Archive for the ‘Healthy eating’ Category
How To Stop Craving Sweets
Whether you are trying to lose weight or just maintain a healthy diet, one of the biggest challenges is dealing with cravings for sweets. A desire for forbidden food can be overwhelming and can sabotage even the best diet plans. This can lead to setbacks and even giving up hope on sticking with your diet.
In order to persevere through these challenges you need to be armed with knowledge and techniques so you know how to stop craving sweets and you can prevent them from derailing your healthy eating plans.
Sugar addiction
We all know that sugar is unhealthy, but many people are unaware of just how bad sugar is for you.
Research shows that sugar addiction works similar to morphine and activates opioid receptors in the brain. Junk food companies not only know this, but also invest millions of dollars in product research and advertising to keep you coming back for more.
Sugar is not only addictive, but the empty calories in sugar lead to increased weight and contribute to the current obesity epidemic. Obesity is at the root of many modern health issues such as diabetes, heart disease, and more.
Overcoming the addiction to sugar can be challenging, but with the right knowledge, techniques, and strategies it is possible to kick the habit for good. In fact, research has shown that if you avoid sugar for just two weeks your body will react less to it, which can help you to want less of yet.
What causes sugar cravings
There are many factors that can contribute to sugar cravings and understanding them better will help you learn how to stop craving sweets.
Probably the biggest contributor to sugar cravings is problems with how you eat. A lot of people who try to lose weight do so by cutting calories. But cutting out too many calories can trigger your body to look for easily digested high calorie food – specifically, sugar.
This can also happen if you just started an exercise program, or are physically active but don’t consume enough healthy calories to fuel your activities.
Make sure you eat enough calories or you may be sabotaging your efforts and setting yourself up for failure.
Stress is also a common contributor to food cravings. This can happen if you recently went through a stressful event such as moving to a new location or losing your job. Your body reacts to stress by craving comfort food – typically high calorie, high sugar foods. The best approach in this situation is to look for ways to take care of yourself. Physical activity is also a good way to manage stress.
When you don’t get enough sleep, your body releases hormones that make you want to eat. Caffeine can help in the short term (think low cal coffee, not a super caramel mocha latte).
We don’t always have time to eat a balanced diet which can mean you aren’t getting all the vitamins and minerals you need. Some nutritionists think that certain mineral deficiencies can lead to sugar cravings. For example, chocolate cravings can indicate a deficiency in magnesium.
How to stop craving sweets
The most effective long-term solution to this problem is to ensure you are eating a healthy, well balanced diet with enough calories for your lifestyle.
While this can sound extreme, going cold turkey and eliminate all sugar from your diet can be an effective technique. With this approach, you have to make sure you replace the sugary food you normally eat with a variety of healthy foods.
Make sure you eat a good breakfast. Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia discovered that people that eat a breakfast high in protein felt fuller throughout the day. They also found reduced brain activity in the areas that control food cravings. These effects lasted into the evening. A quick and easy way to have a protein for breakfast is with high quality protein shakes.
Taking a good multivitamin can help ensure you are getting all the vitamins and minerals you need to stay healthy. This can help reduce cravings for sweets as well as other foods.
Cleansing your system through proper fasting can help reset your system. By greatly reducing your calorie intake for just a day you can increase your body’s sensitivity to what you eat and reduce your desire for sugar. Just make sure you fill up on nutritious food after the fast.
More help
If you are serious about improving your health and better understanding how to stop craving sweets then I recommend looking at the 7 day sugar free diet. This program provides an excellent system to help you eliminate sugar from your diet and move to healthier eating habits.