Patience. To me, that means being tolerant of my experiences because a lot of my experiences are unpleasant. A few days ago I went cold turkey on sugar. I find I have to treat it the same as when I stopped smoking. I gave away a box of lollies. I put aside another box to give away and found that risky so I threw them in the bin for collection this morning. I've put a load of stuff in the wash and cleaned out the fridge and cupboards of anything sweet. That reminds me I've got a jar of peanut butter to throw away. Honey. Jams.... Anyway. Gotta be serious about this.. I've read enough horror stories about sugar.
I think it's important to know your enemy. Did you know that skulls dug up in London from before sugar was 'discovered' have good teeth and since after, rotten. One thing an addict has to face in recovery is fixing a mouth full of neglected teeth. This is unpleasant and expensive. It's taken, for me, joining a dental insurance plan and about 30 visits to get to the point where only yearly maintenance is needed.
Maintaining a sugar habit is expensive in so many ways. Long and short term. It's so much like other addictions and need to be treated that way, imo. And I think my opinion is basically correct.
One of the first things that happens is just like cigarette withdrawals. I find myself reaching for a sweet for all sorts of reasons. So, throw temptation out. If it's. Too much to cope, replace with something relatively harmless like air popped corn. Its actually a good substitute when losing weight. Cubes of cucumber...
Do something wholesome. Pull out a few weeds. Sweep the floor. Go to the gym. Contribute to SR. Write a letter. Anything worthwhile doing.
For me one of the most worthwhile things is meditating. Just practicing watching the cravings come and go. This starts to reform the basic habits of just being a slave to the feelings of wanting. In time, with a lot of patience, the intensity of the wanting subsides and serenity is there.