How to Avoid, Control and Curb Sugar Cravings Naturally
How can you stop those sugar cravings that are annoying and interfere with dieting and your normal eating pattern? Do you suddenly crave for sugar and when you eat one jelly bean, you find you can't stop until you have eaten the entire packet, and then you regret it and feel disgusted with yourself whole packet is demolished? Here we will examine their cause, what triggers them, how to prevent them occurring and how to stop them once they start. Sugar cravings and binge eating of sugar can be regarded as a habit or even an addiction. In the worst case you may have a sugar addiction that resembles an addiction to coffee, tobacco or various other drugs.
Why Sugar Cravings Occur
Sugar cravings can be associated with a drop in sugar levels in the blood. If it is a few hours from your last meal of snack it is reasonable to expect that you will feel hungry and this will trigger a sugar cravings.
Sugar is the quick fix and many organs including the brain depend on sugar, not fat or protein. You body can supply sugar to the brood stream, but it is a slow process and it is much easier and quicker to simply eat sugar.
Food cravings can also arise from various hormonal changes. Many women have observed that they crave sugar when they are pre-menstrual. Our emotional state, how we feel is also largely responsible for the sugar craving - we eat sugar to feel better. It can also be triggered by an empty feeling in the stomach. Tiredness and the need for a break can also trigger a craving.
Feelings of anger, stress or frustration can also trigger a craving and many people seek comfort by polishing off half a cake, an entire block of chocolate or a whole pack of sweet biscuits. Type A people are probably more prone to sugar cravings. These people are more impatience, more ambitious, more aggressive and more prone to stress and its various symptoms. These people are also more achievement orientated. Sugar cravings can also develop from excessive drinking of coffee and tea. After a while the caffeine hits induce a low blood sugar attack and a feeling of stress that are quickly relieved by a sugar hit.
Why am I Prone to Sugar Cravings?
Dietitians have found that people who eat haphazardly, eat very quickly and eat a restricted range of high carbohydrate and high fat foods tend to develop sugar cravings and other food addictions. Sugar cravings can be thought of as a form of compensation for an uninteresting foods and a poor diet.
Foods that are poor in fibre and have a high calorie density can lead to sugar cravings because they are digested quicker, produce a spike in sugar levels in the blood [link here] and tend to lead to hunger pangs much sooner after a meal.
Chronic and failed dieters can be particularly prone to erratic and uncontrollable sugar cravings. Dieting leaves you vulnerable, because you feel tired, stressed and hungry, and high sugar foods provide instant relief. People who try to starve themselves for part of the day are likely to crash and have a sugar binge.
If you enjoy each meal slowly, feel fully satisfied at the end of the meal without overeating and eat high fibre foods that take longer to digest you may be less likely to develop sugar addictions because you avoid the circumstances that trigger their onset.
How to Prevent Sugar Cravings
- Reduce the high sugar hits that occur in your normal eating pattern. Do you tend to eating something sweet at the end of each meal? Do you tend to snack on high sugar foods such as ice cream or biscuits? Do you eat a bowl of ice cream after the evening meal? If you can break this habit, you will help avoid sugar cravings because you will break the cycle and develop better alternatives.
- Prevent between meal hunger pangs and choose better snacks - To prevent cravings and the sudden onset of hunger develop new habits by always having health snack foods on hand between your three main meals. Eat fruit, nuts, high fibre biscuits, salads or yogurt as snacks. Eat the snacks regularly before the risk of a sugar hit arises.
- Brushing your teeth at the end of the meal can help stop sugar cravings. A good quality toothpaste leaves you with a fresh minty flavour in your mouth and a feeling of cleanness which may make you less likely to grab something sweet.
- Drink lots of water - often thirst can be mistaken for hunger and a drink will stop the hunger pangs. This may not last for very long, but it could get you to your next meal and avoid a sugar hit.
- Break the 'comfort food' habit by doing something different. To break the habit you need to avoid the feelings of being bored or stressed by getting up and going for a walk instead of always looking for a snack. Do something different. Find a distraction away from the sugar laden snack - call a friend, go for a jog, have a long hot bath or shower, listen to some music, meditate or enjoy some yoga.
- Avoid the 'Moments' - The trick is to delay or avoid the temptation of satisfying your immediate sugar cravings, by greatly reducing the number of times you are tempted and give in to them. They are after all called “moments” for good reason. If you can avoid or delay the “moment”, the weakness will pass along with the temptation. This works well to prevent sugar cravings. Teach yourself to do anything except eating something sweet and you will be well on the way to breaking the habit. You might actually like yourself more for being stronger than your cravings!
- Remove the Temptation, Clear Your Pantry - Another way to avoid the temptation for sugar craving snacks is to clear your pantry and avoid shops that offer these items. Keep all tempting snacks that are eaten by the rest of the family - “Out of sight and out of mind.”
- Never Shop When Hungry or in tempting locations. It is too easy to succumb to the sweet treats almost unconsciously is your blood sugar levels are low. Eat something healthy with lots of fiber before you go, like a piece of fruit or a low fat, low sugar yogurt. Avoid the snack isles and only but what is on your list.
Hypnosis to Stop Sugar Cravings
Also a last resort you may try hypnosis to control your sugar cravings. You can even try on of the self-help hypnosis mp3 recordings that are available online. They are very reasonably priced and come with a risk-free 90-day money back guarantee – more than enough time to see if this works for you.
