Is liking sweets an AS trait?

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This. Everyone I know likes sweets. Old, young, autistic, not, male, female, fat, thin. Everyone.

I find that I crave sweets more if I've had them recently, so the longer I can go without them the better off I am, except to make sure I have fresh fruit regularly. If I've been eating cake or chocolate every day for a few days, for instance around a birthday or holiday, my craving for that food will be monstrous until some time has passed. It's not just about the sugar either, for me. There's something about the combination of fats and sweets that create some sort of feedback loop or something (not sure if that's the correct term) in my appetite.

So I guess what I'm suggesting to the OP is that if you need to stay away from them, reserve them as a treat for special occasions and avoid them most of the time, and it won't be such an issue.

Well. Then America itself is autistic.

We put sugar in EVERYTHING.

That being said, I just downed a few oreos.

So is going to the bathroom...

I myself do not eat many sweets.

Liking sweets is a human trait.

Though maybe my lacking self discipline is part of my ASD. When I have chocolate, I eat it all. Immediately. I can not keep something for the next day, I have no control over my cravings.

I'm like you, KevinLA, I LOVE my sweets....to the point that it's contributed to my cholestrol/triglyceride issues, but oh well. It's sort of an emotional eating thing with me...I could be depressed, then I'd buy a pint of Ben and Jerry's and it goes away. At the same time, I don't think it's a trait exclusive to people with AS. I know lots of people who don't seem to have AS who also love sweets.

I think it's just a general acquired taste. Tons of people in this world are sweets addicts.

Yes and no. As others have said, liking sweets is a human tendency - in many but not all humans. And there are many people on the spectrum who aren't particularly fond of sweet foods.

But, I have noticed that the foods I like - sweet and otherwise (although I do have a very well developed sweet tooth) - are things I crave far more than NTs crave the things they like. I think this is linked to my sensory issues. I like tastes that please me; they help to soothe me. Whether it is sugar - one of my cravings - chocolate, coconut, white chocolate, nuts, Cheez-Its, cheddar cheese, cream crackers, bacon, ice cream, licorice, cheese puffs, donuts, cinnamon, or anything else, I will tend to eat excessive amounts of these things that I crave. That's so even if I try to stop. I've made many people's eyes pop with the way I can shovel away something that sets me off. (Almond M&Ms - or any chocolate or candy covered almonds - are the worst; the sweet taste combined with the way they crunch between my teeth make them sensory heaven.) I do think that excessive reaction to certain positive sensory inputs is an AS trait.

Last edited by theWanderer on 19 Oct 2012, 8:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I can't say whether it's an aspie thing or not, but I am prone to not be able to get enough sweets and have little self control and end up just eating a lot of sweets.
It can be a real problem

Me too.

Everyone is different. Sweet foods have an addicting effect. I love savoury though. It's got nothing to do with AS/autism but every person has different tastes (not literally - 'taste' meaning foods they prefer).
Also, I can now see and smell bacon flavoured shapes. Synaesthesia, eh? I think it dictates my food preferences too.

If anything it autistic it's that we like to stick to one food as if it's a special interest. I have been buying a Twirl candy bar every time I go shopping. So we eat a lot of the food we like and we have poor impulse control (I think - it's an ADHD issue with me) and we have habit for being repetitive.

I don't like sweet foods too much. Like I did when I was a kid I guess. For me I prefer more spicy or savoury. But I might be almost the opposite of everyone else regarding sweet. For me, when I make Kool-Aid, I add half the sugar as the label says, when I make iced tea, I add very little sugar. Like, I find Asian iced teas for example just fine for me, like an 8oz serving of a few Asian iced teas I buy are only 30 or 40 calories, whereas Arizona is 70, quite a difference in sugaring. Also, I like dark chocolates with like 70+% cocoa more than milk chocolate. To me sugar is a bland flavor, because it's used to cover up lack of actual flavor or worse, it gets rid of the actual flavor of your item.

Also, I don't like salt too much for that reason. I apply very little salt to my stuff. Salt raises my blood pressure easily, too. A little salt is good, but most of the time people don't know how to use spices and instead just salt the hell out of things.

Although I love sweets, I really don't believe it's has anything to do with AS. If so, then the majority of the world would have AS. Like the joke someone posted earlier, it's like saying breathing and eating are AS traits.

I think extreme enjoyment of food can be an AS trait. I have had a lot of problems in this area that started in early childhood. My personal feeling is that the pleasant sensation of eating and the enjoyment of food can be heightened for some people on the spectrum, I don't think all. Everyone has their own traits.

However liking sugar and sweets in particular could just be all round sugar addiction or sweet tooth.

I do know that I get a lot of enjoyment from eating, more than NT people as far as I can tell. Seems like an Aspie thing to me. I have heard of it being true for other Aspies as well. Sometimes it can just be in normal range though.

If it's a problem for you, you don't have to stop enjoying sweet food, you could just try to get yourself off of very refined cane sugar or refined sugars in general. They are far more addictive.

My dad loves sweet stuff, too. I think it may be something I inherited, along with his love of cats.

Is liking sweets an AS trait?
No.

I'm thinking that liking sweets is a people-in-general trait.

But yes, I do like sweets too. Mmmmm!