How to deal with sugar cravings?
A craving for sweets that is hard to resist is something most of us know well. For some, it happens rarely and is easy to satisfy, while for others, it occurs much more frequently and so intensely that it is difficult to deal with. It is this second situation that is a much bigger problem. It starts to bother us especially when we want to lose weight or simply eat healthier, and the hard-to-control urge to eat sweets really gets in the way. Why do I always crave sweets? How can I deal with sweets? Are there effective ways to deal with cravings for sweets?
Constant cravings for sweets - is sugar addictive?
Let's start with what addiction is. It is a state in which we feel compelled to perform a certain activity or consume certain substances. Many people admit that this is exactly what they feel in relation to sugar.
It is important to note that eating is a process in which not only the digestive system takes part. Another important system that participates in this and has control over it is the nervous system. Food affects neurotransmitters, and the result of this is the activation of the brain's reward system. This is because after eating certain foods we simply feel pleasure.
However, opinions on the addictive effect of sugar are divided. If addiction is being discussed here, it is rather behavioral addiction, not physical. What can be addictive is what we feel after eating sweets, and that is why we may want more and more. The way we think about sweets can have a major impact on our desire to eat them.
Snacking on sweets - what are you missing
in your diet?
Cravings for sweets depend to some extent on our diet. It is worth taking a look at it, seeing what is too little, what is too much, and what impact this may have on snacking on sweets. One of the important reasons for snacking is irregular or too small meals. Between them, hunger suddenly strikes us, and at that moment it is easier to satisfy it with a quick, sweet snack. Another reason may be that we simply lack a sweet taste in our diet. Maybe we eat too few fruits, which are precisely the source of such sweet sensations? Or maybe we simply lack interesting and tasty meals? When the diet is too monotonous, we may look for pleasure in eating, which quickly and easily provides it. If you like ready-made snacks, choose sugar-free snacks. They will be a much better choice.
How to get rid of cravings for sweets?
Can cravings for sweets be eliminated? Yes, since cravings for sweets are a reaction to what is in our diet, we usually have control over how strong it will be. Constant cravings for sweets can result from various factors, including stress. Fatigue, sleepiness, and cravings for sweets can have a lot to do with each other. However, diet plays a huge role here. What dietary components can help us reduce cravings for sweets? What curbs cravings for sweets?
1. Take care of a balanced diet
As we already mentioned above, constant cravings for sweets can result from a poorly balanced diet. Make sure that meals are filling enough. Plan them in advance so that hunger does not suddenly catch you off guard in a place where it is easiest to reach for sweets. Prepare meals to go if you know that you will not be able to cook them when you feel hungry. Remember that a healthy, balanced diet should be varied. Make sure it contains a variety of food groups and the right amount of nutrients.
2. Eat enough protein
Do you eat a vegetable salad and bread for breakfast, cream soup for lunch, and sandwiches with a slice of ham and vegetables for dinner? Your diet may not contain enough protein. You may feel that your chosen meals are not filling enough and crave sweet snacks after them. Make sure your diet contains enough protein. Get it from various sources. It can be meat, fish, eggs, white dairy, or legumes.
3. Take care of vegetables and fiber
Remember to eat vegetables and fiber-rich foods every day. Many nutritionists encourage eating vegetables with every meal. If you do not like the taste of raw vegetables, you can eat cooked vegetables added to various meals. Hot vegetables do not have to be an ingredient in soups. They can be added to sauces (for example, to Bolognese sauce), meat patties, or oatmeal (try adding grated carrot to it).
4. Eat natural fruit
Eating more fruit is a simple way to reduce the amount of sweets eaten, which will work for many of us. Fruit, especially sweet fruit, can be a good substitute for store-bought snacks with sugar. A lack of fruit in the diet may cause us to simply miss the sweet taste. After all, fruit is sweet, but it also contains fiber and does not contain added sugar. In addition to fresh fruit, you can choose, for example, healthy sugar-free fruit smoothies.
It is also important that we often reach for sweets in situations when we are not hungry, but want to eat something, for example while watching a movie or spending time with loved ones. Fruit will be a much better choice in these situations and will satisfy our need to snack on something. In such a situation, nuts will also be a good choice, for example shelled almonds 1 kg.
5. Introduce healthy sweet meals into your diet
Fruit is not the only healthy substitute for sweets. When we crave sweetness, it is worth introducing healthy, sweet meals into our diet. Eating oatmeal with honey or oatmeal cookies with raisins can satisfy our craving for sweets, and it is much healthier than eating store-bought sweets full of sugar and enhancers. A sweet breakfast can be an effective solution when you wake up with a craving for sweets. It may satisfy your craving for sweets for the whole day.
What other sweet meals can you introduce into your diet? In addition to the oatmeal and cookies mentioned above, you can eat pancakes or crepes, for example. They can be made without added sugar, while also sneaking in plenty of fruit or vegetables. We can get a sweet taste by adding honey or a banana to them. A banana also works as an addition to omelets, which can be a filling breakfast due to their egg content. It is also worth adding healthy fats to this type of meal, for example natural nut butters. Banana and peanut butter can also be added to cooked pearl barley. After blending the whole thing, a delicious pudding will be created that should satisfy the craving
for sweets.
6. Use healthy sugar substitutes
As you can see, adding sugar is not the only way to achieve a sweet taste. We can achieve it by adding fruit, for example. In stores, we can also find many sugar substitutes that have significantly fewer calories than sugar itself. These include xylitol and erythritol, for example. What is their calorie content? Xylitol has about 240 kcal per 100 grams, erythritol - only 24 kcal. For comparison, sugar has nearly 400 kcal. The difference is therefore huge.
While xylitol and erythritol have different opinions, honey is generally considered a much healthier sugar substitute. 100 grams of honey has about 300 kcal, but its health properties make it not worth comparing with sugar. However, we remember that honey loses some of its properties at high temperatures, so it is not good for baking or sweetening hot meals. Some people may also be allergic to bee products.
If we do not want to use sugar, we can also choose products such as maple syrup, date syrup, or agave syrup. They are easily available, also in physical stores, and work well as additions to pancakes, oatmeal, or smoothies. In stores, we also have a wide selection of snacks, such as sugar-free bars, or fit bars, which also do not contain sugar.
7. Drink plenty of water and herbal infusions
Did you know that cravings for sweets (and generally for food) often result not from hunger, but from thirst? That is also why it is so important to drink enough water during the day. Water requirements depend on various factors, such as body weight or outdoor temperature. On average, we should drink about 2 liters a day, and even more if we are physically active and the temperature is high.
Store shelves tempt us with a selection of colorful drinks that, besides sugar, may also contain other substances that are not good for health. However, the best choice is simply water. It effectively quenches thirst and does not increase cravings for sweets. Herbal infusions are also a good choice. Herbs have different properties, and it is worth matching a specific one to your needs.
We will not tell you how long it takes for cravings for sweets to pass and what effectively curbs the appetite for sweets. It is an individual matter. However, we encourage you to try the above methods. Maybe one of them will make your constant cravings for sweets go away? The causes of such a craving may result not only from diet, but also from other factors. If sweets are your way of relaxing or dealing with stress, then maybe it is worth looking for the source of the problem there?
Bibliography:
Jabłonowska-Lietz Beata et al., Can sugar be addictive? Through the pathways of the brain's reward system, in: Human Nutrition and Metabolism, 2012, XXXIX, no. 4.
Benton David, The plausibility of sugar addiction and its role in obesity and eating disorders, in: Clin Nutr. 2010 Jun, 29 (3).
Ahmed Serge H. et al., Sugar addiction: pushing the drug-sugar analogy to the limit, in: Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care, 2013 Jul, 16 (4).