatmeal with fresh fruit, plus a side of eggs or Greek yogurt.
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My morning snack has typically been peanut butter and crackers. Try a combo with some sort of vegetable or fruit + some sort of protein or fat source. For example, apples + PB, Greek yogurt + fruit, carrots + cheese stick, crispy chickpeas…etc.
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Lunch is usually leftover dinner from the night before (wife is a good cook and is usually healthy). Can’t argue with a healthy home-cooked meal.
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Around 2 or 3 pm I tend to get hungry again and try to satisfy it with another cup of coffee (caffeine being an appetite suppressant). Food tends to be a good solution when you’re hungry
try one of the options I suggested above! Plus coffee, because coffee.
Lmk if that helps/if you have any more questions!
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This 
I highly recommend making your own protein balls to take to work! So easy to make and so easy to chuck a few in a zip lock bag and snack on over a coffee. Has revolutionised my snacking!
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I disagree. There are a number of papers out there which outline the similarities in the dopamine and serotonin response to sugar versus ‘addictive’ drugs
Just a couple here but one could easily post dozens all with the same narrative:
If you are going to go with the sugar doesn’t have addictive properties argument it would help if you showed us a little bit of data and science to back your claims
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The question I have then is what are you using as the scientific/medical definition of addiction? Because within this community there are are a number of different organizations definitions you could choose.
Please start another thread on sugar addiction.
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Have started making up some trail mix. Basically throw together a combination of nuts, dried fruit and sometimes dark chocolate. I’ve just made one up of;
- 1 part walnuts
- 1 part cashews
- 1 part almonds
- 1/2 part dark chocolate chunks
- 2 parts dried cranberries
Scale to your own needs.
I’m sure you could throw any combination of nuts & dried fruit together. It’s dare I say, quite addictive and so much nicer than any shop bought mix I’ve had 
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A slightly odd suggestion, but if you’re snacking on that, I’d suggest portioning it up, so you know how much you’re eating. Especially when you’re snacking at your desk, it’s easy to eat a lot of that, and even though it might be fairly healthy, it has a ton of calories. Walnuts for example have more calories than chocolate.
One interesting idea I took from Jason Fung’s book, The Obesity Code, is that you do not have to snack. You do not have to respond to every hunger pang. That is if you are trying to lose some weight.
Sometimes those hunger pangs are just situational and bad habits - like needing the feel to munch right after dinner because you are sitting and watching some TV.
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@spinnnout, thanks! I’ll definitely give this a try.
@AJS914, agreed! I think some (much) of my afternoon “hunger” is habit. When I’m walking around or in meetings I don’t get the pangs as often.
Don’t diet on the bike. Fuel all of your rides. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep. Make sure you’re consuming enough calories(especially carbs) if you have a high training load. If you enjoy sweet foods, make sure you choose mostly nutrient rich foods. Sweet things are great and should be enjoyed. Stock your home and office with the right type of foods so when you get hungry it’s easy to make good decisions. In my office I always have 4 or 5 boxes of Wheetabix, fresh fruit (kiwi, mango, banana, apple), some dried fruit, nuts and seeds, some tinned fruit(peaches, pears), some soya milk. I’ll throw a combination of these together if I get hungry. I buy loads of brown bananas, peel them and stick them in the freezer and make myself a vegan ice cream most evenings. Be kind to yourself, don’t build an unhealthy relationship with food. You’re not on par with a crack addict because you enjoy the odd handful of Haribo. Don’t demonize certain food groups. Sugar is not addictive. Food is not addictive. Build healthy eating habits in the same way one does with training, sleep, work, relationships.
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Very simple. You basically start with frozen bananas and blend in some other ingredients. A basic example would be cocao powder maple syrup, coconut cream and hazelnuts. An easy option is to just add frozen mango and coconut milk to the frozen banana. You can add any type of fruit, nuts, seeds, protein powder or oats to make it a bit biscuity. The frozen banana on its own is pretty low in calories, but obviously the more extras you add, the more calories you’re looking at. On big training days I’ll throw in loads of different ingredients. On easy days I do a small portion with only banana and a dash of maple syrup.
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Awesome, thanks. Definitely going to give this a try!
That’s the Rat survey others have said. Some evidence that may show is very far from scientifically proven.
Any mix is easily adjusted to personal needs - if calories are a concern take out the walnuts, chocolate and add pop-corn, bran flakes, roasted chickpeas, rice cereal, etc.
Loads more ideas for the OP here;
- https://www.precor.com/en-us/resources/trail-mix-trifecta-3-ingredient-recipes-under-100-calories
- How To Build a Healthy Trail Mix - The Healthy Maven
I should have added some links at the start, I am personally looking for high calorie healthy snacks.
It’s a total missuse of the term and it’s been jumped on by the low carb community.
https://www.outsideonline.com/2410282/sugar-addiction-fake#close
“But while it’s understandable to feel out of control around sugar, it just doesn’t have what it takes to be considered addictive by the standards of addiction researchers or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM-5 ), which includes the medically accepted definition of addiction.”
“Similar neurochemical responses have been observed in humans in response to puppies and music,”
“Beyond being misleading, the idea of sugar addiction could be harmful to a person’s overall diet and their relationship with food”
Endurance athletes need carbs. Carbs can be both healthy and sweet. Enjoy them!
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I think you’re obfuscating the issue the OP has just a little bit.
My reading is that they’re not asking for help with carbs, but with refined sugar and refined sugar based snacks. In principle the same, but in practice very different.
Carbs are great. Carbs are important. Refined sugar has its place in sport; however, maybe it’s not supposed to be in your coffee. As such, while it’s important not to demonize one macro-nutrient in favour of others, it’s important to recognize that mindfulness while eating is key. That, I think, is what the OP is trying to get to when they’re soliciting advice on their “sweet tooth”.
In that case, it is essential to understand that there are different qualities of carbohydrate in terms of nutrient density, caloric density and how they are ranked on the glycemic index. These things in turn should dictate how the OP structures their diet. Without structure in their diet, the OP will not be successful in changing their eating habits, and the “sweet tooth” sugar cravings (which are real regardless of addictive properties) will remain.
Edit: as I acknowledged previously: part of structure is indulgence. Recognizing that there is a time and place to enjoy cookies, coffee with sugar, Haribo or cola is part of building a healthy relationship with food.
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I was responding to someone who posted that sugar is addictive. I’ve also posted plenty of advice on what one can eat to replace refined sugar.
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