Why are sweet things so delicious?! 😭
It can be a real struggle at times to even figure out where or how to cut back.
I like sweets, but I wouldn’t say I have a sweet tooth. My personal nemesis is potato chips (and popcorn), basically fluffy carbs that turn into sugar. 🫠
Hidden sugar in processed food make it even more difficult, but as I mentioned last week, label reading is a great place to start.
Here are a few ways to Reduce your Sugar Cravings
Reduce or eliminate caffeine. The ups and downs of caffeine give us blood sugar swings, dehydration, mineral depletion, and an increase in sugar cravings.
Drink water. Sweet cravings a lot of time are just a sign of dehydration. (But also, soda is out obvs. So 80’s!) 😎
Eat sweet vegetables and fruit. They’re sweet. They’re healthy. They’re delicious. The more you eat of those, the less you will crave sugar.
Include a complex carbohydrate with your lunch. Sweet potatoes, cooked carrots, yams and butternut squash will help with those 3-4pm cravings. (We need sugar to neutralize stress. This is literally why we crave it. You may be experiencing psychological stress from being too busy, but oftentimes we experience physiological stress from not having enough of the right types of carbs to keep our blood sugar stable.)
Exercise. 🏋️♀️ Physical activity is going to help to balance your blood sugar and reduce tension without needing to medicate yourself with sugar or alcohol.
Get your rest. Being sleep deprived will make you crave comfort food i.e carbs and sugar. Plus it’s hard to make good decisions when you are tired.
Seven, evaluate the amount of animal food you are eating including meat, dairy, chicken & eggs. Eating too much animal protein (as well as eating too little) can lead to cravings for sweets. Do a test with various amounts of protein and see what happens to your sugar cravings. Try to have balanced meals all the time. I like to see protein, carb, fat with every single meal (or snack). Relying on just protein and veggies, can cause sugar cravings later on in the day.
Eliminate fat-free or low-fat foods, because when we cut out the fat, what did we do? We increased the sugar. 😲
Experiment with spices! Coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom will naturally sweeten your foods AND reduce cravings. Additionally, cinnamon has a very powerful effect on blood sugar control for 24 hours after consumption.
Lastly, slow down and find sweetness in non-food ways. 🥰 Your body needs hugs and time with friends, time with family, time alone, workouts, massages and time in nature.
When you do use sweetener, be sure to use sources that come from nature (and in moderation), and avoid the chemicalized artificial sweeteners.
Look for stevia or xylitol (zero on the glycemic index). Xylitol is a sugar alcohol that comes from the birch tree. You can also use maple syrup, coconut sugar or raw honey, and dates or blackstrap molasses.
Sidenote: I don’t know who needs to hear this but eight dates a day in the last trimester of pregnancy can ripen the cervix and make labor a lot easier. 😅
You might want to avoid erythritol, which is a sugar alcohol that comes from corn, and agave which can be taxing to your liver.
There you have it. Good luck! And talk soon…