Deal with Your Sugar Cravings Using These 11 Helpful Tips

Are your cravings for sugar out of control? The desire for sweet foods is simply part of being human so there's no sense beating yourself up about it.

Deal With Your Sugar Cravings Using These 11 Simple Tips

Eating Too Much Sugar?

The occasional sweet treat can be a wonderful indulgence and part of a healthy balanced life. And there can be a lot of good reasons for your cravings.

But these days, most of us are eating way more sugar than our bodies can handle.

So, if you feel that your sugar consumption is out of control and you want to rein it in, the best thing to do is reduce your intake for at least two weeks, which is the time it takes to wean your body off of it and start noticing the benefits — better fitting clothes, more energy and improved mental clarity - to name a few.

Have no fear, you don't have to give up sugar forever, just work to find your healthy balance and when necessary, take a little sugar vacation!

The Skinny on Dealing With Sugar Cravings: 11 Helpful Tips

1. Reduce or eliminate caffeine. The ups and downs of caffeine, including dehydration and blood sugar swings, can cause sugar cravings to be more frequent.

2. Drink water. Sometimes sweet cravings are a sign of dehydration. Before you head for the sugar, have a glass of water and then wait a few minutes to see what happens. Switching water for some of the soda, alcohol, flavored water, fruit drinks and other sweetened beverages you drink can go a long way to reducing your sugar consumption too.

How to Drink More Water

3. Eat sweet vegetables and fruit. They are sweet, healthy and delicious. The more of them you eat, the less you’ll crave refined sugar.

4. Include lean protein and healthy fats. If you do decide to indulge in a refined sugar food, try to pair it with other foods that are high in fiber, protein and healthy fats to keep you from entering the blood-sugar surge cycle.

5. Use gentle sweeteners. Avoid artificial sweeteners and processed foods with added sugar. Use gentle sweeteners like maple syrup, brown rice syrup, stevia, barley malt instead.

Photo Credit: Robert Collins on Unsplash

6. Get physically active. Start with simple activities, like walking or yoga. Start with 10 minutes a day and gradually increase from there. It will help balance your blood sugar levels, boost your energy, and reduce tension without medicating yourself with sugar.

7. Get more sleep, rest and relaxation. When you are tired or stressed, your body will crave energy–in the form of sugar. These cravings are often a result of being sleep-deprived, going to bed too late or waking up too early, sometimes for months and years on end.

8. Evaluate the amount of meat you eat. Eating too much meat can lead to cravings for sweets. So can eating too little. Respect your body’s individuality and experiment to determine what works best for you.

9. Eliminate fat-free or low-fat packaged snack foods. Don't fall for the SnackWells scam like I did years ago. These foods contain high quantities of sugar to compensate for lack of flavor and fat, which will send you on the roller-coaster ride of sugar ups and downs. You're much better off to have a little bit of the real full fat version

10. Add a little spice. Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, coriander and cardamom will naturally sweeten your foods, reduce cravings and have been shown to reduce insulin resistance.

11. Find sweetness without food. Your body does not biologically need sugar, but it does long for hugs, time with friends, outside time, workouts, massages, etc. When life becomes sweet enough in and of itself, less sugar is necessary.

There you have it. Some great easy ways to deal with your cravings. Do you have other ideas and suggestions for how to deal with cravings that have worked for you? I would love to have you share them with us here.

Related Content for You:

P.S. Need a little extra help managing your cravings?

Check out this Slim & Savvy Gum!

Martha is the founder and main content writer for Simple-Nourished-Living.

A longtime lifetime WW at goal, she is committed to balancing her love of food and desire to stay slim while savoring life and helping others do the same.

She is the author of the Smart Start 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge.

A huge fan of the slow cooker and confessed cookbook addict, when she's not experimenting in the kitchen, you're likely to find Martha on her yoga mat.

More about Martha McKinnon