How to Beat Sugar Cravings
Most people have strong cravings for sweets at some stage in their lives. For a number of individuals this is a brief feeling yet many people truly have a problem with these cravings and also have trouble overcoming them. When you have a strong craving for sweets on a regular basis it can be difficult to meet your health goals.
The truth is sugar and sweets are really common in our daily diets that we barely think about them any more. Now you might be thinking ‘I don’t eat a lot of sweets!’ but you need to take a deeper look at the foods you consume.
Take a glance in your refrigerator for just a moment. What sorts of foods do you see? Coffee creamer, soda, condiments like catsup and salad dressing, beer or wine, yogurt and all sorts of kinds of other items that includes high fructose corn syrup. There are lots of processed foods that are full of sugar but we normally wouldn’t consider them “sweets”.
What has happened is that we’ve become accustomed to eating huge amounts of sugar in our diets that our bodies have essentially come to be addicted to the dopamine response we get when we eat sugar.
Craving sweets can be a direct reaction to neurochemical changes in your brain, particularly dopamine and opioid receptor binding in addition to acetylcholine release. It should be noted that excessive acetylcholine release is caused by nicotine, the active chemical in tobacco, and has been linked to the extremely addictive characteristics of cigarettes.
Exactly what do you do when you’re craving sweets? Well there’s no magic pill or quick solution but there are many things that you can do to overcome your sugar cravings and get back on track to a much healthier lifestyle.
What to Do When You’re Craving Sweets
Exercise — Exercise not only improves your physical health it also improves your mood and mental well-being. When you’re craving sweets you should take a brisk walk or do some light exercise. It will help you through the craving and make it pass much faster.
Water — Consume more water. Water helps to flush your system and clean your body. The quicker you can clean the excessive sugar from your body the faster your body will have a chance to overcome its physiological addiction to sweets. This is a simple yet powerful way to increase your success and overcome your craving for sweets.
Take a Shower — Yes, sometimes all that you need to get through a tough moment of craving is a change in scenery. What better way to do that than to hop into the shower really quick. It will help you feel refreshed and give you a moment to think about your craving and overcome it.
Slowly Reduce Sugar — You’re more likely to successfully overcome craving sweets if you slowly wean your way off of sugar rather than trying to go cold turkey. Over a matter of week you should keep track of your sugar intake in a journal. After the end of that week start cutting out certain foods that are high in sugar. You can start with the obvious stuff like ice cream and candy and then move to the less obvious stuff like salad dressings and certain condiments. This doesn’t mean you can’t have any of these things, it just means that you need to change the type you use. If you normally use Thousand Island or Ranch you can switch to Balsamic or Oil and Vinegar instead. For most things there is a low or no sugar option. This is a very simple yet effective way to overcome your cravings.
As you can see there are several easy things that you can do to get away from excessive sugar and sweets. Cravings can be powerful and hard to resist but arming yourself with knowledge is the best way to stop craving sweets.
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