Walk into a grocery store and everywhere you look you will see Sugar (in one form or another). It is hard to avoid if you are not trying. Even items you might not think contain sugar may just. With sugar in so many items nowadays we can slowly become addicted to it whether we realize it or not. But seeing you found your way to this article most likely with a google search you realize you have a problem and you are asking the question of how to get rid of sweet cravings.
Most likely this is causing the excess weight gain or preventing you from dropping the pounds you are so desperately trying to drop.
I can say for sure I was in this boat of being addicted to sugars and it was definitely playing a part in preventing my weight loss. So please know you are not alone, and just by realizing that you may have a sweets problem is a great start.
Sugar is a big problem in today’s modern world. Almost all processed foods you will come across contain added sugar (sure you will find a few without it – but that is extremely rare). Diets high in sugar are leading to a rise in obesity in addition to a rise in type 2 Diabetes.
Luckily obesity and type 2 diabetes can be cured and reversed if you follow a proper course. One mainly being stop eating processed sugars 🙂
Now that we know how bad sugar is lets start with a common question we have:
Why is My Body Craving Sweets?
When you are hungry, your body is in an unpleasant state and it sends out signals to find food to relieve the current unpleasant state. The food manufacturers have found a way to engineered food and provide easy to access snacks that relieve the unpleasant state. And when you see the word engineered and food together you should be concerned.
Unfortunately for us these engineered snacks are very bad for us. They contain just enough sugar to curb our hunger – however they provide just enough sugar and empty calories to keep us wanting more.
You will eat just one snack and then after that you will crave just one more snack. This is how the cycle starts.
Your body then subconsciously says to itself last time I was hungry It was an unpleasant feeling and eating a processed sugar filled snacks made me feel better. So next time you are hungry you repeat the same process and slowly (or maybe quickly) your body craves sweets.
And a lot of times you will notice the:
Craving For Sweets at Night
Our bodies have an internal clock known as a circadian clock and this clock governs a lot of the things we do each day, including our sleeping and eating . These clocks in our body are governed and take input from external stimulus such as lights and sounds. Our modern day rituals can throw our internal clocks off.
For example when we see light our body is triggered to think food and be awake and when its dark our body gears up for sleep. When we are on our computers all day and staring at our phones and TV’s at night we are seeing lights which can impact our sleeping and trigger eating.
*One study that explains our hunger in the evening or night comes from our internal clock or our Circadian clock coming from our ancestors where they would consume more to store energy at night when food was more scarce.
Another thought is after a long day of work and stress we unwind and with unwinding and relaxing we turn to food and drink.
So knowing all this information on why and when we tend to crave sugar and we are or realizing what’s going on the next step is to learn how we can deal with it.We want to learn how to suppress sugar cravings and what to eat when you have a sweet craving.
How to Suppress Sugar Cravings
When we eat simple carbohydrates our body converts the carbs to glucose sugars. Causing glucose and insulin spikes. This gives us a quick energy boost but this energy boost does not last very long. And after the energy boost we get a crash. This crash causes cravings for more carbs or sugars.
The goal then is to prevent the spikes and crashes and keep the insulin level steady.
A great way to suppress sugar cravings is to eat foods with high quality fat such as Grass Fed Beef, Avocados, Eggs etc. High quality fat will maintain your insulin levels and keep you feeling full for a longer period of time and you will feel like you don’t need or crave sugar or carbs.
Over time of eating like this your sugar cravings will dissipate.
No one is perfect though. The craving for something sweet may pop up every now and again. To deal with this there are some tips below on dealing with sweet cravings.
What to Eat When You Have a Sweet Craving
So now you are on the path of preventing sweet cravings. But there are times when it will hit you that you really want a sweet. So the question then is what to eat when you have a sweet craving.
The idea here is you want to make the smarter choice when you have that craving. So instead of getting your body back in the sugar cycle pick a healthier option.
- Protein Shake – Blend up a quick protein shake if you are craving ice cream. My go to here is a frozen banana, almond milk (or whole milk), Almond butter (or peanut butter), Spinach (don’t worry you wont taste it), protein powder. Blend it up – add ice if you want to thicken it up more to get the consistency of ice cream. This shake has some calories to it but no added sugars and because of the banana and almond butter it tastes great. And compared to ice cream it is a way better option.
- Dark Chocolate – this is my go to for a quick sugar fix. Find a dark chocolate that is 70% or more cocoa that you enjoy and break off a chunk and enjoy. This always seems to get me past the craving.
- Fruit with Almond butter – Grab an apple cut it up and dip it in some Almond butter. This is a healthy option and provides a sweet and savory taste to get you through those cravings.
Hope this helps you get rid of sugar cravings and provides some tips on what to do next time you are hit with the need for sugar.
Let me know what tricks you guys have up your sleeves to help deal with sugar cravings – Leave comments below.
