If you’ve ever found yourself desperately eating a cookie, chocolate bar or soda, then you are not alone. Sugar cravings are incredibly common and can feel almost impossible to resist the want. Whether it hits you in mid-afternoon or late at night, that strong want for eating sweet often isn’t just about hunger, but it is a mix of biology, habits and emotions. And a good news is that, you can stop sugar cravings naturally with on your own willpower and necessary diet and habit changes. By understanding what drives these sweat cravings and with making simple lifestyle changes, you can reduce the sugar cravings over time.
Lets know more about the 10 proven ways to stop sugar cravings naturally and take back control of your health.
1. Eat More Protein and Healthy Fats
Sugar cravings are part of hunger and want of energy of your body, by eating more fat and protein can help you to lower and eventually stop the major triggers of sugar cravings, which generally causes by unstable blood sugar levels. When your blood sugar goes down, your body looks for a quick energy food, and usually in the form of sugar. Therefore eating protein and healthy fats regularly is so important to mitigate the sugar eating habits.
Protein slow downs our digestion, and keeps you full for a longer period and also stabilizes blood sugar. Healthy fats including those found in avocados, nuts, seeds, olive oil and fatty fish by provide lasting energy and helps to reduce hunger hormones.
Tips to improve protein and fat intake: Start your day with eggs and avocado toast, a protein smoothie, or Greek yogurt with nuts. For snacks, can go for almonds, boiled eggs or hummus with veggies.
2. Stay Hydrated Throughout the Day
Did you know that your thirst and is often mistaken for hunger, especially sugar cravings? When your body is dehydrated, it can send mixed signals to your brain that stimulate the need for sugar or food.
Staying better hydrated can reduce those mixed signals and help to stop the further cravings. Water also helps your body process and eliminate sugar more efficiently.
Tip to hydrate well: Always carry a water bottle with you, and aim for at least 8 to 10 glasses of water per day. Add lemon, mint or cucumber for natural flavor if you want to add a tasty twist to a plain water.
3. Get Enough Quality Sleep
Sleep and sugar cravings are closely linked with each other. When you are facing sleep issues, your body produces more ghrelin (the hunger hormone) and less leptin (the fullness hormone). This imbalance leads to increase cravings, especially for high-carb and high-sugar foods.
Inadequate sleep also affects your brain’s decision making ability, makes it harder to resist the temptation.
Solution: Follow 7 to 9 hours of enough quality sleep every night. Turn off screens for at least 30 minutes before bed, create a calming night time routine, and keep yourself cool and dark.
4. Balance Every Meal With Whole Foods
A well balanced meal should include fiber-rich carbs, lean protein and healthy fats. This combination keeps your blood sugar stable and your energy levels steady, which is important element in preventing sugar cravings.
Avoid highly processed foods to stop the unnatural sugar eating, which are often low on nutrients and packed with hidden sugars. Instead, focus on whole foods such as like vegetables, whole grains, legumes, lean meats and healthy oils.
Meal idea: Grilled chicken with quinoa, roasted veggies and a drizzle of olive oil or try eating a grain bowl along with brown rice, beans, greens and dressed with tahini.
5. Add Cinnamon to Your Meals and Drinks
Cinnamon is not just a delicious spice, it also helps to regulate our blood sugar levels and improve our insulin sensitivity. This habit magically can further help to stop the further sugar cravings naturally.
Easy uses: Sprinkle cinnamon power on oatmeal, yogurt, smoothies or even coffee. You can also try healthy cinnamon tea in the afternoon to fight off with these 3 p.m. cravings.
6. Manage Stress Naturally
Stress is one of the biggest triggers for emotional eating and more sugar cravings. When you are stressed, your body releases cortisol, which is a hormone that increases your appetite and drives you to seek comfort foods (usually sweet and carb-heavy).
Learning to manage self stress and practice it can dramatically reduce the cravings of sugar and processed foods.
Natural stress relievers:
- Go for a 10-minute of walk
- Practice deep breathing or meditation regularly
- Refine your thoughts towards positive one
- Listen to calming music or a podcast
- Try yoga or stretching on daily basis
- go for a routine sports, walk or gym to relieve stress and improve health
Even a few minutes a day can help your body to reset and break the stress born sugar cycle.
7. Don’t Skip Meals (Especially Breakfast!)
Skipping meals, especially breakfast can cause your blood sugar to drop on low level, which leads further to create a strong sugar cravings later in the day. Many people who skip meals end up in overeating foods and sugary drinks in the afternoon or evening to cover the body needs.
Plan ahead: Eat small portioned and balanced meals for every 3 to 4 hours to keep your metabolism and blood sugar level steady. Include fiber, protein and fat with every meal.
Breakfast tip: For night snacking oats with chia seeds, almond butter and berries can be the great option to fulfil your hunger and body energy wants.
8. Try Natural Sweeteners in Small Portion
Sometimes you just need a little sweetness in your food, therefore, Instead of going cold turkey, try swapping refined sugar with natural alternatives that will will reduce in spike of your blood sugar level.
Better choices include:
- Stevia or monk fruit (zero-calorie natural sweeteners)
- Raw honey (in small portion 1 to 2 tablespoon)
- Maple syrup
- Coconut sugar
Remember, these sugar alternatives can be used in small portion in your diet. The goal is to retrain your taste buds and not to overload them with sugar alternative taste.
9. Read Nutrition Labels Carefully
Sugar is hidden in many products. It is a part of many many packed foods and so called healthy food under the names of fructose corn syrup, cane juice, dextrose and maltodextrin. Even general use ketchup, salad dressings and crackers also contains sugars.
Get yourself habit of reading ingredient lists and nutrition labels of packed foods before buying. prefers having the products with 5 grams of sugar or less per serving, and avoids the food which have sugar on tops on its ingredient list as it means it is sugar is the main ingredient of that product.
10. Practice Mindful Eating
Many of us eat on autopilot mode when we are watching tv or with scrolling through our phones. This leads to eat mindlessly and may leads to any of such cravings, overeating and emotional snacking.
Mindful eating helps you in slower down and become more aware of why you are eating. Ask yourself:
- Am I actually hungry?
- Am I bored, stressed, or emotional?
- Will this food nourish me, or just give a quick fix?
Mindful practice: Try eating one meal a day with no distractions, no phone, no TV. Focus on properly recognizing and enjoying the taste, texture and smell of your food. Then you will be surprised by knowing to how much more satisfied you feel while eating mindfully.
Final Thoughts: Take It One Step at a Time
Overcoming sugar cravings naturally is a journey, not any immediate fix. The goal is not to eliminate the sweetness from your diet forever, but it is to break the cycle of dependency on sugar make yourself with habitual of mindful and healthy eating with intentional choices. By following the above strategies, you will gradually experience the reduced cravings, better body energy, improved mood and even clearer and healthy skin complexion.
Start small, Choose one or two of the tips given above to implement in a week. As your body needs time to adjust adjusts, as this will magically help to stop sugar cravings naturally and you will feel more healthy and energy filled.
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