Other Things That May Work
I am pretty sure the three steps above would work for most people to shut down a sugar craving.
But of course, the best option by far is to prevent these cravings in the first place.
To do that, toss all out of your house. If you keep them within close reach, youre asking for trouble. Instead, keep healthy foods within easy reach.
Also, if you eat healthy and exercise several times per week, chances are you wont get cravings nearly as often.
Here are 11 more useful tips to stop sugar cravings:
Summary
Numerous other methods may help you overcome a craving for sugar. These include drinking a glass of water, getting good sleep and eating high-protein foods.
Switch Out Traditional Desserts With Fruit
How To Cut Down On Sugar In Your Diet
We Britons really do eat too much sugar: 700g of the sweet stuff a week. That’s an average of 140 teaspoons per person.
Added sugars, such as table sugar, honey and syrups, shouldn’t make up more than 5% of the energy you get from food and drink each day. That’s about 30g a day for anyone aged 11 and older.
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Look For Hidden Sugar In Foods
Sugar is hiding in all sorts of processed foods.
If you’ve never paid attention to food labels, now is the time. You may be surprised that most foods, even those you may not expect — like salad dressing, sauces and soups — contain added sugar. It’s important to read labels on everything you eat and cook with. If one of the first few ingredients is sugar, that’s a clue that the food contains more sugar than it should.
This also includes “healthy” foods like protein bars, granola bars and cereals — these products are often loaded with sugar. Don’t let marketing messages about foods being “healthy” or “natural” keep you from checking the label before you buy or eat it.
Set Aside Any Sweetened Dips And Sauces
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Switch Up Your Morning Coffee
Speaking of coffee, there are lots of natural ways to make your morning cup of java taste great besides sugar. Herbs and spices can add a subtle flavor without overpowering the taste of your coffee itself.
Here are some ideas:
- Add some cinnamon powder to your coffee grounds or stir a quarter-teaspoon directly into your coffee for a spicy, sweet taste.
- Mix a couple of ground cardamom pods into your coffee grounds for a Middle Eastern twist.
- Stir cocoa powder into freshly brewed coffee for an extra dose of antioxidants.
- Add a few drops of pure vanilla extract for a slightly sweet, creamy fragrance.
- Spice up your coffee with your favorite chai tea blend.
Toss Out Any Sweets And Junk Food
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My 6 Strategies To Stop Eating Sugar
Im not saying I managed to avoid added sugar completely through the holiday season. But I did come up with a few ways to not relive the Halloween binge.
I checked in with UVA nutritionist Katherine Basbaum, RD, to get her feedback on the choices Ive been making. Because, you know Valentines Day is coming. And Easter Mother-in-law or not, theres a lot of opportunities for me to shove too much chocolate in my mouth coming up.
A lot of the things youre doing are right on the money, Basbaum says. Lowering or limiting added sugars is a hard thing to do. Foods with added sugars might have good things in them. Or foods without added sugars might have things that will derail your diet in other ways. She underscores, for instance, that cutting out added sugar doesnt equal weight loss.
Still, Basbaum applauds my effort. Added sugars are one of the number one things I work with patients on, Basbaum says. Heart disease, diabetes, inflammation sugar is a detriment to all chronic diseases. If you have cancer or an autoimmune condition like rheumatoid arthritis, its like adding fuel to the fire.
Use Your Best Judgment When It Comes To Artificial Sweeteners
Before you rush off to buy sugar-free ice cream, consider that artificial sweeteners might not be the best solution. Krieger suggests using sweeteners like saccharine and sucralose sparingly. It doesnt help train your taste buds out of that sweet trap and if you use them excessively, we really dont know thelong term implications, she said. Have the real deal, but less of it.
Mathis is a fan of stevia andmonk fruit sweetener. Both are plant-based, but contain zero sugar and therefore no calories. I feel like stevias a good one because its a little bit sweeter than sugar, so you dont have to use as much, but it is a natural sweetener, Mathis said. And there has been some research that it may help to lower blood pressure or it may actually help with your blood sugar, so there are some type of benefits to using that one.
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Top 10 Big Ideas: How To Detox From Sugar
Heres the not-so-sweet truth. We are killings ourselves by consuming truckloads of hidden sugar.
Sugar is the New Fat
Despite 40 years of Americans being brainwashed into thinking that fat is bad, it turns out its sugar, not fat, that makes you sick and overweight.
The facts are in, the science is beyond question. Sugar in all its forms is the root cause of our obesity epidemic and most of the chronic disease sucking the life out of our citizens and our economy and, increasingly, the rest of the world. You name it, its caused by sugar: heart disease, cancer, dementia, type 2 diabetes, depression, and even acne, infertility and impotence.
The average American consumes about 152 pounds of sugar a year. Thats roughly 22 teaspoons every day for every person in America. And our kids consume about 34 teaspoons every day thats more than two 20-ounce sodas making nearly one in four teenagers pre-diabetic or diabetic.
Flour is even worse than sugar. We consume about 146 pounds of flour a year. Think about it. Thats about one pound of sugar and flour combined every day for every man, woman and child in America. And flour raises blood sugar even more than table sugar. Even whole-wheat flour.
Food Addiction: Is It Real?
Heres another shocking fact: Sugar is eight times as addictive as cocaine.
Why You Need a Sugar Detox
1. Make a decision to detox
2. Be a turkey
3. Dont drink your calories
4. Power up the day with protein
5. Eat unlimited carbs
6. Fight sugar with fat
Your Oral Health Is A Problem
Sugar is terrible for your teeth, leading to buildups of plaque and the breakdown of enamel. And as good overall health starts with good oral health, it’s no small matter to prevent these small but painful and dangerous spots of decay. According to the Mayo Clinic, cavities, among the most common health problems on the planet, can lead to severe pain, tooth loss, and other potentially serious infections.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e
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Get To Know Your Labels
The nutrition label lists all ingredients in order of quantity. The higher up on the list, the more of the ingredient a recipe has. So if sugars in the top three ingredients, its best to avoid that product.
FYI: 4 grams of sugar equals 1 teaspoon of sugar. This is helpful to know when youre scanning nutrition labels.
Remember Sugar Isnt Inherently Bad
So much of the angst we feel toward sugar is because of how demonized it is in our society. From That Sugar Film toanti-sugar diets, theres no shortage of sources telling us that sugar is BAD. And if you eat it, YOU are BAD.
While we shouldnt eat sweets with reckless abandon, its important to remember that a food isnt inherently good or bad. Yes, some foods are more nutritious for us, forget that idea that you did good or did bad, Younkin said. Enjoy it, without guilt, and move on. Because you chose to eat it, and you enjoyed it, so why feel guilty about it? It was your decision.
To help mitigate those guilty feelings, Younkin suggests thinking about why youre eating a particular treat. She explained that there are four reasons that we eat: Physical hunger, boredom, stress or cravings . So, when you reach for something like a brownie, stop and think about why you want it, and if its going to make you feel good.
One food or meal doesnt make or break someones health or weight loss efforts, Younkin said. I think thats a good thing to remember. People think, If I eat one thing, Im totally ruined. And its like, well you eat one salad, youre not going to lose five pounds in a week from one salad. Youre also not going to gain five pounds from one brownie.
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If You Are Hungry Eat A Healthy And Filling Meal
Its important to realize that a craving is not the same as hunger.
Its not your body calling for energy, its your brain calling for something that releases a lot of dopamine in the reward system.
When you get a craving when youre hungry, the feeling is difficult to resist.
In fact, a craving combined with hunger is a powerful drive that most people have a hard time overcoming.
If you get a craving while hungry, one of the best tricks is to eat a healthy meal immediately. Stock your kitchen with healthy snack foods or pre-made meals.
Protein-rich foods, such as meat, fish and eggs are especially good for curbing hunger .
Eating real food may not feel very appetizing when you have a craving for sugary junk food. But if you truly need to lose weight, resilience is worth it in the long run.
Summary
When you experience a craving and hunger at the same time, force yourself to have a healthy meal rather than junk food.
Water From An Air Up Bottle
Its been reported that 16 million Brits want to reduce their sugar intake but are struggling due to a lack of alternatives, which is why we love the clever water bottles from Air Up. Using a specific technology called retronasal smell, Air Up bottles contain a scent pod that fools your brain into thinking you’re tasting a flavoured drink when you’re drinking water.
You can buy the reusable water bottles and recyclable flavour pods from the Air Up website . The Starter Se t, which includes one bottle and two scent pods, is priced from £29.95.
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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.
Stock Up On Healthy Fats
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Lets Look At The Ways Sugar Wrongs Us
- suppresses your immune system
- Excess sugar consumption is linked to cancer and tumor growth
- promotes weight gain and obesity
- disrupts the mineral balance
- contributes to depression, anxiety and mood swings
- promotes gut dysbiosis and fungal overgrowth in the gut
- contributes to insulin resistance and diabetes
- can cause hormonal imbalances
- increases risk for Crohns disease and ulcerative colitis
- disrupt the bodys pH balance
- can cause hypoglycemia
- will reduce good HDL cholesterol and increase bad LDL cholesterol
- prohibits weight loss
Some people are more sugar sensitive than others, and part of that depends on your genetics. Regardless, you can bio-hack your diet by manipulating certain macronutrients, like protein and fat, to balance your blood glucose levels and ward off cravings.
Heres an example: Lets say you start your morning with coffee and a pastry. You probably feel pretty good because that sugar is plugging up feel-good receptors in your brain, and maybe you get a little high as your blood glucose levels spike. But a few hours later, you crash when your blood glucose plummets again, and then youre hungry, jittery, anxious, moody, irritable. You eat lunch, probably too much because youre starving and you miscalculated your hunger needs, and then you may feel tired as all your energy is diverted into digestion. You may crave sugar in the afternoon, because your body knows it gives you a quick energy boost. Does that rollercoaster sound familiar?
Sugar Detox Plan: What To Eat During A Sugar Detox
Certain phenomena happen so predictably that they have become ordained laws of nature. For example, we know gravity will always bring things back down to Earth, and the Sun will rise each and every morning. Similarly, eating a lot of sugar will make us crave even more sugaror that’s at least how it seems.
Science backs up this seemingly inevitable sugar-craving cycle. Studies show that we can become biologically addicted to sugar, just as we would other substances like drugs or alcohol, which might explain why statistics on sugar consumption are so staggering. A report from the University of California San Francisco explains that the recommended daily added sugar consumption is no more than six teaspoons, or 25 grams. However, the average American consumes 17 teaspoons or around 71 grams, per day. It’s scary stuff.
Ready for a meal plan that will help you ditch sugar from your diet? Read on to learn what to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner during a sugar detox.
Meet the Expert
- Lauren O’Connor is a Registered Dietitian, the author of Healthy Cooking for One Cookbook, and the owner of Nutri-Savvy.
- Darby Jackson is a certified holistic health coach, personal trainer, and the founder of Darby Jackson Well-Being.
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Your Moods May Be Better
If you previously dealt with mood swings, stabilizing your blood sugar may help you feel more even-keeled, says Young. And if you previously reached for candy as a mental pick-me-up in the middle of a stress-filled workday, youre best leaving that habit behind. A 2019 study that looked at carbohydrate consumption and mood found a sugar rush isnt a mood-booster, but it does make you foggy-headed and sleepy within the hour.
Three Balanced Meals A Day
Stick to three regular meals and day and don’t skip breakfast as the first meal of the day ‘will keep you full for longer and maintain balanced blood sugar,’ says Adrienne. She adds: Most people find that when they introduce adequate fat and protein to their diet, their energy becomes more stable and cravings diminish.’
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