I can't really think of a situation where you are forced to eat sugar or carbs (maybe prison or the military, I guess). You might have to go hungry for a little while, yes, but there's always your next meal. Eating grains and refined sugars will, for many people, induce cravings that take days to get over. If you keep indulging, and you are one of those people, you will never attain a peaceful distance from those foods, increasing your stress levels. If you are one of the people triggered by those foods... don't eat them. Be hungry for a little while. Carry paleo/primal snacks with you.

Read these previous answers for more help:

http://paleohacks.com/questions/23026/sad-in-the-house-i-cant-handle-it

http://paleohacks.com/questions/20562/how-can-i-get-past-the-first-damn-week

http://paleohacks.com/questions/23073/post-carb-sugar-ingestion-increased-cravings

http://paleohacks.com/questions/1318/eliminating-food-cravings

When I was kicking my sugar habit, I let myself eat as much cheese as I wanted. It was like my methadone. Of course, then I had to kick my cheese habit, but that was much easier to do, haha.

I think the key here is that you said "carbs are like cigarettes to me" followed by a specification towards "refined carbs". I personally don't see carbohydrates in themselves as being the major problem, but they can be if your healing from certain issues. What carbs do you crave? What have you tried? Yams, plantain, butternut squash? or is it more a craving for breads, sugar, etc. Maybe you're low on a certain mineral or not absorbing it, hence the overpowering urge to overeat a poorer source of it??

"we are all going to be in those social situations where the carbs are inevitable to come so I would like to know how can I moderate this sugar intake and curb the cravings once the sugar is consumed provided I'm in a situation where I pretty much have to consume whats given to me."

No one is making you put it in your mouth to chew and swallow. :-/

I was craving sugar earlier this week. I tried to appease the craving with an apple, but it didn't help. I wanted a bag of skittles, dang it!

I ended up swiping a Jolly Rancher from the candy bowl at work. It killed the craving.

I don't remember eating anything sugary earlier to bring about this craving, but I'm happy I was able to satisfy it with one piece of candy (instead of an entire bag of skittles).

I was not hungry at all when this craving came about.

Depends what you mean by "carbs." It's well known that fructose doesn't increase leptin much and doesn't decrease ghrelin all that much either, so it's implicated in a lot of overeating. Fructose is in its own class of undesirability.

That being said, I have noticed that a meal with fructose-free carbs will result in me being hungrier than if I didn't consume them, but it's still 5 or so hours of satiety. I continue to consume these carbs every day and don't see why I shouldn't.

There is probably no easy solution.

But I think it all starts in the mind. Knowledge is power.

Allow me to explain. I used to eat and eat until I felt like throwing up. Even at THAT point, I would weight the pain of eating more with the point of NOT eating more. I felt deprived no matter how much I ate.

When I read about this evolutionary style of eating, I found a little of information that described exactly how gluten (for example) affected my body. Once I knew what it did, I dumped gluten easily. It was absolutely no problem.

Maybe you need to feel more convinced that carbs hurt you. Let them hurt you, then dump them.

Examine the factors the trigger these cravings and train yourself to think differently when those situations arise. For example, if there is a particular stress trigger, repeat to yourself over and over, "I really don't need cake to deal with this." Plus, no one can force you to eat anything that you don't want to eat. Just recall how sick the garbage made you the last time and perhaps that alone will be enough stop it.

Try shellfish. Scallops worked for me. Killed cravings immediately, effect lasts for days.

1) I like the analogy that willpower is like a muscle. The more you "practice" resisting cravings, or being around food but resisting the urge to put it into your mouth just because it's there, the easier it will get. Remember that it's not like you're not going to get to eat again soon, and that there will be other chances to eat this food again in your life. I find the other problem with ignoring cravings is that, for the first few days (or whatever) it takes a lot of effort and you feel like every single day will take a lot of work not to eat whatever you're craving, but that isn't true, and it sounds like you realize this. Once the first few days are over it does get a lot easier. Tell yourself that.

2) NO ONE is forcing you to eat anything. You make the decision to put the food in your mouth. There's nothing inherently wrong with that but take responsibility for your choices.

3) It may be helpful to just have some kind of blanket rule that, for example, you absolutely will not eat these foods at social events. Eat beforehand, bring your own food, but you are not going to even touch the chip bowl or the cookie platter. If there are foods you can't control yourself around (which is what it sounds like from your post) then you need to acknowledge and deal with that reality and do what it takes to avoid eating those foods. Don't necessarily expect that to happen effortlessly. You might have to keep consciously reminding yourself exactly why you aren't eating those things. Resisting cravings takes some effort but it IS in your control and it's totally doable.

4) On a slightly different note if you're severely craving carbs you might examine why, remember that paleo does not have to mean eating very low carb. More paleo carbs might help you through so you don't go eat a bunch of candy or whatever.

Sorry for the long post. Good luck.