Learn effective strategies to stop sugar cravings with our comprehensive guide. Discover practical tips and hacks on how to stop sugar cravings fast.
Are you constantly battling the urge to reach for a sugary snack? You often promise to ditch sugar from next week, but your hand keeps reaching out for more.
It’s called craving.
In essence, you’ll try to stop taking tea, ditch your coffee, and change the routes to avoid seeing your favorite bakery.
But does it work?
No.
Despite knowing the dangers of overconsuming, Sugar cravings can be challenging to resist. The more you try to resist, the more you get a more vital need to consume more, often derailing your best intentions for a healthy diet.
As a result, you may experience constant acne, weight gain, moodiness, and tiredness.
In fact, studies suggest that too much sugar in your diet may result in diabetes, insulin resistance, high blood pressure, and skin aging. It can also increase the risk of cancer.
Why?
This happens due to inflammation and oxidative stress.
So,
Whether you’re trying to cut back on sugar for health reasons, weight loss, or simply to feel better, finding effective strategies to manage these cravings is essential.
In this blog, we’ll explore seven practical and easy-to-implement hacks on how to stop sugar cravings.
From balancing your meals to finding healthier sweet alternatives, these tips will empower you to take control and make better choices for your well-being.
But before then,
What Causes Sugar Cravings?
Resisting sugar cravings can be incredibly challenging. Why? Because of biological, psychological, and environmental factors. Here’s a closer look at why these cravings are so hard to resist:
Biological Factors
- Brain Chemistry: Sugar triggers the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward. This creates a feeling of euphoria similar to what is experienced with addictive substances, making you want to repeat the behaviour.
- Hormonal Influence: Consuming sugar affects blood sugar levels. When you are on a sugary diet, your blood sugar spikes and rapidly drops, leading to a cycle of cravings as your body seeks to restore balance.
Psychological Factors
- Emotional Eating: Sometimes, people turn to sugary foods for comfort during stress, sadness, or boredom. Sugar can provide temporary emotional relief, reinforcing the habit.
- Habitual Behavior: Cravings can become a conditioned response. If you frequently reward yourself with sugar, your brain starts associating certain activities or times of day with sugary foods.
Nutritional Deficiencies
- Lack of Nutrients: Diets low in protein, fibre, and healthy fats often leave you feeling unsatisfied. As such, you will crave quick sources of energy like sugar.
Understanding and addressing these factors will definitely help you develop strategies to manage and reduce sugar cravings effectively.
7 Hacks To Beat Your Sugar Cravings Fast
Consuming sugar affects blood sugar levels. As you eat too much sugar, your blood glucose may spike and rapidly drop, leading to a cycle of cravings as your body seeks to restore balance.
So, the best way to stop the sugar craving is to avoid anything that will spike the level of sugar in your body.
A series of spikes and subsequent drops in blood sugar can cause energy crashes. Which often results in cravings for sugary or high-carb foods to restore energy levels quickly.
So, how do you stop sugar cravings?
1. Avoid Getting Ravenously Hungry
Getting too hungry might increase the risk of intense, sugary food cravings.
Why?
Because your body desperately looks for a quick energy fix.
A study that sought to establish the relationship between circulated glucose levels and the desire for high-calorie food suggests that getting too hungry may make you crave high-calorie food.
When you become extremely hungry, your blood sugar levels drop.
Low blood glucose subsequently triggers the release of hormones like ghrelin, which increases appetite and creates an urgent need to restore energy quickly.
Sugary foods are a fast way to raise blood sugar, making them particularly tempting.
Consequently, when blood sugar levels are stable, you’re less likely to have intense food cravings, especially for sugar.
So, pay attention to your hunger and fullness cues. Feed your body nutrient-dense food when it needs fuel to avoid the desperation of looking for a quick energy fix.
Related:
10 Warning Signs That You’re Eating Too Much Sugar
2. Craving for Sugar? Take Some Salt
Although individual responses may vary, I’ve discovered that consuming a small amount of salt can sometimes help reduce sugar cravings quickly.
According to a study, stress and higher levels of the hormone ghrelin may increase a feeling of hunger. An increase in ghrelin may also increase food cravings, including salt or sugar.
That is why sometimes what you think is a sugar craving might be a craving for something else like salt.
Also, cravings, including those for sugar, can sometimes be due to an imbalance of electrolytes in the body. Consuming salt can restore this balance, which may reduce the craving.
Any time you feel sugar cravings, and before going for that sugary snack,
- Just sip or drink a little water with salt.
Or,
- Sprinkle a little salt on something like cucumber and have some bites.
You may be surprised that your cravings go away almost immediately.
Salt can influence taste receptors and the perception of sweetness. Consuming a small amount of sea salt might alter how your brain perceives flavours, thus reducing the intensity of a sugar craving.
3. Start Your Day with a Savoury Breakfast
A savoury breakfast doesn’t include sugar or starch as a main ingredient. It is typically rich in protein and healthy fats, which is why having savoury breakfast will help stabilize your blood sugar levels and curb cravings.
When blood sugar is stable, you are less likely to experience the spikes and crashes that often lead to sugar cravings.
Consuming a protein-rich breakfast can positively influence hormones, especially those related to hunger and appetite, such as ghrelin (the hunger hormone) and leptin (the satiety hormone).
Proper regulation of these hormones can help curb cravings for sugary foods.
Savoury breakfasts often include nutrient-dense foods such as eggs, vegetables, lean meats, and healthy fats.
Consuming these foods provides essential vitamins and minerals that can prevent nutrient deficiencies, which sometimes manifest as cravings for sugary foods.
Examples of Savory Breakfasts
- Eggs: Scrambled, boiled, or as an omelette with vegetables.
- Avocado Toast: Whole grain toast with mashed avocado and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
- Greek Yogurt: Plain Greek yoghurt
- Breakfast Burrito: Whole grain wrap with eggs, beans, vegetables, and a small amount of cheese.
- Smoked Salmon: With whole grain crackers or toast and a side of veggies
4. Sip on Lemon Water Throughout the Day
If you are suffering from sugar cravings, consider eating something sour or bitter in between the day. Sour tastes are an excellent hack to help counteract your sugar cravings.
One simple thing that genuinely assisted me was drinking water infused with lemon.
Squeezing fresh lemon juice into your water bottle and sipping it as you run your errands will help you forget about this sugar craving.
One cautionary thing you must note is to drink your lemon water with a straw or an inbuilt straw in your bottle to reduce the risk of eroding your enamel.
Lemon juice can also help prevent fluctuations in blood sugar levels by reducing a food’s overall glycemic index.
How?
The acid in lemon helps slow the conversion of carbohydrates to sugar. It also aids in your digestion and gut functions.
Consider adding freshly squeezed lemon or lime to your smoothies and side salads that accompany your meal.
Related:
12 Lazy Girl Weight Loss Hacks That Actually Work
5. Have a Cup of Cinnamon Tea to Curb Sugar Cravings
For years, cinnamon has been used as a spice for its antioxidant properties.
But did you know that this spice can be your savior when it comes to cutting down those crazy sugar cravings?
According to study, cinnamon appears to mimic insulin roles in your body.
Insulin is a critical hormone responsible for blood glucose regulation. It simply shuts sugar out of the bloodstream and into the tissues.
And not just that.
Cinnamon may also help slow the breakdown of carbohydrates in the gut and affect specific parameters of blood glucose.
In fact, this study shows that it can help to regulate your blood sugar levels thus, preventing it from spiking after meals.
As such, consider having a cup of cinnamon tea in your morning or sipping a glass of water infused with cinnamon to help lower your sugar cravings.
Related:
Burn Fat While Sleeping: 10 Best Night Routine For Weight Loss
6. Go Cold Turkey on Your Sugar Cravings
Remaining silent when sugar hunger comes calling is another alternative to managing your cravings.
While completely eliminating sugar might reduce the frequency and intensity of cravings over time, there is still a problem.
Sugar can be addictive.
Quitting it entirely at once or through a cold turkey way to break the cycle of dependency can be challenging.
The initial 72 hours are tough.
You will definitely experience withdrawal symptoms such as headaches, irritability, and fatigue. Most people who try this method end up complaining of increased cravings that lead to relapse.
This is because going cold turkey can sometimes lead to an overly restrictive mindset, which might result in binge eating if you do have a slip-up.
So what the way forward?
Intermittent fasting may help.
Going cold turkey helps you curb your cravings after a few days, especially if you choose to fast.
As such, try to find a sustainable balance between fasting and eating a healthy diet. Focus on whole foods, lean proteins, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates.
Having a plan can help you avoid reaching for sugary snacks. And the best plan is to find healthy alternatives like those mentioned in number seven.
7. If the Craving Persists— Go For Natural Sugars
The initial stages of reducing sugar can be challenging, especially when you have been on it for years.
When the urge strikes, seek out healthier alternative sources of sugar to satisfy desire without fueling cravings. Here are a few of my favorites:
- fresh fruit salad
- stevia
- raw honey
- Pureed fruit
Takeaway
Successfully curbing sugar cravings involves a multifaceted approach. These approaches must address both biological, nutritional and psychological factors. Key strategies include maintaining a balanced diet rich in whole foods, incorporating protein and fiber to stabilize blood sugar levels. I Hope this helps.
DISCLAIMER The information contained in this post is for general information purposes only. I’m not a health practitioner and as such, this information should not be used as a substitute for consultation with your professional service provider.
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