Swap Carbonated Drinks For Carbonated Water
Nothing can beat carbonated water when it comes to quenching your thirst and curbing sugar cravings. Carbonated drinks like soda, sweet tea, and Energy Drinks have a lot of sugar and are generally not good for you. However, it can be difficult to let go, especially if you are attending parties or in the summer when you want something to calm the heat.
If youre trying to curb your sugar cravings, you may want to consider replacing these carbonated beverages with seltzer water . Note that drinking Seltzer water can possibly cases gastrointestinal disturbances, like bloating and gas so you might want to avoid it. Instead stick to water, herbal tea, and lemon water.
Try infusing your water with freshly squeezed fruit juices like lemon or natural herbs for a different flavor experience. You can also include any sweet spice and add a splash of natural juice such as cranberry or cherry juice to give it color. See Is Soda Bad For You?
Ways To Curb Your Sugar Cravings
The good news about the link between body chemistry and cravings is that there are other ways to stimulate the release of your well-being hormones and to keep them at steady levels. Here are some suggestions:
1. Exercise regularly. One of the healthiest ways to experience better living through better brain chemistry is to exercise vigorously, an average of 20 minutes a day. I never realized how much endorphins could be stimulated by exercise until I experienced this phenomenon. During the planning of this book, I was treated for colon cancer. One day, at the peak of my double-whammy dose of chemotherapy and radiation, I experienced a common side-effect of these treatments: extreme depression. It was the most awful feeling I have ever had, yet I was determined not to let the depression propel me into inertia. I wanted to do something about it. I forced myself to do a vigorous 20-minute workout on my home treadmill. At the end of the 20 minutes, I felt like a new person. The endorphin rush was obvious. The wonderful thing about the brains natural narcotics is that they give you the feelings of well-being without the unpleasant side effects. So, when you feel a carbo craving coming on, go take a brisk walk outside instead of running to the refrigerator. Do this often enough and youll find yourself craving the exercise rather than the sweet snack.
Buy Yourself Some Time
Drink a glass of water, take five deep breaths, or go for a short walk. If you are truly hungry, its okay to reach for a snack. Your best bet for stamping out a craving may be to have a snack that includes protein or a source of healthy fat. Prepping your own at the beginning of the week will enable you to be proactive and prevent trips to the vending machine for sugar-filled packaged foods.
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Drink An Adrenal Cocktail
An adrenal cocktail is a hormone-supporting beverage thats full of electrolytes and fresh fruit juice. The fruit juice boasts plenty of natural sugars to satisfy your sweet tooth and is full of electrolytes and minerals for added hydration.
But when it comes to adrenal cocktails, proceed with caution. Because fruit juice is stripped of fiber, its not the best option for stabilizing blood sugar. However, if you pair the functional beverage with a handful of almonds or a scoop of high-fat coconut cream, you can keep your blood sugar stable and cravings at bay.
Eat A Naturally Sweet Snack
When a craving hits, instead of running for the candy drawer try something that will give you fuel, too. “If you need a shot of sugar along with energy that will last longer, try making a trail mix with almonds, dried fruit, and a few dark chocolate chips,” says Bonnie Taub-Dix, RDN, creator of BetterThanDieting.com and author of Read It Before You Eat It Taking You from Label to Table. “This snack is portable and will not only provide that sweetness you crave, but you’ll also get protein and healthy fat from the nuts, and iron and fiber from the fruit.”
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Adrenal Fatigue Energy And Sugar Consumption
One of the many downfalls of consuming too much sugar is a strong correlation to low energy levels. Energy is one of the most important aspects that affect your quality of life. When you have low energy levels, your entire body will suffer resulting in many different symptoms. This is easy to understand if you consider the bioenergetics circuitthyroid, pancreas, and liverwhich is part of the NeuroEndoMetabolic stress response system. The bioenergetics circuit is responsible for producing and transporting energy to all the cells of your body in the form of glucose. The thyroid, pancreas, and liver work together to keep your body energized and balanced. But what happens if there is a sugar overload? This can cause your metabolism to derail, leading to serious symptoms over time, eventually leaving you debilitated or housebound
Sugar Cravings: 4 Reasons They Happen And How To Stop Them
Home » Eat Empowered » Sugar » Sugar Cravings: 4 Reasons They Happen and How to Stop Them
Sugar cravings are the worst.
Its like a little army of meanies grab hold of you and torture you until you feed them jellybeans, right?
Give into this craving too often and you might be setting yourself up for a slew of negative health outcomes. All that extra sugar can lead to higher caloric intake and contribute to chronic inflammation.
In a randomized controlled trialof 29 healthy young men, sugar-sweetened beverage consumption increased inflammatory blood markers in just three weeks. On the flipside, data from a national U.S. cohortstudyfound that reducing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption correlated with a reduction of inflammatory and chronic disease biomarkers. Given this research, its not surprising that excess sugar consumption is linked to an increased risk of conditions such asheart disease, cancer, Type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Yet, sugar cravings can still be so hard to resist.
In this video, my good friend Natalie Jilland I talk about sugar cravings, especially the kind that seem to attack as soon as youve finished eating a meal.
Sugar cravings affect everyonemyself and Natalie Jill included. Clients ask both of us about this quite often, so we thought wed explain why they happen and what you can doto fight them.
The key to dealing with sugar cravings is to start with understanding why youre getting them in the first place.
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If Youve Got It Really Bad Here Is Supplemental Support
- 500 mg 1000mg of glutamine really helps some people. Break open the capsules and empty under your tongue, then swallow with water. This does not work for everyone.
- certain minerals like chromium help arrest sugar cravingsyou can often find them in blood sugar balance blends with other herbs or nutrients to help stop sugar cravings. Examples are gymnema, alpha lipoic acid, and even cinnamon. Body Ecology Ancient Minerals is awesome.
- Try this crave arrest to help balance brain chemicals that can cause cravings.
- Have a cup of green tea. It may sound preposterous, but we sometimes mistake hunger or craving cues for thirst, and the minerals in green tea give you a boost. Minerals in general also help stop sugar cravings. Drink lots of green juicesvery high in minerals!
- Have a protein snack using suggestions above. As I mentioned, when blood sugar is low, you actually need protein, not sugar.
Stick to dark chocolate it has health benefitsor truffles over hard candy, and bring treats that dont contain refined sugars to parties. Its ok to treat yourself every once in a while, and I often recommend sugar busting snacks in the afternoon, like coconut butter or coconut oil melted with almond butter and a bit of honey that can satisfy a craving. Remember that indulging in too much sugar every day will only make sugar cravings worse, so save the treats for parties and special occasions.
Useful Resources For Cutting Down On Sugar
This article was published on 16th September 2020.
Kerry Torrens BSc. PgCert MBANT is a registered nutritionist with a post graduate diploma in Personalised Nutrition & Nutritional Therapy. She is a member of the British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine and a member of the Guild of Food Writers. Over the last 15 years she has been a contributing author to a number of nutritional and cookery publications including BBC Good Food.
All health content on bbcgoodfood.com is provided for general information only, and should not be treated as a substitute for the medical advice of your own doctor or any other health care professional. If you have any concerns about your general health, you should contact your local health care provider. See our website terms and conditions for more information.
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How To Stop Food Cravings 10 Tips To Control Cravings
Written by: John Dicey | Last updated/Reviewed: 07 Feb 2022
If you consider yourself an emotional eater or sugar addict or chocoholic no doubt you frequently wonder how to control food cravings? Is it a case of controlling them or a case of how to fight food cravings or, how to avoid cravings altogether?
The really interesting thing about Allen Carrs Easyway is that it not only helps you decide what goes in your mouth but also what goes on in your head.
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Incorporate Sweet Spices As Sugar Alternatives
Going for an alternative will help trick your mind into thinking that youre having actual sugar.
Instead of the usual warm drinks with sugar and syrup, go for sweet spices such as cardamom, coriander, pumpkin pie spice , and Ceylon cinnamon.
If youre a fan of hot chocolate, you can use a small amount of cocoa powder or unsweetened cocoa mix in place of sugar . When baking, try adding one teaspoon of ground cinnamon or 12 teaspoon ground ginger per cup of flour called for in your recipe.
These spices generally have a sweeter taste but do not contain sugar. When you add them to foods, you will get that sweet taste, and your mind will think you are having something sugary when you are not.
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Causes Of Sugar Cravings
Aside from the natural high feeling that sugar brings to our system, there are other reasons why people crave sugar. Here are some of it:
Blood Sugar Imbalance
Eating sweet foods increases our blood sugar levels, which makes our body release insulin in order to lower it to a safe level. However, once the body thinks that the blood sugar level becomes too low, it starts to crave sugary food again. To help address this issue, you need to eat foods that prevent the body to release insulin such as protein. It also helps to eat meals and snacks at a regular interval to keep blood sugar levels from dropping.
Dehydration
Some people mistook thirst for cravings. When the body is dehydrated, it becomes weak since it couldnt metabolize the stored glucose in the body to convert it to energy. Hence, the body starts to crave sweets to pump up the energy level again. So the next time you have that urge to pick a piece of chocolate for some energy boost, ask yourself: Have you had any water for the past hours?
Bad Sleeping Habits
Poor sleeping habits can affect how your brain and body function. The body clock has a significant role in the regulation of ghrelin and leptin hormones. These hormones work to either promote or suppress food intake. Make sure that you get a good nights sleep all the time. If you are suffering from insomnia, you can try some natural remedies such as bedtime teas to help you sleep.
Underlying Medical Conditions
Yeast Growth
Stress
Other Conditions
Sometimes Its Possible To Create Changes In Life To Get These True Cravings Met:
- Leave or speak up in a relationship that isnt working for you
- Read a book that teaches skills to communicate differently to people that leave you feeling angry/taken advantage of
- Find more creative ways of rewarding yourself
- Change your job, or negotiate different conditions.
If its possible to make the change then do so, and notice what happens to those sugar cravings. But sometimes it feels impossible to make these big changes and we can feel very stuck. Often just the insight of what you are truly craving loosens the grip of power that it has over you. So rather than saying to yourself, Whats the matter with me, I just cant resist sweet food, you can instead start to see the craving as an attempt to get an important inner need met. You can begin to have a different conversation with yourself, Ah I see, Im craving this sugary food because of XYZ.
Sugar doesnt have to be the enemy, to be battled. When we switch our mind-set to see the sugar as an attempt to take care of ourselves, we can start to think creatively about our choices. Think of a child you know. Yes, they might want to keep eating sweet food until theyre sick, but as a parent, you likely allow sugar in moderation, and then engage them in a distracting activity that will appeal at least as much. What might be your equivalent? After all, as adults we too need a good balance of work, rest and play.
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Take A Hot Bath Or Shower
A small study in the UK reported that soaking in a hot bath for an hour lowered blood sugar levels in sedentary, overweight males who were unable to exercise. This was a small study and limited in its findings, but it does suggest that taking a hot bath or shower may be more than just a relaxing thing to do. That said, exercise caution if you plan to try this at home make sure the water temperature isnt hot enough to cause injury and make sure someone is at hand if you need assistance.
Go For A Brisk Walk Outside
Another thing that can work is to go outside for a brisk walk.
If you are a runner, running will be even better.
This serves a two-fold purpose. First, you are distancing yourself from the food that you are craving.
Second, the exercise will release endorphins, or feel good chemicals in your brain, which can help turn the craving off.
If you cant go outside, do a few exhausting sets of burpees, push-ups, body weight squats or any other body-weight exercise.
Summary
Going for a brisk walk or running may help reduce cravings.
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How To Stop Sugar Cravings Naturally
I must admit that I have a sweet tooth, and I couldnt say no to sweets and desserts. But who can blame me? Sugary foods are just too good. They satisfy my taste buds and console me whenever I need some comfort food. However, it came to a point when I realized that I have to limit my sugar intake. It affected my weight and general health. Though I didnt want to admit it then, sugar is downright unhealthy, especially when taken in huge amounts.
Putting a stop to sugar craving is a challenge. Sugar craving is like an addiction once youre in, youll find it hard to go out. Sugar cravers can agree with me that consuming sweets provides us with an initial high feeling, it keeps us energized. But then, once the sugar effect fades away, we feel a bit down. This will lead to another sugar craving, and the cycle goes on.
Cover The Essential Nutrients
Protein and fat are crucial to kicking a sugar habit. Unlike sugar, healthy fats and protein provide slow and steady forms of energy, more like a flat, newly paved road rather than that glucose-flavored roller coaster. When your body doesn’t find sugar for fuel, it turns to fats, so eating plenty of healthy fats such as nuts, seeds, avocados and olive oil can help your body adjust to getting its energy elsewhere. Protein helps you feel satiated, which can reduce hunger and cravings, and many of the amino acids in protein help build the brain chemicals such as dopamine that make us feel good. When we feel balanced and energized, we are less likely to seek a sugar high.
Other important nutrients while trying to wean yourself from sugar include fiber, which slows digestion and stabilizes blood sugar iron, which when depleted can cause low energy and cravings and the energizing B vitamins, which are often depleted by sugar consumption and stress.
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Manage Your Sugar Cravings In 3 Steps
Some days it feels like sugary temptations are everywhere a co-worker brings donuts into the office, youre offered a slice of birthday cake, or your lunch comes with a free soda. But too much sugar can take a toll on your body. It can increase your risk of weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.1
Managing those sugar cravings is an important part of staying healthy. Try this 3-step process to help satisfy your sweet tooth while also providing your body with the nutrients it needs to thrive.
Step 1: Prevention
The best way to beat a sugar craving is to avoid it. But thats easier said than done, right?
The good news is youll be less likely to develop an unhealthy craving whether its for a piece of pie or a fast-food burger if you keep your body satiated with healthy foods and nutrients throughout the day. This means making sure each meal contains a healthy balance of lean protein, whole grains, and vegetables. When it comes to snacking between meals, opt for nutritious treats like celery and peanut butter, roasted chickpeas, seaweed chips, or rainbow carrots and pumpkin hummus.
Youll also want to stay hydrated. Our brains will often mistake thirst for hunger. So before reaching for a snack, try to drink a glass of water and then see how you feel.
Step 2: Substitutions
Berries
Dark chocolate
Plain yogurt
Sweet potatoes
Step 3: Moderation
Need extra help with managing cravings?